warns

Oct. 7 (UPI) — A shuttered Canadian amusement park said that without an infusion of cash it will have to euthanize 30 beluga whales after a government official blocked it from sending the marine mammals to a Chinese theme park.

Marineland, the aquatic theme park located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, laid out the dire situation in a letter Friday to Canadian Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson, The New York Times reported.

Thompson announced days earlier that she denied Marineland’s request to export the belugas to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom theme park in China because it “would have meant a continued life in captivity and a return to public entertainment.”

She further said that she was following requirements of the Fisheries Act meant to prevent the exploitation of marine mammals.

“Like many of you, I am angered that these whales have lived a life of captivity and as a result their health has deteriorated,” Thompson said. “As Canadians, we know that whales belong in the ocean, not in tanks for our amusement.”

Thompson told CBC News that she had visited the closed Marineland facility and concluded the whales belong in the ocean after she “looked the belugas in the eyes.”

Marineland’s business model struggled after a federal law passed in 2019 that banned keeping whales, dolphins and porpoises for breeding or amusement, according to the CBC.

The theme park said there is no suitable ocean “sanctuary” or facility for the whales. Meanwhile, Marineland said its financial situation continues to crumble, leaving it unable to meet the whales’ costly care.

However, Thompson told Marineland in a letter sent Monday that there would be no bailout, The Canadian Press reported.

“The fact that Marineland has not planned for a viable alternative despite raising these whales in captivity for many years, does not place the onus on the Canadian government to cover your expenses,” Thompson wrote.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford told The Canadian Press that the federal government should rethink its position.

“It should be the federal government that allows them to move (the belugas) to China or other marine areas that will take them, but saying no to everything and not coming up with a solution is not a great suggestion,” Ford said.

A dozen groups including the Toronto Zoo, World Animal Protection and Animal Justice wrote to Ford urging the provincial government to seize the animals.

DONALD Trump has warned of a “massive bloodshed” if Hamas fails to agree to a peace deal in the coming days.

Trump warned he will “not tolerate delay” from Hamas – and has urged both sides to move quickly towards a deal or else “all bets will be off”.

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Trump revealed indirect talks between Israel, Hamas and other mediators from the Arab countries have been “very positive” – and that he expects the first phase of his proposed peace deal should be completed “this week”.

Taking to his Truth Social platform, the US president said: “There have been very positive discussions with Hamas, and Countries from all over the World (Arab, Muslim, and everyone else) this weekend.

“These talks have been very successful and are proceeding rapidly. The technical teams will again meet on Monday, in Egypt, to work through and clarify the final details.

“I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST.

“Time is of the essence, or massive bloodshed will follow – something that nobody wants to see.”

It comes after Hamas agreed to some parts of the 20-point US peace plan, including releasing hostages and handing over Gaza governance to Palestinian technocrats.

Though it said it was seeking negotiations on other issues.

Negotiators from both sides will now gather at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing hope that the hostages could be released within days.

The White House said Trump had also sent two envoys to Egypt – his son-in-law, Jared Kushner and Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday urged Israel to stop bombing Gaza ahead of the discussions in Egypt.

“You can’t release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop,” Rubio told CBS News talk show “Face the Nation”.

“There can’t be a war going on in the middle of it.”

The radical Islamist fanatics seized 251 hostages during their October 7 attack, 47 of whom are still in Gaza.

Of those, the Israeli military says 25 are dead.

Israel, meanwhile, has continued to carry out strikes.

Gaza’s civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, said Israeli attacks killed at least 20 people across the territory on Sunday, 13 of them in Gaza City.

Trump said a ceasefire and release of hostages will take place “immediately” after Hamas agrees to Israeli forces’ partial withdrawal from Gaza.

He revealed that Tel Aviv agreed to the initial withdrawal line presented to Hamas – and that a peace process will begin as soon as the terror group accepts the proposal.

Hamas has previously rejected a phased Israeli withdrawal, insisting instead on an immediate and full pullout.

Over the weekend, the terror group called for a swift start to a hostage-prisoner exchange with Israel, as negotiators from both sides prepared to meet in Egypt for crucial talks.

However, there is so much that could still go wrong.

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The 20-point peace plan proposes an immediate end to fighting and the release within 72 hours of living Israeli hostages held by Hamas – as well as the remains of hostages thought to be dead.

Nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners will be freed from Israeli prisons in exchange.

Hamas’s political leadership, based in Qatar, are said to be open to accepting it – but with amendments.

Although they have been unable to hold sway, as they do not have control of Israeli hostages – whose fate plays a crucial part in the deal.

Hamas demands that issues over Gaza’s future should be discussed within a comprehensive Palestinian national framework, which it will be part of.

But Trump has ruled that out, with Israel saying in no way can the terror group remain in power for peace to occur.

Senior Hamas mouthpiece Mousa Abu Marzouk said the group will not disarm – one of the key points of Trump’s peace deal – until the Israeli “occupation” ends.

Bibi’s vow

But Netanyahu on Saturday warned that the demilitarisation of Gaza is imminent.

“Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarised – either the easy way or the hard way, but it will be achieved,” he said in his speech.

Hamas said it was ready “to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats) based on Palestinian national consensus and supported by Arab and Islamic backing.”

It has previously offered to release all hostages and to hand over administration of the Gaza Strip to a different body.

A successful ceasefire could then pave the way for 48 hostages – of whom just 20 are believed to be alive – to be released from Gaza terror tunnels after two years in hell.

A truce – if it holds – could also allow vital humanitarian aid to flood into the besieged coastal strip, where Hamas says more than 66,000 Palestinians have died in fighting.

A new “Board of Peace” chaired by the US president and run by former UK PM Tony Blair would then move in to rebuild the strip before peace-loving Palestinians take over.

Earlier this week, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the most senior Hamas military commander still in Gaza, told the BBC that Trump’s plan “serves Israel’s interests and ignores those of the Palestinian people”.

Israel has already backed Trump’s peace plan, which involves an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and Hamas disarmament.

A TORY Peer insists Labour’s flagship workers’ rights package must be changed to protect people from being sacked or disciplined for online posts. 

Baron Young, who founded the Free Speech Union, says any messages more than a year old shouldn’t be used to reprimand employees and “cancel” people. 

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Bosses would have to be able to prove that “tangible” harm had been caused rather than “reputational” damage which is too vague. 

The Employment Rights Bill is currently in the House of Lords and will be debated when Parliament returns after the party conferences. 

The Peer is compiling a report on how laws affecting free speech should be changed or abandoned. 

The dossier should be published before the end of the year and could be adopted as party policy after that, he added. 

He said changes “would make it unlawful for companies to discipline, fire, penalise employees for things they’ve said online unless, first of all, they’re less than a year old. 

“So there’s a one-year statute of limitations on what the offence archaeologists can dig into to try and find reasons to cancel you. 

“In addition, the employer would have to show that the comment in question has caused tangible harm to the company. 

Lord Young of Acton was made a peer by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch in December. 

He previously founded a network of free schools, and has been a newspaper columnist for more than 20 years. 

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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that Europe must arm itself to respond to Russia’s hybrid warfare.

“I hope that everybody recognises now that there is a hybrid war and one day it’s Poland, the other day it’s Denmark, and next week it will probably be somewhere else that we see sabotage or we see drones flying,” Frederiksen told reporters on Wednesday.

She was hosting a summit of European leaders as they discussed joint efforts for better deterrence and defence.

French President Emmanuel Macron was also on hand and urged the European Union to proceed with caution in its current confrontation with Russia.

“I think we all have to be very cautious because we are in a time of confrontation with a lot of hybridity,” Macron said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the summit in Copenhagen.

“This is why we have to be strong to deter any aggressions, but we have to remain very cautious and avoid any escalation,” he added.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also warned against overreacting.

“Despite everything, I think we have to think calmly. I think we shouldn’t respond to provocations. We have to equip ourselves, that certainly is true,” she said.

Hybrid warfare involves the use of conventional methods, such as tanks and missiles, as well as nonconventional ones, such as cyberattacks and internet disinformation.

Russia has been “a very aggressive player” for several years, the French president said, citing cyberattacks during elections, its war against Ukraine, the use of nuclear threats and recent airspace violations.

The heads of state and prime ministers of the EU countries were meeting in Denmark’s capital following a series of drone incidents near the country’s airports and military bases over the last week.

Before the meeting, a special radar system was set up at Copenhagen airport to help keep watch. Unidentified drones forced the closure of the airfield a week ago, causing major disruptions.

France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK also sent aircraft, ships and air defence systems to Denmark in advance of the talks.

While the Danish authorities have not identified those believed to be responsible, Frederiksen said, “There is only one country that is willing to threaten us, and it is Russia, and therefore we need a very strong answer back.”

The Danish prime minister appealed for rearmament in the face of growing threats.

“I want us to rearm. I want us to buy more capabilities. I want us to innovate more, for example, on drones,” she said. “When I look at Europe today, I think we are in the most difficult and dangerous situation since the end of the second world war.”

Airspace violations

Serious airspace violations have been recorded in Europe over the last month, but not all nations in the bloc agree on how to respond.

After Russia was blamed for drone incursions into NATO members Poland and Romania, Macron last week said the alliance’s response would have to “go up a notch” in the case of “new provocations” from Moscow.

Macron did not rule out downing a Russian fighter jet if it were to breach European airspace.

“In accordance with the doctrine of strategic ambiguity, I can tell you that nothing is ruled out,” he said in an interview with German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Last month, Poland said it had shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace as Moscow launched a barrage against Ukraine, while Romania’s defence ministry said the country’s airspace had been breached by a drone during a Russian attack on infrastructure in neighbouring Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Macron also alleged that an oil tanker off the French coast had committed “very serious wrongdoings” and linked it to Russia’s shadow fleet, which is avoiding Western sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The tanker was sailing off the coast of Denmark last week and was cited by European naval experts as possibly being involved in drone flights over the Nordic country.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leaders and intelligence services believed that Russia could mount an assault elsewhere in Europe in three to five years, and that President Vladimir Putin is intent on testing NATO amid doubts about US President Donald Trump’s commitment to the organisation.

Other defence experts, however, question the readiness of Russia’s military for another large-scale war.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto has told the United Nations General Assembly that the United States has an “illegal and completely immoral military threat hanging over our heads”, as reports emerge that the US is planning to escalate attacks on the South American country.

Pinto told the gathering of UN member states on Friday in New York that his country was grateful for the support of governments and people “that are speaking out against this attempt to bring war to the Caribbean and South America”.

The minister claimed US threats towards his country were aimed at allowing “external powers to rob Venezuela’s immeasurable oil and gas wealth”.

He also accused Washington of using “vulgar and perverse lies” to “justify an atrocious, extravagant and immoral multibillion-dollar military threat”.

Earlier on Friday, US broadcaster NBC News reported that US military officials are drawing up plans to “target drug traffickers inside Venezuela” with air attacks, citing two unnamed US officials.

US President Donald Trump said last week that US forces had carried out a third strike targeting a vessel he said was “trafficking illicit narcotics”. At least 17 people have been killed in the three attacks.

Experts have cast doubt on the legality of US attacks on foreign boats in international waters, while data from both the UN and the US itself suggest that Venezuela is not a major source of cocaine coming into the US, as Trump has claimed.

In an address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump said of drug smugglers: ” To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned that we will blow you out of existence.”

By contrast, Colombian President Gustavo Petro used his UNGA address to call for a “criminal process” to be opened against Trump over the attacks on vessels in the Caribbean, which had killed Venezuelans who had not been convicted of any crime.

The US has so far deployed eight warships to international waters off Venezuela’s coast, backed by F-35 fighter jets sent to Puerto Rico, in what it calls an anti-drug operation.

Washington has also refused an appeal for dialogue from Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, whom the Trump administration has accused of drug trafficking – a claim Maduro has strenuously denied.

Maduro and his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez, had once been regular presences at the annual UNGA meetings taking place in New York, but Maduro did not come this year, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio describing him as a fugitive from justice over a US indictment on drug-trafficking allegations.

Back home in Venezuela, Maduro has called for military drills to begin on Saturday, to test “the people’s readiness for natural catastrophes or any armed conflict” amid US “threats”.

‘Our fishermen are peaceful’

Venezuelan fishers who spoke to the AFP news agency said that the US strikes on Venezuelan boats have made them fearful to venture too far from shore.

“It’s very upsetting because our country is peaceful, our fishermen are peaceful,” Joan Diaz, 46, told AFP in the northern town of Caraballeda.

“Fishermen go out to work, and they [the US] have taken these measures to come to our … workplace to intimidate us, to attack us,” he said.

Diaz said most fishers stay relatively close to shore, but that “to fish for tuna, you have to go very far, and that’s where they [the US forces] are.”

Luis Garcia, a 51-year-old who leads a grouping of some 4,000 fishermen and women in the La Guaira region, described the US actions as “a real threat”.

“We have nine-, 10-, 12-metre fishing boats against vessels that have missiles. Imagine the madness. The madness, my God!” he exclaimed.

“We keep contact with everyone … especially those who are going a little further,” he said.

“We report to the authorities where we are going, where we are, and how long our fishing operations will last, and we also report to our fishermen’s councils,” Garcia said.

But, Garcia added, they would not be intimidated.

“We say to him: ‘Mr Donald Trump, we, the fishermen of Venezuela … will continue to carry out our fishing activities. We will continue to go out to the Caribbean Sea that belongs to us.’”

Haiti’s transitional leader Laurent Saint-Cyr told the 80th UNGA Haiti faces a “modern-day Guernica,” with rampant killings, rapes, and mass hunger. He urged urgent, large-scale international action to defend democracy, protect children, and secure Haiti’s right to peace.

During his commissioner’s address on Thursday in Long Beach at the Southern Section Council meeting, Mike West said his office has become “very adept at identifying” fraudulent transfer information submitted by parents and schools in a message explaining why there has been an increase in declaring athletes ineligible for a two-year period for violation of CIF bylaw 202.

“We’ve had a real influx of fraudulent paperwork,” West said. “It’s been significant and very disheartening.”

Bishop Montgomery and Long Beach Millikan have been among the schools where football athletes were declared ineligible for two years after providing false paperwork information.

Addressing administrators and athletic directors, West said, “Talk to your athletes and parents when they come in for a valid change of residence. It’s OK to question it and OK to say no to a valid change of residence.”

Before the meeting, West was asked if he could say anything to educate parents going through the transfer process. “Don’t turn in fraudulent paperwork in order to gain eligibility,” he said.

It’s not just the Southern Section finding ways to detect false information. It’s also happening in Northern Calfornia, according to Brian Seymour, associate executive director of the CIF.

The real test for whether schools and parents adjust to what has been taking place during the football season comes when paperwork begins to arrive for basketball transfers next month.

Under CIF transfer rules, you have a one-time opportunity to have a sit-out period following a transfer over four years or the student must change residences with the entire family to be eligibile immediately.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper says she has warned Israel not to annex parts of the West Bank in retaliation for the UK’s recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Cooper was speaking to the BBC before attending a conference on Monday at the UN in New York where France and other European states are due to make a similar announcement.

In what was a significant change in policy, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced the UK’s recognition of a Palestinian state on Sunday, along with Canada, Australia and Portugal.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the moves, saying they give “a huge reward to terrorism”.

Asked by the BBC if she was concerned Israel would take this declaration as a pretext for annexing parts of the West Bank, Cooper said she had made it clear to her Israeli counterpart that he and his government must not do that.

She said: “We have been clear that this decision that we are taking is about the best way to respect the security for Israel as well as the security for Palestinians.

“It’s about protecting peace and justice and crucially security for the Middle East and we will continue to work with everyone across the region in order to be able to do that.”

Cooper said extremists on both sides were seeking to abandon any prospect of a two-state solution, which the UK had a moral obligation to revive.

“The easy thing to do would be to just walk away and to say well it is all just too hard,” Cooper said. “We just think that is wrong when we’ve seen such devastation, such suffering.

“Just as we recognise Israel, the state of Israel … so we must also recognise the rights for the Palestinians to a state of their own as well.”

She did not say when the UK’s Consulate General in East Jerusalem would become a full embassy, saying it would continue while a diplomatic process began with the Palestinian Authority.

The foreign secretary was speaking in New York, where the UN General Assembly is convening this week.

Cooper will push to build international consensus on a framework for peace in the Middle East, the Foreign Office has said.

France will co-chair a meeting alongside Saudi Arabia addressing the path to a two-state solution to the conflict, after it pledged to recognise Palestinian statehood in July. Belgium is also expected to follow France’s declaration at the meeting.

Making the announcement on Sunday, Sir Keir said he wanted to “revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying that Palestinian statehood “will not happen”.

The US joined him in describing the move as a diplomatic gift to Hamas after it attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.

Sir Keir stressed this was not the case as the terms of the recognition mean Hamas can have “no future, no role in government, no role in security”.

This message was echoed in a statement from the Foreign Office, which said the foreign secretary would use the UN meeting to “ensure violent terrorists like Hamas have no role to play in the future of a Palestinian state”.

The prime minister added that the decision was instead a “pledge to the Palestinian and Israeli people that there can be a better future”, saying the “starvation and devastation [in Gaza] are utterly intolerable”.

Sir Keir, who has repeatedly said Hamas can have no role in the future governance of a Palestinian state, said during his announcement that the UK had already proscribed and sanctioned Hamas and that he had directed work to sanction further Hamas figures in the coming weeks.

Hamas on Sunday welcomed the recognition as an “important step in affirming the right of our Palestinian people to their land and holy sites” but said it must be accompanied by “practical measures” that would lead to an “immediate end” to the war.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, the Conservatives’ deputy chair Matt Vickers said that the prime minister was “rewarding Hamas”.

“Hamas has already said this is a victory for them and the evil things they did on October 7”, he said.

“This is not the way you play the game, this not what you do if you want to get a two state solution. Everyone is devastated by what they see in Gaza, everyone is devastated by what they saw on 7 October. We need to work with the US to make sure those hostages come home.”

Last week, a UN commission of inquiry said that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.

Across a three-page resolution, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) presented a litany of actions undertaken by Israel throughout the 22-month-long war that it recognises as constituting genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Around 65,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza in the nearly two-year war.

UN-backed health experts have also declared a famine in Gaza City.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the genocide report was based on “Hamas lies” and poor research, calling it an “embarrassment to the legal profession”.

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza and has said that where there is hunger, it is the fault of aid agencies and Hamas.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the UK’s decision, saying it would help pave the way for the “state of Palestine to live side by side with the state of Israel in security, peace and good neighbourliness”.

Palestine is currently recognised as a state by around 75% of the UN’s 193 member states, but has no internationally agreed boundaries, capital or army – making recognition largely symbolic.

The two-state solution refers to the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, broadly along the lines that existed prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Due to Israel’s military occupation in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority, set up in the wake of peace agreements in the 1990s, is not in full control of its land or people. In Gaza, where Israel is also the occupying power, Hamas has been the sole ruler since 2007.

UK ministers have highlighted the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law, as a key factor in the decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Mohammed Jarrar, mayor of the West Bank city of Jenin, told the BBC that “this Israeli government wants to annex the West Bank” – but stressed that recognition was important as “it confirms the fact that the Palestinian people possess a state, even if it is under occupation”.

Netanyahu repeated his intentions on Sunday, saying “we doubled Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] and we will continue on this path”.

Far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir responded to the news by calling for Israel to annex the West Bank and dismantle the Palestinian Authority.

A BARGAIN hunter mother has shared a stern warning to parents about a viral buy from The Range.

Last year, mums and dads were racing to stores desperate to get their hands on the must-have buy that was sure to make the festive season even more special.

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And earlier this month, parents were left overjoyed to see that the purse-friendly product was now available to buy again.

But one shopper has been left very disappointed with the Large Christmas Sleigh Hamper, which she claimed is “not worth the hype.” 

Eager to alert others about the “flimsy” purchase, Emma Smith took to social media to express her frustration with the £7.99 buy.

Posting on Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK, a private Facebook group with 2.6 million members, the savvy shopper uploaded snaps of the huge sleigh, which was once sold-out and can hold dozens of gifts and decorations.

Alongside her post, she shared a messaged to “everybody thinking of getting The Range viral large Christmas Sleigh Hamper.”

She fumed: “I would not waste your money.”

Sharing pictures of the damaged sleigh, she snapped: “The cardboard is very flimsy.”

As well as this, she claimed: “The sleigh has collapsed to the side.”

Clearly very frustrated with her purchase, which has been described as a “fun way to display gifts” and is hailed as “the gift that keeps on giving,” Emma added: “Definitely not worth the hype!”

Emma’s post has clearly shocked many, as it was posted just 13 hours ago, but has already racked up almost 200 likes and 239 comments.

Big divide

But social media users were left totally divided – while some were thankful for her thoughts, others had “no issues” with their Christmas Sleigh Hamper, which is bound to turn your home into a magical festive scene in seconds.

One person said: “Not buying again. I was crazy to get it from The Range. When you put it away it won’t fold back up. It’s cute but not worth it and very small.” 

Looks like it’s been forced together tbh. For the price, it looks amazing, warts and all

Facebook user

Another added: “Thank you, I was going to get one. So glad I saw this post.” 

A third commented: “Same happened to mine! Filled it with sweets and it couldn’t take the weight and the legs buckled!” 

However, at the same time, one shopper wrote: “I got these two years ago and this will be the third year I’ve used them. Mine are great. No issues with them.” 

A second chimed in: “I got two the other day and put them up and all fine.” 

Someone else beamed: “I got the large one from The Range last year and I’ll be using it again as I found it ok and didn’t have any problems with it.” 

Whilst one user observed: “Looks like it’s been forced together tbh. For the price, it looks amazing, warts and all.”

Definitely not worth the hype!

Emma Smith

However, to this, Emma wrote back and claimed: “It wasn’t forced. The cardboard is hard regardless so you’ve got to make sure it’s put in the slots properly.” 

Meanwhile, others praised a similar sleigh hamper from B&M.

One shopper shared: “B&M ones are better and cheaper!”

Another agreed: “Got mine from B&M, £5. Sturdy and solid.”

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Vague threat comes after a Taliban official rejected Trump’s call to return the sprawling airbase previously used by US forces.

United States President Donald Trump has threatened Afghanistan with unspecified consequences unless it gives back control of the Bagram airbase to Washington.

The vague threat on Saturday came a day after the Taliban-controlled government rejected Trump’s call to return the sprawling airbase, located some 64km (40 miles) from the Afghan capital, Kabul.

“If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Bagram, a sprawling complex, was the main base for US forces in Afghanistan during the two decades of war that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington by al-Qaeda.

Thousands of people were imprisoned at the site for years without charge or trial by US forces during its so-called “war on terror”, and many of them were abused or tortured.

The Taliban retook the facility in 2021 following the US withdrawal and the collapse of the Afghan government.

Trump has often lamented the loss of access to Bagram, noting its proximity to China, but his comments on Thursday, during a visit to the United Kingdom, were the first time he had made public that he was working on the matter.

“We’re trying to get it back, by the way, that could be a little breaking news. We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us,” Trump said at a news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Afghan officials, however, have expressed opposition to a revived US presence.

“Afghanistan and the United States need to engage with one another … without the United States maintaining any military presence in any part of Afghanistan,” Zakir Jalal, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, said on X on Friday.

“Kabul is ready to pursue political and economic ties with Washington based on ‘mutual respect and shared interests’,” he added.

Trump has repeatedly criticised the loss of the base since returning to power, linking it to his attacks on his predecessor Joe Biden’s handling of the US pullout from Afghanistan.

Trump has also complained about China’s growing influence in Afghanistan.

Asked on Saturday whether he would send in troops to retake the base, Trump declined to give a direct answer, saying: “We won’t talk about that.”

“We’re talking now to Afghanistan, and we want it back and we want it back soon, right away. And if they don’t do it – if they don’t do it, you’re going to find out what I’m gonna do,” he told reporters at the White House.

Outburst comes after another US strike on alleged drugs vessel in Caribbean, as Maduro rallies to defend sovereignty.

United States President Donald Trump has threatened Venezuela with “incalculable” consequences if the country does not “immediately” take back immigrants he described as “prisoners” and “people from mental institutions”.

“GET THEM THE HELL OUT OF OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT NOW, OR THE PRICE YOU PAY WILL BE INCALCULABLE!” he said on his Truth Social platform on Saturday. He insisted that Venezuela had “forced” such people into the US and claimed without evidence that “thousands of people have been badly hurt, and even killed, by these ‘Monsters.’”

Trump’s latest outburst came amid soaring tensions, one day after he announced another strike against alleged drug vessels from Venezuela in the Caribbean that killed three men he described as “male narcoterrorists”.

Venezuela, for its part, has accused the US of waging an “undeclared war” in the Caribbean and called for a United Nations investigation into at least three strikes on boats that have killed a total of 17 people since the beginning of September.

Washington has deployed seven warships, a nuclear-powered submarine and F-35 stealth fighters to international waters off Venezuela’s coast, backed by F-35 fighters sent to Puerto Rico, in the biggest US naval deployment in the Caribbean.

Trump says the military is engaged in an anti-drug operation, but has not provided specific evidence to back up claims that the boats targeted so far had actually been trafficking drugs. Legal analysts have warned that the attacks amount to extrajudicial killings.

Reward offered for Maduro’s arrest

The deployment has stoked fears of an attack on Venezuelan territory, with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro repeatedly alleging the US is hoping to drive him from power.

Trump this week denied he was interested in regime change, but Washington last month doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50m, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups.

Maduro denies links between high-ranking authorities and drug gangs and pledged to mobilise more than four million militia fighters in response to US “threats” after Washington raised the reward for his arrest.

Maduro sent letter to Trump

Days after the first US strike on a boat from the South American country at the beginning of the month, Maduro offered to engage in direct talks with Washington, according to the Reuters news agency, which viewed a personal letter sent to Trump.

“President, I hope that together we can defeat the falsehoods that have sullied our relationship, which must be historic and peaceful,” Maduro wrote in the letter, calling for “direct and frank” talks to “overcome media noise and fake news”.

In a separate development on Saturday, Maduro’s YouTube channel disappeared from the video-sharing platform on Saturday, according to the AFP news agency.

“Without any justification, the YouTube channel was closed at a time when the US was fully implementing hybrid warfare operations against Venezuela,” AFP cited Telesur as saying on its website.

Report says ethnic violence has risen as the civil war passed two-year anniversary in the first half of 2025.

Civilians are bearing the brunt as Sudan‘s vicious civil war extends and intensifies, the United Nations has warned.

The UN’s Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said in a report released on Friday that civilian deaths and ethnic violence rose significantly as the war passed its two-year anniversary during the first half of 2025. The same day, reports said that dozens were killed by paramilitaries in an attack on a mosque in Darfur.

The rate of civilian deaths across Sudan has increased, the report says, with 3,384 civilians dying in the first six months of the year, a figure equalling 80 percent of the 4,238 civilian deaths throughout the whole of 2024.

“Sudan’s conflict is a forgotten one, and I hope that my office’s report puts the spotlight on this disastrous situation where atrocity crimes, including war crimes, are being committed,” OHCHR chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

#Sudan crisis deepens amid rising civilian casualties, worsening ethnic violence & humanitarian situation, finds @UNHumanRights report.

States must face grim reality of what has now evolved into a wider protection crisis & use their influence to end this conflict.

Many more… pic.twitter.com/c7OOcLUgdH

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) September 19, 2025

“Several trends remained consistent during the first half of 2025: a continued pervasiveness of sexual violence, indiscriminate attacks, and the widespread use of retaliatory violence against civilians, particularly on an ethnic basis, targeting individuals accused of ‘collaboration’ with opposing parties,” said the report.

New trends include the use of drones, including in attacks on civilian sites and in Sudan’s north and east, which until now have been largely spared by the war, it said.

“The increasing ethnicisation of the conflict, which builds on longstanding discrimination and inequalities, poses grave risks for longer-term stability and social cohesion within the country,” said Turk.

“Many more lives will be lost without urgent action to protect civilians and without the rapid and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.”

Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a brutal war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced some 12 million people. The UN has described it as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with famine prevalent in parts of Darfur and southern Sudan.

The war has, in effect, split the country, with the army holding the north, east and centre, while the RSF dominates parts of the south and nearly all of the western Darfur region.

Efforts by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to broker a ceasefire between the warring parties have so far failed.

The RSF killed 43 civilians in a drone strike on a mosque early on Friday in the besieged city of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, the Sudan Doctors’ Network NGO said in a social media post.

The NGO labelled the attack a “heinous crime” against unarmed civilians that showed the group’s “blatant disregard for humanitarian and religious values and international law”.

The Resistance Committees in el-Fasher, a group comprised of local citizens from the community that includes human rights activists, who track abuses, posted a video reportedly showing parts of the mosque reduced to rubble with several bodies scattered on the site, now filled with debris.

The same group reported on Thursday that the RSF had targeted several unarmed civilians, including women and older adults, in displacement shelters in the city.

A day earlier, it said that heavy artillery by the RSF had continuously targeted residential neighbourhoods.

WASHINGTON — America’s public health system is headed to a “very dangerous place” with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team of anti-vaccine advisors in charge, fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Susan Monarez warned senators on Wednesday.

Describing extraordinary turmoil inside the nation’s health agencies, Monarez and former CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry described exchanges in which Kennedy or political advisors rebuffed data supporting the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Monarez, who was fired after just 29 days on the job following disagreements with Kennedy, told senators deadly diseases like polio and whooping cough, long contained, are poised to make a comeback in the U.S.

“I believe preventable diseases will return, and I believe we will have our children harmed by things they don’t need to be harmed by,” Monarez said before the Senate health committee.

Monarez describes her firing by RFK Jr.

Monarez said she was ordered by Kennedy to resign if she did not sign off on new vaccine recommendations, which are expected to be released later this week by an advisory panel that Kennedy has stocked with medical experts and vaccine skeptics. She said that when she asked for data or science to back up Kennedy’s request to change the childhood vaccination schedule, he offered none.

She added that Kennedy told her “he spoke to the president every day about changing the childhood vaccination schedule.”

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician who chairs the powerful health committee, listened intently as Monarez and Houry described conversations with Kennedy and his advisers.

“To be clear, he said there was not science or data, but he still expected you to change schedule?” Cassidy asked.

Cassidy carefully praised President Trump for his commitment to promoting health policies but made it clear he was concerned about the circumstances surrounding Monarez’s removal.

Houry, meanwhile, described similar exchanges with Kennedy’s political advisors, who took an unprecedented role in preparing materials for meetings of the CDC’s advisory vaccine panel.

Ahead of this week’s meeting of the panel, Houry offered to include data around the hepatitis B shot that is administered to newborns to prevent spread of the deadly disease from the mother. She said a Kennedy advisor dismissed the data as biased because it might support keeping the shots on the schedule.

“You’re suggesting that they wanted to move away from the birth dose, but they were afraid that your data would say that they should retain it?” Cassidy asked.

Critical vaccine decisions are ahead

During the Senate hearing, Democrats, all of whom opposed Monarez’s nomination, also questioned Kennedy’s motives for firing Monarez, who was approved for the job unanimously by Republicans.

“Frankly, she stood up for protecting the well-being of the American people, and for that reason she was fired,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats.

Monarez said it was both her refusal to sign off on new vaccination recommendations without scientific evidence and her unwillingness to fire high-ranking career CDC officials without cause that led to her ousting.

Kennedy has denied Monarez’s accusations that he ordered “rubber-stamped” vaccine recommendations but has acknowledged he demanded firings. He has described Monarez as admitting to him that she is “untrustworthy,” a claim Monarez has denied through her attorney.

While Senate Republicans have been mostly loath to challenge Trump or even Kennedy, many of them have expressed concerns about the lack of availability of COVID-19 vaccines and the health department’s decisions to scale back some childhood vaccines.

Others have backed up Kennedy’s distrust of the nation’s health agencies.

Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, a doctor, aggressively questioned Monarez about her “philosophy” on vaccines as she explained that her decisions were based on science. Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville said Trump was elected to make change and suggested Monarez’s job was to be loyal to Kennedy.

“America needs better than this,” Tuberville said.

The Senate hearing was taking place just a day before the vaccine panel starts its two-day session in Atlanta to discuss shots against COVID-19, hepatitis B and chickenpox. It’s unclear how the panel might vote on the recommendations, though members have raised doubts about whether hepatitis B shots administered to newborns are necessary and have suggested COVID-19 recommendations should be more restricted.

The CDC director must endorse those recommendations before they become official. Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill, now serving as the CDC’s acting director, will be responsible for that.

“I’m very nervous about it,” Monarez said of the meeting.

Seitz and Jalonick write for the Associated Press. AP writers Mike Stobbe in New York and Lauran Neergaard in Washington contributed to this report.

US president says if reports that captives are being moved above ground to hinder Israeli assault are true, ‘all bets are off’.

United States President Donald Trump has warned Hamas against moving the Israeli captives in Gaza above ground to hinder Israel’s military campaign, renewing his call for their release.

Trump wrote in a social media post on Monday that he had read a news report indicating that Hamas would use the captives as “human shields” amid the relentless Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

“I hope the Leaders of Hamas know what they’re getting into if they do such a thing,” the US president said.

“This is a human atrocity, the likes of which few people have ever seen before. Don’t let this happen or, ALL ‘BETS’ ARE OFF. RELEASE ALL HOSTAGES NOW!”

Trump has regularly posted threats against Hamas. But with most of the group’s leaders already killed, and Israel having destroyed much of Gaza in a campaign that experts and rights groups say is a genocide, it is not clear how the US president can further punish Hamas.

In recent weeks, Israel has been carrying out a systematic campaign to level what remains of Gaza City, targeting residential towers and schools, and forcing a mass evacuation of the area. The United Nations’s special envoy said on Monday that the offensive is part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Trump’s warning on Monday comes less than a week after Israel killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security official while trying to assassinate senior Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha. Those targeted were involved in negotiating a ceasefire and captives’ proposal put forward by the US president himself.

Hamas said its top officials survived the strikes, which Trump said he opposed. On Monday, Trump repeated his assertion that Israel would not be striking Qatar again.

Days before the Doha attack, Trump had issued what he called a “last warning” for Hamas.

On Monday, Trump again denied reports that he had advance knowledge of the Israeli attack. He suggested that he learned about it from the media – a claim that contradicts his previous assertion that he was notified about the strikes by the US military shortly before they were launched.

Asked how he found out about the strikes, the US president told reporters, “The same way you did.”

‘Human shields’

On Sunday, Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, reported that Hamas was moving Israeli captives to homes and tents to pressure Israel to halt its bombardment campaign in Gaza City.

The Israeli military has long used Palestinians as human shields, both in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, according to numerous media reports, witness testimonies and video footage.

Last year, Al Jazeera obtained footage of Israeli soldiers sending Palestinian prisoners into tunnels and buildings in Gaza to ensure they were not rigged with explosives.

Israeli authorities regularly justify their atrocities in Gaza by claiming that Hamas uses civilians as human shields.

Over the past days, the Israeli military has been stepping up its attacks on the city and across the territory with hundreds of strikes.

On Sunday, Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz shared footage of a high-rise building in Gaza being obliterated by an Israeli strike, with the caption: “The house of cards. The skyline of Gaza is changing.”

Business and leisure travel are showing signs of a pick-up after a weak start to the year.

Scott Kirby, chief executive of United Airlines, told the Los Angeles Times that, with some easing of uncertainty surrounding tariffs, the economy and global politics, more people and businesses are gaining the confidence to hit the road again.

The airline industry is perhaps the best real-time indicator of the U.S. economy, as travel is one of the first things that businesses and consumers cut back on when they sense difficult times ahead.

Since June, however, United’s orders suggests there is more certainty as consumers know what to expect and booking demand since Labor Day has surged, Kirby said.

In an interview, Kirby took a swipe at ultra low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, discussed artificial intelligence and explained why he thinks the 2028 Olympics might not be such great news for the airline industry.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity

How are United Airlines operations changing in L.A.?

In Los Angeles, we have 21 gates. We have about 140 flights per day here. I think it’s our highest gate utilization airport. We’d love to have more flights, but there aren’t enough gates in Los Angeles. So the constraint in Los Angeles is gates.

Our constraint on growth in Los Angeles is the gates. Essentially, if we want to add a new route, we have to cancel our current route. We just don’t have enough gates yet.

In California, Spirit has slashed the number of airports it serves. What is the issue with the low-cost airline model?

Ultra low-cost carriers, I don’t think they work. Primarily because their business model was based on bait and switch with customers. It is based on a low headline fare and it’s really hard to figure out what all the other fees are going to be. Then you show up at the airport and get charged $99.

When your business model is based on screwing the customer, that business model is not going to work in any industry. It didn’t work here, and I never thought it would work and now that’s what happened.

Don’t people want cheaper flights?

People want good value. They get good value at United. They don’t want a cheap flight that gets delayed, that gets canceled, or where they can’t trust the airline.

It has been a tough summer for tourist traffic from some countries. What have you seen?

At the end of June, it was like a light switch got flipped back on. It had been very slow to start the year, but demand has come back. It’s been even stronger post Labor Day.

I think the economy is in better shape than most people think. A lot of the economic statistics are trailing. We’re a good real-time indicator. The economy was weak to start the year — for the first five, six months — but it is much stronger coming into the third quarter.

There was a big drop-off in Canadian travel. There was a drop in European travel. Those bottomed out in about May, and they’re still down, but they’re not down as much. It is coming back.

How have the immigration raids impacted travel?

Those are so tactical that they’re not big enough for us to see in our macro statistics. I just look at the overall demand, and the overall demand is strong. Maybe it would be a little bit stronger without that.

What is United doing to help with travel to L.A. for the Olympics?

The Olympics, interestingly for airlines, lead to less demand. When the Olympics come to town, business travel shuts down.

We’re going to add flights and we’re going to be a participant. It’s not a big deal, but it actually is a net negative for airlines when the Olympics come to town.

How is United using AI?

There are a lot of tactical places, like call centers or reading contracts, where it works. But AI is not good at everything. I am in the camp that believes AI in many industries is more evolutionary than revolutionary.

Our digital technology team thinks that they’re 30% more efficient on a lot of the coding work. We’re testing getting AI to use all the data we have to tell customers what’s going on with flights. To be able to take uncertainty out for customers, that’s an exciting example.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer weathered backlash from Democrats earlier this year when he voted with Republicans to keep the government open. But he’s now willing to risk a shutdown at the end of the month if Republicans don’t accede to Democratic demands.

Schumer says he and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries are united in opposing any legislation that doesn’t include key healthcare provisions and a commitment not to roll them back. He argues that the country is in a different place than it was in March, when he vigorously argued against a shutdown, and he says he believes Republicans and President Trump will be held responsible if they don’t negotiate a bipartisan deal.

“Things have changed” since the March vote, Schumer said in an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday. He said Republicans have since passed Trump’s massive tax breaks and spending cuts legislation, which trimmed Medicaid and other government programs, and Democrats are now unified — unlike in March, when he voted with Republicans and Jeffries voted against the legislation to fund the government.

A shutdown, Schumer said, wouldn’t necessarily worsen an environment in which Trump is already challenging the authority of Congress. “It will get worse with or without it, because Trump is lawless,” Schumer said.

Democrats’ consequential decision

Schumer’s threat comes as Republicans are considering a short-term stopgap spending measure to avoid a Sept. 30 shutdown and as Democrats face what most see as two tough choices if the parties can’t negotiate a deal — vote with Republicans to keep the government open or let it close indefinitely with no clear exit plan.

It also comes amid worsening partisan tensions in the Senate, where negotiations between the two parties over the confirmation process broke down for a second time on Thursday and Republicans are changing Senate rules to get around Democratic objections to almost all of Trump’s nominees. Democrats are also fuming over the Trump administration’s decision to unilaterally claw back $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid just as negotiations over the spending deadline were getting underway in late August.

Republicans move ahead

Republicans say that Democrats clearly will be to blame if they don’t vote to keep the government open.

Trump said Friday to not “even bother” negotiating with Democrats. He said Republicans will likely put together a continuing resolution to keep funding the federal government.

“If you gave them every dream, they would not vote for it,” Trump said, adding “we will get it through because the Republicans are sticking together.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), said in an interview with Punchbowl News on Thursday that he believes Democrats see it as “politically advantageous” to have a shutdown.

“But they don’t have a good reason to do it,” Thune said in the interview. “And I don’t intend to give them a good reason to do it.”

Thune has repeatedly said that Schumer needs to approach Republicans with a specific proposal on healthcare, including an extension of expanded government tax credits for many Americans who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Some Republicans are open to extending those credits before they expire at the end of the year, but Thune has indicated that he is unlikely to add an extension to a short-term spending bill, instead favoring a “clean” stopgap for several weeks without any divisive issues while Congress finishes its budget legislation.

Schumer said he believes his caucus is ready to oppose the stopgap measure if Republicans don’t negotiate it with Democrats. “I think the overwhelming majority of our caucus, with a few exceptions, and same with the House, would vote against that,” he said.

Less realistic is Democrats’ demand that Republicans roll back Medicaid cuts enacted in their tax breaks and spending cuts legislation this summer, what Trump called his “big, beautiful bill.”

Escalating partisan tensions over spending

Schumer said Democrats also want Republicans to commit that the White House won’t take back money they have negotiated and Congress has approved after Republicans pushed through a $9-billion cut requested by the White House in July and Trump blocked the additional foreign aid money in August. “How do you pass an appropriations bill and let them undo it down the road?” Schumer said.

Congress is facing the funding deadline Sept. 30 because Republicans and Democrats are still working out their differences on several annual budget bills. Intractable partisan differences on an increasing number of issues have stalled those individual bills in recent years, forcing lawmakers to pass one large omnibus package at the end of the year or simply vote to continue current spending.

A shutdown means federal agencies will stop all actions deemed nonessential, and millions of federal employees, including members of the military, won’t receive paychecks. The most recent shutdown — and the longest ever — was during Trump’s first term in 2018 and into 2019, when he demanded money for his U.S.-Mexico border wall. It lasted 35 days.

Schumer’s March vote

Schumer’s move to support the spending legislation in March put him in the rare position of bucking his party’s base. He said then that of two bad options, a partial government shutdown was worse because it would give Trump even more control to lay off workers and there would be “no offramp” to get out of it. “I think people realize it’s a tough choice,” he said.

He faced massive backlash from within the party after the vote, with some activists calling on him to resign. Jeffries temporarily distanced himself from his New York colleague, saying in a statement immediately after Schumer’s vote that House Democrats “will not be complicit.” The majority of Senate Democrats also voted against the GOP spending legislation.

This time, though, Schumer is in lockstep with Jeffries and in messaging within his caucus. In Democrats’ closed-door lunch Wednesday, he shared polling that he said suggested most Americans would blame Trump, not Democrats, for a shutdown.

“I did what I thought was right” in March, Schumer said. “It’s a different situation now than then.”

Jalonick writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Christopher Megerian contributed to this report.

Abbas Araghchi says despite ‘snapback’ sanctions process, Iran is open to a ‘realistic and lasting bargain’.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused Britain, France and Germany of pursuing a “reckless” strategy on his country’s nuclear programme, warning that their alignment with Washington will only diminish Europe’s global standing.

Writing in The Guardian on Sunday, Araghchi said the decision by the so-called E3 to trigger a process that could reinstate United Nations sanctions “lacks any legal standing” and is bound to fail.

“The truth is that they are intently pursuing a reckless course of action … This is a grave miscalculation that is bound to backfire,” Araghchi wrote.

In August, Germany, France and the United Kingdom – Europe’s largest economies – triggered a 30-day process to activate “snapback” sanctions over what they called “significant” violations of a 2015 agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear programme.

The United States, which bombed three nuclear facilities in June as part of an Israeli assault on Iran, has welcomed the European countries’ move.

Araghchi accused the three powers of ignoring the fact that it was the US, not Iran, that withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). While Tehran took what he described as “lawful remedial measures” under the accord, the E3 failed to uphold their own obligations.

Araghchi noted that European leaders once pledged to protect trade with Iran after US President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions in 2018. “None of it materialised,” he wrote, adding that Europe’s promises of “strategic autonomy” collapsed under US pressure.

Instead, he argued, Europe has acted as a bystander, cheering Washington’s aggressive approach. “Openly cheerleading illegal military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities protected by international law – as Germany’s chancellor has done – does not constitute ‘participation’” in the deal, he wrote.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested in June that the West is benefitting from the Israeli assault against Iran.

“This is dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us,” he said.

Araghchi stressed in his Guardian column that Tehran remains open to dialogue. “[Iran] is ready to forge a realistic and lasting bargain that entails ironclad oversight and curbs on enrichment in exchange for the termination of sanctions,” he said.

He cautioned that ignoring this chance could plunge the region into deeper instability, especially amid escalating tensions with Israel. “The powerful armed forces of Iran are ready and able to once again pummel Israel into running to ‘daddy’ to be bailed out,” Araghchi warned, arguing that Israeli provocations risk dragging the US into costly conflicts.

The Trump administration had also claimed that the door remains open for talks with Iran.

“The United States remains available for direct engagement with Iran – in furtherance of a peaceful, enduring resolution to the Iran nuclear issue,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement following the E3 announcement on sanctions last month.

“Snapback does not contradict our earnest readiness for diplomacy, it only enhances it.”

A round of nuclear talks between US and Iranian officials was set to take place on June 15. But Israeli bombs started falling on Tehran two days before the scheduled negotiations, postponing them indefinitely.

Washington insists that Iran cannot enrich uranium domestically, but Iran insists that its right to enrichment is non-negotiable.

The 2015 nuclear deal – which Trump nixed during his first term as US president – gives Iran the right to enrich uranium at a low level for civilian purposes under a strict monitoring system.

The snapback mechanism in the JCPOA gave any party to the agreement – the US, UK, Germany, France, Russia or China – the power to kick-start a process to revive six UN Security Council sanctions resolutions.

And the snapback is veto-proof, meaning Russia and China, both allies of Iran, cannot block the restoration of the sanctions.

In 2020, the US tried to activate the snapback clause of the JCPOA, but the effort failed because Washington was no longer a participant in the agreement.