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Trump threatens to bomb Iran unless they end nuclear weapons program and begin talks on new deal

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Trump threatens to bomb Iran unless they end nuclear weapons program and begin talks on new deal

JERUSALEM—President Donald Trump’s overtures via a letter to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to jump-start talks on dismantling Tehran’s illicit nuclear weapons program, were met with rejection by the theocratic state on Sunday, following Trump’s latest threat to the regime.

Trump told NBC on Saturday that “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” he said. “But there’s a chance that if they don’t make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago.”

Trump added the U.S. and officials from the Islamic Republic are “talking.”

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday “We don’t avoid talks; it’s the breach of promises that has caused issues for us so far,” according to the Associated Press. He added, “They must prove that they can build trust.” The White House did not immediately respond to Iran’s rejection of the talks, the AP reported. 

Pezeshkian still noted that in Iran’s response to the letter that indirect negotiations with the Trump administration were still possible.

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WALTZ TELLS IRAN TO GIVE UP NUCLEAR PROGRAM OR ‘THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES’

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the media during elections in Tehran, Iran, on May 10, 2024. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The apparent return of Iran’s regime to its standard playbook of opaque indirect talks between the U.S. and Tehran’s rulers raises questions about whether Trump would greenlight military strikes to eradicate Iran’s vast nuclear weapons program. 

After Iran launched two massive missile and drone attacks on Israel last year, Trump could also aid the Jewish state in knocking out Iran’s nuclear weapons apparatus. 

Indirect talks between the U.S. and the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism, according to Democratic and Republican administrations, have not compelled Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

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Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital that the Iranians “do not want to provide President Trump with a casus belli to strike Iran’s nuclear program. There may be indirect and non-public responses through various intermediaries. I think some Iranian officials perceive a fissure among President Trump’s national security team on Iran. This explains Iran’s foreign minister’s comment in recent days that President Trump’s letter to the supreme leader poses challenges as well as opportunities.”

TRUMP VINDICATED AS EXPLOSIVE REPORT CONFIRMS IRAN SUPERVISES HOUTHI ‘POLITICAL AND MILITARY AFFAIRS’

Iran’s first functioning nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran, on April 28, 2024. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Brodsky said, “These Iranian officials seek to bypass experienced hands like President Trump’s national security advisor and secretary of state, who have been demanding the dismantlement of Iran’s entire nuclear program in keeping with President Trump’s long-standing and rightful position on this issue, and cultivate individuals around President Trump who do not have experience with Iran or are considered non-traditional conservatives who would be more receptive to their entrees.”

Trump promised that “bad things” would happen to Iran if the regime does not come to the table for nuclear negotiations.  “My big preference is that we work it out with Iran, but if we don’t work it out, bad things are gonna happen to Iran,” he said on Friday. 

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Iran is enriching uranium to 60%, just shy of the 90% weapons-grade. Experts say it could have a nuclear weapon within weeks if it were to take the final steps to building one. Fox News Digital reported in late March that Iran’s regime has enriched enough uranium to manufacture six nuclear weapons, according to a U.N. atomic agency report.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian at U.N. headquarters in New York, Sept. 24, 2024. (Reuters/Caitlin Ochs)

Alireza Nader, an Iranian-American expert on Iran, told Fox News Digital, “Khamenei may be signaling that he’s not interested in negotiations, but his regime desperately needs economic relief. Otherwise, another popular uprising against him could start. Khamenei doesn’t have the cards.”

There is widespread discontent among Iranians against the rule of 85-year-old Khamenei.

TRUMP REINSTATES ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN 

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President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the White House, Feb. 4, 2025. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)

Iran’s has upped the ante ever since Trump told FOX Business he sent a letter to Khamenei. Iran has disclosed video footage of its underground “missile city.”

Trump also told FOX Business, “I would rather negotiate a deal.”

He continued, “I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily. But the time is happening now, the time is coming up.

“Something is going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran, and I’ve written them a letter, saying I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them.”

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Brodsky said, “That means the Islamic Republic may dangle a JCPOA-like deal, with minor modifications from the previous 2015 agreement. Iranian media has been hyping such an arrangement.”

In 2018, Trump withdrew from the Obama-negotiated Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action deal because, he argued, that the agreement failed to ensure Iran would not build nuclear weapons and did not codify restrictions against Tehran’s missile program and sponsorship of Islamist terrorism.

IRAN’S LEADER WARNS US COULD RECEIVE ‘SEVERE SLAPS’ FOLLOWING TRUMP’S THREATS TO HOUTHIS

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has analyzed where Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is located. (Image provided by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) )

Brodsky said, “These Iranian officials believe they can lure the Trump administration into this arrangement and then President Trump will wave a magic wand and bring the entire Republican Party along with Democrats to support the deal and make it more politically durable than the 2015 JCPOA. This is all despite President Trump’s consistent and strong record in rejecting the JCPOA framework. It reflects desperation in Tehran and a desire to buy time with another failed diplomatic gambit. But it’s important to have eyes wide open here as to the games the Iranians will (and are already) playing.”

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While Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee that the intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamanei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003,” she did note that Iran increased its enriched uranium stockpile.

In sharp contrast to U.S. intelligence since 2003, Fox News Digital has previously reported that European intelligence agencies believe Iran is working toward testing an atomic weapon, and sought illicit technology for its nuclear weapons program. 

Counter-proliferation experts, like the prominent physicist and nuclear specialist David Albright, have told Fox News that European intelligence institutions use an updated definition of construction of weapons of mass destruction to assess Iran’s progress in contrast to America’s alleged obsolete definition.

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Fox News Digital sent press queries to the U.S. State Department and the National Security Council.

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Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4 Sets Summer Release, Reveals More First-Look Photos as Jason Sudeikis Returns to Richmond

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‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4 Sets Summer Release, Reveals More First-Look Photos as Jason Sudeikis Returns to Richmond

Jason Sudeikis‘ long-awaited return to AFC Richmond now has a date.

Apple TV has announced that that the fourth season of “Ted Lasso” will debut globally this summer, while the streamer has also sharing new stills and plot details.

Currently in production, the show will see the return of Sudeikis, who exec produces, plus Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Emmy winner Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt and Jeremy Swift. New signings include Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Faye Marsey, Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey, Abbie Hern and Grant Feely.

In season four, Ted returns to Richmond, taking on his biggest challenge yet: coaching a second division women’s football team. As per the synopsis: “Throughout the course of the season, Ted and the team learn to leap before they look, taking chances they never thought they would.”

“Ted Lasso” season four also adds Emmy winner Jack Burditt (“Nobody Wants This,” “Modern Family,” “30 Rock”) as executive producer under a new overall deal with Apple TV. Sudeikis stars and executive produces alongside Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, Jane Becker, Jamie Lee, and Bill Wrubel. Goldstein serves as writer and executive producer alongside Leanne Bowen. Sarah Walker and Phoebe Walsh will serve as writers and producers for season four, and Sasha Garron co-produces. Julia Lindon will write for season four, and Dylan Marron will serve as story editor.

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Bill Lawrence executive produces via his Doozer Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television and Universal Television, a division of NBCUniversal Content. Doozer’s Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer also serve as executive producers. The series was developed by Sudeikis, Lawrence, Kelly and Hunt, and is based on the preexisting format and characters from NBC Sports.

Following its global debut on Apple TV, “Ted Lasso” immediately broke records, the first season becoming the most Emmy-nominated comedy series. The series went on to land back-to-back outstanding comedy series Emmys for its first two seasons on air.

See the other first-look stills from “Ted Lasso” season 4 below.

Michael Becker Courtesy of Apple

Courtesy of Apple

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Ted Cruz urges US to arm Iranian protesters as militias threaten ‘total war’ against America

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Ted Cruz urges US to arm Iranian protesters as militias threaten ‘total war’ against America

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Sen. Ted Cruz called for the U.S. to arm Iranian protesters Tuesday as unrest continues inside the nation and Iran-backed militias issued threats against Washington.

“We should be arming the protesters in Iran. NOW,” Cruz wrote in a post on X.

“For the Iranian people to overthrow the Ayatollah — a tyrant who routinely chants ‘death to America’ — would make America much, much safer,” the Texas Republican added.

Cruz was responding to another post from Tehran Bureau, which cited a source inside Iran detailing what was described as a rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground as security forces continued to crack down on demonstrations.

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IRAN WILL RETALIATE ‘WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE’ IF US ATTACKS, SENIOR DIPLOMAT WARNS

“From trusted source in Tehran: Tell all of your friends [abroad] — everyone you know: there is absolutely nothing else we can do here inside Iran,” the post read.

“They are killing people in such ways, they’ve descended upon people so brutally, they’re attacking us in such ways… We’ve lost so many lives that no one dares go out anymore. They shoot directly with bullets. They kill outright. And even after killing, they come and behead you, and do countless other violent things to you,” it continued.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called for the armament of anti-government protesters in Iran. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Going out into the streets is literally suicide. It’s not about bravery anymore. It’s madness. You go out and they shoot you point-blank. They don’t even ask why you came. They just kill you,” the post continued. “There is absolutely no way for us to gather unless we had weapons, unless we were armed like them. Otherwise they have weapons everywhere.”

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According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, activist groups estimate that more than 6,000 people have been killed in Iran, with additional cases still under review.

The protests began in late December amid widespread anger over economic hardship, political repression and corruption, according to reports.

IRAN REGIME REPORTEDLY ISSUED NATIONWIDE SHOOT-TO-KILL ORDERS AS PROTEST DEATH TOLL SURGES

Iranian security forces allegedly killed detainees and burned bodies during protests, with clashes continuing in Kermanshah, Rasht and Mashhad despite government claims. (NCRI)

Cruz’s post came after armed militias aligned with Iran warned the U.S. they would retaliate against any American attack on the Islamic Republic, as the Trump administration moved forces into the region.

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Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq said it was prepared for “total war” if the U.S. attacked Iran, according to The Associated Press.

Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, the group’s leader, said the “enemies” of the Islamic Republic would face “the bitterest forms of death.”

IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER ACKNOWLEDGES THOUSANDS KILLED AS TRUMP CALLS FOR NEW LEADERSHIP: REPORTS

Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq said it was prepared for “total war” should the U.S. attack Iran. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“You will taste every form of deadly suffering, nothing of you will remain in our region, and we will strike terror in your hearts,” the statement read.

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Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthis also threatened to restart attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, releasing a video Monday showing a ship engulfed in flames, captioned: “Soon,” The Associated Press reported.

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As previously reported by Fox News Digital, President Donald Trump said Iran appeared to be seeking negotiations with the U.S. amid the growing military buildup, telling Axios, “They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk.”

The USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Middle East on Monday as unrest inside Iran continued to escalate.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Sen. Ted Cruz for comment.

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North Korea’s Kim to outline plans to boost nuclear arsenal

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North Korea’s Kim to outline plans to boost nuclear arsenal

Pyongyang expected to release five-year development plan for defence and economy at upcoming congress.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will unveil plans to bolster the country’s nuclear forces at an upcoming governing party meeting, state media reported.

The report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday came the day after Kim oversaw the latest in a series of missile tests that have unsettled the region. Kim has ordered the “expansion” and modernisation of the country’s missile production.

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Details, which Kim has warned will bring “excruciating mental agony” to his enemies, are expected to be released at the upcoming ninth Communist Party congress, which is due to take place in the coming weeks.

At the meeting, the first such gathering since 2021, the governing party will unveil a five-year development plan for defence and the economy.

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Kim described Tuesday’s test-firing of a large-calibre multiple rocket launcher system as of “great significance in improving the effectiveness of our strategic deterrent” and said it showed the weapon system could be used for “specific attacks”, KCNA reported.

The missiles that were fired “hit a target” in waters at a distance of 358.5km (222.7 miles), the North Korean leader declared.

The missiles were fired in the direction of the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. Two landed outside North Korea’s Exclusive Economic Zone, Japanese state news agency Jiji Press reported, citing Defence Ministry sources.

South Korea’s military reported that it detected multiple short-range ballistic missiles launched from north of Pyongyang towards the Sea of Japan.

“The result and significance of this test will be a source of excruciating mental agony and serious threat to the forces that attempt to provoke a military confrontation with us,” Kim said.

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Analysts told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency that the “self-steered precision guided flight system” mentioned by Kim may indicate a new navigation system employed to help the weapon defy global positioning system (GPS) jamming.

Photos showed Kim’s daughter, Kim Ju Ae, accompanying him to the test, along with Kim Jong-sik, first vice department director of the party’s central committee, and Jang Chang-ha, chief of the Missile Administration, Yonhap reported.

While acknowledging that development of the rocket launcher system had “not been plain sailing”, Kim said the test was “of great significance in improving the effectiveness of our strategic deterrent”.

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