Iran said the dialogue with the US over Tehran’s nuclear program is “meaningless” after Israel’s biggest-ever military strike against its longstanding enemy, but said it is yet to decide on whether to attend planned talks on Sunday.

“The other side (the US) 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,” state media on Saturday quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying.

“It is still unclear what decision we will make on Sunday in this regard,” Baghaei was quoted as saying.

He said Israel “succeeded in influencing” the diplomatic process and the Israeli attack would not have happened without Washington’s permission, accusing Washington of supporting the attack.

Iran earlier accused the US 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 program.

The sixth round of US-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 program is for anything other than civilian purposes, rejecting Israeli allegations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.

US 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.

The post Iran Says Talks with US ‘Meaningless’ After Israel Attack, But Yet to Decide on Attending first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Nationwide protests against President Donald Trump, tensions in the Middle East amid Israel’s strikes on Iran and expected rainy weather in Washington on Saturday could dampen spirits at a military parade on the US Army’s 250th anniversary, set to feature tanks on the streets and aircraft flying overhead.

Trump, whose 79th birthday is also on Saturday, will preside over the parade.

Week-long protests in Los Angeles against Trump’s immigration crackdown have spread to multiple cities including Chicago, New York, San Antonio, Texas, and Washington.

The Republican president has ordered National Guard troops and US Marines to Los Angeles, a heavily Democratic city – a deployment that California Governor Gavin Newsom has challenged in court.

Anti-Trump groups are planning to hold nearly 2,000 demonstrations of varying sizes across the country to coincide with the parade. Many are taking place under the theme “No Kings,” asserting that no individual is above the law.

The protests, if they go as planned, would represent one of the biggest public displays of opposition to Trump since he returned to power in January.

Parade goers in Washington will encounter a massive security presence, with some 18.5 miles (30 km) of 8-foot (2.4 m)-high black fencing, much of it reinforced with concrete traffic barriers, cordoning off streets and surrounding landmarks including the Washington Monument.

The celebrations will cost the U.S. Army between $25 million and $45 million, US officials have told Reuters. That includes the parade itself as well as the cost of moving equipment and housing and feeding the troops.

Critics have called the parade an authoritarian display of power that is wasteful, especially given Trump has said he wants to slash costs throughout the federal government.

“You’re not doing it to celebrate the Army’s birthday. You’re doing it to stroke Donald Trump’s ego,” Democratic US Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, an Army combat veteran who lost two legs in the Iraq war, said at a hearing this month.

“If you want to celebrate the Army’s birthday by spending $30 million I would recommend you think about something along the lines of maybe spending that money on childcare for military families, perhaps tuition reimbursement for military families.”

‘I DON’T FEEL LIKE A KING’

At least one organization, RefuseFascism.org, has a permit to hold a march in central Washington that will culminate in a rally opposite the White House. Trump has warned people against protesting at the parade itself, saying that “they’re going to be met with very big force.”

The protests, and any response by law enforcement agencies, will form a contrasting backdrop to the day-long celebration of the US Army’s history, which will seek to honor different eras of military history with uniforms and military weaponry from those periods.

“I don’t feel like a king, I have to go through hell to get stuff approved,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “We’re not a king, we’re not a king at all.”

While the Army has said the parade will take place come rain or shine, weather forecasts for Saturday evening show the potential for heavy thunderstorms in the Washington area.

Defenders of the plans say the Army’s 250th anniversary is a unique event that deserves an outsized celebration.

The display of US military hardware will take place shortly after one of the nation’s closest allies, Israel, launched a barrage of strikes across Iran, which has threatened a harsh response.

RARE SPECTACLE

Military parades in the United States are rare. Other countries usually stage them to celebrate victories in battle or showcase military might.

In 1991, tanks and thousands of troops paraded through Washington to celebrate the ousting of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait in the Gulf War.

Law enforcement agencies are preparing for hundreds of thousands of people to attend Saturday’s parade.

Thousands of agents, officers and specialists will be deployed from law enforcement agencies from across the country and drones operated by the Secret Service will keep watch overhead.

The Federal Aviation Administration will close down arrivals and departures at Washington’s Reagan National Airport during the peak of the celebration.

While the Army has said it has no plans to recognize Trump’s birthday, the president will play a major role in the celebrations.

The US Army has brought nearly 7,000 troops into Washington, along with 150 vehicles, including more than 25 M1 Abrams tanks, 28 Stryker armored vehicles, four Paladin self-propelled artillery vehicles, and artillery pieces including the M777 and M119.

The flyover will include Apache and Black Hawk helicopters along with Chinooks. Older aircraft like the World War Two-era B-25 bomber and P-51 Mustang will also take part.

The military has taken steps to protect the streets of the capital from any potential damage caused by heavy tanks, including laying down metal plates in some areas.

The Army has said it will pay for any unexpected repairs if needed and has set aside several million dollars in case of damage, although it has said it expects little impact.

The post Protests, Middle East – and Bad Weather – May Rain on Trump’s Military Parade first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Iran and Israel traded missiles and airstrikes on Saturday, the day after Israel launched a sweeping air offensive against its old enemy, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites in a stated bid to stop it building an atomic weapon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear program possibly by years but rejected international calls for restraint, saying the attack would be intensified.

“We will hit every site and every target of the Ayatollahs’ regime, and what they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days,” he said in a video message.

In Tehran, Iranian state TV reported that around 60 people, including 20 children, had been killed in an attack on a housing complex, with more strikes reported across the country. Israel said it had attacked more than 150 targets.

In Israel, air raid sirens sent residents into shelters as waves of missiles streaked across the sky and interceptors rose to meet them. At least three people were killed overnight. An Israeli official said Iran had fired around 200 ballistic missiles in four waves.

US President Donald Trump has lauded Israel’s strikes and warned of much worse to come unless Iran quickly accepts the sharp downgrading of its nuclear program that the US has demanded in talks that had been due to resume on Sunday.

But with Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and urging Iran’s people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.

The United States, Israel’s main ally, helped shoot down Iranian missiles, two US officials said.

“If (Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

Iran had vowed to avenge Friday’s Israeli onslaught, which gutted Iran’s nuclear and military leadership and damaged atomic plants and military bases.

Tehran warned Israel’s allies that their military bases in the region would come under fire too if they helped shoot down Iranian missiles, state television reported.

However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran’s strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation.

Gulf Arab states that have long mistrusted Iran but fear coming under attack in any wider conflict have urged calm as worries about disruption to the region’s crucial oil exports boosted the price of crude by about 7 percent on Friday.

Lawmaker and military general Esmail Kosari said Iran was reviewing whether to close the Strait of Hormuz, the exit point for oil shipped from the Gulf.

NIGHT OF BLASTS AND FEAR IN ISRAEL AND IRAN

Iran’s overnight fusillade included hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones, an Israeli official said. Three people, including a man and a woman, were killed and dozens wounded, the ambulance service said.

In Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv, emergency services rescued a baby girl trapped in a house hit by a missile, police said, but later on Saturday Tel Aviv beaches were busy with people enjoying the weekend.

In the western suburb of Ramat Gan, near Ben Gurion airport, Linda Grinfeld described her apartment being damaged: “We were sitting in the shelter, and then we heard such a boom. It was awful.”

The Israeli military said it had intercepted surface-to-surface Iranian missiles as well as drones, and that two rockets had been fired from Gaza.

In Iran, Israel’s two days of strikes destroyed residential apartment buildings, killing families and neighbors as apparent collateral damage in strikes targeting scientists and senior officials in their beds.

Iran said 78 people had been killed on the first day and scores more on the second day, many of them when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran.

State TV said 60 people were believed to have been killed there, though the figure was not officially confirmed.

It broadcast pictures of a building flattened into debris and the facade of several upper storeys lying sideways in the street, while slabs of concrete dangled from a neighboring building.

“Smoke and dust were filling all the house and we couldn’t breathe,” 45-year-old Tehran resident Mohsen Salehi told Iranian news agency WANA after an overnight air strike woke his family.

Fars News agency said two projectiles had hit Mehrabad airport, located inside the capital, which is both civilian and military.

With Iran’s air defenses heavily damaged, Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar said “the road to Iran has been paved.”

In preparation for possible further escalation, reservists were being deployed across Israel. Army Radio reported units had been positioned along the Lebanese and Jordanian borders.

IRANIAN NUCLEAR SITES DAMAGED

Israel sees Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon.

A military official on Saturday said Israel had caused significant damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities at Natanz and Isfahan, but had not so far taken on another uranium enrichment site, Fordow, dug into a mountain.

The official said Israel had “eliminated the highest commanders of their military leadership” and had killed nine nuclear scientists who were “main sources of knowledge, main forces driving forward the (nuclear) program.”

Tehran insists the program is entirely civilian in line with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that it does not seek an atomic bomb.

However, it has repeatedly hidden some part from international inspectors, and the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday reported it in violation of the NPT.

Iranian talks with the United States to resolve the nuclear dispute have stuttered this year.

The next meeting was set for Sunday but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday that continuing the talks while Israel’s “barbarous” attacks lasted was unjustifiable.

The post Israel Says Attacks on Iran Are ‘Nothing’ Compared With What is Coming first appeared on Algemeiner.com.