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Raisi Says Iran Not Seeking Nuclear Weapons

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake near Colombo on April 24, 2024. (AFP)
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake near Colombo on April 24, 2024. (AFP)
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Raisi Says Iran Not Seeking Nuclear Weapons

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake near Colombo on April 24, 2024. (AFP)
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake near Colombo on April 24, 2024. (AFP)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday his country was not seeking to develop nuclear weapons despite assertions from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it was close to acquiring enough material to develop a bomb.

“Iran is not planning on acquiring nuclear weapons because Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had issued a fatwa against them,” said Raisi according to the Arab World Press.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi had recently stated that Iran was weeks rather than months away from obtaining enough enriched uranium to develop a nuclear bomb.

“This does not mean that Iran possesses or will possess a nuclear weapon in that period of time,” he added in a report earlier this week.

Raisi, meanwhile, claimed that Tehran’s “nuclear ideology” does not at all include the development of nuclear arms.

He stressed that Iran was seeking to use nuclear technology for peaceful means.

He called for lifting the sanctions imposed on his country, declaring that they will not yield their desired results.

Vienna has hosted numerous rounds of talks between Iran and western powers with the aim of reviving Tehran’s 2015 nuclear agreement that the United States withdrew from in 2018.

An informed source denied claims that Iran was pursuing direct negotiations with the US to restore the deal, reported Iran’s IRNA news agency last week.

It said Tehran and Washington were still exchanging messages “within specific frameworks” and that top Iranian negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani was following up on the negotiations.

Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60%, close to the roughly 90% that is weapons grade, at its Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) in its sprawling Natanz complex and at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), which is dug into a mountain.

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World

600 Dead in DR Congo Ebola Outbreak

A health worker in personal protective equipment stands near displaced people waiting for the burial of suspected Ebola victims at the Kigonze displaced persons camp, one month after an outbreak was declared, in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/File Photo
A health worker in personal protective equipment stands near displaced people waiting for the burial of suspected Ebola victims at the Kigonze displaced persons camp, one month after an outbreak was declared, in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/File Photo
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600 Dead in DR Congo Ebola Outbreak

A health worker in personal protective equipment stands near displaced people waiting for the burial of suspected Ebola victims at the Kigonze displaced persons camp, one month after an outbreak was declared, in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/File Photo
A health worker in personal protective equipment stands near displaced people waiting for the burial of suspected Ebola victims at the Kigonze displaced persons camp, one month after an outbreak was declared, in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/File Photo

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has now claimed 600 lives, figures published by the World Health Organization showed Thursday -- only three days after the figure topped 500.

Updated numbers issued by the UN health agency showed there have been 1,759 confirmed cases in DR Congo since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, including 600 confirmed deaths.

Two other people have died in neighboring Uganda, where 17 patients have recovered out of 20 total confirmed cases.

The WHO's figures for the DRC, which come from the health authorities in the vast country, show that the outbreak there has a case fatality rate of 34 percent, AFP reported.

A total of 285 patients in the DRC have recovered, while 304 suspected cases of the viral hemorrhagic fever are under investigation.

The outbreak in northeastern DRC has hit four provinces but is focused on Ituri province.

The outbreak is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.

The trial of two potential treatments for Bundibugyo began in the DRC on July 2.

The trial is evaluating the effectiveness of the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral drug remdesivir, alone and in combination.

Ebola spreads through close contact and infected bodily fluids.

The DRC's 17th Ebola outbreak was declared on May 15 after several deaths in mineral-rich Ituri province, which is plagued by armed groups.

World

Iran to Bury Slain Supreme Leader in Culmination of Mass Funeral

Mourners gather in the street ahead of the funeral of Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family at the Shrine of Imam Reza, Iran's most revered place of worship, in Mashhad on July 9, 2026. (AFP)
Mourners gather in the street ahead of the funeral of Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family at the Shrine of Imam Reza, Iran's most revered place of worship, in Mashhad on July 9, 2026. (AFP)
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Iran to Bury Slain Supreme Leader in Culmination of Mass Funeral

Mourners gather in the street ahead of the funeral of Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family at the Shrine of Imam Reza, Iran's most revered place of worship, in Mashhad on July 9, 2026. (AFP)
Mourners gather in the street ahead of the funeral of Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family at the Shrine of Imam Reza, Iran's most revered place of worship, in Mashhad on July 9, 2026. (AFP)

Iran buries its slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday at the country's holiest shrine, with his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei still hidden from public view after being disfigured in the strike that killed his father.

The burial in Mashhad in northeast Iran follows a week of mass funeral processions, rallies and mourning ceremonies that has coincided with a renewed burst of conflict with the United States following weeks of truce.

Crowds marched through Mashhad on Thursday morning, the golden onion dome and minarets of the Shrine of Imam Reza glinting in the morning sun, as they waved Iranian flags, photographs of the late Khamenei and placards with revolutionary slogans.

As Khamenei's body was transported around Iran and Iraq over the past week, the republic's clerical leaders encouraged huge crowds ‌to attend in ‌an effort to vaunt the might and ideological fire of their theocratic state.

However, ‌despite ⁠it having survived ⁠a months-long blitz by its strongest enemies the United States and Israel, Iran faces huge internal challenges and the legacy of Khamenei's 37-year rule is bitterly disputed.

'KILL TRUMP' PLACARDS APPEAR AT BURIAL CEREMONY

The whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei, proclaimed Supreme Leader by a clerical assembly a week after his father's death, has remained a mystery to Iranians.

He has not appeared in public since the war began with the strike that killed Ali Khamenei on February 28, and while he has issued written statements, no image or video or voice recording of him has been issued.

He suffered debilitating injuries in ⁠that same strike, his face disfigured and limbs badly wounded.

Senior sources in Tehran ‌have said he is recovering but that he has not yet been ‌well enough to manage public appearances and state security services are also trying to limit his exposure in case of ‌more US attacks.

As crowds jostled in Mashhad awaiting Khamenei's funeral cortege, the crowd chanted slogans demanding revenge on ‌US President Donald Trump for his killing.

“I swear by the blood of the Supreme Leader, Trump, we will kill you!” they shouted, with women holding up placards reading "Kill Trump".

Khamenei's remains, along with those of four family members killed alongside him, have already been paraded through Tehran, Qom, and the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala.

KHAMENEI'S LONG RULE AND DISPUTED LEGACY

The funeral comes at a critical moment for Iran, turning the page of nearly four decades of Khamenei's rule and months after the latest round of mass nationwide protests against the republic.

Security forces put down that unrest, sparked by anger over the sanctions-throttled economy, by killing thousands of demonstrators in a wave of repression that echoed other bouts of violence over recent years.

While analysts see Iran as having emerged from the war strategically strengthened, with its grip over the vital Strait of Hormuz intact, it has suffered widespread damage that has added to internal economic woes.

The late Khamenei was appointed supreme leader in 1989, a decade after the revolution, and over the decades he consolidated political, economic and military power in his office.

That effort, which increasingly marginalized the elected president and parliament, was conducted in concert with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps that grew in influence throughout Khamenei's rule.

Mojtaba Khamenei was appointed with the backing of the Guards, who are now seen as the dominant force in Iranian political and strategic thinking.

World

North Korea Prepares for Floods as Heavy Rains Loom

Muddy waters engulf fields and rice paddies along the Yeong River in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, southeastern South Korea, 09 July 2026, due to heavy rain as a flood warning was issued for the region. (EPA/Yonhap)
Muddy waters engulf fields and rice paddies along the Yeong River in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, southeastern South Korea, 09 July 2026, due to heavy rain as a flood warning was issued for the region. (EPA/Yonhap)
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North Korea Prepares for Floods as Heavy Rains Loom

Muddy waters engulf fields and rice paddies along the Yeong River in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, southeastern South Korea, 09 July 2026, due to heavy rain as a flood warning was issued for the region. (EPA/Yonhap)
Muddy waters engulf fields and rice paddies along the Yeong River in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, southeastern South Korea, 09 July 2026, due to heavy rain as a flood warning was issued for the region. (EPA/Yonhap)

North Korea has prepared key sectors for heavy rainfall and floods, state media said Thursday, warning of "disastrous" conditions as both sides of the Korean Peninsula brace for intense monsoon weather.

Natural disasters tend to have an outsized impact on isolated North Korea due to its weak infrastructure and economy.

Authorities have issued repeated calls to minimize damage from increasingly frequent extreme weather, which has hit the impoverished country's agriculture and infrastructure in recent years.

Pyongyang's State Hydro-Meteorological Administration issued a heavy rain warning, forecasting 100-150 millimeters (3.9-5.9 inches) of rain between Thursday night and Friday morning across several southern provinces, state television said, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said authorities had intensified disaster prevention efforts in recent weeks.

The Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex, widely believed to be the largest steel mill in North Korea, completed river dredging, built retaining walls and reinforced embankments in flood-prone areas, KCNA said.

The Musan Mining Complex in the country's north has also carried out dredging and landslide prevention work, while rearranging mining facilities to prevent iron ore from being washed away.

Monsoon downpours have also battered South Korea, where heavy rain advisories were in effect Thursday for parts of the Seoul metropolitan area, mountainous areas of Gangwon province and parts of North Gyeongsang province.

Emergency crews were searching for a person swept away by a swollen stream, while more than 300 cases of property damage were reported.

In the central province of North Chungcheong, torrential rain damaged schools and other educational facilities, with classes suspended in some areas.

Last summer was South Korea's hottest on record, with both the North and the South recording their warmest June.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is increasing the intensity, length and frequency of extreme weather events such as heatwaves.

Adding to the mix is the return this year of El Nino, a natural climate phenomenon that warms Pacific surface temperatures and can bring heat, drought and heavy rain to parts of Asia.

North Korea has long endured power shortages, and experts say most residents have no access to air conditioning.

The country was hit by severe flooding in its northern regions near China in 2024, with South Korean media reporting the number of dead and missing in the North could be as high as 1,500 -- estimates Pyongyang dismissed at the time.