Iran says next round of nuke talks with US ‘meaningless’

Tehran: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Saturday announced that nuclear talks with the United States are now “meaningless” following Israel’s military strikes.

Addressing a media conference in Tehran, Baghaei accused the US of being involved in the aggression, stating that it is not clear what decision Iran will make regarding the next round of indirect talks with the US on the nuclear deal. The upcoming talks are scheduled for Sunday in Muscat, Oman.

“The other side (the US) acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless. You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing Israel to target Iran’s territory,” Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

“It is inconceivable that the regime could have committed such a crime without US approval,” he further remarked.

President Donald Trump on Friday took to his social media, stating that he gave Iran many chances to conclude a nuclear deal, and urged them to do it before it is too late for them.

“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to “just do it”, but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done. I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the world, by far, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all dead now, and it will only get worse! There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, just do it, before it is too late. God Bless You All,” he added.

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the launch of ‘Operation Rising Lion’ against Iran, a targetted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat of nuclear weapons to Israel’s very survival. He asserted that the operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove the threat.

Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East escalated further early on Saturday as Iran launched a fresh wave of missile attacks on Israel, according to reports from Iranian state television. The renewed offensive comes amid a period of heightened hostilities between the two nations.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed the attack, stating that a barrage of projectiles had been launched toward Israeli territory.

In a brief statement, the military said, “Another barrage has been fired towards Israel,” though the total number of missiles and specific areas targeted were not immediately disclosed.

IANS