Category World News

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned the United States that his country is ready for war if Washington wants to “test” it, after US President Donald Trump threatened to take military action in response to Iran’s crackdown on antigovernment protests.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Arabic on Monday, Araghchi said channels of communication with the US were open amid the ongoing unrest but stressed that his country was “prepared for all options”, claiming that Iran now has “large and extensive military preparedness” compared to last year’s 12-day war.

His comments follow Trump’s remarks on Sunday, amid nationwide protests in Iran sparked by economic woes that have intensified into broader calls for systemic change. The US president had said he was considering “strong options” for Iran over its leadership’s crackdown on protests, including potential military action.

Trump, who recently ordered the abduction of leftist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a US Special Forces intervention, said that a meeting was being set up with Tehran to negotiate on its nuclear programme, “but we may have to act because of what is happening before the meeting”.

“If Washington wants to test the military option it has tested before, we are ready for it,” said Araghchi, adding that he hoped the US would choose “the wise option” of dialogue, while warning of “those trying to drag Washington into war in order to serve Israel’s interests”.

In the interview, Araghchi alluded to the growing death toll, repeating earlier assertions that “terrorist elements” had “infiltrated the crowds of protesters and targeted security forces and demonstrators”. Iran has blamed the US and Israel for provoking unrest in the country over the past two weeks.

More than 100 security personnel have been killed in recent days, state media has reported, while opposition activists say the death toll is higher and includes hundreds of protesters. Al Jazeera has been unable to independently verify the figures.

The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday. The foreign minister had said on Monday that the service would be resumed in coordination with security services. Monitor NetBlocks said at 16:29 GMT on Monday that Iran had been offline for 96 hours.

Araghchi told Al Jazeera Arabic that his communications with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had “continued before and after the protests and are still ongoing”. He said that ideas that had been discussed with Washington were being studied in Tehran.

However, he added, “Washington’s proposed ideas and threats against our country are incompatible.”

“We are ready to sit at the nuclear negotiating table, provided that it is without threats or dictates,” said Araghchi, questioning whether Washington was “ready for fair and just negotiations”.

“When it is ready, we will seriously consider the matter,” he said.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that the US military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if Washington intervened in the current unrest, warning Washington of a “miscalculation”.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused Iran of sending “quite different” messages to the US in private, compared to its public statements, in an interview with the Fox News programme America Reports on Monday.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the White House was weighing Iran’s offer to engage in further military talks, even as Trump mulled strikes on the country.

United States Senator Lisa Murkowski threw her support behind fellow Republican Thom Tillis’s plan to block President Donald Trump’s Fed nominees after the Justice Department over the weekend threatened to indict Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

“The stakes are too high to look the other way: if the Federal Reserve loses its independence, the stability of our markets and the broader economy will suffer,” Murkowski wrote on X on Monday.

Murkowski is one of a small handful of Trump’s fellow Republicans who have shown themselves willing to vote against his wishes at times in the US Senate, where his party holds a 53-47 majority.

Since returning to office last year, Trump has been increasingly publicly pressuring the Fed to cut interest rates, breaking with longstanding practice meant to insulate the central bank from political pressure and allowing it to focus on economic data.

Alaska lawmaker Murkowski said she had spoken earlier on Monday with Powell, who on Sunday said the US central bank had received subpoenas last week that he called “pretexts” aimed at the Fed’s basing interest rates on policy and not on Trump’s preferences.

Murkowski called the Justice Department threat “nothing more than an attempt at coercion”, adding that Congress should investigate the department if it believes probing the Fed was warranted over renovation cost overruns, which she called “not unusual”.

Hassett weighs in

Powell’s term is up in May, and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has largely been seen as a potential pick to succeed him.

Hassett questioned Powell’s congressional testimony about the Fed’s new building construction, which is at the centre of the Justice Department’s probe.

“Right now, we’ve got a building that’s got like, dramatic cost overruns and plans for the buildings that look inconsistent with the testimony, but again, I’m not a Justice Department person. I hope everything turns out OK for Jay,” Hassett told the CNBC news programme Squawk Box.

Later, Hassett said he would support the investigation if he were in charge of the Fed, telling reporters that it “seems like the Justice Department has decided that they want to see what’s going on over there with this building that’s massively more expensive than any building in the history of Washington”.

Trump, who has long pushed for more aggressive interest rate cuts, said in a post on his Truth Social platform in December, “The United States should be rewarded for SUCCESS, not brought down by it. Anybody that disagrees with me will never be the Fed Chairman!”

Former officials condemn probe

The past three heads of the US Federal Reserve on Monday joined with other former federal government economic policy leaders in condemning the Trump administration’s criminal probe of the Fed chair, likening it to the interference with central bank independence more often seen in emerging market countries with “weak institutions”.

“The reported criminal inquiry into Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell is an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine that independence,” a statement signed by former Fed chairs Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan said.

“This is how monetary policy is made in emerging markets with weak institutions, with highly negative consequences for inflation and the functioning of their economies more broadly. It has no place in the United States whose greatest strength is the rule of law, which is at the foundation of our economic success.”

US President Donald Trump has said repeatedly that he wants to take over Greenland – an idea rejected by most people living there.

There is alarm in Denmark, which owns the world’s biggest island, and in the European Union and NATO, too.

So, could Trump really get his way?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:

Pele Broberg – Chairman of Naleraq, a pro-independence political party in Greenland

Peter Nielsen – Retired colonel in the Danish armed forces who specialises in NATO readiness

Real Madrid announced on Monday that ‌Xabi Alonso has left his role as head coach “by mutual ‍consent”, with Alvaro ‍Arbeloa promoted from coaching the club’s reserve team Castilla to replace him.

The news came a day after Real Madrid lost to Barcelona, 3-2, in the Supercopa de Espana final in Jeddah, Saudi ⁠Arabia.

Alonso, 44, lasted less than a year into the three-year contract he ​signed last summer to replace Carlo Ancelotti.

“Real Madrid CF announces that, ‍by mutual agreement between the club and Xabi Alonso, it has been decided to put an end to his time as first team coach,” the football team said in a ‍statement.

“Xabi Alonso will ⁠always have the affection and admiration of all Real Madrid fans because he is a Real Madrid legend and has always represented the values of our club. Real Madrid will always be his home.

“Our club thanks Xabi Alonso and all his coaching staff for their work and dedication throughout this time, and wishes them the ​best of luck in this new stage of their lives.”

Madrid ‌won 10 of its first 11 La Liga games under Alonso, but rumours about his job status increased with reports of a disconnect with some players while the club struggled to ‌close out 2025, including losses to Liverpool, Celta Vigo and Manchester City.

That included star forward Vinicius Junior’s public complaints ‌about being substituted and reports of other players taking ⁠issue with Alonso’s style.

Madrid has fallen to second in the domestic standings but is well-positioned in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League, with four wins in six games under Alonso.

A former midfielder who ‌played for Madrid from 2009 to 2014, Alonso returned to the club last summer following 18 months at Bayer Leverkusen, where he led the club to its first-ever Bundesliga title in 2024.

He will now be replaced by the 42-year-old Arbeloa, a former right-back who made 238 appearances across seven years with ‌the club.

United Kingdom media regulator Ofcom has launched a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s X over the use of AI chatbot Grok to generate deepfake sexualised images.

Ofcom labelled the reports as “deeply concerning”, warning in a statement issued on Monday that the chatbot’s creation of nude deepfakes could amount to “intimate image abuse or pornography”, and that “sexualised images of children” could be considered “child sexual abuse material”.

The regulator, which has the power to ban Grok, is under pressure to act after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the images produced by Grok were “disgusting” and “unlawful”, and that Musk’s social media platform X had to “get a grip” on the application.

Ofcom said its investigation will determine whether X “failed to comply with its legal obligations”, and was launched after the company complied with an earlier request from the regulator to explain the steps it had taken to protect UK users.

Asked for a comment, X referred the AFP news agency to a previous statement, which said it took action against illegal content on X “by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary”.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said it was vital that Ofcom complete its investigation swiftly, as the public, and most importantly the victims, would not accept any delay.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said he had raised the situation with United States Vice President JD Vance, who had, he claimed, agreed that it was entirely unacceptable.

Downing Street has meanwhile indicated that it is willing to consider leaving X, formerly known as Twitter, if Mr Musk’s company does not act.

Power to ban

Under Britain’s Online Safety Act, which entered force in July, online platforms hosting potentially harmful content are required to implement strict age verification through tools such as facial imagery or credit card checks.

It is illegal for media sites to create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material, including sexual deepfakes created with artificial intelligence (AI).

Ofcom has the power to impose fines of 10 percent of worldwide revenue for breaches of rules.

Asked on Monday whether X could be banned, Business Secretary Peter Kyle said: “Yes, of course”. But he noted that the power to do so lay with Ofcom.

Grok appeared to deflect the international criticism with a new monetisation policy at the end of last week, posting on X that the tool was now “limited to paying subscribers”.

Starmer condemned the move as an affront to victims and “not a solution”.

Musk has accused the UK government of being fascist and trying to curb free speech.

Grok, developed by another company founded by Musk called xAI, launched a new advanced image generation feature in July last year.