Image source: EPA
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington must decide whether to move forward with additional steps towards Iran or “ratify the agreement,” stressing that he will implement many things during the next two weeks.
Trump told reporters at the White House regarding the proposals being considered by Iran, “It does not matter what the proposals include, it will not possess nuclear weapons,” adding that Tehran will not take any step without Washington’s approval.
Trump said that the United States has control in Iran of everything it has wanted to control since it began its presence there seven months ago, adding, "You will soon know what we will decide about Iran," expressing his preference not to destroy what is left of Iran, but he said, "I may have to."
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is also facing increasing pressure, with Democrats in Congress announcing their intention to open investigations into his performance and management of the war on Iran, while a Republican representative intends to submit articles of impeachment in preparation for his removal.
These moves come after the Democrats won a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the midterm elections, at a time when President Donald Trump and his vice president, Jay Dee Vance, attributed the Republican losses to the war on Iran, of which Hegseth was one of the most prominent supporters and spokesmen for the administration regarding it.
Despite mounting calls for his impeachment, Trump still stands by his defense secretary, saying that he is “doing a very good job,” in response to a question about the possibility of appointing a successor to him.
The Democrats' victory in both chambers gives the party the ability to intensify oversight of the Department of Defense, open investigations into the conduct of the war, as well as influence funding allocated to the Pentagon and military operations.
Democratic Representative Jason Crow, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he would pursue Hegseth, accusing him of "incompetence and corruption" and endangering national security and American soldiers.
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For his part, Representative Adam Smith, the committee's top Democrat, said that its priorities would include tightening oversight of the Department of Defense and the Trump administration, including the war on Iran, which he described as "illegal."
On the other hand, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that Hegseth “will not back down and will not be deterred by politicians seeking to achieve partisan gains or open sham investigations,” stressing his commitment to leading the Department of Defense until the end of Trump’s term.
On the Republican side, Representative Thomas Massie intends to present articles of impeachment against Hegseth in preparation for his removal, when the House of Representatives resumes its sessions next week, saying that he will not resubmit them if the minister resigns.
Hegseth, who assumed his position in early 2025, is being followed by a series of controversies, most notably the scandal of leaking details of an American military operation in Yemen through a conversation on the Signal application, to which the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine was mistakenly added.
US strikes on boats suspected of being used for drug smuggling in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific have also sparked controversy, especially after survivors of a previous attack were killed in a second strike.
The criticism also included decisions to dismiss a number of senior military leaders, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Brown, without providing detailed public explanations for these dismissals.
Smith said that the Armed Services Committee would also discuss strikes on boats, the deployment of military forces in American cities, and what he described as “blatant and destructive politicization” of the armed forces.
Putin receives the Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council in Moscow
Image source: AFP via Getty Images
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin received in Moscow Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaei and held “very important discussions” with him on strengthening relations between the two countries.
Russia and Iran are among the countries most exposed to international sanctions, and they have close political relations. Their military and economic partnership has greatly strengthened since the Russian attack on Ukraine more than four years ago.
Rezaei told reporters after the meeting that he held "very important discussions about the prospects" of relations between Moscow and Tehran, according to what the Iranian embassy reported.
Rezaei added that the Russian President stressed “the necessity of having regional security mechanisms,” rejecting “any interference by external forces” in settling the situation in the Middle East.
The Iranian official also explained that he discussed "the issue of extending gas lines between Russia and Iran, which will not only fill the gas shortage within the Iranian market, but will also allow organizing the transfer of Russian gas to neighboring countries."
He pointed out that he conveyed to Putin a personal message from the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Mojtaba Khamenei.
Putin assured his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, in early October, of Russia's readiness to contribute to mediation efforts aimed at ending the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran.
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