Threats turn nuclear

WASHINGTON – Iran has threatened to target US-controlled sites in the Middle East during ongoing peace talks – as experts flagged a potential loophole on their pathway to forming nuclear weapons.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard promised ‘heavy attacks’ on American bases and ships in the region on Saturday night, while the president still awaits an answer for ongoing peace agreements to end the war. ‘Any attack on Iranian tankers and commercial vessels will result in a heavy attack on one of the American centres in the region and enemy ships,’’ the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said, per AFP. Tehran’s fresh warning comes just one day after the US attacked two Iranian tankers in the Gulf of Oman. 
The countries have gone back and forth over dealings to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is a critical international passageway for Iran’s oil exports.
American officials hoped the standoff would lead to the end of Iran’s nuclear programme, but experts have flagged a pathway through Tehran’s massive plutonium supply.  
According to nuclear weapons experts, Tehran’s plutonium reserve holds enough material for more than 200 nuclear bombs. United Against Nuclear Iran Policy Director Jason Brodsky told Fox Digital that the US must ‘cover the plutonium pathway’ in any negotiations. ‘‘I do believe any proposed deal with Iran needs to address the plutonium pathway to nuclear weapons. Israel struck the Arak heavy water reactor twice over the last year — in June 2025 and in March 2026,’’ he said.