US too weak to confront Iran or defeat Hamas, IRGC deputy chief says

The head of Iran’s paramilitary Basij organization, Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, has dismissed remarks by former US President Donald Trump during his Middle East visit, calling them “nonsense aimed at demoralizing the Iranian people.”

“A man has come from the other side of the world to speak in Arab countries. Who can deny the capabilities and resources of the Iranian nation?” Soleimani said on Thursday.

“These absurd comments are meant to discourage our people. We must instead inject hope with such programs,” he added.

A meeting between representatives of the E3 group (Germany, France, and the UK) and Iran is scheduled for May 16 in Istanbul to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program, a German diplomatic source told Iran International on Thursday.

“These are not negotiations,” the source stressed, adding that Germany will be represented by Dominik Mutter, Political Director at the Federal Foreign Office.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier this week, “We remain ready to talk to Europe, even if their own policies have led to some isolation in these negotiations."

There are still gaps to bridge in nuclear talks with the United States, an Iranian source familiar with negotiations told Reuters.

“The issue is that America is not willing to lift major sanctions in exchange,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions.

While Iranian officials have expressed a willingness to reduce enrichment levels and lower their stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the source noted that Tehran wants reductions to happen in stages — a proposal the US has not agreed to.

The source also cited disagreement over where Iran’s enriched uranium would be sent under a possible deal.

Iran's nuclear chief on Thursday rejected allegations of secret weapons activity, saying the country has never operated an undeclared nuclear site and that all its activities remain under the oversight of the UN nuclear watchdog.

Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told the closing session of the 31st National Nuclear Conference in Mashhad that “Iran has never had any undeclared or covert nuclear activity,” and that all operations are conducted “within the framework of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

Eslami said IAEA inspectors continue to conduct both announced and unannounced visits to Iranian nuclear facilities and noted that more than 25% of all global IAEA inspections in 2024 took place in Iran, despite Iran holding a small share of the world’s nuclear infrastructure.

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Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told the closing session of the 31st National Nuclear Conference in Mashhad that “Iran has never had any undeclared or covert nuclear activity,” and that all operations are conducted “within the framework of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

Eslami said IAEA inspectors continue to conduct both announced and unannounced visits to Iranian nuclear facilities and noted that more than 25% of all global International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections in 2024 took place in Iran, despite Iran holding a small share of the world’s nuclear infrastructure.

His comments follow a Fox News report citing satellite imagery and information from the opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which claimed a previously undisclosed facility—dubbed the “Rainbow Site”—in Semnan province has been operating for over a decade to extract tritium, a material used in advanced nuclear weapons. The NCRI alleged the site operates under the guise of a chemical firm, Diba Energy Siba.

Iranian officials have dismissed the report as politically motivated. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday the claims were part of a smear campaign amid indirect nuclear talks with the United States.

“More Very Scary Satellite Images are being circulated,” he wrote on X, accusing Israel of fueling disinformation via proxy groups.

Eslami accused Western powers of trying to destroy Iran’s technological achievements “through either hard or soft power,” and reiterated that Iran’s nuclear goals remain “entirely peaceful and transparent.”

Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. The IAEA has not publicly confirmed the existence of the so-called Rainbow Site, but its Director General Rafael Grossi recently warned that Tehran now possesses enough enriched uranium to produce “a few warheads” and could do so within months.

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in April, Grossi said that while Iran has not yet built a nuclear weapon, “the material for it … is already there.”

Grossi also said that past research and testing related to nuclear weaponization by Iran remain a source of concern, with the agency lacking “full confidence that they have disappeared completely.”

Grossi described the current state of IAEA monitoring in Iran as “insufficient,” citing a significant shortfall in the agency’s visibility into the full scope of Iran’s nuclear activities.

During his recent visit to Tehran, Grossi met with senior Iranian officials to urge greater transparency, while also noting a strong international consensus—shared by Beijing—against the emergence of a nuclear-armed Iran.

The IAEA remains the sole authority capable of verifying Iran’s compliance with nuclear commitments, and Grossi says any breakthrough in negotiations will hinge on technical clarity and inspection access.