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Netanyahu: Iranian-US Agreement Would Help Finance Tehran's Proxies

Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting last week (Reuters)
Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting last week (Reuters)
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Netanyahu: Iranian-US Agreement Would Help Finance Tehran's Proxies

Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting last week (Reuters)
Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting last week (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that a prisoner exchange deal between the United States and Iran would not stop Tehran's nuclear program and would only help fund Iran's "terror proxies."

The Jerusalem Post quoted Netanyahu's office: "Arrangements that do not dismantle Iran's nuclear infrastructure do not stop its nuclear program and only provide it with funds that will go to terrorist elements sponsored by Iran."

On Thursday, Iran and the United States agreed to release prisoners and release $6 billion in Iranian funds frozen in South Korea.

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the start of releasing Iranian funds frozen in South Korea in implementing the terms of a prisoner exchange agreement with the US.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal quoted people briefed on the matter, saying that Iran has significantly slowed the pace at which it is accumulating near-weapons-grade enriched uranium and has diluted some of its stockpiles.

The newspaper said that Tehran's taking this step could help ease tensions with the US and allow the resumption of broader talks over its controversial nuclear program.

The newspaper pointed out that US and European officials have told Iran that if there is a de-escalation of tensions over the summer, they would be open to broader talks later this year, including on Iran's nuclear program.

The Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), reported that Iran's nuclear activities are ongoing without interruption in all areas based on the previous plans of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) in all areas.

The agency quoted an unnamed informed source saying the Parliament's law "the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions" is also being strictly implemented.

White House Spokesman John Kirby said he could not confirm the report but said: "Any steps that Iran might take to slow down enrichment certainly would be welcome."

"We're not in active negotiations about the nuclear program," he added. "But certainly those sorts of steps, if they were to be true, would be welcome."

Kirby said Iran could only access the funds "to buy food, medicine, medical equipment that would not have a dual military use."

“And there will be a rigorous process of due diligence and standards applied with input from the Treasury Department.”

On Friday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's deputy chief of staff for political affairs, Mohammad Jamshidi, said that the US prisoners in Iran would leave simultaneously with the release of illegally held Iranians in the US and the complete transfer of frozen Iranian assets in South Korea.

- Seoul releases Iran’s funds

On Saturday, Iran's central bank chief, Mohammad Reza Farzin, said that all of Iran's frozen funds in South Korea had been unblocked and would be used for "non-sanctioned goods.”

Farzin wrote in a post on social media that the funds would be transferred to six Iranian banks in Qatar.

"Congratulations to the foreign exchange diplomacy team for successfully releasing seized foreign currency resources," he said in the post.

He added that the costs of converting the funds from South Korea's won currency to euros would be accepted by the "third country," where the money would be deposited to buy "non-sanctioned goods.”

He said Iran has funds worth nearly $7 billion deposited in South Korean won in its banks over the past years, with no interest paid.

The governor noted that the funds shrunk by nearly $1 billion in value due to the depreciation of the won against the dollar.

South Korea did not confirm or deny the reports about the released funds, but it hoped the issue of the Iranian funds would be resolved smoothly.

"Our government has been closely consulting with involved countries such as the United States and Iran to resolve the frozen fund issue and hopes that the issue will be resolved amicably," the South Korean ministry said.

State-owned ISNA news agency reported that Iran’s sources of foreign currency in several countries will soon be available and will impact the market and trade exchanges.

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World

Nearly 1,500 Migrants Arrive in Canary Islands in One Day

Rescued migrants disembark from a Spanish Maritime Rescue Service vessel with assistance from emergency workers and Civil Guard officers at the port of La Restinga in El Pinar on the island of El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain, 14 November 2026. EPA/GELMERT FINOL
Rescued migrants disembark from a Spanish Maritime Rescue Service vessel with assistance from emergency workers and Civil Guard officers at the port of La Restinga in El Pinar on the island of El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain, 14 November 2026. EPA/GELMERT FINOL
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Nearly 1,500 Migrants Arrive in Canary Islands in One Day

Rescued migrants disembark from a Spanish Maritime Rescue Service vessel with assistance from emergency workers and Civil Guard officers at the port of La Restinga in El Pinar on the island of El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain, 14 November 2026. EPA/GELMERT FINOL
Rescued migrants disembark from a Spanish Maritime Rescue Service vessel with assistance from emergency workers and Civil Guard officers at the port of La Restinga in El Pinar on the island of El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain, 14 November 2026. EPA/GELMERT FINOL

Almost 1,500 migrants arrived in Spain's Canary Islands on Saturday, the highest number in a single day since 2020, the EFE news agency reported on Sunday, citing the maritime rescue service.

A total of 1,488 people in 14 boats were rescued by the Spanish coastguard, EFE reported, continuing a surge of arrivals from West African countries to the Spanish archipelago since October.

The previous one-day record was the 1,461 people rescued in waters off the Canary Islands on November 7, 2020, maritime rescue services said ⁠on Sunday, according to Reuters.

While migrant ⁠arrivals have declined so far this year compared with the same period last year, the sharp increase last month placed additional pressure on reception and emergency services on some of the Canary Islands, particularly the smaller and less densely populated ones.

One boat on ⁠Saturday was carrying 240 people, including 12 women and 36 children, authorities said. The rescued migrants were taken to El Hierro, one of the smallest Canary Islands. Most of the people were from Senegal, Gambia and Guinea Conakry.

Twelve boats arrived in El Hierro, plus one in Gran Canaria and another in Tenerife.

Spain's Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres will visit El Hierro on Sunday to discuss the surge in migrant arrivals.

The Atlantic ⁠route ⁠from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the world's deadliest migration crossings. Thousands of migrants attempt the journey each year in overcrowded boats, seeking to reach Spanish territory despite rough seas, strong currents and long distances.

Arrivals tend to pick up in the autumn months, when sea conditions along the route are generally calmer and more favorable for crossings.

Migrant arrivals to the Canary Islands between January and October 31 were down 5.5% from the same period last year, government data show.

World

Iranian Lawmaker: A Nuclear Bomb is a ‘Public Demand’

Satellite imagery from Jun 9th, 2025 via Airbus/Bulletin, shows a truck at Iran’s Isfahan underground complex carrying 18 sealed containers (AP)
Satellite imagery from Jun 9th, 2025 via Airbus/Bulletin, shows a truck at Iran’s Isfahan underground complex carrying 18 sealed containers (AP)
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Iranian Lawmaker: A Nuclear Bomb is a ‘Public Demand’

Satellite imagery from Jun 9th, 2025 via Airbus/Bulletin, shows a truck at Iran’s Isfahan underground complex carrying 18 sealed containers (AP)
Satellite imagery from Jun 9th, 2025 via Airbus/Bulletin, shows a truck at Iran’s Isfahan underground complex carrying 18 sealed containers (AP)

Iranian lawmaker Hosseinali Haji Deligani said on Saturday that building a nuclear bomb has become a public demand, just days before a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors to discuss Iran.

“Today, one of the people's demands is that Iran, in addition to its faith and missiles, must build and possess a nuclear bomb,” said Haji Deligani, the deputy head of the Article 90 Commission in the Iranian Parliament, according to Fars news agency.

He argued that Tehran should possess nuclear weapons regardless of whether it intends to use them.

“We must have this capability. Whether it is used or not is a separate matter,” the lawmaker noted.

He said, “based on current assessments, the enemy would not launch a nuclear attack on Iran because of the country’s vast size and the significant repercussions of such an attack.”

The Article 90 Commission of Iran's parliament is mandated to receive, investigate, and respond to written complaints regarding the performance of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Iran has made no official decision to change its nuclear doctrine despite growing calls from lawmakers and members of the public to reconsider its position if war resumes.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Tehran had not suspended its obligations under its safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Speaking to reporters, Baghaei said Iran remained a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and continued to uphold both the treaty and its safeguards agreement. He said the country had demonstrated its adherence to those commitments.

Grossi’s Report

Haji Deligani’s statements came one day after the UN’s nuclear watchdog said it cannot confirm that Tehran hasn’t diverted nuclear material away from peaceful purposes.

In a confidential report on Iran seen by media outlets on Friday, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said because of a lack of cooperation from Iran, it “is not able to conclude that there has been no diversion of declared nuclear material from peaceful nuclear activities in Iran.”

IAEA said it is “increasingly concerned” about a uranium-enrichment plant at Isfahan that Iran declared to it last year but has still not let the watchdog inspect.”

“It is more than a year since the Agency lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the previously declared inventories of LEU (low-enriched uranium) and HEU (highly enriched ⁠uranium) enriched up to 60% U-235 at the declared nuclear facilities affected by the attacks of June 2025,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi wrote in his last report on Iran.

He added that Iran needs to allow inspectors back in “with the utmost urgency.”

Inspectors have yet to return to nuclear sites the United States and Israel bombed in June 2025.

Until those attacks, the IAEA estimates Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from the roughly 90% of weapons-grade uranium. That is enough material, if enriched further, for 10 nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick, and Iran also had material enriched to lower levels.

“The director general encourages Iran to consider technical and gradual measures by which conditions are achieved that allow for the return of agency inspectors to Iran,” the report said.

But Iran told the IAEA that discussions on restarting inspections in the country cannot resume amid “a series of persistent, explicit, and public threats by the President of the United States of America.”

Criticizing legal and technical basis of IAEA’s reports, Iran Mission to UN Office in Vienna said normal execution of safeguards cannot resume under the abnormal condition created by attacks on Iran’s safeguarded nuclear sites.

In a message posted on its X account on Saturday, the Iranian mission also criticized Grossi’s reporting, arguing that the Board’s decisions have been adopted through an abuse of process and that the US-Israeli attacks on Iran have disrupted inspections and forced the withdrawal of the IAEA’s inspectors.

“The United States removed aggression from bias resolutions, but its consequences cannot be erased from reality,” the statement added.

An Unavoidable Necessity

Last Thursday, Iran’s Assembly of Experts called for considering the country’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), alongside a review of Iran’s defense doctrine and the establishment of what it described as necessary deterrence.

In a statement carried by Iranian media, the Assembly said that reviewing withdrawal from the NPT, revising the country’s defense doctrine and establishing the necessary deterrence had become an “unavoidable necessity” and a “public and national demand.”

Two weeks ago, Mohsen Araki, a member of the Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Discernment Council, said Iran should reconsider its membership in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He also noted that the country had suffered setbacks without gaining comparable benefits.

“The Islamic Republic has suffered considerable harm and setbacks over the years because of its membership in and continued adherence to this treaty, while gaining no commensurate benefit from that membership,” said Araki.

World

IRGC Media: Technical Modifications to Allow Iran Develop Missiles that Reach US

People visit the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran, Iran, November 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
People visit the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran, Iran, November 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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IRGC Media: Technical Modifications to Allow Iran Develop Missiles that Reach US

People visit the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran, Iran, November 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
People visit the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran, Iran, November 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran on Saturday said it could introduce technical modifications to its long-range missiles, enabling them to reach US territory.

Tasnim News agency, the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) affiliated media outlet, said modifications to the Khorramshahr-4’s warhead could increase its range to 3,000 or 4,000 kilometers by reducing the weight of its warhead to 1,500-kilogram instead of 2,000.

It said a modified version of the missile would reach US bases and those of its allies in eastern and southeastern Europe, as well as central Europe.

Also, the news agency said Iran would develop an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of approximately 10,000 kilometers to reach the US East Coast, including areas near Washington and New York, and more than 13,000 kilometers to cover the entire US territory.

Tasnim noted that such modification “is possible at present” using the IRGC’s satellite launch vehicles, including the Qased, Zuljanah and Qaem systems, constructing underground “missile cities,” and developing a warhead capable of withstanding re-entry into the Earth's orbit.

Opened Lock

Last week, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued an order to respond to threats of any scale or type with an “immediate and effective response without geographical restrictions.”

Khamenei issued the directives during his first publicly announced meeting with senior military commanders since taking office.

Tasnim on Saturday admitted that former Leader Ali Khamenei had restricted the range of ballistic missiles manufactured in the country to 2,000 kilometers.

It said by “abusing our patience,” Iran’s “enemies unlocked a key aspect of its offensive capabilities.”

Last week, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman General Hossein Mohebbi confirmed the removal of the 2,000-kilometer range restriction.

“That restriction has been lifted for us,” he declared, without specifying a new range or whether Iran possessed missiles exceeding the previous limit. He promised to demonstrate those capabilities “in practice.”

In August 2025, Iranian lawmaker Amir Hayat-Moqaddam told local media that Tehran has been developing long-range strike capabilities for two decades. He warned that “perhaps our next missile will hit Washington directly. We can target America from the sea.”

Also, Iranian lawmaker Kamran Ghazanfari claimed in early November that Iran developed intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting Europe and the United States.

People visit the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran, Iran, November 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Stealth Cruise Missile

Meanwhile, Iranian state television displayed an inspection of a strategic missile facility belonging to the IRGC.

It aired footage on Tuesday describing the underground complex as a new “missile city.”

A military analyst said on his page that the Guards’ missile unit had “quietly” unveiled two new missiles, but that “their unveiling is significant” to those who “monitor and analyze.”

He described the first one as Iran’s “first stealth cruise missile,” noting that its jet engine—which had been mounted externally on previous cruise missiles, making them easier to detect—is now housed inside the body.

The second, he said, is a ballistic missile that combines the warhead of the “Fattah” hypersonic missile with the “Khyber Shikan 2” missile, explaining that the range of the “Fattah” has increased from about 1,400 kilometers to nearly 2,000 kilometers.

Iranian state television aired footage on Tuesday of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi during his inspection of a strategic missile facility belonging to the IRGC.

It reported the unveiling of new weapons, including a “surprise” missile, without disclosing its name, range or specifications. Iranian media revealed neither the facility’s location nor the date of the visit.

Treats Expand to Europe

Meanwhile, Iran’s hardline newspaper Kayhan said on Wednesday that Tehran would expand threats against US bases beyond the region, including facilities in Europe and neighboring countries if a new war resumes.

“By removing the geographical limits on threats, the enemy should hear the roar of new missiles at US bases thousands of kilometers away in Germany, Britain, Albania, Greece, Cyprus and some neighboring countries,” said the newspaper, which is published under the supervision of the supreme leader’s representative.

Despite claiming it restricts its missile range, Iran in March reportedly tried and failed to hit the joint US-UK base at Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, some 4,000 kilometers away from Iran.

No War No Peace State

US President Donald Trump has told senior advisers in recent days that he may hold off on attacking Iran if the US faces no new provocations, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Trump has alternated between threats of escalating the war with new strikes and winding down hostilities, and current and former officials say he does not appear to have made up his mind about how to resolve the unpopular conflict, which he launched in February with Israel.

But in meetings with his national security advisers and after a series of intelligence briefings, Trump said he was considering holding off on strikes, said the people, who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity.

He has also indicated sympathy for allies in the region who have asked him not to return to a full-fledged war.

At the same time, the US military is ready to escalate if needed, three more people ⁠familiar with US planning said.

A third aircraft carrier is moving into the Middle East in the coming days to replace one of the two currently operating in the region, but all three carriers could stay if needed, the people said.

Trump could opt to bomb Iran's underground nuclear facilities, one of the people familiar with Trump's calls with several leaders said. But the US has already struck those facilities, and it is unclear whether further strikes would be successful.
US intelligence agencies have ⁠assessed that renewed strikes would not significantly shift Iran’s demands in negotiations, two US officials said.