One Migrant Dead, 18 Rescued Off Greek Island

This picture taken on November 10, 2023 shows the sky following a rain over the Greek capital Athens. (Photo by Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP)
This picture taken on November 10, 2023 shows the sky following a rain over the Greek capital Athens. (Photo by Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP)
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One Migrant Dead, 18 Rescued Off Greek Island

This picture taken on November 10, 2023 shows the sky following a rain over the Greek capital Athens. (Photo by Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP)
This picture taken on November 10, 2023 shows the sky following a rain over the Greek capital Athens. (Photo by Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP)

Greece's coastguard rescued 18 migrants and recovered the body of one dead woman on Friday after their boat capsized off an island in the Aegean Sea.
Coastguard vessels and a military helicopter carried out the rescue operation off the island of Agathonisi after the migrants sent a distress signal earlier on Friday, a coastguard official said.
During Europe's 2015 migration crisis, European governments struggled to cope with an influx of more than 1 million people, mostly Syrian refugees who crossed from Türkiye to Greece, overwhelming security and welfare networks.
Migrant flows to Greece had dropped significantly before resurging this year. Nearly 40,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Greece so far in 2023, mostly crossing from Türkiye by sea, according to data from United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.



UN Nuclear Head to Visit Iran for Talks on Country’s Nuclear Program as Next Trump Presidency Looms

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi during a meeting with the Japanese government in Tokyo Thursday, March 14, 2024. (AP)
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi during a meeting with the Japanese government in Tokyo Thursday, March 14, 2024. (AP)
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UN Nuclear Head to Visit Iran for Talks on Country’s Nuclear Program as Next Trump Presidency Looms

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi during a meeting with the Japanese government in Tokyo Thursday, March 14, 2024. (AP)
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi during a meeting with the Japanese government in Tokyo Thursday, March 14, 2024. (AP)

The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Sunday he will travel to Iran in the coming days to hold talks regarding the country's nuclear program. The visit comes amid wider tensions gripping the Mideast over the Israel-Hamas war and uncertainty over how US President-elect Donald Trump will approach Iran after his inauguration in January.

Specifically, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mariano Grossi, will have high level meetings with the Iranian government and will hold technical discussions on all aspects related to the joint statement agreed with Iran in March 2023.

It is intended as a path forward for cooperation between the IAEA and Iran on how to expand inspections of the Islamic Republic’s rapidly advancing atomic program.

The 2023 statement included a pledge by Iran to resolve issues around sites where inspectors have questions about possible undeclared nuclear activity, and to allow the IAEA to "implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities."

The meetings in Tehran will build on Grossi's discussions with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September, a statement by the IAEA said.

"It is essential that we make substantive progress in the implementation of the joint statement agreed with Iran in March 2023," Grossi said. "My visit to Tehran will be very important in that regard."

Iran is rapidly advancing its atomic program and continues to increase its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels in defiance of international demands, according to recent reports by the IAEA.

Grossi, has warned that Tehran has enough uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to make "several" nuclear bombs if it chose to do so. He has acknowledged the UN agency cannot guarantee that none of Iran’s centrifuges may have been peeled away for clandestine enrichment.

Iran’s 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers had put limits on its nuclear program — which the West fears could be used for making nuclear weapons although Tehran insists is only for peaceful purposes — while lifting punitive economic sanctions imposed on Iran.

But the deal collapsed after the Trump administration in 2018 pulled the United States out of the agreement, leading Iran to abandon all limits the deal had put on its program and enrich uranium to up to 60% purity.

That is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. By IAEA’s definition, around 42 kilograms (92.5 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% is the amount at which creating one atomic weapon is theoretically possible.

As Trump is to take office again in a few weeks, Iranians are divided on what his next presidency will bring. Some foresee an all-out war between Tehran and Washington, particularly as other conflicts rage in the region. Others hold out hope that America’s 47th president might engage in unexpected diplomacy as he did with North Korea.