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Russia, US Hold Consultations on Iran's Nuclear Program to Break Vienna Deadlock

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov during talks in Moscow last July (Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry).
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov during talks in Moscow last July (Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry).
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Russia, US Hold Consultations on Iran's Nuclear Program to Break Vienna Deadlock

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov during talks in Moscow last July (Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry).
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov during talks in Moscow last July (Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry).

A round of Russian-US consultations was launched in Moscow on Wednesday, focusing on the Iranian nuclear program and mechanisms to deal with the stalemate in the Vienna negotiations over the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA).

Russia anticipated the dialogue with the US special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, by expressing “grave concern” over the stalled negotiations, and stressed the need for Tehran to show flexibility regarding international demands.

The US envoy held a round of talks on Wednesday with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who is in charge of the Iranian issue. The two sides are expected to hold a second round of talks on Thursday to seek to converge the views and find mechanisms to re-launch the stalled negotiations in Vienna on the Iranian nuclear program.

Ryabkov preceded the talks by expressing his country’s hope that the United States and the West would not complicate the situation regarding the process of returning to the nuclear agreement. He added that Moscow would call on Tehran to “agree with other parties on this issue.”

Russia is concerned by the lack of progress in the normalization of the situation regarding cooperation between the IAEA and Iran, the Russian state news agency, RIA Novosti, quoted Ryabkov as saying.

“I should also state we are alarmed and concerned as we see no progress in normalization of cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, a number of aspects are in limbo,” he said.

“It is unacceptable to depart from these negotiating positions. Attempts to revise what was agreed in Vienna would be counterproductive and we will keep sending signals about that both to Iran and our colleagues from the Western group,” he noted

The diplomat added: “We call on the Iranian side to show a proper understanding that additional efforts are required.”

Moscow had expressed concern over the stalled negotiations and what it described as “unilateral actions by the parties that impede the return to the dialogue table and making progress,” in reference to the Western threat of sanctions on the one hand, and Tehran’s repeated declarations of reviving uranium enrichment on the other.

Russian state media focused on a recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which revealed Iran’s progress in stockpiling 60 percent enriched uranium.

Russian sources noted that Moscow’s positions converged with the International Energy Agency’s conclusion that the Iranian authorities “create obstacles to verifying the activity of its nuclear facilities,” but at the same time held the West responsible for this development, noting that the policy of Washington and Western capitals led to an escalation of the situation.

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Varieties

‘Fingerprints’ of Black Hole’s Event Horizon Detected for First Time

An actual image of the black hole where scientists looked for a ring of light, which is matter and radiation circling at extreme speeds around a region of darkness representing the black hole. (Event Horizon Telescope collaboration)
An actual image of the black hole where scientists looked for a ring of light, which is matter and radiation circling at extreme speeds around a region of darkness representing the black hole. (Event Horizon Telescope collaboration)
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‘Fingerprints’ of Black Hole’s Event Horizon Detected for First Time

An actual image of the black hole where scientists looked for a ring of light, which is matter and radiation circling at extreme speeds around a region of darkness representing the black hole. (Event Horizon Telescope collaboration)
An actual image of the black hole where scientists looked for a ring of light, which is matter and radiation circling at extreme speeds around a region of darkness representing the black hole. (Event Horizon Telescope collaboration)

Scientists have detected the "fingerprints" of a black hole's event horizon -- the boundary from which nothing can escape -- for the first time, according to research published on Wednesday.

The discovery was made by studying ripples in space-time called gravitational waves that were created when two black holes violently smashed into each other.

A black hole's event horizon is known as the "point of no return" because not even light can avoid being swallowed into its darkness.

This has made them incredibly difficult to learn anything about.

However, there is one event of such cataclysmic violence that it could offer a chance to glimpse this extreme phenomenon -- when two black holes merge into one.

When this cosmic death spiral occurs, it shoots gravitational waves across the universe which scientists have been detecting for the last decade.

For the new research published in Nature, an international team of researchers analyzed data from the strongest gravitational wave ever recorded, known as GW250114, detected by the LIGO observatory in January 2025.

By isolating the last burst of waves -- known as "direct waves" -- from this black hole merger, the scientists said they were able to extract information from closer to an event horizon than ever before.

"This black hole horizon concept normally appears in science fiction," lead study author Sizheng Ma of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada told AFP.

"But now we are really able to touch the region around the horizon with gravitational data," he added.

"Sometimes I cannot believe this is really happening."

- Causing a stir -

The last stage of two black holes merging is like a spoon stirring a glass of water, Sizheng Ma explained.

The resulting swirl in space creates the ripple of gravitational waves that travel at the speed of light in all directions.

If the metaphorical spoon is stirring close enough to the black hole's event horizon, "this offers us a chance to decode the physics around that region", Sizheng Ma said.

By supporting the theory of general relativity, the results "proved that Einstein was correct again," he added.

The scientists emphasized that more research was needed to decipher what can be gleaned about event horizons using this method.

But they did detect information about how black holes twist space around themselves as they rotate -- a phenomenon known as "frame dragging".

"This is similar to pushing a glass into a table and twisting it, so that the tablecloth winds up around it," Maximiliano Isi, a gravitational wave astrophysicist at Columbia University, told AFP.

In the future, the team of scientists hope to find signs of tiny changes known as quantum fluctuation.

"In this way, we can really probe this near horizon region to look for a new physics," including searching for a deviation from general relativity, Sizheng Ma said.

- Reaction mixed -

Experts not involved in the study urged caution.

Francesco Sannino, an Italian theoretical physicist who studies black holes, told AFP it was "compelling analysis" but needed to be checked by other researchers.

Still, it was "striking" that the scientists were able to show that gravitational waves carried the event horizon's "fingerprints," he said.

The astrophysicist Isi described the work as "tantalizing".

"More generally, understanding the physics of black holes and their mergers is important as it might shed light on how space and time are woven together at a more fundamental level," he told AFP.

Sean McWilliams, an astrophysicist at West Virginia University, was skeptical that the gravitational wave frequency analyzed by the scientists was actually "dictated" by the event horizon.

For this reason, "the actual observed signal doesn't really tell us anything about the horizon or the other properties directly related to it", he told AFP.

Sizheng Ma said McWilliams's statement was "not correct," suggesting he had conflated two different aspects in the paper.

"There is often considerable resistance and criticism in the early stages of promoting a new concept," he said, adding he is working on another paper to "clarify these confusions and possible misinterpretations".

Arab World

Israeli Defense Minister Says ‘No US Demand’ to Withdraw from Lebanon

A man walks past the rubble of buildings destroyed in previous Israeli airstrikes in the town of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings destroyed in previous Israeli airstrikes in the town of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says ‘No US Demand’ to Withdraw from Lebanon

A man walks past the rubble of buildings destroyed in previous Israeli airstrikes in the town of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings destroyed in previous Israeli airstrikes in the town of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP)

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the United States has not demanded that Israel withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon, a condition reportedly set by Tehran in ceasefire negotiations.

"We have announced that in any case we are not withdrawing and, as of this moment -- and this is a diplomatic achievement -- there is no American demand for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon," Katz said in an interview at a convention of local leaders in Tel Aviv.

When asked if the army would adhere to such a US request if it arrived, Katz said he told US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Donald Trump that "we are there to protect the residents of the north".

World

‘Inhumane’: Gaza Flotilla Activists Recount Israeli Detention Ordeal

Boats of a new humanitarian flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip make a symbolic leave from Barcelona's Port Vell on April 12, 2026 as the departure of the flotilla has been postponed due to bad weather. (AFP)
Boats of a new humanitarian flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip make a symbolic leave from Barcelona's Port Vell on April 12, 2026 as the departure of the flotilla has been postponed due to bad weather. (AFP)
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‘Inhumane’: Gaza Flotilla Activists Recount Israeli Detention Ordeal

Boats of a new humanitarian flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip make a symbolic leave from Barcelona's Port Vell on April 12, 2026 as the departure of the flotilla has been postponed due to bad weather. (AFP)
Boats of a new humanitarian flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip make a symbolic leave from Barcelona's Port Vell on April 12, 2026 as the departure of the flotilla has been postponed due to bad weather. (AFP)

Cracked bones, humiliation, sexual assault: Pro-Palestinian activists recounted the abuse they say they suffered from Israeli authorities for taking part in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last month, which has sparked multiple investigations and international outcry.

France, Italy and Australia have launched probes into the allegations of abuse, which Israeli authorities deny, after more than 430 activists from around the world were detained during the latest attempt by an aid flotilla to break the blockade of the war-battered Gaza Strip.

French nationals Meriem Hadjal, Noe Tissot and Malika Baouya were on the boat Peluxo carrying school supplies, infant formula and medicines when Israeli speedboats intercepted them in international waters.

The activists said they were taken from the boat and violently herded together at sea onto what some called the "torture prison ship".

"I was dragged by the arm and lifted up with my hands tied behind my back. I screamed in pain, I thought my arm had been torn off," said nurse Baouya.

"We walked with our heads down, hands behind our necks. We were made to lie on the floor, in stagnant seawater. Men were tased," she added.

Stripped to little clothing and fitted with numbered wristbands, the activists -- backs bent and limbs shackled -- say they were led one by one towards a dark container.

- 'Afraid they would kill me' -

"When the door opened, I saw a fellow prisoner lying on the floor with his trousers down," said Hadjal, 38.

"A soldier started groping my breasts... I was slapped hard. Then again. Some soldiers tried to push me towards the back of the container. I was afraid they would kill me."

Baouya said she saw an activist on the ground being beaten before three men grabbed her.

One soldier "lifted me up by my hair", while another "tried to rip off my underwear", she said.

The Israeli army told AFP it "rejects allegations of abuse by Israeli soldiers during the operations to protect the legal naval security blockade", saying it requires "respectful and appropriate treatment of flotilla participants on the intercepted vessels".

Speaking to AFP in Melbourne, Australia, activist Violet Coco said soldiers had laughed as they "bashed" her, hitting her in the head and kicking her repeatedly.

Her hand was injured as she tried to protect herself from their blows, she said.

"They were groping into my private parts, I ended up with bruises on my breasts and other places."

The activists were confined for several days to a part of the ship's deck surrounded by containers topped with barbed wire, visible in a highly criticized video released by Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

There, Baouya -- who says she suffered a cervical spine fracture after the ordeal -- was with "around a hundred others with disheveled hair and bloodied faces".

Hadjal, who says her foot was injured, said she saw another detainee "come out of the torture container with a swollen face, in a state of shock".

The activists said they slept on the freezing metal and wood floors of the containers, lacking water, hygiene and food, as seawater seeped everywhere.

They accused soldiers of aiming stun grenades and rubber bullets at them.

- 'Speaking out' -

The activists were taken ashore in Israel and detained in Ktziot prison, where they said they met further abuse -- allegations the Israeli prison service has denied.

Security personnel "were insulting us, making animal noises and hitting us with their rifle butts" as we arrived near the port, 32-year-old Tissot told officers of France's crimes against humanity unit.

Inside a tent, "a soldier landed a massive punch on my head and ribs", cracking one, he said in his official statement.

Back in Germany after his release, 29-year-old social worker Johannes Happel told AFP his head had been "slammed against a tent pole" and he "saw a friend being punched and repeatedly thrown to the ground".

"Cruel, sadistic and inhumane are the adjectives that spring to mind for everything I saw," he added.

Another Australian activist, Neve O'Connor, described being forcefully taken off the boat and thrown onto a concrete floor.

"All you can hear is the Israeli national anthem as they're playing it on repeat," she said. "It's so loud and you can hear your friends screaming."

"What we experienced, protected by our passports, is just a taste of what Palestinian prisoners go through," said Hadjal, who sees her testimony as "a weapon".

Baouya, who will give evidence in the French investigation, said she and others were "speaking out not for ourselves, but for the Palestinians".