Iran Says its Missile Program is Not Part of Negotiations

29 October 2025, US, New York: RAFAEL MARIANO GROSSI, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), briefs the press on current global nuclear safety and security concerns, including developments in Ukraine and Iran. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
29 October 2025, US, New York: RAFAEL MARIANO GROSSI, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), briefs the press on current global nuclear safety and security concerns, including developments in Ukraine and Iran. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Iran Says its Missile Program is Not Part of Negotiations

29 October 2025, US, New York: RAFAEL MARIANO GROSSI, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), briefs the press on current global nuclear safety and security concerns, including developments in Ukraine and Iran. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
29 October 2025, US, New York: RAFAEL MARIANO GROSSI, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), briefs the press on current global nuclear safety and security concerns, including developments in Ukraine and Iran. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that Tehran currently has no plans for talks on its missile program.

Any possible talks between Iran and the United States would be limited to the nuclear file, Araghchi said.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Tehran, the minister said Washington had often raised missile and regional topics in past discussions, but Iran’s position was unchanged.

“If there are talks with the US, they will only concern the nuclear issue,” he added.

Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said Wednesday that Iran must "seriously improve" cooperation with the United Nations inspectors to avoid heightening tensions with the West.

Grossi told the Financial Times that while the IAEA has carried out about a dozen inspections in Iran since hostilities with Israel in June, it had not been given access to nuclear facilities such as Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, which were bombed by the United States.

Grossi said in October that movement had been detected near Iran's enriched uranium stockpile but that it did "not imply that there is activity on enrichment.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei subsequently said that Grossi was "fully aware of the peaceful nature" of Iran's nuclear program and should not express "unfounded opinions" on it.

Iranian officials have blamed the IAEA for providing a justification for Israel's bombing, which began the day after the IAEA board voted to declare Iran in violation of obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Grossi told the FT that while the agency was trying to approach the "bumpy" relations with Iran with understanding, the country still needed to comply.

"You cannot say, 'I remain within the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons treaty’, and then not comply with obligations," Grossi said.

"You cannot expect the IAEA to say, 'OK, since there was a war you are in a different category'...Otherwise what I will have to do is report that I have lost all visibility of this material,” he said.



France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
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France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)

France accused Iran on Monday of "repression and intimidation" after a court handed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi a new six-year prison sentence on charges of harming national security.

Mohammadi, sentenced Saturday, was also handed a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for "propaganda" against Iran's system, according to her foundation.

"With this sentence, the Iranian regime has, once again, chosen repression and intimidation," the French foreign ministry said in a statement, describing the 53-year-old as a "tireless defender" of human rights.

Paris is calling for the release of the activist, who was arrested before protests erupted nationwide in December after speaking out against the government at a funeral ceremony.

The movement peaked in January as authorities launched a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead.

Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran's use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.

Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade behind bars and has not seen her twin children, who live in Paris, since 2015.

Iranian authorities have arrested more than 50,000 people as part of their crackdown on protests, according to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).


Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
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Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Monday called on his compatriots to show "resolve" ahead of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution this week.

Since the revolution, "foreign powers have always sought to restore the previous situation", Ali Khamenei said, referring to the period when Iran was under the rule of shah Reza Pahlavi and dependent on the United States, AFP reported.

"National power is less about missiles and aircraft and more about the will and steadfastness of the people," the leader said, adding: "Show it again and frustrate the enemy."


UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
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UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's director of communications Tim Allan resigned on Monday, a day after Starmer's top aide Morgan McSweeney quit over his role in backing Peter Mandelson over his known links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The loss of two senior aides ⁠in quick succession comes as Starmer tries to draw a line under the crisis in his government resulting from his appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the ⁠US.

"I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success," Allan said in a statement on Monday.

Allan served as an adviser to Tony Blair from ⁠1992 to 1998 and went on to found and lead one of the country’s foremost public affairs consultancies in 2001. In September 2025, he was appointed executive director of communications at Downing Street.