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Iran Threatens to Remove IAEA’s Cameras at Nuclear Sites

Bushehr Iran's nuclear facility (AFP)
Bushehr Iran's nuclear facility (AFP)
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Iran Threatens to Remove IAEA’s Cameras at Nuclear Sites

Bushehr Iran's nuclear facility (AFP)
Bushehr Iran's nuclear facility (AFP)

Iran reiterated its intention to remove the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) surveillance cameras from nuclear facilities if US sanctions are not lifted in three months.

The Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, affirmed in remarks on state TV that his country decided to remove the cameras.

Salehi asserted that Tehran is ready for diplomatic talks, but not in the way the United States and the Europeans imagine, insisting that sanctions should be lifted in advance as a precondition for negotiations.

He warned that Iran could increase uranium enrichment to 60 percent relatively quickly.

According to the international nuclear agreement, Iran is only allowed to enrich uranium to a level of less than four percent, while uranium must be enriched to 90 percent for a nuclear bomb.

Meanwhile, an Iranian document revealed that Tehran had threatened to end an agreement concluded with IAEA that temporarily maintains most of its monitoring if the agency’s board adopts a US-led effort to criticize Tehran next week.

Earlier, Tehran scaled back its cooperation with the Agency, ending extra inspection measures introduced by its 2015 nuclear accord with major powers, according to Reuters.

It was the latest of many steps retaliating for the US reimposed sanctions after former President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement in 2018.

In its own paper sent to other IAEA member states ahead of next week’s quarterly meeting of the 35-nation Board of Governors, Washington said it wants a resolution to “express the Board’s deepening concern with respect to Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA”.

The US paper obtained by Reuters said the board should call on Iran to reverse its breaches of the deal and cooperate with the IAEA to explain how uranium particles were found at old, undeclared sites. The issue was first reported by the media and confirmed in an IAEA report this week.

“Iran perceives this move as destructive and considers it as an end to the Joint Understanding of 21 February 2021 between the Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Iran said in its own paper sent to other countries and obtained by Reuters.

It said that this could lead to further complications in relation to the 2015 nuclear deal by its full name, adding that France, Britain, Germany, and the US had “revealed their plans” for a board resolution.

Diplomats said it was still unclear whether the board would adopt a resolution.

In June, after the IAEA said Iran had denied it access for snap inspections at two sites where it later found uranium particles, the board passed a resolution calling on Iran to relent, which was opposed by Russia and China.

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World

Axios: Nuclear Talks Between US and Iran to Be Held in Oman on Friday

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the US President, will participate in the round with Iran on Friday (AP)
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the US President, will participate in the round with Iran on Friday (AP)
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Axios: Nuclear Talks Between US and Iran to Be Held in Oman on Friday

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the US President, will participate in the round with Iran on Friday (AP)
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the US President, will participate in the round with Iran on Friday (AP)

Nuclear talks between the US and Iran are expected to take place in Oman ‌on Friday, Axios ‌reporter ‌Barak ⁠Ravid said ‌on Tuesday, citing an Arab source.

US President Donald Trump's administration agreed ⁠to an Iranian request to ‌move the ‍talks ‍from Türkiye ‍and negotiations are still ongoing about whether Arab and Muslim countries from ⁠the region will join the talks in Oman, Ravid added, citing the source.

Whether Iran and the US can reach an agreement remains to be seen, particularly as Trump now has included Iran's nuclear program in a list of demands from Tehran in any talks.

Trump ordered the bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.

World

Netanyahu to Witkoff: ‘Iran Has Repeatedly Proven it Cannot be Trusted’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special session to mark the 77th anniversary of the Knesset's establishment and the 60th anniversary of the dedication of the current building at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 02 February 2026. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special session to mark the 77th anniversary of the Knesset's establishment and the 60th anniversary of the dedication of the current building at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 02 February 2026. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
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Netanyahu to Witkoff: ‘Iran Has Repeatedly Proven it Cannot be Trusted’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special session to mark the 77th anniversary of the Knesset's establishment and the 60th anniversary of the dedication of the current building at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 02 February 2026. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special session to mark the 77th anniversary of the Knesset's establishment and the 60th anniversary of the dedication of the current building at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 02 February 2026. EPA/ABIR SULTAN

US special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday and discussed plans for disarming Hamas ahead of possible reconstruction in the Gaza Strip and the situation in Iran, Netanyahu’s office said.

Netanyahu warned Witkoff that “Iran has repeatedly proven it cannot be trusted to meet its commitments.”

Israel demands that any agreement with Iran include removing enriched uranium from the country, stopping the enrichment of uranium, limiting the creation of ballistic missiles and ending support for Tehran’s proxies, according to an official familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Witkoff has been planning to hold talks with Iranian officials in Türkiye later this week.

President Donald Trump "is always wanting to pursue diplomacy first, but obviously it takes two to tango,” US White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. "You need a willing partner to achieve diplomacy and that’s something that special envoy Witkoff is intent on exploring and discussing.”

World

US Shoots Down Iranian Drone That ‘Aggressively’ Approached Aircraft Carrier, Military Says

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel watches an American warship in the Strait of Hormuz, May 19, 2023. (AP)
An Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel watches an American warship in the Strait of Hormuz, May 19, 2023. (AP)
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US Shoots Down Iranian Drone That ‘Aggressively’ Approached Aircraft Carrier, Military Says

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel watches an American warship in the Strait of Hormuz, May 19, 2023. (AP)
An Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel watches an American warship in the Strait of Hormuz, May 19, 2023. (AP)

A US Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, US Central Command said Tuesday, threatening to ramp up tensions as the Trump administration warns of possible military action to get Iran to the negotiating table.

The drone “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier with “unclear intent” and kept flying toward it "despite de-escalatory measures taken by US forces operating in international waters,” Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement.

The shootdown occurred within hours of Iranian forces harassing a US-flagged and US-crewed merchant vessel that was sailing in the Strait of Hormuz, the American military said.

The developments could escalate the heightened tensions between the longtime adversaries as President Donald Trump has threatened to use military action first over Iran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests and then to try to get the country to make a deal over its nuclear program.

Trump's Republican administration has built up military forces in the region, sending the aircraft carrier, guided-missile destroyers, air defense assets and more to supplement its presence.

The Shahed-139 drone was shot down by an F-35C fighter jet from the Lincoln, which was sailing about 500 miles (800 kilometers) from Iran’s southern coast, Hawkins said. No American troops were harmed, and no US equipment was damaged, the military’s statement noted.

Iranian state media reported that Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard is investigating the “interruption” of the drone. Semi-official Tasnim news agency posted on its Telegram that before the footage cut out, the drone was able to successfully transfer the images it took back to Iran.

US says Iran also harassed a merchant vessel

After the shootdown, Revolutionary Guard forces harassed the merchant vessel Stena Imperative, the US military said. Two boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached the ship “at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker,” Hawkins’ statement said.

The destroyer USS McFaul responded and escorted the Stena Imperative “with defensive air support from the US Air Force,” the statement said, adding that the merchant vessel was now sailing safely.

Talks between special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian officials are still planned, White House and Iranian officials said.

Trump would not be drawn on where talks would take place, but he told reporters that “we are negotiating with them right now.” He also noted the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June and said, ”I don’t think they want that happening again."

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday that he instructed the country's foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the US, marking one of the first clear signs from Tehran that it wants to try to negotiate with Washington.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei also told state TV that the talks were still expected in the next few days but that the details, including where they will take place, were still being discussed.

Baghaei said Türkiye and Oman, among other regional countries, have offered to host the talks, according to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.

Tensions began to rise again between the US and Iran as Tehran spent weeks quelling protests that began in late December against growing economic instability before broadening into a challenge to the country's ruling theocracy.

Trump had promised in early January to “rescue” Iranians from their government's protest crackdown before starting to pressure Tehran again to make a deal over its nuclear program. That is even as the Republican president insists Iranian nuclear sites were “obliterated” in US strikes in June.

Türkiye had been working behind the scenes to make the talks happen there later this week as Witkoff is traveling in the region. A Turkish official later said the location of talks was uncertain but that Türkiye was ready to support the process.

US military build up 

Meanwhile, the US military has been moving a growing number of assets into the region over the past several weeks, including the Lincoln and several destroyers, which arrived last week.

The carrier strike group, which brought roughly 5,700 additional service members, joined three destroyers and three littoral combat ships that were already in the region.

Analysts of flight-tracking data also have noticed dozens of US military cargo planes heading to the region.

The activity is similar to last year when the US moved in air defense hardware, like a Patriot missile system, in anticipation of an Iranian counterattack following the US bombing of three key nuclear sites. Iran launched more than a dozen missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar days after the strikes.