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Asharq Al-Awsat
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Snapback Threat Deepens Iran-West Tensions Amid Warnings and Diplomatic Standoff
Tensions between Iran and Western powers have escalated sharply, as the European trio - Britain, France, and Germany - hinted at reactivating the 'snapback' mechanism that would automatically reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran. The looming decision has sparked strong reactions from Tehran, with Iranian officials warning of potential retaliatory actions that may come as a surprise to some European nations. According to diplomatic sources cited by the Associated Press, the foreign ministers of the European trio agreed during a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this week to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran by the end of August, should no substantial progress be made on the nuclear deal. The snapback mechanism, part of the 2015 nuclear agreement, allows any signatory to reinstate international sanctions if Iran fails to uphold its commitments. The clause expires on October 18, making this summer a crucial period for decisive action. In Tehran, the response was swift and stern. Iranian MP Ebrahim Azizi, head of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, denounced the European move as 'a hostile political action.' He stressed that Iran has 'multiple options' and would not hesitate to use them if provoked. 'The West must refrain from such a step,' Azizi warned, 'and if they go ahead with it, our countermeasures may be unexpected for some Europeans.' Conservative Iranian newspaper Kayhan went even further, calling for legislation to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), framing it as a necessary deterrent step. Earlier this month, Iran's parliament passed a law to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), requiring all inspection requests to be coordinated with Iran's Supreme National Security Council. This move came in response to US airstrikes on Iran's underground Fordow uranium enrichment site, as well as facilities in Isfahan and Natanz, during a 12-day war initiated by Israel on June 13. Despite the growing tensions, some Iranian figures are urging a return to diplomacy. Mohammad Sadr, a veteran diplomat and member of the Expediency Council, stressed the need for 'serious and urgent' negotiations with the European trio. 'Given the limited time before snapback is activated, Iran must work to create conditions that prevent Europe from taking that route,' Sadr said in a media interview. The UK, France, and Germany are all original signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal, from which US President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018, arguing it was too lenient on Tehran. Under the agreement, sanctions were lifted in exchange for strict limits on Iran's nuclear program. The snapback clause allows for the automatic reimposition of sanctions if Iran is found to be non-compliant. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot stated on Tuesday that the trio is now in a position to justify triggering the snapback. Meanwhile, the ambassadors of the three nations met at the German UN mission this week to discuss the situation. Though no specific conditions were disclosed, the discussions signaled growing impatience with Tehran. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar urged his German and French counterparts to activate the snapback during a meeting on the sidelines of the EU ministerial council in Brussels on Tuesday. The newspaper reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also discussed the issue with multiple world leaders. A senior Israeli official said: 'There are no longer valid excuses to delay reimposing sanctions.' He added that Iran's previous threats to enrich uranium to 90% are now considered irrelevant. 'Even the US now supports the snapback, and the Europeans are inclined to follow suit.'
Al-Ahram Weekly
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Nuclear stalemate
This week Tehran denied any news of resuming talks with Washington about its nuclear programme. Talks had been interrupted by a 12-day war last month. Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Iran and the US haven't agreed on a time, date or place to resume the stalled negotiations. Hopes had risen about the prospects of a new round of talks this week after American President Donald Trump claimed that one was scheduled. At a dinner in the White House, hosting visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump told reporters, 'we have scheduled Iran talks. They want to talk... They want to work something out. They are very different now than they were two weeks ago.' Trump's Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, who was present at the dinner, said the meeting 'could take place in the next week or so'. That coincided with an article by Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi published in the Financial Times in which he said that Tehran remains interested in diplomacy, added however that 'we have good reason to have doubts about further dialogue.' Iran and the US held five rounds of indirect talks, brokered by the Sultanate of Oman, since April, but negotiations stopped when Israel started attacking Iran just before mid-June. Iran retaliated by targeting Israel with missiles and drones. Then the US launched an air strike on Iranian nuclear facilities and announced a ceasefire. Just before the Israeli attacks, there was optimism about a deal that would prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons in return for alleviating sanctions imposed on it for decades. That would have limited Iranian uranium enrichment to the low level required for power plants fuel. The tone later changed, however, and Washington adopted a harder position calling for stopping all enrichment programmes which Tehran insists is its non-negotiable right. From the very beginning, Israel has been lobbying the US not to negotiate and join it in destroying the Iranian nuclear programme altogether. It is not clear if the Israeli and American strikes completely ended the Iranian nuclear programme. That is why Netanyahu is trying to pressure Trump to authorise more strikes. Hardliners in Iran were also opposed to resuming negotiations with the Americans. When Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told US journalist Tucker Carlson last week that Iran had no problem resuming talks so long as trust could be rebuilt between the two sides, critics attacked him. An editorial in the hard-line Kayhan newspaper said of Pezeshkian: 'Have you forgotten that these same Americans, together with the Zionists, used the negotiations to buy time and prepare for the attack?' Another conservative daily, Javan, accused the president of being 'a little too soft.' Yet the official tone remained positive about resuming negotiations. On Saturday, the Iranian foreign minister told diplomatic corps in Tehran that his country 'would accept a resumption of nuclear talks with the US if there were assurances of no more attacks against it'. That is a guarantee Israel would prefer Washington not to give to Tehran, as it might prevent Tel Aviv from striking Iran again. Some analysts argue that Netanyahu wanted to divert Trump's attention to other paths in the region that would weaken Iran further before sitting at the negotiating table. Netanyahu is asking for more strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. He is also working on speeding up an agreement with the new Syrian regime. Meanwhile, as Trump pushes for ending war on Gaza, Israel is re-igniting its war on Lebanon. As many in Israel and the West note, Netanyahu needs to keep Israel at war to stay safely in power till October next year, thus avoiding any sentences in the trials he is facing for corruption and other charges. Whether Trump is willing to support Netanyahu in that personal endeavour is not clear. A veteran Western diplomat told Al-Ahram Weekly, 'Trump's relationship with Netanyahu is highly difficult to read.' The rhetoric about 're-shaping the Middle east' is a reminder of George W Bush's defunct New World Order through 'creative chaos' in the region. Some analysts argue the time is not yet ripe to resume American-Iranian talks. Andrew Hammond of Oxford University feels that Tehran is not in a rush. 'There's less pressure on the Iranians. They survived a war, with Israel suffering daily and Trump having shown the limits of what he'll do for the Israelis... Iran has also had time to weed out spies, meet with Axis allies in Baghdad, and get anti-air batteries from China,' he told the Weekly. He added that for Trump 'the bottom line is he won't fight beyond what can be framed as US interest to prevent Iran getting a nuclear weapon.' Intentional leaks and rumours are keeping the situation tense. News reports about regional parties concerned about renewed Israeli attacks on Iran, along with resurfacing Iranian threats to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz are keeping everybody on their toes. Yet, as the traditional wisdom goes: there is no endless war and military conflicts usually lead to negotiations towards a political settlement. So, even though the noise about resuming nuclear talks has now subsided, it is destined to start again at some stage in the future. * A version of this article appears in print in the 17 July, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
International Business Times
11-07-2025
- Politics
- International Business Times
$30 Million Bounty and Drone Threat: Iranian Clerics Call for Trump's Assassination
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated after Iranian clerics reportedly issued a religious decree, or fatwa, calling for the assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump. The threats are said to be retaliation for Trump's authorization of airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities earlier this year. In a recent state TV broadcast, senior Iranian official Javad Larijani, an advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, warned that Trump could be hit by a micro-drone while sunbathing at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. He stated, "It's very simple... a small drone might hit him in the navel." Iran International reported that a website has claimed over $30 million has been raised as a bounty for Trump. Cleric Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi also declared Trump a Muharib, or "enemy of Islam," a label in Islamic law punishable by death. The remarks come amid rising hostility following the 2020 killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. In June, Trump claimed he had a chance to target Ayatollah Khamenei during a conflict but chose not to, saying, "I saved him from a very ugly death." Iranian state-backed newspaper Kayhan added fuel to the fire in April, publishing an article urging Trump's assassination in revenge for Soleimani's death. The U.S. Department of Justice has previously disclosed Iranian plots to kill Trump. In November 2024, IRGC-linked agent Farhad Shakeri and two U.S.-based accomplices were charged with planning an assassination. Trump has survived two known attempts on his life in 2024—one during a rally in Pennsylvania, and another while golfing in Florida. The Secret Service successfully intervened in both incidents. The threats mark a dangerous peak in the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, with national security agencies on high alert.
Express Tribune
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Iran denies seeking talks with US after Trump's claim
Trump said Monday that Iran was seeking talks with the United States and that they had been scheduled, without specifying the time or the location. PHOTO:FILE Listen to article Iran said Tuesday it has not made any request for talks with the United States, after President Donald Trump said Tehran was seeking negotiations following last month's war with Israel. "No request for a meeting has been made on our side to the American side," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, according to Tasnim news agency. Trump said Monday that Iran was seeking talks with the United States and that they had been scheduled, without specifying the time or the location. "We have scheduled Iran talks. They want to talk," Trump told reporters in the White House where he was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "They want to meet. They want to work something out. They're very different now than they were two weeks ago." Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also reiterated Tehran's position rejecting talks at this stage. Read more: Iran president says Israel tried to assassinate him "Although Iran has in recent days received messages indicating that the US may be ready to return to negotiations, how can we trust further engagement?" the Iranian top diplomat said in a piece he wrote for the Financial Times. On June 13, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Iran that targeted military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas, and killed senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. The attacks began days before a planned meeting between Tehran and Washington aimed at reviving nuclear negotiations. The talks have since stalled. The United States, which had been in talks with Iran since April 12, joined Israel in carrying out its own strikes on June 22, targeting Iranian nuclear sites at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz. "After agreeing to new negotiations in good faith, we have seen our good will reciprocated with an attack by two nuclear-armed militaries," Araghchi, who was also Iran's top negotiator during the talks with the US, said in the Financial Times piece. "Iran remains interested in diplomacy, but we have good reason to have doubts about further dialogue." On Tuesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian came under fire domestically after voicing support for renewed talks with the United States, with critics accusing him of being "too soft" in the wake of last month's attacks on the country. Also read: Tehran open to dialogue with US: Pezeshkian The backlash followed the release of an interview with US media personality Tucker Carlson, in which Pezeshkian said Iran had "no problem" resuming talks so long as trust could be rebuilt between the two sides. "Have you forgotten that these same Americans, together with the Zionists, used the negotiations to buy time and prepare for the attack?" said an editorial in the hardline Kayhan newspaper, which has long opposed engagement with the West. The conservative Javan daily also took aim at Pezeshkian, saying his remarks appeared "a little too soft". In contrast, the reformist Ham Mihan newspaper praised Pezeshkian's "positive approach". "This interview should have been conducted a long time ago," it wrote, adding that "Iranian officials have unfortunately long been absent from the international and American media landscape." Iranian authorities say the Israeli strikes killed at last 1,060 people. Israel, in turn, was hit by waves of retaliatory drone and missile fire, which authorities said left at least 28 people dead. A ceasefire between Iran and Israel has been in place since June 24.
Leaders
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Leaders
Iran Denies Requesting Talks with US Amid Rising Tensions
Iran denied on Tuesday requesting talks with the US, after President Donald Trump claimed Tehran sought negotiations following last month's war with Israel. 'No request for a meeting has been made on our side to the American side,' Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei stated. Trump announced Monday that Iran wanted to talk with the United States. 'We have scheduled Iran talks. They want to talk,' Trump told reporters at the White House. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and noted Iran's changed stance. Iran's Stance on Negotiations Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated Tehran's position rejecting talks, stating, 'Although Iran received messages indicating that the US may be ready to return to negotiations, how can we trust further engagement?' On 13 June, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Iran. This campaign targeted military and nuclear sites, residential areas, and killed senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. The attacks began days before a planned meeting between Tehran and Washington aimed at reviving nuclear negotiations, which have since stalled. The US, in talks with Iran since 12 April, joined Israel in carrying out strikes on 22 June, targeting Iranian nuclear sites at Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz. 'After agreeing to new negotiations in good faith, we have seen our good will reciprocated with an attack,' Araghchi stated. Domestic Criticism and Support On Tuesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian faced domestic criticism for supporting renewed talks with the US, as critics accused him of being 'too soft' after last month's attacks. The backlash followed an interview with US media personality Tucker Carlson, where Pezeshkian stated that Iran had 'no problem' resuming talks if they could rebuild trust. The hardline Kayhan newspaper questioned Pezeshkian's stance, stating 'Have you forgotten that these same Americans, together with the Zionists, used the negotiations to buy time and prepare for the attack?' Moreover, the conservative Javan daily also criticized Pezeshkian, calling his remarks 'a little too soft.' In contrast, the reformist Ham Mihan newspaper praised Pezeshkian's approach. 'This interview should have been conducted a long time ago,' it wrote, noting the absence of Iranian officials from international media. Iranian authorities reported that Israeli strikes killed at least 1,060 people, while Israel faced retaliatory drone and missile fire, resulting in at least 28 deaths. Though, a ceasefire between Iran and Israel has been in place since 24 June. Short link : Post Views: 77
