Iran Complains to UN Nuclear Watchdog about Israeli Threats against Its Nuclear Sites

People walk through the old main bazaar of Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
People walk through the old main bazaar of Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
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Iran Complains to UN Nuclear Watchdog about Israeli Threats against Its Nuclear Sites

People walk through the old main bazaar of Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
People walk through the old main bazaar of Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)

Iran has written to the UN nuclear watchdog to complain about Israeli threats to strike its atomic energy sites, its foreign ministry spokesman said at a weekly news conference on Monday.

Israel has vowed to attack Iran in retaliation for a volley of Iranian missiles on Oct. 1, stirring widespread speculation that Iranian nuclear sites could be among the targets.

"Threats to attack nuclear sites are against UN resolutions.... and are condemned ... We have sent a letter about it to ... the UN nuclear watchdog," ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told the televised news conference.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel would listen to key ally the United States regarding a response to Iran's missile attack but would decide its actions according to its own national interest.

His statement was attached to a Washington Post article which said Netanyahu had told President Joe Biden's administration that Israel would strike Iranian military targets, not nuclear or oil sites.

Baghaei, responding to a question about the possibility of Iran changing its official nuclear doctrine, said "weapons of mass destruction have no place in our policy". Tehran would decide on how and when to respond to any Israeli attack.

Iran has repeatedly denied Western accusations that it has covertly sought to develop nuclear bombs in violation of its commitment to the global Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran fired scores of missiles at Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes on its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip - the second Iranian missile attack on Israel this year. Israel responded to the first missile volley in April with an airstrike on an air defense site in central Iran.



Zelenskiy Says Russia to Use NKorean Troops in Coming Days, Putin Snaps Back

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference, at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference, at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman
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Zelenskiy Says Russia to Use NKorean Troops in Coming Days, Putin Snaps Back

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference, at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference, at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Russia plans to deploy North Korean troops to the battlefield starting Oct. 27-28, citing intelligence reports.

"According to intelligence reports, on October 27-28, the first North Korean military will be used by Russia in combat zones,” he said on the Telegram messenger after receiving reports from his top commander.

Zelenskiy called on allies to respond to this "escalatory move" by applying "tangible pressure" on Moscow and Pyongyang.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that it was Russia's business whether or not it decided to use North Korean troops and said that if Ukraine wanted to join NATO then Moscow could do what it wanted to ensure its own security.
The United States said on Wednesday that it had seen evidence that North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia for possible deployment in Ukraine, a move that the West is casting as a significant escalation of the Ukraine war.
Ukraine's military intelligence service said that the first North Korean units trained in Russia had been deployed in the Kursk region, a Russian border area where Ukrainian forces took a chunk of Russian land in August.
"When we have to decide something, we will decide... but it is our sovereign decision whether we will apply it, whether we will not, whether we need it," Putin told Russian state television. "This is our business."

Putin said that the West repeatedly said that it was up to Ukraine how it ensured its security - "with or without NATO."
"The sooner they realize the futility of such an approach in relations with Russia, the better it will be for everyone, and perhaps, above all, for themselves," Putin said.