Israel-US Talks to Begin as Iran’s Nuclear Program Approaches the ‘Red Line’

Missile defenses during a military exercise at an undisclosed location in Iran on February 28 (Reuters)

London – Tel Aviv – Asharq Al-Awsat

08:38-3 March 2023 AD ـ 11 Sha’ban 1444 AH

Israel-US Talks to Begin as Iran’s Nuclear Program Approaches the ‘Red Line’

Missile defenses during a military exercise at an undisclosed location in Iran on February 28 (Reuters)

Tel Aviv and Washington have decided to kickstart deep talks on Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 84%, which is close to what is needed for developing a bomb. A senior delegation from the Israeli government will travel to the US capital next week to meet with officials from the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department.

The Israeli delegation will include Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Council chief Tzachi Hanegbi.

Dermer and Hanegbi are expected to meet with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, political sources reported.

According to the Tel Aviv-based Walla! News, the visit will precede a visit by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Israel next week to continue such talks.

Austin will arrive in Tel Aviv at the end of next week. He is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and President Isaac Herzog.

The meetings will cover various major issues, including cooperation, regional developments, and the situation in the Palestinian arena, but the central issue will be Iran’s nuclear program, reported Walla! News.

A probe by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), into Iran’s nuclear activities found particles of 83.7%-enriched uranium, the highest level of enrichment ever achieved by the cleric-led country.

The IAEA said that it will be discussing the enriched uranium with Tehran.

Netanyahu spoke with several state leaders and stressed that Israel considers Iran enriching uranium to 90% a red line.

The prime minister and other Israeli officials have stressed in recent weeks that presenting a credible military threat is necessary to stop Iran from threatening regional and global security.

For his part, US Under Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl said Tuesday that Tehran can enrich a sufficient amount of uranium in 12 days to a level of 90 % – the level of enrichment needed to produce a crude nuclear weapon.

Rescuers Continue Grim Search for Nepal Flood Survivors

A man using an excavator clears sludge along the Trishuli river in the aftermath of flash floods at Trishuli Bazar in Nepal's Nuwakot district on September 5, 2026. (AFP)

07:10-5 September 2026 AD ـ 23 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Rescuers Continue Grim Search for Nepal Flood Survivors

A man using an excavator clears sludge along the Trishuli river in the aftermath of flash floods at Trishuli Bazar in Nepal's Nuwakot district on September 5, 2026. (AFP)

Inspired by the "miracle" rescue of two hydropower workers, Nepal's emergency response teams were digging with new vigor Saturday through piles of debris as the death toll from the flooding disaster crossed 1,200.

The rescued pair were among hundreds of hydropower workers who went missing since a tsunami-like wall of water and mud swept through the China-Nepal border following a vast glacial and rock collapse on August 26.

So far, 1,294 bodies have been recovered in Nepal, according to the disaster agency, with 5,053 people missing.

In China, state media said 31 people had been killed and 531 were missing. That takes the overall death toll to 1,325 people, with 5,584 missing.

"We have been working since morning on search and rescue operations," Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP on Saturday.

Searches continued at the Trishuli 3A tunnel where the two men were rescued on Friday, as well as multiple other sites, with at least 12 hydropower projects destroyed by the floods.

- 'The work goes on' -

"Work is also underway at the tunnels," Basnet said. "We don't have an update yet, but the work goes on."

The government initially said it believed more than 100 workers could be alive inside multiple tunnels.

Rescuers called it a "miracle" after the two men, caked in mud, were pulled out alive after being trapped for nine days.

They were taken to hospital and are said to be in a stable condition.

Experts from India, China, Australia and South Korea have been aiding Nepali rescuers in their search of survivors inside blocked tunnels.

With morgues overflowing, some 1,030 bodies hade been buried in mass graves after taking DNA samples for future identification by family members, Nepal Police said Saturday.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah promised to provide "safe and comfortable accommodation" for thousands of people displaced by the disaster and currently living in temporary relief camps.

"We know that staying there (camps) is not easy for you," he said in an emotional post on social media late Friday.

"(But) we will once again create an environment where you can dream about and build your future."

World

Niger Blames France for Inciting Soldiers’ Mutiny

A military armored vehicle takes position on the street following a mutineers' attack on the airport and the presidency in Niamey, Niger, August 30, 2026. (Reuters)

06:43-5 September 2026 AD ـ 23 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Niger Blames France for Inciting Soldiers’ Mutiny

A military armored vehicle takes position on the street following a mutineers' attack on the airport and the presidency in Niamey, Niger, August 30, 2026. (Reuters)

Niger ‌has blamed France for inciting an attack on a key military airbase by mutinous soldiers last week, according to a government statement read on TV on Friday.

Mutinous soldiers in the West African country attacked the airport and the presidency in the capital, Niamey, ‌on August ‌29, the latest threat to ‌the ⁠rule of Abdourahamane ⁠Tiani, who seized power in a 2023 coup.

Explosions and gunfire also rang out at a military airbase, but Niger's army, backed by Russian paramilitary forces, regained control ⁠over it the next ‌day.

The ‌Council of Ministers on Friday concluded ‌that the attack had been incited ‌by a vast network of accomplices led by France, according to the statement.

"A substantial body of evidence has ‌been compiled regarding this attack, and Niger reserves the right ⁠to ⁠bring the matter before international courts," the government said in the statement.

The attack highlighted tensions within Niger's armed forces, which have suffered repeated battlefield losses while fighting an extremist insurgency.

Tiani blamed France and other West African countries for unrest in the capital earlier this year, without providing evidence.

World

Trump Sends Envoys to Moscow, Kyiv with New Plan to ‘End War’

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner attend a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, December 2, 2025. (Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters)

06:25-5 September 2026 AD ـ 23 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Trump Sends Envoys to Moscow, Kyiv with New Plan to ‘End War’

US President Donald Trump said Friday he is sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv with a plan to end more than four years of war in Ukraine.

The move marks Washington's latest bid to break a diplomatic stalemate in Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP the envoys were due in Kyiv on Sunday.

US outlet Axios reported they would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, and then President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday. The Kremlin declined to comment.

Trump told reporters that the two negotiators would seek to gauge whether progress towards peace was possible.

Peace efforts have stalled due to Washington's war with Iran, while Moscow and Kyiv have intensified long-range attacks, driving up civilian casualties to levels not seen since the start of fighting.

"I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great negotiators. They've done a great job, and we sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we'll do it," Trump said.

"They're bringing with them a proposal to end the war," he said.

The US president would not say whether the plan involved Ukraine ceding territory as he has previously suggested, but added: "We have an idea for peace."

It will be the first time that Trump's businessman friend Witkoff and son-in-law Kushner have visited war-torn Kyiv since Trump returned to office last year with a pledge to resolve the conflict.

Witkoff and Kushner, who have been involved in negotiations for ceasefires in Gaza and Iran, have travelled repeatedly to Moscow in previous attempts at diplomacy.

- Grinding war -

The renewed push for diplomacy comes as Russia and Ukraine pummel each other with long-range missile and drone attacks.

Just hours before Trump's announcement, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine's SBU security service in central Kyiv, according to Zelensky.

The strike, which Zelensky said was aimed at the office of the agency's acting chief, was the first on its headquarters since the start of the invasion.

Despite the unprecedented nature of the strike, the Ukrainian president proposed observing a ceasefire with Russia for the duration of the US envoys' trip.

"There will be no airstrikes on our part, and Russia must reciprocally ensure a ceasefire -- without its own airstrikes -- for the duration needed to conduct these talks," he said in his evening address.

Russia did not immediately comment on the proposal.

Hours later, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said a Russian strike killed four people and wounded five in the southeastern city of Kamianske.

Zelensky had said on Wednesday that Russian airspace would be "completely unsafe" and filled with Ukrainian drones as long as Moscow continued its war.

Witkoff and Kusher's trip comes more than week after a rare visit to Moscow by CIA director John Ratcliffe, who warned Russia against any attack on NATO member states, according to US media.

Earlier this week, the United States welcomed the Russian finance minister at a G20 gathering in North Carolina.

Israel-US Talks to Begin as Iran’s Nuclear Program Approaches the ‘Red Line’

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Rescuers Continue Grim Search for Nepal Flood Survivors

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