Via Zero Hedge by Tyler Durden
Is something brewing amid U.S.-Iran tensions, given the stalled nuclear negotiations and ratcheting accusations, demands, and counter-demands?
The State Department has ordered all embassies within striking distance of Iranian assets — including missions in the Middle East but also Eastern Europe and Northern Africa — to convene emergency action committees (EACs) and send cables back to Washington about measures to mitigate risks. The Associated Press also adds that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is preparing to order all nonessential personnel to leave due to potential regional unrest.
“We are constantly assessing the appropriate personnel posture at all our embassies,” said a State Department official who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive security matter. “Based on our latest analysis, we decided to reduce the footprint of our Mission in Iraq.”
Meanwhile the WaPo — a conduit for the deep state — writes that “the United States is on high alert in anticipation of a potential Israeli strike on Iran, with the State Department authorizing the evacuation of some personnel in Iraq and the Pentagon green-lighting the departure of military family members across the Middle East.”
The heightened security environment comes as President Donald Trump expresses dimming hopes of achieving a deal with Iran that would restrict its nuclear program and forestall a potentially cataclysmal new military confrontation in the Middle East.
“I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made,” Trump told the New York Post.
In recent months, U.S. intelligence officials have grown increasingly concerned that Israel may choose to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities without the consent of the United States. Such a move would almost certainly scuttle the Trump administration’s delicate nuclear negotiations and prompt an Iranian retaliation on U.S. assets in the region.
As GMI summarizes the latest situation:
- The IDF have elevated their operational readiness. In response, the United States has mirrored this posture, anticipating potential Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
- A senior diplomat, speaking to the Washington Post, stated: “We think it’s more serious than any other time in the past.”
- The U.S. State Department has directed all embassies within Iranian strike range — including several in Europe, to immediately convene Emergency Action Committees and transmit updated risk assessments to Washington.
- The Trump imposed deadline on Iranian nuclear negotiations expires today, June 12th. U.S. officials speaking to Axios now assess it is increasingly unlikely the sixth round of talks in Oman will proceed as scheduled on Sunday.
- General Kurilla, Commander of U.S. Central Command, has postponed his scheduled testimony before Congress due to mounting tensions across the Middle East.
U.S. Central Command, the military headquarters overseeing the region, is working in close coordination with State Department counterparts and allies to maintain a constant state of readiness to support numerous missions at any time, the official added.
“We are watching and worried,” said one senior diplomat in the region. “We think it’s more serious than any other time in the past.”
Both oil and gold prices spiked on the alarming headlines which suggest new regional conflict could be imminent, with Israel poised to act…
Meanwhile, Iran has urged the United States to prioritize a negotiated solution, with its mission to the United Nations saying that “diplomacy — not militarism — is the only path forward.”
“Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and U.S. militarism only fuels instability,” the Iranian mission warned in a social media statement.
President Trump has definitely expressed his preference for negotiated solution, but Iran insists that it be able to keep enriching uranium, at least at low levels, as a matter of national sovereignty.
Iran and the United States are tentatively scheduled to hold a sixth round of direct talks in Oman on Sunday between U.S. negotiator Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, along with discussions between their technical teams. But people familiar with the planning said Wednesday that it is possible that talks may not happen.
Trump has described the negotiations, which began in April, as heading in a positive direction and has said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on any military plans. But on Wednesday, Trump said he was “less confident” that Iran would agree to U.S. demands that it completely shut down its nuclear enrichment program.
“They seem to be delaying, and I think that’s a shame,” he said. He has frequently said that Iran would never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and threatened military action if an agreement is not reached.
In a post on X Wednesday, Araghchi said that Trump’s demand that Iran not develop a nuclear weapon “is actually in line with our own doctrine and could become the main foundation for a deal. … It is clear that an agreement that can ensure the continued peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program is within reach — and could be achieved rapidly,” he said.
Although Witkoff indicated early in the negotiations that some kind of compromise could be reached allowing Iran to continue producing a small quantity of low-level enriched uranium for civil purposes, the administration has since rejected that possibility.
The escalating tension comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors is meeting in Vienna, where Director General Rafael Grossi reported Tuesday that Iran has dramatically increased the amount of near weapons-grade material it possesses.
In a contentious meeting Wednesday, Iran’s envoy to the agency, Reza Najafi, charged the Europeans with violating the decade-old agreement, which technically still remains in effect, claiming they failed to lift all of their own sanctions when the original deal was struck.
In a separate post Wednesday, Araghchi said that “instead of displaying remorse or a desire to facilitate diplomacy,” the Europeans were “promoting confrontation through the absurd demand that Iran must be punished for exercising its right” under the agreement “to respond to non-performance by counterparts.”
If the IAEA governors proceed with plans to vote on a resolution against Iran at the end of their week-long meeting Friday, Araghchi said, Iran will “react STRONGLY. Blame will lie solely and FULLY with malign actors who shatter their own relevance.”
Read in its entirety at zerohedge.com.
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All these people want is war. Just awful, shame on them all.