Trump posted on August 2: Today's headlines suggest that Trump has the military 'card' and Iran has the rest of the deck. Trump wants a quick ' total surrender' and, not getting that, is likely to go for ' decapitation ' in the coming days. Does he realize that is what Iran wants? They want him to lose badly in the midterms and Netanyahu/Hegseth escalation is likely to achieve that.  Here are the August 3 headlines from Iran International. Trump  • Iran talks to proceed in two phases, Trump says  • Trump says he is giving Iran ' every last chance before decapitation '  • Trump says US blockade to remain until Iran deal or ‘ total surrender ’  • Trump touts ‘ denuclearization of Iran ’ as major achievement   Iran  • No new Iran negotiations planned despite Trump comments - CBS  • Khamenei aide says Trump deliberately kept Israel out of renewed Iran strikes  • Iran rejects US proposal to reopen Strait of Hormuz - Al Mayadeen  • Venu...

The IAEA has published part of its annual report on the international safeguards it carried out in 2025. (The entire confidential report is distributed to governments,)  In it there is a nice summary of IAEA's interactions with Iran in 2025. It explains that Iran was declared to be in noncompliance with its NPT safeguards agreement with IAEA and has not remedied that noncompliance, and that lack of information and access to the bombed nuclear enrichment facilities constitutes a "proliferation concern."  Here it is.  A. Safeguards Statement for 2025           In 2025, safeguards were applied for 190 States with safeguards agreements in force with the Agency. Forty-four States had comprehensive safeguards agreements in force, but no additional protocols in force.  Islamic Republic of Iran            For one State [ Iran] , the Secretariat found no indication of the diversion of declared nuclear material ...

     Reuters reported the following after the US bragged about hitting 80 targets in Iran, which included killing two fishermen and blowing up two railway bridges:                 In a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, Iran's mission at the UN accused   the United States of "blatant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and its international                obligations" and said its attacks violated the memorandum of understanding signed by the two                     countries.                 A spokesperson for parliament's National Security Commission had said options for retaliation ⁠    included withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), changing Iran's nuclear         doctri...

President Trump, once again ignoring his commitment in paragraph 1 of the Islamabad MOU, posted on June 28 a threat of use of force against Iran. But this time he seems to be threatening a nuclear attack, in order to accomplish his threat that “ the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist !”  Here is President Trump’s full threat.                      " United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN! It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist! " [ Truth Social]                  About an hour after Trump's post, Kuwait's army said its air d...

     U.S. President Donald Trump said on June 23 that Iran had agreed to nuclear inspections into "infinity," while Tehran said it had made no such concession in negotiations, raising questions about the viability of their fragile peace deal. [Reuters]            What our government officials and ‘experts’, and therefore journalists, continue to say or write about the Iran nuclear situation is quite often off-base. Is it too much to ask them to absorb the following nuclear nonproliferation fundamentals?            It starts with the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1970. Iran is one of almost two hundred countries whose status under the NPT is a non-nuclear weapon state (NNWS). (Five states are nuclear weapon states (NWS)). When a NNWS adhered to NPT, it committed to the following:            - Not to “manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons” (Article II);...

Paragraph 1 of the Islamabad MOU, signed by President Donald Trump at Versailles a few days ago, includes:            1 — The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran … undertake … to r efrain from the threat or use of force against each other…       The start of negotiations in Switzerland today seemed to be going well, with Vice President Vance telling reporters President Trump had:                 " asked us to turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran ".       But then, on Sunday, June 21, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social:                 " Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in ‌Lebanon ⁠from causing trouble. If they don’t, ⁠we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just ⁠like we did last ⁠week, only harder!! !"       Fur...

It has taken a long time, but we finally have the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nuclear issues are addressed only in paragraphs 8 and 9 of the 14 paragraphs. Here is my commentary on how the nuclear issues are treated, followed by the full text of the two paragraphs.  Commentary  1. No nuclear weapons . This commitment by Iran is the same as it made by joining the NPT. The NPT commitment has an ‘exit ramp’ through withdrawal from NPT. Will there be a comparable provision in the final deal?  2. Enriched uranium stockpiles . “ Resolve the disposition ” - how that will apply to all the enriched uranium - 60%, 20%, up to 5% - remains to be seen. Iran has committed “ to resolve ”, not to eliminate.  3. Uranium enrichment . Iran has “ agreed to discuss ” “ a satisfactory framework ” for the final deal, in relation to “ Iran’s nuclear needs .” At least formally in the MOU, Iran has not com...

The four-week NPT Review Conference has taken place and ended May 22, for the third consecutive time, without an agreed Outcome Document. Nevertheless, the drafts of that document are public, starting with the Zero Draft introduced by the Conference President, and four subsequent drafts.           Here is a summary of how four international safeguards topics were dealt with, followed by the draft texts for those topics: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Compliance and Iran; Additional Protocol; Attacks on nuclear facilities   1. IAEA      While the principal text on the importance of IAEA is standard, it is good that the text did evolve to “ call on all States parties to ensure that IAEA continues to have the necessary political, technical and financial support so that it is able to effectively apply safeguards. ”  2. Compliance and Iran      This bracketed paragraph was largely responsible for the lack of ...

Iran responded on May 10 to a U.S. proposal to end fighting before starting talks on more contentious issues, including Iran's nuclear program. ( Reuters ) Here is what has been reported today on the Iran nuclear conundrum   • Suspending enrichment, dismantling nuclear facilities - WSJ   The Wall Street Journal reported: Iran said it was willing to suspend uranium enrichment for a shorter period than the 20-year moratorium proposed by the United States but rejected dismantling its nuclear facilities.  • Iran's enriched uranium stockpile             Trump says US will get Iran's enriched uranium - Full Measure   President Donald Trump interview with Sharyl Attkisson on the television program Full Measure: The United States would eventually get Iran’s enriched uranium buried under rubble and was monitoring the site. “ We’ll get that at some point... We have it surveilled. I did a thing called Space Force, and they are watchin...