Iran-Trump latest: US president tells Tehran it ‘can’t have a nuclear weapon’ and delivers new deadline

– The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, spotted this week off Oman.

– The USS Gerald R Ford, spotted this week in the Mediterranean.

– Accompanying strike groups of destroyers and capacity for some 90 aircraft each.

– F-15s, A-10 Warthogs and C-130 transport aircraft in Jordan.

– More than 50 F-35, F-22 and F-16 fighter jets, and KC-135 tankers in the region, according to flight data and a US official.

– B-2 bombers capable of mid-air refuelling over long distances.

– Three Littoral combat ships, and two or three attack submarines.

Donald Trump is reportedly weighing an initial limited military strike on Iran in order to get it to comply with its nuclear demands.

The initial action would not be a full-scale war, but would aim to pressure Tehran into an agreement by targeting a few military or government sites, the Wall Street Journal has said.

The newspaper reported that if Iran still did not make an agreement following the strike, the US would then respond with broader action.

The US president said on Thursday he would give Iran around 10 to 15 days to make a deal on its nuclear programme.

He told reporters on Air Force One: “We’re either going to get a deal or it’s going to be unfortunate for them.”

Donald Trump has extended his deadline for Iran to make a deal on its nuclear programme to 10-15 days before he takes action.

He told reporters on Air Force One: “We’re either going to get a deal or it’s going to be unfortunate for them.”

Earlier on Thursday he set a deadline of ten days “to find out” Iran’s fate as he reiterated the regime “cannot have a nuclear weapon”.

But speaking later, he said: “10-15 days, pretty much maximum.”

Russia has urged Iran and ‘other parties’ to show restraint, amid growing tensions in the Middle East.

The US has deployed warships near Iran, while also holding talks with Tehran on limiting its nuclear programme.

Russia has a strategic partnership treaty with Iran, although it does not include a mutual defence clause.

A Russian naval corvette conducted manoeuvres with the Iranian navy in the Gulf of Oman this week, according to Russia’s Defence Ministry.

“These are planned exercises; they are coordinated in advance,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“We call on our Iranian friends and all parties in the region to exercise restraint and caution, and we urge them to prioritize political and diplomatic means in resolving any problems,”

“Right now, we are indeed seeing an unprecedented escalation of tensions in the region.”

Denmark’s maritime authority has detained an Iran-flagged container vessel anchored in the Nordic country’s waters.

The ship, using the name “Nora” according to LSEG data, was initially sailing under a flag for Comoros, a country off the coast of East Africa.

But Comoros informed Denmark that the vessel was not found in its registry, the Danish authority said.

“The ship is detained until a flag state can demonstrate to the Danish maritime authority that it is registered and fully certified,” the authority said, adding it would conduct a port state inspection of the vessel before it could be released.

LSEG data show the ‘Nora’ is now under the Iranian flag.

Donald Trump said this afternoon that the United States had to make a meaningful deal with Iran, or “bad things” would happen.

The US president insisted good talks were still ongoing after negotiations in Geneva concluded without a breakthrough.

But speaking at the inaugural meeting of his so-called Board of Peace on Thursday, he seized the opportunity to threaten Iran with military actions should talks go awry.

“You’re going to be finding out over the next, probably 10 days,” he said, setting what appeared to be a new deadline for diplomacy.

Trump met with world leaders at the recently renamed Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace on Thursday to announce initial contributions to the rebuilding of Gaza. The Board, controversially, includes Israeli but not Palestinian representatives.

..and that’s what an increasingly likely massive strike against the Middle Eastern state would be, warns Warren Getler, and only Congress can approve that. Which is why the US president must come clean with the American public: