Tehran’s nuclear enrichment facility attacked by Israeli air strikes in the early hours of the Fourth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had targeted Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz. The International Atomic Energy Agency is in touch with Iranian officials to keep an eye on the levels of radiation.
Later Friday morning, Israel said it intercepted Iranian drones while Jordan said its air force blocked attacks aimed at Israel in Jordanian airspace. Israel, Jordan, Iran, and Iraq closed their airspace to civilian traffic.
The attacks followed repeated concerns from Israel about Iran’s advancing nuclear program. Netanyahu said the attacks were meant to protect the country’s survival.
The international nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, this week declared Iran in contravention of non-proliferation agreements aimed at halting the spread of nuclear weapons. Iran’s program is for peaceful purposes.
While suggesting that a final decision on whether to participate in the talks with the United States wasn’t yet made, Iran said on Saturday that they were meaningless and that it was too early to say whether to participate.
The sixth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks was scheduled for Sunday in Muscat, the capital of Oman. It was thrown into question by the Israeli airstrikes that began on Friday and continued on Saturday, targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, top military commanders and senior nuclear program officials.
Iran’s state news media quoted an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that it was not clear what decision they would make on Sunday.
That echoed what the state news media had said after the initial round of Israeli attacks on Friday, namely that the Islamic Republic was suspending its participation in the talks “until further notice.”
He said Israel wanted to tangle Western nations in the conflicts of the region. It seems that it has succeeded as well, and that it has influenced a diplomatic process with this adventure. This shows that American policymakers still have an affect on this regime.
The senior Iranian figures killed by Israel included Ali Shamkhani, a former secretary of the Supreme National Council, who was overseeing the talks as part of a committee named by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It was unimaginable that Israel had carried out such aggressive aggression without obtaining permission from the Americans, Mr. Baghaei said.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike McCoy Pitts: Iran is wise to negotiate in a time of crisis, and more attacks will come on Iran
“Iran’s leadership will be wise to negotiate at this time,” McCoy Pitt, a senior State Department official, said in a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday focused on the crisis.
If Iran does not make a deal, more attacks will be made on them, writes Mr. Trump in a social media post. Iran has denied seeking to develop nuclear weapons.