Latest news with #AyatollahKhamenei
LBCI
a day ago
- Business
- LBCI
Saudi warns Iran to reach nuclear deal with Trump or risk Israeli strike
Saudi Arabia's defense 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 a warning intended for Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to two Gulf sources close to government circles and two Iranian officials. 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 the media covered the 37-year-old prince's visit, the content of 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 program in return for sanctions relief. He did so in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had traveled 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, according to the two Gulf sources and one senior foreign diplomat familiar with the discussions. Authorities in Saudi Arabia and Iran did not respond to requests for comment. Reuters
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Exclusive: Saudi warned Iran to reach nuclear deal with Trump or risk Israeli strike
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. 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. Authorities in Saudi Arabia and Iran did not respond to requests for comment. The visit by Prince Khalid - the younger brother of Crown Prince Mohamed 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 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. 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. 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.
Fox News
3 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Explosive new intelligence report reveals Iran's nuclear weapons program still active
FIRST ON FOX — A new intelligence report claims Iran is continuing with its active nuclear weapons program, which it says can be used to launch missiles over long distances. The startling intelligence gathering of Austrian officials contradicts the assessment of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a Senate Intelligence Committee in March that the American intelligence community "continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003." Austria's version of the FBI — the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution — wrote Monday in an intelligence report, "In order to assert and enforce its regional political power ambitions, the Islamic Republic of Iran is striving for comprehensive rearmament, with nuclear weapons to make the regime immune to attack and to expand and consolidate its dominance in the Middle East and beyond." The Austrian domestic intelligence agency report added, "The Iranian nuclear weapons development program is well advanced, and Iran possesses a growing arsenal of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads over long distances." According to an intelligence document obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital, "Iran has developed sophisticated sanctions-evasion networks, which has benefited Russia." The Austrian intelligence findings could be an unwanted wrench in President Trump's negotiation process to resolve the atomic crisis with Iran's rulers because the data outlined in the report suggests the regime will not abandon its drive to secure a nuclear weapon. In response to the Austrian intelligence, a White House official told Fox News Digital, "President Trump is committed to Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon or the capacity to build one." The danger of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism (and its illegal atomic weapons program) was cited 99 times in the 211-page report that covers pressing threats to Austria's democracy. "Vienna is home to one of the largest embassies of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Europe, which disguises intelligence officers with diplomatic," the Austrian intelligence report noted. "Iranian intelligence services are familiar with developing and implementing circumvention strategies for the procurement of military equipment, proliferation-sensitive technologies, and materials for weapons of mass destruction," the Austrian intelligence agency said. In 2021, a Belgium court convicted Asadollah Asadi, a former Iranian diplomat based in Vienna, for planning to blow up a 2018 opposition meeting of tens of thousands of Iranian dissidents held outside Paris. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as President Trump's personal lawyer at the time, attended the event in France. When asked about the differences in conclusions between the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Austrian intelligence report, David Albright, a physicist and founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital, "The ODNI report is stuck in the past, a remnant of the fallacious unclassified 2007 NIE [National Intelligence Estimate]. "The Austrian report in general is similar to German and British assessments. Both governments, by the way, made clear to (the) U.S. IC [intelligence community] in 2007 that they thought the U.S. assessment was wrong that the Iranian nuclear weapons program ended in 2003. "The German assessment is from BND [Germany's Federal Intelligence Service] station chief in D.C. at that time. The British info is from a senior British non-proliferation official I was having dinner with the day the 2007 NIE was made public. The German said the U.S. was misinterpreting data they all possessed." The Austrian intelligence findings that Tehran is working on an active atomic weapons program "seems clear enough," said Albright. In 2023, Fox News Digital revealed a fresh batch of European intelligence reports showed that Iran sought to bypass U.S. and EU sanctions to secure technology for its nuclear weapons program with a view toward testing an atomic bomb. European intelligence agencies have documented prior to 2015 and after the Iran nuclear deal( JCPOA) was agreed upon that Tehran continued efforts to illegally secure technology for its atomic, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction programs. The Austrian intelligence report noted that Iran provides weapons to the U.S.-designated terrorist movements Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as to Syrian militias. A spokesperson for ODNI declined to comment. The U.S. State Department and U.S. National Security Council did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital press queries.
News18
5 days ago
- Politics
- News18
Pakistan's India Focus In Iran Meets Ayatollah Khamenei's Balancing Act: 'Resolve Differences'
Last Updated: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei stressed his hope for the resolution of disputes between India and Pakistan. Despite exchanging cross-border airstrikes just a year ago, Pakistan and Iran demonstrated a significant warming of ties, driven primarily by the shared concern over the escalating crisis in Gaza. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir- currently in Tehran- engaged in high-level meetings with the Iranian leadership to foster closer cooperation. While Pakistan used the occasion to raise its conflict with India over Kashmir, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei stressed his hope for the resolution of disputes between India and Pakistan. No Love Lost Between Iran And Pakistan? Israel's counterstrike to the October 2023 Hamas attacks in Gaza has become a powerful catalyst for improved relations between Tehran and Islamabad as Ayatollah Khamenei commended Pakistan for resisting 'temptations" to normalize ties with Israel, calling it a principled stance against 'a blatant betrayal of the Palestinian cause." He asserted that the Palestinian issue remains the 'foremost concern of the Islamic world," criticizing some Islamic governments for aligning with Israel despite the widespread global protests against the situation in Gaza. Pakistan's PM Shehbaz Sharif echoed these sentiments emphasizing the international community's responsibility to bring about a 'lasting ceasefire in Palestine" and affirming Pakistan's solidarity with Iran in promoting regional peace and prosperity. Iran's Balanced Stance On Kashmir During his meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei, Shehbaz Sharif brought up the India-Pakistan conflict, referencing India's recent airstrikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) following the Pahalgam terror attack. Shehbaz Sharif also expressed appreciation for Iran's 'positive role" during that period. In a joint press conference with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Shehbaz Sharif publicly offered to engage in dialogue with India to resolve 'longstanding problems," including Kashmir, water-sharing, and trade. He said, 'We are ready to talk, for the sake of peace… We wanted peace, we want peace and we will work for peace in the region through talks," adding a conditional note, 'But if they accept my offer of peace, then we will show that we really want peace, seriously and sincerely." Iran's response to the India-Pakistan dynamic remained measured as Ayatollah Khamenei expressed on X, 'We are delighted with the end of conflicts between Pakistan and India and and hope that the differences between the two countries will be resolved." Iran-Pakistan Airstrikes In January 2024, Iran conducted airstrikes in Pakistan's Balochistan province, targeting the Jaish al-Adl group. Pakistan swiftly retaliated with its own airstrikes inside Iran, targeting the militant Baloch Liberation Front. Ayatollah Khamenei, in a post on X, reiterated the historically 'warm and brotherly" relations between Iran and Pakistan, recalling Pakistan's 'commendable stance during the war Saddam imposed on Iran." Iran-India Relations India and Iran share a strategically vital relationship, largely centered around energy and connectivity, with the Chabahar Port serving as its cornerstone. Located on Iran's southeastern coast, the port offers India a crucial maritime gateway, bypassing Pakistan, to landlocked Afghanistan and the resource-rich Central Asian republics. Watch India Pakistan Breaking News on CNN-News18. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from geopolitics to diplomacy and global trends. Stay informed with the latest world news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published: May 27, 2025, 13:04 IST
Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Pak PM Sharif 'Ready For Talks' On Terror, Kashmir, Indus Water With India After Iran Visit
/ May 27, 2025, 11:05AM IST Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed readiness to hold peace talks with India, stating his country is open to dialogue on key issues including Kashmir, terrorism, water disputes, and trade. The statement came during his visit to Iran, where he met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei alongside Pakistan's army chief. Sharif emphasized the sincerity of Pakistan's offer, stressing the importance of regional peace. Khamenei welcomed the idea of de-escalation between the two nuclear neighbours. However, India reiterated that talks can only proceed if Pakistan ends cross-border terrorism and addresses the return of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.#shehbazsharif #pakistan #iran #pakistanarmy #asimmunir #india #pmmodi
