We will defeat Iran's axis of terror, Netanyahu tells Trump

The comments by the hawkish South Carolina senator who is a longtime Trump confidant are among the most direct yet by a senior decision-maker supporting a US military intervention on Iran.

"The next question for the world is what do we do about the Iran nuclear program," Graham told CBS Face the Nation on Sunday.

"With diplomacy, there's a one in a trillion chance you'll degrade the Iranian nuclear program. There's a 90% chance you'll degrade it through military action by Israel supported by the United States.

The veteran senator is one of the biggest advocates of a more muscular policy abroad and is a vocal supporter of Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he credited with delivering heavy blows to Iran-backed groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

Trump said in November that Iran "can't have nuclear weapons" but "I’d like them to be a very successful country."

Sworn in on Monday, Trump has repeatedly suggested he is disinclined to pursue regime change in Iran and has not publicly mentioned any military option on Iran.

Graham said he would engage Trump "to take this moment in time to decimate the Iranian nuclear program, to help Israel deliver the knock-out blow."

"(The Islamic Republic) is a religious nazi regime," Graham continued. "They want to destroy the Jewish State, they want to purify Islam and drive us out of the Mideast, it would be like negotiating with Hitler.

“Over the years, adversaries have tried to weaken Iran in this field and entangle the country in international issues," Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said during a military conference in Tehran

"That is precisely why they do not want Iran to have full, indigenous control over it.”

Kamalvandi emphasized that the nuclear program not only strengthens Iran's international position but also drives domestic progress.

“This industry has significant impacts on people’s lives,” he added, highlighting applications for energy, medicine, agriculture, and environmental protection.

Iranian officials have repeatedly asserted that the country's nuclear program is peaceful, referring to a religious ruling by Khamenei prohibiting weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear bombs.

However, Kamalvandi's remarks emphasized its potential to create deterrence and balance power on the international stage, aligning it with broader security objectives.

“Power in today’s international world is distributed based on balance and realism. Islam recognized this long ago and considered power as a foundation for creating deterrence."

Iranian hardliners have previously advocated for developing nuclear weapons as a deterrent. Following Israeli airstrikes on October 26, Javan, a newspaper affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, urged Tehran to consider developing nuclear arms to counter external threats.

Last year in October, amid heightened tensions with Israel, thirty-nine Iranian lawmakers called on Iran's Supreme National Security Council to review the country's defense doctrine and consider adopting nuclear weapons.

Kamalvandi’s remarks come at a time when tensions with the United States are widely expected to escalate following Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Tehran has expressed concern that Trump’s administration might embolden Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to consider striking Iran’s nuclear facilities, further intensifying the region's volatile security dynamics.

Casting his vote on Election Day in November, Trump appeared to downplay any attempt to knock out Iran's ruling system but said Iran could not have nuclear arms.

“My terms are very easy,” Trump said, adding that Iran "can't have nuclear weapons." "I’d like them to be a very successful country,” he added, but declined to detail specific plans for US-Iran relations should he return to office.

In addition to meetings and panel discussions, state media reported that Zarif is scheduled to participate in a conversation with CNN host Fareed Zakaria on the event's sidelines.

While business and political leaders began gathering in Davos on Monday for the four-day summit, US President-elect Donald Trump's swearing in ceremony was expected to dominate discussions despite his absence from the event.

Trump will address participants virtually on Thursday.

Last year, the World Economic Forum faced calls to revoke its invitation to Iran’s then Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian due to his close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and support for Hamas.

"We were not supposed to burn mazut at all, and we announced this. But then we got stuck. If we hadn't used it, we would have had to cut off gas supplies to households, because our consumption is many times higher than in other countries. We were forced to," Pezeshkian said in a speech broadcast on state TV.

"In order to stop these problems from happening next year, we've started to create plans," he added, without providing further details.

Iran, one of the largest oil producers in the world, has faced a severe gasoline shortage since last summer. That shortage has prompted refineries to bulk out the fuel's volume with other substances, like mazut.

In November 2024, the government issued a decree ordering an increase in household gas tariffs and authorizing provinces to use mazut in all power plants and industries.

Despite repeated promises since to phase out the use of the highly polluting fuel oil in power plants, several reports suggest the practice has not stopped.

Tehran has also implemented rolling power cuts for residential and commercial areas this winter due to a severe shortage of natural gas, the primary fuel source for the country's power plants. The government initially presented the rolling blackouts as a necessary measure to avoid using mazut or diesel.

According to a 2023 report by Radio Farda, official Oil Ministry reports showed that the country intensified its use of mazut in December 2022 to 38.5 million liters per day, a 22 percent increase, and 42 million liters per day in January 2023.

Mazut, the non-standard gasoline contains harmful additives and has significantly contributed to the air pollution crisis in the country.

In 2023, UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment David Boyd called on Iran to halt the practice, declaring it a human rights violation.

"Iran is burning mazut, one of the dirtiest fuels, to generate electricity. This produces massive volumes of toxic air pollution, which poisons millions of people in Iran, violating their human rights, including the right to a healthy environment. Iran must stop burning mazut!," the post on X read.

The use of the low-grade fuel mazut by power plants in Iran has been linked to severe harm to public health and even fatalities, with Iranians frequently expressing frustration over the worsening air quality and pollution in many cities.

"Iran has never discussed its military capabilities with anyone and never will," spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said, when asked if Iranian diplomats had addressed potential missile limitations during their meeting with European representatives last week.

The issue of limiting the country's long-range missiles has been a topic of discussion for years.

When the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement was signed, Tehran committed not to develop missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads. The United Nations recognizes the agreement as part of Resolution 2231, which formalized the terms of the JCPOA.

“Paragraph 3 of Annex B of resolution 2231 (2015) calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology,” it reads in part.

Iran has continued the research and development of ballistic missiles, insisting that these missiles are not intended to carry nuclear weapons.

During Donald Trump's first term as president, the administration demanded that Iran halt its missile program as a precondition for negotiating a new nuclear agreement following its withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018.

In 2024, amid rising tensions in the region, Tehran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Israel on two occasions. While most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel and its allies' air defense systems, a few caused damage inside Israel.

Although Tehran has not developed nuclear weapons, expert have cautioned that its ballistic missiles could be modified to carry warheads if it chooses to pursue them in the future, potentially following the North Korean model.

Tehran, already burdened by international sanctions, is bracing for an even tougher sanctions regime as Donald Trump makes his return to the White House. This has prompted growing calls from some Iranian government officials and politicians for negotiations with the incoming administration to ease US sanctions.

In comments to reporters, Baghaei repeated previous threats by Tehran that if UN sanctions are brought back this year as part of the JCPOA “snapback mechanism,” Iran might withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, however, has yet to signal any willingness to compromise on key issues, such as high-level uranium enrichment or the ballistic missile program.

When a reporter asked the spokesman about leaving the NPT as a retaliatory option, Baghaei said, "If the snapback mechanism is used as a tool to pressure Iran or extract concessions, our response will be proportional. It has been clearly stated that any misuse of this mechanism means there will no longer be justification for Iran to remain in certain existing agreements. This position has been expressed before as well."