Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian . According to IAEA Iran enriched about 970 lbs of Uranium at 60 % enough to make about 15 nuclear bombs when further enriched to 90 % . Nuclear power plants usually require enrichment of up to 4 % . Under Iran’s political structure, major policy decisions rest with Iran’s Supreme Leader rather than the elected president alone
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denied Friday that Tehran sought nuclear weapons, expressed readiness for dialogue and condemned U.S. sanctions during talks with Georgia’s prime minister.
The Strait of Hormuz will reopen if the U.S. leaves the Middle East, a spokesman for Iran‘s army said Friday. “If it does not leave, we will expel it,” Mohammad Akraminia wrote on X.
Ships remain exposed to “indiscriminate attacks” in the Strait of Hormuz, even if they try to hide their movements by switching off tracking systems, a maritime monitor warned Thursday, confirming three strikes on vessels in the waterway this week.
Shipping attacks jump in Strait of Hormuz, British monitor says
A British monitor says October has become the busiest month for reported attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz since March, during the Iran war’s opening months.
That’s as the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said it was “struggling to accurately report” the true number of attacks since most ships now refuse to report them.
Still, UKMTO said 10 attacks were reported in the week ending Friday. One ship sank. Since early July, most attacks have occurred off Oman, where the U.S. military has been guiding vessels at risk of Iranian attack.
There has been an uptick in attacks since President Trump late last month rejected a Tehran proposal to end the war and open the strait, though indirect negotiations have continued.
2 missiles strike airport in Yemen’s port city of Aden, officials say
Two missiles struck the airport in Yemen’s port city of Aden on Friday night, police said, blaming Iran-backed Houthi rebels for the second such attack in less than a week.
Police said no casualties were reported as fighting escalates in the latest front in the Iran war, one in which the rebels have attacked both neighboring Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s internationally recognized government that’s backed by the kingdom.
A security official and a traffic controller told The Associated Press an area of the Aden airport that hosts a military unit aligned with the Saudi-backed government was hit. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility by the Houthis
Iran denies Saudi accusation of involvement in Houthi attacks
Iran’s foreign ministry on Friday rejected Saudi Arabia’s accusation that Tehran was involved in Houthi attacks on the kingdom, offering to mediate between the two sides.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran rejects any claim that Iran has played a role in Yemeni (Houthi) operations,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement, reiterating Tehran’s offer to act as a bridge between the Houthis and Riyadh.
Regardless of how involved Iran has been in Houthi attacks, the two groups have long held close ties.
They are funded , armed and trained by Iran and a key member of Iran’s Axis of Resistance — a loose alliance of anti-Arab, anti- Israel, anti-U.S. militant groups that includes Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“The Houthis are the most powerful proxy within the Iranian network, hands down,” said Mohammed Al-Basha, founder of the Basha Report, a U.S.-based risk advisory group. “Any U.S. military strategy planning a campaign on Iran will have to take into consideration what the Houthis will do next.”
Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have killed about 20 people and injured hundreds in the last several weeks, including 13 in one strike on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport last weekend.
Iran’s president denies nuclear ambitions, says country ready for talks
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denied Friday that Tehran sought nuclear weapons, expressed readiness for dialogue and condemned U.S. sanctions during talks with Georgia’s prime minister.
In his meeting with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Pezeshkian also called for closer ties with Georgia, weeks after Tbilisi cut aviation links between the two countries following U.S. sanctions targeting Iranian airlines.
The two met on the sidelines of a U.N. biodiversity summit in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan.
“Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons, and we consider the malicious propaganda against our country to be lies,” Pezeshkian said, according to a statement from his office.
“We have always been ready for dialogue. They think they can force us to surrender, but we will not bow to coercion,” he added, calling U.S. sanctions against Tehran “unjustifiable and inhumane.”
Georgia’s Civil Aviation Agency said in September it would comply with U.S. sanctions, while Kobakhidze insisted Tbilisi was not imposing its own bilateral sanctions on Tehran.
CBS
