IAEA Says Unable to Verify Whether Iran Has Suspended All Uranium Enrichment

A combination picture of satellite images shows Shiraz South Missile Base in Shiraz South, Iran, before reconstruction, July 3, 2025 (LEFT), and after reconstruction and clearance efforts, January 30, 2026. Planet Labs PBC/Handout via REUTERS
A combination picture of satellite images shows Shiraz South Missile Base in Shiraz South, Iran, before reconstruction, July 3, 2025 (LEFT), and after reconstruction and clearance efforts, January 30, 2026. Planet Labs PBC/Handout via REUTERS
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IAEA Says Unable to Verify Whether Iran Has Suspended All Uranium Enrichment

A combination picture of satellite images shows Shiraz South Missile Base in Shiraz South, Iran, before reconstruction, July 3, 2025 (LEFT), and after reconstruction and clearance efforts, January 30, 2026. Planet Labs PBC/Handout via REUTERS
A combination picture of satellite images shows Shiraz South Missile Base in Shiraz South, Iran, before reconstruction, July 3, 2025 (LEFT), and after reconstruction and clearance efforts, January 30, 2026. Planet Labs PBC/Handout via REUTERS

Iran has not allowed the United Nations nuclear agency access to its nuclear facilities bombed by Iran and the United States during a 12-day war in June, according to a confidential report by the watchdog circulated to member states and seen Friday by The Associated Press.

The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency stressed that it “cannot verify whether Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities,” or the “size of Iran’s uranium stockpile at the affected nuclear facilities.”

The IAEA report on Friday warned that due to the continued lack of access to any of Iran’s four declared enrichment facilities, the agency “cannot provide any information on the current size, composition or whereabouts of the stockpile of enriched uranium in Iran.”

The agency also said that Iran has not provided access to IAEA inspectors to the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant since Iran first made available information about the new facility over eight months ago. The confidential report warned that therefore the agency does not know whether this facility “contains nuclear material or is operational.”

The report stressed that the “loss of continuity of knowledge over all previously declared nuclear material at affected facilities in Iran needs to be addressed with the utmost urgency.”

Iran has long insisted its program is peaceful, but the IAEA and Western nations say Tehran had an organized nuclear weapons program up until 2003.

The IAEA reported that Iran had informed the agency in a letter dated Feb. 2 that “the conditions resulting from acts of aggression and the continuation of threats have created a situation in which the normal implementation of safeguards is legally untenable and materially impracticable,” adding that it would be “inconsistent with Iran’s essential security considerations."

The confidential IAEA report also said Friday that Iran did provide access to its inspectors “to each of the unaffected nuclear facilities at least once since the military attacks of June 2025, with the exception of Karun Nuclear Power Plant, which is in the early stages of construction and does not contain nuclear material.”

Iran suspended all cooperation with the IAEA after the war with Israel. Iran is legally obliged to cooperate with the IAEA under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Highly enriched material should be verified regularly According to the IAEA, Iran maintains a stockpile of 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

That stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi warned in a recent interview with the AP. He added that it doesn’t mean that Iran has such a weapon.

Such highly enriched nuclear material should normally be verified every month, according to the IAEA’s guidelines.

The IAEA also reported that it had observed, through the analysis of commercially available satellite imagery, “regular vehicular activity around the entrance to the tunnel complex at Isfahan.”

The facility in Isfahan, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) southeast of Tehran, was mainly known for producing the uranium gas that is fed into centrifuges to be spun and purified.

Both Israel and Iran struck the Isfahan site in June.

The IAEA also reported that through the analysis of commercially available satellite imagery, it has observed “activities being conducted at some of the affected nuclear facilities, including the enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordow,” but it added that “without access to these facilities it is not possible for the Agency to confirm the nature and the purpose of the activities.”

The IAEA reported on Friday that Grossi attended negotiations between the US and Iran on Feb. 17 and Feb. 26 in Geneva at which he “provided advice on issues relevant to the verification of Iran’s nuclear program.” The report said that those negotiations are “ongoing."

The Trump administration has held three rounds of nuclear talks this year with Iran under Omani mediation. Thursday's talks in Geneva ended without a deal, leaving the danger of another Mideast war on the table as the US has gathered a massive fleet of aircraft and warships in the region.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who mediated in the Geneva talks, said technical discussions involving lower-level representatives would continue next week in Vienna, the home of the IAEA. The agency is likely to be critical in any deal.

The US is seeking a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program and ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons.

If the talks fail, uncertainty hangs over the timing of any possible attack, as well as its mission and goals.

Iran says it is not pursuing weapons and has so far resisted demands that it halt uranium enrichment on its soil or hand over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Similar talks last year between the US and Iran about Iran’s nuclear program broke down after the start of the war in June. Before then, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity.

 



7 Killed in Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Regions

17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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7 Killed in Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Regions

17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Seven people were killed and 51 others were wounded in Russia overnight by Ukrainian drone attacks, Russian officials said Saturday.

Kyiv's forces are continuing their relentless aerial campaign against energy infrastructure and military targets inside Russia, aiming to undermine Moscow’s war effort and make Russians feel the consequences of the Kremlin's all-out invasion of Ukraine that is well into its fifth year.

Two sprawling warehouses of Russia's major online retailer, Wildberries, were hit by Ukrainian drones overnight, according to Russian officials: one in the town of Kotovsk in the Tambov region, some 360 kilometers (roughly 220 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and another one in the city of Elektrostal, about 50 kilometers (some 30 miles) east of Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian long-range strikes hit two “significant logistical facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions."

“These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment,” he wrote. An oil facility was also hit, The Associated Press quoted him as saying.

Ukrainian special operations also conducted strikes against targets in the Sea of Azov and in occupied territory, Zelenskyy said.

Seven night shift workers were killed at the warehouse in Kotovsk, and 25 others were wounded, Tambov regional governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said. A total of 24 people were wounded in Elektrostal, according to the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov.

Two more people were wounded in the Moscow region city of Noginsk, just north of Elektrostal, where an oil depot was on fire after a Ukrainian drone strike, Vorobyov said. A nearby maternity hospital was evacuated as a precaution, as well as one residential building, he added.

In the city of Vladimir, some 180 kilometers (over 110 miles) east of Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building, sparking a brief fire, Vladimir governor Alexander Avdeyev said. There were no casualties, he added.

Overall, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 379 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.


Rescuers Race to Find Survivors in the Rain after Deadly China Landslide

Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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Rescuers Race to Find Survivors in the Rain after Deadly China Landslide

Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Rescue crews on Saturday raced to find survivors from a landslide in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing that killed at least eight people and left 34 missing.

The landslide occurred in Pengshui County on Friday morning on the outskirts of Chongqing municipality, when massive amounts of rocks and soil washed down a slope, burying more than 10 residential buildings, state broadcaster CCTV said. Ten people were rescued but sent to the hospital, while more than 1,100 people have been relocated.

Photos and Associated Press videos showed that one of the fallen rocks appeared larger than a multistory building, with ruins scattered across the steep terrain. One of the damaged buildings had its top part crushed and a car was seen half-buried near another building.

The landslide contained about 18,000 cubic meters of rocks and debris, and the largest single rock was around 3,000 cubic meters, Wang Chuanjun, head of Planning and Natural Resources in Pengshui County, told a news conference on Friday.

CCTV said persistent rain hit Pengshui from Friday night to Saturday morning and 19.2 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) of rainfall was recorded at a weather station. The unstable weather made the rescue operation more challenging, it said. As the rain eased slightly, rescue teams entered the site to conduct on-the-ground inspections of the collapsed buildings and riverbank areas.

While rescue operations are being carried out on one side of the massive rocks, teams will later need to look beneath them, where they may risk injury if the boulders become unstable and slide, CCTV reported. Once the search of the surrounding areas is complete, officers will drill into the boulders and fill the holes with explosives to break them apart, it said.

China's National Development and Reform Commission on Saturday allocated a relief fund of 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) to support the restoration of infrastructure and public service facilities following the disaster.

The rain-triggered landslide occurred near a stretch of the Wujiang River, which cuts through karst mountains peppered with small towns and terraces.

Pengshui County is located in the southeast part of Chongqing, bordering the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou.


Flash Flood Kills 4, Leaves 4 Others Missing in Vietnam

This photo taken and released by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on July 17, 2026, shows rescue workers addressing the aftermath of flash floods in Muong Than Commune, Lai Chau Province, northern Vietnam. (Photo by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) / AFP)
This photo taken and released by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on July 17, 2026, shows rescue workers addressing the aftermath of flash floods in Muong Than Commune, Lai Chau Province, northern Vietnam. (Photo by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) / AFP)
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Flash Flood Kills 4, Leaves 4 Others Missing in Vietnam

This photo taken and released by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on July 17, 2026, shows rescue workers addressing the aftermath of flash floods in Muong Than Commune, Lai Chau Province, northern Vietnam. (Photo by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) / AFP)
This photo taken and released by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on July 17, 2026, shows rescue workers addressing the aftermath of flash floods in Muong Than Commune, Lai Chau Province, northern Vietnam. (Photo by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) / AFP)

At least four people were killed and four others were missing after a flash flood swept through a mountainous village in Vietnam’s northern province of Lai Chau, state media reported on Saturday.

The flood in Muong Than village early on Friday after days of heavy rains in several parts of northern Vietnam also injured seven ⁠people, reported the ⁠Vietnam News Agency, according to Reuters.

Vietnam is prone to deadly storms and floods during the rainy season that peaks from July through September. Natural disasters, mostly floods, killed 489 ⁠people in the country last year, according to government data.

The Vietnam News Agency report had photos showing red mud and flood water blanketing the village, with rocks and wood logs piling in a corner of a damaged road.

Since Wednesday, landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy rain have also ⁠damaged ⁠roads, power grids and hundreds of houses, as well as inundating 238 hectares of crops in the region, according to the government’s disaster management agency.

Several parts of northern Vietnam are forecast to receive heavy rain of up to 250 millimeters on Saturday, the agency said, warning of more flash floods and landslides.