Iran Calls on the US to Adopt 'Realistic, Pragmatic' Approach

The head of the Iranian delegation, Ali Bagheri-Kani, leaving the last round of negotiations in Vienna (EPA)
The head of the Iranian delegation, Ali Bagheri-Kani, leaving the last round of negotiations in Vienna (EPA)
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Iran Calls on the US to Adopt 'Realistic, Pragmatic' Approach

The head of the Iranian delegation, Ali Bagheri-Kani, leaving the last round of negotiations in Vienna (EPA)
The head of the Iranian delegation, Ali Bagheri-Kani, leaving the last round of negotiations in Vienna (EPA)

The process of examining the ideas proposed by the European Union coordinator started immediately after the return of the Iranian negotiating delegation from Vienna, reported Nour News.

The website, affiliated with Iran's Supreme National Security Council, indicated that immediately after the return of the Iranian negotiating delegation from Vienna, the process of examining the ideas proposed by the EU coordinator is ongoing at the expert level.

It also noted that no high-level meeting has yet been held in Tehran to review the ideas of the coordinator, and according to the usual procedure, after the completion of the expert review process.

The final assessment will present the preliminary results to the appropriate decision-making levels.

Iranian media quoted Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying that Iran had sent a message to the US through European officials.

In a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, Abdollahian said: "We hope that the American side creates the situation for agreeing on the final text by adopting a realistic and pragmatic approach toward the rightful and legal demands of Iran."

A statement from the Foreign Ministry said that Cavusoglu expressed his hope that the negotiations would end soon, achieving the rights of the Iranian people and the common interests of all parties.

Meanwhile, Iranian state television quoted Russia's representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, as saying there is a possibility of rewriting the 2015 nuclear agreement, stressing the need to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue sooner or later.

Ulyanov wondered whether the text announced by the EU is "final," noting that some amendments had been done to the deal in March before the negotiations faltered.

The diplomat reiterated Russia's support for the Iranian position in the negotiations.

He said that all parties must be satisfied with the final text, especially Iran, saying Tehran is a victim of the US' maximum pressure policy and has the right to express its positions.

"If Iran wants to make changes in the text, it will have our support."

Notably, major media websites in Iran protested the final text submitted by the European Union (EU) at the end of the round of Vienna negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement.

"Kayhan" newspaper, which is closely affiliated to the cleric-led country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said that the EU's proposal for brokering a deal is "catastrophic" and "damaging," adding that talks "have yet to yield a result that Iran wants."

Nournews website said the EU as the coordinator of the talks lacked the authority to “present its proposals as the final text.”

The vice-chairman of the Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Ibrahim Azizi, said that the Commission has yet to receive any final text or draft from the negotiations.

"The final text must provide for our national interests and the strategic goals of the regime," said Azizi, adding that the Iranian Foreign Minister and his deputy will attend a meeting for the National Security parliamentary committee.



Rescuers Comb Through Mud and Debris as Nepal-China Floods Leave More Than 1,000 Dead

A boy uses a mobile phone to take photos of missing and deceased people pasted on wall outside Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, following flash floods and a mudslide, in Kathmandu, Nepal, September 1, 2026. (Reuters)
A boy uses a mobile phone to take photos of missing and deceased people pasted on wall outside Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, following flash floods and a mudslide, in Kathmandu, Nepal, September 1, 2026. (Reuters)
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Rescuers Comb Through Mud and Debris as Nepal-China Floods Leave More Than 1,000 Dead

A boy uses a mobile phone to take photos of missing and deceased people pasted on wall outside Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, following flash floods and a mudslide, in Kathmandu, Nepal, September 1, 2026. (Reuters)
A boy uses a mobile phone to take photos of missing and deceased people pasted on wall outside Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, following flash floods and a mudslide, in Kathmandu, Nepal, September 1, 2026. (Reuters)

Rescue teams with search dogs combed through mud, rocks and debris Tuesday in Nepal and China looking for thousands of people still missing after catastrophic flooding tore through communities across the Himalayas, leaving more than 1,000 dead.

Nepal’s disaster agency said Tuesday that 987 deaths had been counted there, with 3,916 people missing, including 583 foreigners. Chinese authorities, in their latest update on Sunday, reported 16 deaths and 546 people still missing, including 261 foreigners.

The scale of last week's disaster was hampering rescue efforts in both regions, with landslides, destroyed roads and widespread damage cutting off remote areas. Crews faced challenging conditions as they searched unstable terrain and piles of debris, raising fears the death toll could rise as rescuers reach isolated communities.

In Nepal, rescuers were racing to reach hundreds of workers believed to be trapped inside tunnels at hydropower projects damaged by the floods. About 900 workers are missing from 12 projects, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in tunnels, according to Nepalese authorities.

Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet, Nepal’s army spokesperson, said teams assisted by foreign experts were working at several hydropower projects. Visuals released by the army showed rescue teams entering dark, debris-filled tunnels, wading through mud and water and climbing over rocks as they searched for signs of life.

On the Chinese side, rescue crews scoured areas hit by mudslides, particularly around the Gyirong Port border crossing, which was destroyed.

Some rescuers, aided by search dogs, searched gaps among rocks and debris for signs of life. Other teams used heavy machinery to clear a major highway leading to Gyirong Port, hoping to clear the way for equipment, personnel and supplies to reach the disaster zone, according to China's state-run Global Times newspaper.

At least 11,814 people have been rescued so far, according to Nepalese authorities. Emergency crews were using helicopters and other aircraft to reach stranded communities in areas where roads and bridges have been destroyed by the flooding and landslides.

Authorities on Tuesday also stepped up efforts to provide assistance to survivors in areas where roads and other transportation routes had been damaged or cut off.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China’s second batch of relief supplies for Nepal was expected to ship Tuesday, including drones, DNA testing and water purification equipment. Chinese DNA testing experts will also help Nepal identity bodies, he said.

Bimal Sharma, a helicopter pilot who has been flying rescue and relief missions since the disaster began, said he was shocked to see the devastation in Timure, a border town close to Tibet that he has known for years.

“It felt like I was flying over an entirely different landscape,” he said.

Sharma said he has had little opportunity to speak with the people he rescued, but their expressions told him how deeply the disaster had affected them.

“I can see the pain in their eyes. It’s heartbreaking,” he said.

The Aug. 26 disaster began with a chain of events high in the Himalayas. A glacial collapse sent large amounts of rock, ice and meltwater into valleys below, triggering powerful floods downstream.

Scientists studying satellite imagery said the collapse appears to have involved the failure of bedrock beneath a glacier in the Himalayan region. The rockfall was powerful enough to register as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event.

The resulting surge of water and debris entered rivers that flow through valleys in Tibet and Nepal, causing them to rise rapidly. Floodwaters swept away homes, buildings, roads and bridges and carried mud and rocks downstream.

Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah said that the disaster highlighted the need for action to combat climate change.

“This incident has indicated that the risks we face in the Himalayan region are increasing with climate change,” Shah said in a social media post Monday night. “Therefore, this region must be alert, and at the same time, it is time for us to strongly raise the issue of disasters caused by climate change before the international community.”


China Warns of ‘Consequences’ Over Taiwan Presence at Pacific Leaders Meeting

The flags of Pacific Island nations during the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Koror, Palau, September 1, 2026. (AAP/ Mick Tsikas via Reuters)
The flags of Pacific Island nations during the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Koror, Palau, September 1, 2026. (AAP/ Mick Tsikas via Reuters)
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China Warns of ‘Consequences’ Over Taiwan Presence at Pacific Leaders Meeting

The flags of Pacific Island nations during the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Koror, Palau, September 1, 2026. (AAP/ Mick Tsikas via Reuters)
The flags of Pacific Island nations during the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Koror, Palau, September 1, 2026. (AAP/ Mick Tsikas via Reuters)

China said it had serious concerns about Taiwan's presence at the annual Pacific Islands Forum in Palau, warning of "consequences" after the democratically ruled island attended the group's opening ceremony on Monday.

China views Taiwan as its own territory, and China-Taiwan tensions have featured prominently at the meeting, which is intended to demonstrate regional unity.

"There will always be consequences," Qian Bo, China's special envoy for Pacific island affairs, said of Taiwan attending the event.

"It's not a ‌threat," he said ‌without specifying what the consequences would be.

"This is objected to ‌by ⁠all, so this ⁠should not have happened. We think it's very inappropriate to do so," he told reporters on Monday after an opening ceremony in Palau, an archipelago of over 500 islands that has maintained diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said "the Pacific Islands Forum determines what happens here, not any other country," when asked by reporters about the Chinese envoy's remarks.

"This is primarily a gathering of the Pacific family ... and I look forward to the engagement," ⁠Albanese said on Tuesday.

New Zealand's Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, echoed ‌this sentiment, saying the group does not take ‌instructions from countries outside of it.

"Taiwan is honored to serve as a partner in the Pacific, continuing ‌to stand with everyone and work together to make the Pacific more prosperous ‌and peaceful," Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on Monday.

Lin Chia-lung was invited for meetings and side events held alongside the forum. Taiwan is not a formal dialogue partner of the forum like China, but a development partner. The US, EU, Britain, Canada, India and Japan are also among ‌the 21 dialogue partners of the forum.

China has gradually whittled away the number of Pacific Island countries with formal ties to ⁠Taipei, with only ⁠three remaining — Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.

The leaders of Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Kiribati did not attend the gathering of the 18-member group that counts Australia, New Zealand and Pacific island nations as members. Ministers are attending in their place.

Though China is Australia's largest trading partner, Canberra remains wary of Beijing's expanding influence in the Pacific and has stepped up security and development ties with island nations to deter any permanent Chinese military presence in the region.

Australia, New Zealand and the United States have long considered the South Pacific to fall within their sphere of influence.

In the latest sign of that effort, New Zealand and the US, in a joint statement released on Tuesday during the summit, said they would jointly fund a major upgrade of a World War Two port on a Cook Islands' atoll.


Israel PM’s Wife Shares Conspiracy Theory About Opposition Figure

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and his wife Sara Netanyahu stand during a welcome ceremony for India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on February 25, 2026. (AFP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and his wife Sara Netanyahu stand during a welcome ceremony for India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on February 25, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel PM’s Wife Shares Conspiracy Theory About Opposition Figure

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and his wife Sara Netanyahu stand during a welcome ceremony for India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on February 25, 2026. (AFP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and his wife Sara Netanyahu stand during a welcome ceremony for India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on February 25, 2026. (AFP)

Sara Netanyahu, the wife of the Israeli prime minister, has claimed an opposition figure was aware of the plan for Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack before it happened.

Her remarks, which triggered outrage across Israel's opposition, highlight the country's deep political polarization ahead of close-fought elections to be held on October 27.

In a television interview broadcast on Monday evening, Sara Netanyahu lashed out at Yair Golan, the former deputy military chief of staff who heads Israel's center-left Democrats party.

She suggested Golan was "already dressed and ready" at dawn on October 7, 2023, "while others knew nothing, including the prime minister".

Sara Netanyahu's interview was broadcast on Israel's Channel 14, which is close to the government. The comments triggered swift outrage from the opposition.

Golan's party said it strongly condemned the "vile and deceitful" remarks.

"Spreading conspiracies against Major General Yair Golan, and smearing his heroism on October 7, is crossing a red line that borders on insanity," it wrote on X.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief who has emerged as the frontrunner to challenge Netanyahu, slammed the "mad conspiracy of betrayal" spread by the prime minister's wife.

In a post on X, he said the comments were "intended only to stoke hatred and perpetuate Netanyahu's rule".

Sara Netanyahu's accusations reflect recurrent conspiracy theories among a part of the Israeli political class.

According to a poll conducted for Channel 13 in August, 40 percent of Israelis, and 63 percent of voters for the current right-wing coalition, believe that internal treason led to the October 7 attack -- the deadliest day in Israel's history.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister who has billed himself as the guarantor of the country's safety, has deflected blame for the attack, saying that security officials should have woken him from his sleep.

Hamas's attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Fighters also took 251 hostages -- 44 of them already dead -- into Gaza.

Israel responded with a massive offensive in Gaza that has killed at least 73,454 people, according to the Palestinian territory's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.