Trump’s Day and the “atomic energy” ultimatum… Has the hour of confrontation with Iran struck again? | policy

Between mutual field military strikes and mounting international diplomatic pressure, the Iranian nuclear file is experiencing a complex scene that is open to decisive paths.

While the United States launches targeted strikes and threatens to target Iran’s infrastructure, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna approved a pivotal resolution against Tehran, coinciding with an intense regional diplomatic movement in the Iranian capital racing against the clock to break the prevailing stalemate and prevent a slide into a comprehensive war.

Trump’s warnings

In this context, Al Jazeera’s correspondent from the White House, Wajd Waqfi, reported that US President Donald Trump issued a clear and frank warning to Iran that it had missed an opportunity from which it could have gained, namely reaching an agreement with the United States, due to the stagnation that prevailed in the talks during the past few days following the incident of the Apache helicopter being shot down.

Waqfi pointed out that Trump’s threat to bomb Iranian energy facilities and bridges is primarily aimed at pressuring Tehran and the mediators to move the deadlock in the talks, stressing that the nature of the limited American response clearly reflects the American administration’s keenness to keep diplomatic channels open as the best way to reach an agreement.

In light of this heated scene, Trump said that the United States would strike Iran “strongly” again, on Wednesday, after attacks launched last night under the pretext of responding to the downing of an American Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz.

In the context of the scenes of the negotiations, Waqfi drew attention to what US Vice President J.D. Vance said that the administration has come a long way beyond the issue of reaching a memorandum of understanding, as intensive negotiations took place on the nuclear program and uranium enrichment activities.

These negotiations came after US envoys Jared Kushner and Stephen Witkoff met with 200 American nuclear experts to develop a clear plan to limit the Iranian program.

Military alert and mediation race

For his part, the director of Al Jazeera’s office in Tehran, Nour al-Din al-Daghir, explained that Iran is following the American threats seriously and expects any military action, even though what happened on the night of Tuesday-Wednesday did not deviate from the circle of skirmishes and did not lead to a comprehensive and open confrontation.

Al-Daghir monitored the statements of the spokesman for the Iranian General Staff, Brigadier General Abu al-Fadl Shakarchi, which focused on two parts, the first of which was classifying the Iranian strikes as a “response to the attack,” and the second of which was the declaration of full alert for all formations of the Armed Forces and the Revolutionary Guard to deter any “American-Israeli aggression.”

According to Al-Daghir, this Iranian alert is centered on an internal military assessment that anticipates a large-scale attack planned by the United States and Israel at any moment.

On the diplomatic track, Al-Daghir referred to the race of mediators against the clock, as a Qatari delegation arrived in Tehran as part of a mediation framework to stop the war and resolve the ongoing dispute, in conjunction with contacts between the Iranian Foreign Minister and his Saudi and Egyptian counterparts, and the continued presence of the Pakistani mediator at the forefront.

The director of Al Jazeera’s office in Tehran stated that the consensus had been reached regarding Iran obtaining its funds through mediators, while the disagreement centered on “the timing and timing of the nuclear negotiations,” in addition to the ambiguity of the proposal to manage the Strait of Hormuz (whether in the presence of an Iranian-American-Omani trio, an Iranian-Omani presence, or canceling the idea).

The most important obstacle remains the refusal of both parties to make concessions that are interpreted in political custom as an admission of defeat, Al-Daghir says.

Atomic Agency decision

In Vienna, Al Jazeera correspondent from the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Issa Tibi, said that the Board of Governors officially adopted a draft resolution that he described as pivotal, presented by the European Troika (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) and America against Iran, a year after the relationship between the agency and Tehran stopped.

A majority of more than 21 countries out of 35 voted in favor of the resolution, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Morocco, while 3 countries, Russia, China, and Niger, opposed it, and 10 countries abstained from voting, most notably India and Brazil.

Tibi explained that the decision will not be referred to the Security Council because it follows the context of non-referral that has been in place since June 5, 2025, adding that the agency has lost any detailed knowledge of the quantities of enriched uranium.

Tibi explained that the decision includes two main elements:

• Investigating the amount of highly enriched uranium and warning of an Iranian distortion.
• Determining the fate of Iranian nuclear facilities, especially those that were bombed, and the desire of major countries to send inspectors to find out the facts on their behalf.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent quoted Iran’s representative, Reza Najafi, describing the decision as “exploitation and hypocrisy” carried out by the agency in collusion with those countries, stressing that it is a meaningless decision that ignores the strikes that affected Iranian facilities, and does not help in the “fragile peace” between Washington and Tehran.

According to the Iranian delegate, the response to the resolution will come from Tehran, and that Iran’s nuclear project will proceed in accordance with its gains and principles.