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Iranian Opposition Group Reveals Secret Nuclear Site Near Tehran

National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Spokesman Alireza Jafazadeh displaying satellite imaging fora secret new military site near Tehran, NCRI
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Spokesman Alireza Jafazadeh displaying satellite imaging fora secret new military site near Tehran, NCRI
    Paris, London – Asharq Al-Awsat
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Iranian Opposition Group Reveals Secret Nuclear Site Near Tehran

National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Spokesman Alireza Jafazadeh displaying satellite imaging fora secret new military site near Tehran, NCRI
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Spokesman Alireza Jafazadeh displaying satellite imaging fora secret new military site near Tehran, NCRI

An exiled Iranian opposition group said it had uncovered a secret new military site which they fear is being used for testing in the Iranian nuclear program.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), in a presser held in Washington and broadcast live online on Friday, said that a new site has been built to continue arming the Iranian regime’s nuclear program.

NCRI is the political wing of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, a group blacklisted as terrorist by Tehran.

The construction project of the new site in the Sorkheh-Hessar region in Tehran, started in 2012 and its construction took several years, NCRI revealed by providing satellite footage to corroborate its claims.

The new site is being run by a shadowy defense ministry research unit known as Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND).

“By being located in a military area, it has found an appropriate cover to keep the identities of the personnel working there a secret,” said NCRI spokesman Alireza Jafazadeh.

The SPND is known to conduct experiments with the aim of building nuclear weapons.

NCRI said that its revelation once again proves that fact that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a multinational deal on Iran’s nuclear program agreed in 2015, did not prevent the mullahs’ striving to acquire nuclear weapons and that the regime has even reneged on its commitments stipulated in the JCPOA.

In other news, a member of the Iranian parliament has called for President Hassan Rouhani to be executed.

“Iran's leader should order you [Rouhani] be executed 1,000 times so that the hearts of the Iranian people flourish,” Mojtaba Zolnouri tweeted on Saturday.

The threats made by the cleric were reported by several Iranian media.

Zolnouri is angry about a statement made by Rouhani, which has been interpreted as preparation for negotiations with the US to be able to lead the country out of its current economic crisis.

"If necessary we will wage war, but if necessary also peace," Rouhani said on Wednesday.

For the hardliners, negotiations with the US - considered Iran's arch-enemy - are treason.

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World

Train Driver Killed, Dozens Injured as French TGV Collides with Truck

The accident occurred at a level crossing between the towns of Bethune and Lens in the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais. (AFP file)
The accident occurred at a level crossing between the towns of Bethune and Lens in the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais. (AFP file)
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Train Driver Killed, Dozens Injured as French TGV Collides with Truck

The accident occurred at a level crossing between the towns of Bethune and Lens in the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais. (AFP file)
The accident occurred at a level crossing between the towns of Bethune and Lens in the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais. (AFP file)

The driver of a high-speed TGV train was killed and 27 people injured in France on Tuesday when the train collided with a truck, officials said.

The accident occurred at a level crossing between the towns of Bethune and Lens in the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais at around 7:00 am (0500 GMT), said rail operator SNCF.

"I am heading to the scene with the chief executive of the SNCF, Jean Castex," Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said on X.

Neither the SNCF nor the prefecture were able to provide details of the circumstances of the accident.

The SNCF said that rail services would be suspended between Bethune and Lens until at least late Tuesday.

In France, serious accidents involving high-speed rail lines are rare compared to traditional railways.

World

Overnight Attacks Kill Children in Ukraine, Russia

The site of a Russian strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 06 April 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 06 April 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)
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Overnight Attacks Kill Children in Ukraine, Russia

The site of a Russian strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 06 April 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 06 April 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)

Two boys were killed in Russia and Ukraine overnight, officials said Tuesday, as the two sides exchanged latest strikes more than four years after Moscow sent troops into its neighbor.

Moscow has been launching drones and missiles at Ukraine almost nightly throughout its offensive -- the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in recent weeks in a bid to reduce Moscow's earnings from oil exports, as the Middle East war pushes up prices.

As a result of the latest strikes, in Russia a boy born in 2014 was among three people killed in the Vladimir region after a drone struck a residential building, the regional governor said.

In Ukraine, an 11-year-old boy died and five others were wounded when a house caught fire as a result of a drone strike in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the regional military administration said.

In Russia's Vladimir region, two adults and their son, born in 2014, were killed, governor Alexander Avdeev said on Telegram, adding that the couple's five-year-old daughter was in hospital with burns.

According to the Russian defense ministry quoted by media, Russia shot down 45 Ukrainian drones over the country overnight.

In Ukraine, "the enemy attacked four districts of the region more than 10 times with drones," Oleksandr Ganzha, the head of the regional military administration said on Telegram.

A house caught fire while three other homes and a vehicle were damaged in the Synelnykove district, Ganzha said.

"An 11-year-old boy was killed," he added, saying two women and a man were hospitalized. In other areas, strikes sparked fires and damaged an administrative building and power lines, wounding two men.

World

Strikes ‘Completely Destroyed’ Synagogue in Iranian Capital

Workers remove debris at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology complex that Iranian authorities say was hit early Monday by a US-Israeli strike, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP)
Workers remove debris at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology complex that Iranian authorities say was hit early Monday by a US-Israeli strike, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP)
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Strikes ‘Completely Destroyed’ Synagogue in Iranian Capital

Workers remove debris at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology complex that Iranian authorities say was hit early Monday by a US-Israeli strike, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP)
Workers remove debris at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology complex that Iranian authorities say was hit early Monday by a US-Israeli strike, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP)

US-Israeli strikes early on Tuesday "completely destroyed" a synagogue in Tehran, Iran's Mehr news agency and the Shargh newspaper reported.

"According to preliminary information, the Rafi-Nia Synagogue... was completely destroyed in this morning's attacks," Shargh wrote.

Judaism is one of Iran's legally recognized minority religions, and the country has a small Jewish community, although many members fled in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution.

There are no publicly available official numbers, but there are thought to be a few thousand Jewish people in Iran.

Shargh called the synagogue "one of the most important places for Khorasan Jews to gather and celebrate", referring to the northeastern province of Iran.