Iran says nuclear talks with US 'meaningless' after Israel attack
CAIRO, June 14 (Reuters) - Iran said on Friday the dialogue with the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear programme is "meaningless" after Israel's biggest-ever military strike against its longstanding enemy, accusing Washington of supporting the attack.
"The other side (the U.S.) acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless. You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime (Israel) to target Iran's territory," the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying.
He said Israel "succeeded in influencing" the diplomatic process and the Israeli attack would not have happened without Washington's permission.
Iran earlier accused the U.S. of being complicit in Israel's attacks, but Washington denied the allegation and told Tehran at the United Nations Security Council that it would be "wise" to negotiate over its nuclear programme.
The sixth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks was set to be held on Sunday in Muscat, but it was unclear whether it would go ahead after the Israeli strikes.
Iran denies that its uranium enrichment programme is for anything other than civilian purposes, rejecting Israeli allegations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.
U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters that he and his team had known the Israeli attacks were coming but they still saw room for an accord.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
13 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
RAF fighter jets to be scrambled to Middle East as Israel-Iran conflict spirals and Tehran threatens to strike UK bases
It comes as Iran and Israel teeter on the brink of all-out war WAR FOOTING RAF fighter jets to be scrambled to Middle East as Israel-Iran conflict spirals and Tehran threatens to strike UK bases Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BRITISH fighter jets are being deployed to the Middle East to protect British assets amid the spiralling Israel-Iran conflict, Sir Keir Starmer says. The Prime Minister bolstered our military presence in the region after Tehran warned the UK that our bases and ships are at risk. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Sign up 7 RAF jets will be deployed to the Middle East to protect British assets 7 It comes after Iran's ballistic missile strikes on Tel Aviv, pictured 7 A building is hit by a missile in Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 13 7 Sir Keir Starmer has decided to scramble British jets to the Middle East The escalation came after Iranian state media said American, British and French military bases would be in the firing line if they blocked Iran's drone and missile retaliation. The Prime Minister, on his way to the G7 summit in Canada, said: 'I will always make the right decisions for the UK and our allies. 'We are moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support in the region. "I will be clear-eyed in relation to our duties and obligations and my duties as Prime Minister.' read more politics TUCH RAP Vile chants about PM 'not acceptable' Tuchel tells England fans after Andorra win Military capabilities such as further refuelling aircraft and additional fast jets will be deployed in the wake of the threat – adding to our presence there under Operation Shader. The aircraft started their preparation for heading to the Middle East on Friday morning when Ministers realised the situation was rapidly deteriorating. It comes after Israel launched strikes on Iran's nuclear plants which triggered Tehran to hit back across the country with ballistic missiles - raising fears of an all-out war. Israel vowed "Tehran will burn" after they were hit with four deadly waves of missiles aimed at the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) headquarters in Tel Aviv which have killed at least three people. Sir Keir Starmer's intervention comes after a diplomatic blitz by telephone in the last 48 hours to the leaders of the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel, to calm tensions. Speaking about his conversation with Donald Trump, the PM added: 'I've obviously discussed that with President Trump yesterday, as you would expect, and what the possible routes to de-escalation are given the situation, we find ourselves in. 'I think there's a widespread concern about escalation, everybody can see what's going on and it can have on the region and beyond the region is obvious.' Iran Responds to Israeli Missile Attacks with strikes of its own The PM insisted he will be holding 'intense negotiations' face-to-face with fellow leaders at the G7 on Sunday. He refused to get into any detail on whether he knew about the Israel attack in advance. He said: 'We do have long standing concerns about the nuclear program Iran has. "We do recognize Israel's right to self-defence, but I'm absolutely clear that this needs to de-escalate. He continued: 'There is a huge risk of escalation for the region. More widely in terms of conflict, you can see the impact already on the economy and oil prices. 'And of course, all of this is linked to what's going on in Gaza. So you can see why my strong position is this needs to de-escalate, and that is the primary focus of the discussions that I've been having and will continue to be.' Foreign Secretary David Lammy had conversations with representatives from Iran, Jordan and Saudi Arabia as well as European foreign ministers on Friday. Tensions between Israel, the US and Iran have ramped up in recent weeks, amid negotiations over the Iranian nuclear deal - which is aimed at stopping the country from developing nuclear weapons. The Iranian ballistic missile strikes on Israel descended on the civilian population across the country and managed to severely damage some neighbourhoods in Tel Aviv. The country's defence minister Israel Katz said Iran "crossed red lines after it dared to attack the civilian population" and will now "pay a heavy price for it". He added: "If Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn." Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the conflict between Israel and Iran, as well as efforts towards a Ukraine settlement in a phone call with US counterpart Donald Trump, Russian state media reported Saturday. "The dangerous escalation in the Middle East was of course at the centre of the exchange," the agencies cited the Kremlin as saying. It added that Putin also informed Trump about the "implementation of the agreements reached at the meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul on June 2". 7 Israeli air defence systems do battle with Iranian missiles in the skies Credit: AP 7 The first strikes hit Tehran in the early hours of Friday Credit: AP
The Guardian
14 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Israel claims it has gained control of airspace over Tehran
Israel has claimed to have gained control of the skies over the Iranian capital and warned that 'Tehran will burn' if more missiles are fired at its territory, but the Iranian leadership remained defiant, vowing a 'more severe and powerful response' and threatened to widen the war by striking ships and bases of Israeli allies. The mutual threats reflected the risks of a dramatic escalation in the conflict, as US-Iranian negotiations planned before the war in Oman were abandoned after Tehran said they would be 'meaningless', and Israel appeared to target Iran's gas industry. Israeli rhetoric reflected its leaders' growing confidence that they have gained the upper hand, and raised questions over whether Israeli war aims could go beyond the stated objective of crippling Iran's nuclear programme. The threat to destroy Tehran was delivered by Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, after Iran responded to the surprise Israeli attack on Friday morning with a barrage of several hundred ballistic missiles and drones, a small percentage of which succeeded in penetrating Israeli defences and killed three people in Tel Aviv and Rishon LeZion. Katz, whose forces have already razed large parts of Gaza, held Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, responsible for Tehran's fate. 'The Iranian dictator is taking the citizens of Iran hostage, bringing about a reality in which they, and especially Tehran's residents, will pay a heavy price for the flagrant harm inflicted upon Israel's citizens,' Katz said. 'If Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn.' The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted the air defences around the capital city on Saturday morning and became increasingly confident they had achieved complete air superiority and freedom of action. 'The aerial roadTehran is effectively open,' an IDF official said. Later in the day, Benjamin Netanyahu said: 'In the very near future, you will see Israeli air force jets over the skies of Tehran.' Air force warplanes, the Israeli prime minister said, would target 'any site and any target of the Ayatollah regime', after dealing a 'real blow' to Iran's nuclear programme. A few hours later, Iranian media reported a 'massive explosion' at a refinery in the port city of Kangan, linked to the South Pars gas field, the world's largest. The media reports said it had been struck by an Israeli drone, which would be the first attack on Iran's oil and gas industry, a development with potentially huge economic and environmental consequences. The IDF did not immediately comment on the attack, and Iran's oil ministry said the resulting fire had been extinguished by late evening. Iranian leaders maintained a defiant front. The president, Masoud Pezeshkian, pledged that continued Israeli attacks would produce a 'more severe and powerful response', the new Revolutionary Guards commander vowed his forces would 'open the gates of hell' on Israel, and Iranian state media quoted officials as warning the US, UK and France that their military bases and ships will be targeted if they helped shoot down Iran's missiles and drones. The US and France have already stated their readiness to defend Israel, and American media reports have suggested that US forces have already been in action. The UK government has said its forces had not provided any military assistance to Israel and the prime minister, Keir Starmer, has emphasised the need for de-escalation. Following through on the threat would be an enormous gamble for Iran, drawing western forces further into the conflict when it is already reeling under the force of sustained Israeli bombing. Speaking at a session of the UN security council on Friday, the US diplomat McCoy Pitt warned: 'No government proxy or independent actor should target American citizens, American bases or other American infrastructure in the region. The consequences for Iran would be dire.' At the same time, Israel's air defences have shown themselves capable of minimising the danger posed by Iranian missiles and drones. The IDF said Iran had so far fired about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel and launched more than that number of drones but claimed the overwhelming majority had been intercepted. The Iranian response has also been further blunted by Israel's targeted killing of Tehran's senior generals, almost completely wiping out the top echelons of the chain of the command. On Saturday, the IDF claimed to have killed two more: the head of intelligence for the armed forces, Gholam-Reza Marhabi, and the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ballistic missile arm, Mohammad Hossein Bagheri. In total since the start of the war, the IDF said Israeli warplanes had attacked 150 targets inside Iran with hundreds of munitions. Iranian state media said that a fighter jet hangar at Tehran's Mehrabad airport had also been targeted. Iran's state TV said about 60 people, including 20 children, had been killed in an attack on a housing complex in Tehran. Iran's envoy to the UN security council, Amir Saeid Iravani, said on Friday that 78 people had been killed in the Israeli attacks, and that more than 320 were injured, most of them civilians. Alongside Iran's top generals there were nine nuclear scientists among the dead, as Tehran was caught unawares by the Israeli assault. An IDF official described the targeted scientists as the 'people who were main sources of knowledge, the main forces advancing the nuclear programme'. The Iranian government also said there was limited damage at its uranium enrichment plant at Fordow, its second enrichment facility but Israel denied having bombed it. . On Friday, the IDF claimed to have inflicted 'significant damage' at the plant at Natanz. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed the above-ground part of the Natanz plant had been destroyed but noted no apparent damage to its underground chambers. An IAEA report said that attacks caused radiological and chemical contamination in the Natanz facility, but that it was manageable and there was no sign of higher radiation in the area around the plant. Iran also said there had been attacks on its nuclear site in Isfahan, which houses a uranium conversion plant, a fuel production unit and other facilities. The IAEA reminded Israel that attacks on nuclear sites were illegal and contrary to the UN charter, with a potential to cause 'radioactive releases with grave consequences'. Israel's justification for its attack on Iran was that the country was getting unacceptably close to acquiring a nuclear weapon, and specifically that it was working on weaponisation, the assembly of components into a warhead. That is a claim not found in US intelligence assessments or in IAEA reports. An IDF official on Saturday gave more details of Israel's allegation, claiming that Iranian technicians had been working on an explosive trigger mechanism for a nuclear bomb, and that part of that work was being done in Isfahan. 'We have seen clear intelligence indicating that they are taking steps forward rapidly, that cannot be understood in any other way than for a nuclear bomb,' the official said. Israelis in Tel Aviv and other cities spent the dawn hours on Saturday in shelters as a new barrage of Iranian missiles headed towards them, while the IDF said it had intercepted incoming drones in the skies above the Dead Sea. Later in the morning, sirens went off in the West Bank and in northern Israel, near the Sea of Galilee. The worst casualties from the incoming missiles were in the West Bank, where five Palestinians, including three children, were killed, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, reportedly by a projectile fired by Houthi forces in Yemen, who are Iranian allies. Over the first 24 hours of the conflict, three Israelis were also killed, two in Rishon LeZion and one in nearby Tel Aviv, with dozens injured and extensive damage to buildings. There were reports from Gaza of Israeli shooting of large numbers of Palestinians trying to reach food distribution points, but details were hard to confirm on the third day of a communications blackout after the severing of a critical cable by Israeli forces. The few missiles that pierced Israel's defences caused significant damage but few fatalities. In Tel Aviv on Friday night, smoke from one impact site rose up in columns so thick they obscured the city skyline. Israel's ambulance service said 34 people were injured on Friday night in the Tel Aviv area, most with minor injuries. Police later said one person had died. Another two people were confirmed killed in a direct missile strike on central Israel on Saturday morning. The Israeli leadership and the IDF have insisted that its offensive against Iran, called Rising Lion, would continue until Tehran's nuclear programme – which Netanyahu said was on the brink of producing weapons – was comprehensively destroyed. Addressing the UN security council, the IAEA director-general, Rafael Grossi, warned of the potentially disastrous consequences of such attacks. The US role in the Israeli operation remained murky. In the run-up to the Israeli 200-plane attack, Donald Trump had publicly urged Israel to give diplomacy more of a chance before US-Iranian talks that were planned for Sunday. On Friday, the US president insisted he had been well informed of Israel's plans and described the Israeli attack as 'excellent'. ABC quoted a 'source familiar with the intelligence' as saying the US had provided 'exquisite' intelligence and would help defend Israel as needed.
.jpg%3Ftrim%3D0%2C0%2C0%2C0%26width%3D1200%26height%3D800%26crop%3D1200%3A800&w=3840&q=100)
The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
Two Minnesota lawmakers gunned down and manifesto discovered: what we know about the ‘politically motivated' shooting
Minnesota is reeling after a deadly overnight attack on state lawmakers that authorities are calling a 'politically motivated' assassination. State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed at their home in Brooklyn Park early Saturday morning. Just hours earlier, State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were also shot multiple times in a similar attack at their nearby residence. Authorities are 'cautiously optimistic' they will survive, Gov. Tim Walz said in a news conference. The gunman, who remains at large, was impersonating a police officer, authorities said. Inside his car, they found a manifesto naming numerous other lawmakers and public officials. A community is now sheltering in place as the manhunt for the suspect continues. Who was Melissa Hortman? Melissa Hortman, a Democrat and former Speaker of the Minnesota House, was a formidable public servant,' Gov. Walz said of his friend. 'She woke up every day determined to make this state a better place,' he continued. 'She is irreplaceable.' Hortman, 55, who was in her 11th term, was elected to the Minnesota Legislature in 2004. She is married and has two children. 'Melissa Hortman represented the best of Minnesota," DFL party chair Richard Carlbom said in a statement. 'She was a tireless, devoted public servant who deeply loved our state and devoted her life to making it a better place. The warmth and kindness she showed to her family and friends were matched only by her fierce commitment to improving the lives of those she had never even met." Who is John Hoffman? John Hoffman, 60, and his wife were shot around 2 a.m. at their home in nearby Champlin. Both underwent surgery and are expected to survive. Hoffman, also a Democrat, is a state senator first elected in 2012 who represents Minnesota Senate District 34, which covers a swath of the northwest Twin Cities suburbs, including Rogers and Champlin. Hoffman served as chair of the Human Services Committee, and also served on committees for energy, environment and health and human services. He has one child. 'These were not random acts of violence,' Gov. Walz said at a press conference. 'This was targeted political violence. And it's a dark day for Minnesota and for democracy.' Manhunt underway for suspect The suspect, who has not been identified, is described as a white male with brown hair, and was last seen wearing black body armor over a blue shirt and blue pants. He was reportedly driving a black SUV with emergency lights, fully outfitted to be identical to a real police vehicle. He also wore a fake badge and full police-style uniform. Authorities say the gunman knocked on the victims' doors, posed as a police officer, and opened fire when they came outside. The impersonation has deeply disturbed law enforcement officials. 'This individual exploited the trust that comes with our uniform,' said Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson. 'It's a betrayal that strikes at the heart of public safety.' The first shooting occurred around 2 a.m. at Sen. Hoffman's home. He and his wife were both shot multiple times. A short time later, around 3:30 a.m., officers responded to the Hortman residence, where a man dressed as a police officer was found at the door. When police approached, he shot Mark Hortman, fired at officers, and then ran into the home. Melissa Hortman was found dead inside the house and the suspect escaped out the back. Residents in the Brooklyn Park and Champlin areas are urged to remain indoors and call 911 if they see anything suspicious. A shelter-in-place order is in place around Edinburgh Golf Course in Brooklyn Park. A chilling manifesto names other lawmakers A manifesto listing multiple public officials as potential targets was found in the suspect's vehicle, investigators said. Officials believe this document confirms the attacks were politically driven. Superintendent Drew Evans of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension confirmed that the manifesto points to a planned and ideologically motivated attack. 'This was not spontaneous,' he said. 'This was a deliberate act targeting political leaders.' Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said that the suspect's disguise was so convincing 'you would assume they were a real officer if they walked into this room.' Officials are urging the public to stay alert and report any suspicious activity immediately. 'A dark day for Minnesota and for democracy' Flags across Minnesota have been lowered to half-staff and tributes are pouring in for Rep. Hortman, who served her district since 2004, and for the Hoffmans, who remain hospitalized. 'This is a moment for unity, not division,' Gov. Walz said. 'We will not allow fear or intimidation to define who we are as Minnesotans or as Americans.' President Donald Trump said the FBI is involved in the investigation. 'Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. God Bless the great people of Minnesota,' he said in a statement. 'This is a dark day today for Minnesota and for democracy,' Bob Jacobson, the Commissioner of Public Safety for the state of Minnesota, said during a news conference this morning. 'We will not allow fear or violence to define who we are, or how we move forward.' 'The suspect exploited the trust of our uniforms that our uniforms are meant to represent, that the trail is deeply disturbing to those of us who wear the badge with honor and responsibility,' Jacobson continued. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a longtime colleague of both victims, called the shootings 'a stunning act of violence.' Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a targeted assassination attempt in 2011, also responded along with a picture of herself with Hortman. 'My family and I know the horror of a targeted shooting all too well,' she wrote. 'An attack against lawmakers is an attack on American democracy itself.'
