Iran

The United States warned Wednesday that it will continue to exert “maximum pressure” on Iran in order to prevent it from achieving a nuclear weapon, as Tehran rejected its offer for new nuclear talks amid growing concerns about its stockpile of enriched uranium.

“As reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] Director General, Tehran continues to rapidly accelerate its production of highly enriched uranium,” the U.S. Mission to the United Nations said in a statement. “It is also the only country in the world without nuclear weapons producing highly enriched uranium, for which it has no credible peaceful purpose.”

The United States said Iran is “flagrantly” defying the U.N. Security Council and ignoring “the clear and consistent concerns" of both the council and the international community.

“The Council must be clear and united in addressing and condemning this brazen behavior,” the U.S. statement said.

Iran has denied for years that its nuclear pursuits are for military purposes. But starting in May 2019, it gradually stopped implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, which provided Tehran with sanctions relief in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.

In February 2021, it stopped implementing its commitments altogether. As a result, the IAEA no longer conducts verification and monitoring activities related to the deal, and that has raised many questions about what Iran is doing.

The United States, along with Britain and France, which remain parties to the JCPOA, which the first Trump administration pulled out of, called a private meeting Wednesday of the U.N. Security Council to discuss Iran’s proliferation efforts. Council members Greece, Panama and South Korea also supported the call.

“We're seriously concerned about the latest IAEA report about Iran's production of highly enriched uranium,” British Deputy U.N. Ambassador James Kariuki told reporters.

“The director general reported last month that Iran has now produced 275 kilos of uranium enriched to 60% – that's way beyond anything needed for civilian use – and no other non-nuclear state has anything like that amount,” he said.

Kariuki said Britain will take any diplomatic measures necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, including reimposing U.N. sanctions – a process known as snapback. Under the terms of the deal, previous U.N. sanctions can “snap back” if Tehran does not live up to its commitments.

The JCPOA is due to expire in October, which means the window could soon be closing for substantive negotiations.

Iran’s U.N. ambassador participated in the meeting, but his U.N. mission criticized it, saying on the social media platform X that “Washington openly seeks to weaponize the UNSC to escalate economic warfare against Iran. This dangerous abuse must be rejected to protect the Council’s credibility.” UNSC is shorthand for the U.N. Security Council.

Russia and China, who also are JCPOA signatories, are allies of Tehran.

China’s U.N. ambassador told reporters that the nuclear issue is being dealt with in Vienna at the IAEA and that Beijing was not supportive of Wednesday’s council meeting. Fu Cong blamed the Trump administration for disrupting the JCPOA in the first place by withdrawing in 2017, but at the same time he said China hopes there can be a new deal before October’s expiration.

“Putting maximum pressure on a certain country is not going to achieve the goal,” he added.

Fu noted that China will convene a meeting in Beijing with Iran and Russia on Friday, to try to facilitate a possible deal to stabilize the situation. It will be chaired by Executive Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov Sergey Alexeevich and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi are expected to attend.

China, Iran and Russia conducted joint naval drills Tuesday in the Middle East, offering a show of force in a region still uneasy over Tehran's rapidly expanding nuclear program and as Yemen's Houthi rebels threaten new attacks on ships.

The joint drills, called the Maritime Security Belt 2025, took place in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil passes. The area around the strait has in the past seen Iran seize commercial ships and launch suspected attacks in the time since President Donald Trump first unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

The drill marked the fifth year the three countries took part in the drills.

This year's drill likely sparked a warning late Monday from the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which said there was GPS interference in the strait, with disruptions lasting for several hours and forcing crews to rely on backup navigation methods.

"This was likely GPS jamming to reduce the targeting capability of drones and missiles," wrote Shaun Robertson, an intelligence analyst at the EOS Risk Group. "However, electronic navigation system interference has been reported in this region previously during periods of increased tension and military exercises."

US-patrolled waters

Russia's Defense Ministry identified the vessels it sent to the drill as the corvettes Rezky and the Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov, as well as the tanker Pechenega. China's Defense Ministry said it sent the guided-missile destroyer Baotou and the comprehensive supply ship Gaoyouhu. Neither offered a count of the personnel involved.

Neither China nor Russia actively patrol the wider Middle East, whose waterways remain crucial for global energy supplies. Instead, they broadly cede that to Western nations largely led by the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. Observers for the drill included Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates — with the Americans likely keeping watch as well.

However, China and Russia have deep interests in Iran. For China, it has continued to purchase Iranian crude oil despite facing Western sanctions, likely at a discount compared with global prices. Beijing also remains one of the top markets for Iranian imports.

Russia, meanwhile, has relied on Iran for the supply of bomb-carrying drones it uses in its war on Ukraine.

Iran highlights drills

The drills marked a major moment for Iran's state-run television network. It has aired segments showing live fire during a night drill and sailors manning deck guns on a vessel. The exercises come after an Iranian monthslong drill that followed a direct Israeli attack on the country, targeting its air defenses and sites associated with its ballistic missile program.

While Tehran sought to downplay the assault, it shook the wider populace and came as a campaign of Israeli assassinations and attacks have decimated Iran's self-described "Axis of Resistance" — a series of militant groups allied with the Islamic Republic. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was also overthrown in December, further weakening Iran's grip on the wider region.

All the while, Iran has increasingly stockpiled more uranium enriched at near-weapons-grade levels, something done only by atomic-armed nations. Tehran has long maintained its program is for peaceful purposes, even as its officials increasingly threaten to pursue the bomb.

Iran's nuclear program has drawn warnings from Israel and the U.S., signaling that military action against the program could happen. But just last week, Trump sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei seeking a new nuclear deal. Iran says it hasn't received any letter but still issued a flurry of pronouncements over it.

Houthis renew threats

As a shaky ceasefire holds in Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yemen's Houthi rebels said they were resuming attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as well as the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the two waterways.

The rebels' secretive leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, warned Friday that attacks against Israel-linked vessels would resume within four days if Israel didn't let aid into Gaza. As the deadline passed Tuesday, the Houthis said they were again banning Israeli vessels from the waters off Yemen.

Although no attacks were reported, it has put shippers on edge. The rebels targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, since November 2023.