President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States has knocked out much of Iran\u2019s military but still has to \u201ctake care of\u201d one or two targets, as Tehran warned of reprisals if attacked.\n<\/p>\n
Trump maintained that negotiations with Iran to end the war, which was started by the United States and Israel in February, were \u201cgoing fine but you know they\u2019re not very reliable.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The Republican president said the United States is not in a hurry to take offensive action because it had already decimated Iran\u2019s military and nuclear program.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve knocked out their nuclear. We still have to take care of, I would say one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes,\u201d Trump told reporters at his Florida residence.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly,\u201d he added, referring to a suspected underground nuclear complex.\n<\/p>\n
The Iranian government denied any nuclear work is carried out there.\n<\/p>\n
Earlier Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has not made a decision about fresh strikes on Iran and that the United States would be open to a diplomatic solution.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s supreme leader on Saturday warned the United States and Israel against launching a new offensive, following threats they could resume strikes after crucial elections in both countries.\n<\/p>\n
Trump had previously warned an attack could come after the US midterms this week, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a \u201chistoric, one-time opportunity\u201d to topple the Iranian government.\n<\/p>\n
The elections in both countries could determine the direction of the conflict, with Israel having voted in a general election on Tuesday but yet to form a new government.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny level or type of threat must be met with an immediate, impactful and geographically unrestricted response,\u201d Iran\u2019s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei told top military commanders, according to a statement.\n<\/p>\n
Khamenei also ordered commanders to update Iran\u2019s target list to include \u201call types of tangible and intangible assets belonging to the American-Zionist enemy\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
This was the first reported meeting between Khamenei and military top brass.
The supreme leader has not been seen publicly since before he took the helm in March, after the killing of his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Oil price spike \u2013<\/p>\n
Rubio warned that \u201cwe can achieve military objectives if we seek to\u201d, adding that Trump had not made a decision on any fresh strikes.\n<\/p>\n
Since the recent outbreak of the war, Tehran has restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries around one-fifth of global oil consumption. <\/p>\n
Iran has previously warned it would also consider severing undersea cables in the Strait of Hormuz.\n<\/p>\n
A ship traversing the strait struck a mine and caught fire, Iranian state television reported Saturday.\n<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards said Friday three oil tankers had been halted after encountering unspecified \u201cincidents\u201d or hitting mines.\n<\/p>\n
The blockade has caused a spike in global energy prices, making the war unpopular among the US public ahead of the upcoming polls.\n<\/p>\n
Gains for the opposition Democrats could restrict, to an extent, Trump\u2019s ability to enact policy.<\/p>\n
Voting in Israel has left Netanyahu\u2019s political camp with the most seats in parliament but short of a majority, leaving the make-up of the next administration unclear.\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2018Flames of war\u2019 \u2013\n<\/p>\n
Fresh diplomatic efforts are underway to avert any resumption of fighting.
Qatari mediators landed in Tehran on Friday, and US Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to Iran\u2019s security chief Mohsen Rezaei.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI read the letter,\u201d said Rezaei, head of Iran\u2019s supreme national security council, in a video broadcast on Iranian television.
\u201cI haven\u2019t yet responded. Their tone has completely changed,\u201d he added, describing that as \u201ca good sign\u201d without going into more detail.\n<\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there were currently no plans for meetings with US officials.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIran\u2019s conditions are clear, and consultations regarding them are ongoing among mediators,\u201d he said in an interview with Al Jazeera, according to the state news agency IRNA.\n<\/p>\n
Rezaei insisted Iran would continue to blockade the Strait of Hormuz until its conditions, including releasing frozen assets, were met.<\/p>\n
Qatar and Pakistan have been mediating between the warring parties, but the talks have yet to produce a lasting agreement.
Iranian army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said any resumption of hostilities would only expand the scope of the war.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe flames of war will undoubtedly engulf a much wider geographical area,\u201d he said on social media.\n<\/p>\n
Araghchi warned on X that there would no longer be any \u201cred lines\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
AFP\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States has knocked out much of Iran\u2019s military but still has to \u201ctake care of\u201d one or two targets, as Tehran… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}