Iran Warns Washington of ‘Possible Miscalculation or Adventurous Acts’

Iran's permanent representative at the UN, Saeid Iravani (UN)
Iran's permanent representative at the UN, Saeid Iravani (UN)
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Iran Warns Washington of ‘Possible Miscalculation or Adventurous Acts’

Iran's permanent representative at the UN, Saeid Iravani (UN)
Iran's permanent representative at the UN, Saeid Iravani (UN)

Iran's Foreign Ministry lodged an official complaint at the UN after the National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, said the US had granted Israel the "freedom of action" to target Iranian facilities.

Iran's permanent representative at the UN, Saeid Iravani, submitted a letter to the UN Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres and the head of the Security Council, saying Sullivan's recent statements were "irresponsible, provocative, and belligerent statements that violate international law and the United Nations Charter."

The IRNA news agency quoted the official: "Iran warns against any possible miscalculation or adventurous acts against its peaceful nuclear program."

Iran agreed with major powers, the US, France, the UK, Russia, China, and Germany, regarding its nuclear program, which allowed the lifting of sanctions in exchange for reducing its nuclear activities and ensuring a peaceful program.

However, the US withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, which responded by gradually retracting most of its commitments.

Iran and the parties engaged in talks to revive the deal in April 2021 with the indirect participation of the US.

Negotiations faltered in early September 2022, with the Western parties asserting that the Iranian response to a draft understanding was unconstructive. Iran has been enriching uranium at 60 percent since April 2021.

Sullivan expressed regret over Trump's decision in 2018 to withdraw from the nuclear deal.

Sullivan said that the US is still engaging "Iran diplomatically regarding its nuclear program," adding that Washington is working with allies, including Israel, to ensure Tehran does not achieve a nuclear weapon.

Sullivan stressed in statements during a conference of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy that Iran can never be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon, and "President Biden has repeatedly reaffirmed he will take the actions that are necessary to stand by this statement, including by recognizing Israel's freedom of action."

The Iranian message warned that such a statement not only implies the United States' potential complicity in any future acts of terrorism or aggression carried out by the Israeli regime against Iran, including against its peaceful nuclear facilities.

"It also serves as an admission of responsibility by the US for its role in assisting, facilitating, and supporting Israel's terrorist and sabotage operations against Iranian officials, scientists, civilians, and peaceful nuclear facilities."

The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said that Sullivan's statements about Washington's recognition of Israel's freedom of action are an "admission" that the US has been and will be "responsible for all terrorist acts of Zionists against Iran's facilities and people, accepting its consequences."

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said the reckless and provocative statement of Sullivan is further evidence that the US government is, directly and indirectly, responsible for the subversive actions of Israel in the region, specifically regarding Iran.

Furthermore, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Iran has enriched enough uranium to build five nuclear bombs, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, during a meeting with US lawmakers last week, that Iran poses a "greater threat than North Korea."

Last month, Israel warned the US administration and several European countries that it might launch a military strike against Iran if it enriched uranium above 60 percent.

In recent years, Iran has accused Israel of being behind several attacks on its nuclear and military facilities, including the assassination of its top nuclear and defense scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.



Pope Urges ‘All People of All Nations’ to Silence Arms and Overcome Divisions in Christmas Address

Pope Francis leads the traditional Urbi et Orbi Christmas Day blessing from the central balcony of Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican City, 25 December 2024. (EPA)
Pope Francis leads the traditional Urbi et Orbi Christmas Day blessing from the central balcony of Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican City, 25 December 2024. (EPA)
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Pope Urges ‘All People of All Nations’ to Silence Arms and Overcome Divisions in Christmas Address

Pope Francis leads the traditional Urbi et Orbi Christmas Day blessing from the central balcony of Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican City, 25 December 2024. (EPA)
Pope Francis leads the traditional Urbi et Orbi Christmas Day blessing from the central balcony of Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican City, 25 December 2024. (EPA)

Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Wednesday urged "all people of all nations" to find courage during this Holy Year "to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions" plaguing the world, from the Middle East to Ukraine, Africa to Asia.

The pontiff's "Urbi et Orbi" — "To the City and the World" — address serves as a summary of the woes facing the world this year. As Christmas coincided with the start of the 2025 Holy Year celebration that he dedicated to hope, Francis called for broad reconciliation, "even (with) our enemies."

"I invite every individual, and all people of all nations ... to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions," the pope said from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica to throngs of people below.

He called for arms to be silenced in war-torn Ukraine and in the Middle East, singling out Christian communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, "particularly in Gaza where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave," as well as Lebanon and Syria "at this most delicate time."

Francis repeated his calls for the release of hostages taken from Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

He cited a deadly outbreak of measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the suffering of the people of Myanmar, forced to flee their homes by "the ongoing clash of arms." The pope likewise remembered children suffering from war and hunger, the elderly living in solitude, those fleeing their homelands, who have lost their jobs, and are persecuted for their faith.

Iraqi Christians persist in their faith

Christians in Nineveh Plains attended Christmas Mass on Tuesday at the Mar Georgis church in the center of Telaskaf, Iraq, with security concerns about the future. "We feel that they will pull the rug out from under our feet at any time. Our fate is unknown here," said Bayda Nadhim, a resident of Telaskaf.

Iraq’s Christians, whose presence there goes back nearly to the time of Christ, belong to a number of rites and denominations. They once constituted a sizeable minority in Iraq, estimated at around 1.4 million.

But the community has steadily dwindled since the 2003 US-led invasion and further in 2014 when the ISIS extremist group swept through the area. The exact number of Christians left in Iraq is unclear, but they are thought to number several hundred thousand.

German celebrations muted by market attack

German celebrations were darkened by a car attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday that left five people dead, including a 9-year-old boy, and 200 people injured.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rewrote his recorded Christmas Day speech to address the attack, saying that "there is grief, pain, horror and incomprehension over what took place in Magdeburg."

He urged Germans to "stand together" and that "hate and violence must not have the last word."

A 50-year-old Saudi doctor who had practiced medicine in Germany since 2006 was arrested on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm. The suspect’s X account describes him as a former Muslim and criticized authorities for failing to combat "the Islamification of Germany" and voiced support for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.