US Warns it Will ‘React’ to Any Iranian Nuclear Escalation

Advanced centrifuges on display in Tehran during its National Nuclear Technology Day. (Reuters)
Advanced centrifuges on display in Tehran during its National Nuclear Technology Day. (Reuters)
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US Warns it Will ‘React’ to Any Iranian Nuclear Escalation

Advanced centrifuges on display in Tehran during its National Nuclear Technology Day. (Reuters)
Advanced centrifuges on display in Tehran during its National Nuclear Technology Day. (Reuters)

The United States would not expect a special meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog's board this year if the agency's deal with Iran on replacing its surveillance cameras at a centrifuge-parts workshop is carried out, a US official said on Wednesday.

"If implemented as agreed with the (International Atomic Energy Agency) Director General, we would not foresee needing a special Board of Governors (meeting) on this set of issues before the end of the year," said the official on condition of anonymity.

"Of course, if there are any new nuclear escalations, we would react accordingly,” Reuters quoted the official as saying.

Iran and the IAEA have earlier announced reaching an agreement on replacing surveillance cameras at the workshop in the TESA Karaj complex that had been removed after an apparent attack, removing one potential obstacle to wider nuclear talks.

One of the IAEA's four cameras at the workshop was destroyed in June in apparent sabotage that Iran blamed on Israel.

Iran then removed the cameras and did not let the IAEA return to replace them, angering the US and its allies.

Iran said Wednesday that it “voluntarily” agreed to grant access to the nuclear watchdog in an effort to prevent misunderstandings, according to a report by Nournews, an outlet close to Iran’s security forces.

The IAEA will soon install new surveillance cameras at Iran’s Karaj centrifuge component manufacturing workshop under an agreement reached by Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, the Vienna-based watchdog stated.

On November 23, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi visited Tehran and said he wanted to deepen cooperation with Iran, days before the resumption of negotiations between Tehran and world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.

“I sincerely hope that we can continue our constructive discussions to address and resolve all outstanding safeguards issues in Iran,” Grossi said in a statement.



Pro-Palestinian NGOs Sue Dutch Gov't over Israel Support

A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)
A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)
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Pro-Palestinian NGOs Sue Dutch Gov't over Israel Support

A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)
A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)

Pro-Palestinian groups took the Dutch state to court Friday, urging a halt to arms exports to Israel and accusing the government of failing to prevent what they termed a genocide in Gaza.

The NGOs argued that Israel is breaking international law in Gaza and the West Bank, invoking, amongst others, the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention set up in the wake of the Holocaust.

"Israel is guilty of genocide and apartheid" and "is using Dutch weapons to wage war", said Wout Albers, a lawyer representing the NGOs.

"Dutch weapons are killing children, every day, in Palestine, including my family," said Ahmed Abofoul, a legal advisor to Al Haq, one of the groups involved in the suit, AFP reported.

Israel furiously denies accusations of genocide as it presses on with the offensive in Gaza it began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

Opening the case at the court in The Hague, judge Sonja Hoekstra noted: "It is important to underline that the gravity of the situation in Gaza is not contested by the Dutch State, nor is the status of the West Bank."

"Today is about finding out what is legally in play and what can be expected of the State, if the State can be expected to do more, or act differently than it is currently acting," she added.

She acknowledged this was a "sensitive case", saying: "It's a whole legal debate."

The lawyer for the Dutch State, Reimer Veldhuis, said the Netherlands has been applying European laws in force for arms exports.

Veldhuis argued the case should be tossed out.

"It is unlikely that the minister responsible will grant an arms export licence to Israel that would contribute to the Israeli army's activities in Gaza or the West Bank," said Veldhuis.