Tension between Iran and the U.S.-Israeli axis ramped up on Wednesday after President Donald Trump said in his State of the Union address he would not allow Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon under any circumstances.
At the same time, at least 12 US F-22 fighter jets landed at an Israeli air base on Tuesday amid escalating tensions with Iran, Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported.
“Twelve US F-22 fighter jets landed this afternoon at one of the Israeli Air Force bases in the south of the country, as part of the American deployment in the Middle East,” KAN said. It added that the aircraft are among the most advanced fighter jets in the world, possessed only by the US, and are tasked, among other missions, with “penetrating enemy territory and disabling air defense systems and radar installations.”
“We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.’”
“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let that happen,” he said.
Trump claimed that Iran is developing long-range missiles that can reach the US.
“They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America,” he added.
Delegations from Iran and the US are set to hold a third round of indirect nuclear negotiations under Omani mediation in Geneva, Switzerland on Thursday.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday that Tehran will resume talks with the US in Geneva “with a determination to achieve a fair and equitable deal in the shortest possible time.” Anadulo
Iran on Wednesday criticized the US and Israel for spreading “disinformation” about its nuclear program and ballistic missiles, describing them as “the repetition of big lies.”
“‘Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth,’ is a law of propaganda coined by Nazi Joseph Goebbels. This is now systematically used by the U.S. administration and the war profiteers encircling it, particularly the genocidal Israeli regime, to serve their sinister disinformation & misinformation campaign against the Nation of Iran,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on the US social media company X.
“Whatever they’re alleging in regards to Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is simply the repetition of ‘big lies,'” Baghaei asserted.
“No one should be fooled by these prominent untruths,” he added.