Iran talks ongoing with negotiations over enrichment, Vance says

A US conservative-leaning commentary outlet on Thursday called on the Trump administration to maintain a hardline approach toward Iran and avoid concessions in any potential negotiations.

Issues & Insights published an opinion piece titled “Mr President, give the Iranian regime nothing,” arguing against sanctions relief or diplomatic compromises with Tehran.

"The president has no choice but to take a hard line as if the regime were the Nazis in 1945. The Allies then required Germany to “surrender unconditionally” the entirety of its “forces on land, sea and in the air who are at this date under German control.” Anything less would empower the depraved remnant in Tehran to start the cycle again," the piece said.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) have assessed on Thursday the threat level in the Strait of Hormuz as “critical” and the wider Persian Gulf as “severe,” according to a new advisory note.

The advisory urges vessels transiting the region to exercise extreme caution, conduct enhanced risk assessments and maintain heightened monitoring of navigation and communications systems.

The US Department of Justice on Thursday indicted a dual Iranian-Iraqi national on terrorism-related charges, alleging he provided material support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the group Kata’ib Hezbollah.

The Justice Department said Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi was charged in an eight-count indictment that includes conspiracy to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations and involvement in attempted attacks in Europe and the United States.

Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York allege Al-Saadi operated as an operative of both the IRGC and Kata’ib Hezbollah and was involved in nearly 20 attacks or attempted attacks across Europe, as well as planning activity targeting the United States.

Al-Saadi been detained and brought to the United States for prosecution, according to the Justice Department.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that Washington does not have “unlimited patience” with Iran and suggested military strikes could resume if diplomacy fails.

“We did not have a regime change in Iran, but we changed the regime,” Bessent said during a White House briefing, arguing that the Iranian government, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and the religious leadership were struggling to communicate after US strikes.

“We are being patient,” Bessent said. “President Trump always prefers a peace deal, so everything that we have done thus far has been defensive, and at present that is what we will continue doing.”

Bessent added that strikes could resume if US President Donald Trump concludes that a peace agreement is not possible.

Iran’s Guards-affiliated Tasnim News Agency cited a source close to the negotiating team as saying the text of a potential memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States has neither been finalized nor confirmed.

Reports by Western media saying the memorandum has been finalized are “not true,” Tasnim added.

The agency also said Iran has not informed the Pakistani mediator that the text has been finalized and would notify both the mediator and the public once an MOU is completed.