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.



Train Driver Killed, Dozens Injured as French TGV Collides with Truck

The accident occurred at a level crossing between the towns of Bethune and Lens in the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais. (AFP file)
The accident occurred at a level crossing between the towns of Bethune and Lens in the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais. (AFP file)
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Train Driver Killed, Dozens Injured as French TGV Collides with Truck

The accident occurred at a level crossing between the towns of Bethune and Lens in the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais. (AFP file)
The accident occurred at a level crossing between the towns of Bethune and Lens in the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais. (AFP file)

The driver of a high-speed TGV train was killed and 27 people injured in France on Tuesday when the train collided with a truck, officials said.

The accident occurred at a level crossing between the towns of Bethune and Lens in the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais at around 7:00 am (0500 GMT), said rail operator SNCF.

"I am heading to the scene with the chief executive of the SNCF, Jean Castex," Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said on X.

Neither the SNCF nor the prefecture were able to provide details of the circumstances of the accident.

The SNCF said that rail services would be suspended between Bethune and Lens until at least late Tuesday.

In France, serious accidents involving high-speed rail lines are rare compared to traditional railways.


Overnight Attacks Kill Children in Ukraine, Russia

 The site of a Russian strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 06 April 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 06 April 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)
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Overnight Attacks Kill Children in Ukraine, Russia

 The site of a Russian strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 06 April 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian strike on a residential building in Odesa, Ukraine, 06 April 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)

Two boys were killed in Russia and Ukraine overnight, officials said Tuesday, as the two sides exchanged latest strikes more than four years after Moscow sent troops into its neighbor.

Moscow has been launching drones and missiles at Ukraine almost nightly throughout its offensive -- the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in recent weeks in a bid to reduce Moscow's earnings from oil exports, as the Middle East war pushes up prices.

As a result of the latest strikes, in Russia a boy born in 2014 was among three people killed in the Vladimir region after a drone struck a residential building, the regional governor said.

In Ukraine, an 11-year-old boy died and five others were wounded when a house caught fire as a result of a drone strike in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the regional military administration said.

In Russia's Vladimir region, two adults and their son, born in 2014, were killed, governor Alexander Avdeev said on Telegram, adding that the couple's five-year-old daughter was in hospital with burns.

According to the Russian defense ministry quoted by media, Russia shot down 45 Ukrainian drones over the country overnight.

In Ukraine, "the enemy attacked four districts of the region more than 10 times with drones," Oleksandr Ganzha, the head of the regional military administration said on Telegram.

A house caught fire while three other homes and a vehicle were damaged in the Synelnykove district, Ganzha said.

"An 11-year-old boy was killed," he added, saying two women and a man were hospitalized. In other areas, strikes sparked fires and damaged an administrative building and power lines, wounding two men.


Strikes ‘Completely Destroyed’ Synagogue in Iranian Capital

Workers remove debris at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology complex that Iranian authorities say was hit early Monday by a US-Israeli strike, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP)
Workers remove debris at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology complex that Iranian authorities say was hit early Monday by a US-Israeli strike, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP)
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Strikes ‘Completely Destroyed’ Synagogue in Iranian Capital

Workers remove debris at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology complex that Iranian authorities say was hit early Monday by a US-Israeli strike, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP)
Workers remove debris at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology complex that Iranian authorities say was hit early Monday by a US-Israeli strike, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP)

US-Israeli strikes early on Tuesday "completely destroyed" a synagogue in Tehran, Iran's Mehr news agency and the Shargh newspaper reported.

"According to preliminary information, the Rafi-Nia Synagogue... was completely destroyed in this morning's attacks," Shargh wrote.

Judaism is one of Iran's legally recognized minority religions, and the country has a small Jewish community, although many members fled in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution.

There are no publicly available official numbers, but there are thought to be a few thousand Jewish people in Iran.

Shargh called the synagogue "one of the most important places for Khorasan Jews to gather and celebrate", referring to the northeastern province of Iran.