Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Jan 31, 2026

Iran can respond to America’s ‘other options’, top official replies after Biden says he’s ready to act should diplomacy fail

Iran can respond to America’s ‘other options’, top official replies after Biden says he’s ready to act should diplomacy fail

US President Joe Biden said the US can turn to “other options” should negotiations with Iran fail. A senior Iranian official responded, saying it’s an illegal threat and that Tehran has the right to respond in kind.

The warning from Tehran was voiced on Saturday by the secretary the Supreme National Security Council, Admiral Ali Shamkhani, who tweeted it in Farsi, English, Hebrew, and Arabic.


He noted the “emphasis on using ‘Other Options’ against Iran” expressed during a meeting between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House on Friday. The signal was “an illegal threat to another country” that “establishes the Islamic Republic of Iran’s right to reciprocal response to ‘Available Options,’” Shamkhani said, adding the hashtag #ActiveResistance.

The response was to the assurances given by Biden to Bennett that the US won’t hesitate to take action against Iran should the preferred path of diplomacy prove to be fruitless.

“If diplomacy fails, we’re ready to turn to other options,” the president said, without offering specifics.

The meeting in Washington came one day behind schedule after a delay due to the terrorist attack in Kabul on Thursday, which killed over 170 people, including 13 US troops. The first one-on-one meeting between the newly-elected leaders was meant to smooth the tensions that festered under Bennett’s predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu. The former prime minister was a vocal critic of the Obama-era multilateral nuclear deal with Iran, and Biden’s attempt to negotiate its revival after Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement.

The rift was exemplified by a reported lack of intelligence cooperation between Netanyahu’s government and the Biden administration. According to the New York Times, the Israelis didn’t inform the US about their planned attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear site in April until the very last moment, giving the Americans no opportunity to call it off, should they have wanted to. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the act of sabotage.

The Biden administration and Iran have been conducting indirect talks in Vienna for months, but no breakthrough has come out of it. The 2015 agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), became increasingly meaningless after Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018, and targeted Iran with crippling economic sanctions.

Tehran started reneging on its part of the bargain a year later, saying that other Western signatories of the deal failed to adequately compensate for the damage done to Iran by the US move. Under the JCPOA, Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear industry in exchange for sanctions relief and lucrative business opportunities.

The lack of trust between Iran and the US was highlighted by the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who held his first formal meeting with the incoming conservative government on Saturday. He stressed that no administration in Washington should be trusted, regardless of who is in charge of it, saying, “There is a predatory wolf behind the scenes of US foreign policy that sometimes turns into a cunning fox.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
AstraZeneca Announces £11bn China Investment After Scaling Back UK Expansion Plans
Starmer and Xi Forge Warming UK-China Ties in Beijing Amid Strategic Reset
Tesla Ends Model S and X Production and Sends $2 Billion to xAI as 2025 Revenue Declines
Starmer Seeks Economic Gains From China Visit While Navigating US Diplomatic Sensitivities
Starmer Says China Visit Will Deliver Economic Benefits as He Prepares to Meet Xi Jinping
UK Prime Minister Starmer Arrives in China to Bolster Trade and Warn Firms of Strategic Opportunities
The AI Hiring Doom Loop — Algorithmic Recruiting Filters Out Top Talent and Rewards Average or Fake Candidates
UK Banks Pledge £11 Billion Lending Package to Help Firms Expand Overseas
Suella Braverman Defects to Reform UK, Accusing Conservatives of Betrayal on Core Policies
Melania Trump Documentary Sees Limited Box Office Traction in UK Cinemas
UK’s Starmer and Trump Agree on Urgent Need to Bolster Arctic Security
Starmer Breaks Diplomatic Restraint With Firm Rebuke of Trump, Seizing Chance to Advocate for Europe
UK Finance Minister Reeves to Join Starmer on China Visit to Bolster Trade and Economic Ties
Prince Harry Says Sacrifices of NATO Forces in Afghanistan Deserve ‘Respect’ After Trump Remarks
Barron Trump Emerges as Key Remote Witness in UK Assault and Rape Trial
Trump Reverses Course and Criticises UK-Mauritius Chagos Islands Agreement
Elizabeth Hurley Tells UK Court of ‘Brutal’ Invasion of Privacy in Phone Hacking Case
UK Bond Yields Climb as Report Fuels Speculation Over Andy Burnham’s Return to Parliament
Prince William to Make Official Visit to Saudi Arabia in February
Prince Harry Breaks Down in London Court, Says UK Tabloids Have Made Meghan Markle’s Life ‘Absolute Misery’
Malin + Goetz UK Business Enters Administration, All Stores Close
EU and UK Reject Trump’s Greenland-Linked Tariff Threats and Pledge Unified Response
UK Deepfake Crackdown Puts Intense Pressure on Musk’s Grok AI After Surge in Non-Consensual Explicit Images
Prince Harry Becomes Emotional in London Court, Invokes Memory of Princess Diana in Testimony Against UK Tabloids
UK Inflation Rises Unexpectedly but Interest Rate Cuts Still Seen as Likely
Starmer Steps Back from Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Amid Strained US–UK Relations
Prince Harry’s Lawyer Tells UK Court Daily Mail Was Complicit in Unlawful Privacy Invasions
UK Government Approves China’s ‘Mega Embassy’ in London Amid Debate Over Security and Diplomacy
Trump Cites UK’s Chagos Islands Sovereignty Shift as Justification for Pursuing Greenland Acquisition
UK Government Weighs Australia-Style Social Media Ban for Under-Sixteens Amid Rising Concern Over Online Harm
Trump Aides Say U.S. Has Discussed Offering Asylum to British Jews Amid Growing Antisemitism Concerns
UK Seeks Diplomatic De-escalation with Trump Over Greenland Tariff Threat
Prince Harry Returns to London as High Court Trial Begins Over Alleged Illegal Tabloid Snooping
High-Speed Train Collision in Southern Spain Kills at Least Twenty-One and Injures Scores
Meghan Markle May Return to the U.K. This Summer as Security Review Advances
Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat Sparks EU Response and Risks Deep Transatlantic Rift
Prince Harry’s High Court Battle With Daily Mail Publisher Begins in London
Trump’s Tariff Escalation Presents Complex Challenges for the UK Economy
UK Prime Minister Starmer Rebukes Trump’s Greenland Tariff Strategy as Transatlantic Tensions Rise
Prince Harry’s Last Press Case in UK Court Signals Potential Turning Point in Media and Royal Relations
OpenAI to Begin Advertising in ChatGPT in Strategic Shift to New Revenue Model
GDP Growth Remains the Most Telling Barometer of Britain’s Economic Health
Prince William and Kate Middleton Stay Away as Prince Harry Visits London Amid Lingering Rift
Britain Braces for Colder Weather and Snow Risk as Temperatures Set to Plunge
Mass Protests Erupt as UK Nears Decision on China’s ‘Mega Embassy’ in London
Prince Harry to Return to UK to Testify in High-Profile Media Trial Against Associated Newspapers
Keir Starmer Rejects Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat as ‘Completely Wrong’
Trump to hit Europe with 10% tariffs until Greenland deal is agreed
Prince Harry Returns to UK High Court as Final Privacy Trial Against Daily Mail Publisher Begins
Britain Confronts a Billion-Pound Wind Energy Paradox Amid Grid Constraints
×