Category Archives: Iran’s nuclear programme

The US and Iran are still perilously close to conflict | Ali Vaez

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Even amid the coronavirus crisis, the countries are trading threats. A de-escalation hotline is desperately needed

A dangerous encounter between the Iranian and US navies in the Persian Gulf last month, provoked by 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ speedboats, and President Trump’s threat one week later to shoot Iranian gunboats out of water if this happens again, are stark reminders of the short fuse between the two countries amid growing tensions. If they want conflict to wag the dog and deflect attention from their failures to fight the Covid-19 outbreak in their respective countries, they can easily stumble into one; but if they don’t, as they often claim, they should find a way to establish a military hotline.

Related: Iranian boats come 'dangerously' close to US navy warships

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Iran’s supreme leader calls Trump ‘clown’ in rare Friday sermon

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Remark came as US revealed 11 of its troops had been injured in 8 January missile attacks

Iran’s supreme leader has delivered a rare sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran in which he described Donald Trump as a “clown” who pretended to support the Iranian people but would push a poisonous dagger into their backs.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei struck a defiant tone following weeks of domestic and international turbulence, including the US killing of a top general, missile attacks on US military bases in Iraq and the accidental downing of an airliner that killed 176 people.

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The Guardian view on Trump’s folly: racing to war | Editorial

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If the 2015 nuclear pact cannot be rebuilt or a new one struck, then the choice will be to let Iran have the bomb or to bomb Iran

Next week the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will unveil the current time on its Doomsday Clock, meant to convey the nuclear dangers facing the world. The closer the clock is to midnight, the greater the existential threat. If the stand-off between Iran and Donald Trump persists, or takes a frightening turn for the worse, then the clock’s hands may be closer to the bell tolling than they have ever been. This would mean the danger to the planet was judged greater than at any time since the first H-bomb tests.

The drumbeat of war reverberates around the Middle East. On Tuesday, Britain, France and Germany said that they had been “left with no choice” but to trigger a dispute mechanism in the six-nation nuclear deal with Iran after Tehran declared, in the aftermath of the US assassination of its top general, that it would no longer observe the pact’s “operational restrictions”. Iran’s president then warned that European soldiers in the Middle East “could be in danger”, a clear indication that if the continent stood with Mr Trump then its forces could expect to be treated as enemy combatants.

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European troops may be at risk after dispute process triggered – Iran

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Hassan Rouhani’s threat to western allies comes amid fears of reimposition of sanctions

Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani has warned that European soldiers in the Middle East could be in danger after the UK, France and Germany triggered a dispute mechanism in the nuclear agreement that could lead to the reimposition of international sanctions on the country.

Rouhani’s remarks on Wednesday were the first direct threat he has made against European powers as tensions have grown between Tehran and Washington since Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the nuclear deal more than 18 months ago.

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Trump backs away from further military confrontation with Iran

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‘Iran appears to be standing down,’ Trump said, in an uncharacteristically sober speech following rising tensions between US and Iran

Donald Trump backed away from further military confrontation with Iran on Wednesday after days of escalating tensions, saying Tehran appeared to be standing down following missile attacks on two Iraqi bases hosting US and coalition troops.

Flanked by the vice-president, Mike Pence, the defense secretary, Mark Esper, and other high ranking military officials in uniform, Trump delivered remarks in the Grand Foyer of the White House, hours after Iran declared the attack to be retaliation for the US drone strike last week that killed the senior Iranian Gen Qassem Suleimani.

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Diplomacy over Iran is still possible – if only to avoid an all-out war

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Tehran has vowed revenge for the killing of Qassem Suleimani but conflict is not yet certain

The threats emanating from Twitter feeds and podiums in Tehran and Washington might suggest the moment for diplomacy has long passed, and some form of war between the US and Iran following the assassination of Qassem Suleimani is now inevitable.

The only consideration that might hold the two sides back is the possible consequences. Tehran has tasted the unpredictability of Donald Trump and however much the desire for revenge beats in the hearts of Iranians, European leaders are pleading with Tehran’s leadership, saying it has a responsibility to use its head and recognise any direct attack on US assets in the Middle East is likely to be met with a further escalation by Trump.

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Iran warns security forces may act against petrol price rise protests

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Interior minster says authorities will intervene if public properties are damaged in protests that have spread across country

Iran’s interior minister has warned that security forces will act to restore calm if those protesting against the 50% increase in petrol prices “damaged public properties”, as anti-government protests spread across Iran.

Protesters blocked traffic in major cities and clashed with police after a night of demonstrations punctuated by gunfire. At least one person has reportedly been killed.

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Iran’s production of enriched uranium rises tenfold in two months

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Experts warn of dangerous consequences as nuclear deal continues to unravel

Iran has announced a tenfold increase in enriched uranium production as Tehran backs away from its nuclear deal with the west.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s atomic energy organisation, said enriched uranium production was now at 5kg per day, up from 450g two months ago. The announcement coincided with the 40th anniversary of the Iranian takeover of the US embassy.

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Trump to blame for failure of US-Iran nuclear talks – Rouhani

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Iranian president tells cabinet the country had been ready to accept terms of French UN plan

The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, has told his cabinet that while the country had been ready to end its nuclear stand-off with the US broadly on terms set out by France at the United Nations, Donald Trump was not prepared to make public an apparent private offer to lift sanctions.

Although his account is inherently not impartial, it is the fullest version of behind-the-scenes diplomacy at the UN general assembly provided by the Iranians.

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EU may be forced to withdraw from nuclear deal, Iran told

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EU warns it may have no choice if Iran takes further steps away from deal

The European Union has privately warned Iran that it will be forced to start withdrawing from the nuclear deal in November if Tehran goes ahead with its threat to take new steps away from the deal.

Iran has already taken three separate calibrated steps away from the deal, and has warned it will take a fourth in November unless the US lifts economic sanctions.

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Scott Morrison insists Australia will not be drawn into any military conflict with Iran

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Prime minister says there is no discussion of Australian involvement after Donald Trump’s recent comments

Scott Morrison insists Australia will not be drawn into any military conflict with Iran, declaring our commitment is limited to protecting freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Donald Trump, who flagged the prospect of a military strike against Iran, including, possibly, with nuclear weapons, during a meeting with Morrison in the Oval Office, before backtracking and saying his preference was for restraint – has sent additional troops and enhanced air and missile defence systems to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in response to a drone attack on Saudi oil facilities on 14 September.

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Iran threatens ‘all-out war’ if action taken over Saudi oil strike

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Foreign minister’s comments further inflame tensions in Persian Gulf after oil attacks

Iran’s foreign minister has warned that any attack on his country after a series of missile strikes on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry would result in “all-out war”.

Javad Zarif also demanded that Riyadh hand over the evidence that it claimed proved the attack came from Iran, and not from Houthi-occupied Yemen.

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Rouhani says US ‘warmongering’ against Iran will fail

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President Hassan Rouhani signals approval of firing of national security adviser

Iran’s president has urged the US to “put warmongers aside” as tensions roil the Persian Gulf amid an escalating crisis between Washington and Tehran after the collapsing nuclear deal with world powers.

Hassan Rouhani’s remarks signalled approval of Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of John Bolton as national security adviser. Bolton had been hawkish on Iran and other global challenges.

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Netanyahu accuses Iran of hiding evidence of nuclear facility

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Israel’s opposition says prime minister’s claims are an election campaign stunt

Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled what he claims was a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility and accused Tehran of destroying the site to hide the evidence.

“This is what I have to say to the tyrants of Tehran,” Netanyahu said. “Israel knows what you’re doing, Israel knows when you’re doing it, and Israel knows where you’re doing it.”

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British-Iranian relations strained as oil tanker is seen off Syria

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Adrian Darya, previously called Grace 1, photographed near Russian navy facility

Britain is seeking to establish whether Iran has sold oil to Syria in breach of written undertakings given by Tehran to authorities in Gibraltar.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that a tanker seized by British Marines on 9 July and released in August had reached its final destination “on the Mediterranean coast” and sold its oil – without identifying the country.

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Iran to free seven crew members of seized British-flagged tanker

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Move comes as president gives Europe two-month deadline to save nuclear deal

Iran has said it will free seven crew members of a British-flagged tanker seized in the strait of Hormuz in July, as the country’s president gave Europe a two-month deadline to save its nuclear deal.

The seven, who are part of a 23-member crew comprising Indian, Russian, Latvia and Filipino nationals, were allowed to leave the Stena Impero tanker on humanitarian grounds and will be able to leave Iran soon, Iranian state television reported. The vessel’s owner said it had yet to receive any official confirmation of the release date.

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Iran voices optimism over nuclear deal after talks with France

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Tehran says gap is closing on views after phone conversation between Macron and Rouhani

Iran and France have moved closer in their views on the future of Tehran’s nuclear deal with the west after talks between the countries’ presidents, the Iranian government has said.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, spoke for two hours by telephone, a spokesman said, as Paris continued its diplomatic initiative to salvage the deal, which has been at risk of unravelling since the US withdrew last year.

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Iran president steps back from possible Trump talks

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Hassan Rouhani says US must first lift sanctions before summit can take place

Iran’s president has back-pedalled on possible talks with Donald Trump, saying the US president must first lift sanctions imposed on Tehran, otherwise a meeting between the two would be a mere photo op.

Hassan Rouhani’s change of heart came a day after Trump said there was a “really good chance” the two could meet after a surprise intervention by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, during the G7 summit to try to bring Washington and Tehran together.

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Donald Trump calls Iran ‘number one nation of terror’ – video

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The US president has accused Iran of being the world's 'number one nation of terror', saying it was 'too soon' for talks between the two countries. He said the US would be willing to 'make Iran rich again' if it halted its nuclear programme. Trump had opted not to meet Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, who made an unscheduled appearance at the G7 summit, in Biarritz, on Sunday

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G7 summit: Iran foreign minister makes surprise Biarritz appearance

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Visit comes during summit at which policy on Iran has been one of most contentious issues

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has made a surprise appearance in Biarritz meeting Emmanuel Macron, in the midst of a G7 summit where western policy towards Iran has been one of the most contentious issues.

On Sunday evening, Zarif posted a picture on Twitter of his meeting with the French president and the foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, reportedly in the office of the Biarritz mayor, across the road from a building where G7 leaders had been meeting. The Iranian foreign minister said he had also provided a briefing for British and German officials.

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