www.theguardian.com
Trump warns Iran ‘bad things’ will happen if they fail to make a ‘meaningful’ deal, and appears to set 10-day deadline for US military action
Donald Trump has warned Iran that “bad things” will happen if no deal is reached and appeared to set a 10-day deadline before the US might take action.
During the first Board of Peace meeting, Trump said negotiations with Iran were going well but insisted that Tehran has to reach a “meaningful” agreement. “Otherwise, bad things happen,” he said.
Trump spoke of the airstrikes the US carried out in June on Iran’s nuclear facilities, claiming that the country’s nuclear potential had been “decimated”. “We may have to take it a step further or we may not,” he said, hinting that he could take a decision very soon.
You’ll be finding out over the next probably 10 days.
Trump’s comments follow months of massive US military buildup of aircraft carriers, warships and jets in the region – its largest since the 2003 invasion of Iraq – that has fuelled fears that a full-scale attack on Iran could be imminent.
Iranian and US negotiators met on Tuesday and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said they had agreed on “guiding principles”. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that the two sides remained apart on some issues.
Trump said “good talks are being had”, and a senior US official told Reuters that Iran would make a written proposal on how to address US concerns.
Trump, meanwhile, called on Tehran to join the US on the “path to peace”.
They can’t have a nuclear weapon, it’s very simple. You can’t have peace in the Middle East if they have a nuclear weapon.
Here’s an analysis on the current situation from the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour:
Key events
Ally-packed commission approves Trump’s plans for White House ballroom
Donald Trump announced today that the Commission of Fine Arts unanimously approved his plans for a $300m White House ballroom.
The president fired the previous members of the board last year and installed several loyalists in January, which included his 26-year-old assistant. On Thursday, six of the seven members of the commission moved to fast-track the final vote. One commissioner recused himself because he was an initial architect on the plans.
The independent agency’s purview includes reviewing designs proposed for memorials and new or renovated government buildings, and the commission is intended to be staffed by experts in art, architecture and urban design.
The ballroom plans will also need to be approved by the National Capital Planning Commission – which is now run by Will Scharf, an advisor to Trump.
A federal court is weighing a lawsuit from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued to put a halt to the ballroom’s construction.
Minnesota Democrats Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig will visit the BH Whipple federal building in Minneapolis on Friday, to conduct federal oversight of the conditions.
The Whipple building – also an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding facility – became the site of sustained protests throughout the crackdown in the state in recent months.
Previously, the congresswoman were denied access to the site, despite federal law guaranteeing lawmakers the right to make un-nannounced oversight visits to investigate detention facilities.
Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger to give Democratic response to Trump’s State of the Union address
Virginia’s governor Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address next week, top Democrats have announced in a statement.
The Democratic rebuttal will immediately follow Trump’s address to Congress next Tuesday. Spanberger, who served three terms in Congress, became Virginia’s first female governor earlier this year, resoundingly winning an office previously held by a Republican. She won the race by a double-digit margin, campaigning on affordability and lowering costs for families.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said that she “embodies the best of America as a mother, community leader and dedicated public servant.”
His Senate counterpart Chuck Schumer said: “Gov. Spanberger will lay out a clear path forward: lower everyday costs, protect healthcare, and defend the freedoms that define who we are as a nation.”
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on US law enforcement radar 15 years before UK arrest
Victoria Bekiempis
While Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest by British police today came after years of uproar over his association to Jeffrey Epstein, documents show that he had been on the radar of US law enforcement for nearly 15 years.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s name came up during a 2011 FBI inquiry into Epstein, investigative documents recently disclosed by the justice department reveal. Mountbatten-Windsor has denied all allegations of misconduct related to Epstein.
Here’s the full story:
Trump changed mind on Chagos deal ‘after UK blocked use of Diego Garcia for Iran strikes’
Donald Trump changed his mind on supporting the Chagos Islands deal because the UK will not permit its airbases to be used for a pre-emptive US strike on Iran, the Guardian has been told.
In his latest change of heart on the deal, the US president said on social media that Keir Starmer was “making a big mistake” by handing sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius in exchange for continued use by the UK and US of their airbase on one of the islands, Diego Garcia.
While Trump had previously criticised the plan, which is backed by the US state department, earlier in February he had described it as the “best” deal Starmer could make in the circumstances.
But in Trump’s post on his Truth Social site he linked the deal with US military strikes against Iran in connection with Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, which are believed to be imminent. He wrote:
Should Iran decide not to make a Deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford, in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime.
A pre-emptive strike on Iran would be unlikely to be in line with the UK’s interpretation of international law. US bases in the UK, like Fairford in Gloucestershire, the home for US B-2 bombers in Europe, are only used for military operations if the UK government agrees and they are considered legal.
UK government sources said this was viewed as the reason for Trump to again turn against the Chagos plan.
Here’s the full story:
Trump warns Iran ‘bad things’ will happen if they fail to make a ‘meaningful’ deal, and appears to set 10-day deadline for US military action
Donald Trump has warned Iran that “bad things” will happen if no deal is reached and appeared to set a 10-day deadline before the US might take action.
During the first Board of Peace meeting, Trump said negotiations with Iran were going well but insisted that Tehran has to reach a “meaningful” agreement. “Otherwise, bad things happen,” he said.
Trump spoke of the airstrikes the US carried out in June on Iran’s nuclear facilities, claiming that the country’s nuclear potential had been “decimated”. “We may have to take it a step further or we may not,” he said, hinting that he could take a decision very soon.
You’ll be finding out over the next probably 10 days.
Trump’s comments follow months of massive US military buildup of aircraft carriers, warships and jets in the region – its largest since the 2003 invasion of Iraq – that has fuelled fears that a full-scale attack on Iran could be imminent.
Iranian and US negotiators met on Tuesday and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said they had agreed on “guiding principles”. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that the two sides remained apart on some issues.
Trump said “good talks are being had”, and a senior US official told Reuters that Iran would make a written proposal on how to address US concerns.
Trump, meanwhile, called on Tehran to join the US on the “path to peace”.
They can’t have a nuclear weapon, it’s very simple. You can’t have peace in the Middle East if they have a nuclear weapon.
Here’s an analysis on the current situation from the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour:
Richard Luscombe
The Trump administration is moving to arrest thousands of people already legally admitted to the US as refugees and detain them indefinitely for aggressive “rescreening”, a report published on Thursday said.
Under the new policy, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that federal immigration officers can and should arrest anyone who has not yet obtained the right to permanent residence, a so-called green card, and subject them to interviews to assess their refugee claims while they are in custody, as first reported by the Washington Post.
The memo reverses a 2010 Obama administration policy that said failure to apply for a green card within a year of admission to the US was insufficient basis for such an arrest or detention, the newspaper reported.
The DHS move is pertinent to an ongoing case in Minneapolis in which a federal judge last month blocked the Trump administration from further arrests of settled refugees in Minnesota, and ordered the release of at least 100 more arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Officials said “Operation Parris”, which targeted about 5,600 refugees in Minnesota who had not yet become permanent residents, was “a sweeping initiative re-examining thousands of refugee cases through new background checks and intensive verification of refugee claims”.
We’re keeping an eye on lawmakers who are rebukingDonald Trump’s announcement that the US will pledge $10bn to the Board of Peace – of which the president serves as chair.
Trump offered no explanation as to how he plans to secure this money, nor did he mention whether he has sought approval from Congress, who would need to vote on a specific appropriations bill for the funds.
Senator Chris Murphy, who sits on the upper chamber’s foreign relations committee called the move “totally illegal”.
Top oversight Democrat says former prince’s arrest is ‘enormous step’ in fight to secure justice for Epstein survivors
In response to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest today, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, Robert Garcia, said that it is “an enormous step forward in our fight to secure justice” for the Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors.
In November, oversight Democrats called for the former prince to sit for questioning as part of their ongoing investigation into the handling of the Epstein case. “Britain is now holding him accountable with this arrest. Now it’s time for the United States to end this White House cover-up,” Garcia added in a statement.
Other Democratic members of Congress welcomed the news of Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest, and how it might impact accountability stateside.
“Even princes are not above the law,” said congressman Ro Khanna, who led the effort to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act. “But why isn’t more being done here? We should start with Howard Lutnick resigning,” he added, referring to Donald Trump’s commerce secretary – who admitted that he visited Epstein on his private island in 2012, four years after the disgraced financier was convicted on state charges of soliciting prostitution. This, despite Lutnick’s claims that he was no longer in touch with Epstein after 2005.
Melody Schreiber
Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was named the acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday, making him the fourth leader in a year at the embattled agency in an unprecedented move that further consolidates power among a small group of men at the helm of US health agencies.
He’s been an ineffectual health leader whose attention will be further fractured, and as a close ally to Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services and a longtime vaccine critic. Bhattacharya may sign off on further changes to the vaccine schedule, observers said.
Bhattacharya will continue serving in his current role as NIH director, where he has overseen dramatic cuts to research and staff. The CDC has similarly slashed grants to states and enacted massive layoffs even as officials under Kennedy have dramatically reshaped policy on routine vaccinations.
Staff say the controversial health economist has had little to do with the daily operations of the NIH.
“He won’t actually run the CDC. Just as he doesn’t actually run NIH,” said Jenna Norton, an NIH program officer speaking in her personal capacity.
Jeremy Berg, former director of National Institute of General Medical Sciences, had a similar response. “Now, rather than largely ignoring the actual operations of one agency, he can largely ignore the actual operations of two,” he said.
Bhattacharya, who made a name opposing measures to prevent Covid-19, has strongly criticized officials who fund research and advise on policy simultaneously.
“Bureaucrats who fund the careers of scientists should play no role whatsoever in setting pandemic policy,” Bhattacharya wrote in a post on Twitter/X in December 2021, saying the “dual role” was a conflict of interest that silenced scientists.
Read Melody’s full report:
Edi Rama, the prime minister of Albania, refuted claims from Nato allies that the Board of Peace would undermine the authority of the United Nations.
“It does not look to me like an attempt to replace the UN,” Rama said. “But if it helps shake that agonizing giant then inshallah, wake it up.”
