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Biden to Return to Washington amid Iran Threats Against Israel

US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One en route to Delaware, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, April 12, 2024. REUTERS/Michael A. McCoy
US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One en route to Delaware, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, April 12, 2024. REUTERS/Michael A. McCoy
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Biden to Return to Washington amid Iran Threats Against Israel

US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One en route to Delaware, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, April 12, 2024. REUTERS/Michael A. McCoy
US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One en route to Delaware, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, April 12, 2024. REUTERS/Michael A. McCoy

US President Joe Biden will return to Washington on Saturday afternoon to consult with his national security team a day after saying that he expects an Iranian attack against Israel "sooner, rather than later."
Biden cut his weekend trip to Delaware early, the White House said Saturday, to discuss events in the Middle East. Tehran has vowed to retaliate for Israel's attack on Iran's embassy compound last week in Damascus that killed a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' overseas Quds Force and six other officers.

On Friday, Biden warned Iran against retaliation even while predicting the attack may be imminent. "We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed," he said.

Commandos from Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled from a helicopter onto an Israeli-affiliated container ship near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the vessel Saturday in the latest attack between the two countries.

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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.