Iran cancels next round of nuclear talks with Washington 'while the Zionist regime continues its attacks'

The Islamic Republic’s President Masoud Pezeshkian announced on Saturday that Tehran has cancelled the next round of nuclear talks with the United States following the ongoing Israeli strikes in Iran. Pezeshkian who spoke on the phone with the French President Emmanuel Macron, stated that the ayatollah regime would “not accept irrational demands under pressure or… sit at the negotiating table while the Zionist regime continues its attacks.”

Macron reportedly urged his Iranian counterpart to “return swiftly to the negotiating table.” 

The Omani foreign minister Badr al-Busaidi admitted on Sunday that the next round of nuclear talks “will not now take place.” However, he further argued that “diplomacy and dialogue remain the only pathway to lasting peace.” Oman has been acting as the hosting and mediating country between Tehran and Washington in the nuclear talks. 

During the night between Thursday and Friday, Israel launched a massive aerial strike against multiple Iranian nuclear and military sites. More than 20 top Iranian military leaders and officials have been eliminated including the chief of the Iranian armed forces and the head of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Israel has reportedly also eliminated at least nine senior Iranian nuclear scientists who were involved in the covert nuclear weapons program. 

The Iranian ayatollah regime openly calls for Israel’s destruction and has been attacking Israel and Jews directly and indirectly for decades. The ayatollah regime is also responsible for the killing of many Westerners, including 240 U.S. marines in Lebanon in the early 1980s. 

Nuclear experts have warned that the ayatollahs were getting dangerously close to developing nuclear weapons. U.S. President Donald Trump has stressed that he will not allow the Iranian regime to acquire nuclear weapons. Trump made it clear that he prefers a diplomatic solution and offered Tehran 60 days to negotiate a solution to the Iranian nuclear threat. However, the ayatollah regime has refused to end its weapons-grade uranium enrichment or to dismantle its covert nuclear weapons program.

After the failed nuclear talks, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) launched a massive strike, sending over 200 fighter jets to target Iran’s strategic nuclear and military sites. In response, the Iranian regime fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at primarily civilian population centers in Israel.

Last night, at least 10 Israeli civilians were killed and hundreds were injured when Iranian ballistic missiles hit civilian buildings in central Israel. In addition, four Arab Israeli women were killed when Iranian ballistic missiles hit a building in the northern Israeli town of Tamra east of the metropolis Haifa. 

Israel’s military response is expected to be harsh. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned the ayatollah regime that it would pay a high price for targeting Israeli civilians. 

 “If [Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn,” Katz warned. 

Trump has tacitly approved the Israeli strikes and even suggested that they might advance the nuclear talks with the Iranian regime. Speaking to media representatives on Friday, Trump urged Tehran to accept a deal before it was too late. The American president warned Iran that it “will only get worse” and stressed that “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”

The Israeli military announced on Saturday that it was in the process of establishing aerial superiority and operational freedom above the Iranian capital Tehran.