Iran Appoints Mohammad Eslami as Head of Nuclear Agency

An undated handout photo made available by the Iranian presidential office shows former Iranian Road and Urban minister Mohammad Eslami during a meeting in Tehran, Iran (issued 29 August 2021).  EPA/IRANIAN PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE HANDOUT
An undated handout photo made available by the Iranian presidential office shows former Iranian Road and Urban minister Mohammad Eslami during a meeting in Tehran, Iran (issued 29 August 2021). EPA/IRANIAN PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE HANDOUT
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Iran Appoints Mohammad Eslami as Head of Nuclear Agency

An undated handout photo made available by the Iranian presidential office shows former Iranian Road and Urban minister Mohammad Eslami during a meeting in Tehran, Iran (issued 29 August 2021).  EPA/IRANIAN PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE HANDOUT
An undated handout photo made available by the Iranian presidential office shows former Iranian Road and Urban minister Mohammad Eslami during a meeting in Tehran, Iran (issued 29 August 2021). EPA/IRANIAN PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE HANDOUT

Iran's president on Sunday appointed a new director of the country's nuclear department, state TV reported, replacing the nation's most prominent nuclear scientist with a UN-sanctioned minister who has no reported experience in nuclear energy but ties to the defense ministry.

Iran's newly elected hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi chose Mohammad Eslami, a 64-year-old civil engineer who previously oversaw the country's road network, to lead Iran’s civilian nuclear program and serve as one of several vice presidents. He succeeds Ali Akbar Salehi, a US-educated scientist who was a key player during the years of intense international diplomacy that led to Tehran's now-tattered 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers.

The deal curbed Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief, but then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the agreement and reimposed crushing sanctions. Iran, in response, has gradually and publicly abandoned all restrictions on its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium.

In 2008, when Eslami served as head of Iran's Defense Industries Training and Research Institute, the United Nations sanctioned him for “being engaged in, directly associated with or providing support for Iran’s proliferation sensitive nuclear activities or for the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems.”

The Associated Press said the UN linked the blacklisting to his "involvement in procurement of prohibited items, goods, equipment, materials and technology.”

During the tenure of former President Hassan Rouhani, Eslami served as Transport and Urban Development Minister. Before joining the Cabinet in 2018, he worked for years in Iran's military industries, most recently as deputy defense minister responsible for research and industry.

He holds degrees in civil engineering from Detroit University of Michigan and the University of Toledo, Ohio.



Fighter Jet Goes Overboard from USS Harry S. Truman

Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
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Fighter Jet Goes Overboard from USS Harry S. Truman

Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)

An F/A-18 fighter jet landing on the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea went overboard, forcing its two pilots to eject, a defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The incident Tuesday marks the latest mishap to mar the deployment of the Truman, which has been essential in the airstrike campaign by the United States against Yemen's Houthi militias.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump and Oman's foreign minister both said that a ceasefire had been reached with the Houthis, who would no longer target ships in the Red Sea corridor.

The F/A-18 Super Hornet landed on the Truman after a flight, but "the arrestment failed," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the incident now under investigation.

"Arrestment" refers to the hook system used by aircraft landing on carriers, which catches steel wire ropes on the flight deck. It remains unclear what part of the system failed.

The two pilots on board were later rescued by a helicopter and suffered minor injuries in the incident, the official added. No one on the flight deck was hurt.

CNN first reported on the incident.

Tuesday's incident was the latest to see the Navy lose an F/A-18, which cost about $60 million. In April, another F/A-18 fighter jet slipped off the hangar deck of the Truman and fell into the Red Sea. The crew members who were in the pilot seat of the Super Hornet and on the small towing tractor both jumped away.

In December, the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly shot down an F/A-18 after ships earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the militants. Both aviators in that incident also survived.

And in February, the Truman collided with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt.

The Truman, based out of Norfolk, Virginia, has seen its deployment extended multiple times amid the Houthi airstrike campaign. It had been joined recently by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier operating out of the Arabian Sea.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote on the social platform X that an investigation was underway and that "this aircraft was not struck by the Houthis."

"The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group remains fully mission-capable," he added.