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Iran: No Intention to Expel IAEA Inspectors

FILE PHOTO: The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flutters in front of their headquarters in Vienna, Austria March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flutters in front of their headquarters in Vienna, Austria March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
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Iran: No Intention to Expel IAEA Inspectors

FILE PHOTO: The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flutters in front of their headquarters in Vienna, Austria March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flutters in front of their headquarters in Vienna, Austria March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

Iran's foreign ministry on Monday said that Tehran does not intend to expel the UN nuclear watchdog's inspectors, clarifying the implications of a controversial law approved by parliament last month.

The law, passed by the conservative dominated legislature despite opposition from the government, mandates Iran to discontinue certain inspections by late February if key conditions are not met, stoking international concerns about a possible expulsion of inspectors.

However, foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday that under the December law "Iran's cooperation with the (International Atomic Energy Agency) will not cease and it does not mean expelling the agency's inspectors."

According to AFP, the December law mandated the government to stop "the implementation of the additional protocol" to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) on February 21, if the US does not lift unilateral sanctions or other key parties to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran do not help Tehran to bypass those sanctions.

The "additional protocol" is a document prescribing intrusive inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities.

At present, such inspections are carried out under this protocol, in addition to regular IAEA inspections under the 2015 deal, but the additional protocol has never been ratified by Iran's parliament.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani slammed the December legislation -- known as the "strategic action plan for the lifting of sanctions and the protection of the Iranian people's interests" -- as "detrimental to the course of diplomatic activities" when it was still before parliament.

Former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew Washington from the 2015 multilateral nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions on Tehran in 2018.

Iran in response has retreated from most of its key nuclear commitments under the 2015 deal, which gives Tehran relief from international sanctions in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.

Rouhani's government has signaled a readiness to engage with US President Joe Biden, who took office on January 20 and who has likewise expressed willingness to return to diplomacy with Tehran.

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World

Over 3,300 People Have Died in Iran During War

Commuters make their way past a giant billboard of slain Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the Valiasr Square in Tehran on April 19, 2026. (AFP)
Commuters make their way past a giant billboard of slain Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the Valiasr Square in Tehran on April 19, 2026. (AFP)
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Over 3,300 People Have Died in Iran During War

Commuters make their way past a giant billboard of slain Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the Valiasr Square in Tehran on April 19, 2026. (AFP)
Commuters make their way past a giant billboard of slain Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the Valiasr Square in Tehran on April 19, 2026. (AFP)

Iran on Monday offered a new death toll for its war with Israel and the United States, with its forensic chief saying at least 3,375 people had been killed in the conflict.

The figure came from Abbas Masjedi, the head of Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization.

Masjedi, quoted by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency and other outlets Monday, said only four of the dead remain unidentified.

His comments did not break down casualties among civilians and security forces, instead just saying that 2,875 were male and 496 were female.

Masjedi said 383 of the dead were children 18 years old and under.

Masjedi’s figures raised questions about whether or not they included security force members, particularly given the levels of intense bombings targeting military bases and arsenals in the country.

World

China Voices Concern Over US Seizure of Iranian Cargo Ship, Urges Further Talks

13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
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China Voices Concern Over US Seizure of Iranian Cargo Ship, Urges Further Talks

13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)

China has expressed concern over the "forced interception" by the US of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, urging relevant parties to abide by the ceasefire agreement in a responsible ‌manner.

"The situation ‌in the Strait of ‌Hormuz ⁠is sensitive and complicated," ⁠said spokesman Guo Jiakun during a regular press briefing. Parties involved should avoid further escalation and "create the necessary conditions for normal transit through the strait ⁠to resume," he added.

The ‌US said ‌earlier it fired on and seized ‌an Iranian cargo ship that tried ‌to run its blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran's military said the ship had been travelling from China ‌and vowed retaliation against what it called "armed piracy by the US ⁠military."

Beijing ⁠on Monday also urged relevant parties to "continue to maintain the momentum of the ceasefire and negotiations".

"Now that a window for peace has opened, favorable conditions should be created to bring the war to an end as soon as possible," Guo said.

World

Russia Arrests German Woman in Alleged Bomb Plot

People visit the observation deck at Vorobyovy gory (Sparrow Hills) with the main building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in the background during a spring day in Moscow, Russia, 17 April 2026. (EPA)
People visit the observation deck at Vorobyovy gory (Sparrow Hills) with the main building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in the background during a spring day in Moscow, Russia, 17 April 2026. (EPA)
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Russia Arrests German Woman in Alleged Bomb Plot

People visit the observation deck at Vorobyovy gory (Sparrow Hills) with the main building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in the background during a spring day in Moscow, Russia, 17 April 2026. (EPA)
People visit the observation deck at Vorobyovy gory (Sparrow Hills) with the main building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in the background during a spring day in Moscow, Russia, 17 April 2026. (EPA)

Russia said Monday it had arrested a German woman found with a homemade bomb in her backpack in what it alleged was a Ukrainian-hatched plot to blow up a security services facility in the south.

Russia has arrested dozens of people throughout the four-year war, mostly its own citizens, on allegations of working for Ukraine to carry out sabotage attacks.

There has been a string of high-profile arrests of Western citizens since Moscow ordered its troops into Ukraine -- typically on espionage charges that are widely seen as baseless, with those detained later swapped in exchange for Russians jailed abroad.

Detentions of Western citizens for carrying out or preparing actual attacks are much rarer.

The FSB security agency said the woman, born in 1969, had been dragged into the alleged plot by a citizen from a Central Asian country, who was working on orders from Ukraine.

She was detained and found with an improvised explosive device in her bag in the Caucasus city of Pyatigorsk, the FSB said.

The FSB said it had "prevented a terrorist attack planned by the Kyiv regime against a law enforcement facility in the Stavropol region, involving a German citizen born in 1969," the agency said in a statement.

The FSB said the device -- which contained an explosive charge equivalent to 1.5 kilograms (three pounds) of TNT -- was supposed to be detonated remotely, killing the German woman.

The blast was prevented by electronic jamming, the FSB added.

- 'Radical ideology' -

A man from an unidentified Central Asian state, born in 1997 and "a supporter of radical ideology", was found and arrested near the targeted site, it added.

The pair face life in prison on terrorist charges.

There was no immediate reaction to the allegations in Kyiv or Berlin.

Video footage of the purported arrest published on state media showed armed Russian security agents approach the woman, who was lying face down dressed in all black in a car park.

Another video showed masked plainclothes agents pulling a man into a station, followed by a controlled explosion of the backpack.

Russia has previously accused Ukraine of working with fundamentalists to carry out terror attacks inside Russia, without providing evidence.

Officials initially alleged that the perpetrators of a 2024 massacre at a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow that killed 150 people were ISIS members in coordination with Ukraine.

ISIS claimed responsibility for that attack, making no reference of any Ukrainian involvement, for which no evidence was presented by Moscow and which Kyiv denies.