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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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NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s Attack with New Hypersonic Missile

A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
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NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s Attack with New Hypersonic Missile

A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)

NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war.

The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.”

Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday's Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro.

In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech to his nation that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was retaliation for Kyiv’s use of US and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

Putin said Western air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up Russia's bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia.

"The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined," he said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow's talking points, suggesting the use of US-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement.

“These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,” Orban said on state radio. “There is a strong assumption ... that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.”

Orban cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasizing that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a “bluff.” “It’s not a trick... there will be consequences,” he said.

Separately in Kyiv, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský called Thursday's missile strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe.”

At a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Lipavský also expressed his full support for delivering the necessary additional air defense systems to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks.”

He underlined that the Czech Republic will impose no limits on the use of its weapons and equipment given to Ukraine.

Three lawmakers from Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that Friday's previously scheduled session was called off due to the ongoing threat of Russian missiles targeting government buildings in central Kyiv.

In addition, there also was a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and nongovernmental organizations "in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” said lawmaker Mykyta Poturaiev, who added this is not the first time such a threat has been received.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office continued to work in compliance with standard security measures, a spokesperson said.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the Oreshnik missile, whose name in Russian means “hazelnut tree,” was fired from the Kapustin Yar 4th Missile Test Range in Russia’s Astrakhan region, and flew 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. The missile had six nonnuclear warheads each carrying six submunitions and reached a spoeed of Mach 11, it said.

Test launches of a similar missile were conducted in October 2023 and June 2024, the directorate said. The Pentagon confirmed the missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.

Thursday's attack struck the Pivdenmash plant that built ICBMs when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The military facility is located about 4 miles (6 1/2 kilometers) southwest of the center of Dnipro, a city of about 1 million that is Ukraine’s fourth-largest and a key hub for military supplies and humanitarian aid, and is home to one of the country’s largest hospitals for treating wounded soldiers from the front before their transfer to Kyiv or abroad.

The stricken area was cordoned off and out of public view. With no fatalities reported from the attack, Dnipro residents resorted to dark humor on social media, mostly focused on the missile’s name, Oreshnik.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia struck a residential district of Sumy overnight with Iranian-designed Shahed drones, killing two people and injuring 13, the regional administration said..

Ukraine’s Suspilne media, quoting Sumy regional head Volodymyr Artiukh, said the drones were stuffed with shrapnel elements. “These weapons are used to destroy people, not to destroy objects,” said Artiukh, according to Suspilne.