Israel Accelerates Plans For Operations Against Iran

 Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi
Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi
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Israel Accelerates Plans For Operations Against Iran

 Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi
Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi

Israeli Army Chief of Staff General Aviv Kohavi announced that the army was accelerating its operational plans against Iran due to the progress in its nuclear program.

“The progress of the Iranian nuclear program has led the army to accelerate its operational plans and the recently approved defense budget is earmarked for that,” Kohavi said, as quoted by the Israeli Jerusalem Post.

His statements came in parallel with the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett arrived in the United States, and before his meeting with US President Joe Biden and other senior officials.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned that Tehran was only two months away from having the ability to build nuclear weapons and called on the international community to develop a new plan that does not include reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced, last week, that Iran had put in place a new mechanism to accelerate the production of enriched uranium by 60 percent, stressing that Iran had produced enriched uranium metal with a fissile purity of up to 20 percent for the first time, at a time when diplomatic talks to save the 2015 nuclear deal are witnessing stalling.

France, Germany and Britain expressed, in a joint statement, their deep concern, last Thursday, about the IAEA report, saying that the move constituted a serious violation of Tehran’s commitments.

Iran’s special envoy, Rob Malley, said in an exclusive interview with the American Radio Farda that his country was ready to resume the Vienna negotiations if Tehran decided to return to the discussion table.



Russia, Ukraine Complete Second Round of Prisoner Exchange

Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) react following a prisoner swap at an undisclosed location, Ukraine, 10 June 2025. (EPA)
Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) react following a prisoner swap at an undisclosed location, Ukraine, 10 June 2025. (EPA)
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Russia, Ukraine Complete Second Round of Prisoner Exchange

Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) react following a prisoner swap at an undisclosed location, Ukraine, 10 June 2025. (EPA)
Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) react following a prisoner swap at an undisclosed location, Ukraine, 10 June 2025. (EPA)

Russia and Ukraine said Tuesday they had exchanged captured soldiers, the second stage of an agreement struck at peace talks last week for each side to free more than 1,000 prisoners.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday's exchange saw "the return of our injured and severely wounded warriors from Russian captivity."

Neither side said how many soldiers had been freed in the swap -- the second in as many days following another exchange on Monday.

The two sides had agreed in Istanbul last week to release all wounded soldiers and all under the age of 25.

Russia's defense ministry said: "In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached on June 2 in Istanbul, the second group of Russian servicemen was returned."

Zelensky said further exchanges would follow.

"The exchanges are to continue. We are doing everything we can to find and return every single person who is in captivity."

The agreement had appeared in jeopardy over the weekend, with both sides trading accusations of attempting to thwart the exchange.

Russia says Ukraine has still not agreed to collect the bodies of killed soldiers, after Moscow said more than 1,200 corpses were waiting in refrigerated trucks near the border.

Russia said it had agreed to hand over the remains of 6,000 killed Ukrainian soldiers, while Kyiv said it would be an "exchange".

Moscow and Kyiv have carried out dozens of prisoner exchanges since Russia invaded in 2022, triggering Europe's largest conflict since World War II.