Iran President Raisi Says Action, Not Words, Needed on Gaza

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (left) with the head of Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh (File photo: AFP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (left) with the head of Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh (File photo: AFP)
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Iran President Raisi Says Action, Not Words, Needed on Gaza

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (left) with the head of Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh (File photo: AFP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (left) with the head of Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh (File photo: AFP)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday that the time had come for action over the conflict in Gaza rather than talk as he headed to Saudi Arabia to attend a summit on the war between Israel and Hamas.

"Gaza is not an arena for words. It should be for action," Raisi said at Tehran airport before departing for the summit of Arab and Islamic nations in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.

"Today, the unity of the Islamic countries is very important," he added, Reuters reported.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the expansion of the war in the Gaza Strip is "inevitable" in light of the escalation of aggression against civilians.

During a phone call with his Iraqi counterpart, Fouad Hussein, Amir-Abdollahian said the US support for Israel is "the main reason for the escalation of the current crisis in the region."

The two ministers agreed to support the Palestinian people during their discussion of the developments in Palestine and the genocide in Gaza, according to the Arab World News Agency.

On Saturday, according to IRNA, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei received the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh.

Hamas representative in Lebanon, Othman Hamdan, said Haniyeh traveled to the Iranian capital a few days ago to hold talks.

Iranian media did not report the meeting, and it appears that the visit was kept secret, as the timing of Haniyeh's arrival in Tehran was unclear.

Iran maintains good relations with Hamas. Amir-Abdollahian continuously discussed with Haniyeh the developments of the Israeli aggression on Gaza in the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, thousands of protesters gathered in Palestine Square, in the center of Tehran, Friday to express their support for the Palestinians, according to IRNA news agency.

The protesters carried the Palestinian flags and chanted in solidarity with the Palestinians and Gaza.

Deputy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Ali Fadavi praised the fighting that Hamas is waging against Israel and told supporters to have faith and be prepared to use all means against the enemy when the time comes.



Iran: IAEA is Politicizing Oversight of Tehran's Nuclear Program

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, June 5, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, June 5, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
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Iran: IAEA is Politicizing Oversight of Tehran's Nuclear Program

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, June 5, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, June 5, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that the UN nuclear watchdog should avoid turning technical reports into "tools of political pressure" if it wanted ⁠to contribute to ⁠a diplomatic solution.

He said that the loss of the agency's ⁠oversight at some facilities resulted from the attacks rather than a lack of cooperation by Iran, adding that the International Atomic Energy Agency was using ⁠the ⁠consequences of US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites to create "ambiguity" about Tehran's nuclear program.

The agency reaffirmed in a confidential report on Thursday that a lack of access to verify nuclear material in Iran posed a "proliferation concern,” calling on the country to "engage the agency constructively.”

The IAEA has not had access to some key nuclear facilities in Iran since Israel and the United States launched a 12-day conflict in June 2025 that saw strikes on nuclear sites.

Nuclear sites have also been struck in the war that erupted on February 28. The IAEA has repeatedly urged access.

"While the agency acknowledged that the military attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and sites have created an unprecedented situation, it is critical for the agency to conduct verification activities in Iran without delay," the IAEA said in the report.

Prior to US strikes in June 2025, the IAEA calculated that Iran possessed approximately 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, which is close to the 90 percent needed to make a bomb and well above the 3.67-percent limit set by a 2015 now-defunct agreement with Iran.

Since June 2025, the fate of this stockpile has remained uncertain, with Tehran refusing access to IAEA inspectors at sites ravaged by US and Israeli strikes.

"The agency's lack of access to verify the previously declared highly enriched uranium and low enriched uranium for nearly a year -- which is long overdue according to standard safeguard practices -- is a matter of proliferation concern," it added.


Australia Prosecutes Woman Accused of Enslaving Yazidi Teen in Syria

Syrian government security forces in front of the al-Hol camp in Hasakeh province in January 2026 (EPA)
Syrian government security forces in front of the al-Hol camp in Hasakeh province in January 2026 (EPA)
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Australia Prosecutes Woman Accused of Enslaving Yazidi Teen in Syria

Syrian government security forces in front of the al-Hol camp in Hasakeh province in January 2026 (EPA)
Syrian government security forces in front of the al-Hol camp in Hasakeh province in January 2026 (EPA)

A woman accused of enslaving a Yazidi teenager in Syria would agree to wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet and undergo religious counseling if she were freed on bail, her lawyer told a court Friday.

Zeinab Ahmad, 31, continued an application for bail in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on two slavery charges. Her application was heard on Thursday and Friday.

It will continue on June 15 when her lawyer Grace Morgan has called a police witness to testify, according to The Associated Press.

The mother of three would live with her daughter in the Melbourne home of her uncle Abraham Abbas. The mechanic told the court he hated ISIS.

A Yazidi woman has alleged she was enslaved in the Ahmad family home in 2017 and 2018 in the then-ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, Syria.

She also alleged she was raped and beaten by the defendants’ husband and father Mohammed Ahmad, who in currently held in an Iraqi prison.

This came while a district court in The Hague on Friday convicted a 49-year-old Dutch woman of war crimes and sentenced her to seven years in prison for allowing her then 14-year-old son to become a fighter for ISIS, according to Reuters.

The woman, identified only as Ayada K, was convicted of the ⁠war crime of aiding and abetting the recruitment of a child soldier by allowing a minor to take up arms for ISIS, the court said in a press release.

She was also convicted of aiding and abetting a terrorist organization and endangering her minor children.

The woman took her teenage son and daughter from the ⁠Netherlands to live in ISIS-held territory in Syria in 2014. Judges say she then let her son join ISIS military police at 14.

He ⁠died two years later while serving in an ISIS military unit, according to the verdict.

During the trial K invoked ⁠her right to remain silent. After the fall of ISIS in 2019 she remained in ⁠Syria until she was repatriated in 2024 with her remaining children and arrested on arrival.


US Military Strikes Iranian Coastal Surveillance Radar as Iran Attempts to Attack Kuwait, Bahrain

A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet takes off from a base in the Middle East last January (US Military)
A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet takes off from a base in the Middle East last January (US Military)
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US Military Strikes Iranian Coastal Surveillance Radar as Iran Attempts to Attack Kuwait, Bahrain

A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet takes off from a base in the Middle East last January (US Military)
A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet takes off from a base in the Middle East last January (US Military)

The US military said it shot down Iranian ballistic missiles and drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf states on Friday, while striking some of Iran’s coastal surveillance radar sites in response.

US Central Command said on social media Friday night that Iran fired seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain, with US forces intercepting six of the missiles and a seventh failing to reach its target. The military said there were no reports of harm to US personnel.

The ballistic missiles were fired after the US earlier in the day shot down four Iranian drones that were launched toward Strait of Hormuz.

“The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic,” US Central Command said on social media.

Kuwaiti’s military said forces were intercepting missiles and drones attacking the country, while Bahrain activated air raid sirens and told residents to move to the nearest safe location and follow official instructions.

The US military is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s chokehold on the crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments.

US Central Command said it hit the radar sites, including an island in the strait, “to defend against further attacks.”

It was the latest in back-and-forth attacks that have strained the tenuous ceasefire in the war and efforts to reach a deal to extend that truce.

Despite the attacks raising new concerns that the ceasefire could collapse, US President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that “the situation with Iran seems to be going quite well.”

“We’re going to come out of Iran very quickly and it’s going to be very strong one way or the other, whether it’s a piece of paper or the very tough way,” Trump said at an event with farmers in Wisconsin. “The very tough way is maybe the easier way, but we’re going to come out, and your fertilizer prices are going to go way down, just like they were four months ago.”