With only hours to go before President Trump's State of the Union address, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with the Congressional "Gang of Eight" to provide an update on the ongoing discussions with Iran. Fox News reported earlier that plans for the meeting were underway:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe will brief top congressional leaders on rising tensions in Iran on Tuesday ahead of President Donald Trump’s annual State of the Union address.
Ratcliffe and Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security advisor, will brief the so-called "Gang of Eight," congressional leadership as well as top lawmakers on the Intelligence committees, from the White House Tuesday at 3 p.m.
The closed-door session comes as the administration weighs next steps in the escalating standoff with the Islamic Republic. Talks with Iran, where the U.S. is pushing for full denuclearization and a limit on its ballistic missile program, are scheduled to resume on Thursday. White House envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff led talks last week with Iran that did not result in a tangible deal.
What we know from that briefing now is interesting, but there's one key thing that apparently wasn't mentioned. First, Iran's stance on nuclear power:
Rubio and Ratcliffe spoke with top lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Trump, who will deliver his annual State of the Union speech Tuesday night, continued to keep the world guessing — amid widespread reporting this week that Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, warned him about the risks of being drawn into a sustained conflict, which Trump denied.
Here's what we know about the nukes discussions that were briefed:
The timeframe for a possible attack has stretched as Trump dispatches his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to negotiate with Iranian officials — after the pair defied skeptics to broker a Gaza peace deal last October.
Witkoff said Saturday on Fox News that Iran was “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material” — drawing speculation that the window for negotiations may be effectively over.
Iran has made its position clear:
Meanwhile, Iran is digging in. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X Tuesday: "Our fundamental convictions are crystal clear: Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon; neither will we Iranians ever forgo our right to harness the dividends of peaceful nuclear technology for our people."
In a message directed at the American side, he added: "A deal is within reach, but only if diplomacy is given priority."
If that seems contradictory - Iran being a week away from having bomb-making material, and Iran claiming they will never develop a nuclear weapon but will never stop developing nuclear power - well, remember Aristotle's Law of Non-Contradiction. Two factually inconsistent things cannot both be true, and it's a safe bet that in this case, Iran's claim that they aren't working on nuclear weapons is untrue. On this, as with so many other things, Iran's current rulers simply cannot be trusted.
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The other thing that hasn't been mentioned is the end of Iran's theocratic regime. This thing will not end until the mullahs are gone and Iran joins the modern world, but that's not something that will be done by diplomacy; the mullahs and their minions will never step down voluntarily. They will have to be forced out, and to that end, there are, again, thousands of Iranians in the streets demanding just that.
This thing will not be resolved until the Islamic Republic is replaced by a government that doesn't recognize a Bronze Age barbarian as it's "Supreme Leader." In a couple of hours, President Trump speaks to the nation, and we will be looking forward to his remarks on Iran.
Editor's Note: With President Trump back in the White House, the state of our Union is strong once again.
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