Benjamin Netanyahu’s 33 years of Iran nuclear warnings
Israel’s first attack five days ago was under the premise of dismantling Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons. The UN watchdog has never said there is evidence of Tehran having a nuclear arms programme.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been saying that Iran is “very close” to developing a nuclear weapon for more than 30 years.
Iran unlikely to comply with Trump’s ‘surrender’ demand, entire region now at risk
We’ve been speaking with Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, who said a little earlier that Iran was unlikely to “surrender to American terms” and that there is a risk the war on Iran could “bring the entire region down”.
Vaez said that US President Trump “provided the green light for Israel to attack Iran just two days before the president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, was supposed to meet with the Iranians in Muscat”.
Imagine viewing, from the Iranian perspective, Trump giving the go-ahead for the attack while also saying that diplomacy with Tehran was still ongoing, Vaez said.
Now Trump “is asking for Iranian surrender”, he said.
“I think the only thing that is more dangerous than suffering from Israeli and American bombs is actually surrendering to American terms. Because if Iran surrenders on the nuclear issue and on the demands of President Trump, there is no end to the slippery slope, which would eventually result in regime collapse and capitulation anyway.
“So the risk is that with the Islamic Republic going down, it would try to bring the entire region down with it, and so the risk of a regional conflagration now is higher than ever before.”
Iranian media reports on arrests of Israeli spy agency suspects
Local Iranian media have reported on the arrests of several people accused of spying for the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, as well as planning attacks.
The Tasnim News Agency reports that a foreign national was arrested in the southern port city of Bushehr while recording images of a “sensitive nuclear area” and accused of working for Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
The news site also reported that a “terrorist team” affiliated with Mossad was discovered during a vehicle check-in Baharestan county, on the outskirts of Tehran, where micro-drones, explosives, communications equipment and targeting systems were discovered.
Morad Moradi, the region’s acting governor, was quoted as saying the suspects had “intended to use this equipment to carry out widespread suicide operations in densely populated areas and, by creating fear and panic, undermine internal security”.
Iranian news website Eghtesadonline also reported that four people were arrested on suspicion of working as “mercenaries” for Israel after material used in the manufacture of “drones and micro-aircraft” was discovered in a workshop in Isfahan City, located near the country’s Isfahan nuclear facilities.
