TEHRAN — As nuclear negotiations stall, Iran has issued a stark warning: U.S. military bases across the Middle East are within its reach and will be targeted if diplomacy collapses into conflict, reported by the AFP.
Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh made the threat Wednesday amid growing tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program. “All its bases are within our reach,” he said, referring to the United States. “We have access to them, and without hesitation we will target all of them in the host countries.” He added, however, that Iran still hopes talks will succeed, cautioning that the U.S. would suffer heavier losses in any confrontation.
The warning comes as President Donald Trump, in his second term, voiced waning optimism about a new nuclear agreement with Tehran. In an interview with the New York Post’s “Pod Force One,” Trump said he was “less confident” about securing a deal, citing Iran’s apparent delays. “I’m getting more and more—less confident about it,” he said. “Maybe they don’t want a deal. What can I say?”
Since April, five rounds of negotiations have taken place to revive a version of the 2015 nuclear agreement, which Trump abandoned in 2018. Upon returning to office in January, Trump renewed his “maximum pressure” strategy—supporting diplomacy but keeping military options on the table.
At the heart of the deadlock is uranium enrichment. Iran, now enriching to 60%—well beyond the 3.67% cap set by the 2015 accord—insists its right to enrichment is non-negotiable. The U.S. calls that stance a “red line.” While Iran claims its program is peaceful, Western nations fear it edges closer to weapons-grade levels.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency criticized Iran’s cooperation as “less than satisfactory,” prompting Iran to dismiss the findings as biased and based on Israeli-supplied “forged documents.”
As the UN nuclear watchdog meets in Vienna, the window for diplomacy appears to be narrowing—and the consequences of failure ever more ominous.
