A U.N. Nuclear Watchdog, Rafael Gross, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has claimed that the U.S. bombing run on Iran’s nuclear program failed to significantly deplete the nation’s stockpile of “near-weapons-grade” uranium.
The bombings still set Iran’s nuclear program back, as they are just now beginning to tunnel into the sites, which are still largely collapsed and destroyed. The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security claimed that while the sites are still powered, “… the visible activity does not indicate a dash to remove possible centrifuge or enriched uranium stocks inside the tunnel complex; rather it points more towards preparing controlled and secure access to two of the three tunnel entrances, and hardening the entrances and utilities against future strikes,”
Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Saturday that his agency believes “the majority” of Iran’s stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium survived bombing runs from Israel and the United States in June.
Grossi said during an interview with a Swiss newspaper that the IAEA believes most of the uranium is still stored in Iran’s three primary nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Fordow, and Natanz. All three facilities were hit by devastating airstrikes from the United States in June.
The latest IAEA report estimated Iran has about 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, which is far beyond any conceivable civilian use, but just shy of weapons-grade material. The IAEA has been asking Iran to account for the uranium ever since the June airstrikes, but the Iranians have not been very cooperative.
Iran executes man for alleged spying for Israel, activists say he was tortured into false confession– abcnews.go.com Source Link Excerpt:
Iran says it executed a man accused of spying for Israel, but activists dispute the claim, saying he was tortured into a false confession
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran said Wednesday it executed a man it alleges spied for Israel, something disputed by activists who say he was tortured into a false confession.
The judiciary’s Mizan news agency identified the executed man as Babak Shahbazi, who it claimed had gathered and sold sensitive information about Iranian data centers and security installations to Israeli handlers.
Activists however said Shahbazi was detained over writing a letter to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offering his help.
Iran has supplied Russia with drones that Moscow has used to attack Ukraine.
The group Iran Human Rights had warned Shahbazi could be executed.
“Babak’s message to President Zelenskyy offering to help in the war against Russia was used as an example of espionage for Israel who they claim taught Babak to use Microsoft Word,” the group said. Iran did not acknowledge that claim.
The comments from the German Foreign Ministry and the European Union came after a call Iran had Wednesday with representatives of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas.
“The window for finding a diplomatic solution on Iran’s nuclear issue is closing really fast,” Kallas warned in a statement. “Iran must show credible steps towards addressing the demands of France, (the) U.K. and Germany, and this means demonstrating full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and allowing inspections of all nuclear sites without delay.”
The German Foreign Ministry separately wrote on the social platform X that “Iran has yet to take the reasonable and precise actions necessary to” stop the reimposition of U.N. sanctions.
Iran had no immediate comment on the call, though it had acknowledged earlier that the call would take place. Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency earlier reached a deal mediated by Egypt to grant the U.N. watchdog access to all Iranian nuclear sites and for Tehran to report on the whereabouts of all its nuclear material. It remained unclear when Iran will make that report.
BERLIN — The top diplomats of Britain, France, and Germany threatened to reimpose sanctions on Iran as an end-of-the-month deadline nears for the country to resume negotiations with the West over its nuclear program and cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
The three countries, known as the E3, wrote in a letter to the United Nations dated Friday that they were willing to trigger a process known as the “snapback” mechanism, which allows one of the Western parties to reimpose U.N. sanctions, if Tehran doesn’t comply with its requirements.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Nöel Barrot posted the letter Wednesday to X. He co-signed it along with top diplomats from Germany and the United Kingdom.
Britain, France, and Germany are prepared to reimpose sanction on Iran if it doesn’t let in UN inspectors by the deadline coming up at the end of this month, July. After an initial meeting with the IAEA, Iran has signaled it won’t let inspectors back into its country. Internally, it appears it is bracing for the reiteration of sanctions and is developing a strategy to offset the sanctions, mainly by relying on countries like China and Russia to offset the loss.
Iran Refusing Inspections of Nuclear Sites as Senior IAEA Official Concludes Visit to Tehran – Foundation for Defense of Democracies<
First Meeting With IAEA Since June War: The Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Massimo Aparo, has departed from Tehran after conducting the agency’s first meeting with Iranian officials since the war between Israel and Iran in June. Ahead of the visit, the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that renewed talks between the Islamic Republic and the IAEA would be “complicated” and “technical,” with Iran refusing to allow the agency to inspect its nuclear sites in the wake of the Israeli and U.S. bombing campaign. In June, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi called on Iran to allow inspectors access after the Iranian parliament voted to halt cooperation with the agency.
Iran Preparing for Snap Back Sanctions: Simultaneously, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry has reportedly advised Iranian companies to prepare for a “snap back” of UN sanctions on Iran that were suspended under the 2015 nuclear deal or have since lapsed. The ministry urged the companies to “[i]dentify alternative suppliers in countries like China, Russia, Iraq, etc., which will be less affected by sanctions.” France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, known collectively as the E3, have threatened, in coordination with the United States, to trigger snapback at the end of August — meaning that multilateral sanctions would be reapplied before their expiration in October, when Russia also assumes the UN Security Council presidency. They plan to trigger snapback unless Iran provides a “firm, tangible, and verifiable commitment” to fully cooperate with the IAEA and agree to other measures to curb its nuclear activities.
BERLIN — The top diplomats of Britain, France, and Germany threatened to reimpose sanctions on Iran as an end-of-the-month deadline nears for the country to resume negotiations with the West over its nuclear program and cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
The three countries, known as the E3, wrote in a letter to the United Nations dated Friday that they were willing to trigger a process known as the “snapback” mechanism, which allows one of the Western parties to reimpose U.N. sanctions, if Tehran doesn’t comply with its requirements.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Nöel Barrot posted the letter Wednesday to X. He co-signed it along with top diplomats from Germany and the United Kingdom.
President Donald Trump warned Iran that any efforts to restart the damaged nuclear weapons program will be met with another round of bombings. Trump told reporters “We wiped out their nuclear possibilities. They can start again. If they do, we’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it. For a country that just got wiped out, they’ve been sending very nasty signals.”
Trump Says US Will Obliterate Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Again If Tehran Tries Restarting Program– freebeacon.com Source Link Excerpt:
Iranian officials have been sending ‘very nasty signals,’ Trump tells reporters Monday
Ali Khamenei (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images), Donald Trump (Adam Gray/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump warned Monday that the United States would destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment sites again if Tehran tries to restart its nuclear program.
“We wiped out [Iran’s] nuclear possibilities,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with U.K. prime minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. “They can start again. If they do, we’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it.”
After the recent Israeli war against the Iranian regime and the American attack on the Fordo nuclear site, the mullahs in Tehran are feeling the heat. This is the most fragile the regime has been over the past 46 years, and talk of regime change is spreading. For the past year and a half, some in the regime have been preparing for a plan B, in case they need to flee urgently. While that does not mean that the regime is about to fall, it is still a valid indicator of the nervousness of the leadership.
After Hamas, one of Iran’s proxies, attacked Israel by surprise on October 7, 2023, the Iranian regime and its allies have sustained major military and strategic losses at the hands of Israel. For instance, Hezbollah, from far its most powerful proxy, is just a shadow of itself after the elimination of most of its leadership, including its long-time ruthless chief Hassan Nasrallah. Therefore, apparatchiks of the regime started panicking, deciding that it was time to either turn against the regime by defecting and/or working for the Israelis or the Americans to build a life abroad.
President Donald Trump warned Iran that any efforts to restart the damaged nuclear weapons program will be met with another round of bombings. Trump told reporters “We wiped out their nuclear possibilities. They can start again. If they do, we’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it. For a country that just got wiped out, they’ve been sending very nasty signals.”
Trump Says US Will Obliterate Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Again If Tehran Tries Restarting Program– freebeacon.com Source Link Excerpt:
Iranian officials have been sending ‘very nasty signals,’ Trump tells reporters Monday
Ali Khamenei (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images), Donald Trump (Adam Gray/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump warned Monday that the United States would destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment sites again if Tehran tries to restart its nuclear program.
“We wiped out [Iran’s] nuclear possibilities,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with U.K. prime minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. “They can start again. If they do, we’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it.”
Iran vows to press on with nuke enrichment despite Trump’s threats and ‘serious damage’ done by stealth bombings– www.thesun.co.uk Source Link Excerpt:
IRAN has vowed to push on with nuclear enrichment – in a stark warning to the west following Donald Trump’s stealth blitz on Tehran’s nuke plants.
The pariah state pledged to enrich uranium, despite the 12-day war which started over fears the mullahs were dangerously close to getting a nuclear warhead.
Israel successfully assassinated 19 senior Iranian nuclear scientists during the 12-Day War, depriving Tehran’s atomic “weapons program of its most capable and experienced personnel,” according to a new intelligence assessment by a leading nonproliferation organization.
The military campaign evaporated decades of nuclear know-how, striking at the heart of Tehran’s weapons program in a way kinetic attacks could not, according to the Institute for Science and International Security.
“This act weakened Iran’s base for building nuclear weapons, eliminating needed expertise and hard-to-get management experience,” the organization determined. “This time the Israeli effort is different, and recovering may be far more difficult and take far longer.”
Trump says countries aligning themselves with BRICS’ ‘anti-American policies’ will be hit with additional 10% tariffs– japantoday.com Source Link Excerpt:
President Donald Trump said the U.S. will impose an additional 10% tariff on any countries aligning themselves with the “Anti-American policies” of the BRICS group of developing nations, whose leaders kicked off a summit in Brazil on Sunday.
With forums such as the G7 and G20 groups of major economies hamstrung by divisions and the disruptive “America First” approach of the U.S. president, BRICS is presenting itself as a haven for multilateral diplomacy amid violent conflicts and trade wars.
In opening remarks to the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva drew a parallel with the Cold War’s Non-Aligned Movement, a group of developing nations that resisted joining either side of a polarized global order.
“BRICS is the heir to the Non-Aligned Movement,” Lula told leaders. “With multilateralism under attack, our autonomy is in check once again.”
In a joint statement released on Sunday afternoon, the group warned the rise in tariffs threatened global trade, continuing its veiled criticism of Trump’s tariff policies.
Hours later, Trump warned he would punish countries seeking to join with the grouping.
“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
rump says countries aligning themselves with BRICS’ ‘anti-American policies’ will be hit with additional 10% tariffs– japantoday.com Source Link Excerpt:
President Donald Trump said the U.S. will impose an additional 10% tariff on any countries aligning themselves with the “Anti-American policies” of the BRICS group of developing nations, whose leaders kicked off a summit in Brazil on Sunday.
With forums such as the G7 and G20 groups of major economies hamstrung by divisions and the disruptive “America First” approach of the U.S. president, BRICS is presenting itself as a haven for multilateral diplomacy amid violent conflicts and trade wars.
In opening remarks to the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva drew a parallel with the Cold War’s Non-Aligned Movement, a group of developing nations that resisted joining either side of a polarized global order.
“BRICS is the heir to the Non-Aligned Movement,” Lula told leaders. “With multilateralism under attack, our autonomy is in check once again.”
In a joint statement released on Sunday afternoon, the group warned the rise in tariffs threatened global trade, continuing its veiled criticism of Trump’s tariff policies.
Hours later, Trump warned he would punish countries seeking to join with the grouping.
“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump did not clarify or expand on the “Anti-American policies” reference in his post.
Trump’s administration is seeking to finalize dozens of trade deals with a wide range of countries before his July 9 deadline for the imposition of significant “retaliatory tariffs”. India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
BRICS nations now represent more than half the world’s population and 40% of its economic output, Lula noted in remarks on Saturday to business leaders, warning of rising protectionism.
The original BRICS group gathered leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China at its first summit in 2009. The bloc later added South Africa and last year included Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as members. This is the first summit of leaders to include Indonesia.
More than 30 nations have expressed interest in participating in the BRICS, either as full members or partners.
GROWING CLOUT, COMPLEXITY
Expansion of the bloc has added diplomatic weight to the gathering, which aspires to speak for developing nations across the Global South, strengthening calls for reforming global institutions such as the United Nations Security Council and the International Monetary Fund.
“If international governance does not reflect the new multipolar reality of the 21st century, it is up to BRICS to help bring it up to date,” Lula said in his remarks, which highlighted the failure of U.S.-led wars in the Middle East.
Urging the BRICS to take the lead on reforms, Lula reflected on the G20 summit hosted in the same locale last November: “In a short period of time, the international scene has deteriorated to the point that some of the initiatives we approved then would no longer be possible now.”
Stealing some thunder from this year’s summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose to send his premier in his place. Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending online due to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court related to his war in Ukraine.
Still, several heads of state were gathered for discussions at Rio’s Museum of Modern Art on Sunday and Monday, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
However, there are questions about the shared goals of an increasingly heterogeneous BRICS group, which has grown to include regional rivals along with major emerging economies.
In the joint statement, the leaders called attacks against Iran’s “civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities” a “violation of international law.”
The group expressed “grave concern” for the Palestinian people over Israeli attacks on Gaza, and condemned what the joint statement called a “terrorist attack” in India-administered Kashmir.
The group voiced its support for Ethiopia and Iran to join the World Trade Organization, while calling to urgently restore its ability to resolve trade disputes.
The leaders’ joint statement backed plans to pilot a BRICS Multilateral Guarantees initiative within the group’s New Development Bank to lower financing costs and boost investment in member states, as first reported by Reuters last week.
In a separate statement following a discussion of artificial intelligence, the leaders called for protections against unauthorized use of AI to avoid excessive data collection and allow mechanisms for fair payment.
Brazil, which also hosts the United Nations climate summit in November, has seized on both gatherings to highlight how seriously developing nations are tackling climate change, while Trump has slammed the brakes on U.S. climate initiatives.
China and the UAE signaled in meetings with Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad in Rio that they plan to invest in a proposed Tropical Forests Forever Facility, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions about funding conservation of endangered forests around the world.
The BRICS bloc of developing nations at their summit in Brazil on Sunday condemned the increase of tariffs and attacks on Iran, but refrained from naming US President Donald Trump.
The group’s declaration, which also took aim at Israeli military actions in the Middle East, spared its founding member Russia from criticism and mentioned war-torn Ukraine only once.
The bloc issued a declaration in which they raised “serious concerns” about the rise of tariffs which it said were “inconsistent with WTO (World Trade Organisation) rules.” In an indirect swipe at the US, they said those restrictions ”threaten to reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains and introduce uncertainty.”
Lula also criticised NATO’s decision to hike defence spending up to 5% of member states’ GDP. He said it was “always easier to invest in war than peace.”
The declaration also criticised the attacks on Iran without mentioning the US or Israel, the two nations who conducted them.
BRICS leaders expressed “grave concern” for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, called for the release of all hostages, a return to the negotiating table and reaffirmed their commitment to the two-state solution.
The group’s 31-page declaration mentions Ukraine just once, while condemning “in the strongest terms” recent Ukrainian attacks on Russia.
Brazil is playing host to a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies Sunday and Monday during which pressing topics like Israel’s attack on Iran, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and trade tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to be handled with caution.
Analysts and diplomats have said the lack of cohesion in an enlarged BRICS, which doubled in size last year, may affect its ability to become another pole in world affairs. They also see the summit’s moderate agenda as an attempt by member countries to stay off Trump’s radar.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has some of his priorities, such as debates on artificial intelligence and climate change, front and centre for the talks with key leaders not in attendance.
Lula said in his speech on Sunday that “we are witnessing the unparalled collapse of multilateralism” and that the meeting is taking place “in the most adverse global scenario” of the four times Brazil has hosted it. He called for the group to promote peace and mediate conflicts.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil will play host to a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies Sunday and Monday during which pressing topics like Israel’s attack on Iran, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and trade tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to be handled with caution.
Analysts and diplomats said the lack of cohesion in an enlarged BRICS, which doubled in size last year, may affect its ability to become another pole in world affairs. They also see the summit’s moderate agenda as an attempt by member countries to stay off Trump’s radar.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will have some of his priorities, such as debates on artificial intelligence and climate change, front and center for the talks with key leaders not in attendance.
China’s President Xi Jinping won’t attend a BRICS summit for the first time since he became his country’s leader in 2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will make an appearance via videoconference, continues to mostly avoid traveling abroad due to an international arrest warrant issued after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The restraint expected in Rio de Janeiro marks a departure from last year’s summit hosted by Russia in Kazan, when the Kremlin sought to develop alternatives to U.S.-dominated payment systems which would allow it to dodge Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
President Trump threatened to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on countries “aligning” themselves with the BRICS bloc of developing nations.
“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Sunday evening.
The threat comes after members of the BRICS group issued a declaration on Sunday condemning the U.S. increase in tariffs, as well as the strikes on Iran — all without mentioning Trump by name.
The group’s statement raised “serious concerns” tariffs, saying they are “inconsistent with WTO (World Trade Organization) rules” and threaten to “reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains, and introduce uncertainty.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened an additional 10% tariff on countries that orient themselves along the “Anti-American policies of BRICS.”
Trump’s announcement, which did not elaborate on any specific policy of BRICS, came as the group’s meeting is underway in Rio de Janeiro.
The bloc’s leaders appeared to take aim at Trump’s sweeping tariff policies in a joint statement on Sunday, warning against “unjustified unilateral protectionist measures, including the indiscriminate increase of reciprocal tariffs.”
Without calling out the U.S., the leaders voiced “serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO rules,” warning that the “proliferation of trade-restrictive actions” threaten to disrupt the global economy and worsen the existing economic disparities.
“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” Trump said in a post Sunday evening stateside on Truth Social.
Border czar Tom Homan revealed Sunday that 1,272 Iranian nationals were released during the Biden administration, who were among the “over 10 million people” who crossed into the United States illegally.
Homan’s warning comes after President Donald Trump announced on Saturday night that the U.S. struck Iran, in which “a full payload” of bombs was dropped on three nuclear sites in the country. The border czar was asked about the possibility of sleeper cells occupied by Iranians in the U.S., to which he reiterated his national security concerns posed by the last administration’s handling of the border and how it greatly contrasts with Trump’s security of it.
“So we’re not releasing people in this country, special interest aliens aren’t crossing this border undetected,” Homan stated on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo. “But under Joe Biden, we had over 10 million people cross that border. But my biggest concern, from day one, beyond the fentanyl, beyond the sex trafficking of women and children, were the two million known gotaways. Over two million people crossed that border, we don’t know who they are, where they came from, because they got away because border patrol is so overwhelmed with the humanitarian crisis that Biden created that 2 million people crossed the border and got away.”
Homan went on to state that Trump’s intelligence community has been working “since day one” to figure out where the illegal gotaways are within the U.S. He also expressed gratitude that new leadership at the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are in place, namedropping FBI Director Kash Patel and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
In the aftermath of the U.S. airstrikes on Iran Saturday, Prime Minister Mark Carney has called for a de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East and for parties to “return immediately to the negotiating table.”
“Iran’s nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security, and Canada has been consistently clear that Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,” he wrote in a statement shared to X Sunday morning. “While U.S. military action taken last night was designed to alleviate that threat, the situation in the Middle East remains highly volatile. Stability in the region is a priority.
“As G7 leaders agreed in Kananaskis, the resolution of the Iranian crisis should lead to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza,” he continued, adding, “Canada calls on parties to return immediately to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis.”
FBI ramps up monitoring of potential Iranian-backed terror cells in US: report | The Post Millennial– thepostmillennial.com Source Link Excerpt:
FBI Director Kash Patel has reportedly been ramping up efforts to identify and monitor any Iran-backed cells linked to the terrorist group Hezbollah.
Donald Trump’s administration is boosting efforts to monitor potential Iran-backed cells in the United States linked to the terrorist group Hezbollah as the president is weighing options when it comes to striking the terror regime’s nuclear facilities, according to CBS News.
The outlet said, citing sources familiar with the matter, that FBI Director Kash Patel has been ramping up efforts to identify and monitor any Iran-backed cells linked to the terrorist group Hezbollah. The efforts have been pursued since Israel’s attack on Iran earlier this month in Operation Rising Lion.
Iran has previously threatened to come after US officials who were involved with the assassination of Iranian military head Qasem Soleimani. The terror leader was killed in January 2020 on an order given by Trump. Last year, there was an Iranian operative with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and two people in the US who were charged with plotting to assassinate those who are critical of Iran. The assassination plot included Trump.
As the conflict between Iran and Israel has continued, Trump is considering whether or not to strike Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, which is deep underground, an action that would directly involve the US joining with Israel against Iran in the conflict.
