US Warns it Will ‘React’ to Any Iranian Nuclear Escalation

Advanced centrifuges on display in Tehran during its National Nuclear Technology Day. (Reuters)
Advanced centrifuges on display in Tehran during its National Nuclear Technology Day. (Reuters)
TT

US Warns it Will ‘React’ to Any Iranian Nuclear Escalation

Advanced centrifuges on display in Tehran during its National Nuclear Technology Day. (Reuters)
Advanced centrifuges on display in Tehran during its National Nuclear Technology Day. (Reuters)

The United States would not expect a special meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog's board this year if the agency's deal with Iran on replacing its surveillance cameras at a centrifuge-parts workshop is carried out, a US official said on Wednesday.

"If implemented as agreed with the (International Atomic Energy Agency) Director General, we would not foresee needing a special Board of Governors (meeting) on this set of issues before the end of the year," said the official on condition of anonymity.

"Of course, if there are any new nuclear escalations, we would react accordingly,” Reuters quoted the official as saying.

Iran and the IAEA have earlier announced reaching an agreement on replacing surveillance cameras at the workshop in the TESA Karaj complex that had been removed after an apparent attack, removing one potential obstacle to wider nuclear talks.

One of the IAEA's four cameras at the workshop was destroyed in June in apparent sabotage that Iran blamed on Israel.

Iran then removed the cameras and did not let the IAEA return to replace them, angering the US and its allies.

Iran said Wednesday that it “voluntarily” agreed to grant access to the nuclear watchdog in an effort to prevent misunderstandings, according to a report by Nournews, an outlet close to Iran’s security forces.

The IAEA will soon install new surveillance cameras at Iran’s Karaj centrifuge component manufacturing workshop under an agreement reached by Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, the Vienna-based watchdog stated.

On November 23, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi visited Tehran and said he wanted to deepen cooperation with Iran, days before the resumption of negotiations between Tehran and world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.

“I sincerely hope that we can continue our constructive discussions to address and resolve all outstanding safeguards issues in Iran,” Grossi said in a statement.



US Attorneys General Urge a ‘Peaceful Transfer of Power’

Supporters of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gather near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Election Day, November 5, 2024. (AFP)
Supporters of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gather near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Election Day, November 5, 2024. (AFP)
TT

US Attorneys General Urge a ‘Peaceful Transfer of Power’

Supporters of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gather near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Election Day, November 5, 2024. (AFP)
Supporters of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gather near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Election Day, November 5, 2024. (AFP)

The attorneys general from 47 states and three US territories urged people to remain peaceful and to preemptively “condemn any acts of violence” related to the results of the presidential election.

The statement, released Tuesday, was signed by chief prosecutors from every US state except Indiana, Montana and Texas. Attorneys general from the District of Columbia and the US territories of American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and US Virgin Islands also signed.

“We call upon every American to vote, participate in civil discourse and, above all, respect the integrity of the democratic process,” they wrote. “Violence has no place in the democratic process; we will exercise our authority to enforce the law against any illegal acts that threaten it.”

Fears of election violence persist nearly four years after Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump supporters rioted at the US Capitol in an attempt to stop the election certification.

Rather than condemning the violence during his campaign, Trump has celebrated the rioters, pledging to pardon them and featuring a recorded chorus of prisoners in jail for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack singing the national anthem.