Iran Rejects New UN Report over Nuclear Violations

 The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) showcases its ballistic missiles on a street in central Tehran in February 2019 (AFP)
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) showcases its ballistic missiles on a street in central Tehran in February 2019 (AFP)
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Iran Rejects New UN Report over Nuclear Violations

 The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) showcases its ballistic missiles on a street in central Tehran in February 2019 (AFP)
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) showcases its ballistic missiles on a street in central Tehran in February 2019 (AFP)

Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi rejected in a letter the recent report by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the Security Council Resolution 2231 that supports the nuclear deal reached with major powers.

Guterres urged Iran to address concerns raised about its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and return to “full implementation” of its 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPAO).

In the report, obtained by The Associated Press earlier in December, the UN chief expressed regret that the US administration withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions against Tehran, and at Iran’s 2019 decision to violate limits in the deal including on centrifuges and enriching uranium.

However, in reaction to the report, Ravanchi said Iran’s reduction of its nuclear commitments was a result of the other parties’ violation of the deal.

He also said that INSTEX - the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges - must prove its efficiency after two years.

INSTEX was established by Europe two years ago as a mechanism to facilitate legitimate trade with Iran.

Ravanchi further called on Guterres and the UN Security Council to "explicitly" condemn the assassinations of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.

Remarkably, Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is more than 2.4 tonnes, 12 times the cap set by the deal.

Iran has been enriching uranium up to 4.5% purity, above the deal’s 3.67% limit though below the 20% it achieved before the deal.

Iran is enriching uranium in places where it is not allowed under the deal, such as at Fordow, a site dug into a mountain.

More recently it has started enriching with advanced centrifuges at its underground plant at Natanz, where the deal says it can use only first-generation IR-1 machines.



Russian Attack Kills 3 in Ukraine’s City of Dnipro, Governor Says

 A firefighter works at the site of a household item shopping mall which was hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the city of Kamianske, Dnipro region, Ukraine July 26, 2025. (Reuters)
A firefighter works at the site of a household item shopping mall which was hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the city of Kamianske, Dnipro region, Ukraine July 26, 2025. (Reuters)
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Russian Attack Kills 3 in Ukraine’s City of Dnipro, Governor Says

 A firefighter works at the site of a household item shopping mall which was hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the city of Kamianske, Dnipro region, Ukraine July 26, 2025. (Reuters)
A firefighter works at the site of a household item shopping mall which was hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the city of Kamianske, Dnipro region, Ukraine July 26, 2025. (Reuters)

Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles in an overnight attack that killed three people in Ukraine's Dnipro and the nearby region on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said.

Moscow's troops launched 235 drones and 27 missiles, damaging residential and commercial buildings and causing fires, the Ukrainian Air Force said. It said in a statement that 10 missiles and 25 attack drones hit nine sites. The rest of the drones and missiles were brought down, the Air Force said.

"A terrible night. A massive combined attack on the region," Serhiy Lysak, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor, said on the Telegram app.

He said three people were killed in the attacks and six others wounded in the city of Dnipro and the nearby region.

Lysak posted pictures showing firefighters battling fires, a residential building with smashed windows, and charred cars.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed retaliatory strikes.

"Russian military enterprises, Russian logistics, and Russian airports should feel that Russia’s own war is now hitting them back with real consequences," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app.

Ukraine's attacks on Russia have heated up in recent months, with Moscow and Kyiv exchanging swarms of drones and fierce fighting raging along more than 1,000 kilometers of the frontline.