Blinken Sees ‘Urgency’ in Resolving Iran’s Nuclear Problem

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards his airplane prior to departing from Cornwall Airport Newquay, following his visit to the G7 summit, before heading to Brussels, in Newquay, Cornwall, Britain, Juna 12, 2021. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards his airplane prior to departing from Cornwall Airport Newquay, following his visit to the G7 summit, before heading to Brussels, in Newquay, Cornwall, Britain, Juna 12, 2021. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS
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Blinken Sees ‘Urgency’ in Resolving Iran’s Nuclear Problem

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards his airplane prior to departing from Cornwall Airport Newquay, following his visit to the G7 summit, before heading to Brussels, in Newquay, Cornwall, Britain, Juna 12, 2021. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards his airplane prior to departing from Cornwall Airport Newquay, following his visit to the G7 summit, before heading to Brussels, in Newquay, Cornwall, Britain, Juna 12, 2021. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that there is an urgent need to know whether the Vienna Talks will help stop Iran’s progress in its nuclear program.

“First, when it comes to the nuclear talks, we’re not trading any other issues or interests for the sake of the nuclear talks… Second, I’m not going to get ahead of the President. I suspect he’ll be taking this up with President (Vladimir) Putin in a couple of days,” he responded to a CBS question.

He added that the “meeting with President Putin is not happening in a vacuum. The President will be coming off of the G7, the NATO summit, the meeting with the European Union’s leaders. When we bring the world’s democracies together, it’s an incredibly powerful force militarily, economically, politically, diplomatically.”

“Since we pulled out of the nuclear deal and then Iran began to ignore the constraints that the deal had imposed on it, it has been galloping forward and it’s enriching more material. It’s enriching at higher levels, degrees than were allowed under the agreement. It is gaining knowledge. And if this goes on a lot longer, if they continue to gallop ahead, then you’re right, they’re going to have knowledge that’s going to be very hard to reverse, which I think puts some urgency in seeing if we can put the nuclear problem back in the box that the agreement had put it in that.”

In another context, personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump Rudy Giuliani slammed President Joe Biden for wanting to rejoin the Iranian nuclear accord.

“He’s caving into Iran before Iran even wants to make a deal,” Giuliani said in an interview that aired Sunday.

“He’s already let a couple of very big Iranian terrorist businesspeople off the hook. He’s already taken sanctions away from Iranian companies that have been dealing in oil,” he added.

“So, already Iran has gotten concessions, without giving up anything that they want to get from us. It’s the worst way to negotiate a deal, particularly with a regime of terror,” he said.
Giuliani said that Biden has “displayed a level of weakness that, I don’t know …”

“I remember years ago when Kennedy did this and made that mistake with Khrushchev. Khrushchev took it as a sign of weakness, and we got the Cuban missile crisis. Well, Kennedy straightened them out then, but I’m not sure that Biden will be able to do it,” Giuliani stated.



Turkish Authorities Investigate Drone Crash Days after Shooting Down Another UAV

A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Türkiye September 30, 2020. (Reuters)
A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Türkiye September 30, 2020. (Reuters)
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Turkish Authorities Investigate Drone Crash Days after Shooting Down Another UAV

A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Türkiye September 30, 2020. (Reuters)
A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Türkiye September 30, 2020. (Reuters)

Authorities on Friday opened an investigation into an unmanned aerial vehicle that crashed in northwest Türkiye, just days after the country shot down another drone that entered its airspace from the Black Sea.

Residents in Kocaeli province discovered the damaged UAV in a field, prompting an official investigation into the wreckage, NTV news channel and other reports said.

An initial assessment indicates the aircraft could be a Russian‑made Orlan‑10 reconnaissance drone, the Interior Ministry said in a statement, adding that an investigation was ongoing, The AP news reported.

On Monday, Turkish F-16 fighter planes intercepted what officials described as an “out of control” drone after it violated the country’s airspace.

The defense ministry said that drone was destroyed in a safe location to protect civilians and air traffic. Türkiye's government subsequently warned both Russia and Ukraine to exercise greater caution over Black Sea security.

That shootdown came after a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian “shadow fleet” of tankers off the Turkish coast, raising concerns in Türkiye about the risk of the war in Ukraine spilling over into the region.

The defense ministry said the drone that was shot down on Monday likely broke into small fragments that scattered over a wide area, complicating efforts to identify it. Search and technical analysis efforts were still underway, it said.


UK Imposes Sanctions on Perpetrators of Violence Against Syrian Civilians

FILE - In this file photo dated Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, the Union Flag flies on the top of 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's official residence in London. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, FILE)
FILE - In this file photo dated Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, the Union Flag flies on the top of 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's official residence in London. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, FILE)
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UK Imposes Sanctions on Perpetrators of Violence Against Syrian Civilians

FILE - In this file photo dated Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, the Union Flag flies on the top of 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's official residence in London. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, FILE)
FILE - In this file photo dated Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, the Union Flag flies on the top of 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's official residence in London. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, FILE)

Britain ​imposed sanctions on Friday on individuals and organizations it said were linked to violence perpetrated against civilians in Syria, including some who financially supported former president Bashar al-Assad's government.

While Britain ‌has eased some ‌sanctions on ‌Syria ⁠as ​the country ‌seeks to rebuild after the collapse of the Assad regime a year ago, it said it was taking action against those who were trying to undermine peace ⁠in the Middle Eastern country.

The government ‌measures announced on ‍Friday are ‍targeted at individuals involved in coastal ‍violence in Syria in March, as well as historic violence committed during the country's civil war, the statement ​said.

"Accountability and justice for all Syrians is vital to ensure ⁠a successful and sustainable political settlement in Syria," foreign minister Yvette Cooper said.

The sanctions, a combination of asset freezes and travel bans, targeted four individuals and three organisations, while two individuals who gave financial backing to the Assad regime are also being sanctioned.


Ukraine Hits Russian 'Shadow Fleet' Tanker in Mediterranean

Crude oil tanker transits the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Türkiye, October 27, 2025. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik/File Photo
Crude oil tanker transits the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Türkiye, October 27, 2025. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik/File Photo
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Ukraine Hits Russian 'Shadow Fleet' Tanker in Mediterranean

Crude oil tanker transits the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Türkiye, October 27, 2025. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik/File Photo
Crude oil tanker transits the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Türkiye, October 27, 2025. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik/File Photo

Ukraine struck a Russian "shadow fleet" oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea with ​aerial drones for the first time, an official said on Friday, reflecting the growing intensity of Kyiv's attacks on Russian oil shipping.

The vessel was empty when it was struck by drones in neutral waters more than 2,000 kilometres (1,243 miles) from Ukraine, sustaining critical damage, the official at the SBU security service said in a written statement, Reuters reported.

The tanker's last visible position on Friday morning was given as off the coast of Crete sailing parallel to Libya's coast, MarineTraffic ship tracking data showed. The Ukrainian official, who declined to ‌be named, did ‌not say exactly where the tanker was located at the ‌time ⁠of ​the ‌attack and when it happened.

Ukraine has been attacking Russian oil refineries throughout 2025, but has visibly widened its campaign in recent weeks, striking oil rigs in the Caspian Sea and claiming credit for sea-drone attacks on three tankers in the Black Sea.

The tankers are unregulated ships that Kyiv says are helping Moscow export large quantities of oil and fund its war in Ukraine despite Western sanctions.

Russian President Vladimir ⁠Putin, who ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has threatened to sever Ukraine's access to the ‌Black Sea in response to the attacks on tankers, which ‍he has derided as piracy.

There was ‍no fresh comment from Moscow on the latest attack.

The vessel was en route ‍to the Russian port of Ust Luga in the Baltic Sea from the Indian port of Sikka, MarineTraffic data showed.

India is a major consumer of Russian oil, although it has faced pressure from US President Donald Trump to curb its purchases to reduce the oil revenue that Ukraine says ​is fuelling Russia's full-scale war.

MULTI-STAGE MEASURES

The strike on the vessel is notable not only because it was further away in the Mediterranean but also because ⁠it used long-range aerial drones.

"This development reflects a stark expansion of Ukraine’s use of uncrewed aerial systems against maritime assets associated with Russia’s sanctioned oil export network," British maritime risk-management group Vanguard said.

The Ukrainian official did not say how the drones reached the ship, but said the operation involved "multi-stage" measures.

Earlier this year, the SBU, the vast security agency behind the attack, smuggled dozens of drones into Russia for an operation to destroy strategic bombers at air bases deep inside Russia.

There have also been a string of other unexplained blasts on tankers that have called at Russian ports since December 2024. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in them, but maritime security sources suspect Kyiv is behind them.

Earlier this week, two crew members of ‌the Valeriy Gorchakov Russian-flagged tanker were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on the southern Russian port of Rostov-on-Don.