Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.



Russia Says France’s Plan to Expand Its Nuclear Arsenal Is Destabilizing

Members of the French Navy stand on the topside of a submarine ahead of France's President's visit to the Nuclear Submarine Navy Base of Ile Longue in Crozon, northwestern France on March 2, 2026. (AFP)
Members of the French Navy stand on the topside of a submarine ahead of France's President's visit to the Nuclear Submarine Navy Base of Ile Longue in Crozon, northwestern France on March 2, 2026. (AFP)
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Russia Says France’s Plan to Expand Its Nuclear Arsenal Is Destabilizing

Members of the French Navy stand on the topside of a submarine ahead of France's President's visit to the Nuclear Submarine Navy Base of Ile Longue in Crozon, northwestern France on March 2, 2026. (AFP)
Members of the French Navy stand on the topside of a submarine ahead of France's President's visit to the Nuclear Submarine Navy Base of Ile Longue in Crozon, northwestern France on March 2, 2026. (AFP)

Russia ‌said on Wednesday that France's plan to expand its nuclear arsenal was a highly destabilizing move that posed a potential threat to Moscow.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the plan on Monday, saying other European countries would also be able to take part in French nuclear exercises. France and Germany said they ‌had set up ‌a nuclear steering group ‌to ⁠discuss deterrence issues.

Macron first ⁠said in March 2025 that he would launch a strategic dialogue on extending the protection of France's nuclear umbrella to European allies that have until now relied on the United States.

Russian ⁠Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova ‌told reporters that ‌Macron's announcement this week was "an extremely destabilizing development".

It ‌represented "a significant strengthening and expansion of NATO's ‌nuclear potential, which, in the event of a direct military conflict with Russia, could be used in a coordinated manner against ‌our country," she said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking separately to reporters, ⁠said ⁠the French move vindicated Moscow's position that French and British nuclear weapons should be part of any future negotiation on the global nuclear balance.

Russia says it is open to such talks following the expiry last month of New START, the last bilateral treaty that limited the numbers of Russian and US strategic nuclear warheads and missiles.


Children Must Not Be ‘Collateral Damage’ in Middle East War, Urge UN Experts

People and rescue forces work following a reported strike on a school in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026. Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People and rescue forces work following a reported strike on a school in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026. Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Children Must Not Be ‘Collateral Damage’ in Middle East War, Urge UN Experts

People and rescue forces work following a reported strike on a school in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026. Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People and rescue forces work following a reported strike on a school in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026. Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child insisted Wednesday that children must be protected during the war in the Middle East, highlighting an alleged air strike on an Iranian school.

Iran has blamed Israel and the United States for the strike on the school in the Iranian city of Minab on the first day of the war on Saturday, giving a toll of more than 150 dead.

Neither the United States nor Israel have confirmed the attack, and AFP has been unable to independently verify the toll or visit the site.

"The committee is alarmed by reports of strikes on civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, which have injured and traumatized children, and claimed many young lives," it said.

"This is a reminder that children are among the most vulnerable in armed conflicts, and must never be treated as collateral damage."

According to state media, Iran on Tuesday held funerals for at least 165 people, including students, killed in the alleged strike.

State television carried images showing a large crowd of mourners in Minab weeping over what appeared to be bodies wrapped in white shrouds.

The UN committee's 18 independent experts are tasked with monitoring how countries implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The convention came into force in 1990. Every United Nations member state is a party, except the United States.

The convention requires countries to safeguard the rights to life, survival and development of every child, and to take all measures to ensure children's rights are respected in armed conflicts.

"Children must be protected from direct and indirect effects of hostilities," the committee said.

It called for an immediate and sustained ceasefire by all parties to the Middle East war "so that children are no longer exposed to killing, maiming, displacement, psychological harm, or other violations of their rights".

It also urged the warring parties to take all necessary measures to protect children, including ensuring that schools and hospitals are not attacked and that humanitarians can safely reach children in need.

The committee's opinions are non-binding but carry reputational weight.


Mojtaba Khamenei, Seen as Possible Next Supreme Leader, Has Survived Attacks on Iran, Sources Say

Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah's office in Tehran, Iran, October 1, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters
Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah's office in Tehran, Iran, October 1, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters
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Mojtaba Khamenei, Seen as Possible Next Supreme Leader, Has Survived Attacks on Iran, Sources Say

Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah's office in Tehran, Iran, October 1, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters
Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah's office in Tehran, Iran, October 1, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters

Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran's late Supreme Leader, has survived the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran in which his father Ali Khamenei was killed, two Iranian sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Mojtaba is seen by the ‌establishment as ‌a possible successor to his ‌father, ⁠the sources said.

A ⁠mid-ranking cleric with close ties to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, hardliner Mojtaba is one of the most influential figures in the Iranian clerical establishment. He has for years ⁠been seen as one of ‌the top ‌candidates to succeed his father.

"He (Mojtaba) is alive ... ‌he was not in Tehran ‌when the Supreme Leader was killed," one of the sources said.

His father was killed on Saturday after the United ‌States and Israel attacked targets across Iran - one of a ⁠number ⁠of military and other influential figures killed.

Iranian state media announced Khamenei's death early on Sunday. A senior Israeli official told Reuters that the Iranian leader's body had been found, and US President Donald Trump said the United States had worked closely with Israel to target the man who led Iran since 1989.