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The UK government confirmed that both missiles missed their targets, but this incident has made people even more worried about the threat Iran could pose to Britain itself.
Without explicitly naming Diego Garcia, Hegseth said: “Two days ago they [Iran] shot two failed missiles on a target 4,000km away. For years, they told the world that their missiles could only range [2,000] kilometres. Surprise. Yet again, Iran lie.”
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He continued, “And to the world. I say London is 4,000km from Iran. Washington DC is 3,300km from Venezuela, another country President Trump did something about, which partnered for a long time with Iran. So you’re telling us that Iran is not a threat to the world or to the US? President Trump knows better.”
Amid highly volatile and fragile diplomatic engagements between Tehran and Washington, the parties made this decision.
According to Israeli officials who spoke to Reuters, President Trump had previously given Israel assurances that Iran’s inventory of highly enriched uranium, which is a critical component in the construction of a nuclear weapon, would be entirely removed from the Islamic Republic.
Nevertheless, this stance has encountered a wall of opposition in Tehran.
“The Supreme Leader’s directive and the consensus within the establishment, is that the stockpile of enriched uranium should not leave the country,” they claimed.
Reuters reported that the Supreme Leader maintains ultimate authority over all critical state policies under Iran’s constitutional framework.
The present diplomatic impasse is occurring in the context of a precarious cessation of hostilities that has been in place since April 8.
Tehran initiated retaliatory strikes against Gulf nations that hosted American military detachments in the immediate aftermath of those attacks.
At the same time, Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah units in Lebanon engaged in intense cross-border combat.
Tehran’s strategic leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, an essential choke point for the global energy supply, is counterbalanced by a stringent US naval blockade that stifles Iranian shipping centers.
Pakistani mediation is currently facilitating these high-stakes discussions as some think they could be making progress.
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