🧵Some photos of today’s Joint Commission Iran talks in Vienna, courtesy the EU in Vienna. China perm rep to IAEA Wang Qun, Iran Dep FM and chief negotiator Abbas Araghchi, Iran IAEA rep Gharibabadi.
Wang Qun, Araghchi, Gharibabadi and EU perm rep to IAEA and longtime Iran nonpro advisor Stephan Klement
Iran nuclear expert Saberi, far left; Russian perm rep to IAEA, who provides very good Iran talks coverage on Twitter, Mikhail Ulyanov, far right, on the phone.
Iran foreign ministry advisor amd legal expert Behzad Saberi, (standing far left); head of Iran department at (UK) FCDO Laura Hickey (seated at left); Russian perm rep to IAEA, who provides very good Iran talks coverage on Twitter, Mikhail Ulyanov, far right, on the phone.
EU political director Enrique Mora (center), French political director Philippe Errara (right). Not sure if that is German political director Jens Plötner on the left. Think that may be UK political director Tim Barrow to Errara’s right.
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🧵Iran Dep FM Ravanchi to NBC: “As long as there is no act of aggression being perpetrated by the United States against us, we will not respond again,” Takht-Ravanchi said when asked if more was to come.
“We are for diplomacy” & “we are for dialogue,” Ravanchi. But the US gov’t needs “to convince us that they are not going to use military force while we are negotiating. That is an essential element for our leadership to be in a position to decide about the future round of talks.”
“Our policy has not changed on enrichment,” Ravanchi said. “Iran has every right to do enrichment within its territory. The only thing that we have to observe is not to go for militarization.”
🧵Reporter: Mr. President, what's your reaction to the intelligence reports saying that the Iranian nuclear sites were only partially devastated, not entirely?
Trump: Well, …the report said it could have been very, they don't know.
Trump: I mean, if they did a report, I could have Pete [Hegseth] talk to it, because his department did the report. They really don't know.
I think Israel is going to be telling us very soon, because Bibi is going to have people involved in that whole situation.
Trump: We hear it was obliteration. It was a virtual obliteration.
When you take a look at the ground above, don't forget, the flame is all underground.
🧵Former State Dept official Dan Benaim: It seems like a moment for humility…. But it strikes me that there's so much more that we don't know than what we do know, including the very basics of the battlefield damage assessment.
Benaim: “It seems to me that despite some triumphalism, there's no once and for all solution here to the Iranian nuclear program, and we shouldn't expect one off airstrikes to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat.”
Benaim: “One thing that I should say when it comes to regional integration, and the prospects for the region… in talking about perceptions of Israel,…is Gaza.
🧵Ken Pollack: First point, we don't know what the American strike accomplished. we've heard the initial briefings.
I did look at the satellite photographs of Fordo. There are a couple of holes, & it's clear that the surface Earth has shifted.
But I find it very difficult to tell what the extent of the damage that was done to Fordo,
And quite frankly, I am going to be surprised if the US intelligence community has a really good read on what happened to Fordo.
“On Thur., Trump responded as he often has when faced with difficult options: He bought himself time, declaring he would wait up to 2 weeks to make a decision. So far, those cautioning the president to avoid authorizing a strike ..appear to be breaking through.”
“On Thur., Trump had lunch with Steve Bannon” who opened his show that day “by decrying the faux ‘urgency’ that pro-Israel hawks were pressing upon Trump.”
Bannon & Jack Posobiec likened those speaking to Trump advocating for a US attack on Iran to used car salesmen who tell buyers they only have limited time to decide.
“Shortly after Trump’s lunch with Bannon”, press sec Karoline Leavitt told WH press briefing she had a statement said ‘directly from the president.’ The message was that Trump was going to let negotiations play out longer.”
Frmr Centcom chief ret. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie sees mission creep in Israel war: I do believe that regime changes is on the table in Tel Aviv, & I think that represents a thing we should be very familiar with in the United States: mission creep
where you have astonishing initial success, and so your goals tend to expand as the horizon opens ahead of you.
So I think perhaps when they went into this, they were looking at a more narrowly targeted campaign, but the bringing the inability to defend themselves and the success the Israelis have had opens new vistas for you.