Iran has vowed to retaliate if it is attacked by the US or its allies, with top Iranian officials condemning US President Donald Trump's threats to bomb the country if a nuclear deal is not reached and warning an attack would push the country to acquire nuclear weapons.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Monday of a forceful response if the Islamic republic was attacked. “If it is carried out, they will definitely receive a strong counterattack,” he said.
A senior adviser to Mr Khamenei, Ali Larijani, said an attack by the US or its allies would push Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. “If the US or Israel bomb Iran under the nuclear pretext, Iran will be compelled to move towards producing an atom bomb,” Mr Larijani said in a televised interview on Monday.
“The leader’s [Mr Khamenei's] fatwa prohibits nuclear weapons, but if the US makes a mistake, Iran, under public pressure, would be forced to move towards building nuclear weapons.”
In a telephone interview with NBC News on Sunday, Mr Trump had said if Iran does not reach a deal to curb its nuclear programme “there will be bombing” and “it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before”. He added that no deal would also result in secondary tariffs, “like I did four years ago”.
Gen Amirali Hajizadeh, a senior commander in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who is in charge of the country's ballistic missile programme, warned about US interests in the Middle East.
“The Americans have at least 10 bases in the region around Iran, and they have 50,000 troops,” he said on state television on Monday.
“Someone who is in a glass room shouldn't throw stones at anyone.”
Later on Monday, Mr Trump warned that the “real pain” was still to come for Iran and their Houthi allies in Yemen, which have been subjected to weeks of US strikes.
“The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran,” Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei called Mr Trump's comments a “shocking affront” to international peace, in a post on X. The ministry said it summoned the charge d'affaires of the Swiss embassy, which represents US interests in Iran, “following the threats by the US President”.
Iran also complained to the UN Security Council on Monday about “reckless and belligerent” remarks by US President Donald Trump, describing them as “a flagrant violation of international law” and the founding UN Charter.
In his first term in office, Mr Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Mr Trump also reimposed sweeping US sanctions against the country.
Since then, Iran has abandoned the uranium enrichment limits set out in the initial agreement. Mr Khamenei has said that the Trump administration's departure from that deal was the reason he did not want Iran to enter direct negotiations.
Mr Trump sent a letter to the supreme leader last month, calling for a return to negotiations on the deal. Tehran ruled out direct talks, in a response communicated through Oman.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was among Iran's negotiators on the previous deal, said the agreement could not be revived in the same format because of advances in Tehran's nuclear development and increased US sanctions. However, Mr Araghchi suggested the deal could serve as a base for a potential agreement in the future.
Western powers have accused Iran of aiming to develop nuclear weapons by continuing to enrich uranium to higher levels. Tehran says its nuclear programme is only for civilian purposes.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Company%20profile
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The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
KINGDOM%20OF%20THE%20PLANET%20OF%20THE%20APES
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Temple numbers
Expected completion: 2022
Height: 24 meters
Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people
Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people
First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time
First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres
Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres
Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor
The%20Beekeeper
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
RESULTS
1.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,200m
Winner: Lady Parma, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
2.15pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,200m
Winner: Tabernas, Connor Beasley, Ahmed bin Harmash.
2.45pm: Handicap Dh95,000 1,200m
Winner: Night Castle, Connor Beasley, Satish Seemar.
3.15pm: Handicap Dh120,000 1,400m
Winner: Mystique Moon, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.
3.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner: Mutawakked, Szczepan Mazur, Musabah Al Muhairi.
4.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,800m
Winner: Tafaakhor, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
4.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,950m
Winner: Cranesbill, Fabrice Veron, Erwan Charpy.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
