Iran expands nuclear capacities further: IAEA

Iran expands nuclear capacities further: IAEA
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi. (X/@rafaelmgrossi)
Short Url
Updated 13 June 2024
Follow

Iran expands nuclear capacities further: IAEA

Iran expands nuclear capacities further: IAEA
  • Tehran is installing more cascades at the enrichment facilities in Natanz and Fordow
  • A cascade is a series of centrifuges, machines used in the process of enriching uranium

VIENNA: Iran is further expanding its nuclear capacities, the UN atomic watchdog said Thursday, one week after the agency’s board of governors passed a resolution criticizing Tehran’s lack of cooperation with the IAEA.
The International Atomic Energy Agency informed its members that Tehran told it that it was installing more cascades at the enrichment facilities in Natanz and Fordow, according to a statement sent to AFP.
A diplomatic source deemed this development as “moderate.”
A cascade is a series of centrifuges, machines used in the process of enriching uranium.
The motion brought by Britain, France and Germany — but opposed by China and Russia — at the IAEA’s 35-nation board last week was the first of its kind since November 2022.
The resolution — which Tehran slammed as “hasty and unwise” — came amid an impasse over Iran’s escalating nuclear activities and as Western powers fear Tehran may be seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, a claim Iran denies.
Although symbolic in nature at this stage, the censure motion aims to raise diplomatic pressure on Iran, with the option to potentially refer the issue to the UN Security Council.
In the past, similar resolutions have prompted Tehran to retaliate by removing surveillance cameras and other equipment from its nuclear facilities and ratcheting up its uranium enrichment activities.
According to the IAEA, Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon state to enrich uranium to the high level of 60 percent — just short of weapons-grade — while it keeps accumulating large uranium stockpiles.
The IAEA has said that Tehran has significantly ramped up its nuclear program and now has enough material to build several atomic bombs.
The Islamic republic has gradually broken away from its commitments under the nuclear deal it struck with world powers in 2015.
The landmark deal provided Iran with relief from Western sanctions in exchange for curbs on its atomic program, but it fell apart after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States under then-president Donald Trump in 2018.
Efforts to revive the deal have so far failed.


Criminal probe launched into Israel PM’s wife: state attorney’s office

Criminal probe launched into Israel PM’s wife: state attorney’s office
Updated 5 sec ago
Follow

Criminal probe launched into Israel PM’s wife: state attorney’s office

Criminal probe launched into Israel PM’s wife: state attorney’s office
JERUSALEM: Israeli police are conducting a criminal investigation into Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the office of the state attorney said in a letter made public on Sunday.
“A criminal investigation was opened” into suspected criminal offenses, the office said in a letter to an Israeli opposition lawmaker who had accused Sara Netanyahu of tampering in her husband’s corruption trial after the broadcast in December of a television news investigation.
Naama Lazimi, Knesset member for the Democrats, shared the letter on X on Sunday confirming the criminal investigation was launched on December 26, adding that her office had contacted the state attorney following the investigation by Israeli Channel 12’s Uvda news program.
The show alleged that Sara Netanyahu had tried to intimidate a key witness in her husband’s ongoing corruption trial.
She also organized demonstrations to harass the Attorney General, his deputy and other individuals deemed hostile to her husband, according to the program.
The state attorney’s office added the investigation was being “conducted by the Israel Police accompanied by the cyber department of the state attorney’s office.”
In December, Benjamin Netanyahu testified in the corruption trial in which he faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of public trust in three separate cases, calling the charges against him “ridiculous.”
The trial, which had been delayed many times since it first began in May 2020, is scheduled to last for months, with an appeals process that could further prolong matters.
Netanyahu, who filed multiple requests to delay the proceedings based on the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing.
In the first case, Netanyahu and his wife are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewelry and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favors.
He is the first sitting premier to face criminal trial in the country.

Qatar’s prime minister calls on Hamas, Israel to begin immediate talks on Gaza ceasefire phase two

Qatar’s prime minister calls on Hamas, Israel to begin immediate talks on Gaza ceasefire phase two
Updated 02 February 2025
Follow

Qatar’s prime minister calls on Hamas, Israel to begin immediate talks on Gaza ceasefire phase two

Qatar’s prime minister calls on Hamas, Israel to begin immediate talks on Gaza ceasefire phase two
  • According to the ceasefire agreement, negotiations on implementing the second phase of the deal should begin before the 16th day of phase one of the ceasefire, which is Monday

DOHA: Qatar’s prime minister on Sunday called on Israel and Hamas to immediately begin negotiating phase two of the Gaza ceasefire, adding that there is no clear plan for when talks will begin.
“We demand (Hamas and Israel) to engage immediately as stipulated in the agreement,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at a press conference held jointly with Turkiye’s foreign minister in the Qatari capital Doha on Sunday.
According to the ceasefire agreement, negotiations on implementing the second phase of the deal should begin before the 16th day of phase one of the ceasefire, which is Monday.
Israel and Hamas last month reached a complex three-phase accord that has halted the fighting in Gaza. Hamas has so far released 18 hostages in exchange for Israel releasing hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
There are more than 70 hostages still held in Gaza.
The second stage of the accord is expected to include Hamas releasing all remaining hostages held in Gaza, a permanent end to hostilities and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave.
“There is nothing yet clear about where the delegations will come and when it’s going to take place,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
Mediators have engaged with Hamas and Israel over the phone and Qatar has set an agenda for the next phase of negotiations, he said.
“We hope that we start to see some movement in the next few days. It’s critical that we get things rolling from now in order to get to an agreement before day 42.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he would begin negotiations on phase two of the agreement on Monday in Washington, when he is set to meet US President Donald Trump’s Middle East Envoy, Steve Witkoff.
During his meeting with Witkoff, Netanyahu will discuss Israel’s positions in respect to the ceasefire, the prime minister’s office said. Witkoff will then speak with officials from Egypt and Qatar, who have mediated between Israel and Hamas over the past 15 months with backing from Washington.


Four Palestinians wounded in Israeli strike on car on Gaza coast, medics say

Four Palestinians wounded in Israeli strike on car on Gaza coast, medics say
Updated 02 February 2025
Follow

Four Palestinians wounded in Israeli strike on car on Gaza coast, medics say

Four Palestinians wounded in Israeli strike on car on Gaza coast, medics say

CAIRO: At least four Palestinians were wounded in an Israeli strike on Sunday on a vehicle on the coastal road west of the Nuseirat camp in the central part of the Gaza Strip, medics told Reuters.
Medics first announced that a young boy had been killed in the strike, but later said they had managed to resuscitate him.

The Israeli military (IDF) said on Sunday an Israeli aircraft fired on what it described as a suspcious vehicle moving towards northern Gaza outside the inspection route laid down by the ceasefire agreement.


Turkiye could accept some Palestinians freed by Israel: FM

Turkiye could accept some Palestinians freed by Israel: FM
Updated 02 February 2025
Follow

Turkiye could accept some Palestinians freed by Israel: FM

Turkiye could accept some Palestinians freed by Israel: FM
  • ‘Our president has declared that we are ready to take in some freed Palestinians... in order to support the agreement’
  • ‘Turkiye, along with other countries, will do its part in this regard so the ceasefire agreement can remain in force’

DOHA: Turkiye could take in some Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel under the terms of its ceasefire deal with Hamas, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said during a visit to Qatar on Sunday.
“Our president has declared that we are ready to take in some freed Palestinians... in order to support the agreement. Turkiye, along with other countries, will do its part in this regard so the ceasefire agreement can remain in force,” he said at a press conference in Doha.


Netanyahu leaves for Washington looking to deepen ties with Trump

Netanyahu leaves for Washington looking to deepen ties with Trump
Updated 02 February 2025
Follow

Netanyahu leaves for Washington looking to deepen ties with Trump

Netanyahu leaves for Washington looking to deepen ties with Trump
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to visit Donald Trump since his inauguration last month
  • Netanyahu had strained relations with Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden and has not visited the White House since the end of 2022

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to leave Israel on Sunday for a meeting with US President Donald Trump, looking to strengthen ties with Washington after tensions with the previous White House administration over the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu, the first foreign leader to visit Trump since his inauguration last month, leaves with the ceasefire in Gaza still holding and negotiations aimed at a second phase expected to begin this week.
“The decisions we made in the war have already changed the face of the Middle East,” he said at the airport before his departure.
“Our decisions and the courage of our soldiers have redrawn the map. But I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further and for the better.”
Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, had strained relations with Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden and has not visited the White House since returning to office at the end of 2022.