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Iran can’t enrich uranium, could only import it for civilian program, Rubio says

Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear program is peaceful. U.S. and Iranian officials will meet in Oman on Saturday for a third round of talks.

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Iran will have to stop enriching uranium under any deal with the United States and could only import what is needed for a civilian nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ahead of talks between Tehran and Washington on Saturday, Reuters reported.

However, Iran has already made clear that its right to enrich uranium is not negotiable. When asked about Rubio’s comments, a senior Iranian official, close to Iran’s negotiating team, again said on Wednesday “zero enrichment is unacceptable.”

The U.S. is seeking to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb and President Donald Trump has imposed a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions and threatened to use military force if Iran does not end its nuclear program.

Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear program is peaceful. U.S. and Iranian officials will meet in Oman on Saturday for a third round of talks on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

“There’s a pathway to a civil, peaceful nuclear program if they want one,” Rubio told the “Honestly with Bari Weiss” podcast on Tuesday.

“But if they insist on enriching, then they will be the only country in the world that doesn’t have a ‘weapons program,’ … but is enriching. And so I think that’s problematic,” he said.

U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff last week said Iran does not need to enrich past 3.67% – a remark that raised questions as to whether Washington still wanted Tehran to dismantle its enrichment program, read the report.

Witkoff then said a day later that Iran must “stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment.”

Rubio said on Tuesday that Witkoff was initially talking about “the level of enriched material that they would be allowed to import from outside, like multiple countries around the world do for their peaceful civil nuclear programs.”

“If Iran wants a civil nuclear program, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one, and that is they import enriched material,” he said.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog – the International Atomic Energy Agency – has said that Iran is “dramatically” accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level.

Western countries say there is no need to enrich uranium to such a high level for civilian uses and that no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs.

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Trump says Iran talks to take place on Monday, sets no deadline for deal

Asked if there was a deadline for Iran to come to an agreement, Trump declined to answer.

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U.S. President Donald Trump said talks ​with Iran will happen on Monday but declined to set a deadline for an agreement after earlier saying he had called off an ‌imminent attack in hopes of quickly reaching a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resolve the impasse over Tehran’s nuclear capabilities, Reuters reported.

Trump had said late on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked for time to complete a deal that would lead to “the Immediate, Complete and Total” reopening of the strait and “an end to ​Iran’s nuclear threat” but that Tehran must “rapidly make a DEAL.”

As he returned to Washington from a weekend in New Jersey, Trump told reporters on Sunday ​that a negotiation would begin on Monday afternoon but did not provide details of where it would take place or ⁠who would be involved.

Asked if there was a deadline for Iran to come to an agreement, Trump declined to answer. “Would I rather make a deal? I’m not ​looking to kill people because people die, a lot of people die, and we don’t want that,” Trump said in response.

Trump has repeatedly issued threats that he would ​escalate the war on Iran he launched along with Israel in late February, only to allow more time for talks, which have so far not led to a comprehensive deal.

Trump’s apparent de-escalation after days of threats of new attacks from each side was the latest twist in the war. Attacks have spread across the Gulf to the Red Sea and even a Mediterranean facility ​in Egypt.

Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the start of the war, ​causing energy prices to rise and stoking broader inflation.

The U.S. president has argued that his stated goal of keeping Iran from gaining nuclear weapons justifies higher fuel costs in the near ‌term, but ⁠the economic pain has put political pressure on him to find a way to end the conflict, read the report.

Oil prices were down more than 4% in early trading on Monday.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi held phone calls with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir to discuss diplomatic efforts, Iran’s state media reported on Sunday.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA reported earlier that negotiations between Tehran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz were in their final stages, ​citing Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.

Iranian Foreign ​Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said negotiations ⁠were focused on agreeing a new route through the strait, adding that it had “no link to the Strait of Hormuz being opened or closed. That is a separate discussion.”

Last month Iran publicly rejected an Omani proposal, backed by Gulf states, to manage ​the strait they share. People familiar with the matter had told Reuters the plan included the collection of voluntary fees ​for using the strait.

Eli ⁠Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said there was close security and intelligence coordination between Israel and the U.S. on everything happening in the region.

But he added: “With or without an agreement, and regardless of any external commitments, if Iran attempts to renew its nuclear program or advance its ballistic missile ⁠industries, we ​will be there. We will take action, and we will strike.”

Trump and Netanyahu met on Tuesday ​in Washington, with an Israeli official saying they had explored all possible paths to curb Iran’s nuclear program, including diplomacy, economic pressure and force. Tehran denies it is seeking a nuclear weapon.

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Suspected suicide bombing at police station kills at least 14 in Pakistan, officials say

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At least 14 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing outside ​a police station in northwestern Pakistan on ‌Sunday, a rescue group and a regional police official said, as the country battles widening insurgencies.

The explosion took place ​in the Kabal area of Swat, a district ​in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Reuters reported.

A pro-police rally of ⁠local residents was taking place in the same ​area on Sunday, but it was not immediately ​clear whether the rally was the intended target.

Fida Hussain, a regional police official, said the victims included five police officers and ​eight civilians. The 14th person was believed to ​be the suicide bomber, he told Reuters.

At least 18 people ‌were ⁠wounded, according to a police statement. It said an operation had been launched to arrest anyone who may have assisted the attack.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif ​in a statement ​expressed “deep grief ⁠and sorrow over the suicide blast”.

 

 

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Bomb carried by woman kills three, injures 21 near Moscow restaurant, authorities say

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A homemade bomb carried by a woman killed three people and injured at least 21 in an explosion near an upscale restaurant in central Moscow ​on Saturday evening, the authorities said.

The explosion occurred just before 2000 ​local time close to an Italian restaurant located in one ⁠of Moscow’s seven Stalin-era skyscrapers at Kudrinkskaya Square, the police said, Reuters reported.

Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Committee said that ​an unidentified woman had tried to get into the restaurant but was stopped by ​a security guard, the state RIA news agency reported.

It said the woman, the security guard and a customer at the Balzi Rossi Italian restaurant had been killed in the ​blast that followed.

Those injured received wounds of varying seriousness, the police said.

Russia’s state ​RIA news agency released video of heavily armed law enforcement officers at the scene, which ‌had ⁠been closed off to the public.

The authorities did not name those killed or injured nor did they say who they thought might have been responsible.

More than four years into a full-scale war with Ukraine, Russia’s FSB security service said earlier ​this year that authorities would step ​up protection for ⁠high-ranking military officials after a series of assassinations and attempted killings it blamed on Kyiv.

The Kommersant daily newspaper cited its ​own sources as saying that the bomb had been intended ​to maim ⁠and kill guests who were enjoying themselves on the restaurant’s summer terrace outside.

It suggested that the bomb had been set off by someone else remotely and ⁠that the ​woman carrying it may not have known ​that it was an explosive device.

The restaurant’s website said the venue had been closed on Saturday for ​a private event.

 

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