Iran’s Zarif warns ‘hit-and-run era is over’

Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi said workers are the “first victims of inhumane policies,” condemning Iranian authorities in a message marking International Workers’ Day.

Referring to the explosion at Rajaei Port in Bandar Abbas, Ebadi wrote that more than five days have passed since the explosion in Bandar Abbas, but more than 20 of the victims have still not been identified. “Dozens of families, in anguish and uncertainty, are shouting a bitter truth,” she said.

Ebadi urged solidarity among workers, teachers, retirees, and students as “the key to change.”

Iran would “pay the consequence” for its support to Yemen’s Houthi group, said US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday shortly before a fresh round of nuclear talks is set to begin in Rome on Saturday.

“Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis,” Hegseth wrote on X. “You know very well what the US Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing.”

The US and Iran have so far held three rounds of talks mediated by Oman, aimed at capping Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran says the Houthis act independently.

President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is facing growing criticism from current and former officials over his handling of sensitive negotiations with Iran and Russia, The New York Post reported in an exclusive on Wednesday.

Witkoff, a real estate investor with no formal diplomatic background, has taken part in high-level meetings with Russian officials alone and at times relied on Kremlin translators — breaking with long-standing US protocol, sources told the Post.

“Nice guy, but a bumbling f–king idiot,” one former Trump official told the paper. “He should not be doing this alone.”

Witkoff has also drawn fire for his efforts in Middle East diplomacy. A tentative cease-fire deal he believed he had secured with Hamas in March quickly collapsed after the group rejected his terms and offered to release fewer hostages. “Maybe that’s just me getting duped,” Witkoff later told Fox News Sunday.

On Iran, Witkoff floated a proposal allowing Tehran to continue low-level uranium enrichment — a suggestion he walked back after backlash from hawks in Washington. Critics say his approach resembles the 2015 Obama-era nuclear deal that Trump abandoned in his first term.

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said on X that Witkoff’s talks with Tehran were a “waste of oxygen,” accusing the envoy of repeating mistakes of past administrations.

Analysts warned that Iran is using the talks as cover to avoid military action from Israel. “Witkoff acts as a mailman for Putin,” former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul wrote on social media.

Despite growing concerns, the White House defended Witkoff’s record. “Steve Witkoff has done incredible work securing the release of Americans detained abroad,” deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told the Post. “Like President Trump, he is focused on stopping the killing and advancing peace through strength.”

Pete Hegseth wrote on X: "Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing. You know very well what the US Military is capable of — and you were warned."

"You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing."

Hegseth also reposted a message from Donald Trump from March in which the US president said he would hold Iran responsible for any attacks carried out by the Houthis.

Iran maintains that it does not direct the Houthi actions in the Red Sea region. However, Yemen’s Houthis began targeting international commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on Muslim nations to blockade Israeli trade in November 2023.

In March, Khamenei responded to the same threats of retaliation for Houthi actions from US President Donald Trump. "The Yemeni nation has its own motivation and the resistance groups in the region have their own motivations. Iran doesn't need proxies," Khamenei said.

The blockade began with the aim of forcing Israel into a ceasefire but has since led to 174 attacks on the US Navy and 145 attacks on global shipping, according to the US State Department.

The US leads a coalition of over 20 nations against Houthi attacks on shipping, spearheading direct strikes on the group's infrastructure in Yemen, sometimes with British forces.

Since escalating strikes against the Houthis in March, the US has targeted over 1,000 sites. To bolster its presence in the Middle East, the US military has recently increased its assets, including the deployment of six B-2 bombers to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, a location experts consider strategically advantageous for operations in the region.

Additionally, the US currently maintainstwo aircraft carriers in the Middle East and has redeployed air defense systems from Asia to the area.

The US defense chief's warning comes amid US-Iran nuclear talks, the fourth round of which is due to take place this weekend.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a senior Iranian security official on Wednesday that Beijing supports Tehran’s diplomatic efforts on its nuclear programme, days before US-Iran talks are set to resume.

“China values Iran's commitment not to develop nuclear weapons” and “appreciates Iran's diplomatic efforts,” Wang told Ali Shamkhani, political advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, during a meeting in Brazil, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout released Thursday.

Wang said China was “pleased to see ongoing dialogue” between Iran and other parties and supports “necessary cooperation” with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Talks between Iranian and US negotiators are expected to reconvene in Rome on Saturday.

Wang previously worked with Shamkhani on the 2023 China-brokered deal that restored diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia.