Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that Iran will not negotiate under “intimidation” as he held crunch talks with the UN nuclear chief weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said achieving “results” in nuclear talks with Iran was vital to avoid a new conflict in the region already inflamed by Israel’s operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

His visit comes just days after Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Iran was “more exposed than ever to strikes on its nuclear facilities” giving Israel “the opportunity to achieve our most important goal”.

Grossi said Iranian nuclear installations “should not be attacked” but Trump is expected to give Israel a far freer rein after he takes office in January. The IAEA chief described his meeting with Araghchi as “indispensable” in a post on X.

Araghchi was Iran’s chief negotiator in talks that led to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, abandoned three years later by Trump.

Araghchi posted that their meeting was “important & straightforward”. He said Iran was “willing to negotiate” based on the “national interest” and “inalienable rights,” but was not “ready to negotiate under pressure and intimidation”.

“We agreed to proceed with courage and goodwill. Iran has never left the negotiation table on its peaceful nuclear programme,” he said. Grossi also met the head of Iran’s atomic energy organisation, Mohammad Eslami.

Eslami told a joint news conference that Iran would take “immediate countermeasures” against any sanctions from the IAEA’s board of governors. “Any interventionist resolution in the nuclear affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran will definitely be met with immediate countermeasures,” Eslami said.

Grossi’s visit is his second to Tehran this year but his first since Trump’s re-election.

During his first term in the White House from 2017 to 2021, Trump adopted a policy called “maximum pressure” which reimposed sweeping US economic sanctions that had been lifted under the 2015 deal.

Search for solutions

In response, Iran started to gradually roll back its commitments under the deal, which barred it from enriching uranium to above 3.65 per cent.

The IAEA says Iran has significantly expanded its stocks of uranium enriched to 60pc, a level that has triggered international alarm as it is much closer to the 90pc level needed for a nuclear warhead.

Iran has blamed the incoming US president for the standoff. “The one who left the agreement was not Iran, it was America,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Wednesday. “Mr Trump once tried the path of maximum pressure and saw that this path did not work.”

Trump’s looming return to the White House in January has only added to international fears of an all-out conflict between Israel and Iran after the archfoes exchanged unprecedented direct attacks earlier this year.

“The margins for manoeuvre are beginning to shrink,” Grossi warned in an interview with AFP on Tuesday, adding that “it is imperative to find ways to reach diplomatic solutions”.

US President-elect Donald Trump officially announced on Wednesday he is nominating Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a senior member of both the foreign relations and intelligence committees and former political rival, to be secretary of state.

“He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said in a statement.

The choice could come as a relief to US partners worried that the Trump administration could pull back from its global network of alliances, including NATO, given Trump’s more “America First” approach to foreign affairs.

Rumours of Rubio’s selection had prompted criticism from some members of the Republican party who saw his foreign policy views as too traditional and internationalist.

Rubio, 53, is known as a China hawk, outspoken critic of Cuba’s Communist government and strong backer of Israel. He has in the past advocated for a more assertive US foreign policy with respect to America’s geopolitical foes, although recently his views have aligned more closely with those of Trump’s “America First” approach to foreign policy.

In April, Rubio was one of 15 Republican senators to vote against a big military aid package to help Ukraine resist Russia and support other US partners, including Israel. Trump has been critical of Democratic President Joe Biden’s continuing military assistance for Ukraine as it fights Russian invaders.

Rubio has said in recent interviews that Kyiv needs to seek a negotiated settlement with Russia rather than focus on regaining all territory Moscow has taken in the last decade.

Rubio is a top Senate China hawk, and Beijing imposed sanctions on him in 2020 over his stance on Hong Kong’s democracy protests. This could create difficulties for any attempts to maintain the Biden administration’s effort to keep up diplomatic engagement with Beijing to avoid an unintended conflict.

Will he stand up to Trump?

Rubio had also become a strong Trump backer, after harshly criticising him when he ran against the former real estate developer for president in 2016.

In 2016 Trump helped end Rubio’s run for the presidential nomination by nicknaming him “Little Marco.”

Some analysts questioned whether he would stand up to Trump, noting the president-elect’s inclination to make personal loyalty a central requirement for administration posts.

Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, said it is essential for any president’s advisers to stand up to him when necessary, given the wide array of foreign policy challenges Trump will face.

“I’m trying to keep an open mind here,” Miller said, noting that Rubio, because of his experience in Congress, has a better grasp of foreign policy than any of Trump’s other appointees.

The three-term Republican senator should easily win confirmation in the Senate, where Trump’s Republicans will hold at least a 52-48 majority starting in January.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the intelligence committee, quickly issued a statement praising the choice of Rubio, the panel’s vice chairman.

“I have worked with Marco Rubio for more than a decade on the Intelligence Committee, particularly closely in the last couple of years in his role as Vice Chairman, and while we don’t always agree, he is smart, talented, and will be a strong voice for American interests around the globe,” Warner said in a statement.

Rubio, the son of immigrants from Cuba, will be the first Latino to serve as America’s top diplomat.

A Maryland mother of a newborn daughter died on Monday after suffering fatal injuries in an incident involving a golf cart over the weekend, authorities said.

Mary Beth Blasetti, 32, was a passenger in an E-Z-GO golf cart driving on the 600 block of Maid Marion Hill in Annapolis on Saturday when she was thrown from the cart, suffering life-threatening injuries, the Anne Arundel County Police Department said. 

Blasetti was airlifted to the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, where she died two days later, police said.

Blasetti appeared to have been ejected from the golf cart after hitting “some sort of a dip,” police spokesman Justin Mulcahy told WJZ-TV.

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“This is an extremely tragic, unfortunate situation,” Mulcahy told the station. “Our hearts go out to everyone impacted and we’re going to continue investigating it with the State’s Attorney’s Office just to determine what exactly happened here.” 

The driver of the golf cart was identified as a 32-year-old woman from Crownsville, Maryland. No further information about the driver was immediately provided.

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Blasetti and her husband recently purchased their first home in Annapolis, and welcomed their 2-month-old daughter in September, friends wrote on an online donation page for the family. 

Friends remembered Blasetti as a “devoted wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend, and her absence will be deeply felt by all who knew her.”

“Mary Beth brought joy to so many and had a wide community of friends and family who are devastated by her sudden passing,” the post read.

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Police said the incident remains under investigation.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned this week the window to “maneuver” a diplomatic solution to halt Iran’s nuclear development was beginning to “shrink.” 

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, issued an urgent message in an interview with AFP at the COP29 climate summit in Baku.

“The Iranian administration must understand that the international situation is becoming increasingly tense and that the margins to maneuver are beginning to shrink,” he said.

“It is imperative to find ways to reach diplomatic solutions.” 

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The warning came ahead of Grossi’s trip to Tehran this week for “high-level” meetings with Iranian government officials, where he was set to hold “technical discussions” relating to Tehran’s agreement under a March 2023 Joint Statement to adhere to IAEA safeguard parameters.

Grossi landed in Tehran Wednesday, and state media showed the IAEA chief meeting with the spokesperson for Iran’s state atomic energy agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, upon his arrival.

In the lead-up to the meeting, Grossi said in a statement Sunday, “It is essential that we make substantive progress in the implementation of the Joint Statement agreed with Iran in March 2023. My visit to Tehran will be very important in that regard.”

The IAEA is further permitted to inspect all nuclear sites as a part of its safeguard duties, but Grossi told AFP, “We need to see more.”

“Given the size, depth and ambition of Iran’s program, we need to find ways of giving the agency more visibility,” he added.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei alongside a look inside a Uranium plant. (Getty Images)

Concerns over Iran’s nuclear program have remained heightened since the U.S. pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear Agreement, in May 2018, despite IAEA assurances that Iran was not in violation of its nuclear agreements. 

Grossi is expected to push Iran for increased access to its nuclear sites and for an explanation regarding the traces of uranium that have been found at undeclared sites, Reuters reported Wednesday. 

The IAEA director general has been sounding the alarm for months that Iran’s nuclear program has essentially run unchecked since Tehran stopped adhering to its commitments under the JCPOA, and it has since increased its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium metals to 60% purity levels, just shy of the steps needed to reach weapons-grade uranium enriched to 90% purity.

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Grossi’s trip comes at a pivotal time for geopolitical relations with President-elect Trump returning to the Oval Office come January, where he is expected to take a hardline approach when it comes to Tehran.

During his first term, President Trump maintained that the agreement was a “terrible deal” cemented under the Obama administration by Secretary of State John Kerry and signed by Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the deal.

After the U.S. withdrawal, Tehran claimed the agreement had been voided and said it was no longer bound under the international nuclear agreement.

Despite the withdrawal by the U.S., the other international co-signatories, including Russia, urged Tehran to continue to adhere to the JCPOA, though, by 2022, Moscow dropped its diplomatic encouragement as tensions with the West escalated over its invasion of Ukraine. 

Grossi told AFP the deal now sits as “an empty shell.”

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi meets with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran, Iran, May 6, 2024.  (Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters)

According to Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert and senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the best way to stop Iran from pursuing its nuclear ambitions is to move past the Biden administration’s ambitions to restore a nuclear deal and to rely on Cold War-era tactics of nuclear deterrence. 

“The irreversible and knowledge-based nuclear gains Tehran has made under Biden’s policy of maximum deference are what actually have shut the window for anything meaningful, even if only transactional with Tehran,” he told Fox News Digital. “The incoming Trump administration will be faced with an increasingly risk-tolerant Islamic Republic that is either on the nuclear threshold and keen to exploit this status or one that will have weaponized. 

“Deterring and confronting such a regime will require pushing past Washington’s obsession with a deal and embracing other tools of national power.”

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But the IAEA chief said he isn’t worried by the prospect of another Trump presidency despite the tense geopolitical framework he now operates under with the West’s unification against Russia and Iran amid the war in Ukraine and Israel’s fight against Tehran-backed proxies.

“I already worked with the first Trump administration, and we worked well together,” he said.

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Wednesday that U.S. forces conducted retaliatory strikes against Houthi weapons storage facilities in Yemen over the weekend.

The facilities were all located in Houthi-controlled territories and housed a variety of advanced conventional weapons used by Iranian-backed Houthis to target U.S. and other international military, as well as civilian vessels moving through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

U.S. Air Force and Navy assets, including the F-35C, were used during the operation. This marked the first time the F-35C stealth strike fighter was ever used in combat, a U.S. defense official told Fox News.

The F-35C strike fighters were among other assets involved in the operation that took off from the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Aden.

US FORCES STRIKE 9 IRAN-LINKED MILITIA TARGETS IN SYRIA: ‘OUR MESSAGE IS CLEAR’

CENTCOM said the targeted operation was conducted in response to repeated and unlawful attacks by Houthi rebels on international commercial shipping vessels, as well as U.S., coalition, and merchant vessels in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden.

The strikes also aimed to degrade the group’s ability to threaten partners in the region.

Additional assets involved in the operation included U.S. Navy destroyers USS Stockdale (DDG 106), USS Spruance (DDG 111), along with U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy aircraft, which successfully defeated a range of Houthi-launched weapons while transiting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

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The USS Abraham Lincoln is equipped with F-35c steak strike fighters. (U.S. Central Command Public Affairs)

“These forces successfully engaged and defeated eight one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems (OWA UAS), five anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs), and four anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), ensuring the safety of the ships and their personnel,” CENTCOM said.

U.S. personnel were not injured, CENTCOM added, and U.S. facilities were not damaged in the operation.

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Houthi rebel fighters march during a rally of support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and against the U.S. strikes on Yemen. (AP Photo)

CENTCOM said the actions taken over the weekend reflect the ongoing efforts of its forces to protect U.S. personnel, regional partners and international shipping, while also maintaining security and stability in the region.

The announcement comes days after another operation that took place on Monday, in which CENTCOM forces conducted retaliatory strikes against Iran-associated targets in Syria.

“U.S. Centcom forces conducted strikes [Monday] against nine targets and two locations associated with Iranian groups in Syria, in response to several attacks on U.S. personnel in Syria over a 24-hour period,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said during a press briefing Tuesday. “These strikes will degrade the Iranian-backed groups ability to plan and launch future attacks on U.S. and coalition forces who are in the region to conduct to defeat ISIS operations.” 

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Like the targeted operations over the weekend, CENTCOM conducted strikes in Syria in response to several attacks on U.S. forces.

Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.

U.S. President Joe Biden will meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for likely the final time on Saturday, senior administration officials said, as Beijing prepares for a potentially more confrontational period with Washington under Donald Trump.

The two leaders are expected to hold talks spanning a range of global hot spots, including heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru.

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It will be their first known interaction since an April phone call.

“The conversations are not easy,” said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “That frankness has been important in managing the relationship.”

Biden and Xi have tried to keep tensions at bay over issues ranging from Taiwan to the South China Sea, North Korea and Russia, and American demands for more Chinese help to stem the flow of the ingredients for fentanyl, the leading cause of U.S. drug overdoses.

Biden and Xi restored leader-level talks last November that produced more cooperation on counter-narcotics efforts but little movement on bigger issues like a potential conflict over Taiwan, the democratically governed island that China claims as its own territory.

The Democratic administration finalized rules last month restricting U.S. investment in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors in China that are set to take effect in January. That followed Biden raising tariffs on more goods from China.

Both steps were rejected by China as counterproductive.

Trump, a Republican, has vowed to adopt blanket 60% tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods as part of a package of “America First” trade measures. Beijing opposes those steps.

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The president-elect’s early personnel choices have included several hawkish voices on China in senior positions, such as U.S. Representative Mike Waltz as national security adviser.

Xi reportedly called Trump last week to congratulate him on his Nov. 5 election victory. Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

President Sergio Mattarella told Elon Musk on Wednesday not to interfere in Italian affairs after the US billionaire said Rome judges blocking a government anti-immigration initiative should be sent packing.

The highly unusual statement from the Italian head of state came against a backdrop of growing tension between the ruling coalition and the judiciary that has attracted the attention of Musk, who is a friend of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

“These judges need to go,” Musk wrote on X on Tuesday, referring to a panel of Rome magistrates who had questioned the legality of a government initiative to detain asylum-seekers in Albania — a measure aimed at discouraging irregular immigration.

The magistrates’ move meant a small group of migrants just taken to Albania had to be brought to Italy, casting doubt on Meloni’s flagship plan to crackdown on irregular arrivals.

Musk’s comment was splashed on the front pages of Italian newspapers on Wednesday and came just hours before US President-elect Donald Trump had given him a leading role aimed at creating more efficient government in the United States.

“Italy is a great democratic country and … knows how to take care of itself,” said Mattarella, who consistently tops opinion polls as the most respected leader in Italy.

“Anyone, particularly if, as announced, he is about to assume an important role of government in a friendly and allied country, must respect its sovereignty and cannot give himself the task of issuing it instructions.”

In response, Musk issued a statement via his Italian representative Andrea Stroppa, expressing “respect” for Mattarella and Italy’s constitution, but reaffirming his intention to “continue to freely express his opinions”.

Saying he conveyed the same message in a “friendly” call with Meloni, Musk also expressed hope that Italian-US relations would grow even stronger and said he looked forward to meeting Mattarella soon.

While Meloni did not comment on the U.S. entrepreneur’s social media comments, deputy premier and hard-right party leader Matteo Salvini welcomed them. “@elonmusk is right,” he said on X on Tuesday.

EU court at centre stage

The controversy revolves around an October ruling by the EU’s Court of Justice (ECJ), which said that no nation of origin could be considered safe if even just a part of it was dangerous — a position that called into question Italy’s policy of trying to repatriate visa-less migrants to their home countries.

The ECJ ruling referred to a Czech case but holds for the whole European Union and landed as Meloni’s government was building detention centres in Albania tasked with processing migrants picked up at sea as they tried to reach Italy.

The centres are meant to fast-track repatriations, but the Rome court said this should not happen before the ECJ provides further clarification.

As a result the two small groups of migrants taken to Albania in the past three weeks have been almost immediately transferred to Italy, leaving the scheme in legal limbo.

Italy’s supreme court is due to review the legality of the Rome court move in early December, but the final word is likely to remain with the ECJ, legal experts say.

An ECJ official said on Wednesday the Luxembourg-based court could take months, or at least weeks, to clarify whether Italy can legally repatriate migrants to countries that it deems safe, such as Egypt, Tunisia and Bangladesh.

President-elect Donald Trump returned to the White House on Wednesday for the first time since winning last week’s election and sat down for talks about the looming transfer of power with longtime political rival President Joe Biden.

“Welcome, welcome back,” Biden told Trump at the start of their meeting in front of a roaring fireplace.

He promised Trump a smooth transition of power and to do all he could “to make sure you’re accommodated.”

“It’ll be as smooth as it can get,” Trump said.

It was a sharp contrast to the criticism the two men have hurled at each other for years. Their respective teams hold vastly different positions on policies from climate change to Russia to trade.

Biden, 81, has portrayed Trump as a threat to democracy, while Trump, 78, has portrayed Biden as incompetent. Trump made false claims of widespread fraud after losing the 2020 election to Biden.

Trump’s motorcade rolled through the heavily guarded White House gate and the former and future Republican president was greeted in the Oval Office by Biden, a Democrat who defeated him in the 2020 election.

Outside on the White House driveway, a massive crowd of journalists gathered in anticipation of the big event.

Trump celebrated his victory earlier in the day with Republicans in the House of Representatives who have a good chance of maintaining control of the chamber as Nov. 5 election results trickle in.

“Isn’t it nice to win? It’s nice to win. It’s always nice to win,” Trump said. “The House did very well.”

Biden, who initially ran against Trump in the 2024 election before stepping aside and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, will welcome the former and future president into the Oval Office, a traditional courtesy by outgoing presidents that Trump, a Republican, did not extend when Biden won in 2020.

“He believes in the norms, he believes in our institution, he believes in the peaceful transfer of power,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said of Biden’s decision to invite Trump. She spoke at a briefing for reporters on Tuesday.

Outside the White House gates, signs of the impending power transfer were evident with construction already under way for the stands for VIP guests to sit during the parade that will take place after Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

Although Biden intends to use the meeting to show continuity, the transition itself is partially stalled.

• Pleas were filed after demolitions in BJP-ruled states. 
• Rights groups, opposition parties denounced practise.
• BJP govts reject accusations, say properties in violation. 

MUMBAI: India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday strongly criticised states which were demolishing properties of suspected criminals, a practise critics say targets mostly minority Muslims, and issued guidelines to authorities.

The verdict came in response to many petitions filed after demolitions in states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in recent years.

BJP governments in the states have torn down what they say are illegal houses or shops of people accused of crimes, many of them Muslims, in what has come to be popularly known as “instant, bulldozer justice”.

Rights groups and opposition parties have denounced the practise, saying it targets mostly poor Muslims while circumventing the judicial process.

BJP governments have rejected the accusations and said such properties were in violation of local laws and the owners had been served notices.

On Wednesday, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the state and its officials cannot take arbitrary action against suspects or convicts without following the due process of law.

It also laid down guidelines, including issuing prior notice and taking a video of the demolition process.

“It is not a happy sight to see women, children and aged persons dragged to the streets overnight. Heavens would not fall on the authorities if they hold their hands for some period,” the court said.

There was no immediate reaction to the verdict from the BJP.

The United Nations has said continued weapons supplies to Sudan’s warring military and paramilitary forces are “enabling the slaughter” and must stop, with civilians bearing the brunt of the conflict.

Both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are escalating their military operations and recruiting new fighters fuelled by “considerable” external support and a steady flow of arms, said Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs.

“To put it bluntly, certain purported allies of the parties are enabling the slaughter in Sudan,” she told the UN Security Council (UNSC) late on Tuesday, without naming any of the countries or parties sending weapons.

“This is unconscionable. It is illegal, and it must end.”

Sudan plunged into civil war on April 15, 2023, as a result of a power struggle between the RSF led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo and SAF chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The UN says the war has killed more than 24,000 people and created a humanitarian crisis that has displaced 11 million people. Of them, nearly three million people have fled to neighbouring countries, in the world’s worst displacement crisis.

Both sides, especially the RSF, have been accused of war crimes and massacres, which they deny. The paramilitary group, which faces many allegations of ethnic cleansing in areas including West Darfur, claims rogue parties are behind the attacks.

DiCarlo said it is long past time for the rival warring parties to come to the negotiating table, but added that they appear convinced they can win on the battlefield, something that is driven by outside support.

Sudan’s government has accused the United Arab Emirates of arming the RSF. The Gulf nation has denied the allegations. The RSF has also reportedly received armed backing from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group.

UN experts said in a report earlier this year that the RSF has received support from Arab-allied communities, with military supply lines running through neighbouring Chad, Libya and South Sudan.

Al-Burhan, the army chief who led a military takeover of Sudan in 2021, is a close ally of neighbouring Egypt and its president, former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi. Sudan’s Foreign Minister Hussein Awad Ali held talks in Tehran in February, leading to speculation that Iran may be preparing to send drones to government forces. Iran has not reported any arms shipments to Sudan.

This comes as the UNSC is discussing a resolution proposed by the United Kingdom that demands Sudan’s warring parties immediately cease hostilities and calls on them to allow unhindered deliveries of humanitarian aid as more than half of the country’s population of 50 million faces severe food shortages.

As a three-month approval by Sudanese authorities for the UN and aid groups to use the Adre border with Chad to deliver supplies to Darfur is set to expire in mid-November, the draft also calls for the crossing to remain open.