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Iran Must ‘Walk Away’ From All Uranium Enrichment, Rubio Says
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, April 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Iran has to “walk away” from uranium enrichment and long-range missile development and it should allow inspectors of military facilities, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday as a round of nuclear talks was postponed.
Rubio‘s comments underscore the major remaining divisions in talks between the countries to resolve the long-running dispute over Iran‘s nuclear program, with US President Donald Trump threatening to bomb Iran if there is no agreement.
“They have to walk away from sponsoring terrorists, they have to walk away from helping the Houthis [in Yemen], they have to walk away from building long-range missiles that have no purpose to exist other than having nuclear weapons, and they have to walk away from enrichment,” Rubio said in a Fox News interview.
Iran has repeatedly said it will not give up its missile program or its uranium enrichment – a process used to make fuel for nuclear power plants but which can also yield material for an atomic warhead.
On Thursday a senior Iranian official told Reuters that the scheduled fourth round of talks due to take place in Rome on Saturday had been postponed and that a new date would be set “depending on the US approach.”
Rubio said Iran should import enriched uranium for its nuclear power program rather than enriching it to any level.
“If you have the ability to enrich at 3.67 percent it only takes a few weeks to get to 20 percent then 60 percent and then the 80 and 90 percent that you need for a weapon,” he said.
Iran has said it has a right to enrich uranium under the terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It denies wanting to build a nuclear bomb.
Rubio also said Iran would have to accept that Americans could be involved in any inspection regime and that inspectors would require access to all facilities, including military ones.
Washington is ramping up pressure on Iran. US President Donald Trump on Thursday said all purchases of Iranian oil or petrochemical products must stop and that any country or person buying any from the country would be immediately subject to secondary sanctions.
Iran spoke out against that approach on Friday. “While stressing its commitment to the path of diplomacy and declaring its readiness to continue negotiations, Iran will not tolerate approaches based on threats and pressure,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The post Iran Must ‘Walk Away’ From All Uranium Enrichment, Rubio Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Says It Intercepted Missile Fired from Yemen; Houthis Claim Responsibility
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Israel’s military said on Saturday it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen and Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the attack, the third of its kind by the Iran-aligned group in 24 hours.
The Israeli military said sirens were activated in a number of areas in Israel after the missile was launched. No casualties or serious damage have been reported from the missile salvos.
The claim of responsibility, announced by the Houthis’ military spokesperson, came amid an intensification of US airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
In March, US President Donald Trump ordered large-scale strikes against the Houthis to reduce their capabilities and deter them from targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
The deadly strikes on the group have been the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January.
The Houthis say their attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping are in solidarity with the Palestinians in the war between Hamas terrorists and Israel in Gaza.
The group pledged to expand its range of targets in Israel in retaliation for a renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza launched in mid-March, breaking a two-month-old ceasefire after the mediated talks on terms for extending it broke down.
The post Israel Says It Intercepted Missile Fired from Yemen; Houthis Claim Responsibility first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Former IRGC Chief: Trump Under Sway of Netanyahu, Neocons
Mohsen Rezaee, the secretary of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council. Photo: Foad Ashtari via Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – The former head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps took to X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday to make the claim that the foreign policy of US President Donald Trump is under the sway of “neocons” and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Before taking office in the White House, Trump claimed that he had plans for an immediate end to the wars; but the war in Ukraine continues, the ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon has been broken, and the Israeli occupation army has occupied parts of Syria,” Mohsen Rezaee, now the head of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination, wrote in Persian.
“Regarding negotiations with Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran has shown its seriousness and willingness to negotiate and reach an agreement. However, Trump and his team, influenced by Netanyahu and the neocons, are still in confusion and turmoil.”
The post Former IRGC Chief: Trump Under Sway of Netanyahu, Neocons first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Waltz’s Huddling with Netanyahu to Plan Iran Strike Angered Trump, Contributing to Ouster
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz meeting with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. January 28, 2025. Source: https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1884391528933777687
i24 News – As US President Donald Trump announced earlier in the week the decision to ouster his national security advisor, a report claims that Michael Waltz’s “intense coordination” with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has contributed to his sacking.
According to The Washington Post, while “Waltz’s fate was sealed” by his apparently accidental inclusion of an Atlantic journalist on a sensitive Signal group chat in March, he also “upset” Trump after an Oval Office visit by Netanyahu, “when the national security adviser appeared to share the Israeli leader’s conviction that the time was ripe to strike Iran.”
The report quoted an administration insider as saying that Waltz “wanted to take US policy in a direction Trump wasn’t comfortable with because the US hadn’t attempted a diplomatic solution.”
The US is now engaged in nuclear talks with Iranian representatives.
The post Report: Waltz’s Huddling with Netanyahu to Plan Iran Strike Angered Trump, Contributing to Ouster first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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