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Iran Sways between Optimism, Pessimism with IAEA

An IAEA inspector during the installation of surveillance cameras at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, August 2005 (AP - ISNA)
An IAEA inspector during the installation of surveillance cameras at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, August 2005 (AP - ISNA)
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Iran Sways between Optimism, Pessimism with IAEA

An IAEA inspector during the installation of surveillance cameras at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, August 2005 (AP - ISNA)
An IAEA inspector during the installation of surveillance cameras at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, August 2005 (AP - ISNA)

In the grey area between optimism and pessimism, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman of Iran’s atomic agency, said Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must find political and technical solutions to outstanding issues.

Iran has agreed with the IAEA regarding three locations where traces of uranium were found, Kamalvandi told reporters on Tuesday.

“If there will be further questions, we will answer and talk to each other to determine how these issues can be followed up,” added Kamalvandi.

The IAEA has long demanded that Iran explain the reasons behind inspectors finding traces of uranium in the cities of Varamin and Turquzabad in southern Tehran and the city of Abadeh in Fars province.

Kamalvandi said that discussions underway with the IAEA revolve around the agency finding traces of U-236 in the three sites.

According to the Iranian spokesman, the traces belong to material transported by a Russian company working in Iran.

Earlier this month, the IAEA said Iran had given widespread assurances to finally cooperate in the long-stalled investigation of undeclared sites.

Upon his return from Tehran, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told reporters that he had received promises from Iranian officials that Tehran would cooperate by giving the agency information and access to undeclared sites.

This would have indicated a significant improvement after Iranian stalling for years, but Tehran later denied having approved site access or allowing inspectors to talk to concerned officials.

“The issue of letting people in never came up during Grossi’s two-day visit to Iran,” said Kamalvandi, adding that there was no agreement regarding installing new cameras at Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Last Friday, Grossi announced that talks that had been agreed upon with Iranian officials could begin early this week. He said the exchanges could extend to between a week and ten days.

“This path is a step forward, but the future is grey. I am neither optimistic or pessimistic,” Kamalvandi told state-owned ISNA then.

Kamalvandi added that such issues must be resolved in their political and technical dimensions.

Before the recent agreement with Grossi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called on the IAEA to solve outstanding issues “from a technical, non-political perspective.” Iranian officials repeated this request during Grossi’s visit.

Discussions about reviving the Iran nuclear deal stopped in March 2022, and the latest attempt at mediation by the EU to return to the agreement failed last September.

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Kallas: US Remains Biggest Ally and Europe Should be More Self-confident

EU Vice-President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks during a session on the opening day of the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference, in Doha on December 6, 2025. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP)
EU Vice-President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks during a session on the opening day of the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference, in Doha on December 6, 2025. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP)
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Kallas: US Remains Biggest Ally and Europe Should be More Self-confident

EU Vice-President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks during a session on the opening day of the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference, in Doha on December 6, 2025. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP)
EU Vice-President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks during a session on the opening day of the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference, in Doha on December 6, 2025. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP)

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Saturday that the United States remains Europe's biggest ally, after the Trump administration said in a major strategy document that Europe faces "civilizational erasure" and may one day lose its status as a reliable ally.

The new US National Security Strategy, posted on the White House website overnight Thursday-to-Friday, denounced the European Union as anti-democratic and Europe as lacking in self-confidence, and said the goal of the US should be "to help Europe correct its current trajectory".

"There's a lot of criticism, but I think some of it is also true, if you look at Europe, it has been underestimating its own power towards Russia," Kallas said on a panel at the Doha Forum in Qatar, according to Reuters.

"We should be more self-confident," she said, adding that the "US is still our biggest ally".

"I think we haven't always seen eye to eye on different topics, but I think the overall principle is still there. We are the biggest allies and we should stick together," Kallas said.

World

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Media Accuse Rouhani of ‘Serving Israel’

03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa
03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Media Accuse Rouhani of ‘Serving Israel’

03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa
03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa

Media outlets aligned with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have accused former president Hassan Rouhani and his associates of “doing Israel a service,” escalating a political backlash triggered by Rouhani’s recent criticism of Iran’s ability to defend its airspace if last June’s 12-day war with Israel were to resume.

Tasnim, the Guards’ main media arm, protested sharply against Rouhani’s latest speech and the recommendations he offered to prevent a repeat of the conflict.

The media attack coincided with rising political tensions inside Iran as Rouhani’s name resurfaced in the debate over who might succeed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, a succession file that has deepened domestic polarization.

Tasnim opened its weekly analytical supplement with the headline “Working for Israel,” placing Rouhani’s photograph on the cover. It accused him of offering “narcissistic, arrogance-filled interpretations” about his claims that he prevented a war on Iran through diplomacy during his past government roles.

The agency questioned whether Rouhani was suggesting that Iran had no deterrent other than his negotiations, and whether the United States and Israel were at full strength at the time while Iran lacked defensive capability.

It further asked why Rouhani’s diplomacy failed to prevent the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement under Donald Trump or avert the assassinations of General Qassem Soleimani and Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the senior nuclear official killed in late 2020 in an attack attributed to Israel.

Rouhani last week criticized the country’s tightened security climate, saying Iran needed “an atmosphere of safety, not an atmosphere of securitization.”

He warned that Iran could not remain in a state of “no war and no peace,” citing Khamenei’s own remarks, and urged efforts to rebuild deterrence across multiple fields to confront what he called “the conspiracies of enemies.”

He argued that Iran today lacks “broad regional deterrence,” noting that the airspace of neighboring countries, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, had fallen under US and Israeli influence, making hostile aerial movement near Iran “safe and free of obstacles.”

Rouhani insisted continuation of the nuclear deal would have prevented the 12-day conflict, calling the nuclear file a pretext for the attacks and blaming subsequent governments for failing to revive the accord.

Tasnim said Rouhani’s positions “practically serve Israel” because they place responsibility on internal actors while removing Israel from the circle of blame. It portrayed his comments as a political act against “sacred unity,” adding that presenting such views “even within a realistic and careful framework” ultimately benefits Israel.

Tasnim also revived long-standing criticism that Rouhani’s government did not sufficiently support Iran’s intervention in Syria in 2013 and 2014, arguing that such reluctance approached “the level of treason.” It claimed one of General Soleimani’s biggest grievances was the administration’s lack of cooperation on the Syrian front.

Responding to Rouhani’s remarks on “securitization,” Tasnim said his own administration had been among the most security-dominated of the Islamic Republic era. The agency pointed to Rouhani’s intelligence background and argued that his current counsel contradicted his record in office.

Rouhani’s comments were also interpreted as an indirect response to Khamenei’s November 27 televised speech, in which the Supreme Leader warned against internal division, repeated his narrative that the US and Israel had “failed” to achieve their war aims and urged Iranians to maintain “national alignment.”

The renewed criticism comes as Rouhani has faced months of attacks from rivals, including parliamentarians, who accuse him of positioning himself to assume the role of Supreme Leader should Khamenei become unable to carry out his duties, including in the event of an Israeli assassination attempt.

Last month, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused Rouhani and former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of damaging Iran’s strategic ties with Russia.

Hardline lawmakers revived the chant “Death to Fereydoun,” using Rouhani’s birth family name. One conservative MP said the judiciary should address Rouhani’s “misconduct” so that anyone aspiring to senior posts would “return to his rightful place behind bars.”

After Rouhani’s latest remarks circulated, discussion of his possible leadership prospects reemerged, this time in reformist media.

Reformist theorist Sadegh Zibakalam said Rouhani believes he lacks nothing compared to other succession candidates, including Mojtaba Khamenei, arguing that Rouhani’s executive experience makes him “more qualified than others.”

At the same time, businessman Babak Zanjani, who was sentenced to death for corruption during Rouhani’s presidency but released last year, made a harsh post on X rejecting any future political role for Rouhani.

Iran, he wrote, needed a “young, educated and effective” force, “not holders of fake degrees,” warning that “we will cleanse Iran of incompetence.”

World

Iran Holds Massive Drills in Gulf

A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT
A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT
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Iran Holds Massive Drills in Gulf

A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT
A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT

Iran launched massive missiles in the Sea of Oman and near the strategic Strait of Hormuz during the second day of a naval drill, state TV reported Friday.

The report said the Revolutionary Guard launched the missiles from the depth of Iran's mainland, hitting targets in the Oman Sea and neighboring area near Strait of Hormuz in a drill that began on Thursday.

It identified the missiles as cruise Qadr-110, Qadr-380 and Ghadir that have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers. It said the Guard also launched a ballistic missile identified as 303, without elaborating.

The drill is the second one following the Israel-Iran war in June that killed nearly 1,100 people in Iran, including military commanders and nuclear scientists. Missile attacks by Iran killed 28 in Israel.

Earlier, Iran hosted an anti-terrorism drill in its northwestern province of East Azerbaijan with members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which, according to state Press TV, was intended to signal both “peace and friendship” to neighboring states and warn enemies that “any miscalculation would meet a decisive response.”

The SCO, a Eurasian security and economic bloc founded in 2001 to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism, often conducts joint military exercises among its members.

The organization includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and several Central Asian countries, with observer and dialogue partners such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and others participating in selected operations.