Iran

Oil Prices Dip Amid Signs of U.S.-Iran Deal Progress

Yemen Details — Fri, 29 May 2026 15:58:04 +0300

Oil prices experienced a decline on Friday amidst tentative indications that the United States and Iran are approaching a preliminary agreement to de-escalate regional tensions.

Negotiators are reportedly discussing a new memorandum of understanding that appears close to receiving approval from both parties. However, significant disagreements persist regarding several key provisions, notably the status of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital transit route for oil and gas tankers originating from the Middle East.

This potential diplomatic breakthrough follows a week characterized by volatility, during which U.S. and Iranian forces engaged in sporadic exchanges of fire. These incidents underscore the persistent risks of renewed escalation and the precarious nature of the existing truce.

The latest developments indicate a decrease in oil prices, a rise in stock market performance, and a fall in gasoline prices.

Two IRGC members killed while clearing explosives after Israel war

Yemen Details — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 23:48:34 +0300

Two members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed Sunday while attempting to defuse explosives in an area of the country’s west hit by Israeli strikes last month, Iranian media reported.

Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war sparked by an Israeli bombing campaign on June 13. The strikes, according to Israel, were aimed at preventing the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear weapon -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.

Tasnim news agency, citing a statement from the IRGC, said that “two members of the Guards were killed Sunday in Khorramabad while clearing the area of explosives left by the Zionist regime’s aggression.”

The Israeli strikes during the war killed key commanders of Iran’s armed forces, including IRGC members, as well as top nuclear scientists.

Separately on Sunday, the Fars news agency reported the death of an Iranian soldier in Yazd, central Iran, from injuries sustained during one of Israel’s attacks.

The strikes killed more than 900 people across Iran, its judiciary has said, while retaliatory Iranian missile barrages killed at least 28 people in Israel, according to official figures.

A ceasefire between the two arch-foes took effect on June 24.

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday made his first public appearance since the war broke out, state media reported, taking part in a religious ceremony in Tehran.

Iran announced the reopening of its airspace on Thursday, including over Tehran, which had been closed since the first day of the war.

French detainees in Iran charged with spying for Israel

Yemen Details — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 20:33:08 +0300

Two French nationals detained for more than three years in Iran have been charged with spying for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, diplomatic and family sources told AFP on Wednesday.

They have also been charged with “conspiracy to overthrow the regime” and “corruption on earth,” the Western diplomatic source and the sister of Cécile Kohler, who is being detained along with Jacques Paris, told AFP.

“We have been informed of these accusations,” the diplomatic source said.

“All we know is that they have seen a judge who confirmed the three charges,” said Kohler’s sister, who added that the two French nationals were still being denied access to independent lawyers.

All three charges carry the death penalty.

Iran had previously claimed the two had been arrested for spying but had not revealed exactly for whom.

Tehran has not confirmed the new charges.

“These charges, if they are confirmed, are completely unfounded,” the French diplomatic source told AFP.

“Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are innocent,” the source added, demanding that the pair be given access to lawyers.

The news came a day after the French chargé d’affaires in Iran was able to visit the pair in prison.

The fate of Kohler and Paris had been unknown since Israel targeted Tehran’s Evin prison in an air strike last week, before a US-proposed ceasefire between the Middle East foes came into force.

Iran’s judiciary said the Israeli strike on the prison had killed at least 79 people.

It also said the Iranian prison authority had transferred inmates out of Evin prison, without specifying their number or identifying them.

Kohler, 40, and Paris, her 72-year-old partner, have been held in Iran since May 2022.

Iran is believed to be holding around 20 European nationals — many of whose cases have never been publicized — in what some Western governments, including France, describe as a strategy of hostage-taking aimed at extracting concessions from the West.

Three Europeans, who have not been identified, have also been arrested in the wake of the current conflict, two of whom are accused of spying for Israel, according to Iranian authorities.

UN says Iran suspending IAEA cooperation ‘obviously concerning’

Yemen Details — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:49:31 +0300

Iran’s suspension of its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is “obviously concerning,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday.

“We’ve seen the official decision, which is obviously concerning. I think the Secretary-General has been very consistent in his call for Iran to cooperate with the IAEA, and, frankly, for all countries to work closely with the IAEA on nuclear issues,” he told reporters.

Iran-linked hackers may target US firms and critical infrastructure, US warns

Yemen Details — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 01:17:25 +0300

Iranian-affiliated hackers may target US companies and critical infrastructure operators, particularly defense organizations with holdings or relationships with Israeli research and defense firms, according to an advisory from US government officials Monday.

The FBI, National Security Agency, the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3) and the Department of Homeland Security’s civilian cybersecurity defense wing said in a statement issued alongside the advisory that while there are no indications of a coordinated Iranian-linked malicious cyber campaign so far, organizations should ensure their defenses are up to date.

“Despite a declared ceasefire and ongoing negotiations towards a permanent solution, Iranian-affiliated cyber actors and hacktivist groups may still conduct malicious cyber activity,” the agencies said in the advisory.

Cybersecurity researchers and defenders in Israel and the US have so far seen little Iranian-linked cyber activity of consequence in the wake of the war launched by Israel June 13, followed by US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22.

Iranian state-sponsored hackers are known to exploit existing vulnerabilities in unpatched or outdated software and compromise internet-connected accounts and devices that use default or weak passwords, as well as work with ransomware operators to encrypt, steal and leak sensitive information, the agencies said Monday.

In November 2023, hackers said by the US government to be affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) hacked equipment located in water and wastewater treatment systems in multiple states. The attacks targeted an Israeli-made device and came shortly after the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Iran reopens central and western airspace to international transit flights

Yemen Details — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 20:09:09 +0300

Iran has expanded access to its airspace for international overflights following a ceasefire with Israel, though flight restrictions remain in place across much of the country, an official said Saturday.

“In addition to the eastern half of the country’s airspace being available for domestic, international and overflight operations, the airspace over the central and western parts of the country has now also been opened only for international overflights,” Majid Akhavan, spokesman for the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, said in a statement carried by the IRNA state news agency.

Flights to and from airports in the north, south and west of the country, including Tehran’s Mehrabad and Imam Khomeini international airports, remained suspended, according to Akhavan.

“All fellow citizens are requested not to go to airports located in the northern, southern and western regions of the country,” he said, urging travelers to follow updates through official sources only.

The move comes after Iran reopened its eastern airspace on Wednesday, following a ceasefire that ended 12 days of fighting with Israel.

Iran had closed its skies entirely on June 13 after Israel launched a wave of airstrikes, prompting Iranian missile retaliation.

Airports now operating include Mashhad in eastern Iran -- which Israel claimed to have targeted during the conflict -- as well as Chabahar in the southeast.

Flights in other regions remain suspended until further notice.

Iran to hold ‘historic’ funeral for slain top military, nuclear figures

Yemen Details — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 22:17:42 +0300

TEHRAN – Iran will hold what it described as “historic” funeral proceedings in Tehran on June 28 for 60 killed in its 12-day war with Israel, including top military commanders and nuclear scientists.

The commemorations will begin at 8am local time (12.30pm Singapore time) at Enghelab (Revolution) Square in central Tehran, followed by a funeral procession to Azadi (Freedom) Square, about 11km away.

“A brief ceremony will be held there, then the processions of the martyrs will go towards Azadi Square,” said Mr Mohsen Mahmoudi, head of Tehran’s Islamic Development Coordination Council, in a televised interview on June 27.

“Tomorrow will be a historic day for Islamic Iran and the revolution,” he added.

Among the dead is General Mohammad Bagheri, a major general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the second-in-command of the armed forces after its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He will be buried alongside his wife and daughter, a journalist for a local media outlet, all killed in an Israeli attack.

Nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, also killed in the attacks, will be buried with his wife.

Four women and four children are among those to be honoured at the funeral ceremony.

The war erupted on June 13 when Israel launched strikes that it said were aimed at halting Iran from developing a nuclear weapon – a charge Tehran denies.

Israeli strikes killed at least 30 top commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, according to local media, including its commander-in-chief Hossein Salami and the head of its aerospace forces, Mr Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who oversaw the country’s ballistic missile programme.

So far, there is no indication that Mr Khamenei will attend the funeral on June 28.

He has previously attended ceremonies for high-ranking Iranian authorities, including late president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in 2024.

The Iranian Health Ministry says at least 627 civilians were killed and nearly 4,900 wounded in the Israeli attacks.

Iran’s strikes on Israel also killed 28 people, according to Israeli authorities. AFP

Senior IRGC commander dies of injuries from Israeli attacks, Iran confirms

Yemen Details — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 20:26:24 +0300

Iran’s armed forces confirmed on Wednesday the death of top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Ali Shadmani following an Israeli airstrike last week, state media reported.

The military’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which Shadmani led, vowed “severe revenge” for what it called the “criminal act” by Israeli forces, announcing the commander had died from injuries sustained in the attack, according to the IRNA state news agency.

The Israeli military said on June 17 that it had killed Shadmani in a strike on a “command center in the heart of Tehran.”

Israel described him as “the most senior military commander” and “the closest figure to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.”

The confirmation of his death came a day after a US-announced ceasefire ended 12 days of open conflict between Israel and Iran.

Shadmani died just days after he took over the role from Gholam-Ali Rashid, who was killed in the first days of Israel’s attacks.

On June 13, Israel launched a major bombing campaign targeting Iranian nuclear facilities and senior military figures.

The United States joined the operation later with strikes on the Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites.

Iran responded with waves of missile attacks on Israel and one targeting a US base in Qatar. President Donald Trump later called for de-escalation and announced a ceasefire that took effect on Tuesday.

The war killed 627 civilians in Iran and 28 people in Israel, according to official figures.

Iran will hold on Saturday state funerals for senior military commanders, including Shadmani, and top scientists killed during the war with Israel.

With AFP

Image of Obama bowing to Khamenei is doctored

Yemen Details — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 01:16:26 +0300

After Donald Trump announced that the United States had carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, some supporters of the US president circulated an image of his predecessor Barack Obama bowing to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, apparently to contrast the two American leaders. But the picture is altered, combining a famous photo of the former Democratic president bending over to let a young Black boy touch his hair with an unrelated shot of Iran's supreme leader.

"Sums it up," says a June 22, 2025 post sharing the image on Facebook.

Screenshot from Facebook taken June 24, 2025

The post comes from conservative comedian Terrence Williams, whom AFP has previously fact-checked for spreading other misinformation.

Similar posts spread across X after Trump said June 21 that the US military had executed a "very successful attack" on three Iranian nuclear sites, including the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo. The operation, dubbed "Midnight Hammer," added to a more than week-long Israeli campaign that also targeted Tehran's top military brass, fueling fears of a wide regional conflict.

The US president announced a fragile ceasefire in the war between Iran and Israel June 23 after Tehran fired ballistic missiles at a US base in Qatar.

The escalation came almost a decade after Obama and other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council sealed a deal with Iran called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The agreement placed significant restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in 2018 during his first term, and his second administration had been seeking to chart a new deal before Israel's June 13 strikes on Iran.

The US president had long criticized his predecessor's signature foreign police achievement and campaigned in 2016 on torpedoing the deal.

But the image purporting to show Obama bowing to Khamenei is a fake, with two separate photos edited together to create a composite picture that has circulated online for years.

Reverse image searches revealed that the original photo of Obama is a famous shot, captured by then-official White House photographer Pete Souza, of the Democrat bending over so that the young Black son of another White House staffer could feel his head and see if they had the similar hair (archived here and here). Souza took the photo in May 2009 -- years before Obama signed the Iran nuclear accord in 2015.

Screenshot from Flickr taken June 24, 2025

An AFP photojournalist snapped the picture of Khamenei even earlier, in August 2005, during a ceremony to inaugurate former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who served until 2013. In the real photo, Ahmadinejad is standing to Khamenei's left -- not Obama.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei (C) attends the presidential inaugural ceremony of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran August 3, 2005 (AFP / ATTA KENARE)

AFP has debunked other misinformation about Iran here.

Dissident leader abroad urges Iranians to bring down Khamenei

Yemen Details — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 21:17:15 +0300

PARIS, June 24 (Reuters) - The leader of a Paris-based Iranian opposition group said after the announcement of a ceasefire in the Iran-Israel air war on Tuesday that the Iranian people should now bring down Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's system.

Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, spoke a day after the last heir to the Iranian monarchy urged Western states to accept that "regime change" is needed to bring lasting peace and regional stability.

She made her comments before Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the Israeli military to strike Tehran after Iran fired missiles in violation of the ceasefire.

"The proposal for a ceasefire and ending the war is a step forward for the third option: neither war nor appeasement," Rajavi said in a statement after U.S. President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was now in place in the aerial war that began on June 13.

"Let the people of Iran themselves, in the battle of destiny, bring down Khamenei and the dictatorship."

She added: "We seek a democratic, non-nuclear republic, with the separation of religion and state, gender equality and also autonomy for Iran's nationalities."

After the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday, Trump raised the possibility of Iran's hardline clerical rulers being toppled but his administration said the aim was solely to destroy Iran's nuclear programme.

The Iranian authorities did not immediately comment on Rajavi's remarks. Tehran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and denies seeking a nuclear weapon.

BANNED IN IRAN

The Paris-based NCRI, which is banned in Iran, is also known by its Persian name Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK).

It was listed as a terrorist organisation by the U.S. and the European Union until 2012. Critics question its support inside Iran and how it operates, but it remains one of the few opposition groups widely considered able to rally supporters.

"The people of Iran, in their century-long struggle, at tremendous and bloody cost, have repeatedly rejected the dictatorships of the Shah and Sheikh through successive uprisings," Rajavi said.

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the toppled Shah, on Monday urged the police, military and security apparatus to abandon Iran's leadership.

But opposition to Iran's clerical government is fragmented, with no clear recognised leader and a multitude of ethnic groups.

Any direct challenge to the Islamic Republic would be likely to require some form of popular uprising. Political analysts familiar with the situation have said that whether such an uprising is likely - or imminent - is a matter of debate.

The NCRI had remained in the background during the air war, communicating little as it sought to avoid publicly supporting a foreign war led by Israel, sources aware of its actions said.

The Mujahideen joined the 1979 Islamic Revolution but later broke from the ruling clerics and fought against them during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

During earlier mass demonstrations against the Iranian authorities, the NCRI was active on social media, documenting as much as it could from sources in Iran. Iran regularly accuses the group of fermenting trouble and several of its activists have been executed over the last year.
In 2002, the group was the first to publicly reveal that Iran had a uranium enrichment programme.

Iranians welcome ceasefire but fearful for future

Yemen Details — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 21:06:04 +0300

DUBAI, June 24 (Reuters) - After 12 days of Israeli airstrikes that echoed in cities around the country, killing hundreds and sending waves of people fleeing their homes, Iranians voiced relief on Tuesday at the surprise overnight announcement of a ceasefire.

For those in the Iranian capital it brought the prospect of a clean-up, a return to normal life and the soothing - for now at least - of anxiety about a further escalation and sustained warfare.

Many Iranians who fled the strikes were also glad, able to return home after tiring, expensive stays outside the city in rented accommodation or with relatives.

"I am overjoyed. It is over and we finally can live in peace. It was an unnecessary war and we people paid the price for the authorities' war-mongering policies," said Shima, 40, from Shiraz, withholding her name for fear of reprisals.

Just 24 hours earlier, plumes of smoke hung over parts of the capital as Israel targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its paramilitary Basij militia, as well as Evin prison at the foot of the Alborz Mountains.

One man in a busy Tehran street, who also asked to remain anonymous, said "It's the people who are paying the price - whether our people or theirs. Both sides are bearing the cost so it's better that this happened sooner rather than later."

Israel has repeatedly warned residents to leave large swathes of the city before it conducted airstrikes, clogging the highways out of Tehran with vast traffic jams.

Exhausted and running out of cash, many of them had started to return home even before the ceasefire was announced.

Arash, a 39-year-old government employee, had taken his family to Damavand, a mountain resort 35 miles east of Tehran that is popular for its clean air and bucolic setting.

They returned to Tehran two days ago. "My wife and two children were terrified of the bombings but renting even a modest room in Damavand for any length of time is beyond my limited budget," he said.

Noushin, 35, drove almost five hours with her husband and child to stay with her mother-in-law in Sari, near Iran's Caspian coast. But the house was already crowded with relatives seeking shelter and Noushin decided they were better off at home.

"My child misses her room. I miss my house. How long can we live like this?" she asked. "Even if there’s another attack, I’d rather die in my own home."

NO SIGNS OF PROTESTS

Israel launched its surprise air war on June 13, hitting nuclear sites and killing military commanders in the worst blow to Iran since Iraq invaded in 1980, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes could result in regime change.

However, there have been no signs of significant street protests against the Islamic Republic.
Iranians contacted by Reuters, including some who oppose the Islamic Republic and have protested against it in the past, said the airstrikes had brought people to rally around national feeling in the face of what they saw as foreign aggression.

Still, for many Iranians there is anger at the top ranks of the nation's leadership, and for those returning home the reality of a sanctions-hit economy remains.

"This is unacceptable. This is brutal. Why are we being attacked while the officials hide in safe places?” said Mohammad, 63, from Rasht.

"I place the blame on this country’s decision-makers. Their policies have brought war and destruction upon us," he said by phone.

While Israel has repeatedly targeted both leaders and facilities of the internal security forces under the IRGC, state media has announced hundreds of arrests of people accused of spying.
Black security vehicles were seen on the streets of Tehran on Tuesday and dissidents expressed fear of a coming crackdown by the authorities to ward off any attempt at mass protests.

Accusations of ceasefire violations on Tuesday also raised fears that the war could reignite.
"I hope they (the Israelis) remain committed to the ceasefire. History has shown that they’ve never truly honoured it, but I still hope this time they do — because it’s in our interest and theirs as well," said one man on a Tehran street.

IAEA chief expects 'very significant damage' at Iran's Fordow site

Yemen Details — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 21:15:24 +0300

VIENNA, June 23 (Reuters) - U.S. bombing probably caused "very significant" damage to the underground areas of Iran's Fordow uranium enrichment plant dug into a mountain, though no one can yet tell the extent, U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday.

The United States dropped the biggest conventional bombs in its arsenal on Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday, using those bunker-busting munitions in combat for the first time to try to eliminate sites including the Fordow uranium-enrichment plant dug into a mountain.

"At this time, no one, including the IAEA, is in a position to have fully assessed the underground damage at Fordow," Grossi said in a statement to an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors.

The IAEA has not been able to carry out inspections in Iran since Israel started its military strikes on nuclear facilities there on June 13.

"Given the explosive payload utilised and the extreme(ly) vibration-sensitive nature of centrifuges, very significant damage is expected to have occurred," Grossi added.

Beyond the level of damage done to Fordow's underground enrichment halls, one of the biggest open questions is the status of its stock of enriched uranium, particularly its more than 400 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from the roughly 90% that is weapons grade.

That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick, though Iran says its intentions are peaceful and it does not seek atom bombs.

Iran did, however, inform the IAEA on June 13 that it would take "special measures" to protect its nuclear materials and equipment that are under so-called IAEA safeguards, the oversight provided for by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Grossi said.

"In my response that same day, I indicated that any transfer of nuclear material from a safeguarded facility to another location in Iran must be declared to the agency," Grossi said.
"Any special measures by Iran to protect its nuclear materials and equipment ... can be done in accordance with Iran's safeguards obligations ... This is possible."

Deception and surprise: How the US hit Iran’s nuclear sites undetected

Yemen Details — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 23:13:18 +0300

The US military conducted unprecedented strikes overnight Saturday on three Iranian nuclear sites without a shot being fired at any of its assets, according to US military and defense officials.

“Iran’s fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran’s surface-to-air missile systems did not see us. Throughout the mission, we retained the element of surprise,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine told reporters early Sunday morning.

Just 48 hours before the strikes, US President Donald Trump publicly stated he would decide within two weeks whether to hit Iran’s nuclear sites. But according to officials and sources familiar with the matter, he had already made up his mind when he made that announcement. In Washington and abroad, however, his remarks were interpreted as a signal of possible deescalation.

Meanwhile, reports on Saturday said that Vice President JD Vance had a tense phone call with the Israeli prime minister earlier in the week, during which he warned that the US should not be drawn directly into military action against Iran, accusing Israel of trying to pull the United States into war.

Operation Midnight Hammer

Here is a breakdown of how “Operation Midnight Hammer” was conducted, according to a slide provided by the Pentagon, which included more than 125 aircraft, a guided missile submarine, dozens of aerial refueling tankers and other assets.

Early Saturday morning, several B-2 stealth bombers departed Whiteman Air Force Base in the US state of Missouri. They flew west over the Pacific, something US officials confirmed to journalists in Washington at the time.

However, officials revealed Sunday morning that it was part of a deception campaign by the Trump administration to maintain the tactical surprise.

After those B-2s were seen departing Missouri to the west, seven B-2s quietly flew eastward for 18 hours with minimal communication to avoid detection. They were refueled in the air several times.

Caine said the deception effort was only known to an “extremely small number of planners and key leaders” in Washington and in Tampa, the headquarters of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which is responsible for US military operations in the Middle East.

Just before entering Iranian airspace, a US-guided missile submarine fired over 24 Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against Esfahan. In addition, fourth- and fifth-generation fighter jets whizzed through at a high altitude to sweep for Iranian fighter jets and surface-to-air missile threats. They also shot “preemptive suppressing fire” against potential Iranian surface-to-air threats, Caine said. No shots were reported to have been fired at the strike package.

The next phase of the operation was when the lead B-2 bomber dropped two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs on the first of several points at Fordow.

The remaining 12 hit their targets, Caine said, bringing the total GBUs used in Saturday’s attacks to 14.

Tomahawk missiles also struck Esfahan after the B-2s conducted their strikes “to ensure we retained the element of surprise throughout the operation,” Caine said.

The attacks on the three Iranian nuclear sites were carried out between 6:40 PM EST and 7:05 PM EST.

The bombers and jets immediately left Iranian airspace and began their journey back. “We are unaware of any shots fired at the package on the way out,” Caine said.

The B-2 bombers were again refueled on their way back to their base in the United States. “This was those largest B-2 operational strike in US history, and the second longest B-2 mission ever flown, exceeded only by those in the days following 9/11,” Caine said, referring to the US response to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

World awaits Iran’s response after Trump says US ‘obliterated’ nuclear sites

Yemen Details — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 20:03:49 +0300

The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.

With the damage visible from space after 30,000-pound US bunker-buster bombs crashed into the mountain above Iran’s Fordow nuclear site, Tehran vowed to defend itself at all costs. It fired another volley of missiles at Israel that wounded scores of people and flattened buildings in Tel Aviv.

But perhaps in an effort to avert all-out war with the US superpower, it had yet to follow through on its main threats of retaliation against the United States itself – either by targeting US bases or trying to choke off global oil supplies.

Speaking in Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would consider all possible responses. There would be no return to diplomacy until it had retaliated, he said.

“The US showed they have no respect for international law. They only understand the language of threat and force,” he said.

Trump, announcing the strikes in a televised address, called them “a spectacular military success.”

“Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier,” he said.

Still, his administration stressed that no order had been given for any wider war to overthrow the hardline Shia Muslim clerical establishment that has ruled Iran since 1979.

“This mission was not and has not been about regime change,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon. “The president authorized a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interests posed by the Iranian nuclear program.”

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington was not at war with Iran but with its nuclear program, adding this had been pushed back by a very long time due to the US intervention.

In a step towards what is widely seen as Iran’s most effective threat to hurt the West, its parliament reportedly approved a move to close the Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Gulf where nearly a quarter of the oil shipped around the world passes through narrow waters that Iran shares with Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Iran’s Press TV said closing the strait would require approval from the Supreme National Security Council, a body led by an appointee of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Attempting to choke off Gulf oil by closing the strait could send global oil prices skyrocketing, derail the world economy and invite almost certain conflict with the US Navy’s massive Fifth Fleet, based in the Gulf and tasked with keeping it open.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a Fox News Sunday interview, warned Iran on Sunday against retaliation for the US strikes, saying such action would be “the worst mistake they’ve ever made.”

Rubio separately told CBS’s “Face the Nation” talk show that the US has “other targets we can hit, but we achieved our objective.” He later added: “There are no planned military operations right now against Iran unless – unless they mess around.”

The UN Security Council was due to meet later on Sunday, diplomats said, at the request of Iran, which urged the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of (USS) aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Bunker busters

Israel, which started the war with a surprise attack on Iran on June 13, has long said its aim was to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. But only the United States possesses the massive 30,000-pound bombs – and the huge batwing B2 bombers that drop them – designed to destroy subterranean targets like Iran’s uranium enrichment plan at Fordow, built beneath a mountain.

Satellite images obtained by Reuters following the attack appeared to show damage both to the mountain above the site and to entrances nearby.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said no increases in off-site radiation levels had been reported after the US strikes. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordow had been moved elsewhere before the attack.

While it is clear that US airstrikes had hit the Fordow site, it was not yet possible to assess the damage done underground there, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told CNN.

Much of Tehran, a capital city of 10 million people, has emptied out, with residents fleeing to the countryside to escape Israeli bombardment. Iranian authorities say over 400 people have been killed since Israel’s attacks began, mostly civilians.

Iran has been launching missiles back at Israel, killing at least 24 people over the past nine days, the first time its projectiles have penetrated Israel’s defenses in large numbers. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had fired 40 missiles at Israel in the latest volley overnight.

Air raid sirens sounded across most of Israel on Sunday, sending millions of people to safe rooms.

During the past nine days of war, Israel killed much of Iran’s military leadership with strikes that targeted bases and residential buildings where senior figures slept. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken openly of the possibility of pressing on until the Islamic Republic’s clerical rulers are toppled, while denying that was his primary objective.

Trump had veered between offering to end the war with diplomacy or to join it, at one point musing publicly about killing Iran’s supreme leader. His decision ultimately to join the fight is the biggest foreign policy gamble of his career.

Netanyahu congratulated Trump on a “bold decision.” Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid also praised Trump, saying the world was now a safer place.

With Reuters

Iran to decide on Strait of Hormuz closure after parliament reportedly backs move

Yemen Details — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 19:27:20 +0300

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council must make the final decision on whether to close the Strait of Hormuz following US bombing raids, Iran’s Press TV said on Sunday, after parliament was reported to have backed the measure.

Iran has long used the threat of closing the Strait, through which around 20 percent of global oil and gas demand flows, as a way to ward off Western pressure which is now at its peak after the overnight US strikes on its nuclear facilities.

The decision to close the strait is not yet final and it was not officially reported that parliament had in fact adopted a bill to that effect.

Instead, a member of the parliament’s national security commission, Esmail Kosari, was quoted on other Iranian media as saying: “For now, [parliament has] come to the conclusion we should close the Strait of Hormuz, but the final decision in this regard is the responsibility of the Supreme National Security Council.”

Kosari, who is also an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander, had earlier on Sunday told the Young Journalist Club that closing the strait was on the agenda and “will be done whenever necessary.”

Asked about whether Tehran would close the waterway, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dodged the question on Sunday and replied: “A variety of options are available to Iran.”

The strait lies between Oman and Iran and links the Mideast Gulf north of it with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabian Sea beyond.

It is 21 miles (33 km) wide at its narrowest point, with the shipping lane just 2 miles (3 km) wide in either direction.

Iran FM spokesperson accuses IAEA chief of making agency a ‘partner’ in Israel war on Iran

Yemen Details — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 20:02:30 +0300

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei criticized UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi on Thursday and accused the International Atomic Energy Agency of being a partner to an “unjust war of aggression” initiated by Israel.

In a post on X, Baghaei responded to an interview with CNN in which Grossi said there was no evidence of a systematic Iranian effort to develop nuclear weapons.

“This is too late, Mr. Grossi,” Baghaei wrote, adding that an IAEA resolution declaring Iran in breach of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty had been used as a pretext for Israel to strike Iran.

“Misleading narratives have dire consequences, Mr. Grossi, and demand accountability. You betrayed the non-proliferation regime; You’ve made IAEA a partner to this unjust war of aggression,” he wrote.

Analysis: How long can Israel and Iran fight, and how is it impacting US stockpiles?

Yemen Details — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 01:53:47 +0300

Israel and Iran are approaching one week of some of the most intense fighting ever witnessed between the two. But how long can the hostilities continue, and what kind of impact is the conflict having on US weapons stockpiles?

Analysts and current and former US officials believe the conflict is unlikely to develop into a long-term campaign. “It’s closer to days than months, and Iran has more problems than Israel,” a former senior American official said.

Israel has deeper stockpiles and more advanced military capabilities than Iran. Tehran, officials say, is not only facing weapons shortages, but also serious coordination problems after Israel killed several top generals and senior aides.

“This makes it much more difficult for Iran’s military to cooperate and launch attacks,” a second former official said.

Despite that, there are growing concerns in Washington over the depletion of US missile interceptors and other air defense systems, which have either been transferred to Israel or used by American forces to fend off Iranian missile and drone attacks.

“This [Israel-Iran conflict] is eating away at our reserves,” one of the former US officials said. But this person added, “time works against Iran more than against Israel.”

Over the last two years, the US military also used a significant number of munitions to counter Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. That continued until the Trump administration launched an offensive campaign targeting Houthi leadership and weapons infrastructure inside Yemen. The effort consumed large quantities of US missiles, including SM-2, SM-3, and SM-6 interceptors.

Meanwhile, the US defense industrial base has been under significant strain since the United States committed billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion. The monthslong Houthi campaign further depleted US stockpiles before the ceasefire was reached last month, putting a pause on the daily use of weapons in the region.

Michael Eisenstadt, the director of The Washington Institute's Military and Security Studies Program, said the US needed to be concerned about its weapons inventories not just because of the crises in the Middle East, “but in case a crisis with China or on the Korean Peninsula were to occur, in which ammunition expenditure rates are expected to be much higher.”

On Wednesday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker raised the alarm during a hearing with the Pentagon chief and the top US military commander, as they reviewed the administration’s proposed defense budget.

“This is the most dangerous national security moment since World War II. Unconstrained, aggressive dictators are on the move. And, importantly, the character of warfare is rapidly changing,” Wicker said.

He also criticized the budget request, warning that it lacks the strategic investments needed to rebuild the US defense industrial base.
US defense of Israel

Israel’s ambassador to the US said this week that Iran possesses around 2,000 ballistic missiles. Israeli media reports suggest that about 400 of those have already been launched. Iran is also believed to possess an unknown number of lower-cost cruise missiles and drones, which it often uses in mass salvos aimed at overwhelming Israeli and US air defenses.

The US currently has at least one — possibly two — Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries deployed in Israel. These were used to help intercept Iranian missile attacks during last year’s escalation.

US officials told the Wall Street Journal that Israel is facing mounting difficulties in replenishing its interceptor stockpiles. The Israeli military depends on a multi-layered air defense architecture, supported in part by US systems, to manage sustained missile threats. This includes the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems for intercepting medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, as well as David’s Sling and Iron Dome for short-range rockets and projectiles.

Eisenstadt said Israel was “burning” through its missile defense inventory. However, he emphasized that Israel’s ability to destroy Iranian missile launchers has helped reduce the number of incoming missiles, making the threat more manageable.

Whether or not the US joins direct strikes against Iran could further affect Israel’s need for additional interceptors.

“That said, Iran might nonetheless be able to drag out the war, but there might come a time when it no longer serves its interest to do so due to the damage being inflicted on its armed forces, military industries, and national infrastructure, and it could escalate… elsewhere to put pressure on Israel and the United States to end the war,” according to Eisenstadt.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said he had not yet made a decision about attacking Iran. “I’m not looking to fight,” he said during remarks in the Oval Office. “But if it’s a choice between fighting and [Iran] having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do.”

Israel-Iran war: how close is Tehran to having nuclear weapons?

Yemen Details — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 23:06:26 +0300

VIENNA, June 18 (Reuters) - Israel has carried out attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities, alleging Tehran was getting close to obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Below is a summary of what is known on the subject:

HOW DID ISRAEL EXPLAIN ITS ATTACK?

In a statement on Friday, when the attacks were launched, the Israel Defence Forces said they were revealing for the first time Iran's secret and accelerating plan for the development of a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been making similar accusations for years, even once presenting a cartoon of a bomb at the U.N. in 2012.

Israel has not, however, produced proof that Iran is as close as it now alleges.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, which carries out inspections in Iran, has said that while it cannot guarantee Iran's nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, it has "no credible indication" of an active, coordinated weapons programme either.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

As its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers has eroded over the years, Iran expanded and accelerated its nuclear programme, shortening the time it would need to build a nuclear bomb if it chose to - though it denies wanting to.

The 2015 deal introduced strict limits on Iran's atomic activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. It slashed Iran's stock of enriched uranium, leaving it only with a small amount enriched to up to 3.67% purity, far from the roughly 90% purity that is weapons grade.

The United States said at the time that a main aim was to increase the time Iran would need to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb - the biggest single hurdle in a weapons programme - to at least a year.

In 2018, during his first term, President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal, reimposing sanctions on Tehran that slashed its oil sales and battered its economy. In 2019, Iran started breaching the restrictions on its nuclear activities and then pushed far beyond them.

It went on to breach all the deal's key restrictions, including on where, with what machines and to what level it can enrich uranium, and how much material it can amass.

Its stock of enriched uranium, which was capped at 202.8 kg under the deal, was estimated at 9.2 tonnes in May, according to the latest quarterly International Atomic Energy Agency report.

HOW FAR HAS IRAN GOT?

The exact status of various Iranian nuclear facilities and material since Israel's strikes is unclear.

At least until Israel's attacks, Iran was enriching uranium to up to 60% purity and had enough material at that level for nine nuclear weapons if enriched further, according to a theoretical IAEA yardstick.

That means Iran's so-called "breakout time" - the time it would need to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb - was close to zero, likely a matter of days or little more than a week, analysts say.

Iran had three operating enrichment facilities: an above-ground plant and a larger, underground one at its Natanz complex and another buried inside a mountain at Fordow.

Only Fordow appears to have been spared damage, the IAEA has said. The above-ground plant has been destroyed and the underground one at Natanz has likely had its uranium-enriching centrifuges badly damaged or destroyed, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said.

That will have lengthened its breakout time at least somewhat because far fewer centrifuges if any are operating. The status of its stock of enriched uranium is also unclear.

HOW FAST COULD IRAN SPRINT TO A BOMB?

Aside from uranium enrichment, there is the question of how long it would take Iran to produce the rest of a nuclear weapon and possibly make it small enough to put in a delivery system like a ballistic missile, should it choose to. This is much harder to estimate as it is less clear how much knowledge Iran has.

Estimates of how long Iran would need for weaponisation generally vary between months and about a year.

"Certainly it was not for tomorrow... I don't think it was a matter of years," Grossi told CNN on Tuesday when asked how long it would have taken Iran to produce a bomb.

AND WOULD IT?

U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA believe Iran had a coordinated nuclear weapons programme that it halted in 2003. It worked on aspects of weaponisation and some work continued until as late as 2009, the IAEA found in a 2015 report. Grossi said this month its latest findings still broadly fit with that.

Iran denies ever having a nuclear weapons programme, though Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that if it wanted to world leaders "wouldn't be able to stop us".
The IAEA has said it has concerns about statements by former senior officials about Iran's ability to make a bomb.

Diplomats said those statements included a television interview by Iran's former nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi in which he likened producing a nuclear weapon to building a car, saying Iran knew how to make all the parts needed.

As a result of Iran ceasing to implement elements of the 2015 deal, the IAEA can no longer fully monitor Iran's production and inventory of centrifuges and it can no longer conduct snap inspections. That has prompted speculation about whether Iran could have set up a secret enrichment site, but there are no concrete indications of one.

Assessing the damage to Iran’s nuclear programme

Yemen Details — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 22:46:22 +0300

Israel’s military has said the current goal of its continuing campaign against Iran is the dismantling of Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Iran has been enriching uranium to up to 60% fissile purity, which could be refined further to the roughly 90% that is weapons-grade material.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which inspects Iran’s nuclear sites including its enrichment plants, says this is of “serious concern” because no other country has enriched to that level without producing nuclear weapons. Western powers say there is no civil justification for such high-level enrichment.

Tehran has long insisted its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only and points to its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Two of Iran’s main nuclear facilities have been badly damaged in Israeli air attacks:

The Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz is a vast underground facility designed to house 50,000 centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium.

There has long been speculation among military experts about whether Israeli airstrikes could destroy the FEP given that it is several floors underground.

There were about 17,000 centrifuges installed there at last count, of which around 13,500 were operating, refining uranium to up to 5%.

The electricity infrastructure at Natanz was destroyed by Israel, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told the U.N. Security Council on Friday, specifically an electrical sub-station, the main electric power supply building, emergency power supply and back-up generators.

“With this sudden loss of external power, in great probability the centrifuges have been severely damaged if not destroyed altogether,” Grossi told the BBC on Monday.

The above-ground Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) at Natanz is the smallest and softest target of Iran’s three enrichment plants and was destroyed in the Israeli attack, according to the IAEA. Long a research and development centre, it used fewer centrifuges than the other plants, often connected in smaller clusters of machines known as cascades. It did, however, have two interconnected, full-size cascades of up to 164 advanced centrifuges each, enriching uranium to up to 60%.

Israeli strikes damaged four buildings at the nuclear complex at Isfahan, the IAEA has said, including the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) and facilities where work on uranium metal was conducted.

While it has other uses, mastering uranium metal technology is an important step in making the core of a nuclear weapon. If Iran were to try to make a nuclear weapon, it would need to take weapons-grade uranium and turn it into uranium metal.

Uranium conversion is the process by which “yellowcake” uranium is turned into uranium hexafluoride, the feedstock for centrifuges, so that it can be enriched. If the UCF is out of use, Iran will eventually run out of uranium to enrich unless it finds an outside source of uranium hexafluoride.

Iran’s underground enrichment plant at Fordow

Iran’s most deeply buried enrichment installation at Fordow, dug deep into a mountain, has suffered little or no visible damage, the IAEA reiterated on Monday.

While Fordow has only about 2,000 centrifuges in operation, it produces the vast majority of Iran’s uranium enriched to up to 60%, using roughly the same number of centrifuges as Natanz, because it feeds uranium refined to up to 20% into those cascades, compared to 5% at Natanz.

Fordow produced 166.6 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% in the most recent quarter. According to an IAEA yardstick, that is enough in principle, if enriched further, for just under four nuclear bombs, compared to the PFEP’s 19.2 kg, less than half a bomb’s worth.

In 2018, Israel obtained secret files from Iran’s nuclear archive revealing previously hidden details about the key underground facility.

In addition to attacks on nuclear facilities, at least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in Israeli attacks since Friday, including in car bombings, two sources in the Gulf said on Sunday.

Israel’s armed forces named nine of them on Saturday, saying they “played a central part of the progress toward nuclear weapons” and that “their elimination represents a significant blow to the Iranian regime’s ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction”. That assertion could not immediately be verified.

Western powers have often said Iran’s nuclear advances provide it with an “irreversible knowledge gain”, suggesting that while losing experts or facilities may slow progress, the advances are permanent.

Tehranis caught between fear and resolve as air war intensifies

Yemen Details — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 23:34:19 +0300

Tehran (AFP) – As Israeli air strikes on Tehran show no sign of abating, many residents have fled the Iranian capital. But for others, escape is not an option.

"I've heard multiple explosions near my home in western Tehran," said Mina, a 37-year-old computer scientist. "I wanted to leave, but I have several cats and I can't abandon them."

Israel launched a devastating attack on Friday that has killed at least 224 people -- including women and children -- leading many parts of the Iranian capital to empty out.

The assault prompted a retaliatory barrage from Iran that has killed at least 24 people in Israel, according to the Israeli prime minister's office.

Israel on Monday warned residents to leave a northern district of the capital before striking the headquarters of state television -- an attack the broadcaster said killed three people.

It came two days after Israel declared it had "opened a path to Tehran" by knocking out Iran's air defences.

But amid the ensuing exodus, those left behind are grappling with fear, shortages and a sense of defiant endurance.

On Tuesday, long queues stretched outside bakeries and petrol stations -- some several kilometres (miles) long -- as remaining residents rushed to stock up on fuel and basic supplies.

Grocery and convenience stores stayed open, but markets and jewellery shops across the city remained closed.

Security checkpoints have been set up across Tehran, adding to the atmosphere of tension as authorities monitor movement in and out of key districts.

Subdued cityscape

Traffic in central Tehran was visibly thinner, with sporadic lines forming outside pharmacies.

Images posted online -- though unverified -- showed extensive damage to homes: shattered windows, collapsed facades and debris-filled living rooms.

In Tajrish Square, workers scrambled to repair a water pipeline damaged in an earlier strike, while some residents relocated temporarily to access running water.

"The regime (Israel) must await harsh punishment," read one banner in downtown Tehran, displayed alongside portraits of slain Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists.

Other banners quoted Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: "The powerful hand of the Islamic Republic's armed forces will not relent against the Zionist regime."

The banners -— along with headlines from foreign outlets reporting on Iran's retaliation -- dotted an otherwise subdued cityscape.

The Grand Bazaar stayed shut, while a banner in Vali-Asr Square honoured Sahar Emami, the state TV anchor who remained on air during the Israeli strike on the broadcaster's headquarters.

Her image, finger raised in defiance, was paired with a verse from the Persian poet Ferdowsi, celebrating the courage of women "on the battlefield".

While fear grips the capital, what remains is a patchwork of resilience, helplessness -- and an uneasy stillness as many await what comes next.

Khamenei, Iran's political survivor, faces ultimate test

Yemen Details — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 03:21:19 +0300

Paris (AFP) – Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has weathered a series of challenges but Israel's unprecedented strikes mark his most serious crisis yet, threatening both the clerical system he leads and his own physical survival.

Khamenei, Iran's top leader since the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, has ruled in the face of sanctions, near constant international tensions as well as protests that were ruthlessly repressed, most recently the 2022-2023 women-led uprising.

With Khamenei aged 86, the issue of succession was already looming large in Iran. But his moves now will have a decisive impact on the future on the system of which he has been a pillar since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the shah.

Meanwhile, his own physical survival could be at stake, with a senior American official saying Donald Trump rejected an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei but Israel is still not ruling out such a move.

"Khamenei is at the twilight of his rule, at the age 86, and already much of the daily command of the regime is not up to him but to various factions who are vying for the future," said Arash Azizi, senior fellow at Boston University.

"This process was already underway and the current war only accelerates it," he told AFP.
'Self-inflicted dilemma'

Israel's success in killing key Iranian figures, including the army chief and head of the Revolutionary Guards, has illustrated how Israeli intelligence can track Iranian leaders and raised the question of whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could give an order to seek to kill Khamenei himself.

The movements of the supreme leader, who has not left Iran since taking up the position and made his last foreign visit to North Korea in 1989 while still president, are subject to the tightest security and secrecy.

"It is possible that they might have a regime change plan of their own, either by supporting or semi-supporting a coup inside the regime or by continuing to kill at the highest level hoping that this leads to a fundamental shift in posture toward Israel or something of a regime change," said Azizi.

Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Khamenei faced a "self-inflicted dilemma" and already lacked the "physical and cognitive acumen to lead Iran into a high-tech war".

"A weak response to Israel further diminishes his authority, a strong response could further jeopardise his survival, and that of his regime," he said.
'Prided himself'

While keeping up the rhetoric of confrontation with the US and Israel and backing proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Khamenei long kept Iran out of direct conflict with its foes. But the current strikes appear to represent a sudden end to this strategy.

"He has prided himself on deterring conflict away from Iran's borders since he assumed the supreme leadership in 1989," said Jason Brodsky, policy director of US-based United Against Nuclear Iran. "So Khamenei has badly miscalculated."

Brodsky said the nearest comparison to the current situation were the attacks against leaders blamed on the opposition in the early 1980s which saw the then president killed and Khamenei himself wounded in a 1981 assassination attempt.

"It will be an experience that Khamenei will undoubtedly draw upon in the current context," Brodsky told AFP.

"But what we are witnessing today is on a completely different level of magnitude. And it's occurring at a pace that threatens to overwhelm the capacity of Tehran."

The scale of Israel's first attacks overnight Thursday to Friday, ahead of what were supposed to be a new round of talks in Oman on the Iranian nuclear programme, took the leadership by surprise at a time when it has been on the lookout for any further protests amid economic hardship.

"Indeed, the strikes have intensified already simmering tensions, and many Iranians want to see the Islamic republic gone. Crucially, however, most of them do not want this outcome to come at the cost of bloodshed and war," said Holly Dagres, senior fellow at The Washington Institute.
'Stay strong'

In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu suggested that "regime change" could be the outcome of the Israeli strikes, while insisting that it would be for the Iranian people to bring this about.

"It could certainly be the result as the Iran regime is very weak," he said, claiming that "80 percent of the people would throw these theological thugs out".

Asked if there was an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei that had been vetoed by Washington, Netanyahu replied: "We do what we need to do, we will do what we need to do and I think the United States knows what is good for the United States".

The Iranian opposition, both in exile and inside the country, remains riven by division. One of its most prominent representatives Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and who has warm relations with Israel, has told Iranians: "Stay strong and we will win."

So far, however, there have been no reports of mass protests, although some Persian-language television channels based abroad have broadcast images of groups shouting anti-Khamenei slogans.

Azizi cautioned: "The idea that this ends in a popular uprising that changes the regime or gives to power to someone in the Iranian opposition abroad has no basis in reality."

Khamenei and his family hiding in bunker north of Tehran, sources say

Yemen Details — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 20:36:11 +0300

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was moved to an underground bunker in Lavizan in northeastern Tehran hours after Israel began its attacks on Tehran early Friday, two informed sources inside Iran told Iran International.

All members of Khamenei's family including his son Mojtaba are with him, the sources said.

According to the sources, during the previous operations against Israel, True Promise 1 and True Promise 2, the Supreme Leader’s family was also taken to the bunker.

At that time, Mojtaba was by his side, but two of his sons, Masoud and Mostafa, were not with him.

Iran’s first direct attack on Israel, Operation True Promise 1, took place on April 13, 2024, and involved over 300 missiles and drones targeting military installations. The strike was in retaliation for the killing of two Iranian generals in Damascus.

Operation True Promise 2 followed on October 1, 2024, with approximately 200 missiles aimed at Israeli military facilities in response to the assassination of Iran-aligned militant leaders, including former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Warning to Khamenei

On Sunday, Israel targeted the city of Mashhad, located 2,300 kilometers from the Jewish State, for the first time.

A diplomatic source in the Middle East told Iran International that the Israeli airstrike on Mashhad was a warning to Iran’s Supreme Leader that he is not safe anywhere in the country.

The diplomatic source added that Israel could have eliminated Khamenei on the first night of the operation, but the Israeli government chose to keep him alive to give him a final chance to decide on completely dismantling the Islamic Republic’s uranium enrichment program.

Trump had given Khamenei a two-month deadline to agree to dismantle Iran’s enrichment program. However, the Supreme Leader ignored both his and Israel’s warnings.

With the start of Israel’s airstrikes, that opportunity has been offered once again — this time for him to realistically assess Israel’s military capability and order the dismantling of the enrichment program, the sources said.

Iran urges Trump to make Israel halt war; Netanyahu hails 'path to victory'

Yemen Details — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 20:19:18 +0300

TEL AVIV/DUBAI, June 16 (Reuters) - Iran called on U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday to force Israel to cease fire as the only way to end the four-day-old aerial war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was on the "path to victory".

Israeli forces stepped up their bombardment of Iranian cities, while Iran proved capable of piercing Israeli air defences with one of its most successful volleys yet of retaliatory missile strikes.

"If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X.

"Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue. It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu. That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy."

Sources told Reuters that Tehran had asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire. In return, Iran would show flexibility in nuclear negotiations, said the two Iranian and three regional sources.

Netanyahu told Israeli troops at an air base that Israel was on its way to achieving its two main aims: wiping out Iran's nuclear programme and destroying its missiles.

"We are on the path to victory," he said. "We are telling the citizens of Tehran: ‘Evacuate’ — and we are taking action."

'DESPERATE'

Israel launched its air war on Friday with a surprise attack that killed nearly the entire top echelon of Iran's military commanders and its leading nuclear scientists. It has said it now has control of Iranian airspace and intends to escalate its campaign in coming days.

Tehran's retaliation is the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict that missiles fired from Iran have pierced Israeli defences in significant numbers and killed Israelis in their homes.

Iran says more than 224 Iranians have been killed, most of them civilians. Media published images of wounded children, women, and the elderly from cities across the country.

State TV broadcast scenes of collapsed presidential buildings, burned-out cars, and shattered streets in Tehran. Many residents were trying to flee the capital, describing queues for petrol and bank machines that were out of cash.

"I am desperate. My two children are scared and cannot sleep at night because of the sound of air defence and attacks, explosions. But we have nowhere to go. We hid under our dining table," Gholamreza Mohammadi, 48, a civil servant, told Reuters by phone from Tehran.

In Israel, 24 people have been killed so far in Iran's missile attacks, all of them civilians. Round the clock television images showed rescuers working in ruins of flattened homes.

"It's terrifying because it's so unknown," said Guydo Tetelbaum, 31, a chef in Tel Aviv who was in his apartment when the alerts came in shortly after 4 a.m. (0100 GMT). He had tried to reach a shelter but his door was blown in.

"This could be the beginning of a long time like this. Or it could get worse, or hopefully better, but it's the unknown that's the scariest."

Trump has consistently said that the Israeli assault could end quickly if Iran agrees to U.S. demands that it accept strict curbs to its nuclear programme.

Talks between the United States and Iran, hosted by Oman, had been scheduled for Sunday but were scrapped, with Tehran saying it could not negotiate while under attack.

On Monday, Iranian lawmakers floated the idea of quitting the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, a move bound to be seen as a setback for any negotiations.

'TEHRAN WILL PAY THE PRICE'

Before dawn on Monday, Iranian missiles struck Tel Aviv and Haifa, killing at least eight people and destroying homes. Israeli authorities said a total of seven missiles fired overnight had landed in Israel. At least 100 people were wounded.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the latest attack employed a new method that caused Israel's multi-layered defence systems to target each other so missiles could get through.

"The arrogant dictator of Tehran has become a cowardly murderer who targets the civilian home front in Israel to deter the IDF," Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
"The residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon."

Global oil prices had shot up on Friday at the prospect of conflict disrupting supplies from the Gulf. Prices eased somewhat on Monday, suggesting traders think exports could be spared despite Israeli attacks that hit domestic Iranian oil and gas targets.

Still, the sudden killing of so many Iranian military commanders and the apparent loss of control of airspace could prove to the biggest test of the stability of Iran's system of clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran's network of regional allies who could once have been expected to rain rockets on Israel - Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon - have been decimated by Israeli forces since the start of the Gaza war.

Netanyahu has said that, while toppling the Iranian government is not Israel's primary aim, it believes that could be the outcome.

Iran's currency has lost at least 10% of its value against the U.S. dollar since the start of Israel's attack.

Art teacher Arshia, 29, told Reuters that his family was leaving Tehran for the town of Damavand, around 50 km (30 miles) to the east, until the conflict was over.

"My parents are scared. Every night there are attacks. No air raid sirens, and no shelters to go to. Why are we paying the price for the Islamic Republic's hostile policies?" said Arshia, who withheld his surname for fear of reprisal from authorities.

Israel using mobile phone tracking for assassinations in Iran, IRGC-linked outlet says

Yemen Details — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 20:04:54 +0300

Israel is using mobile phone tracking technology to carry out assassinations inside Iran, including of nuclear scientists in the latest strikes, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency reported Monday.

"Israel uses mobile tracking to assassinate individuals in Iran. It previously killed Ismail Haniyeh the same way in Tehran,” the outlet said.

Fars added that even turning off mobile phones at meeting locations or residences can still reveal individuals’ whereabouts, and recommended using secure, anti-tracking phones.

The report follows a call by a Tehran lawmaker urging military and government officials to collect their own and their associates' mobile phones to prevent tracking.

Israel army issues evacuation order for Tehran district ahead of attack

Yemen Details — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 19:45:43 +0300

Israel’s military urged residents of a northern district of Tehran to evacuate “immediately” on Monday, saying it intended to carry out air strikes there.

“In the coming hours, the (Israeli miliary) will operate in the area, as it has in recent days throughout Tehran, to strike military infrastructure of the Iranian regime,” the military said in a post on X in Persian, indicating a part of Tehran’s District 3 on a map and telling citizens to “evacuate the marked area” for safety.

The order comes after Iran launched missiles at Israeli cities Monday after Israeli strikes deep inside the Islamic Republic, raising Israel’s death toll by 11 on day four of an escalating air war.

After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war, Israel on Friday launched a surprise aerial campaign targeting sites across Iran, saying the attacks aimed to prevent its arch-foe from acquiring atomic weapons -- a charge Tehran denies.

Israel’s strikes have so far killed at least 224 people, including top military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians, according to Iranian authorities.

In retaliation, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had “successfully” struck Israel with a salvo of missiles and warned of “effective, targeted and more devastating operations” to come.

The Iranian attacks hit Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, Petah Tikva and Haifa -- with shattered homes, smoldering wreckage and stunned residents picking through debris.

“The entire shelter shook,” said Shlomi Biton, who had taken cover with his five children in Haifa. “There were many, many explosions.”

Ido, a student whose house was hit, recalled scenes of panic. “There were 12 to 13 children there in the shelter screaming.”

The death toll in Israel rose by 11 on Monday, the prime minister’s office said, bringing the total since Friday to 24.

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said the missile barrage also lightly damaged a building used by the American embassy in Tel Aviv.

In Iran, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned as a “war crime” an Israeli strike that damaged a hospital in the western city of Kermanshah. A previous report said a nearby workshop had been the target.
‘I will not leave’

Iran’s missile attack followed waves of intense Israeli air raids that struck targets across the country -- from the western border with Iraq to Tehran and as far east as Mashhad, where the airport was hit.

While some people fled Tehran, others vowed to stay.

“It is natural that war has its own stress, but I will not leave my city,” said Shokouh Razzazi, 31, in the capital, where the Grand Bazaar was closed amid the ongoing Israeli strikes.

The escalation has sparked growing international concern.

China urged both sides to “immediately take measures to cool down the tensions” and avoid plunging the region into deeper turmoil.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also called for calm, telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “a negotiated solution is, in the long term, the best solution.”

Though critical of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, she blamed Iran for the latest crisis, citing the UN nuclear watchdog’s findings that it was not in compliance with its obligations.

“In this context, Israel has the right to defend itself. Iran is the principal source of regional instability,” she said.

Iran, in turn, urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to condemn Israeli strikes on its nuclear facilities.

“We expect the (IAEA) Board of Governors and the director general to take a firm position in condemning this act and holding the regime (Israel) accountable,” said spokesman Baqaei.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meanwhile told his Iranian counterpart in a phone call that Ankara is ready to play a “facilitating role” to end the conflict.
‘Make a deal’

The Israeli military said Monday it had destroyed 120 missile launchers -- one third of Iran’s total.

In a televised address, Iranian armed forces spokesman Colonel Reza Sayyad vowed a “devastating response” to Israeli attacks.

“Leave the occupied territories (Israel) because they will certainly no longer be habitable in the future,” he said, adding shelters would “not guarantee security.”

Addressing Iran’s parliament, President Masoud Pezeshkian urged citizens to “stand strong against this genocidal criminal aggression with unity and coherence.”

US President Donald Trump insisted Washington had “nothing to do” with Israel’s military campaign but warned any Iranian attack on American interests would trigger “the full strength and might” of the US military.

On Sunday, Trump urged both sides to “make a deal” while expressing doubts about near-term peace prospects.

“Sometimes they have to fight it out, but we’re going to see what happens,” he said.

A senior US official told AFP Trump had intervened to prevent Israel from carrying out an assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

“We found out that the Israelis had plans to hit Iran’s supreme leader. President Trump was against it and we told the Israelis not to,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Asked by Fox News whether regime change in Iran was one of Israel’s objectives, Netanyahu said: “It certainly could be the result, because the Iran regime is very weak.”

As hostilities intensified, Iran said it was scrapping planned nuclear talks with the United States, calling dialogue “meaningless” under bombardment.

Iran state TV hit in Israeli attack on Tehran

Yemen Details — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 19:15:34 +0300

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) building was struck in an Israeli attack on Monday, cutting live coverage immediately.

The blast occurred as the presenter was live on TV lambasting Israel before she was seen leaving the live broadcast, Iranian media reported, sharing a video of the incident.

State TV resumed live coverage shortly afterward.

“The Zionist regime, the enemy of the Iranian nation, minutes ago conducted a military operation against the Islamic Republic of Iran news network,” part of IRIB, said a senior official at the broadcasting service Hassan Abedini.

“The regime (Israel) was unaware of the fact that the voice of the Islamic Revolution and the great Iran will not be silenced with a military operation.”

Earlier on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Iran’s state television and radio were “about to disappear,” after an evacuation warning was issued for the district in Tehran where the broadcaster is based.

“The Iranian propaganda and incitement megaphone is about to disappear,” he said in a statement. “Evacuation of nearby residents has begun.”

Israel’s military urged residents in a portion of the capital’s northern District 3 to evacuate “immediately” on Monday, saying it intended to carry out air strikes there.

“In the coming hours, the (Israeli military) will operate in the area, as it has in recent days throughout Tehran, to strike military infrastructure of the Iranian regime,” the military said in a post on X in Persian.

The area marked for evacuation is an upmarket part of the Iranian capital home to at least four hospitals and medical centers, a major police building and state broadcaster IRIB.

It also houses several embassies, including those of Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, as well as UN offices and the Agence France-Presse bureau.

Earlier Monday, the Israeli army said that it had achieved “total air superiority in the skies over Tehran.”

With AFP

Iran rejects ceasefire negotiations while under Israeli attack, official says

Yemen Details — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 00:46:01 +0300

DUBAI, June 16 (Reuters) - Iran has told mediators Qatar and Oman that it is not open to negotiating a ceasefire while it is under Israeli attack, an official briefed on the communications told Reuters on Sunday, as the two foes launched fresh attacks and raised fears of a wider conflict.

"The Iranians informed Qatari and Omani mediators that they will only pursue serious negotiations once Iran has completed its response to the Israeli pre-emptive strikes," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the conflict.

Iran made "clear that it will not negotiate while under attack," the official said.
Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days.

Iran has vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation in what has emerged as the biggest ever confrontation between the longstanding enemies.

The official told Reuters media reports that Iran appealed to Oman and Qatar to engage the U.S. to broker a ceasefire and renew nuclear talks were inaccurate.

Iran's foreign ministry did not respond to Reuters request for comment, nor did Qatar's foreign ministry or Oman's ministry of information.

Oman has in recent months mediated nuclear talks between the United States and Iran, though the most recent round was canceled a day after Israel launched a sweeping air offensive against Iran.

Qatar has also played a role facilitating talks between the two foes in the past, most recently mediating a prisoner swap agreement in 2023.

Oman and Qatar have good relations with both Iran and the U.S. and they also have communicated directly with Israel.

Iran confirms deaths of IRGC intelligence chief and his deputy in Israeli strikes

Yemen Details — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 23:10:31 +0300

Mohammad Kazemi, head of the Intelligence Organization of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and his deputy, Hassan Mohaqeq, were killed in Israeli strikes, the IRGC confirmed on Sunday.

Breaking: Israel hits aerial refueling plane in Iran’s Mashhad in ‘longest-range strike’

Yemen Details — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 19:29:43 +0300

The Israeli military said it struck an aerial refueling aircraft at an airport in Mashhad in northeastern Iran on Sunday, describing it as its longest-range attack since launching operations against Iran last week.

"A short while ago, the IAF (Israeli Air Force) struck an Iranian aerial refueling aircraft at Mashhad airport in eastern Iran, approximately 2,300 kilometers (1,430 miles) from Israel,” adding it was “the longest-range strike conducted since the beginning of the operation” that began Friday.

Iran’s state-linked Tasnim news agency reported an explosion near Mashhad’s Shahid Hasheminejad Airport, adding that “no damage was caused to the airport’s buildings or runway.”

Mashhad is home to the Imam Reza shrine, the holiest site in Iran for Shia Muslims.

Israeli attacks have killed top Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists, and struck military bases, nuclear sites and residential areas across the country.

Iran has since unleashed a barrage of missile strikes on Israel, leaving at least 10 Israelis dead overnight Saturday-Sunday and dozens more wounded.

Citing two US officials, Reuters reported on Sunday that US President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in recent days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday that regime change in Iran could be a result of Israel’s military attacks,

Netanyahu, speaking to Fox’s Bret Baier on his “Special Report” program in one of his first interviews since Israel’s attacks on Iran began on Friday, said he had informed Trump ahead of the attacks.

Iranian media say Israel strikes infrastructure at South Pars gas field, fire erupts

Yemen Details — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 20:10:35 +0300

Iranian media on Saturday reported fire breaking out after Israel bombed infrastructure at the South Pars gas field in southern Bushehr province.

Iranian UN ambassador says 78 killed, 320 wounded in Israeli strikes

Yemen Details — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 02:35:08 +0300

UNITED NATIONS — Israel’s strikes on Iran have killed 78 people, including top military commanders, and wounded more than 320, the Islamic Republic’s ambassador to the United Nations says.

“So far, 78 people, including senior military officials, have been martyred and over 320 other injured. The overwhelming majority of them (are) civilians, including women and children,” Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Amir Iravani tells the Security Council.

Israel’s operation is targeting Iran’s military command and nuclear program.

Israeli attack exposed Iran's military vulnerabilities: analysts

Yemen Details — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 02:28:21 +0300

Israel's unprecedented strikes on its archfoe Iran Friday are a resounding blow for Tehran that has thrown into doubt its ability to respond militarily, analysts said.

Israel said it hit 100 targets including Iranian nuclear and military sites in the attack.

The airstrikes killed senior figures, among them leaders of the Revolutionary Guards, the armed forces' chief and top nuclear scientists.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel of a "bitter and painful" fate over the attacks.

But analysts say the Islamic republic's options are limited, after Israel showed itself capable of precisely locating and taking out high-ranking Iranian officials.

"This is an intelligence defeat of existential proportions for the Islamic Republic," said Ali Fathollah-Nejad, director of the Berlin-based Center for Middle East and Global Order (CMEG) think tank.

"It exposes the vital vulnerability of the regime's military and security apparatus and its key infrastructures -- including nuclear -- as well as its top political and military leadership," he told AFP.

"All this is meant, inter alia, to cripple Tehran's command and counter-strike capacities."

The United States and other Western countries, along with Israel, accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon.

Tehran denies that, but has gradually broken away from its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal it struck with world powers, after the United States pulled out of it.

The landmark accord provided Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its atomic programme, but it fell apart after President Donald Trump halted US participation in 2018, during his first term.

- Tehran 'in a bind' -

Western nations in recent days accused Tehran of deliberately escalating its nuclear programme, despite several rounds of US-Iran talks for a new accord.

Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation said Thursday it would "significantly" increase production of enriched uranium, after the UN's nuclear watchdog found Tehran in breach of its obligations.

Israel has previously carried out attacks in the Islamic republic, including against military targets in October last year.

But Friday's attacks were unprecedented.

"The Israel campaign is sweeping in scope and sophistication," said Ali Vaez, of the International Crisis Group.

"We may still only be in the early stages of a prolonged operation that continues to expand, disrupting Iran's ability to either formulate or execute a response."

Friday's strikes killed Iran's highest-ranking military officer, armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri, and the head of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, Iranian media reported.

A senior adviser to Khamenei was also wounded, state television said.

Israel hit a key underground nuclear site in Natanz several times, it also said, reporting that most damage was at "surface level".

British intelligence firm Janes said, however, that hitting Natanz will "have almost certainly dealt a significant blow to Iran's enrichment capabilities and facilities".

Clement Therme, of the Sorbonne University, said that "to retaliate, the regime seems to be in a bind".

"Either it targets US bases in the region and jeopardises its future, or it targets Israel, but we see that its military capabilities are limited," he said.

The Israeli military said Iran launched around 100 drones against it, but its air defences intercepted "most" of them outside Israeli territory.

- Iran's 'cataclysmic' economy -

Israel, which relies on US diplomatic and military support, carried out the attack despite Trump's public urging for it to give time for diplomacy.

Trump's Middle East pointman Steve Witkoff had been set to hold a sixth round of talks with Iran on Sunday in Oman.

Iran wants a new deal that would ease the sanctions that have battered its economy.

A Western diplomat earlier this year described Iran's economy as "cataclysmic", saying the country had "a gigantic need for the lifting of sanctions, reforms, a cleanup of the banking system, foreign investments".

Ellie Geranmayeh, an Iran expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the strikes were "designed to kill President Trump's chances of striking a deal to contain the Iranian nuclear programme".

"It is highly unlikely that in these conditions, Iran will proceed with the Omani-mediated talks scheduled for Sunday," she added.

But, after the strikes, a US official said Washington still hoped the Sunday talks would go ahead.

Trump urged Iran to "make a deal, before there is nothing left", warning of "even more brutal" attacks to come.

Vaez said the strategy may not work.

"Rather than prompt Iranian concessions it could also lead to a doubling down by Tehran," he said.

"Setbacks could lead Iran to reconstitute their operations with a more determined effort to obtain a nuclear deterrent."

Iran's Above-Ground Enrichment Plant at Natanz Destroyed, IAEA Chief Says

Yemen Details — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 23:59:49 +0300

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Iran's Natanz nuclear site has been destroyed, U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council on Friday.

"At present, the Iranian authorities are informing us of attacks on two other facilities, namely the Fordow fuel enrichment plant and at Isfahan," the International Atomic Energy Agency's Grossi told the 15-member council.

"At this moment we do not have enough information beyond indicating that military activity has been taken place around these facilities as well."

Breaking: Iran launches hundreds of missiles towards Israel: State media

Yemen Details — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 21:37:27 +0300

Hundreds of ballistic missiles were launched from Iran towards Israel, marking the start of Tehran’s response to intensive Israeli strikes, Iranian media reported.

An Israeli military official said Iran launched on Friday dozens of ballistic missiles at Israel, as sirens sounded and AFP reported loud blasts heard in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

“Dozens of Iranian ballistic missiles are en route to Israel. The people of Israel have been instructed to remain in bomb shelters until further notice,” the official said in a statement delivered to journalists on condition of anonymity.

Israel launched renewed attacks on Iran as evening fell on Friday, after its biggest ever attack against its longstanding foe blasted Iran’s huge underground nuclear site and wiped out its entire top echelon of military commanders.

Iran said that in retaliation “the gates of hell will open,” while Israel said the strikes were only the start of “Operation Rising Lion.” US President Donald Trump said it was not too late for Tehran to halt the bombing campaign by reaching a deal on its nuclear program.

As evening fell on Friday, Iranian media reported explosions on the northern and southern outskirts of Tehran and at Fordow, near the holy city of Qom, a second major nuclear site which had been spared in the first wave of attacks. Israel’s military said it was striking Iranian missile and drone launching sites.

Air defenses were activated across Tehran and explosions could be heard in Isfahan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli campaign was aimed at defeating an existential threat from Iran, invoking the failure to halt the Holocaust in World War Two.

Israel’s operation “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” he said in a TV address. “Generations from now, history will record our generation stood its ground, acted in time and secured our common future.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Israel had “unleashed its wicked and bloody” hand, and would suffer “a bitter fate.”

In a phone interview with Reuters, Trump said it was not clear if Iran’s nuclear program had survived. He said nuclear talks between Tehran and the United States, scheduled for Sunday, were still on the agenda though he was not sure if they would take place.

“I tried to save Iran humiliation and death,” Trump said.

Earlier, Trump posted on Truth Social: “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”

Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said military action by itself would not destroy Iran’s nuclear program, but could “create the conditions for a long-term deal, led by the United States” to get rid of it.

Decapitation

Two regional sources said at least 20 Iranian military commanders were killed, a stunning decapitation reminiscent of Israeli attacks that swiftly wiped out the leadership of Lebanon’s once-feared Hezbollah militia last year. Iran also said six of its top nuclear scientists had been killed.

Among the generals killed on Friday were the armed forces chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, and the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Salami.

Major General Mohammad Pakpour, swiftly promoted to replace Salami as chief commander of the IRGC, vowed retaliation in a letter to the supreme leader read out on state television: “The gates of hell will open to the child-killing regime.”

Iranian media showed images of destroyed apartment blocks, and said nearly 80 civilians were killed in attacks that targeted nuclear scientists in their beds and wounded more than 300 people.

Iran’s ability to retaliate with weapons fired by its regional proxies has been degraded over the past year, with the downfall of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the decimation of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem on Friday evening, and Israel said it had detected the launch of a missile from Yemen, whose Houthi militia are one of the last remaining Iranian-aligned groups still capable of firing at Israel.

‘Cowardly’

Israel said that Iran had launched around 100 drones towards Israeli territory on Friday, but Iran denied this and there were no reports of drones reaching Israeli targets.

The United Nations Security Council was due to meet on Friday at Tehran’s request. Iran said in a letter to the Council that it would respond decisively and proportionally to Israel’s “unlawful” and “cowardly” acts.

The price of crude LCOc1 leapt on fears of wider retaliatory attacks across a major oil-producing region, although there were no reports that oil production or storage was damaged. OPEC said the escalation did not justify any immediate changes to oil supply.

An Israeli security source said Mossad commandos had been operating deep inside the Islamic Republic before the attack, and the Israeli spy agency and military had mounted a series of covert operations against Iran’s strategic missile array.

Israel also established an attack-drone base near Tehran, the source added. The military said it had bombarded Iran’s air defenses, destroying “dozens of radars and surface-to-air missile launchers.”

Israeli officials said it may be some time before the extent of damage to the underground nuclear site at Natanz is clear, where Iran has refined uranium to levels Western countries have long said are suitable for a bomb rather than civilian use.

Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only. The UN nuclear watchdog concluded this week that it was in violation of its obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty.

Tehran had been engaged in talks with the Trump administration on a deal to curb its nuclear program to replace one that Trump abandoned in 2018. Tehran had rejected the last US offer.

Israel army says had intel Iran nuclear program nearing ‘point of no return’

Yemen Details — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 20:17:30 +0300

The Israeli military said on Friday that the intelligence it had gathered showed Iran was approaching the “point of no return” on its nuclear program.

“In recent months, accumulated intelligence information has provided evidence that the Iranian regime is approaching the point of no return,” it said in a statement.

“The convergence of the Iranian regime’s efforts to produce thousands of kilograms of enriched uranium, alongside decentralized and fortified enrichment compounds in underground facilities, enables the Iranian regime to enrich uranium to military-grade levels, enabling the regime to obtain a nuclear weapon within a short period of time,” it added.

In a separate briefing to journalists, Israeli army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said that Israeli jets had also “attacked and damaged” Iranian air defense systems.

Defrin said Israel saw a three-pronged threat from Iran.

Firstly, Iran was “rushing toward a nuclear bomb”, he alleged.

“We are now revealing for the first time, based on intelligence, that the Iranian regime has established a secret program,” he said.

“As part of this program, senior nuclear scientists in Iran secretly conducted experiments to advance all the necessary components for building a nuclear weapon.

“This is unequivocal proof that the Iranian regime is working to acquire nuclear weapons in the near future,” he claimed.

Defrin said the second part of the threat involved Iran building thousands of ballistic missiles “with plans to double and triple them.”

“The third component: the Iranian regime continues to arm, fund and direct its proxies across the Middle East against the State of Israel,” he added.

“Our operation’s goal is to eliminate the threat.”

Blasts heard as Israel launches fresh attacks on Iran

Yemen Details — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 20:05:29 +0300

Israel launched a fresh attack on a key underground uranium enrichment facility in central Iran on Friday, Iranian state media reported.

“Minutes ago, the Zionist regime targeted Natanz again,” state media said.

A fresh round of explosions was heard in northwestern Iran on Friday, state television reported, after Israel carried out a wave of strikes on multiple cities.

“A few minutes ago, new explosions were heard in East Azerbaijan,” the broadcaster said, as the Tasnim news agency said an earlier wave of strikes had hit 10 sites in the province, killing at least three people.

Fire broke out at Tabriz airport in northwestern Iran on Friday after an Israeli strike, Iranian media reported.

Mehr news agency published a video showing fire and smoke billowing from the airport in East Azerbaijan province with the caption: “Tabriz airport now.”

Breaking: Israel says it launched ‘preemptive strike’ on Iran

Yemen Details — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 03:37:10 +0300

Israel launched a “preemptive strike” on Iran, the country’s defense minister said early Friday, after US President Donald Trump had warned that Israel could soon strike Iran’s nuclear sites.

“Following the State of Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future,” Israel Katz said.

Two US officials told Reuters that Israel has begun carrying out strikes on Iran, adding that there was no US assistance or involvement in the operation.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to provide further information.

Iranian state TV reported that explosions were heard Friday morning in the Iranian capital Tehran, but the reason behind the blasts was not immediately clear.

“Loud explosions being heard in different locations of the capital Tehran,” state TV reported without providing details.

IAEA says Iran in breach of obligations, Iran announces countermeasures

Yemen Details — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 19:14:18 +0300

The UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations on Thursday and Iran in return announced countermeasures.

In his first response to the UN nuclear watchdog’s finding that Iran is in “non-compliance” with its obligations, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran will continue enriching uranium.

The top US military general said the IAEA report on Iran was troubling. “The international community seems to be thinking about what they’re going to do about it, as are we, and watching this situation develop and monitoring,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said during a hearing on Capitol Hill.

This comes as US and Iranian officials will hold a sixth round of talks on Tehran’s accelerating uranium enrichment program in Oman on Sunday, the Omani foreign minister said on Thursday. A source familiar with the talks said that US envoy Steve Witkoff planned to travel to Muscat on Sunday for a sixth round of talks with Iran. “Discussions are expected to be both direct and indirect, as in previous rounds,” the source said in a statement.

But security fears have risen since US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday American personnel were being moved out of the region because “it could be a dangerous place” and that Tehran would not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.

His decision to remove some personnel from the region comes at a brittle and highly sensitive juncture in the oil-producing Middle East, where security has already been destabilized by spillover effects of the Gaza war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas that began in October 2023.

Trump has threatened to bomb Iran if the nuclear talks do not progress, and in an interview released on Wednesday said he had become less confident that Tehran would agree to stop enriching uranium. Tehran wants a lifting of the US sanctions imposed on the country since 2018.

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s policy-making Board of Governors declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years, raising the prospect of reporting it to the UN Security Council.

The step is the culmination of several stand-offs between the Vienna-based IAEA and Iran since Trump pulled the US out of a nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers in 2018 during his first term, after which that accord unraveled.

An IAEA official said Iran had responded by informing the UN watchdog that it plans to open a third uranium enrichment plant.

After the IAEA decision, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said Tehran’s actions undermine the global Non-Proliferation Treaty and posed an imminent threat to regional and international security and stability.

Iran is a signatory to the NPT while Israel is not and is believed to have the Middle East’s sole nuclear arsenal.
Market reaction

Markets absorbed the developments in a volatile Middle East.

Oil prices initially rose after Trump’s announcement but later eased.

But shares in European airlines, travel companies and hotel chains were among the biggest fallers in morning trade as investors worried the heightened tensions would knock demand for travel and higher oil prices would add to costs.

“Clearly it is Iran that is at the center of this and the possibility that you see a strike from the US or Israel,” said Paul McNamara, a director of emerging market debt for investment firm GAM. “There is a lot of scope for things to get a whole lot worse if we do see a military strike and a sustained attack.”

Foreign energy companies were continuing their operations as usual, a senior Iraqi official overseeing operations in southern oilfields told Reuters on Thursday.

The Dubai-based Emirates airline said it had made no changes to operations, but was monitoring the situation in the region.

Iran’s response to the IAEA resolution was among several countermeasures being taken, Iranian state TV said.

The IAEA official said Tehran had given no further details on the planned new enrichment sites, such as its location to enable monitoring by UN nuclear inspectors.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson for Iran’s atomic energy organization, told state TV that Tehran had informed the IAEA of two countermeasures including “the upgrading of centrifuges in Fordow (enrichment plant) from first to sixth generation, which will significantly boost the production of enriched uranium.”

Enrichment can be used to produce uranium for reactor fuel or, at higher levels of refinement, for atomic bombs. Iran says its nuclear energy program is only for peaceful purposes.

Reiterating Iran’s stance that it will not abandon the right to enrichment as an NPT member, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that rising Middle East tensions served to “influence Tehran to change its position about its nuclear rights.”
‘Potential Israeli strike’

The Iranian official said a “friendly” country had alerted Tehran to a potential strike on its nuclear sites by Israel.

Tehran prefers diplomacy to resolve the nuclear issue but its armed forces are fully ready to respond to any military attack, the official said.

Iranian state media reported that Iran’s military had begun drills earlier than planned to focus on “enemy movements.”

Iranian retaliation for any Israeli attack will be “more forceful and destructive” than in the past, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Hossein Salami told state media on Thursday.

Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel last year after Israeli forces bombed Tehran’s consulate in Damascus, and Israel replied with missile strikes in Iran and Syria - the first such direct attacks between the region’s most entrenched enemies.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad head David Barnea will travel to Oman to meet Witkoff ahead of the US-Iranian talks in another bid to clarify Israel’s position, Israeli media reported on Thursday.

With Reuters

Senior European officials warn US: Iran stalling negotiations to avoid sanctions

Yemen Details — Sun, 25 May 2025 22:14:46 +0300

Senior officials from the E3 countries — the United Kingdom, Germany, and France — warned the Trump administration that Iran is deliberately stalling negotiations over a new nuclear agreement to hinder the ability to impose sanctions if no agreement is reached, according to several sources familiar with the matter who spoke to The Jerusalem Post.

Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, the member states have the authority to impose broad United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran through a mechanism known as the snapback, in response to major violations of Iran’s nuclear commitments.

This option will no longer be available after October, the "sunset date". The European signatories have made it clear to Iran that if a new and "meaningful" nuclear deal is not reached by August, they will trigger this mechanism, which would result in extensive sanctions on Iran.

"The Europeans told the United States that there must be a clear timeline for the negotiations; otherwise, the Iranians will deliberately stall to create a US-Europe confrontation in an effort to block the use of the sanctions mechanism," several sources told the Post.

On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that "if the Europeans activate the snapback mechanism established under the nuclear deal, Iran will respond forcefully."

The disagreement lies in uranium enrichment

The core disagreement between the sides revolves around uranium enrichment. While the Trump administration has made it clear that it will not allow Iran to enrich uranium under a new agreement, Iran insists that it has the right to enrich uranium for its civilian nuclear energy program.

A senior US official told the Post after Friday’s talks in Oman between Trump’s envoy and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that some progress had been made, but there is still work to be done. "The talks were constructive, and both sides agreed to meet again soon," the official said.

Hijabs onscreen, critics offscreen for Iran film in Cannes

Yemen Details — Fri, 23 May 2025 02:34:02 +0300

Cannes (France) (AFP) – A state-approved Iranian movie featuring women constantly in headscarves premiered at the Cannes film festival on Thursday, with director Saeed Roustayi defending his decision to bend to the diktats of national censors.

The Cannes Festival has long offered a platform for independent Iranian filmmakers whose work is lauded on the French Riviera but usually banned at home.

Roustayi has previously defied his country's authorities. His last film in Cannes -- "Leila's Brothers" in 2022 -- landed him a six-month suspended jail term and film ban.

"It affected my whole life, my family, and those around me," the 35-year-old told AFP.

Three years later, he is back again with "Woman and Child", again chosen for the main competition -- but this time with official approval.

The script was approved by Iranian censors, and the actors follow Iranian law, with women wearing the government-mandated hijab at all times on screen -- even during scenes at home, where headscarves are typically taken off.

"I'd love to make films without the hijab. I truly want to do that because I know my films would be more real and natural," Roustayi told AFP.

He added: "I didn't want a permit, but they force you to get one. If you want to film in big locations like hospitals or schools or use professional cinema equipment, they require a permit."

The women actors in Roustayi's movie did not wear hijabs when the film's team walked the red carpet for the Cannes premiere, though the lead actor, Parinaz Izadyar, wore a discreet headpiece.

Ahead of its screening in Cannes, his work was hailed in Iran's state media, with the IRNA agency calling it "a happy and important moment for Iranian cinema".
Exiles

Roustayi's films often focus on the plight of women and "Woman and Child" is no exception, following a widow who struggles to balance the demands of her children, love life and work as a nurse.

The director said he wants to make socially conscious dramas, and was seeking to "save" Iranian cinema from the low-quality commercial features that most of his compatriots are forced to watch.

But his desire to make a film that can be viewed in cinemas in his homeland, not just at international film festivals and cinemas abroad, has been condemned by some exiled Iranian film figures.

The hijab has become a politically charged symbol since the 2022 "Women, Life, Freedom" demonstrations that saw women openly defy the security forces and remove their mandatory headscarves.

"The women on the screen (in hijabs) are following the most discriminatory law in Iran. People were killed to dismantle it," California-based exiled Iranian film critic Mahshid Zamani told AFP.

She helps run the Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association, a collective of 300 exiled Iranian cinema figures which has condemned Roustayi's decision to seek permits and permission.

"Roustayi is in the tradition of what the Iranian government has been doing for 40 years: they have been sending out films to the international stage and saying 'look everything is rosy, there is freedom of speech'," she added.

"We're not saying the film is a propaganda film. The government is using films like his film as a propaganda tool."
Contrast

Roustayi's approach stands in stark contrast to that of his compatriot Jafar Panahi, whose latest production "It Was Just An Accident" features several women without headscarves and is also competing for the top prize in Cannes.

Panahi is a symbol of defiance, someone who has continued to make films despite receiving a 20-year ban in 2010.

He spent nearly seven months behind bars in 2022-2023 and smuggled a copy of a previous film to the Cannes Festival hidden in a cake.

"It Was Just An Accident" was shot in secret and tackles political repression and torture head-on, with a story about four ordinary Iranians who believe they have found their jail interrogator.

When asked on Wednesday how Iranian filmmakers should approach the censors, Panahi said: "Everyone finds their path, their way of doing things relative to their abilities and knowledge. I don't have any advice to give."

He added that, "despite everything, I have always found a way".

Another Cannes favourite from Iran, Mohammad Rasoulof, fled the country last year for fear of being jailed for a third time, after making a film about the 2022-2023 protest movement.

He has defended Roustayi, telling Variety magazine that there's a "clear distinction between the propaganda films of the Islamic Republic and the films that are made under the constraints of censorship".

They were convicted of "spreading lies with the intention of disturbing public opinion".

Israel preparing to strike Iran fast if Trump's nuclear talks break down

Yemen Details — Thu, 22 May 2025 01:22:20 +0300

Israel is making preparations to swiftly strike Iran's nuclear facilities if negotiations between the U.S. and Iran collapse, two Israeli sources with knowledge of the discussions tell Axios.

Why it matters: The Israeli intelligence community has shifted just in the past few days from believing a nuclear deal was close to thinking talks could soon break down, the sources say.

    One source said the Israeli military thinks its operational window to conduct a successful strike could close soon, so Israel will have to move fast if talks fail. The source declined to say why the military believes a strike would be less effective later.
    Both sources confirmed a CNN report that the Israel Defense Forces have been conducting exercises and other preparations for a possible strike in Iran. "There was a lot of training and the U.S. military sees everything and understands Israel is preparing," one said.
    "Bibi is waiting for the nuclear talks to collapse and for the moment Trump will be disappointed about the negotiations and open to giving him the go ahead," an Israeli source added, using a nickname for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Friction point: A U.S. official told Axios the Trump administration is concerned Netanyahu might make his move even without a green light from President Trump.

Behind the scenes: Netanyahu held a highly sensitive meeting earlier this week with a group of top ministers and security and intelligence officials regarding the status of the nuclear talks, an Israeli official said.

Split screen: The fifth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks are scheduled to take place Friday in Rome.

    White House envoy Steve Witkoff gave his Iranian counterpart a written proposal for a deal during the last round ten days ago. Confidence that an agreement could be reached seemed to be growing.
    But the negotiations hit a roadblock over the question of whether Iran would be able to have any domestic enrichment capability.
    "We have one very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability," Witkoff told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. Iran's leaders have repeatedly said they won't sign a deal that doesn't permit enrichment.

What to watch: The two Israeli sources said any Israeli strike on Iran will not be a one-off, but a military campaign lasting at least a week.

    Such an operation would be highly complicated and perilous for Israel and for the region.
    Countries in the region fear an Israeli strike could cause widespread radioactive fallout, not to mention a war.

What they're saying: Netanyahu said in his first press conference in six months on Monday that Israel and the U.S. are fully in sync on Iran.

    "We respect their interests and they respect our interests and they overlap almost completely.
    Netanyahu said he'd respect any deal that prevents Iran from enriching Uranium and blocks it from getting a nuclear weapon.
    "But in any case, Israel maintains the right to defend itself from a regime that is threatening to annihilate it."

Nuclear talks: Iran faces US without Plan B as nuclear red lines collide

Yemen Details — Wed, 21 May 2025 22:51:35 +0300

While rising US-Iran tensions over Tehran’s uranium enrichment jeopardize nuclear talks, three Iranian sources said on Tuesday that the clerical leadership lacks a clear fallback plan if efforts to resolve a decades-long dispute collapse.

With negotiations faltering over clashing red lines, Iran may turn to China and Russia as a “Plan B,” the sources said, but with Beijing’s trade war with Washington and Moscow distracted with its war in Ukraine, Tehran’s backup plan appears shaky.

“The plan B is to continue the strategy before the start of talks. Iran will avoid escalating tensions, it is ready to defend itself,” a senior Iranian official said.

“The strategy also includes strengthening ties with allies like Russia and China.”

On Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected US demands to halt uranium enrichment as “excessive and outrageous,” warning that the talks are unlikely to yield results.

After four rounds of talks aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, multiple stumbling blocks remain. Tehran refuses to ship all of its highly enriched uranium stockpile abroad or engage in discussions over its ballistic missile program, two of the Iranian officials and a European diplomat said.

The lack of trust on both sides and President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a 2015 accord with world powers has also raised the importance for Iran of getting guarantees that Washington will not renege on a future accord.

Compounding Tehran’s challenges, Iran’s clerical establishment is grappling with mounting crises - energy and water shortages, a plummeting currency, military losses among regional allies, and rising fears of an Israeli attack on its nuclear sites - all exacerbated by Trump’s hardline policies.

With Trump’s speedy revival of a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February, including tightened sanctions and military threats, the sources said, Iran’s leadership “has no better option” than a new deal to avert economic chaos at home that could threaten its rule.

Nationwide protests over social repression and economic hardship in recent years, met with harsh crackdowns, have exposed the Islamic Republic’s vulnerability to public anger and triggered sets of Western human rights sanctions.

“Without lifting sanctions to enable free oil sales and access to funds, Iran’s economy cannot recover,” said the second official, who like others asked not to be identified due to sensitivity of matter.

Iran’s foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment.
A thorny path

Wendy Sherman, former US Undersecretary for Political Affairs who led the US negotiating team that reached the 2015 accord between Tehran and six world powers, said it was impossible to convince Tehran to “dismantle its nuclear program and give up their enrichment even though that would be ideal.”

“So that means they will come to an impasse, and that we will face the potential for war, which I don’t think, quite frankly, President Trump looks forward to because he has campaigned as a peace president,” she said.

Even if enrichment disputes narrow, lifting sanctions remains fraught. The US favors phasing out nuclear-related sanctions, while Tehran demands immediate removal of all restrictions.

Dozens of Iranian institutions vital to Iran’s economy, including its central bank and national oil company, have been sanctioned since 2018 for “supporting terrorism or weapons proliferation.”

When asked about Iran’s options if talks fail, Sherman said Tehran would likely “continue to circumvent sanctions and sell oil, largely to China, perhaps India and others.”

China, Iran’s primary oil buyer despite sanctions, has helped stave off economic collapse, but Trump’s intensified pressure on Chinese trade entities and tankers threatens these exports.

Analysts warn that China and Russia’s support has limits. China insists on steep discounts for Iranian oil and may push for lower prices as global oil demand weakens.

If talks collapse - a scenario both Tehran and Washington hope to avoid - neither Beijing nor Moscow can shield Iran from unilateral US and EU sanctions.

France, Britain and Germany, though not part of the US-Iran talks, have warned they would reimpose UN sanctions if no deal emerged quickly.

Under the 2015 nuclear pact’s UN resolution, the E3 have until October 18 to trigger the so-called “snapback mechanism” before the resolution expires.

According to diplomats and a document seen by Reuters, the E3 countries may do this by August if no substantial deal can be found by then.

Diplomats warn that getting a deal before then would mean, in the best case scenario, an initial political framework like in 2013 whereby both sides offer some immediate concrete concessions giving time for a more detailed negotiation.

“There is no reason to think it will take less time than the 18 months in 2013 especially when the parameters and the geopolitical situation is more complicated now,” a senior European official said.

Hijack call from ship off Iran a false alarm: Security firm Ambrey

Yemen Details — Wed, 21 May 2025 22:43:07 +0300

A hijack signal sent from a Panama-flagged petroleum products tanker off Iran was a false alarm, British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Wednesday.

Ambrey first reported the incident south of the busy Strait of Hormuz shipping lane on Tuesday without naming the vessel. It said it took place some 51 nautical miles northwest of the Iranian port of Bandar-e Jask.

It dubbed the incident a “false hijack distress call” on Wednesday, adding that it “understands that the vessel had previously conducted similar actions.”

Ambrey said it believed the vessel was part of a “shadow fleet” of tankers used by Iran, noting a sister ship was on a sanctions list issued by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

With Reuters

UK summons Iranian ambassador after Iranians charged under security law

Yemen Details — Tue, 20 May 2025 00:56:15 +0300

The UK foreign ministry said Monday it had summoned the Iranian ambassador for talks after three Iranians were charged with spying for Tehran at the weekend.

“The UK government is clear that protecting national security remains our top priority and Iran must be held accountable for its actions,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

It added that Iran’s ambassador “Seyed Ali Mousavi was summoned in response to three Iranian nationals charged under the National Security Act.”

Earlier Monday, Tehran summoned a British envoy in the Iranian capital to protest the arrests.

Three Iranian men appeared in a London court on Saturday charged with spying for the Islamic Republic’s intelligence services.

They were arrested on May 3 and identified as Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, all living in London.

The British Home Office said they were irregular migrants who arrived by small boat or other means, such as hidden in a vehicle, between 2016 and 2022.

The BBC reported that the three were allegedly plotting to attack UK-based journalists working for the Farsi-language Iran International television news network which has been labelled a “terror” organization by Tehran.

The alleged spying took place from August 2024 to February 2025, according to UK police.

A fourth man was arrested on May 9 as part of the investigation, but has now been released without charge, the police said in a statement.
Five Iranians were also arrested on May 3 in a separate investigation.

Four of the men -- who had been held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act -- were released, although the investigation “remains active and is ongoing,” police said.

The fifth was earlier bailed until an unspecified date in May.

US envoy Witkoff says no Iran deal possible without total ban on uranium enrichment

Yemen Details — Sun, 18 May 2025 22:03:35 +0300

Any deal between the United States and Iran must include an agreement not to enrich uranium, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday, a comment that drew criticism from Tehran.

While Witkoff was reiterating President Donald Trump’s position about uranium enrichment, Iran’s response was evidence that the two sides have a long way to go to reach any agreement over Iran’s nuclear program.

“We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1 percent of an enrichment capability,” Witkoff said during an interview aired on ABC’s “This Week” program.

Everything begins, from the Trump administration’s standpoint, “with a deal that does not include enrichment. We cannot have that. Because enrichment enables weaponization. And we will not allow a bomb to get here,” Witkoff said.

The response from Tehran was swift.

“Unrealistic expectations stop negotiations, enrichment in Iran is not something that can be stopped,” Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency cited Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, as saying on Sunday.

“I think he is completely at a distance from the reality of the negotiations,” Araghchi said of Witkoff, and added that enrichment will continue.

Araghchi also wrote on X that Iran will keep enriching uranium “with or without a deal.”

“If the US is interested in ensuring that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, a deal is within reach, and we are ready for a serious conversation to achieve a solution that will forever ensure that outcome. Enrichment in Iran, however, will continue with or without a deal,” he said.

Witkoff said he is optimistic about negotiations and thinks the parties will hold talks again in Europe this week.

“We hope that it will lead to some real positivity,” Witkoff said.

Araghchi said the date and location of the next round of talks will be announced soon.

Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, but on Friday said Iran needs to move quickly. Trump told reporters on Friday aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates: “They have a proposal. More importantly, they know they have to move quickly or something bad – something bad’s going to happen,” according to an audio recording of the remarks.

Araghchi said on social media that Tehran had not received a US proposal.

During his first term as president, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran’s uranium enrichment activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump also reimposed sweeping US sanctions.

'No More Empty Statements:' Iran Ex-detainees Press Sweden Over Death Row Academic

Yemen Details — Wed, 14 May 2025 23:50:17 +0300

Over 20 foreign nationals who themselves endured years of captivity in Iran on Wednesday urged Sweden to step up efforts to free a Swedish-Iranian citizen sentenced to death in the country, after he had a heart attack last week.

Ahmadreza Djalali, an academic who was sentenced to death in 2017 on espionage charges he denies, suffered a heart attack in Tehran's Evin prison, his wife said Friday.

Djalali, 53, is among a number of Europeans held by Iran in what some countries including France call a deliberate hostage-taking strategy to extract concessions from the West at a time of tension over Tehran's nuclear programme.

Djalali's condition, "worsened by years of medical neglect and psychological torment, is now dire," said the 21 former detainees including British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert and US-Iranian Siamak Namazi, who were freed only after years-long ordeals in prison.

"While the Islamic Republic and its heinous practice of hostage diplomacy is the clear culprit here, we are deeply troubled by your government's failure to use the means at its disposal to rescue Dr Djalali," they said in the letter addressed to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson via Stockholm's embassy in Washington.

"No more empty statements. Sweden must act with the same urgency and resolve it has shown in securing the freedom of other citizens," they added in the letter seen by AFP.

Djalali was granted Swedish nationality while in jail.

The letter said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had offered a possible way forward in a recent social media post that it said "implicitly linked" the case to Iran's inability to access treatment for epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a disease that affects hundreds of Iranian children and can be fatal without proper care.

"The specialised wound dressings required to treat EB, produced by a Swedish company, have long been blocked due to over-compliance with sanctions," the letter said.

In a post on X last week that lamented a "regrettable shift" in bilateral relations, Araghchi said "Sweden ceased non-sanctionable exports of medicines, including specialised and unique gear for children afflicted with EB".

In June 2024, Tehran freed two Swedes held in Iran in exchange for Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prisons official serving a life sentence in Sweden. To the disappointment of his family, Djalali was not included in the swap.

In the letter, the ex-detainees told Kristersson: "A path to bring Dr Djalali home -- alive, not in a coffin -- appears within reach.

"If Sweden fails to pursue it seriously and this Swedish citizen dies in captivity, history will record that your government had more than one chance to save him -- but chose not to. That responsibility will rest squarely with you."

US Hits Iran's Ballistic Missile Program With New Sanctions

Yemen Details — Wed, 14 May 2025 22:59:31 +0300

The United States on Wednesday unveiled fresh sanctions against six people and 12 firms -- including several Chinese nationals -- for their support of Iran's ballistic missile program.

The Trump administration has in recent weeks imposed sanctions on a series of entities and individuals linked to Iran's oil industry and nuclear program.

Wednesday's sanctions are aimed at organizations involved in "efforts to help the Iranian regime domestically source the manufacturing of critical materials needed for Tehran's ballistic missile program," according to the US Treasury Department.

"The United States cannot allow Iran to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Tehran's attempts to produce missiles and components domestically "represents an unacceptable threat to the United States and the stability of the region," he added.

Those sanctioned include three Chinese nationals -- Qin Jinhua, Qin Dehui, and Wang Chao -- who work for a China-based firm which has exported carbon fiber precursor materials to a sanctioned Iranian firm, and another Hong Kong-based company

Wednesday's sanctions come a day after the United States announced fresh sanctions on Iranian oil sales to China, as President Donald Trump's administration continues its "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran while backing ongoing nuclear talks.

The sanctions follow similar designations in recent weeks, at the same time as Washington and Tehran have stepped up nuclear talks.

The two sides held their fourth round of indirect talks over the weekend, which mark their highest-level contact since the United States in 2018 pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal.

US imposes sanctions on companies it says sent Iranian oil to China

Yemen Details — Tue, 13 May 2025 22:12:48 +0300

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on more than 20 companies in a network that it said has long sent Iranian oil to China, days after negotiators from Iran and the United States concluded a fourth round of nuclear talks.

The network facilitated the shipment of oil worth billions of dollars to China on behalf of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and its front company, Sepehr Energy, Treasury said. Washington designated Sepehr in 2023.

The U.S. sanctioned companies including CCIC Singapore PTE, which it said helped Sepehr by concealing the oil's Iranian origins and carried out pre-delivery inspections required before oil was transferred to China. It also sanctioned Huangdao Inspection and Certification Co Ltd for having assisted Sepehr with oil cargo inspection services to vessels that had already been sanctioned.

Treasury also sanctioned Qingdao Linkrich International Shipping Agency Co Ltd, which it said has assisted Sepehr Energy-chartered vessels with arrivals and discharges at Qingdao Port as its designated port agent.

The Chinese embassy in Washington and the Iranian mission in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The sale of the oil helped fund the development of Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, nuclear proliferation, and attacks by the Houthi militant group on shipping in the Red Sea, the U.S. Navy and Israel, said the administration of President Donald Trump.

"The United States will continue targeting this primary source of revenue, so long as the regime continues its support for terrorism and proliferation of deadly weapons,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a release.

Tuesday's sanctions were the latest since Trump reinstated his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran after his second term began in January. His second administration had previously imposed sanctions on China's independent "teapot" oil refineries for processing Iranian oil.

The sanctions block U.S. assets of those designated and prevent Americans from doing business with them. The measures have boosted pressure on Iran and China, but analysts have said that in order to have broader impact on the oil exports, Washington would have to impose sanctions on China's state-owned enterprises.

Tehran and Washington have both said they prefer diplomacy to resolve the decades-long nuclear dispute, but they remain deeply divided on several red lines including enrichment of uranium in Iran.

Iran to send Russia launchers for short-range missiles, sources say

Yemen Details — Fri, 09 May 2025 22:51:11 +0300

WASHINGTON/LONDON May 9 (Reuters) - Iran is preparing to deliver in the near future launchers for short-range ballistic missiles that the U.S. said Tehran sent to Russia last year for use against Ukraine, according to two Western security officials and a regional official.

The delivery of the Fath-360 launchers - if it occurs - would help support Russia's grinding assault on its neighbor and reaffirm the deepening security ties between Moscow and Tehran.

With a 75-mile (120-km) range, the Fath-360 would give Moscow's forces a new weapon to fire at Ukrainian frontline troops, nearby military targets, and population centers close to the border with Russia, analysts said.

The U.S. last September said that Iran delivered the missiles to Russia on nine Russian-flagged ships - which it sanctioned - and three sources told Reuters at that time that the launchers were not included.

The Western security officials and the regional official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the delivery of the Fath-360 launchers was imminent.

They declined to provide further details of the pending transfer, including why they thought the launchers were not delivered with the missiles.

Russia's defense ministry and Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The U.S. National Security Council referred inquiries to the State Department, which did not respond immediately. The CIA declined comment.

Russia and Iran have previously denied that Tehran had shipped the missiles or any other arms to aid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Moscow launched in February 2022. U.S., Ukrainian and European officials say Iran has provided Russia thousands of drones and artillery shells.

In an apparent reference to the Fath-360s, U.S. Army General Christopher Cavoli, the commander of U.S. Central Command, last month told U.S. lawmakers that Iran had donated to Russia more than 400 short-range ballistic missiles.

There have been no public reports of Iran transferring any other kinds of short-range ballistic missiles to Moscow or of Russian forces using the Fath-360.

POSSIBLE COMPLICATION FOR PEACE TALKS

Russia's deployment of the missiles could complicate U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to arrange
, opens new tab a ceasefire and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia and to strike a separate deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program.

The regional official said that the indirect U.S.-Iran nuclear talks mediated by Oman are among "several reasons" for the delayed delivery of the launchers.

The talks have encountered turbulence, although Iran on Friday said it agreed to hold a fourth round in Oman on Sunday.

Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said that Iranian officials would consider the issue of sending arms to Russia as separate from the nuclear talks.

"That the Iranians are negotiating on nuclear issues with the U.S. will not be seen as connected to what they might do in collaboration with the Russians," he said.

Analysts said there could have been another complication: Iran had to modify European-made commercial trucks on which to mount the launchers for its own Fath-360 arsenal, and it may have had to do the same for Russia given its massive losses of vehicles in Ukraine.

With the launchers, Russia will be able to increase pressure on Ukraine, said the experts.
"It would be much easier (for Russian forces) to launch a strike much faster ... against high-value targets," said Fabian Hinz, a research fellow with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "They (Fath-360s) don't need a lot of launch preparations. Their flight time is incredibly short."

Deploying the Fath-360 could allow Russia to reserve its more advanced missiles, like the Iskander, for longer-range strikes at critical infrastructure, including the power grid, straining Ukraine's precious missile defenses, the analysts said.

The Fath-360 "is designed to be handled and operated by people with relatively little training," said Ralph Savelsberg, an associate professor at the Netherlands Defense Academy.

"Why would they (Russia) buy inferior Iranian missiles? The only reason I could think of is that they cannot produce a sufficient number of their own missiles," he said.

"They're not super accurate and they don't carry a very large payload. But it just adds to Ukraine's headaches."

Satellite images reveal secret Iranian nuclear weapons facility

Yemen Details — Thu, 08 May 2025 20:55:24 +0300

Fox News has exclusively obtained satellite imagery revealing what an opposition group says is a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility — raising fresh concerns amid ongoing negotiations between Tehran and the Trump administration.

The newly identified site, located in Iran’s Semnan Province, is far from the regime's already-known nuclear facilities. According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), intelligence gathered from sources inside the country points to a sprawling compound covering nearly 2,500 acres.

Code-named the "Rainbow Site" by Iranian officials, the facility has reportedly been in operation for more than a decade, masked as a chemical production company known as Diba Energy Siba.

New satellite images reveal an alleged Iranian nuclear weapons facility. (National Council of Resistance of Iran)

Code-named the "Rainbow Site" by Iranian officials, this site spans nearly 2,500 acres and has been operating for over a decade under the cover of a chemical production company called Diba Energy Siba. (National Council of Resistance of Iran)

According to NCRI sources, the primary function of the Rainbow Site is the extraction of tritium — a radioactive isotope used to enhance nuclear weapons. Unlike uranium enrichment, tritium has virtually no peaceful or commercial applications, casting further doubt on Iran’s longstanding claims that its nuclear ambitions are solely for energy or civilian use.

The revelations come as the Trump administration navigates sensitive negotiations with Tehran. When asked about the U.S. position on whether Iran can maintain a nuclear enrichment program short of weapons development, President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday, "We haven’t made that decision yet. We will, but we haven’t made that decision yet."

Despite the bombshell intelligence, senior officials maintain optimism. Vice President JD Vance, speaking Tuesday, said the talks remain on track.

Satellite images reveal the location and layout of an alleged Iranian secret nuclear weapons facility that has been unknown until now. (National Council of Resistance of Iran)

"Without prejudging the negotiation, I will say, so far, so good," Vance told reporters. "We’ve been very happy with how the Iranians have responded to some of the points that we’ve made."

The discovery of the Rainbow Site could complicate the already delicate diplomacy surrounding Iran’s nuclear capabilities and the possibility of a renewed agreement.