IAEA: Monitoring Devices Return to Some Iranian Sites

Headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (file photo: Reuters)
Headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (file photo: Reuters)
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IAEA: Monitoring Devices Return to Some Iranian Sites

Headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (file photo: Reuters)
Headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (file photo: Reuters)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran has reinstalled some monitoring equipment initially put under the 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, which Iran removed last year.

The director of the UN agency, Rafael Grossi, said in two quarterly reports that the agency was "awaiting Iran's engagement to address" issues, including installing more monitoring equipment announced months ago.

The monitoring equipment included surveillance cameras at a site in Isfahan, where centrifuge parts are made, and monitoring equipment at two declared enrichment facilities, according to the two confidential reports addressed to IAEA member states.

- Undisclosed sites

Regarding the ongoing investigation of traces of uranium in three undisclosed sites, the agency said that Iran had provided a "satisfactory answer" on one of them to explain the presence of particles there.

The report stated that the agency has no further questions, and the issue is no longer pending.

Iranian media said Tuesday that it settled two disputed cases with the IAEA, one related to finding traces of uranium at the Marivan site in Abadah, in Fars province.

The Marivan site is the first of three locations to be addressed under a work plan Iran, and the IAEA agreed upon last March. It was not reported in the 2015 nuclear deal talks.

Iran also announced a settlement over the IAEA's discovery of traces of 83.7 percent enriched uranium at the Fordow facility earlier this year.

- Iran stockpile

The IAEA reports confirmed that Iran continues to violate the restrictions imposed on its nuclear activities, and its total stockpile of enriched uranium continues to grow and is now 23 times the 202.8-kg limit set by the 2015 deal, at 4.7 tons.

The permissible limit in the agreement is 202.8 kilograms.

Iran's stock of enriched uranium has enriched to up to 60 percent to 141.1 kilograms since February.

Last October, the IAEA estimated that Iran possessed 62.3 percent of uranium of the 60 percent uranium. Back then, experts said Iran's stockpile was enough to make one bomb if it decided to do so.

After relations between Iran and the West deteriorated, Tehran limited its cooperation with the agency and removed surveillance cameras from some facilities.

It also gradually reneged on most of its commitments within the framework of the agreement concluded in 2015 between Tehran and the US, France, the UK, Russia, China, and Germany after then-President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal.

The US State Department said it has "full confidence" in the IAEA and that President Joe "absolutely committed to never allowing Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon," according to the Associated Press.

"We appreciate the IAEA's extensive efforts to engage Iran on longstanding questions related to Iran's safeguards obligations," the State Department said. "We have made clear that Iran must fully uphold its safeguards obligations."



Russia: Man Suspected of Shooting Top General Detained in Dubai

An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
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Russia: Man Suspected of Shooting Top General Detained in Dubai

An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday that the man suspected of shooting top Russian military intelligence officer Vladimir Alexeyev in Moscow has been detained in Dubai and handed over to Russia.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of the GRU, ⁠Russia's military intelligence arm, was shot several times in an apartment block in Moscow on Friday, investigators said. He underwent surgery after the shooting, Russian media ⁠said.

The FSB said a Russian citizen named Lyubomir Korba was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of being behind the assassination attempt, which he said was designed to sabotage peace talks. ⁠Ukraine said it had nothing to do with the shooting.

Alexeyev's boss, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, the head of the GRU, has been leading Russia's delegation in negotiations with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on security-related aspects of a potential peace deal.


Factory Explosion Kills 8 in Northern China

Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
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Factory Explosion Kills 8 in Northern China

Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo

An explosion at a biotech factory in northern China has killed eight people, Chinese state media reported Sunday, increasing the total number of fatalities by one.

State news agency Xinhua had previously reported that seven people died and one person was missing after the Saturday morning explosion at the Jiapeng biotech company in Shanxi province, citing local authorities.

Later, Xinhua said eight were dead, adding that the firm's legal representative had been taken into custody.

The company is located in Shanyin County, about 400 kilometers west of Beijing, AFP reported.

Xinhua said clean-up operations were ongoing, noting that reporters observed dark yellow smoke emanating from the site of the explosion.

Authorities have established a team to investigate the cause of the blast, the report added.

Industrial accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards.
In late January, an explosion at a steel factory in the neighboring province of Inner Mongolia left at least nine people dead.


Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran will never surrender the right to enrich uranium, even if war "is imposed on us,” its foreign minister said Sunday, defying pressure from Washington.

"Iran has paid a very heavy price for its peaceful nuclear program and for uranium enrichment," Abbas Araghchi told a forum in Tehran.

"Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behavior," he said, two days after he met US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman.

The foreign minister also declared that his country was not intimidated by the US naval deployment in the Gulf.

"Their military deployment in the region does not scare us," Araghchi said.