IAEA chief relays Iran warning against Israeli strikes on nuclear facilities
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IAEA chief relays Iran warning against Israeli strikes on nuclear facilities
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said Iranians warned him that an Israel strike on the country’s nuclear facilities could cause Iran to be more determined about developing a nuclear weapon. Grossi, however, doubted that Israel would strike Tehran’snuclear facilities. The Iranian nuclear program “runs wide and deep,” Grossi told the Jerusalem Post. “Disrupting them would require overwhelming and devastating force,” he said. U.S. President Donald Trump said he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to take actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran.
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CAIRO, June 9 (Reuters) – International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said Iranians warned him that an Israel strike on the country’s nuclear facilities could cause Iran to be more determined about developing a nuclear weapon, according to an interview broadcast and published on Monday.
“A strike could potentially have an amalgamating effect, solidifying Iran’s determination – I will say it plainly – to pursue a nuclear weapon or withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,” Grossi said in the interview, published on the Jerusalem Post website and broadcast on i24NEWS TV on Monday.
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Grossi, however, doubted that Israel would strike Tehran’s nuclear facilities, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The Iranian nuclear program “runs wide and deep,” Grossi told the Jerusalem Post. “Disrupting them would require overwhelming and devastating force.”
Tehran and Washington have recently engaged in Oman-mediated nuclear talks. Iran is set to hand a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal to the United States via Oman, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, in response to a U.S. offer that Tehran deems “unacceptable”.
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to take actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran.
“I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we’re very close to a solution now,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “That could change at any moment.”
Trump and Netanyahu are expected to speak over the phone on Monday.
(This story has been corrected to fix the name of the television channel to i24NEWS in paragraph 2)
Reporting by Jaidaa Taha, Francois Murphy and Emily Rose; Editing by Leslie Adler
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Pentagon to deploy 700 Marines to Los Angeles, official says
The number of National Guard troops is expected to rise to 2,000 by Wednesday. It is unclear what exactly they will be doing in Los Angeles. The U.S. military cannot perform law enforcement activities inside the United States without invoking the Insurrection Act. The Pentagon often is called to respond to national crises.
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. military is set to temporarily deploy about 700 Marines to Los Angeles while additional National Guard troops arrive in the city, a U.S. official told Reuters on Monday.
About 300 California National Guard troops were deployed to the streets of Los Angeles on Sunday to help quell a third day of protests over President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement, a step Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom called unlawful.
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The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a battalion would be sent, but for now, the Insurrection Act is not expected to be invoked.
The number of National Guard troops is expected to rise to 2,000 by Wednesday and until then, the Marines are expected to provide support. It is unclear what exactly they will be doing.
The official added the situation was fluid and could change.
While the U.S. military cannot perform law enforcement activities inside the United States without invoking the Insurrection Act, the Pentagon often is called to respond to national crises, from the border mission to disaster relief to health emergencies. For example, during the pandemic, the U.S. military set up temporary hospitals.
Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Mark Porter and Rod Nickel
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Exclusive: Saudi warned Iran to reach nuclear deal with Trump or risk Israeli strike
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman in Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2025. Saudi Arabia’s defence minister delivered a blunt message to Iranian officials in Tehran last month: take President Donald Trump’s offer to negotiate a nuclear agreement seriously. Saudi minister said it would be better to reach a deal with the U.S. than face the United States than face an Israeli attack if the talks broke down, according to the four sources. The world’s most successful companies are those that have the ability to change the way they are perceived by the public and the public at large. To find out more about the companies that are changing the way the public see the world, go to: http://www.reuters.com/article/business/technology/top-10-most-successful-companies-in-the-world-to-be-revealed-for-the first time-ever-this-year-on-a-new-year’s-list.
Item 1 of 7 Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman in Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Summary Prince Khalid delivered King Salman’s urgent message during Tehran trip
Riyadh urged rapid progress on US-Iran nuclear talks, sources say
Prince said Trump’s approach leaves little room for drawn-out talks
Stalled deal could risk triggering Israeli military action, he warned
DUBAI, May 30 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s defence minister delivered a blunt message to Iranian officials in Tehran last month: take President Donald Trump’s offer to negotiate a nuclear agreement seriously because it presents a way to avoid the risk of war with Israel.
Alarmed at the prospect of further instability in the region, Saudi Arabia’s 89-year-old King Salman bin Abdulaziz dispatched his son, Prince Khalid bin Salman, with the warning destined for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to two Gulf sources close to government circles and two Iranian officials.
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Present at the closed-door meeting in Tehran, which took place on April 17 in the presidential compound, were Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, armed forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the sources said.
While media covered the 37-year-old prince’s visit, the content of the King Salman’s covert message has not been previously reported.
Prince Khalid, who was Saudi ambassador to Washington during Trump’s first term, warned Iranian officials that the U.S. leader has little patience for drawn-out negotiations, according to the four sources.
Trump had unexpectedly announced just over a week earlier that direct talks were taking place with Tehran, aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief. He did so in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had travelled to Washington hoping instead to win support for attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.
In Tehran, Prince Khalid told the group of senior Iranian officials that Trump’s team would want to reach a deal quickly, and the window for diplomacy would close fast, according to the four sources.
The Saudi minister said it would be better to reach a deal with the U.S. than face the possibility of an Israeli attack if the talks broke down, according to the two Gulf sources.
He argued that the region – already riven by recent conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon – could not withstand a further escalation in tensions, said the two Gulf sources and one senior foreign diplomat familiar with the discussions.
Iranian authorities did not respond to a request for comment before this story was published, but after its publication Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei “categorically denied” Reuters’ report, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency. Authorities in Saudi Arabia did not respond to a request for comment.
The visit by Prince Khalid – the younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – was the first by a senior member of the Saudi royal family to Iran in more than two decades. Riyadh and Tehran had long been bitter rivals, often backing opposing sides in proxy wars, until a rapprochement brokered by China in 2023 helped to ease the tensions and restored diplomatic ties.
Over the past two years, Iran’s regional position has been undermined by heavy military blows inflicted by Israel on its allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and toppling of its close ally, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Western sanctions, meanwhile, have hit its oil-dependent economy hard.
Mohanad Hage Ali, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Middle East Center think tank in Beirut, said that Tehran’s weakness had offered Saudi Arabia the opportunity to exert its diplomatic influence, seeking to avoid a regional conflagration.
“They (the Saudis) want to avoid war because war and confrontation with Iran will have negative implications on them and their economic vision and ambitions,” he told Reuters.
IRAN WANTS A DEAL
Reuters was unable to determine the impact of the prince’s message on Iran’s leadership.
In the meeting, Pezeshkian responded that Iran wanted a deal to ease economic pressure through the lifting of Western sanctions, the four sources said.
However, the Iranian officials, the sources added, expressed concerns over the Trump administration’s “unpredictable” approach to negotiations — which have veered from allowing limited uranium enrichment to demanding the complete dismantling of Tehran’s enrichment program.
Trump also has threatened to use military force if diplomacy fails to rein in the clerical establishment’s nuclear ambitions.
One of the Iranian sources said that Pezeshkian emphasized Tehran’s eagerness to reach a deal but that Iran was not willing to sacrifice its enrichment program just because Trump wanted an agreement.
The ongoing talks between Washington and Tehran have already been through five rounds to resolve the decades-long nuclear dispute, but multiple stumbling blocks remain, including the key issue of enrichment.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Iran might pause uranium enrichment if the U.S. releases its frozen funds and recognises its right to refine uranium for civilian use under a “political deal” that could lead to a broader nuclear accord, according to two Iranian sources familiar with the talks. The semi-official Fars news agency in Iran quoted a foreign ministry spokesman denying the report.
The White House did not directly address Reuters’ questions about whether it was aware of the Saudi warning to Iran.
“President Trump has made it clear: make a deal, or face grave consequences, and the whole world is clearly taking him seriously, as they should,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Trump said on Wednesday he warned Netanyahu last week not to take any actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran, and said the two sides were “very close to a solution now”.
Israeli authorities did not respond to a request for comment.
HIGH STAKES
A four-day visit by Trump to the Gulf this month annointed Saudi Arabia as the most prominent member of a new axis of Sunni states in the Middle East, filling the void left by Iran’s shattered alliance. During the trip, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman mediated a reconciliation between Trump and Syria’s new Sunni leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Tehran’s regional sway, meanwhile, has been diminished by military setbacks suffered by Iran and its allies in the Shi’ite-dominated Axis of Resistance, which include Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and Iraqi militias
In the meeting, Prince Khalid urged Iran to rethink its regional policy, noting such a shift would be welcomed, especially by Riyadh, the sources said.
Although he stopped short of directly blaming Iran, the Saudi minister voiced concern over a possible repeat of the 2019 drone attacks on the facilities of state oil company Aramco – attacks the kingdom attributed to Iran and its Houthi allies, despite Tehran’s denial.
Iranian officials maintained that while Tehran holds some influence over the Houthis, it does not fully control their actions, the Iranian sources said.
Decades of hostility between the Shi’ite Iran and Saudi Arabia destabilised the Gulf and fuelled regional conflicts from Yemen to Syria. The 2023 detente was driven in part by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed’s economic ambitions and desire for stability, and has led to increased contacts between the governments.
However, neither Saudi Arabia nor other regional powers see Iran as a dependable partner for peace and they fear its actions could jeopardize their ambitions for economic development, diplomats and regional experts say.
Prince Khalid implored the Iranians to avoid actions by them and their allies that might provoke Washington, stressing that Trump’s response would likely be more strident than his predecessors, presidents Joe Biden and Barak Obama.
In turn, he assured Tehran that Riyadh would not let its territory or airspace to be used by the United States or Israel for any potential military action against Iran, the sources said.
Reporting by Samia Nakhoul and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington and Dubai newsroom; Writing by Samia Nakhoul; Editing by Daniel Flynn
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Trump says he told Israel’s Netanyahu not to act against Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week not to take actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran. Israel earlier rejected a report it was weighing an Iran strike. Israel was concerned deal would allow Iran to keep nuclear facilities, New York Times reported. Trump bypassed Israel on his trip to the Middle East this month and has made policy announcements that have shaken Israel’s assumptions about its relations with the U.S., it has been reported. Back to Mail Online home. Back into the page you came from. Back To the pageYou came from: Back to the page You came from, it’s on the page of this article, it has the headline “Trump says very close to a solution”
Summary Trump says very close to a solution on Iran nuclear talks
Israel earlier rejected a report it was weighing an Iran strike
Israel was concerned deal would allow Iran to keep nuclear facilities, New York Times reported
WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM, May 28 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week not to take actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran.
“I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we’re very close to a solution now,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. “That could change at any moment.”
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Israel earlier rejected a report in the New York Times that Netanyahu has been threatening to disrupt talks on a nuclear deal between the United States and Iran by striking Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities.
Citing officials briefed on the situation, the newspaper said Israeli officials were concerned that Trump was so eager to reach a deal with Iran that he would allow Tehran to keep its nuclear enrichment facilities, a red line for Israel.
Israel was particularly concerned about the possibility of any interim deal that would allow Iran to maintain its nuclear facilities for months or even years while a final agreement was reached, the paper reported.
U.S. officials were concerned Israel could decide to strike Iran with little warning and said U.S. intelligence estimated that Israel could mount an attack on Iran in as little as seven hours, the paper reported.
Netanyahu’s office issued a statement in response to the article which said simply: “Fake news.”
The New York Times said it stood by the report.
“The New York Times reporting on this matter is thorough and based on discussions with people directly familiar with the matter. We remain confident in what we published,” a spokesperson said in an email.
The paper said Netanyahu’s minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, and David Barnea, head of the foreign intelligence agency Mossad, met Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Rome on Friday.
The two then travelled to Washington for a meeting on Monday with CIA director John Ratcliffe, before Dermer met Witkoff again on Tuesday.
One of the main sticking points in the talks between U.S. and Iranian officials has been U.S. insistence that Iran give up its nuclear enrichment facilities, a demand Iran rejects.
On Monday, U.S. Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem said she had a “very candid conversation” with Netanyahu on the negotiations with Iran.
She said she told the Israeli prime minister that Trump had asked her to convey “how important it is that we stay united and let this process play out.”
Trump bypassed Israel on his trip to the Middle East this month and has made policy announcements that have shaken Israel’s assumptions about its relations with the U.S.
Netanyahu has dismissed speculation about a falling out with the U.S. administration, while Trump has also brushed off any suggestion of a break.
Reporting by James Mackenzie, Nandita Bose and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Bill Berkrot
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Iran braces for Trump victory, fearing more Israeli strikes, Western sanctions
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump is on hand to talk about his business. He will be talking about his company, his business and his career. He also will be discussing his business, his career and his life. He is also talking about how he is changing the way the world looks at the world and the way it looks back at him. His company, Trump, will be speaking about his new business and how he has changed the way people see the world. His career will also be changing as he talks about the way he sees the world, and what he wants to do with his life in the future. His business will also change as he learns more about the industry and the people who work in it. His life will be changed as well, and he will be able to see the people he has met and the things he has done with them in the past, as well as what he is going to do in the next few years. He said, “I’m going to start a new life, a new career, and a new way of seeing the world.”
Item 1 of 4 Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during a rally, in Henderson, Nevada, U.S. October 31, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Summary Iran faces diminished leverage if Trump wins Nov. 5 US election
Trump could grant Israel green light to hit Iran nuclear sites
Possible US-Saudi defence pact to shift balance of power
Tehran recognises ‘new architecture’ in making in Middle East
Iran’s accelerated nuclear enrichment programme raising alarm
DUBAI, Nov 1 (Reuters) – Iran’s leadership and allies are bracing for what they would regard as a dreadful outcome of the imminent U.S. presidential election : A return to power of Donald Trump.
Opinion polls suggest the Republican Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris remain locked in a close contest. But Iranian leaders and their regional allies in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen are concerned that Trump could well triumph on Nov. 5 and this could spell more trouble for them.
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Iran’s main concern is the potential for Trump to empower Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, conduct targeted assassinations and reimpose his “maximum pressure policy” through heightened sanctions on their oil industry, according to Iranian, Arab and Western officials.
They anticipate that Trump, who was president in 2017-21, will exert utmost pressure on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to cave in by accepting a nuclear containment deal on terms set by himself and Israel.
This potential change in U.S. leadership could have far-reaching implications for the Middle East balance of power, and might reshape Iran’s foreign policy and economic prospects.
Analysts argue that whether the next U.S. administration is led by Harris or Trump, Iran will lack the leverage it once held – largely due to Israel’s year-old military campaign aimed at degrading the Islamic Republic’s armed proxies, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon
However, Trump’s stance is perceived as more detrimental to Iran due to his more automatic support for Israel, they added.
“Trump will either put very tough conditions on Iran or let Israel carry out targeted strikes on its nuclear facilities. He is fully endorsing a military action against Iran,” Abdelaziz al-Sagher, head of the Gulf Research Center think-tank, said.
“It’s Netanyahu’s dream day to have Trump back in the White House,” he told Reuters.
POISON CHALICE?
A senior Iranian official who declined to be named told Reuters Tehran was “prepared for all scenarios. We have (for decades) consistently found ways to export oil, bypassing harsh U.S. sanctions…, and have strengthened our ties with the rest of the world no matter who was in the White House.”
But another Iranian official said a Trump victory would be “a nightmare. He will raise pressure on Iran to please Israel…, make sure oil sanctions are fully enforced. If so, (our) establishment will be economically paralysed.”
In an election speech in October, Trump stated his unwillingness to go to war with Iran, but said Israel should “hit the Iranian nuclear first and worry about the rest later”, in response to Iran’s missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes on Iranian military targets, especially missile production sites, on Oct. 26.
Iran’s choices are limited going forward, analysts say.
“The reality is: Trump is going to support Netanyahu and give him the green light to do whatever he wants,” said Hassan Hassan, an author and researcher on Islamic groups. “Trump is much worse (than Harris) for Iran.”
Hassan noted that Washington has delegated a substantial share of responsibility to Israel in the conflict with Iran and its proxies, with Israel leading the way. “The U.S. is involved enough in that it’s backing Israel, may be more so than before.
“This time it’s just things are really bad for Iran. Iran is seen as a problem by both Republicans and Democrats.”
During her campaign, Harris called Iran a “dangerous” and “destabilising” force in the Middle East and said the U.S. was committed to Israel’s security. She said the U.S. would work with allies to disrupt Iran’s “aggressive behaviour”.
But Trump’s re-election would be a “poisoned chalice”, for Khamenei, according to two regional officials.
If he were to reinstate stringent sanctions, Khamenei may be forced to negotiate and accept a nuclear pact more favourable to U.S. and Israeli term to preserve theocratic rule in Iran, which is facing growing foreign pressure and has been buffeted by bouts of mass protest at home in recent years.
A U.S.-Saudi defence pact tied to Riyadh’s establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, now in its final negotiating stages, poses a significant challenge to Khamenei too.
This alliance threatens to shift the regional balance of power by creating a more unified front against Iran, impacting its geopolitical standing and strategy in the Middle East.
NEW ARCHITECTURE
Hassan said recent attacks on Iran and its allies have been widely perceived as a significant success for Israel. They offered insights into what a limited strike on Iran might look like, setting a precedent and altering assumptions that military action on Iran would inevitably spark a wider Middle East war.
A senior Arab security official said that Tehran could “no longer brandish its influence through its armed proxies” in the wake of Israel’s deadly strikes on Hezbollah and Hamas leaders.
For its own part, Iran has every reason to fear another Trump term.
It was Trump who in 2018 unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and ordered the killing of Qassem Soleimani, Khamenei’s right-hand man and mastermind of overseas attacks on U.S. and allied interests.
Trump also imposed punitive sanctions targeting Iran’s oil export revenues and international banking transactions, which led to extreme economic hardship and exacerbated public discontent in the Islamic Republic.
He frequently said during his presidential campaign that President Joe Biden’s policy of not rigorously enforcing oil export sanctions has weakened Washington and emboldened Tehran, allowing it to sell oil, accumulate cash and expand its nuclear pursuits and influence through armed militias.
In March, he told Israel’s Hayom newspaper in an interview that Iran could have a nuclear weapon in 35 days and that Israel – which deems Iran’s nuclear activity an existential threat though is widely thought to have the region’s only nuclear arms – was in a “very treacherous and dangerous neighbourhood”.
An Arab government adviser noted that Tehran recognises there is a “new architecture in the making”, but also that Trump despite his tough rhetoric realises there is no alternative to a deal with Iran given its accelerated uranium enrichment program.
“Trump might aim for a new nuclear agreement, he could say I tore up the 2015 agreement because it was incomplete and replace it with a long-lasting agreement, touting it to ‘make America great again’ and preserve U.S. interests,” the adviser said.
As the 2015 deal has eroded over the years, Iran has escalated the level of fissile purity in enriched uranium, cutting the time it would need to build an atom bomb if it chose to, though it denies wanting to.
Iran Online, a state-run news website, stated that when Trump left office, Iran was capping enrichment at 3.67 percent under the deal, far below the 90 percent of weapons grade.
Now, Iran has “enriched uranium to 60% with IR-6 advanced centrifuges” and could achieve nuclear weapons capability “within a few weeks … Completing the nuclear deterrence cycle is Iran’s greatest trump card against Trump,” it said.
Arab and Western officials warn that the more Iran hints it is nearing development of an atom bomb, the more they incite the need for Israel to strike.
“If Trump reassumes power, he will support Israeli plans to strike Iranian nuclear facilities,” a Western official said.
Reporting by Samia Nakhoul and Parisa Hafezi; writing by Samia Nakhoul; editing by Mark Heinrich
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