INTERNACIONAL
Iran’s long trail of deception fuels skepticism over new nuclear deal as talks continue
Saturday’s talks in Rome between the Trump administration and the Islamic Republic of Iran over the rogue regime’s failure to dismantle its illicit nuclear weapons program have raised pressing questions about whether Tehran will adhere to a new deal.
Speaking on «The Story with Martha MacCallum,» retired Gen. Jack Keane, a Fox News senior strategic analyst, said Iran is reintroducing its «playbook» that [was] used to secure the JCPOA from Obama and termed its strategy a «bold-faced lie» that led to the «disastrous 2015» agreement.
Keane said Iran is repackaging the lie that it will reduce highly enriched uranium down to a low percentage and not use it for a nuclear weapon. Instead, it will employ it for civilian commercial nuclear power. Kean added that the Iranians «think the Trump administration is going to buy this. After all, in 2018, Trump pulled out of that very deal.»
In 2018, President Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the formal name for the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration, because, he argued, it failed to stop Iran’s ambitions to construct an atomic bomb.
AHEAD OF TRUMP ADMIN-IRAN TALKS, NEW REPORT SAYS IRAN NUCLEAR THREAT RISES TO ‘EXTREME DANGER’
Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and President Donald Trump (West Asia News Agency, Reuters; Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital sent a detailed press query to the State Department regarding the Islamic Republic’s history of cheating and lying when dealing with its previous pledges to not build a nuclear weapon.
A spokesperson for the State Department told Fox News Digital, «This, along with many other issues, will be decided at the negotiating table. The president has been clear: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon or enrichment program. As we continue to talk, we expect to refine a framework and timetable for working towards a deal that achieves the president’s objectives peacefully.»
Speaking Friday, President Trump told reporters, «I’m for stopping Iran very simply from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon.»
Enrichment of uranium is the key process that enables Iran’s regime to advance its work on a deliverable nuclear weapon.
«Iran’s enrichment is a real, accepted matter,» Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday. «We are ready to build confidence in response to possible concerns, but the issue of enrichment is non-negotiable.»
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, views Iranian nuclear achievements on June 11. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA/Reuters)
Mark Wallace, the CEO of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and a former U.N. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, told Fox News Digital, «Under the Bush administration, zero enrichment was enshrined in U.N. Security Council resolutions. The Obama administration changed that position, allowing enrichment up to 3.67%, and this paved the way for the failed JCPOA that has allowed Iran to extort the international community ever since.»
The Obama administration’s concession to Iran to permit it to enrich uranium to 3.67% has created new problems for Trump to halt Tehran’s drive to build a weapon. Iran has exploited the right to enrich uranium to speed up its weapons program. The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency announced in February that Iran has produced dramatically more uranium that can be used in six atomic bombs and stressed that Tehran has made no progress on resolving outstanding issues.
Iran’s medium-range ballistic missile Hayber after a launch during a promotional program organized with the participation of high-ranking military officials in Tehran, Iran, May 7, 2023. (Iranian Defense Ministry/Hanodut/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Trump said in late March he would launch military strikes against Iran if it failed to agree to his demands for a new nuclear pact.
Prior to Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, Fox News Digital reported in 2017 that Iran tried to obtain illicit technology that could be used for military nuclear and ballistic missile programs, raising questions about a possible violation of the 2015 agreement intended to stop Tehran’s drive to become an atomic armed power, according to three German intelligence reports.
TRUMP HAS A TIMELINE IN MIND FOR IRAN NUKE DEAL, TAPS ISRAEL TO LEAD ANY POTENTIAL MILITARY ACTION
The Trump administration has outlined a two-month framework to reach a deal with Iran, John Hannah, a senior fellow at JINSA, said during a briefing about Iran’s nuclear weapons program Thursday.
Hannah served in senior advisory roles with former Vice President Dick Cheney and was intimately involved in developing U.S. strategy toward talks with Iran over Afghanistan, Iraq and the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program throughout President George W. Bush’s two terms in the White House.
Traditionally, military pressure has influenced the Islamic Republic of Iran’s recalcitrant and anti-American leaders to make concessions. The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 reportedly compelled the clerical regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, to briefly pause his country’s work on nuclear weapons.
Khamenei feared American military action at the time.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, meets Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi before negotiations with U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat, Oman, April 12, 2025. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)
Hannah said Trump’s «military threat is what brought Supreme Leader Khamenei to the table» because it «put his own regime at risk.» Hannah outlined what dismantlement «with a capital D» would mean for Iran. He said «all of their enriched uranium leaves the country,» and the centrifuges are destroyed and taken out of the country. Hannah said Iran’s secretive underground Fordow nuclear fuel enrichment plant and Natanz nuclear site were where Iran was caught digging tunnels in the mountains.
Hannah’s organization, JINSA, released an infographic Wednesday that focused in on Trump administration officials’ comments on verification and dismantlement.
According to a Reuters report, a senior Iranian official said Friday that Iran told the United States in talks last week it was ready to accept some limits on its uranium enrichment but needed watertight guarantees President Donald Trump would not again ditch a nuclear pact.
Tehran’s red lines «mandated by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei» could not be compromised in the talks, the official told Reuters, describing Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity.
He said those red lines meant Iran would never agree to dismantle its centrifuges for enriching uranium, halt enrichment altogether or reduce the amount of enriched uranium it stores to a level below the level it agreed in the 2015 deal that Trump abandoned.
U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff speaks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a U.S. sovereign wealth fun, in the Oval Office of the White House Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
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It would also not negotiate over its missile program, which Tehran views as outside the scope of any nuclear deal.
Top U.S. negotiator Steve Witkoff, in a post on X on Tuesday, said Iran must «stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment» to reach a deal with Washington.
Reuters contributed to this report.
INTERNACIONAL
Jasmine Crockett rips Trump ‘regime,’ vows ‘solidarity’ with Biden witnesses during House probe
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Progressive firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, made a second surprise appearance at the House Oversight Committee’s closed-door discussions with former Biden administration aides this week, once again criticizing President Donald Trump on the way out.
Crockett surprised reporters when she arrived roughly 15 minutes after House investigators’ transcribed interview with former White House advisor Ashley Williams began, declining to speak on the way in.
The Texas Democrat emerged just over 30 minutes later, saying little about what went on inside but telling reporters she still had «absolutely» no concerns about Biden’s mental fitness while in office.
She said it was important to «be there physically» for Biden allies being interviewed in the GOP probe – even going as far as suggesting the Trump administration created a threatening environment for members of Congress and its own political opponents.
FAR-LEFT FIREBRAND SAYS SHE ‘NEVER HAD A CONCERN’ ABOUT BIDEN’S MENTAL STATE AS HOUSE PROBE HEATS UP
Rep. Jasmine Crockett made a surprise appearance at the closed-door committee interview. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MoveOn)
«It is important…in my mind, to be there for these witnesses. Unfortunately, we know what happens when this regime gets going. We know about the threats that come upon them, that come upon us as members of Congress,» Crockett said.
«I think it is important to stand there in solidarity and to at least be there physically so that they don’t feel like they’re alone as they are enduring egregious attacks consistently from this administration.»
Crockett was the only lawmaker seen going in or out of Williams’ meeting with investigators on Friday. The transcribed interview was expected to be staff-led, and lawmakers were not required to attend.
«Right now, the Republicans continue to act as if this is a main priority. Yet none of them are showing up,» she said.
«I do think that it is important that I show up because if they are going to make allegations about the former commander-in-chief, egregious allegations they continue to wage. I want to make sure that I’m in the room to correct the record, because a lot of times they like to mischaracterize things.»
COMER DISMISSES BIDEN DOCTOR’S BID FOR PAUSE IN COVER-UP PROBE: ‘THROWING OUT EVERY EXCUSE’
Former President Joe Biden’s use of autopen is being investigated. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)
When asked by Fox News Digital if the interview was still ongoing as she exited, however, Crockett answered, «It’s still going. I’m leaving early. I’ve got to get to another thing.»
A source familiar with the ongoing proceeding told Fox News Digital that Crockett came in during Republican investigators’ round of questioning and so was unable to make inquiries herself. Fox News Digital reached out to Crockett for a response.
Williams was the former Director of Strategic Outreach under the Biden administration. She did not speak to reporters on the way into her transcribed interview.
Crockett initially caught reporters and potentially even staff off guard when she arrived for the closed-door deposition of Biden’s former White House physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., was there as well, as is the norm for sworn depositions.
Williams, unlike O’Connor, is not on Capitol Hill under subpoena.
The House Oversight Committee questioned President Joe Biden’s physician Kevin O’Connor during a recent hearing as part of a probe into Biden’s alleged mental decline. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
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During her Wednesday appearance, Crockett declared she never had any concerns about Biden’s mental state while he was president, though she did raise similar claims about Trump.
White House spokesman Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital in response to Crockett questioning Trump’s mental acuity: «The Democrats’ rising star has done more to cement the party’s demise than the President she breathlessly supported, the decrepit and feeble Joe Biden. Jasmine continues to prove she’d be better suited as a reality TV star on VH1 than an elected official on Capitol Hill.»
Comer is investigating accusations that Biden’s former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether any executive actions were commissioned via autopen without the president’s full knowledge. Biden allies have pushed back on those claims.
INTERNACIONAL
17-year-old British teen dies after beach sand tunnel collapses during family vacation: report
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A day at the beach turned tragic when a 17-year-old boy was killed after a sand tunnel he was digging abruptly collapsed, burying him alive.
The teen, identified as Riccardo Boni by several Italian media outlets, was vacationing in Montalto di Castro, Italy, with his family when the incident occurred on Thursday, July 10.
Boni’s family was staying at a resort in Montalto di Castro, approximately 70 miles north of Rome. The collapse happened around 3:00 p.m. local time while he was on the beach with his father and siblings.
According to local outlet Corriere della Sera, Riccardo Boni and his younger siblings had moved closer to the shoreline, where they began digging a large hole that was reportedly nearly five feet deep, in a more secluded area of the beach. Meanwhile, their father was nearby, dozing off under a beach umbrella.
FATHER AND SON DROWN IN LAKE MICHIGAN DURING WEEKEND FAMILY BOATING TRIP TRAGEDY
An aerial view shows Lido of Ostia, Rome’s seaside, with private beaches closed for the winter season, on November 10, 2024. (Photo by Andrea BERNARDI / AFP) (Photo by ANDREA BERNARDI/AFP via Getty Images)
Suddenly, the walls of the tunnel gave way, trapping the teen beneath the sand, the outlet reported.
The boy remained buried until his father woke up and realized his oldest son was missing. One of his brothers cried out, «Riccardo is under the sand,» according to The Sun. The siblings pointed to the location of the collapsed tunnel, prompting their father and nearby beachgoers to rush over and frantically dig in search of him.
FREAK ACCIDENT AT THE BEACH SENDS TEEN TO ICU AS MOM WARNS OF WATERFRONT DANGER
A view of a beach in Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Gian Marco Benedetto/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Tragically, the boy was found buried in the sand, unresponsive and showing no signs of life. First responders arrived within minutes, including an air ambulance, working to revive him, but it was too late, and the boy could not be saved, the outlet reported.
«No-one realized what had happened,» Lieutenant Daniele Tramontana, the Carabiniere officer leading the police investigation, told The Sun.
AMERICAN TOURIST REPORTEDLY IMPALED ON ROME’S COLOSSEUM FENCE AS DOZENS WATCH IN HORROR
Children dig a hole on a beach as people walk by. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
«They lost a lot of time because they couldn’t see him. When they realized he was missing they began to look for him but it was too late,» he continued.
A witness on the beach told Corriere della Serra that «no one on the beach had heard the teenager screaming because he was completely buried within minutes.»
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A police investigation has since been opened «against persons unknown» in connection with the fatal accident, the outlet added, as authorities consider whether an autopsy will be required.
«I have spoken to colleagues, and we have never heard of anything like this happening before in Italy,» Tramontana said. «We deal with terrible situations all the time, but we can’t imagine how a game on the beach ended up this way.»
Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com
INTERNACIONAL
Rusia confirmó la participación de soldados del régimen de Corea del Norte en la invasión de Ucrania
El ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de Rusia, Sergei Lavrov, reconoció este sábado la participación de soldados del régimen de Corea del Norte en la ofensiva militar rusa en Ucrania, específicamente en la región de Kursk, y calificó este hecho como símbolo de una “hermandad inquebrantable” entre ambos países.
“Los soldados del Ejército Popular de Corea, junto con los soldados rusos, a costa de sangre e incluso de vidas, han acercado la liberación de la región de Kursk de los nazis ucranianos”, afirmó Lavrov desde la ciudad norcoreana de Wonsan, en declaraciones recogidas por la agencia estatal rusa Tass. El canciller ruso visitó Corea del Norte en el marco de la segunda ronda de diálogo estratégico bilateral a nivel ministerial.
La afirmación marca un nuevo hito en el acercamiento militar entre Moscú y Pyongyang, en medio del aislamiento internacional de ambos países y del creciente alineamiento en temas de seguridad regional y defensa.
Durante el encuentro, la ministra de Exteriores norcoreana, Choi Son Hee, expresó el respaldo de su país a la posición rusa en el conflicto ucraniano. “Apoyaremos incondicional e invariablemente la política rusa de protección de la soberanía estatal y su integridad territorial”, declaró Choi, según la agencia rusa Interfax.
La funcionaria del régimen de Kim Jong-un agregó que este apoyo forma parte de la “opción estratégica” de Corea del Norte y su “voluntad de defender la justicia internacional en oposición a las maquinaciones hegemónicas de los imperialistas”. Las autoridades de ambos países insistieron en la necesidad de reforzar su alianza frente a presiones externas, con énfasis en el rechazo a la política occidental sobre Ucrania y la península de Corea.
Choi también manifestó la intención de “profundizar el intercambio estratégico de opiniones” con Moscú y “ampliar las tradicionales relaciones de amistad y cooperación en todos los ámbitos”. Según la ministra, las relaciones entre Rusia y Corea del Norte “se han elevado ya al nivel de cooperación inquebrantable”.
El encuentro se desarrolló durante la primera jornada de la visita oficial de Lavrov a Corea del Norte, en un contexto marcado por la intensificación del diálogo militar y diplomático entre ambos gobiernos. La reunión se enmarca en la segunda ronda de consultas estratégicas de alto nivel entre los ministros de Exteriores de los dos países.
Antes de partir hacia Pyongyang desde Kuala Lumpur, donde participó en la cumbre de cancilleres del Sudeste Asiático, Lavrov dijo que Rusia protegerá a Corea del Norte de “provocaciones”.
“Nos gustaría subrayar la necesidad de evitar cualquier acción provocativa contra Corea del Norte, que desafortunadamente continúa, incluido el refuerzo de alianzas militares entre Estados Unidos, Corea del Sur y Japón”, dijo Lavrov en rueda de prensa.
“Se han realizado ejercicios militares a una escala cada vez mayor, incluso con componente nuclear. Por lo tanto, el potencial de conflicto es significativo”, remarcó el canciller ruso desde la capital malasia, donde asistió a la reunión de Exteriores de la Asociación de Naciones del Sudeste Asiático (ASEAN).
Durante el viernes, Lavrov participó en el Foro de Asia Oriental, donde coincidió con el secretario de Estado de EEUU, Marco Rubio; la alta representante de la Unión Europea para Asuntos Exteriores, Kaja Kallas; y el canciller británico, David Lammy, entre otros.
El jefe de la diplomacia de Moscú, que ayer se reunió con los ministros del bloque del Sudeste Asiático, también mantuvo una cita bilateral con Rubio.
“Haremos todo lo posible para proteger los derechos legítimos de nuestros aliados norcoreanos y evitar cualquier provocación que pueda tener consecuencias graves”, remarcó Lavrov.
(Con información de Europa Press)
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