Death of Iran’s President Has Delayed Talks with IAEA, Grossi Says

 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi meets with Finnish Climate and Environment Minister Kai Mykkanen (not pictured) during the Nordic Nuclear Forum, in Helsinki, Finland May 22, 2024. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi meets with Finnish Climate and Environment Minister Kai Mykkanen (not pictured) during the Nordic Nuclear Forum, in Helsinki, Finland May 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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Death of Iran’s President Has Delayed Talks with IAEA, Grossi Says

 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi meets with Finnish Climate and Environment Minister Kai Mykkanen (not pictured) during the Nordic Nuclear Forum, in Helsinki, Finland May 22, 2024. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi meets with Finnish Climate and Environment Minister Kai Mykkanen (not pictured) during the Nordic Nuclear Forum, in Helsinki, Finland May 22, 2024. (Reuters)

The deaths of Iran's president and foreign minister in a helicopter crash have caused a pause in the UN nuclear watchdog's talks with Tehran over improving cooperation with the agency, the watchdog's chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters on Wednesday.

"They are in a mourning period which I need to respect," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Grossi said in Helsinki, where he spoke at a nuclear conference.

"But once this is over, we are going to be engaging again," he said, describing it as a "temporary interruption that I hope will be over in a matter of days".

Grossi said the IAEA was planning to continue technical discussions with Iran but they had not yet taken place due to last weekend's helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

The IAEA faces a range of challenges in Iran, from Tehran's recent barring of many of the most experienced uranium-enrichment experts on its inspection team to Iran's continued failure to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites despite a years-long IAEA investigation.

The IAEA has been trying to expand its oversight of Iran's atomic activities while the country's uranium-enrichment program continues to advance. Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the 90% of weapons-grade, which no other country has done without developing nuclear weapons.

Tehran says its aims are entirely peaceful.

Iran currently has about 140 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60%, Grossi said. According to an IAEA definition, that is theoretically enough, if enriched further, for three nuclear bombs. The IAEA's last quarterly report in February said Iran had 121.5 kg, enough for two bombs.

Iran is still producing about nine kg a month of uranium enriched to up to 60%, Grossi said. It is also enriching to lower levels at which it has enough material for potentially more bombs.

Grossi, who two weeks ago said he wanted to start to see concrete results on improved cooperation from Iran soon, repeated that hope but said a more wide-ranging deal would require "a bit more time".

For now, his team had not made progress on the main issues, he said.

"It is high time there is some concrete issuance and if not resolution, some clarification of what this is," Grossi said of the uranium traces at undeclared sites.

"And I would say, confidence in many parts of the world (in Iran on the nuclear issue) is growing thinner.



Fire at North Macedonia Nightclub Kills 59, Injures over 150

Rescue crews gather outside a night club, following a fire resulting in casualties, in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, March 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Rescue crews gather outside a night club, following a fire resulting in casualties, in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, March 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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Fire at North Macedonia Nightclub Kills 59, Injures over 150

Rescue crews gather outside a night club, following a fire resulting in casualties, in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, March 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Rescue crews gather outside a night club, following a fire resulting in casualties, in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, March 16, 2025. (Reuters)

Fire ripped through a packed nightclub early on Sunday in the North Macedonian town of Kocani, killing 59 people and injuring more than 150, officials said, after sparks ignited the roof above a live band.

Authorities arrested about 20 people in connection with the fire, including government officials and the manager of the "Pulse" nightclub, which did not have a legitimate license, Interior Minister Pance Toskovski told a press conference.

"We have a reason to suspect graft and corruption were involved in this case," he said, without providing details.

One video from the event, verified by Reuters, showed a band playing on stage flanked by two flares whose white sparks set a patch of ceiling alight. The fire spread fast and caused a panicked rush to the exits.

"Fire broke out, everyone started screaming and shouting: 'Get out, get out'," Marija Taseva, 22, told Reuters.

As she tried to escape, Taseva fell to the ground and people trod on her, injuring her face. In the rush, she lost contact with her sister, who did not make it out.

"My sister died," Taseva said, breaking into tears.

Toskovski confirmed that the fire, which began at around 3 a.m. (0200 GMT), was caused by "pyrotechnic devices" whose sparks triggered the blaze. He said 500 people were in the club when the fire started.

About 148 people were hospitalized in Skopje, Kocani and surrounding towns, Health Minister Arben Taravari said, adding that 20 people were critically injured.

Condolences flooded in from global leaders, including EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Pope Francis.

People searched for missing loved ones online and at hospitals across the country.

Simeon Sokolov, 50, found his daughter Anastasija at the emergency ward of the September 8 hospital in the capital Skopje, where she was being treated for burns and smoke inhalation.

"I just know that there are many children who have suffered," he told Reuters. "Doctors are doing their job and the number is big."

Some patients were transferred to neighboring Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece for treatment, authorities from those countries said.

INVESTIGATION

North Macedonia's Public Prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski said five prosecutors would investigate the incident.

"At the moment, orders have been issued for collecting of evidence" and some people were being interviewed, Kocevski said, without elaborating.

Toskovski said authorities had arrested members of the band, the son of the club owner and government officials.

Firefighters doused the charred and smoking entrance of the nightclub before dawn as ambulances rushed from the scene, TV footage from a local broadcaster showed.

Reuters pictures showed the club's corrugated iron roof burned through and collapsed in places, its interior wooden beams exposed and blackened.

North Macedonia Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said on Facebook: "This is a difficult and very sad day for Macedonia! The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, the pain of the families, loved ones and friends is immeasurable."

After visiting the injured in a hospital in Skopje, North Macedonia's President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, dressed in black and fighting tears, said authorities were ready to do everything to help all affected.

"I simply cannot comprehend this ... what a disaster, what a tragedy."