INTERNACIONAL
Nuclear experts warn Iran’s uranium ‘right’ is a myth, say Trump is right to hold firm
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Amid charged exchanges between President Trump and Iran’s fragmented leadership over the regime’s insistence that it retain its nuclear enrichment system, top experts on Iran’s atomic weapons program support the commander in chief’s ironclad goal to dissolve it.
One of the main sticking points during the intense talks between Tehran and Washington centers on Iran’s claim that the rogue regime has a right to enrich and possess weapons-grade uranium, the material required to build an atomic bomb.
The showdown over enriched uranium might be the core deal-breaker issue when and if the next round of talks to reach a nuclear agreement goes ahead in Pakistan.
GOP SENATORS: CONGRESS SHOULD VOTE ON TRUMP’S POTENTIAL IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baqaei, vehemently rejected Trump’s demand last week on state-controlled television.
«Iran’s enriched uranium is not going to be transferred anywhere under any circumstances,» Baqaei declared.
President Donald Trump signs a proclamation to withdraw from the JCPOA Iran nuclear agreement in the Diplomatic Room at the White House in Washington on May 8, 2018. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Trump claimed Iran had agreed to «give us back the nuclear dust that’s way underground.» The President terms Iran’s 440 kilograms of enriched uranium as «nuclear dust» after sustained U.S. military strikes on Iranian sites that store the country’s stockpile of uranium.
«The United States should insist on a permanent ban of Iranian enrichment and its full dismantlement in negotiations. Iran retaining any enrichment infrastructure in anticipation of the end of a moratorium would allow it to cheat as soon as Trump leaves office and resume its path to nuclear weapons,» Andrea Stricker, deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ nonproliferation program, told Fox News Digital.
Jonathan Ruhe, fellow for American strategy at JINSA, echoed Stricker on the importance of abolishing the Iranian enrichment program. He told Fox News Digital, «An acceptable deal would have to embody many of Trump’s stated redlines from his first administration, and from the run-up to last summer’s 12-Day War.
«This means permanent bans on enrichment, reprocessing and weaponization capability and, equally importantly, full verification of Iran’s compliance with these strictures.»
IRANIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR NEGOTIATION AND DIALOGUE AS NUCLEAR TALKS CONTINUE
Heavy weapons, including ballistic missiles, air defense systems and unmanned aerial vehicles, are displayed during the 44th anniversary of the eight-year war with Iraq, known as Holy Defense Week, at Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 25, 2024. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
President Trump withdrew from President Obama’s widely criticized nuclear deal with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018.
«In theory, the so-called ‘Iran deal’ was supposed to protect the United States and our allies from the lunacy of an Iranian nuclear bomb, a weapon that will only endanger the survival of the Iranian regime,» Trump said at the time. «In fact, the deal allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium and, over time, reach the brink of a nuclear breakout.»
Ruhe said, «The JCPOA failed to ensure IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspectors could monitor, and account for, the entirety of Iran’s program and its compliance with the deal. This problem has worsened significantly in the decade since, as Iran systematically stonewalled inspectors.
«Iran’s negotiators always drag out talks and avoid giving clear answers. They still think time is on their side, with their blockade hurting the global economy and their missile arsenals being dug out and prepared for renewed conflict. Trump should insist on a definitive response from Tehran and be ready for renewed operations.
IRAN SIGNALS NUCLEAR PROGRESS IN GENEVA AS TRUMP CALLS FOR FULL DISMANTLEMENT
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, attends a demonstration marking Jerusalem Day in Tehran. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
«As a cautionary tale: The Obama team first entered nuclear talks with stringent redlines, but then they let Iran call their bluffs, ignore their deadlines and wear down their demands until we ended up with the JCPOA,» Ruhe said.
Iran is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that obligates it not to enrich uranium for military purposes. However, U.S. and European intelligence reports have documented Iran’s illicit proliferation activities.
Ruhe said, «This regime cynically wants it both ways: They insist the NPT gives the ‘right’ to peaceful enrichment, yet they flout the treaty’s safeguards. By claiming this ‘right,’ they try to make certain core issues non-negotiable. By this logic, they should get to retain enrichment capacity. So, the questions then become how much and what the U.S. has to give in return for this supposed sacrifice by Iran.
«As the Non-Proliferation Treaty’s name indicates, it’s an agreement to prevent proliferation, not to promote nuclear development.»
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Stricker said Rafael Grossi, the head of the IAEA, recently said, «It’s fiction that the NPT specifically mentions ‘enrichment’ in its peaceful uses clause. Moreover, the prevailing legal demand from the U.N. Security Council is that Iran stop enriching and come back into compliance with its nonproliferation obligations.
For nearly 25 years, the IAEA has been unable to conclude that all of Iran’s nuclear material and activities are devoted to peaceful uses.»
She added that «Iran’s enrichment program began through illicit procurements and covert facilities, under a nuclear weapons program that planned to use enriched uranium as fuel. Iran was clearly stockpiling material for an apparent nuclear weapons breakout.»
war with iran, iran, nuclear proliferation, conflicts, treaties, national security
European wildfires force more than 250K evacuations across Spain, France
Wildfires are sweeping across Spain and France, forcing more than 250,000 people to evacuate. One blaze is threatening France’s famed Bordeaux wine region, while Spain has declared a national emergency. France has deployed the military, and the Tour de France has been shortened as firefighters battle the massive blazes.
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More than a quarter-million people have been driven from their homes in southwest France as a massive wildfire barrels toward the famed wine capital of Bordeaux, with officials warning the fast-moving inferno has become so fierce it’s creating its own winds and behaving erratically.
French authorities ordered another 55,000 people to evacuate overnight Sunday from communities south of Bordeaux, bringing the total number of evacuees in the region to about 250,000. Gusty winds, dry conditions and repeated heat waves have fueled a fire that has burned out of control since midweek.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said firefighters faced a «difficult» night and warned Sunday that «the situation remains very unfavorable.»
EUROPE’S FIRES REVEAL DEADLY MIX OF RECORD HEAT, HUMAN ERROR, ARSON AND LAND MISMANAGEMENT
Firefighters spray water in a burning forest near Lacanau, southwestern France, Saturday, July 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
«The fire again became extremely virulent again and unpredictable, generating its own winds and advancing erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area,» Nunez posted on X, adding that the blaze «became calmer by the end of the night.»
The fire has now burned an estimated 42,000 hectares, or about 162 square miles — roughly four times the size of Paris — in the Gironde region. Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said the flames came within about 9 miles of the city, prompting officials to partially close a major highway into and out of the region.
More than 2,500 firefighters, backed by 18 planes and helicopters, are working to slow the fire’s advance. France has also deployed 1,500 soldiers to help clear vegetation and build firebreaks, while several European countries have sent aircraft and firefighting crews to assist.
FRANCE RECORDS MORE THAN 5,700 EXCESS DEATHS DURING HISTORIC EARLY SUMMER HEAT WAVE
Nunez said 450 volunteers have also pitched in to help.
«We came to lend a hand because if it were our region, we’d want others to do the same,» 65-year-old farmer Pascal Roudier told Reuters. «And given the scale of the disaster, we think our efforts are very welcome too.»
Firefighters battle a wildfire near Marcheprime, outside, Bordeaux, France, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
The Bordeaux-area fire is one of several major wildfires burning across France. A separate blaze in the neighboring Landes region has forced another 36,000 people to evacuate, while nearly 3,000 others have left their homes in southern France’s Var region along the Mediterranean coast.
Neighboring Spain is facing its own wildfire emergency.
A firefighter carries a hose while battling a wildfire in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, west of Madrid, Spain, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Authorities there have evacuated about 116,000 people in recent days as fires burned across the Valencia region and west of Madrid. A fast-moving fire in a Valencia suburb killed one man Saturday, marking Spain’s first wildfire death in the latest wave of fires.
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Earlier this month, 13 people were killed in southern Spain in the country’s deadliest wildfire in recent memory.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
france, europe, fires disasters, natural disasters, world
INTERNACIONAL
La policía busca al sospechoso del ataque mortal en el desfile del Orgullo en Berlín: sería un joven islamista de 21 años
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One key Republican’s extended absence and unclear timetable for return is slowing down several legislative priorities, and could impact President Donald Trump’s Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act in an unexpected way.
And while sparse statements from him and his office say he’s on the mend, there has yet to be a hard date for when he’ll come back to Congress.
It comes as Republicans are twisting and contorting Trump’s top election priority into something that could pass the Senate. Though McConnell has voted against the bill before, he would be a key player in crafting what it would look like in the upper chamber.
TRUMP’S VOTER ID BILL CATCHES UNLIKELY BREAK AS MCCONNELL REMAINS SIDELINED
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been away from the Senate for more than a month after a medical emergency. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«That could be an issue,» Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital. «I think there are a lot of issues.»
That’s because McConnell is chair of the Senate Rules Committee, which will likely be responsible for drafting the version of the SAVE America Act that could pass muster in budget reconciliation, the process that Trump is pushing the GOP to use to pass the bill.
The uncertainty around McConnell, coupled with the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s recent death, throws a wrench into the process. Graham was chair of the Senate Budget Committee, and acted as quarterback through two dances with reconciliation over the past year.
SENATE RETURNS TO PACKED AGENDA AFTER GRAHAM’S DEATH SHRINKS GOP MARGIN
But Graham’s replacement on the panel, Johnson, could step in and draft language for SAVE America as chair of the Budget Committee — Graham leapfrogged Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Rand Paul, R-Ky., in 2025 to draft his portion of the «big, beautiful bill.»
«That’s my understanding — it actually falls to budget,» Johnson said. «So, again … this is still really early in the process, so I don’t have all the answers by a long stretch. Plus, we’ve got to find out what the conference wants to do, and what Leader John Thune wants to do.»
Thune is focusing on preventing a government shutdown, and is encouraging ongoing bipartisan negotiations on a funding deal to continue. And he has threatened to press pause on reconciliation by holding the House’s own budget framework until that objective is accomplished.
GOP RIFT GROWS AS THUNE HITS BRAKES ON TRUMP’S ELECTION BILL TO AVERT SHUTDOWN
One key Republican’s extended absence and unclear timetable for return is slowing down several legislative priorities, and could impact President Donald Trump’s Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act in an unexpected way. (Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press )
He reiterated to Fox News Digital that Republicans don’t have the votes to pass the SAVE America Act, and may not have the votes to pass a budget resolution in the upper chamber.
And he noted that the SAVE America Act would have to comply with the Senate’s strict rules for reconciliation that unlock the 50-vote threshold, which the current version of the bill does not.
Getting the legislation to a point where it wouldn’t slam into those guardrails has remained an open and difficult question for Republicans — Thune suggested that it could work if it’s «very carefully structured based upon incentive, mostly grant money,» for states.
«So, you know, we’re gonna do everything we can to move that forward,» Thune said. «But as I told you before, the math on that hasn’t changed yet. It’s still likely to be a 60-vote exercise, even if it’s done with a budget resolution.»
Trump demanded Republicans ram through their own budget resolution before they leave Washington, D.C., until after Labor Day on Truth Social Friday to fund defense, agriculture, and pass «as much of the SAVE AMERICA ACT as possible.»
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«Our voters will be extremely happy — And even impressed,» Trump said.
Meanwhile, Thune has received criticism from Republicans for his plan to hold up the reconciliation process in favor of averting a shutdown.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital the only option to pass SAVE America was through reconciliation, and he’s been working on his own plan in the background, and believes it could survive the Senate’s «Byrd» test.
«I can’t guarantee it, but it’s a — I consider it to be a credible argument,» Kennedy said. «And I will try to do that, and I will try to, at the right time, bring my colleagues, and, more importantly, the parliamentarian, along. But if we don’t do it through reconciliation, through the House reconciliation, we won’t get it done.»
«And I’m not sure it will work, but I think it might,» he continued. «It’s at least a 50/50 shot.»
politics, senate elections, government shutdown, mitch mcconnell, john thune
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