Iran Warns US Bases at Risk Amid Nuclear Deal Uncertainty

Post by : Bianca Suleiman

Photo: AFP

Iran has warned the United States that if a conflict starts, it will not hesitate to strike American military bases in the region. At the same time, US President Donald Trump has said he is now “less confident” that a new nuclear deal with Iran will be reached.

Since April, Iran and the US have held five rounds of talks to make a new nuclear agreement to replace the 2015 deal. That deal was canceled by Trump in 2018 during his earlier time as president. After coming back to office in January, Trump restarted his “maximum pressure” plan against Iran. He still supports the idea of talks but also said military action could happen if the talks fail.

Iran’s Defence Minister, Aziz Nasirzadeh, said on Wednesday that Iran can target all US bases in the region. “All their bases are within our reach. We have access to them and will hit them without hesitation if needed,” he said. He added that Iran does not want a war, and he hopes the talks will succeed. But he warned that if war happens, the US will “suffer more losses.”

The US has several military bases in the Middle East. The largest is in Qatar.
Right now, Iran and the US are arguing over uranium enrichment. Iran says it has the right to enrich uranium and won’t discuss this in the talks. But the US calls Iran’s uranium work a “red line.”

In an interview on Wednesday, Trump was asked if he believed a deal could stop Iran from enriching uranium. He said, “I don’t know anymore. I used to think so, but now I’m less confident. They seem to be delaying, and that’s a shame.”

Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60%. This is much higher than the 3.67% limit set in the 2015 deal. It’s still less than the 90% needed for a nuclear weapon, but it's very close.

Western countries, including the US and Israel, believe Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. But Iran has always said its nuclear work is for peaceful uses only.
Last week, Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that uranium enrichment is “key” to Iran’s plans and that the US has no right to interfere.
During an interview on Monday with the New York Post’s podcast “Pod Force One,” Trump said, “I thought we could get a deal, but now I’m not so sure. They’re delaying things, and maybe they don’t want a deal.”

After the fifth round of talks on May 31, Iran said it got parts of a US proposal for a deal. Iran’s deputy negotiator, Araghchi, later said the proposal had “unclear points.”
Iran said it will send a counter-proposal soon. It also said the US proposal did not offer enough relief from the heavy sanctions that have hurt Iran’s economy for years.

On Monday, the UN’s nuclear agency, the IAEA, began a meeting in Vienna to talk about Iran’s nuclear activities and other topics. This meeting will last until Friday.
The IAEA recently released a report saying Iran has not cooperated well, especially about nuclear material found at places that were not officially declared. Iran called this report unfair and said it was based on fake documents given by Israel, a country that strongly opposes Iran.