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Miami Herald
20-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Iran's Khamenei says nuclear deal is unlikely in rebuke to Trump
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said negotiations with the U.S. over his country's nuclear program are unlikely to result in a deal and called the Trump administration's latest demands on Iran "outrageous." Speaking at an event to commemorate the death of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday, Khamenei said "there were indirect negotiations during his time as well. Needless to say, there was no result. We don't think these negotiations will yield results now either. We don't know what will happen." The comments are the latest sign that U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to fast track deals to resolve some of the world's most destabilizing crises and conflicts - from Russia's war in Ukraine to Israel's in the Gaza Strip - are floundering. Benchmark Brent oil jumped then pared its gains following the comments, which were the most pessimistic by the Islamic Republic's top decision maker since indirect talks started in April. Trump has threatened Iran with military action if it doesn't make a deal with the U.S. Khamenei's statement was also a direct repudiation of Trump's claim last week that Iran and the U.S. were "getting close to maybe doing a deal" and that Iran "has sort of agreed to the terms." The two countries are trying to resolve years of animosity and strike a deal that will contain Iran's nuclear activity in exchange for relief from U.S. sanctions that have severely hobbled the OPEC-member's oil exports and broader economy. Over the past week, Iran's ability to enrich uranium has emerged as the major sticking point between the two sides, with the U.S. insisting that Tehran abandons production altogether. Under the terms of the defunct 2015 nuclear deal that Trump scuttled in his first term, Iran was able to enrich uranium but with stringent caps on its purity levels and quantities. Those limits have been significantly breached by Iran since 2019, about a year after Trump withdrew from the landmark accord and started imposing severe sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who's leading the U.S. side of the negotiations, said on Sunday that Iran cannot be allowed to enrich uranium at all because it means the country has the technical potential to weaponize its atomic activity in the future. Iran insists it has no intention of pursuing nuclear arms. Last week a top adviser to Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, told NBC news that Tehran is willing to limit enrichment as part of a deal. But officials have repeatedly said that retaining some capacity is non-negotiable in order to fuel its nuclear power plant. "No one is waiting for this or that party's permission. The Islamic Republic has its own policies, its own approach, and it follows its own path," Khamenei said, adding that the U.S. "should "try not to talk nonsense." ---------- -With assistance from Patrick Sykes. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Iran's Khamenei Says Nuclear Deal Is Unlikely in Rebuke to Trump
(Bloomberg) -- Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said negotiations with the US over his country's nuclear program are unlikely to result in a deal and called the Trump administration's latest demands on Iran 'outrageous.' America, 'Nation of Porches' NJ Transit Train Engineers Strike, Disrupting Travel to NYC NJ Transit Makes Deal With Engineers, Ending Three-Day Strike NYC Commuters Brace for Chaos as NJ Transit Strike Looms Speaking at an event to commemorate the death of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday, Khamenei said 'there were indirect negotiations during his time as well. Needless to say, there was no result. We don't think these negotiations will yield results now either. We don't know what will happen.' The comments are the latest sign that US President Donald Trump's efforts to fast track deals to resolve some of the world's most destabilizing crises and conflicts — from Russia's war in Ukraine to Israel's in the Gaza Strip — are floundering. Benchmark Brent oil jumped then pared its gains following the comments, which were the most pessimistic by the Islamic Republic's top decision maker since indirect talks started in April. Trump has threatened Iran with military action if it doesn't make a deal with the US. Khamenei's statement was also a direct repudiation of Trump's claim last week that Iran and the US were 'getting close to maybe doing a deal' and that Iran 'has sort of agreed to the terms.' The two countries are trying to resolve years of animosity and strike a deal that will contain Iran's nuclear activity in exchange for relief from US sanctions that have severely hobbled the OPEC-member's oil exports and broader economy. Over the past week, Iran's ability to enrich uranium has emerged as the major sticking point between the two sides, with the US insisting that Tehran abandons production altogether. Under the terms of the defunct 2015 nuclear deal that Trump scuttled in his first term, Iran was able to enrich uranium but with stringent caps on its purity levels and quantities. Those limits have been significantly breached by Iran since 2019, about a year after Trump withdrew from the landmark accord and started imposing severe sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who's leading the US side of the negotiations, said on Sunday that Iran cannot be allowed to enrich uranium at all because it means the country has the technical potential to weaponize its atomic activity in the future. Iran insists it has no intention of pursuing nuclear arms. Last week a top adviser to Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, told NBC news that Tehran is willing to limit enrichment as part of a deal. But officials have repeatedly said that retaining some capacity is non-negotiable in order to fuel its nuclear power plant. 'No one is waiting for this or that party's permission. The Islamic Republic has its own policies, its own approach, and it follows its own path,' Khamenei said, adding that the US 'should 'try not to talk nonsense.' --With assistance from Patrick Sykes. (Updates with more details, background and context.) Why Apple Still Hasn't Cracked AI Anthropic Is Trying to Win the AI Race Without Losing Its Soul Microsoft's CEO on How AI Will Remake Every Company, Including His Cartoon Network's Last Gasp DeepSeek's 'Tech Madman' Founder Is Threatening US Dominance in AI Race ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
The National
04-05-2025
- Business
- The National
Trump says US economy is in a 'transition period'
President Donald Trump downplayed fears of a recession in the US in response to his tariffs policies and said the US economy is in a "transition period". He defended the escalating tariff feud with China, and said US-imposed levies would be lowered eventually. "At some point I'm going to lower them, because otherwise you can never do business with them, and they want to do business very much," Mr Trump said in an interview with NBC news that aired on Sunday. He pushed back against rising costs of imports, particularly from China, saying that girls don't need 30 dolls, they could have three or four. "I don't think a beautiful baby girl that's 11 years old, needs to have 30 dolls, I think they can have 3 or four dolls, because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable, we had a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars with China." The wide-ranging interview, that at times was combative, was taped on Friday from the President's Mar a Lago estate, where he spent the weekend. The interview comes after Mr Trump marks 100 days of his second term in office. Mr Trump won the US election in 2024 on a platform to improve the economy, including reducing the cost of living, and impose stricter immigration policies. He has imposed tariffs on trade partners and allies, upsetting the global economy. He put a 145 per cent tariff rate on goods coming from China. Beijing responded with a 84 per cent tariff rate in retaliation. The President has explained away the levies as measures aimed at ending economic imbalances. He said the policy would enrich the US. "I think the tariffs are going to be great for us, because it's going to make us rich," he said. Mr Trump had also campaigned on a promise to quickly end the war in Ukraine. Last week, his administration signed a minerals deal with Kyiv that will see the US profiting from the extraction of resources in the country, and invested in its reconstruction after the war with Russia ends. Mr Trump, who has dispatched his envoy Steve Witkoff to speak with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, said "maybe it's not possible" to reach a peace deal that would end the three-year-old war. In recent weeks, he has publicly expressed frustration with Mr Putin, amid continued strikes on Ukraine, even as talks were ongoing. "I think we have a very good chance of doing it very quickly," he said.
Time of India
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Does America have a plan to capture Pakistan's nuclear weapons?
Military tensions between India and Pakistan over the Pahalgam terrorist attack have resurrected fears of a nuclear showdown. While India has a no-first-use policy, Pakistan often threatens India with a nuclear strike . Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said recently that Pakistan would use its nuclear weapons if "there is a direct threat to our existence". Another minister, Hanif Abbasi, threatened India with nuclear retaliation and said that 130 missiles , including Shaheen, and Ghaznavi, were kept for India. "Those Shaheen (missiles), Ghaznavi (missiles), which we have kept arranged in our bases, we have kept them for Hindustan (India). The 130 weapons we possess are not just kept as models — and you have no idea in which parts of Pakistan we have positioned them," Abbasi said in a press conference a few days ago. #Pahalgam Terrorist Attack A Chinese shadow falls on Pahalgam terror attack case probe How India can use water to pressure Pakistan Buzzkill: How India can dissolve the Pakistan problem, not just swat it While Pakistan's nuclear sabre-rattling has become too common to invoke any immediate concerns, the risk of a nuclear exchange between the two countries can never be underestimated. Interestingly, the US has had deep concerns over Pakistan's "loose nukes" and is also said to have an emergency plan to capture Pakistan's nuclear wepaons if a risk arises. 5 5 Next Stay Playback speed 1x Normal Back 0.25x 0.5x 1x Normal 1.5x 2x 5 5 / Skip Ads by by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The cost of hearing aids in Preet Vihar might surprise you! Learn More Undo Also Read | A Chinese shadow falls on Pahalgam terror attack case America's plan to "snatch-and-grab" Pakistan's nuclear weapons America's concerns over Pakistan's nuclear arsenal go decades back. It was reported in by NBC News in 2011 that the US has a contingency plan to "snatch-and-grab" Pakistan's nuclear weapons, if and when the US President believes they are a threat to either America or its interests. Plans had been drawn up for dealing with worst-case scenarios in Pakistan, NBC news reported quoting several US officials, who said that ensuring security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons had long been a high US security priority even before 9/11 terrorist attacks. Live Events Among the scenarios drawn by the report were Pakistan plunging into internal chaos, terrorist mounting a serious attack against a nuclear facility, hostilities breaking out with India, or Islamic extremist taking charge of the government or the Pakistan army. NBC said in its 2011 report that the greatest success of the US war on terrorism, the military operation that killed Osama bin Laden in his safe house in Pakistan had fuelled concerns about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. The report said there were increasing suspicions among US officials that Osama had support within the ISI and the Abbottabad operation had emboldened those in Washington who believe an orchestrated campaign of lightning raids to secure Pakistan's nuclear weapons could succeed. In the aftermath of the bin Laden raid, US military officials testified before Congress about the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and the threat posed by "loose nukes" - nuclear weapons or materials outside the government's control. Earlier Pentagon reports also outlined scenarios in which US forces would intervene to secure nuclear weapons that were in danger of falling into the wrong hands. In an interview with NBC News in 2011, former Pakistan military ruler Pervez Musharraf had warned that a snatch-and-grab operation would lead to all-out war between the countries, calling it "total confrontation by the whole nation against whoever comes in". Pervez Hoodbhoy, Pakistan's best known nuclear physicist and a human rights advocate, too, said a US attempt to take control of Pakistan's nukes would be foolhardy. "They are said to be hidden in tunnels under mountains, in cities, as well as regular air force and army bases," he said. "A US snatch operation could trigger war; it should never be attempted." Despite such comments, interviews with US officials, military reports and even congressional testimony indicated that Pakistan's weaponry had been the subject of continuing discussions, scenarios, war games and possibly even military exercises by US intelligence and special forces regarding so-called "snatch-and-grab" operations, the 2011 NBC News report said. "It's safe to assume that planning for the worst-case scenario regarding Pakistan nukes has already taken place inside the US government," Roger Cressey, former deputy director of counter-terrorism in the Clinton and Bush White House , had told NBC News. "This issue remains one of the highest priorities of the US intelligence community ... and the White House." Also Read | India planning to launch military strike against Pakistan within 24 to 36 hours, claims Pakistan's I&B minister Pakistan's "emerging threat" to the US American concerns over Pakistan's nuclear arsenal narrated in the NBC News report in 2011 must have only grown over time as Pakistan stockpiled more nukes and also achieved greater military power. A decade later, in 2021, a Brookings article mentioned the American plan to capture Pakistan's nukes: "Indeed, since the shock of 9/11, Pakistan has come to represent such an exasperating problem that the U.S. has reportedly developed a secret plan to arbitrarily seize control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if a terrorist group in Pakistan seemed on the edge of capturing some or all of its nuclear warheads," wrote Marvin Kalb. "When repeatedly questioned about the plan, U.S. officials have strung together an artful, if unpersuasive, collection of 'no comments.' Last year, the US was alarmed by a new development in Pakistan. A senior White House official said in December that nuclear-armed Pakistan was developing long-range ballistic missile capabilities that eventually could allow it to strike targets well beyond South Asia, making it an "emerging threat" to the US, Reuters reported. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer's surprise revelation underscored how far the once-close ties between Washington and Islamabad had deteriorated since the 2021 US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Speaking to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Finer said the number of nuclear-armed states with missiles that could reach the US homeland "is very small and they tend to be adversarial," naming Russia, North Korea and China. "So, candidly, it's hard for us to see Pakistan's actions as anything other than an emerging threat to the United States," he said. An official told Reuters that the threat posed to the US is up to a decade away. Finer's speech came a day after Washington announced a new round of sanctions related to Pakistan's ballistic missile development program, including for the first time against the state-run defense agency that oversees the program.
Times of Oman
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Times of Oman
US envoy Witkoff in Russia for ceasefire talks on Ukraine war, confirms White House
Washington DC: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday (local time) confirmed that US special envoy Steve Witkoff is currently in Russia to hold direct talks with the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of the ongoing efforts towards a ceasefire deal for the Ukraine conflict. During a press briefing, Leavitt stated that it was a step towards the negotiating process for the ceasefire as well as an "ultimate peace deal." She added that US President Donald Trump has been "continually frustrated with both sides of this conflict," indicating the administration's intent to take a more active role in peace negotiations. "I can confirm that Steve Witkoff is in Russia to have direct communications with the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin. This is another step in the negotiating process towards a ceasefire and an ultimate peace deal. The President has been quite clear that he has been continually frustrated with both sides of this conflict," the White House Press Secretary said. Earlier in the day, Russian state television broadcast footage of Putin welcoming Witkoff at the presidential library in St Petersburg, as reported by Al Jazeera. As per Al Jazeera, citing state media agencies, the talks lasted over four hours. According to the Kremlin, the meeting addressed "various aspects of the Ukrainian settlement", but no further details were provided. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov earlier indicated that the two might also consider the possibility of arranging an in-person meeting between Putin and Trump, Al Jazeera reported. Meanwhile, earlier, President Trump had issued a stern warning to the Russian President to cooperate on ending the Ukraine war, as reported by CNN. In a phone interview with NBC news, Trump stated he's "pissed off" with Putin's actions and may impose additional tariffs on Russian oil if Putin doesn't cooperate in ongoing negotiations to end his war in Ukraine. "I was very angry - pissed off - when Putin started getting into Zelensky's credibility, because that's not going in the right location, you understand?" Trump said in the interview. "But new leadership means you're not going to have a deal for a long time, right?" Trump said.
