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Iran Says US, Israel Would Be ‘Crazy’ to Attack Its Nuclear Sites, Warns of ‘Decisive Response’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on before a meeting with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 26, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a new interview that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be “crazy,” warning Tehran would have “an immediate and decisive response” as questions continued to swirl over whether US President Donald Trump would support such an Israeli strike.
“We have made it clear that any attack to our nuclear facilities would be faced with an immediate and decisive response,” Araghchi told Sky News in Iran in his first interview since Trump’s inauguration. “But I don’t think they will do that crazy thing. This is really crazy. And this would turn the whole region into a very bad disaster.”
Last week, while speaking to reporters, Trump appeared to hint that he could support a preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, which US, Israeli, and other officials believe are ultimately geared toward building nuclear weapons. Iran has long claimed its nuclear program is meant for peaceful, civilian purposes.
Though Trump did not confirm that he would back an Israeli attack, he suggested that such actions might be necessary if Tehran does not scale back its nuclear ambitions.
“I’m not going to answer that,” Trump said when asked by reporters if he supports Israeli strikes against Iran’s nuclear program. “Hopefully that can be worked out without having to worry about it. It would really be nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step.”
The Trump administration has indicated that it aims to broker a deal with Tehran to mitigate its nuclear program, hoping to avoid possible military action.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump vocally criticized the Biden administration for outright opposing an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear sites as a response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel in October. Thus, some observers have assumed that Trump would support direct attacks against Tehran.
In his initial term in the Oval Office from 2017-2021, Trump pulled out of a 2015 agreement negotiated between Iran, the Obama administration, and several world powers which placed temporary restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.
Iran has claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes rather than building weapons. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, reported last month that Iran had greatly accelerated uranium enrichment to close to weapons grade at its Fordow site dug into a mountain.
The UK, France, and Germany said in a recent statement that there is no “credible civilian justification” for Iran’s recent nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”
In his latest interview, which aired on Tuesday, Araghchi suggested Iran would be open to restarting discussions with the Trump administration regarding its nuclear program. However, he claimed that Washington would need to “buy [Tehran’s] confidence” to secure a successfully renegotiated nuclear deal.
“The situation is different and much more difficult than the previous time,” he said. “Lots of things should be done by the other side to buy our confidence … We haven’t heard anything but the ‘nice’ word, and this is obviously not enough.”
Araghchi also brushed off Trump’s recent suggestion that he would support a “clean out” of civilians from Gaza, instead proposing a forced relocation of Israeli civilians to Greenland.
“My suggestion is something else. Instead of Palestinians, try to expel Israelis, take them to Greenland so they can kill two birds with one stone,” Araghchi said.
Trump recently floated a potential temporary relocation of Gaza civilians to neighboring Arab countries, citing a need to permanently end the conflict with Israel.
The post Iran Says US, Israel Would Be ‘Crazy’ to Attack Its Nuclear Sites, Warns of ‘Decisive Response’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.