Rubio, Britain's Lammy meet on Iranian nuclear capabilities
June 19 (UPI) -- Secretary of State Marco Rubio and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Thursday discussed the conflict between Israel and Iran and agreed that Iran should never possess a nuclear weapon, the State Department said.
The meeting in Washington, D.C., comes amid speculation that President Donald Trump will join Israel in its ongoing strikes against Iran.
"I may do it. I may not do it," Trump told a group of reporters after returning to the White House following a G7 summit in Canada. "I mean nobody knows what I'm going to do."
Israel and Iran have been in a proxy war for years, though it exploded into the open following Tehran-backed Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Last week, the fighting intensified with Israel launching a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, crippling the infrastructure and killing several top Iran military personnel and nuclear scientists.
Iran -- which does not have a nuclear weapon and states its nuclear program is peaceful -- has responded with strikes of its on.
Washington-based Human Rights Activists has said that at least 639 people have died in the Israeli strikes on Iran, 263 of them civilians.
Israel warned Thursday that it was targeting the area near the Arak heavy water reactor, about 155 miles west of Tehran. Israeli officials warned people on X to evacuate the area.
Rubio and Lammy also discussed other issues, including ways to cooperate on ending the current three-year war between Ukraine and Russia.
The pair also talked about an upcoming NATO summit and reaffirmed the importance of increased defense spending to secure peace and stability.
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Hard-nosed immigration law provokes boycotts against the state and is dismantled by the courts. Hard-nosed immigration law provokes boycotts against the state and is dismantled by the courts. Los Angeles ICE raids, 2025. A week of protest and rioting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement tells the Trump administration it can try to deport 11 million-plus people but will do so at its peril. Left-wing rent-a-mob did the damage in LA The Los Angeles protests were infiltrated by the so-called Omnicause, the left-wing rent-a-mob that moves from city to city trying to destabilize the old order. It's a motley crew of anarchists, ethno-nationalists and Marxists that bring their black bloc and umbrellas to social justice protests, university encampments and now immigration pushback. It wasn't migrant dishwashers who burned Waymos or menaced ICE agents in LA. 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'Even after taking into account today's larger U.S. population, the recent surge is the most rapid since at least 1850,' The Times reported. By 2023, the share of the U.S. population born in another country had soared to a new high ‒ 15.2%, The Times reported. In California that number is much larger – 27%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. As for Los Angeles County, a third of its residents are now foreign born. It is not a political statement to say that mass migration is disruptive. Virtually everywhere you see it today, in the United States, Western Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, it roils the masses. There is a reaction, and one that is often consequential. Trump is the least of California's problems The Los Angeles ICE raids were the reaction to the Biden immigration surge. Trump swooped in with federal agents, National Guard and the U.S. military with little or no consultation with his California counterparts. That triggered a counterreaction. But Trump is the least of the worries confronting California and its biggest city. Opinion: Democrats scream democracy is in peril ... while proving that it's absolutely fine Joel Kotkin, a longtime Angelino and national expert on urban form and policy, wrote in his June 11 Spiked column 'Los Angeles has fallen' that the city 'offers a masterclass in urban dysfunction." 'Drive through the streets of the South Side or along Central Avenue," he said, "and the ambience increasingly resembles that of Mexico City or Mumbai: cracked pavements, dilapidated buildings, outdoor swap-meet markets and food stalls serving customers, much as one would see in the developing world." Kotkin continued: 'LA's political establishment is now dominated by people who barely, if at all, support capitalism. While cities such as San Francisco, Houston and even New York shift back towards the political center ground, Los Angeles in 2022 elected Mayor Karen Bass, a lifelong leftist who travelled to Castro's Cuba as part of the Venceremos brigade.' The cost of living is pushing out the working class Kotkin isn't the voice of MAGA. He's a fierce Trump critic who was a lifelong Democrat until he grew disillusioned with both parties and registered independent. The one-party state of California has produced taxation and regulation that has been raising the cost of living and housing and pushing Californians – and in particular, the working class – out. That puts the state on track to lose four of its 52 congressional seats by 2030, according to the Public Policy Institute. Today, there is evidence that even in immigrant-friendly California, where Latinos are a plurality, patience is wearing thin. Asked in February 2024 if immigrants are a benefit or a burden to California, 60% of Californians said immigrants are a benefit. But that was down from 66% in June 2023 and 78% in February 2021, the Public Policy Institute reported. Latinos oppose LA riots and Trump's raids even more We have seen nationally that Latinos are assimilating into American culture and are becoming less of a distinguishable voting bloc for any political party. Opinion: Trump isn't destroying our 'democratic norms.' Progressives are. Perhaps that is why a YouGov survey of American attitudes on the Los Angeles protests shows that a plurality of Latinos, 44%, disapprove while 39% approve. That almost mirrors American attitudes across the board, with 45% disapproval and 36% approval. Good news for the Trump administration? Yes. But the same poll shows Latinos and Americans think even less of his immigration raids: 50% of Americans, including 55% of Latinos, disapprove of how Trump is conducting the ICE raids. If that isn't clear to Trump, let me make it clear. It's time to tune out your fanatic in the West Wing – Stephen Miller – and get a grip. You can't deport 11 million hardworking immigrants. You can deport the much smaller subgroup of bad guys who commit serious crimes. Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic, where this column originally published. Email him at
