Iran Rejects Uranium Transfer as US Sends Warships

Iran has refused to transfer enriched uranium abroad as the United States sends two naval groups and roughly 9,000 sailors and Marines to the Middle East, amid a standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program. The deployments widen Washington’s options, but the article says they don’t, on their own, show that an attack has been ordered or is imminent.

On Tuesday, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei told visiting Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir: “Not even a tiny bit of enriched nuclear material will leave Iran.” Rezaei called the uranium a national asset and said the United States must rebuild trust. Iran says talks can’t resume without US concessions.

Nuclear Standoff and Naval Deployment

The USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group and the USS Makin Island amphibious group are heading to the region. The Roosevelt left San Diego on September 27 and is expected to replace the Japan-based USS George Washington, which has been operating there. Together, the naval groups give Washington greater flexibility for air operations, protecting shipping and responding to regional threats.

President Donald Trump is weighing whether to resume strikes against Iran, but says he won’t launch them before the November 3 US midterm elections. Washington says any agreement must prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons; Iran denies seeking an atomic bomb. Iran has suggested it might consider diluting uranium enriched to 60 per cent purity inside the country, while refusing to send the material abroad.

President Masoud Pezeshkian rejected talks under military threats and demanded sanctions relief. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Washington must meet Iran’s seven conditions, including ending the US blockade of Iranian ports, releasing frozen assets and halting regional hostilities.

Iran’s Military Preparations and Threats

Iranian military expert Mohammad Sadegh Alizadeh said lessons from the 12-day war in June 2025 and the 40-day war that began on 28 February prompted changes to the tactics of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ aerospace and naval forces, as well as the army’s air defences. He said Iran had upgraded parts of its missile arsenal, including converting some missiles capable of reaching Israel into modular systems that can be activated faster and with fewer logistical requirements.

Coastal anti-ship missiles have also received technical improvements, Alizadeh said, and recent exercises tested their capabilities. He cited reports of possible arms purchases from allied countries, including hypersonic anti-ship missiles. Alizadeh said those weapons would follow more complex flight paths and prove harder to intercept, though their range is shorter than that of Iran’s ballistic missiles.

Former IRGC commander Hossein Kanani Moghaddam said Iran’s response to another attack could extend beyond reciprocal strikes, potentially targeting US bases, Israeli positions across the region and sites farther away. He cited possible strikes on Haifa, Tel Aviv and the Dimona nuclear facility, and referred to weapons not previously deployed, including what he described as powerful electromagnetic bombs and a missile called Rastakhiz, or Resurrection. Those claims haven’t been independently verified.

Iranian military chief Ali Abdollahi said Tehran had developed missiles that could not be detected or intercepted and warned of a harsher response to any new attack. Senior security official Mohsen Rezaei said Iran had prepared a plan more destructive than those used in the previous two wars, without providing details. IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebi suggested Iran could target seven major undersea internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz.

Regional Fronts and Israel’s Security Policy

The confrontation has raised fears for Gulf shipping, oil infrastructure and undersea communications. Gulf stock markets fell on Wednesday as hopes for progress faded, Reuters reported, while oil prices remained sensitive to threats to shipping through the strait.

A future conflict could draw in Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Houthis are fighting across the border with Saudi Arabia and waging a domestic war against Saudi-backed government forces. Hezbollah, which had refrained from striking Israel for months, was preparing to escalate. Netanyahu and Israeli government ministers warned Lebanon of serious consequences if Hezbollah joined the war alongside Iran, including an expanded occupation of southern territories and renewed bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs. Iraqi militias could also join in; US-Israeli strikes have hit bases belonging to Shia armed factions that have targeted US interests in Iraq and the Gulf.

Reports said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought a fresh bombing campaign against Iran earlier in October, but Trump opposed it. According to a Financial Times report, Israel had prepared a multi-day campaign for the weekend of 10 October, targeting Iranian power plants, nuclear facilities and sites associated with the government. Trump opposed reigniting the conflict before the midterms, and the proposed operation was shelved. A source familiar with Netanyahu’s plans called renewed US-Israeli strikes in the coming weeks “not an unreasonable scenario.”

Netanyahu said Israel must prioritize “prevention and offense over containment and defense,” including pre-emptive strikes, while establishing Israel as a regional power and maximizing its independence in armaments. He also said: “Completing the task means toppling the terrorist regime in Iran, the head of the venomous octopus.” Analysts said Israel’s election next week was unlikely to alter its Iran-focused security doctrine. Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israeli communities and the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran hardened the strategic assumptions behind that policy.