Tag: iran

Iran Rejects ‘Unacceptable’ US Demand To Dismantle Nuclear Sites

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has thrown cold water on the possibility of dismantling its nuclear facilities, which Tehran maintains are only for peaceful domestic energy purposes.

But top US officials have called for just that. Starting earlier this month Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Iran has to ‘walk away’ from uranium enrichment and long-range missile development, while Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff just days ago went further, asserting that Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities “have to be dismantled” for Washington to trust that it does not want nuclear arms.

Pezeshkian in the fresh comments blasted the demand as “unacceptable” and framed it as a matter of national sovereignty and independent development.

“The discussion that has been raised about dismantling Iran’s entire nuclear facilities is unacceptable to us,” the Iranian president said, adding that “Iran will not give up its peaceful nuclear rights.“

Still, the country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi acknowledged Sunday that negotiations with the United States in Oman had become “much more serious and frank” – which suggests positive momentum toward restoring a deal or at least an understanding on which to build a working relationship with Washington.

Araqchi in the comments given to Iran’s state-run IRIB TV characterized “forward-moving” talks with the US over an array of complex nuclear-related issues.

This is despite last Thursday’s provocative comments given to Breitbart wherein bluntly stated, “They cannot have centrifuges. They have to downblend all of their fuel that they have there and send it to a far-away place.”

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Senators Cotton & Graham Work To Sabotage Chances Of Iran Deal

Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), two of the most hawkish members of Congress, are working together to sabotage the Trump administration’s chances of reaching a deal with Iran.

On Thursday, the senators held a press conference outlining a resolution they’re introducing that demands that any deal with Iran must include the total dismantlement of Tehran’s nuclear enrichment program, an idea that Iranian officials have made clear is a non-starter.

“To the Iranian regime: you claim all you want is a peaceful nuclear power program. You can have it, but you cannot enrich and you must dismantle,” Graham said. “And you must dismantle now.”

Graham and Cotton said that any deal must require ratification from the Senate and must also impose limits on Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for its allies in the region, conditions that are also a non-starter for Tehran.

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REPORT: Israeli Officials “Shocked” over Trump’s Houthi Truce – Trump Reportedly Upset with Netanyahu for Trying to Get U.S. involved in Military Conflict with Iran Ahead of Nuclear Talks and Visit to Middle East

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are seemingly at odds amid a U.S. truce with Houthis in Yemen and the President seeking to peacefully negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran without plunging the United States into another endless war. 

According to Axios, Trump met with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in private on Thursday to discuss upcoming nuclear talks with Iran and Israel’s Gaza campaign. Dremer also met with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Trump is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates on Monday, as Steve Witkoff is expected to hold nuclear talks with Iran on Sunday. Trump reportedly does not plan to visit Israel despite efforts by Israeli officials to host Trump for a visit.

This comes as the U.S. entered a cease-fire with the Houthis this week after stopping their threat against global shipping in the Red Sea and deterring Iranian lethal support to the Houthis. This development left Israeli officials “shocked,” according to an unnamed Israeli official.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Trump announced on Tuesday that the U.S. “will stop the bombing” against the Houthis in Yemen after the Houthis told the U.S. that “they don’t want to fight anymore,” said Trump. Per the truce, neither side will attack the other, including U.S. vessels in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait.

He further teased a major announcement that he will make before he departs for the Middle East next week. “We’re gonna have a very, very big announcement to make, like, as big as it gets,” the President said.

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Donald Trump fired national security adviser Mike Waltz for ‘plotting with Israel’s leader to bomb Iran’

President Donald Trump sacked his national security adviser Mike Waltz because he was plotting with Israel‘s leader to attack Iran, it was claimed last night.

Waltz, 51, was thought to have been fired because he accidentally added a journalist to a Signal chat about plans to attack Yemen’s Houthi terrorist group, causing global embarrassment for the Trump administration.

But last night the Washington Post reported the real reason for Trump’s ire was that Waltz huddled with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the latter’s White House visit in February and ‘appeared to share the Israeli leader’s conviction that the time was ripe to strike Iran,’ according to a source.

Trump was angered that Waltz ‘engaged in intense coordination with Netanyahu about military options against Iran ahead of an Oval Office meeting between the Israeli leader and Trump.’

The source said: ‘Waltz wanted to take US policy in a direction Trump wasn’t comfortable with because the US hadn’t attempted a diplomatic solution. 

It got back to Trump and the president wasn’t happy with it. You can’t do that. You work for the president of your country, not the president of another country.’

Waltz, a former Green Beret, was sacked from his position as head of the National Security Council (NSC) on Friday and will now become ambassador to the United Nations, a ‘massive downgrade move to save face’, according to one Trump insider.

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Death toll grows in suspected chemical blast in Iran

A massive explosion followed by a fire at a major Iranian port — a crucial hub for oil and petrochemical exports near the Strait of Hormuz — has left 25 people dead and injured around 800 others, Mehr News Agency reported on Sunday, citing a local official.

The blast occurred at approximately 11:55am on Saturday at the Shahid Rajaee port facility in the city of Bandar Abbas.

Early Sunday morning, the director general of Hormozgan Province’s crisis management reported that 18 people had been confirmed dead, with the number of injured exceeding 800. He noted that about two-thirds of those hospitalized have already been discharged from medical centers, while the rest continue to receive treatment.

Firefighters were still battling the blaze late into the night. Authorities secured the area and adjacent customs facilities to conduct a probe, suspecting poor chemical storage as a possible cause.

“The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers,” Hossein Zafari, a spokesperson for the country’s crisis management organization, told Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA). “Previously, the director general of crisis management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger.”

However, the exact cause had not yet been officially determined, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told media outlets.

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Trump: Israel Won’t Drag Us Into War With Iran ‘But I’ll Lead The Pack’ If No Deal Made

Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi is in Oman preparing for the next round of nuclear talks with the United States, which will mark the third direct engagement, after President Trump just made an unexpected overture. Trump in a newly published Time interview says he is open to meeting Iran’s supreme leader or president, as the two sides have made clear they are open to achieving peace on the question of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

“I think we’re going to make a deal with Iran,” Trump said to Time. The US president was then questioned over whether he is open to meeting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei or President Masoud Pezeshkian, to which he responded: “Sure”.

Officials involved in the Iran dialogue have presented that “very good progress” has been made. This comes after last month Trump warned that Tehran can choose inking a peace deal or possibly face American bombs. 

“Ultimately I was going to leave that choice to them, but I said I would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped,” Trump described in the interview. “We can make a deal without the attack. I hope we can.”

There have been recent reports and fears that Prime Minister Netanyahu is seeking to drag the White House into waging preemptive attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.

But Trump has said he’s not worried that Israel would drag him into war. But that’s when he warned that, “I may go in very willingly if we can’t get a deal. If we don’t make a deal, I’ll be leading the pack.”

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Four dead, over 500 injured as ‘massive’ explosion hits Iran’s Bandar Abbas

A massive explosion and fire at Iran’s largest commercial port has killed at least four people and injured more than 500 others, authorities say.

“Unfortunately, at least four deaths have been confirmed by rescuers,” Babak Mahmoudi, head of the Red Crescent Society’s Relief and Rescue Organisation, said on the state television on Saturday.

The Iranian state media reported that at least 516 people were injured at the explosion at Shahid Rajaei port, located more than 1,000km (620 miles) south of the capital, Tehran.

Iranian state television said initial reports indicate negligence in the storage of flammable materials at the site, while Tehran Times reported that the explosion of several containers was the initial cause of the blast.

Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, director of Hormozgan province’s crisis management organisation, told state television that the injured have been transferred to medical facilities.

He said that safety officials had previously visited the site of the incident, and issued safety warnings.

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Iran Offers More Nuclear Transparency In Exchange For Lifting Sanctions

Iran says that ready to make its nuclear program more transparent at a moment it is preparing to send representatives for a third round of talks with the United States, set for April 26.

Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Tuesday that Tehran in return for this greater transparency wants US-led sanctions lifted.

“We will try to create more transparency and more trust [in the nuclear program] in exchange for lifting sanctions. In other words, in exchange for lifting sanctions — I emphasize, in a way that is effective and has a [positive] effect on people’s lives — Iran is ready to create more trust in its nuclear program and more transparency,” Mohajerani told reporters.

Mohajerani made clear that Tehran is ready to reach “good agreement” with the United States on nuclear issue. “We are confident that reaching a good agreement in a short time while respecting our national interests is realistic,” she said, calling the prior two rounds “good” amid a “constructive” atmosphere.

The day prior to these optimistic remarks, Iran’s Foreign Ministry warned that Israel was seeking to “undermine” the ongoing nuclear talks with Washington, amid reports in Israeli media that leaders are mulling a ‘limited’ attack on the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that a “kind of coalition is forming… to undermine and disrupt the diplomatic process” and that the “Zionist regime is at the center of this effort.”

Alluding to reports from last week of an internal US administration split on Iran, Baghaei further warned that hawks in the US are also involved in the effort to sabotage the talks. “Alongside it are a series of warmongering currents in the United States and figures from different factions,” he said.

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Israel still eyeing a limited attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months despite President Donald Trump telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. was for now unwilling to support such a move, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.

Israeli officials have vowed to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and Netanyahu has insisted that any negotiation with Iran must lead to the complete dismantling of its nuclear program.

U.S. and Iranian negotiators are set for a second round of preliminary nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday.

Over the past months, Israel has proposed to the Trump administration a series of options to attack Iran’s facilities, including some with late spring and summer timelines, the sources said. The plans include a mix of airstrikes and commando operations that vary in severity and could set back Tehran’s ability to weaponize its nuclear program by just months or a year or more, the sources said.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Trump told Netanyahu in a White House meeting earlier this month that Washington wanted to prioritize diplomatic talks with Tehran and that he was unwilling to support a strike on the country’s nuclear facilities in the short term.

But Israeli officials now believe that their military could instead launch a limited strike on Iran that would require less U.S. support. Such an attack would be significantly smaller than those Israel initially proposed.

It is unclear if or when Israel would move forward with such a strike, especially with talks on a nuclear deal getting started. Such a move would likely alienate Trump and could risk broader U.S. support for Israel.

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Israel considers ‘limited strike’ on Iran – Reuters

Israel is considering a “limited strike” on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, despite Washington’s refusal to support military action, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The deliberations come as the second round of US-Iran negotiations have concluded in Rome, with expert-level talks expected to continue on April 26 in Oman.

According to Reuters, Israeli officials are weighing a “limited strike” that would require minimal US support – unlike the larger and prolonged bombing campaign previously under consideration.

West Jerusalem reportedly presented Washington with several strike options, “including some with late spring and summer timelines.” A senior Israeli official told the outlet that no final decision had been made.

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that US President Donald Trump had rejected an Israeli proposal for “extensive” strikes, opting instead to pursue diplomacy.

“I’m not in a rush to do it, because I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death, and I’d like to see that. That’s my first option,” Trump told reporters on Thursday.

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