Tel Aviv, April 18 (RHC)-- Israel’s public news broadcaster has claimed that nine American military transport aircraft loaded with bunker-busting bombs landed at an Israeli airbase near Tel Aviv.
“Nine U.S. transport planes carrying bunker-busting bombs and other defensive weapons landed at Nevatim Airbase near Tel Aviv, in central Israel,” Anadolu reported, quoting the Israeli broadcasting authority KAN.
The broadcaster claimed that the shipment came “in anticipation of a possible joint U.S.-Israeli strike, should nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran fail.”
On March 7th, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he had written to Iran to call for nuclear negotiations and threaten military action. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on March 21st that U.S. threats "will get them nowhere" and warned of reciprocal measures "if they do anything malign" against Iran.
Earlier this month, at an emergency meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, United States President Donald Trump announced that Washington was about to hold "direct" talks with Tehran for the first time since 2018.
But Tehran rejected the proposal over Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign and threats of military action against the Islamic Republic.
The announcement came after Trump openly threatened to bomb Iran. Trump's remarks seem to chagrin the scandal-ridden Netanyahu, who is repeatedly accused of trying to push Trump to expand the Israeli-U.S. genocide in Gaza into a disastrous, all-out regional war.
Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Steve Witkoff, the US president’s special envoy for Middle East affairs, led the first round of indirect talks in the Omani capital of Muscat.
Both sides described the talks as positive and constructive, with Araghchi saying that the next round is expected to occur on April 19 at the same level.
Tehran warned that Washington's hostile rhetoric as well as illegal and unilateral sanctions vis-a-vis the Islamic Republic “pave the way for the destruction of international norms.”
Eitkoff on Tuesday said Iran “must stop and eliminate” its nuclear enrichment program to reach a deal with Washington.
The remark contradicted an earlier stance by the United States concerning Iran’s enrichment of uranium at a low level to produce energy.
At an emergency meeting with Netanyahu, Trump announced the resumption of talks with Iran for the first time since 2018, set to begin on Saturday. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei warned that making fundamental mistakes could disrupt the negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Baghaei described Washington's move as moving the goalposts. He said it “constitutes a professional foul and an unfair act in football.”
