JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday about American talks with Iran, his office said Saturday, while Iran’s foreign minister threatened US military bases in the region a day after the discussions.
“The prime minister believes that all negotiations must include limiting the ballistic missiles, and ending support for the Iranian axis,” Netanyahu’s office said in a brief statement, referring to Tehran’s support for militant groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories. Trump and Netanyahu last met in December.
There was no immediate White House comment.
The US and the Islamic Republic of Iran held indirect talks on Friday in Oman that appeared to return to the starting point on how to approach discussions over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Trump called the talks “very good” and said more were planned for early next week. Washington was represented by Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear program after sending the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships to the region amid Tehran’s crackdown on nationwide protests that killed thousands.
Gulf Arab nations fear an attack could spark a regional war, with memories fresh of the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June.
For the first time in negotiations with Iran, the US on Friday brought its top military commander in the Middle East to the table. US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the military’s Central Command, then visited the USS Abraham Lincoln on Saturday with Witkoff and Kushner, the command said in a statement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told journalists Friday that “nuclear talks and the resolution of the main issues must take place in a calm atmosphere, without tension and without threats.” He said that diplomats would return to their capitals, signaling that this round of negotiations was over.
On Saturday, Araghchi told the Al Jazeera satellite news network that if the US attacks Iran, his country doesn’t have the ability to strike the US “and therefore has to attack or retaliate against US bases in the region.”
He said there is “very, very deep distrust” after what happened during the previous talks, when the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites during last year’s Israel-Iran war.
Araghchi also said the “missile issue” and other defense matters are “in no way negotiable, neither now nor at any time in the future.”
Tehran has maintained that these talks will be only on its nuclear program.
However, Al Jazeera reported that diplomats from Egypt, Turkiye and Qatar offered Iran a proposal in which Tehran would halt enrichment for three years, send its highly enriched uranium out of the country and pledge to “not initiate the use of ballistic missiles.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the talks needed to include all those issues.
Israel, a close US ally, believes Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon and wants its program scrapped, though Iran has insisted that its atomic plans are for peaceful purposes. Israel also wants a halt to Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for militant groups in the region.
Araghchi, speaking at a forum in Qatar on Saturday, accused Israel of destabilizing the region, saying that it “breaches sovereignties, it assassinates official dignitaries, it conducts terrorist operations, it expands its reach in multiple theaters.” He criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and called for “comprehensive and targeted sanctions against Israel, including an immediate arms embargo.”
Israel says Netanyahu will meet with Trump on Wednesday about Iran talks
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Israel says Netanyahu will meet with Trump on Wednesday about Iran talks
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday about the US talks with Iran
US Justice Department official eyes cases against Cuba leaders as Trump floats ‘friendly takeover’
- “Working group” formed to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government
- Trump’s has increasingly displayed aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership
MIAMI: The top Justice Department prosecutor in Miami is considering criminal investigations of Cuban government officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry comes as President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of the communist-run island.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, has created a “working group” that includes federal prosecutors and officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to try to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government and its Communist Party, according to one of the people. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the effort.
It was not immediately clear which Cuban officials the office is targeting or what criminal charges prosecutors may be looking to bring.
The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that “federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
The effort is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership.
Emboldened by the US capture of Cuba’s close ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump last month said his administration was in high-level talks with officials in Havana to pursue “a friendly takeover” of the country. He repeated those claims this week, saying his attention would turn back to Cuba once the war with Iran winds down.
“They want to make a deal so bad,” Trump said of Cuba’s leadership.
While Cuba has faded from Washington’s radar as a major national security threat in recent decades, it remains a priority in the US Attorney’s office in Miami, whose political, economic and cultural life is dominated by Cuban-American exiles.
The FBI field office has a dedicated Cuba group that in 2024 was instrumental in the arrest of former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha on charges of serving as a secret agent of Cuba stretching back to the 1970s.
In recent weeks, several Miami Republicans, in addition to Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have called on the Trump administration to reopen its criminal investigation into the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by anti-communist exiles.
In a letter to Trump on Feb. 13, lawmakers including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez highlighted decades-old news reports indicating that former President Raúl Castro — the head of Cuba’s military at the time — gave the order to shoot down the unarmed Cessna aircraft.
“We believe unequivocally that Raúl Castro is responsible for this heinous crime,” lawmakers wrote. “It is time for him to be brought to justice.”
While no indictment against Castro has been announced, Florida’s attorney general said this week that he would open a state-level investigation into the crime.
The Trump administration has also accused Cuba of not cooperating with American counterterrorism efforts, adding it alongside North Korea and Iran to a select few nations the US considers state sponsors of terrorism.
The designation stems from Cuba’s harboring of US fugitives and its refusal to extradite several Colombian rebel leaders while they were engaged in peace talks with the South American nation.
