Khamenei Adviser Threatens Retaliation if Nuclear Deal is Terminated

Iran's national flags are seen on a square in Tehran February 10, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl/File Photo
Iran's national flags are seen on a square in Tehran February 10, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl/File Photo
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Khamenei Adviser Threatens Retaliation if Nuclear Deal is Terminated

Iran's national flags are seen on a square in Tehran February 10, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl/File Photo
Iran's national flags are seen on a square in Tehran February 10, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl/File Photo

“If Trump exits the deal, Iran will surely pull out of it… Iran will not accept a nuclear deal with no benefits for us,” said Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council of the System Mohsen Rezaee recommended that the threats made by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's supreme national security council, should be taken seriously, mainly Iran’s threat to pull out from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Salami said that government officials should be more authoritative, and revealed that IRGC suggested over politicians that they withdraw from the nuclear deal and from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and to resume an unlimited nuclear activity. At the same time, he threatened to wipe out Israel.

Defence Secretary James Mattis on Thursday said no decision had been made on whether the United States is going to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. He also played down concerns about whether a potential US withdrawal from the deal would undermine attempts to strike an agreement with North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme.

“I think we need to focus on what is in the best interest of Middle East stability and the threat that Iran poses,” he added.

In a news conference on Wednesday, Macron later told reporters that he has no inside information on Trump’s decision on the Iran deal but noted that it’s clear the US president is not very much eager to defend it. Macron statement came hours after his speech infront of the Congress, where he confirmed that Iran won’t be capable of owning a nuclear bomb, demanding that Trump’s administration doesn’t withdraw from the deal.

Russia does not see any room for changes or additions to the Iran nuclear deal, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday. Zakharova also said Moscow was seriously concerned by comments made by the presidents of France and the United States about the deal.



Armenian Prime Minister Meets Erdogan in Rare Visit to Türkiye Aimed at Mending Ties

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)
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Armenian Prime Minister Meets Erdogan in Rare Visit to Türkiye Aimed at Mending Ties

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday as part of the two countries' efforts to normalize ties that were strained over historic disputes and Türkiye’s alliance with Azerbaijan.

The talks between the two countries, which have no formal diplomatic ties, were expected to center on the possible reopening of their joint border as well as the war between Israel and Iran.

Türkiye, a close ally of Azerbaijan, shut down its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Baku, which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In 2020, Türkiye strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of the region.

Türkiye and Armenia also have a more than century-old dispute over the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in massacres, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915 in Ottoman Türkiye.

Historians widely view the event as genocide. Türkiye vehemently rejects the label, conceding that many died in that era but insisting that the death toll is inflated and the deaths resulted from civil unrest.

The rare visit by an Armenian leader comes after Ankara and Yerevan agreed in 2021 to launch efforts toward normalizing ties and appointed special representatives to lead talks.

Pashinyan previously visited Türkiye in 2023 when he attended a presidential inauguration ceremony following an election victory by Erdogan. The two have also held talks on the sideline of a meeting in Prague in 2022.

It is Ankara and Yerevan’s second attempt at reconciliation. Türkiye and Armenia reached an agreement in 2009 to establish formal relations and to open their border, but the deal was never ratified because of strong opposition from Azerbaijan.