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Trump has threatened Iran over an ultimatum that likely cannot be met

Trump’s ultimatum to Iran appears to be moving the U.S. down a path to where war is the only outcome, as occurred in 1914 – an outcome which ultimately triggered WW1.

Strategic Culture Foundation, Alastair Crooke, April 7, 2025

What is understood now is that ‘we’re no longer playing chess’. There are no rules anymore.

Trump’s ultimatum to Iran? Colonel Doug Macgregor compares the Trump ultimatum to Iran to that which Austria-Hungary delivered to Serbia in 1914: An offer, in short, that ‘could not be refused’. Serbia accepted nine out of the ten demands. But it refused one – and Austria-Hungary immediately declared war.

On 4 February, shortly after his Inauguration, President Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM); that is to say, a legally binding directive requiring government agencies to carry out the specified actions precisely.

The demands are that Iran should be denied a nuclear weapon; denied inter-continental missiles, and denied too other asymmetric and conventional weapons capabilities. All these demands go beyond the NPT and the existing JCPOA. To this end, the NSPM directs maximum economic pressure be imposed; that the U.S. Treasury act to drive Iran’s oil exports to zero; that the U.S. work to trigger JCPOA Snapback of sanctions; and that Iran’s “malign influence abroad” – its “proxies” – be neutralised.

The UN sanctions snapback expires in October, so time is short to fulfil the procedural requirements to Snapback. All this suggests why Trump and Israeli officials give Spring as the deadline to a negotiated agreement.

Trump’s ultimatum to Iran appears to be moving the U.S. down a path to where war is the only outcome, as occurred in 1914 – an outcome which ultimately triggered WW1.

Might this just be Trump bluster? Possibly, but it does sound as if Trump is issuing legally binding demands such that he must expect cannot be met. Acceptance of Trump’s demands would leave Iran neutered and stripped of its sovereignty, at the very least. There is an implicit ‘tone’ to these demands too, that is one of threatening and expecting regime change in Iran as its outcome.

It may be Trump bluster, but the President has ‘form’ (past convictions) on this issue. He has unabashedly hewed to the Netanyahu line on Iran that the JCPOA (or any deal with Iran) was ‘bad’. In May 2014, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA at Netanyahu’s behest and instead issued a new set of 12 demands to Iran – including permanently and verifiably abandoning its nuclear programme in perpetuity and ceasing all uranium enrichment.

What is the difference between those earlier Trump demands and those of this February? Essentially they are the same, except today he says: If Iran “doesn’t make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before”.

Thus, there is both history, and the fact that Trump is surrounded – on this issue at least – by a hostile cabal of Israeli Firsters and Super Hawks. Witkoff is there, but is poorly grounded on the issues. Trump too, has shown himself virtually totalitarian in terms of any and all criticism of Israel in American Academia. And in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, he is fully supportive of Netanyahu’s far-right provocative and expansionist agenda.

These present demands regarding Iran also run counter to the 25 March 2025 latest annual U.S. Intelligence Threat Assessment that Iran is NOT building a nuclear weapon. This Intelligence Assessment is effectively disregarded. A few days before its release, Trump’s National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz clearly stated that the Trump Administration is seeking the “full dismantlement” of Iran's nuclear energy program: “Iran has to give up its program in a way that the entire world can see”, Waltz said. “It is time for Iran to walk away completely from its desire to have a nuclear weapon”.

On the one hand, it seems that behind these ultimata stands a President made “pissed off and angry” at his inability to end the Ukraine war almost immediately – as he first mooted – together with pressures from a bitterly fractured Israel and a volatile Netanyahu to compress the timeline for the speedy ‘finishing off’ of the Iranian ‘regime’ (which, it is claimed, has never been weaker). All so that Israel can normalise with Lebanon –and even Syria. And with Iran supposedly ‘disabled’, pursue implementation of the Greater Israel project to be normalised across the Middle East.

Which, on the other hand, will enable Trump to pursue the ‘long-overdue’ grand pivot to China. (And China is energy-vulnerable – regime change in Tehran would be a calamity, from the Chinese perspective).

To be plain, Trump’s China strategy needs to be in place too, in order to advance Trump’s financial system re-balancing plans. …………………………………………………………………………………….. https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/04/07/break-leg-that-old-mafia-warning-trump-has-threatened-iran-over-ultimatum-that-likely-cannot-be-met/

April 11, 2025 Posted by | Iran, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Declassified MoD document reveals US Visiting Forces across Britain are exempt from nuclear safety rules

 CND 7th April 2025

At a time of heightened nuclear dangers, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has uncovered shocking evidence that US military bases across Britain are exempt from UK emergency radiation regulations.

This means that bases like RAF Lakenheath, which is being prepared to host deadly new US nuclear weapons, is under no legal obligation to have emergency radiation plans in case of nuclear accidents.

A declassified exemption order shows that the government is putting so-called ‘national security’ before people’s safety.

CND is calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to announce in Parliament that no US nuclear weapons will be welcomed in Britain and that the exemption on adhering to legally required safety standards is revoked.

A letter from CND’s lawyers Leigh Day has forced the Ministry of Defence to declassify a significant nationwide exemption certificate, issued in March 2021 by former Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, on the grounds of ‘national security’. 

The certificate exempts Visiting Forces – primarily US military personnel – engaged in work with ionising radiations, from any legal enforcement of safety standards, using powers under Regulation 40 of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 and Regulation 25 of the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulation 2019. This means they are not legally bound to have in place plans and measures for emergency situations involving radioactive materials and nuclear weapons.

This is particularly dangerous given US preparations at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk for a new nuclear weapons mission. However, the exemption not only covers RAF Lakenheath but all US military bases across Britain. 

There are at least 10,000 US Department of Defence personnel stationed at 13 RAF bases. Nuclear material for Britain’s own nuclear weapons programme is regularly transported through RAF Brize Norton and RAF Fairford regularly hosts the US B2 nuclear-capable stealth bomber. 

The government’s exemption means that local councils will never be told about the presence of nuclear weapons at these bases – and are therefore not obliged to produce their own emergency plans for a radiological accident. This puts the British population at even greater risk.

CND is calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to announce in Parliament that no US nuclear weapons will be welcomed in Britain and that the exemption on adhering to legally required safety standards is revoked. The majority of the British public don’t want US nuclear weapons in this country. 

CND is upping pressure on the government, supporting two weeks of protest actions from Monday 14 April, culminating in a blockade of the base on Saturday 26 April. The peace camp and actions are organised by the Lakenheath Alliance for Peace, of which CND is a member………………………………………………………………………………………………. https://cnduk.org/declassified-mod-document-reveals-us-visiting-forces-across-britain-are-exempt-from-nuclear-safety-rules/

April 11, 2025 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Radiation Monitoring – Scottish university in ‘world-first’ for nuclear technology

A “cutting-edge” radiation detector module for nuclear experiments has
been developed by staff and students at the University of the West of
Scotland (UWS) that will be deployed at the world’s top laboratories. The
detection module, which can be used for nuclear experiments, will have
“far-reaching impact” on the areas where radiation detection is required.

 Herald 7th April 2025,
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25068881.scottish-university-world-first-nuclear-technology/

April 11, 2025 Posted by | technology, UK | Leave a comment

Hartlepool Nuclear site moved into enhanced regulatory attention

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has moved Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station operated by EDF into enhanced regulatory attention for safety.

ONR has made the decision based on evidence gained from ongoing targeted engagements at the site which have identified areas where improvements are required.   

The change in regulatory attention level does not relate to EDF’s recent decision to extend the operating lifetime of the station in County Durham, which is subject to ongoing safety standards being demonstrated.

The enhanced regulatory attention level reflects the effort ONR is using to influence improvements in areas including conventional health and safety, the number of site incidents and the production of nuclear safety cases.

 ONR 7th April 2025, https://www.onr.org.uk/news/all-news/2025/04/nuclear-site-moved-into-enhanced-regulatory-attention/

April 11, 2025 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Ex-Hinkley boss called ‘greedy toad’ over bribes

A senior manager at a nuclear power plant has been described to a tribunal as a “greedy little toad” over claims he accepted bribes.

Ashley Daniels, who worked at Hinkley Point C in Somerset under the French energy company EDF, accepted an £11,000 quad bike from a subcontractor looking to secure more work, the employment tribunal in Bristol heard.

Mr Daniels, who the BBC understands no longer works for the company, was not the subject of the tribunal, which was brought by a former employee of the subcontractor.

The tribunal heard Mr Daniels also received gifts including £2,000 hospitality tickets for a boxing match and a refill for his Montblanc fountain pen.

The hearing, for a claim of unfair dismissal, was brought by engineer Garrick Nisbet against the subcontractor, Notus Heavy Lift Solutions.

Mr Nisbet was dismissed without notice in April 2023 in the belief he had gifted the quad bike to Mr Daniels – at the time the head of lifting and temporary works at Hinkley – to “ensure that work was directed” to Notus, the hearing was told.

Speaking about messages he had sent regarding the alleged bribes, Mr Nisbet told the tribunal Mr Daniels was “cheeky and a greedy little toad”.

In other messages, the tribunal heard, he said the purchase of the quad bike would give Notus “a bit of breathing space”, later saying Mr Daniels was “hard to say no to”.

‘Clearly bribes’

Hinkley Point B halted operations in August 2022 having come to the end of its life, with Hinkley Point C under construction since late 2018………….

 BBC 8th April 2025 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn7xv8vyzp3o

April 11, 2025 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment