‘We’re Not Thrilled With the Way They’re Negotiating’: Trump Speaks on Iran as Indications Growing an Armed Conflict Is Afoot

While Israel prepares for Monday night’s Purim, a holiday marking a victory in 473 BC over a Persian man who sought to kill all Jews, indications are growing that an armed conflict with the Islamic Republic of Iran might be launched at any moment. As yet, though, President Trump has made no public announcement about timing, or goals, of any possible conflict. “We have the greatest military anywhere in the world,” Mr. Trump told reporters Friday. “I’d love not to use it, but sometimes you have to.” While he stressed that he prefers negotiations with Tehran to military action, he added, “We’re not thrilled with the way they’re negotiating.”As Omani-mediated diplomatic talks seem to stall, the American ambassador at Jerusalem, Mike Huckabee, sent an email to embassy workers on Friday, urging those who seek to leave the country to take “any flight” before the end of day. The Department of State is evacuating non-essential workers from Iraq. Communist China on Friday warned its citizens to leave Iran now. A similar advice is issued by governments from Canada to India.Vice President Vance told the Washington Post on Friday that America has no intention to be involved in a “prolonged” Middle East war, indicating that if at all, conflict would be limited in time. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he is planning a two-day visit to Israel on Monday. The timing of launching an American attack, or a joint strike with Israel, could be tied to President Trump’s reluctance to step over his wife’s debut on the world’s stage. First Lady Melania Trump is scheduled to chair a United Nations Security Council session on children in armed conflict at 3 pm Monday. The Department of War, meanwhile, is moving assets and troops out of Al Udaid airbase in Qatar and the Navy’s Sixth Fleet port in Bahrain. There are many assets, though, in the Persian Gulf, while Israel seems to host American military assets that could launch a strike and defend the country. The aircraft carrier Gerald Ford and its strike group arrived at Haifa port and At least 14 refueling American aircrafts landed at Ben Gurion airport Friday. They join 12 F-22 Raptor fighter jets now stationed at the Uvda military base in southern Israel. In his Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Mr. Trump said he prefers diplomacy to end the Iran crisis. Yet a meeting his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner conducted with Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, on Thursday reportedly yielded little if any breakthrough. Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi of Oman, the country mediating the diplomacy, is scheduled to arrive at Washington for talks with Mr. Vance on Friday. The International Atomic Energy Agency says in a new report that Tehran is blocking access to its inspectors. The agency is attempting to assess the fate of nearly 800 pounds of uranium enriched to a near-bomb level of 60 percent, which are presumably buried under rubble of bombed nuclear sites. Completely dismantling the sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan is one of American reported demands of Iran. Other demands include permanent restriction on nuclear activities and ending uranium enrichment on Iranian soil. “The Islamic Republic has never accepted suspension of enrichment and will not accept it,” a cleric close to the Supreme Leader, Ahmad Khatami, said in a fiery speech at Tehran during today’s Friday prayers. “Not temporarily. Not partially. Not under any conditions.”Mr. Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that while currently the talks are only about the nuclear program, Tehran “refuses to talk about ballistic missiles.”Iran “possesses a very large number of ballistic missiles, particularly short range ballistic missiles that threaten the United States and our bases in the region, and our partners in the region, and all of our bases in the UAE and Qatar and Bahrain, and they also possess naval assets that threaten shipping and try to threaten the US Navy,” Mr. Rubio said. Islamic Republic officials stressed that if attacked, they will first target Israel. Israel and allies managed to intercept some 93 percent of Iran’s missiles in June, but 30 Israelis were killed. In recent weeks the Israel Defense Force raised strikes in Lebanon meant to eliminate Iran-allied Hezbollah threats from across the border. “We are operating in full coordination with our partners to strengthen our defenses,” the IDF spokesman, Brigadier General Effie Defrin, told Israelis in a posted video.General Defrin stressed that as of now he has no specific instructions for Israelis to change behavior. Despite the rising tensions, some 45,000 runners participated in the Tel Aviv marathon on Friday. Israelis, though, are unsure how the holiday of Purim will be celebrated this year.

‘We’re Not Thrilled With the Way They’re Negotiating’: Trump Speaks on Iran as Indications Growing an Armed Conflict Is Afoot

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