Iran warns Israel and US against any attack on its nuclear sites

The United States would bear legal responsibility in the event of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday, following a CNN report that Israel might be preparing strikes on Iran.

Iran and the US, Israel's closest ally, will hold a fifth round of nuclear talks on Friday in Rome amid deep disagreement over uranium enrichment in Iran, which Washington says could lead to developing nuclear bombs. Iran denies such intent.

“Iran strongly warns against any adventurism by the Zionist regime of Israel and will decisively respond to any threat or unlawful act by this regime,” Araqchi said in a letter addressed to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Araqchi said Iran would view Washington as a “participant” in any such attack, and Tehran would have to adopt “special measures” to protect its nuclear sites and material if threats continued, and the International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog would be subsequently informed of such steps.

Although Araqchi did not specify what measures were being considered, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader said in April that Tehran could suspend cooperation with the IAEA or transfer enriched material to safe and undisclosed locations.

In a separate statement released on Thursday, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards warned Israel would receive a "devastating and decisive response" if it attacks Iran.

"They are trying to frighten us with war but are miscalculating as they are unaware of the powerful popular and military support the Islamic Republic can muster in war conditions," Guards spokesperson Alimohammad Naini said.

A collapse of US-Iran negotiations or a new nuclear deal that does not alleviate Israeli concerns about Iran developing nuclear weapons through enrichment could motivate Israeli strikes on its regional arch-foe, diplomats say.

Later on Thursday, Araqchi said in a televised interview that if the United States aims to end uranium enrichment then there will be no nuclear deal.

"They have said [U.S. officials]... that they do not believe in enrichment in Iran... and it has to stop completely, if this is their goal there will be no deal", Araqchi said in the interview carried by state TV.

The Iranian foreign minister said the idea of a uranium enrichment consortium with the participation of other nations is not bad, but will not replace enrichment on Iranian soil.

On Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said US demands that Tehran stop refining uranium were "excessive and outrageous," and he voiced doubt over whether talks on a new nuclear deal would succeed. Tehran maintains its nuclear energy program is exclusively for civilian purposes.

 

Pentagon accepts Qatar jet for use by Trump

“The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal rules and regulations,” chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement to The Hill’s sister network NewsNation.

“The Department of Defense will work to ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the President of the United States,” he added.

The Qatari gift was also raised at President Trump’s meeting with South Africa’s president at the White House on Wednesday. Trump shot down the question and pushed back on the reporter who asked about criticism around the jet.

Trump last week said he would accept the US$400 million luxury Boeing 747-8, previously used by the Qatari royal family, as a stand-in for the aging Air Force One fleet.

The plane — which is one of the largest foreign gifts ever accepted by a US president — has been criticized by US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, who say it raises both ethical and security questions.

Numerous Republicans have argued that the purportedly free jet comes with strings, given it will need to go through the lengthy and expensive process of being transformed into Air Force One.

Others have raised safety concerns about the jet, including a group of senior Democratic senators led by Sen. Adam Schiff, who want the Pentagon’s watchdog to look into the Defense Department’s acceptance of the gifted plane and its role in the transfer. 

Trump has defended his decision to accept the jet, arguing it is legal and dismissing the bipartisan criticism as a “radical left story.”

Boeing has had a contract with the US government since Trump’s first term in 2018 to replace its pair of aging Air Force Ones, two military versions of the Boeing 747. The delivery of the aircraft has been delayed until at least 2027, a timeline Trump has latched onto in arguing the Qatari jet could serve as an interim plane.

But the gifted aircraft from Qatar would face a retrofit that could take years to complete and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, with new power systems, electrical wiring and other technology for secure communications and self-defense needed.

OPEC Plus pushing US shale producers out

OPEC Plus leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia seems to be working to take over US shale production to win back market share from the United States, reports Reuters.

OPEC's last price war on US producers 10 years ago ended in failure, as breakthroughs in technology and drilling allowed US shale companies to cut costs, compete at lower prices and in the following years take market share from the 12-member group.

US production is more vulnerable now to a price war. US shale producers have seen costs rise in the past three years. Their income is also falling due to declining global oil prices - linked in part due to the economic fallout from President Donald Trump's tariff policies.

Reuters spoke to 10 OPEC Plus delegates and industry sources briefed by Saudi Arabia or Russia on their production strategy.

Retaking some market share is one motivation for a May 03 decision to bring back output more rapidly than previously planned, according to four of the 10 sources, though none said the strategy constituted a price war yet.

To hurt shale producers today, OPEC Plus would need to push oil prices lower than their current levels of around US$65 per barrel to around US$55, said the sources, all of whom declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

"The idea is to put a lot of uncertainty into plans by others with prices at below US$60 per barrel," said one industry source briefed on Saudi Arabia's thinking.

OPEC Plus, which includes OPEC members and fellow producers such as Russia and Kazakhstan, cited "the current healthy market fundamentals, as reflected in the low oil inventories" as its reasoning for the production decision.

OPEC Plus output hikes also come as the best quality shale areas in the biggest US oilfield, the Permian, have been depleted. As producers move toward secondary areas, production costs are rising. Inflation has added to those costs.

US oil production was already likely to fall this year, as top quality inventory has been drilled out, he said. And the US administration's tariff policies and the resulting volatile market have weighed heavily with bankruptcies expected across the industry, Guan added.

Earlier this month, the U.S. oil and gas rig count fell to its lowest since January, according to Baker Hughes.

Shale firm Diamondback Energy (FANG.O), opens new tab lowered its output forecast for 2025 earlier this month, saying that global economic uncertainty and rising OPEC+ supply have brought U.S. oil production to a tipping point.

 

Israel getting ready to attack Iranian nuclear facilities

The United States has obtained new intelligence suggesting that Israel is making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, even as the Trump administration has been pursuing a diplomatic deal with Tehran, reports CNN.

Such a strike would be a brazen break with President Donald Trump. It could also risk tipping off a broader regional conflict in the Middle East — something the US has sought to avoid since the war in Gaza started in October 2023.

Officials caution it’s not clear that Israeli leaders have made a final decision, and that in fact, there is deep disagreement within the US government about the likelihood that Israel will ultimately act. Whether and how Israel strikes will likely depend on what it thinks of the US negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program.

The chance of an Israeli strike on an Iranian nuclear facility has gone up significantly in recent months. The prospect of a Trump-negotiated US-Iran deal that doesn’t remove all of Iran’s uranium makes the chance of a strike more likely.

The heightened worries stem not only from public and private messaging from senior Israeli officials that it is considering such a move, but also from intercepted Israeli communications and observations of Israeli military movements that could suggest an imminent strike.

Among the military preparations the US has observed are the movement of air munitions and the completion of an air exercise.

Those same indicators could also simply be Israel trying to pressure Iran to abandon key tenets of its nuclear program by signaling the consequences if it doesn’t — underscoring the ever-shifting complexities the White House is navigating.

Trump has publicly threatened military action against Iran if his administration’s efforts to negotiate a new nuclear deal to limit or eliminate Tehran’s nuclear program fail. Trump also set a limit on how long the US would engage in diplomatic efforts.

In a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in mid-March, Trump set a 60-day deadline for those efforts to succeed. It has now been more than 60 days since that letter was delivered, and 38 days since the first round of talks began.

A senior Western diplomat who met with the president earlier this month said that Trump communicated the US would give those negotiations only weeks to succeed before resorting to military strikes.

That has put Israel “between a rock and a hard place,” said Jonathan Panikoff, a former senior intelligence official specializing in the region.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure both to avoid a US-Iran deal that Israel doesn’t view as satisfactory, while also not alienating Trump — who has already broken with the Israeli prime minister on key security issues in the region.

“At the end of the day, the Israeli decision-making is going to be predicated on US policy determinations and actions, and what agreements President Trump does or does not come to with Iran,” Panikoff said, who added that he did not believe Netanyahu would be willing to risk entirely fracturing the US relationship by launching a strike without at least tacit US approval.

Iran is in its weakest military position in decades, after Israel bombed its missile production facilities and air defenses in October last year, combined with an economy weakened by sanctions and Israel’s decimation of its most powerful regional proxies. Israel.

The US is stepping up intelligence collection to be prepared to assist if Israeli leaders decide to strike, one senior US official told CNN.

A source familiar with the Trump administration’s thinking told CNN the US is unlikely to help Israel carry out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites at this moment.

Israel does not have the capacity to destroy Iran’s nuclear program without American assistance, including midair refueling and the bombs required to penetrate the facilities deep underground, a need that is also reflected in previous US intelligence reports.

An Israeli source told CNN that Israel would be prepared to carry out military action on its own if the US were to negotiate what this source described as a “bad deal” with Iran that Israel cannot accept.

It is more likely they strike to try and get the deal to fall apart if they think Trump is going to settle for a ‘bad deal’. The Israelis have not been shy about signaling both publicly and privately.

A US intelligence assessment from February suggested Israel could use either military aircraft or long-range missiles to capitalize on Iran’s degraded air defense capabilities, CNN previously reported.

The same assessment also described how such strikes would only minimally set the Iranian nuclear program back and wouldn’t be a cure-all. “It’s a real challenge for Netanyahu,” Panikoff said.

The US talks with Iran are stuck on a demand that Tehran not enrich uranium, a process which can enable weaponization, but which is also necessary to produce nuclear power for civilian purposes.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is leading the US delegation, told ABC News over the weekend that Washington “cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability” under an agreement. “We’ve delivered a proposal to the Iranians that we think addresses some of this without disrespecting them,” he said.

Khamenei said on Tuesday that he does not expect negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program to “reach a conclusion,” calling the US demand that Iran not enrich uranium a “big mistake.”

Iran insists it has a right to enrich under the United Nations’ Treaty on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and says it will not relinquish that right under any circumstances.

Another round of talks may take place in Europe this week, according to Witkoff. Both the US and Iran have put proposals on the table, but after more than a month of the talks facilitated by Oman, there is no current US proposal with Trump’s sign-off, sources said.

US intelligence agencies in February issued warnings that Israel will likely attempt to strike facilities key to Iran’s nuclear program this year, CNN previously reported.

It has “consistently been the Israeli position that the military option is the only option to stopping Iran’s military nuclear program,” one US official noted.

 

Britain suspends trade talks with Israel

According to Reuters, Britain on Tuesday paused free trade talks with Israel, summoned its ambassador, and announced further sanctions against West Bank settlers as its foreign minister condemned a "monstrous" military escalation in Gaza.

The Israeli military announced the start of a new operation last week and medics in Gaza say Israeli strikes have killed more than 500 people in the past eight days.

Israel has also blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March, prompting international experts to warn of looming famine, although some trucks were allowed to enter on Monday.

Foreign Minister David Lammy said the offensive was "a dark new phase in this conflict", called for Israel to end the blockade of aid and condemned comments by finance minister Bezalel Smotrich on the possible cleansing and destruction of Gaza and relocation of its residents to third countries.

"It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous, and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms," a visibly angry Lammy told lawmakers, adding the operation in Gaza was "incompatible with the principles that underpin our bilateral relationship".

"Today, I'm announcing that we have suspended negotiations with this Israeli government on a new free trade agreement."

Israel said Britain had not advanced the trade talks, which started formally in 2022 under a previous Conservative British government, for some time.

"The British Mandate ended exactly 77 years ago," a spokesperson for its foreign ministry said. "External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction."

Lammy said the new offensive would not secure the release of remaining hostages and that January's ceasefire had shown the better path that Israel should follow.

Earlier Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was "horrified by the escalation" after issuing a joint statement with France and Canada. Lammy said Britain would take further action if Israel pursued its military offensive.

 

 

 

Pakistan: Gen Asim Munir made Field Marshal

The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved the promotion of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir to Field Marshal for his leadership in Operation Bunyanum Marsoos and the period of conflict against India known as Marka-i-Haq.

The military confrontation between India and Pakistan came as tensions over last month’s Pahalgam attack continued to build up. On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi launched a series of air strikes in Punjab and Azad Kashmir, resulting in civilian casualties. Islamabad responded by downing five Indian jets.

After intercepting drones sent by India and tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10, when tensions between the two countries peaked, for both sides to finally drop their guns as a ceasefire was reached.

India has since continued its aggressive posturing even as Pakistan has warned against any further military aggression and offered talks. Officials from both countries confirmed that the ceasefire does not have an expiry date, putting to rest the speculations that the truce would lapse this weekend unless renewed.

The rank of Field Marshal is the highest rank of armies built on the pattern of the British Army. General Mohammad Ayub Khan was conferred the rank by the presidential cabinet.

“The Government of Pakistan has approved the promotion of General Syed Asim Munir (Nishan-i-Imtiaz Military) to the rank of Field Marshal for ensuring the security of the country and defeating the enemy based on the high strategy and courageous leadership during Marka-i-Haq and Operation Bunyanum Marsoos,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement after a federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Retelling the events of the military conflict with India, the statement further said that COAS Munir led the army “with exemplary courage and determination and coordinated the war strategy and efforts of the armed forces in a comprehensive manner”.

 

 

Houthis announce blockade of Haifa port

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis announced on Monday what they called a "maritime blockade" on Israel's Haifa port in response to Israel's ongoing conflict in Gaza, reports Reuters

"All companies with ships present in or heading to this port are hereby notified that, as of the time of this announcement, the aforementioned port has been included in the list of targets," the group's spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised address.

The Houthis have continued to fire missiles at Israel including on Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, although they have agreed to halt attacks on US ships.

The missiles launched by the group on Israel were mostly intercepted.

Israel has carried out strikes in response, including one on May 06 that damaged Yemen's main airport in Sanaa and killed several people.