WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is pushing for inspections of suspicious Iranian military sites in a bid to test the strength of the nuclear deal that President Donald Trump desperately wants to cancel, senior US officials said.
The inspections are one element of what is designed to be a more aggressive approach to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. While the Trump administration seeks to police the existing deal more strictly, it is also working to fix what Trump’s aides have called “serious flaws” in the landmark deal that — if not resolved quickly — will likely lead Trump to pull out.
That effort also includes discussions with European countries to negotiate a follow-up agreement to prevent Iran from resuming nuclear development after the deal’s restrictions expire in about a decade, the officials said. The officials were not authorized to discuss the efforts publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The inspections requests, which Iran would likely resist, could play heavily into Trump’s much-anticipated decision about whether to stick with the deal he has long derided.
If Iran refuses inspections, Trump finally will have a solid basis to say Iran is breaching the deal, setting up Tehran to take most of the blame if the agreement collapses. If Iran agrees to inspections, those in Trump’s administration who want to preserve the deal will be emboldened to argue it is advancing US national security effectively.
The campaign gained fresh urgency this month following a dramatic clash within the administration about whether to certify Iran’s compliance, as is required every 90 days.
Trump was eager to declare Tehran in violation, even though the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that monitors compliance says its infractions are minor. At the urging of top Cabinet members, Trump begrudgingly agreed at the last minute to avoid a showdown for another three months — but only with assurances the US would increase pressure on Iran to test whether the deal is truly capable of addressing its nuclear ambitions and other troublesome activities.
Trump faces another certification deadline in three months, and it is far from clear that either new inspections or any “fixes” to address whether his concerns will be in place by then. Trump told The Wall Street Journal this week he expects to say Iran is not complying, setting a high bar for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other aides to persuade him otherwise.
“If it was up to me, I would have had them noncompliant 180 days ago,” Trump said.
To that end, the administration is seeking to force Iran to let in IAEA inspectors to military sites where the US intelligence community believes Tehran may be cheating on the deal, several officials said. Access to Iran’s military sites was one of the most contentious issues in the 2015 deal, in which Tehran agreed to roll back its nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
Last week in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon floated the proposal to the European members of the Joint Commission that oversees the deal, one official said. Britain, France and Germany joined the US, Russia, China and the EU two years ago in brokering the deal with Iran.
To force inspections of new sites in Iran, the US would need to enlist the support of the IAEA and a majority of the countries in the deal. But the US has run into early resistance over concerns it has yet to produce a “smoking gun” — compelling evidence of illicit activity at a military site that the IAEA could use to justify inspections, officials said.
Among the concerns about a rush toward inspections is that if they fail to uncover evidence of violations, it would undermine the IAEA’s credibility and its ability to demand future inspections. So the US is working to produce foolproof intelligence about illicit activity, officials said. The officials declined to describe the intelligence activities or the Iranian sites the US believes are involved.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, alluded to the strategy during an event hosted Wednesday by The Washington Post. Corker said the US was trying to “radically enforce” the deal by asking for access to “various facilities” in Iran.
“If they don’t let us in, boom,” Corker said. “You want the breakup of this deal to be about Iran. You don’t want it to be about the US, because we want our allies with us.”
The other major step to try to address what Trump has deemed flaws in the deal involves ensuring that Iran cannot revert to old behavior once the limitations on its program “sunset” over the next decade-plus.
Tehran can propose alternatives to on-site inspections, or reject the request, which would trigger a 24-day process for the Joint Commission countries to override the rejection.
That could drag on for months. And under ambiguities built into the deal, it is unclear whether Iran must allow IAEA inspectors into military sites, or whether the Iranians can take their own environmental samples and send them to the IAEA for testing, as was allowed under a 2015 side agreement that let Iran use its own experts to inspect the Parchin military site.
Even if Trump declares Iran in violation of the deal — a move that would invigorate his conservative base — he could still leave Iran’s sanctions relief in place.
US seeks to test Iran deal with more inspections
US seeks to test Iran deal with more inspections
More Sudanese refugees fleeing as far as Europe, UN refugee agency says
- Olga Sarrado, UN refugee agency spokesperson, told a press briefing in Geneva that some 484 Sudanese had arrived in Europe in January and February, up 38 percent from the same period last year
Some 12 million people have been displaced by the two-year conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has fueled what UN officials call the world’s most devastating aid crisis.
While some have recently returned home to Khartoum, millions of others in neighboring countries like Egypt and Chad face tough choices as services for refugees are being cut, including by the United States as part of an aid review.
Olga Sarrado, UN refugee agency spokesperson, told a press briefing in Geneva that some 484 Sudanese had arrived in Europe in January and February, up 38 percent from the same period last year.
Around 937 others were rescued or intercepted at sea and returned to Libya — more than double last year’s figures for the same period, she added.
“As humanitarian aid crumbles and if the war does not abate, many more will have little choice than to join them,” she said.
Migrant deaths hit a record last year, the UN migration agency said, with many perishing on the Mediterranean crossing which is one of the world’s most dangerous.
UN: 36 Israeli strikes in Gaza killed ‘only women and children’
- UN rights office spokesperson warns the military strikes across Gaza were ‘leaving nowhere safe’
- Israel has said its troops are seizing ‘large areas’ in Gaza and incorporating them into buffer zones cleared of their inhabitants
GENEVA: The United Nations on Friday said it analysis of 36 Israeli strikes in Gaza showed only women and children were killed and decried the human cost of the war.
The UN rights office also warned that expanding Israeli evacuation orders were resulting in the “forcible transfer” of people into ever-shrinking spaces in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani warned the military strikes across Gaza were “leaving nowhere safe.”
“Between 18 March and 9 April 2025, there were some 224 incidents of Israeli strikes on residential buildings and tents for internally displaced people,” she told reporters in Geneva.
“In some 36 strikes about which the UN Human Rights Office corroborated information, the fatalities recorded so far were only women and children,” she said.
“Overall, a large percentage of fatalities are children and women, according to information recorded by our Office,” she added.
Shamdasani cited an April 6 strike on a residential building of the Abu Issa family in Deir al Balah, which reportedly killed one girl, four women, and one four-year-old boy.
She highlighted that even the areas where Palestinians were being instructed to go in the expanding number of Israeli “evacuation orders” were also being subjected to attacks.
“Despite Israeli military orders instructing civilians to relocate to the Al Mawasi area of Khan Younis, strikes continued on tents in that area housing displaced people, with at least 23 such incidents recorded by the Office since 18 March,” she said.
Shamdasani referred to a March 31 order by the Israeli military covering all of Rafah, the southernmost governorate in Gaza, followed by a large-scale ground operation.
Israel has said its troops are seizing “large areas” in Gaza and incorporating them into buffer zones cleared of their inhabitants.
“Large areas are being seized and added to Israel’s security zones, leaving Gaza smaller and more isolated,” Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday.
“Let us be clear, these so-called evacuation orders are actually displacement orders, leading to displacement of the population of Gaza into ever shrinking spaces,” Shamdasani said.
“The permanently displacing the civilian population within occupied territories amounts to forcible transfer, which is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and it is a crime against humanity.”
WHO: Medicine critically low due to Gaza aid block
- Lack of medicine making it hard to keep hospitals even partially operational
GENEVA: Medicine stocks are critically low due to the aid block in Gaza, making it hard to keep hospitals even partially operational, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
“We are critically low in our three warehouses, on antibiotics, IV fluids and blood bags,” WHO official Rik Peeperkorn told reporters in Geneva via video link from Jerusalem.
Yemen ‘not a battleground for settling scores,’ says top government official
- Brig. Gen. Tariq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh calls for stronger support for Yemeni forces on the ground to restore balance
DUBAI: Yemen is “not a battleground for settling scores, nor part of any external compromises,” a top government official told Asharq Al-Awsat in an exclusive interview.
Brig. Gen. Tariq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, a member of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council with vice-presidential rank, further emphasized that diminishing the country to a pawn between powerful nations engaged in political play undermines its sovereignty and regional security.
“The world would be making a mistake by accepting Yemen as a bargaining chip in Iranian negotiations,” said Saleh, who also heads the Political Bureau of the National Resistance. He also emphasized Yemen’s strategic importance to global shipping routes.
Saleh has remained largely out of public view since the US intensified its air campaign against the Iran-aligned Houthis to stop the threat they pose to civilian shipping and military vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
He further warned that keeping Yemen “a base for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard” threatens not only Yemenis but also regional and international interests.
But achieving stability in the conflict-ridden country hinges on supporting a national state rooted in constitutional rule and genuine popular consensus, not on short-term geopolitical deals, Saleh added.
He called for stronger support for Yemeni forces on the ground to restore balance, not as a tool for escalation, but because it is a national imperative to protect civilians and preserve hard-won gains.
He said the Yemeni government was in ongoing coordination with international partners and the Saudi-led coalition backing legitimacy in Yemen to secure further assistance for the national struggle.
Cooperation with regional and international partners to bolster the country’s coast guard, particularly in the Red Sea, a strategic artery for global trade, also continues, the Yemeni official said.
Maritime security cannot be separated from national sovereignty, and defending sea lanes was integral to restoring state authority on land and at sea, Saleh said.
On achieving peace in Yemen, Saleh said: “There is no meaning to any settlement that does not subject the Houthis to the Yemeni constitution and the rule of law.” He discounted any notion that the militia group could be accommodated outside a constitutional framework.
“Peace cannot be granted to a group that rejects the state,” he said. “It is forged when the state regains the capacity to enforce the law and protect its citizens.”
For Saleh, forging a peace agreement with the Houthis — whom he describes as a bloodthirsty group with no commitment to national frameworks and an ideology rooted in an enemy state — was virtually nonexistent.
He accused the Houthis of placing their leadership and institutions tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps above Yemen’s state institutions.
“Governance is about managing people’s affairs based on shared frameworks,” Saleh said. “The Houthis do not abide by any of that.”
Saleh has put direct blame on Iran for perpetuating the conflict through its armed proxies, keeping Yemen hostage to violence and rebellion, although Tehran has continually denied its involvement.
Saleh also acknowledged the challenges facing the Presidential Leadership Council, and described the internal disagreements as “natural,” given the complexity of the crisis in Yemen.
“In the end,” he said, “what unites us is greater than any differences.
“Disagreements are natural in any leadership body, particularly in exceptional conditions like Yemen’s,” he said. “But more important is our ability to navigate this diversity and divergence while remaining committed to the national interest.”
From Dubai to Osaka to Riyadh: Expos mark decade of global dialogue, says UAE official
- UAE, Japan, and Saudi Arabia expos each bring distinct strengths and perspectives, says UAE official
- Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai will run from April 13 to Oct. 13
DUBAI: The move of expos from Dubai to Osaka and soon to Riyadh presents a “unique opportunity to shape a decade of global engagement” in the Middle East and Asia, according to Shihab Al-Faheem, the UAE pavilion commissioner general.
The sequence of the three locations “offers continuity for themes such as innovation, sustainability, and cultural dialogue,” Al-Faheem said in an interview with Arab News Japan.
“It also strengthens connections between our countries. The UAE, Japan, and Saudi Arabia each bring distinct strengths and perspectives,” he added. “By working together through these global platforms, we can create long-term partnerships that deliver meaningful outcomes for people and the planet.”
Al-Faheem, who is also the UAE’s ambassador to Japan, said the Osaka-Kansai Expo this year carries special meaning for the Gulf country.
The UAE’s first expo journey began in Osaka more than five decades ago, and the commissioner-general explained that returning to Japan was “an opportunity to continue engaging with the world and to contribute to shaping a future grounded in cooperation and collective progress.”
As the baton was passed from Dubai Expo 2020 to Osaka, Al-Faheem said the most important insight the UAE valued was that of creating experiences that are immersive, inclusive and people focused.
“We also learned that strong logistical planning and a flexible, responsive approach are essential to hosting a successful expo,” he told Arab News Japan. “We believe these lessons will resonate with Japan as it welcomes the world in 2025.”
When it comes to the UAE’s participation in Osaka this year, the country’s pavilion will continue its “immersive and multi-sensory journey” giving visitors a chance to “engage on an emotional and intellectual level.”
The UAE Pavilion’s theme is “Earth to Ether,” which expresses the Gulf country’s journey from a heritage rooted in the land to a future defined by innovation.
With sustainability and technology in mind, Al-Faheem said the pavilion uses eco-conscious materials such as Datecrete and palm-based architectural elements to reflect environmental values.
“The content of the pavilion also showcases our leadership in clean energy, smart healthcare, and space technologies,” the ambassador said.
The architectural design draws inspiration from traditional Emirati structures and uses materials from the date palm. Inside the pavilion, visitors will be able to experience stories that reflect the UAE’s values and vision for the future.
Given that the UAE and Japan have both hosted World Expos, Al-Faheem said that this has allowed the two countries to strengthen “an already deep and multifaceted relationship. These global events provide a powerful platform to showcase shared values and to develop partnerships across sectors such as energy, education, culture, and technology.”
The UAE Pavilion at Expo 2025 is expected to honor the relationship between the two countries and create new opportunities for joint initiatives.
Al-Faheem said he hopes that through the upcoming expo, the UAE will be able to deepen people-to-people ties with Japan and to create cultural and educational exchanges.
Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai will run from April 13 to Oct. 13, with an official opening ceremony on April 12.
