The U.S. has warned that Iran’s refusal to address its ballistic missile programme complicates efforts to secure progress at a new round of indirect nuclear negotiations in Geneva.
Speaking to reporters on St. Kitts in the Caribbean,U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tehran’s position raises serious concerns beyond the nuclear file.
“It’s also important to remember that Iran refuses to talk about the ballistic missiles to us or to anyone, and that’s a big problem,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to St. Kitts.
He said Iran holds “thousands of short-range ballistic missiles” capable of threatening American forces and regional partners, and cited naval assets that could endanger maritime traffic and U.S. operations.
Rubio questioned Tehran’s insistence on uranium enrichment.
“They don’t need to enrich in order to have nuclear energy. They don’t need nuclear energy, by the way, they have plenty of natural gas,” he said.
Referring to enrichment facilities built deep underground, he added, “You would have to lack common sense to not know what that means.”
He stressed that the upcoming discussions would centre on nuclear matters and described them as another diplomatic opportunity.
Meanwhile, the White House is maintaining pressure on Tehran while keeping diplomacy on the table.
In a separate interview with Fox News, JD Vance said Washington’s priority is to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability.
“Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon,” he said, adding that the administration is hopeful a negotiated solution can be reached, while retaining the option to use other measures if talks fail.
Vance also said U.S. intelligence has observed signs that Iran may be trying to restore elements of its atomic infrastructure after strikes last year that Washington says targeted key facilities.
On the diplomatic front, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Switzerland for the third round of mediated talks, and will meet Oman's Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Albusaidi ahead of negotiations.
Iranian state media said the discussions focused on sanctions relief and technical aspects of the nuclear programme. Tehran maintains its activities are for peaceful purposes and has rejected expanding the talks to include missile systems or regional military alliances.
The diplomatic effort comes amid increased U.S. military deployments in the Middle East and Iranian warnings that any strike would trigger retaliation against U.S. assets and strategic waterways.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 26th of February, covering the latest developments you need to...
Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies has approved an historic free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, moving the long-delayed pact clo...
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announced on Wednesday (February 25) that he will retire from teaching at Harvard University at the end o...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expects the next round of trilateral talks on ending the war to pave the way for a leaders’ meeting ...
The U.S. has warned that Iran’s refusal to address its ballistic missile programme complicates efforts to secure progress at a new round of indirect...
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 26th of February, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies has approved an historic free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, moving the long-delayed pact closer to implementation.
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announced on Wednesday (February 25) that he will retire from teaching at Harvard University at the end of the academic year, amid scrutiny over his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expects the next round of trilateral talks on ending the war to pave the way for a leaders’ meeting after speaking by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday (25 February).
The Taliban in Kabul has rejected Russian claims that more than 23,000 militants from around 20 international terror groups are currently operating within Afghanistan.
Four years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war can be measured not only in lives and territory, but in money. In Part One, the war’s cost was measured in casualties and kilometres. In Part Two, it is measured in billions of dollars.
Thailand and the United States, alongside 28 partner nations, began Southeast Asia’s largest and longest-running military exercise, the 45th Cobra Gold, on Tuesday (24 February) in Rayong province, Thailand.
Seven people were killed after gunmen ambushed a police patrol in Kohat, a district in Pakistan’s north-west near the Afghan border, on Tuesday, in an attack that comes amid rising militant violence and heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Torrential downpours have triggered deadly mudslides and widespread flooding in southern Peru, leaving at least seventeen people dead - including fifteen killed in a military helicopter crash - as hundreds of districts across the country remain under a state of emergency.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 26th of February, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies has approved an historic free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, moving the long-delayed pact closer to implementation.
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announced on Wednesday (February 25) that he will retire from teaching at Harvard University at the end of the academic year, amid scrutiny over his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expects the next round of trilateral talks on ending the war to pave the way for a leaders’ meeting after speaking by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday (25 February).
House lawmakers are set to question former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Chappaqua, New York near their main residence, on Thursday (26 February) and Friday as part of Congress’s investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
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