"We Are Very Close With India": US On Trade Deal: Report
"We are very close with India," Bessent told Fox News in response to a question about progress on trade negotiations.
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Indian Express
20 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Iran's president orders country to suspend cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog IAEA
Iran's president on Wednesday ordered the country to suspend its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency after American and Israeli airstrikes hit its most-important nuclear facilities, likely further limiting inspectors' ability to track Tehran's program that had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels. The order by President Masoud Pezeshkian included no timetables or details about what that suspension would entail. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled in a CBS News interview that Tehran still would be willing to continue negotiations with the United States. 'I don't think negotiations will restart as quickly as that,' Araghchi said, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump's comments that talks could start as early as this week. However, he added: 'The doors of diplomacy will never slam shut.' Iran has limited IAEA inspections in the past as a pressure tactic in negotiating with the West — though as of right now Tehran has denied that there's any immediate plans to resume talks with the United States that had been upended by the 12-day Iran-Israel war. Iranian state television announced Pezeshkian's order, which followed a law passed by Iran's parliament to suspend that cooperation. The bill already received the approval of Iran's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, on Thursday, and likely the support of the country's Supreme National Security Council, which Pezeshkian chairs. 'The government is mandated to immediately suspend all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency under the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its related Safeguards Agreement,' state television quoted the bill as saying. 'This suspension will remain in effect until certain conditions are met, including the guaranteed security of nuclear facilities and scientists.' It wasn't immediately clear what that would mean for the Vienna-based IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. The agency long has monitored Iran's nuclear program and said that it was waiting for an official communication from Iran on what the suspension meant. A diplomat with knowledge of IAEA operations, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the situation in Iran, said that IAEA inspectors were still there after the announcement and hadn't been told by the government to leave. Iran's decision drew an immediate condemnation from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. 'Iran has just issued a scandalous announcement about suspending its cooperation with the IAEA,' he said in an X post. 'This is a complete renunciation of all its international nuclear obligations and commitments.' Saar urged European nations that were part of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal to implement its so-called snapback clause. That would reimpose all U.N. sanctions on it originally lifted by Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, if one of its Western parties declares the Islamic Republic is out of compliance with it. Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, and the IAEA doesn't have access to its weapons-related facilities. Iran's move so far stops short of what experts feared the most. They had been concerned that Tehran, in response to the war, could decide to fully end its cooperation with the IAEA, abandon the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and rush toward a bomb. That treaty has countries agree not to build or obtain nuclear weapons and allows the IAEA to conduct inspections to verify that countries correctly declared their programs. Iran's 2015 nuclear deal allowed Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67% — enough to fuel a nuclear power plant, but far below the threshold of 90% needed for weapons-grade uranium. It also drastically reduced Iran's stockpile of uranium, limited its use of centrifuges and relied on the IAEA to oversee Tehran's compliance through additional oversight. The IAEA served as the main assessor of Iran's commitment to the deal. But Trump, in his first term in 2018, unilaterally withdrew Washington from the accord, insisting it wasn't tough enough and didn't address Iran's missile program or its support for militant groups in the wider Middle East. That set in motion years of tensions, including attacks at sea and on land. Iran had been enriching up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. It also has enough of a stockpile to build multiple nuclear bombs, should it choose to do so. Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the IAEA, Western intelligence agencies and others say Tehran had an organized weapons program up until 2003. Israeli airstrikes, which began June 13, decimated the upper ranks of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and targeted its arsenal of ballistic missiles. The strikes also hit Iran's nuclear sites, which Israel claimed put Tehran within reach of a nuclear weapon. Iran has said the Israeli attacks killed 935 'Iranian citizens,' including 38 children and 102 women. However, Iran has a long history of offering lower death counts around unrest over political considerations. The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, has put the death toll at 1,190 people killed, including 436 civilians and 435 security force members. The attacks wounded another 4,475 people, the group said. Meanwhile, it appears that Iranian officials now are assessing the damage done by the American strikes conducted on the three nuclear sites on June 22, including those at Fordo, a site built under a mountain about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Tehran. Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show Iranian officials at Fordo on Monday likely examining the damage caused by American bunker busters. Trucks could be seen in the images, as well as at least one crane and an excavator at tunnels on the site. That corresponded to images shot Sunday by Maxar Technologies similarly showing the ongoing work.
NDTV
25 minutes ago
- NDTV
Trump Vows To 'Make NYC Great Again', Calls Mamdani "Communist Lunatic"
US President Donald Trump said that he will save the New York City from "Communist lunatic" Indian-origin mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. In a post on Truth Social he wrote, "As President of the United States, I'm not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York. Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards. I'll save New York City, and make it "Hot" and "Great" again, just like I did with the Good Ol' USA!" This comes in the backdrop of Mamdani refusing to be "intimidated" by Trump, after the Republican said his administration would have the Democrat arrested if he stops Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from doing its work in America's most populous city. Mamdani said, "The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported. Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorise our city." "His statements don't just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadow: if you speak up, they will come for you," he added. On Tuesday, Trump had said that the New York City Democratic nominee for mayor is a "pure, true communist" and a "total nut job" and added that he will "have a lot of fun with him" if he is elected. Mamdani became the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City on Tuesday and will face the general election in November. Born in Uganda to South Asian parents, he would be the first Muslim mayor of the heavily Democratic city if he wins the general election in November. Several Republicans are pushing for the cancellation of Mamdani's citizenship, as he became a US citizen only in 2018.
NDTV
25 minutes ago
- NDTV
"Melania Needs To Go": Thousands Sign Deportation Petition Amid Crackdown
Amid mounting backlash over US President Donald Trump's reported plans to deport naturalized citizens, a viral petition on MoveOn, a progressive advocacy platform, called for the deportation of First Lady Melania Trump, her parents, and son Barron Trump--arguing that Trump's own family should not be exempted from the policies he championed. The petition stated, "Since Trump wants to deport naturalized citizens, I believe it is only fair that Melania and her parents are on the first boat out. In addition, Melania's anchor baby, Baron, should be forced to leave as well because we know that his mother's mother was born in a different country. That is part of the criteria that Trump is putting into place. Your mother's mother has to have been born in the United States and we know Melania's mother was born elsewhere. If it's good for one, it's good for all! There should be no exceptions! On the first boat or flight out!" The petition further argued that the move would prevent perceptions of favoritism, adding, "If this is truly about national security, then Melania needs to go!" The remarks reflected growing public frustration over what many viewed as double standards in Trump's deportation agenda. According to Fox News, the petition surfaced just days after Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters, during an anti-DOGE protest in Los Angeles on March 25, suggested that Trump should investigate and potentially deport Melania Trump. "When he [Trump] talks about birthright, and he's going to undo the fact that the Constitution allows those who are born here, even if the parents are undocumented, they have a right to stay in America. If he wants to start looking so closely to find those who were born here and their parents were undocumented, maybe he ought to first look at Melania," Waters was seen saying from the stage, various videos posted on social media showed, Fox News reported. She added, "We don't know whether or not her parents were documented. And maybe we better just take a look." According to Fox News, her remarks were met with loud cheers from protestors at the rally, which focused on opposing Trump's federal government downsizing agenda. Fox News also reported that Melania Trump, born in the former Yugoslavia, became a US citizen in 2006. She was the first US first lady to become a naturalized citizen and the second to be born outside the United States, after Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, wife of President John Quincy Adams. In 2018, The New York Times reported that Melania sponsored her parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, for green cards and later citizenship. Amalija Knavs passed away in 2024, while Viktor Knavs has been seen at recent public events with the Trump family. Waters' comments came in response to an executive order signed by Trump on his first day in office that aimed to reinterpret the 14th Amendment and restrict birthright citizenship. The order, currently under judicial review, seeks to exclude individuals born to undocumented immigrants or parents on temporary visas from automatic US citizenship. During the March 25 protest, Waters joined hundreds marching to the VA hospital on Los Angeles' Wilshire Boulevard. She declared, "We are here because we are not going to let Trump, we're not going to let Elon Musk, his co-president, or anybody else take the United States Constitution down." Her remarks on Melania Trump quickly spread on social media platforms like TikTok and X, drawing sharp criticism from conservatives. "Maxine Waters wants to deport Melania," posted the popular X account End Wokeness, as cited by Fox News.
