[🇮🇷] Iran's Nuclear Program

[Saif]

Iran won’t negotiate under US ‘bullying’

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said later on Saturday that Iran will not be bullied into negotiations, a day after US President Donald Trump said he had sent a letter to the country’s top authority urging Tehran to negotiate a nuclear deal.

www.thedailystar.net

Iran won’t negotiate under US ‘bullying’
Says Supreme Leader Khamenei

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said later on Saturday that Iran will not be bullied into negotiations, a day after US President Donald Trump said he had sent a letter to the country's top authority urging Tehran to negotiate a nuclear deal.

In an interview with Fox Business, Trump said, "There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal" to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

At a meeting with senior Iranian officials, Khamenei said Washington's aim was to "impose their own expectations," Iranian state media reported.

"The insistence of some bullying governments on negotiations is not to resolve issues. ... Talks for them is a pathway to have new demands, it is not only about Iran's nuclear issue. ... Iran will definitely not accept their expectations," Khamenei was quoted as saying, without directly mentioning Trump.

In response to Khamenei's comments, White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes reiterated almost word for word the choice of negotiations or military action that Trump said he had presented to Iran.

"We hope the Iran Regime puts its people and best interests ahead of terror," Hughes said in a statement.

While expressing openness to a deal with Tehran, Trump has reinstated a "maximum pressure" campaign that was applied during his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports to zero.​

 

[Saif]

Attack on Iran's nuclear sites would contaminate Gulf water supply, Qatar PM says

Qatar's prime minister has warned that an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would "entirely contaminate" the waters of the Gulf and threaten life in Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait. The three desert states, facing Iran on the opposite side of the Gulf, have minimal natural water reserves and are home

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Attack on Iran's nuclear sites would contaminate Gulf water supply, Qatar PM says
REUTERS
Published :
Mar 09, 2025 21:55
Updated :
Mar 09, 2025 21:55

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani speaks after a meeting with the Lebanese president at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon Feb 4, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Emilie Madi

Qatar's prime minister has warned that an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would "entirely contaminate" the waters of the Gulf and threaten life in Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait.

The three desert states, facing Iran on the opposite side of the Gulf, have minimal natural water reserves and are home to more than 18 million people whose only supply of potable water is desalinated water drawn from the Gulf.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani warned that an attack on Iran's nuclear sites would leave the Gulf with "no water, no fish, nothing ... no life".

US President Donald Trump has said he wants to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran and has suggested to Tehran that the two countries open talks. Trump has also reinstated a "maximum pressure" campaign that was applied during his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports to zero.

Sheikh Mohammed urged a diplomatic solution to avoid a military strike on Iran that would trigger a "war that will spread all over the region".

"There is no way that Qatar would support any kind of military step ... we will not give up until we see a diplomatic solution," he said in an interview with US conservative media personality Tucker Carlson that was posted on Friday.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and its supreme leader said on Saturday that Iran would not be bullied into negotiations.

Qatar assessed several years ago that it was at risk of running out of potable water after three days in the event of an attack on Iran's nuclear sites, Sheikh Mohammed said.

The Gulf Arab state, where temperatures reach 50C in the summer, has since built 15 of the world's largest concrete water reservoirs to boost its emergency water supply.

Qatar's prime minister specifically mentioned his country, Kuwait and the UAE, and said some of Iran's nuclear sites were closer to Doha than they were to Tehran. Iran's only operating nuclear power plant is on the Gulf coast at Bushehr.

Gas-rich Qatar is closely allied with the US and hosts the biggest American military base in the Middle East, but it also maintains ties with Iran, with which it shares the world's largest known gas field.

During his 2017-2021 term, Trump withdrew the US from a deal between Iran and major powers that had placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

After Trump pulled out in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions, Iran breached and far surpassed those limits.​