Report: U.S.-Iran Talks Continue, Deal Still on the Table

Photo: White House, Arab networks, Shutterstock Report: U.S.-Iran Talks Continue, Deal Still on the Table Zion Benjamini, 19 minutes ago 2 3 13 Despite the escalation, CNN reports that negotiations between the United States and Iran are continuing. In contrast to reports that the contacts had collapsed, senior members of the Qatari delegation remained in intensive talks until morning hours. A diplomatic source confirms, "The efforts for a deal have not stopped."

Despite earlier reports that the delegations had left, a senior diplomatic source confirmed to CNN this morning, Thursday, that the negotiations between the sides are continuing, despite the dramatic rise in tensions and concern that the overnight strikes would complicate the deal on the table.

3 + Photo: Reuters, Shutterstock, Arab networks In addition, contrary to reports yesterday claiming that the Qatari delegation had left Tehran, Reuters reported that the Qatari delegation did leave Iran, but only in the early morning hours. Iranian sources also added that the negotiations are continuing over an "initial agreement" and over a mechanism for unfreezing frozen funds. According to the source, Qatari and Iranian officials sat at the negotiating table and held intensive talks throughout the night until the last moments before their departure.

3 + Footage from Tehran published by the ISNA news agency | Photo: ISNA U.S. Central Command issued an official statement overnight confirming that its forces completed a series of powerful self-defense strikes across Iran last night. The strikes are described by the Pentagon as a lethal and direct response to Iran's ongoing and unjustified aggression, especially after the downing of an Apache helicopter of the U.S. Army earlier this week. The current operation, which marks the second consecutive wave of strikes, has put the Persian Gulf on high alert and is accompanied by harsh threats from the White House and the Pentagon, which say U.S. forces are prepared for rapid escalation if Tehran does not sign an agreement to end the crisis.

3 + Revolutionary Guards | Photo: Reuters According to the CENTCOM report, combined forces of the U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy used precision munitions against multiple military targets in Iran. The operation severely damaged the operational capabilities of the Revolutionary Guards and their ability to monitor the air and sea domains. The main targets destroyed in the wave of strikes include military surveillance capabilities and radar systems, detection and observation facilities used by Iran to monitor Western forces, communications systems, communications and coordination infrastructure of the Iranian military, and air defense sites, missile batteries and interception systems that posed a direct threat to U.S. forces and international merchant ships sailing in regional waters.

3 + Revolutionary Guards | Photo: Shutterstock According to information provided by President Donald Trump to Fox News, the combined operation included the mass launch of 49 Tomahawk missiles alongside the deployment of fighter jets. The strikes hit strategic assets located about 65 kilometers outside the capital, Tehran, as well as along Iran's southwestern coast bordering the Persian Gulf. Trump described the strikes as especially "brutal" and "violent," and sent a sharp warning to Iran's political and military leadership: "We'll bomb the hell out of them tomorrow," if the regime does not quickly sign an agreement. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guards claim they fired heavy barrages of ballistic missiles and wings of suicide drones at 18 military targets and U.S. naval assets deployed across the Middle East. According to reports in Tehran's state media, the retaliatory strikes were directed, among other targets, at the Ali Al-Salem and Ahmed Al-Jaber air bases in Kuwait, the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, alongside a targeted missile strike against the U.S. Air Force base Muwaffaq Al-Salti in Azraq, Jordan, where Pentagon forces operate. Explosions were heard in Kuwait and Bahrain, and alarms were also activated.

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