Washington: We Will Not Allow Tehran to Hijack Syria’s Future

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to members of the media at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 10, 2018.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to members of the media at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 10, 2018.
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Washington: We Will Not Allow Tehran to Hijack Syria’s Future

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to members of the media at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 10, 2018.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to members of the media at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 10, 2018.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Tuesday that Washington would not allow Iran to hijack the future of the Syrian people, while Moscow accused the west of preparing a fake footage of a chemical attack in the north of Syria to implicate the regime.

During a UN Security Council session Tuesday, Haley said: “No matter what type of weapons or methods are used, the United States strongly opposes any escalation of violence in Idlib.”

Haley reiterated her warning that Washington "would not allow Iran ... to hijack the future of the Syrian people.”

She also warned that the US would not allow the Syrian regime or any party to use chemical weapons.

One year ago, Russia, Iran and Turkey, known as the Astana guarantors, oversaw the creation of four de-escalation zones in Syria, supposed to be safer for civilians.

Haley said her country would respond to the use of chemical weapons. “We stand by this warning.”

For its part, Moscow fiercely criticized Washington’s possible use of “force” as a response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Russia said a fake footage of "chemical attacks” in Jisr al-Shugur has been designed to facilitate the implication of Syrian regime forces in the use of chemical weapons.

"According to the information received from inhabitants of Idlib province, militants are now filming a staged provocation in the city of Jisr al-Shugur, where chemical weapons are depicted as being used by the Syrian army against civilians,” the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation reported.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that a Syrian government offensive on Idlib could scatter thousands of foreign terrorists abroad, posing a security threat to the West.

“There are in all likelihood dozens of French fighters from both Al-Qaeda and ISIS” in Idlib, Le Drian said.

He warned there were “also many terrorists from other nations who could scatter” in the event of a joint Syrian-Russian offensive, posing “risks for our security.”

Le Drian estimated at “between 10,000 and 15,000” the number of terrorists left in Idlib.

At the battlefield, Turkey continued to send military reinforcements to its border with Syria and inside the province of Idlib.

The Turkish Army also asked factions from the Free Syrian Army to join its Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Olive Branch.



Putin Urges Iran to Take ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal with US

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Putin Urges Iran to Take ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal with US

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

The stalled indirect talks between Washington and Tehran were activated on Saturday after reports said Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped in, urging the Iranians to accept a nuclear deal that would not allow uranium enrichment.

Putin has told both US President Donald Trump and Iranian officials that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, sources familiar with those discussions told Axios.

The website said Russia has been Iran's main diplomatic backer on the nuclear issue for years, while Moscow publicly advocates for Iran's right to enrich.

But, it added, Putin has taken a tougher position in private in the wake of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran.

Two sources said the Russians briefed the Israeli government about Putin's position regarding Iran's uranium enrichment.

Iran has long insisted that it must retain the ability to enrich under any deal.

Putin and other Russian officials have conveyed their support for a “zero enrichment” deal to the Iranians several times of the last few weeks, sources told Axios.

“Putin would support zero enrichment. He encouraged the Iranians to work towards that in order to make negotiations with the Americans more favorable.

The Iranians said they won't consider it,” one European official with direct knowledge of the issue said.

The Russians have made clear in public and private that if a deal is reached, they are willing to remove Iran's highly enriched uranium.

“Russia has said it would then supply Iran with 3.67% uranium for nuclear power and small quantities of 20% enriched uranium for the Tehran research reactor and the production of nuclear isotopes,” the sources told Axios.

But an informed Iranian source dismissed the Axios report. Speaking to Tasnim on Saturday, the source said Iran has not received any message from Putin regarding a zero enrichment nuclear deal with the US.

In Tehran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency will “take a new form to ensure the security of its nuclear facilities.”

He reiterated Iran’s commitment to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), saying: “Iran’s nuclear program has always been peaceful and will remain so,” stressing that Tehran “will continue to be a member of the NPT.”

On its missile program, the minister said Iran will not abandon its military and defense capabilities while it is under constant threats from Israel and the United States.

Khamenei Threatens Washington

In a related development, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a fresh threat to the US, saying American military bases in the region could be struck again at any moment.

“Striking Al Udeid Air Base is not a small incident but a major one that can be repeated,” Khamenei said.

“We are capable of reaching important American sites in the region,” he wrote in a post on X.

Khamenei also enclosed a caricature of Trump in the form of the Statue of Liberty, and title it, “A strong punch... A remarkable event that can be repeated.”

The supreme leader’s statements came while the Pentagon has acknowledged that a ballistic missile Iran fired toward Qatar late last month, in response to the American attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, directly hit Al Udeid base near Doha.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell made the remarks after the AP news agency analyzed satellite images indicating that an Iranian attack on the air base in Qatar that’s key to the US military hit a geodesic dome housing equipment used by the Americans for secure communications.

The Iranian attack on Al Udeid Air Base on June 23 came as a response to the American bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran — and provided Iran a way to retaliate that quickly led to a ceasefire brokered by Trump ending the 12-day Iran-Israel war.

The Iranian attack otherwise did little damage - likely because of the fact that the US evacuated its aircraft from the base, which is home to the forward headquarters of the US military’s Central Command, before the attack.

Trump also has said that Iran signaled when and how it would retaliate, allowing American and Qatari air defense to be ready for the attack, which briefly disrupted air travel in the Middle East.