Many Iranians are worried as the United States assembles its greatest military firepower in decades in the Middle East and the next round of talks in Geneva get closer. There is a belief that the talks on Thursday may give their country's theocracy its last chance to strike a deal with President Donald Trump. There is also a feeling of hopelessness in a country battered by decades of sanctions, heightened by Trump's 2018 decision to withdraw from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. Iranians also last month suffered through the bloodiest crackdown on dissent in the country's modern history, with security forces killing thousands of people and detaining tens of thousands more.
Saudi Arabia could have some form of uranium enrichment within the kingdom under a proposed nuclear deal with the United States. That's according to congressional documents and an arms control group. Both U.S. Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden tried to reach a nuclear deal with the kingdom to share American technology. Nonproliferation experts warn any spinning centrifuges within Saudi Arabia could open the door to a possible weapons program for the kingdom. The kingdom's assertive crown prince has suggested he could pursue a nuclear weapon if Tehran obtains an atomic bomb.
President Donald Trump has warned that limited strikes against Iran are possible even as the country's top diplomat says Tehran expects to have a proposed deal ready in the next few days following nuclear talks with the U.S. Trump's remarks Friday came a few hours after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said on MSNOW's "Morning Joe" show that his country was planning to finalize a draft deal in "the next two to three days" to then send to Washington. The tensions between the longtime adversaries have ramped up as the Trump administration pushes for concessions from Iran and has built up the largest U.S. military presence in the Middle East in decades.
Iran and the United States have held indirect talks in Oman. The negotiations, while praised by Iran and Oman, appeared to be a return to the starting point on how to approach discussions over Tehran's nuclear program after multiple rounds were held last year before Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran. The presence of U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the American military's Central Command, at the talks Friday in Muscat also served as a reminder that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships stood off the coast of Iran in the Arabian Sea. President Donald Trump has threatened to use force to compel Iran into a deal.
The Trump administration’s stunning decision to drop 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities has touched off an inten…
Iran's president has ordered the country to suspend its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency after American airstrikes hit its most-important nuclear facilities. State media online on Wednesday reported the decision by President Masoud Pezeshkian. It follows a law passed by Iran's parliament to suspend that cooperation. It wasn't immediately clear what that would mean for U.N. watchdog IAEA. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled in a CBS News interview that Tehran still would be willing to continue negotiations with the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he expects Iran to open itself to international inspection to verify it doesn't restart its nuclear program. Asked during a White House news conference Friday if he would demand during expected talks with Iran that the International Atomic Energy Agency or some other organization be authorized to conduct inspections, Trump responded the Islamic republic would have to cooperate with that group "or somebody that we respect, including ourselves."
Israel's defense minister threatened Iran's supreme leader after Iranian missiles damaged a hospital in southern Israel and hit residential buildings near Tel Aviv. At least 240 people were wounded. Meanwhile Israel struck a heavy water reactor linked to Iran's nuclear program. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz blamed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said the military "has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist." U.S. officials said earlier this week that President Donald Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei. The White House announced Thursday that Trump will decide whether to join Israel's campaign against Iran's military and nuclear program within two weeks.
