US National Security Adviser Sullivan Tests Positive for COVID

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, US October 26, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, US October 26, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
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US National Security Adviser Sullivan Tests Positive for COVID

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, US October 26, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, US October 26, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, a week before he is due to accompany President Joe Biden to a meeting of the Group of Seven advanced economies, NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.

Watson said Sullivan has not been in close contact with Biden, and is asymptomatic.

The White House announced last week that Biden would travel to southern Germany for the G7 summit and continue on to Spain for a NATO summit in late June.

It was not immediately clear whether the positive test would affect Sullivan's travel plans.



Trump Threatens Bombing if Iran Does Not Make Nuclear Deal

An Iranian painter repaints one of the famous anti-US murals in Tehran, Iran, 29 March 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An Iranian painter repaints one of the famous anti-US murals in Tehran, Iran, 29 March 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
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Trump Threatens Bombing if Iran Does Not Make Nuclear Deal

An Iranian painter repaints one of the famous anti-US murals in Tehran, Iran, 29 March 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An Iranian painter repaints one of the famous anti-US murals in Tehran, Iran, 29 March 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

US President Donald Trump threatened Iran on Sunday with bombing and secondary tariffs if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program.
In Trump's first remarks since Iran rejected direct negotiations with Washington last week, he told NBC News that US and Iranian officials were talking, but did not elaborate.
"If they don't make a deal, there will be bombing," Trump said in a telephone interview, according to Reuters. "It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before."
"There's a chance that if they don't make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago," he added.
Iran sent a response through Oman to a letter from Trump urging Tehran to reach a new nuclear deal, saying its policy was to not engage in direct negotiations with the United States while under its maximum pressure campaign and military threats, Tehran's foreign minister was quoted as saying on Thursday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated the policy on Sunday. "Direct negotiations (with the US) have been rejected, but Iran has always been involved in indirect negotiations, and now too, the Supreme Leader has emphasized that indirect negotiations can still continue," he said, referring to Ali Khamenei.
In the NBC interview, Trump also threatened so-called secondary tariffs, which affect buyers of a country's goods, on both Russia and Iran. He signed an executive order last week authorizing such tariffs on buyers of Venezuelan oil.
Trump did not elaborate on those potential tariffs.
In his first 2017-21 term, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran's disputed nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Trump also reimposed sweeping US sanctions. Since then, Tehran has far surpassed the agreed limits in its escalating program of uranium enrichment.
Tehran has so far rebuffed Trump's warning to make a deal or face military consequences.