75% of US voters want Iran’s potential nuclear weapons sites destroyed - poll

The remarks by former foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi appear to signal some flexibility in Iran's position vis-à-vis talks with the United States that Khamenei this month expressly rejected.

"We don’t run away from negotiation; after all, we have negotiated many times before," state media outlet IRNA quoted Kharrazi as saying on Wednesday. "However, it is not compatible with our revolutionary and Iranian spirit to yield to the excessive demands and diktats of others.

"At present, there is no choice but to exercise maximum patience, unless a situation arises where the other side also shows a willingness for genuine negotiation rather than dictation," he added.

Trump reinstated the "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions from his first term and has mooted military action on Iran's disputed nuclear program, prompting foreign minister Abbas Araghchi to say Tehran would not talk amid threats and pressure.

"Mr. Trump’s way is to unilaterally impose his will and expect others to simply obey his orders. We are witnessing this approach today even with regard to Europe," Khamenei's advisor said.

"We must resist until they approach us not with bossiness, pressure, and sanctions, but based on the principle of equality and mutual respect."

Kharrazi heads the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations and has hinted before that Iran could ditch its stated opposition to acquiring nuclear weapons.

Members of the body he leads are by handpicked by Khamenei and its reports and advisories have often presaged major policy shifts by the ruling system.

Iran is capable of producing nuclear weapons and an existential threat could cause a rethink of Khamenei's injunction against them, he said last year.

The entities, the treasury said, acquire parts for US-sanctioned Iranian firm, Pishtazan Kavosh Gostar Boshra, and its subsidiary company Narin Sepehr Mobin Isatis, which it said supplied Iran's drone and ballistic missile programs.

The two Iranian companies were hit by US sanctions last year.

“Iran continues to try to find new ways to procure the key components it needs to bolster its UAV weapons program through new front companies and third-country suppliers,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.

The US state department said Washington was determined to thwart the program.

"We will continue to act against the complex schemes Iran employs to conceal its acquisition of sensitive technology for its missile and UAV programs," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

"These programs produce missiles and drones that Iran uses against our allies and exports to its terror proxy groups and Russia."

The newly sanctioned entities helped procure millions of dollars worth of Western-origin technology for Iran's drone program.

Western powers accuse Iran of providing drones and missiles to Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia launched 267 attack drones overnight on Saturday, marking the largest single assault since the use of Iranian-made projectiles began.

Iranian drones have repeatedly been deployed in attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure and other civilian targets. The Shahed 136 drone is typically launched alongside cruise and ballistic missile attacks to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses.

Iran's stock of uranium enriched to near weapons grade has grown sharply even after a previous rise Tehran announced in December, two confidential reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency cited by the news agency found.

No progress has been made toward resolving the disputed program, the reports added, according to Reuters.

"The significantly increased production and accumulation of high enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear weapon state to produce such nuclear material, is of serious concern," the IAEA said in both reports.

Iran's has enriched of uranium to up to 60% fissile purity, closer to the 90% needed for a bomb. Tehran denies seeking a bomb but the United States, Israel and Western powers doubt its intentions.

Iran's uranium stock refined to up to 60% grew by 92.5 kilograms (kg) in the past quarter to 274.8 kg, one of the IAEA reports said. According to an IAEA yardstick, the amount is enough in principle for six nuclear bombs if enriched further.

"Iran states that it has declared all of the nuclear material, activities and locations required under its Safeguards Agreement. This is inconsistent with the Agency's assessments of the unexplained nuclear-related activities that took place at all four of the undeclared locations in Iran referred to above," one of the reports said.

The IAEA has for years been seeking explanations from Tehran about uranium traces at nuclear sites and other issues.

'The matter is political"

Earlier on Wednesday, Iran dismissed public concerns raised by IAEA over its nuclear program, with the country's nuclear chief accusing the agency of politicizing technical matters.

"The agency has received the answers to the safeguards questions, but there is a political will not to accept them," said Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

"When the Director General of the Agency says that Iran should resolve its issues with Trump, it means the matter is political, not technical."

Speaking after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Eslami described Iran’s nuclear facilities as resilient against external threats.

"Threats to the country's nuclear industry have always existed," he told reporters. "Today and tomorrow, a nuclear defense exercise will be held at nuclear facilities. Iran is more resilient than the enemy imagines, and our infrastructure is not vulnerable."

Iran’s nuclear program remains a focal point of international tensions, particularly following Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and the imposition of economic sanctions.

While Tehran has reduced IAEA inspections since 2021, it continues to argue that its nuclear activities are peaceful. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi recently said the UN body was willing to assist Iran in proving it was not seeking nuclear weapons.

"We want to make ourselves available, providing technically sound alternatives to eliminate the possibility that Iran develops a nuclear weapon, to prevent Iran, or to help Iran prove that they don't want to develop a nuclear weapon," Grossi told reporters in Tokyo.

The United States, meanwhile, has reinstated its "maximum pressure" policy on Iran, with President Donald Trump insisting that Tehran must never acquire nuclear weapons.

Halvash, a local news website, reported that the child, Yousef Shahli-Bar, who had sustained five gunshot wounds, died after a prolonged wait for medical attention due to the absence of a surgeon.

The mother, Maryam Shahli-Bar, remains in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Khatam al-Anbiya Hospital in Iranshahr.

Halvash reported that after firing on the vehicle, tactical unit forces transported the injured to a hospital before leaving the scene.

The driver of the vehicle, Ramin Shahli-Bar, was arrested by security forces in plain clothes and taken to an undisclosed location, the report added.

No official explanation has been provided regarding the reason for the shooting.

Security forces in Iran have previously been accused of unjustified shootings at vehicles. According to statistics compiled by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), 484 civilians were shot by military personnel in Iran in 2024, with 163 killed and 321 injured.

HRANA reported that in 2023, 402 civilians were targeted, and in 2022, the number was 845.

The shooting comes amid heightened tensions in the Sistan and Baluchestan region following armed clashes between Iranian military forces and Jaish al-Adl, a militant group operating in the region.

A video showing drones flying over Jakigour, a district in Rask County, caused concern among residents.

In Chabahar port, Iranian security forces on Tuesday launched a raid on a residential building using light and semi-heavy weapons, including rocket propelled grenade.

According to Halvash, the house was completely destroyed, and surrounding buildings were damaged. Iranian authorities confirmed that two members of Jaish al-Adl were killed and six arrested. However, in a statement, Jaish al-Adl disputed this, saying no members were detained.

The recent escalation follows a series of attacks attributed to the group. On Saturday, a sound bomb explosion damaged the Chabahar Rural Development Organization headquarters.

In a separate incident, gunmen attacked the Housing Foundation of Sistan and Baluchestan, injuring one staff member. Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility, saying the attacks were in response to government actions against Baloch communities. The minority group is among the most persecuted in Iran, according to rights groups.

The 2025 report from Human Rights Watch said: "The Iranian government also discriminates against some religious minorities, including Sunni Muslims, and restricts cultural and political activities among the country’s Azeri, Kurdish, Arab, and Baluch ethnic minorities.

Jaish al-Adl has been designated as a terrorist organization by both the Iranian government and the United States.

The group has carried out multiple attacks against Iranian security forces in Sistan and Baluchestan in recent years, the region a hotbed of clashes.

Countries such as the UK sanctioned individuals and entities in Iran following the violent crackdown on protests in the 2022 uprising, including in Sistan and Baluchestan, where in one day, over 80 people were killed by security forces in Zahedan.

“We don't have much time," Gideon Sa’ar told the publication.

"I think that in order to stop a nuclear Iranian program before it will be weaponized, a reliable military option should be on the table," he said, as Iran has already enriched enough uranium for what he said was “a couple of bombs”.

It comes while US President Donald Trump is exerting maximum pressure on Tehran to bring about a deal in his second term.

Sa’ar said that diplomatic options were optimal but the chances of success are not huge, adding that a nuclear Iran would be a “catastrophe for the security of Israel”, with Iran’s nuclear capabilities possibly triggering a nuclear race in the region with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

The foreign minister’s comments follow strong words from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will end Iran’s nuclear ambitions alongside the US president. “Over the last 16 months, Israel has dealt a mighty blow to Iran’s terror axis. Under the strong leadership of President Trump… I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job,” Netanyahu said.

However, Trump has made clear that a diplomatic solution was the first course of action, instead of "bombing the hell out of it" while his security adviser, Mike Waltz, said all options are currently on the table in order to totally disable Tehran's nuclear program.

Iran's intelligence minister said on Saturday that Iran is a peace-seeking nation, while warning the US and Israel against action against its nuclear sites.

“The Iranian nation is peace-seeking and has no enmity with any country,” Esmail Khatib said.

“However, in the face of adventurism, malicious actions, and unwarranted interference—particularly from the US and the Zionist regime—we will adhere to the strategy of threat for threat and aggression for aggression.”

Most recently, Israel has been battling a new Iran threat in the occupied West Bank, where Tehran has been funnelling weapons and funds via Jordan to its allies such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

"We are now confronting a huge attempt by Iran via money and weapons that are floating to what you call the West Bank," Sa’ar said, as Iran continues to "inflame these territories” amid Israel’s fragile ceasefire with Iran’s allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

On Sunday, Israel's defense minister announced that its war on Iran-backed groups in the West Bank could go on as long as another year, with at least 40,000 people now displaced amid the fighting.

Speaking about the operation named Iron Wall, Defense Minister Israel Katz said: "We will not return to the reality that existed in the past.

"We will continue to clear refugee camps and other terrorist hotbeds in order to dismantle the battalions and terrorist infrastructures of extremist Islam that were built, armed, financed and trained by the Iranian axis of evil."