US Iran ties News

Iran`s president told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that the United States could impose "neither negotiations nor war" on the Islamic Republic. This comes amid heightened tension between the longtime foes over Tehran`s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers. "Iran is not a bargaining chip in US elections and domestic policy...," Hassan Rouhani told the annual UN gathering in a video message.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will likely travel to New York on Thursday to seek a return of all UN sanctions on Iran and meet with UN Secretary-General. To trigger a return of the sanctions, the US will submit a complaint to the UNSC about Iran`s non-compliance with the nuclear deal. Pompeo will likely meet with Indonesia`s UN Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani, the Security Council president for August, to submit the complaint, diplomats said.

"The United States has the unambiguous right, without the consent of any other nation, to ensure that this arms embargo stays in place," Pompeo told reporters.

The Democratic-controlled House voted 224-194, mostly along party lines, sending the war powers resolution to the Senate. The partisan vote reflected the deep divide in Congress over Trump`s Iran policy and how much of a say lawmakers should have over the use of the military.

Iranian-backed demonstrators who hurled rocks at the U.S. embassy in two days of protests withdrew on Wednesday after Washington dispatched extra troops. US President Donald Trump, who faces a re-election campaign in 2020, accused Iran of orchestrating the violence. He threatened on Tuesday to retaliate against Iran but said later he did not want war.

The US cautioned that the crewmembers of vessels assisting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) may be ineligible for visas or admission to the US under the terrorism-related inadmissibility grounds.

The Air Force did not give the total number of F-22s deployed, the US media reported.

Trump tweeted just days the United States came within minutes of bombing Iranian targets. "In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration," the US president tweeted.

 Iran will firmly confront any aggression or threat by America," he told Tasnim.

Trump declined to say what prompted him to deploy the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group to the region over what was described as unspecified threats.

US officials said they would keep squeezing Iran to force it to return to the negotiating table for a more comprehensive deal that would seek to curtail Iranian ambitions in the Middle East.