Britain, France and Germany condemn 'threats' against head of IAEA watchdog
"France, Germany and the United Kingdom condemn threats against the Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi and reiterate our full support to the Agency and the DG in carrying out their mandate," said a joint statement issued by the foreign affairs ministries of those three countries.
"We call on Iranian authorities to refrain from any steps to cease cooperation with the IAEA. We urge Iran to immediately resume full cooperation in line with its legally binding obligations, and to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of IAEA personnel," they added.
Their joint statement did not specify what threats had been made against Grossi.
On Monday, Iran said it could not be expected to guarantee the safety of IAEA inspectors, so swiftly after its nuclear sites were hit by Israeli and U.S. strikes in the 12-day war that ended with a ceasefire last week.
"How can they expect us to ensure the safety and security of the agency's inspectors when Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities were attacked a few days ago?" Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a news conference.
The IAEA's board voted earlier this month to declare that Iran was in violation of its obligations under the global nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iranian officials have suggested that vote helped pave the way for Israel's attacks.
Baghaei said a parliamentary bill approved by the Guardian Council makes it mandatory for the government to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
"Iran shouldn't be expected to accept its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) when the UN nuclear watchdog has stopped short of condemning the attacks on Iran's nuclear sites," Baghaei said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
13 minutes ago
- Newsweek
South Korea Makes Gesture of Reconciliation to North Korea
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. South Korea has started to dismantle loudspeakers along the border with North Korea that broadcast anti-Pyongyang messaging. The move was initiated by the new Lee Jae Myung administration in Seoul as part of a series of conciliatory gestures aimed at de-escalating tensions on the peninsula. As of Monday, North Korea had yet to respond by removing its own front-line loudspeakers. Newsweek reached out to the North Korean Foreign Ministry for comment. Why It Matters South Korea's move comes 14 months after speakers along the border were reactivated to broadcast K-pop music and anti-North Korean rhetoric. This was in response to Pyongyang's provocative trash balloon campaigns, which carried waste across the border, causing chaos in the south. Their dismantling comes amid efforts by the Lee administration to pivot away from a hardline stance taken under the previous government of Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office in April over his ill-fated imposition of martial law. A South Korean soldier is seen in a watchtower at the border with North Korea, divided by the Imjin River in Paju, north of Seoul, on June 5, 2025. A South Korean soldier is seen in a watchtower at the border with North Korea, divided by the Imjin River in Paju, north of Seoul, on June 5, To Know South Korea's military began dismantling fixed loudspeakers along the border with North Korea on Monday in a move that follows the government's June 11 decision to stop anti-North broadcasts. This decision came just a week after Lee took office and six months after Yoon plunged South Korea into a political crisis when he sent troops to parliament to stop lawmakers voting down his declaration of martial law. South Korea's defense ministry said that the military had started on Monday to remove 24 fixed loudspeakers installed near the military demarcation line (MDL) in a process that is expected to take several days. Since the end of last year, 16 mobile units have already been out of operation. The defense ministry said the move was aimed at reducing tensions between the north and the south and would not affect military readiness, South Korean outlet JoongAng Daily reported. There had been no consultation with Pyongyang, which as of Monday had yet to remove its own front-line loudspeakers. South Korea's presidential office said Lee made the decision given the absence of recent major provocations by North Korea and aimed to de-escalate military confrontation and open the door to rebuilding mutual trust. However, Pyongyang has rejected that it would soften its stance with the South, and experts have warned that dismantling the loudspeakers may hamper the South's ability to respond credibly to future provocations, including floating trash balloons over the border. What People Are Saying South Korea's defense ministry said it has begun "removing loudspeakers from today. This is a practical measure to help reduce tensions between the North and the South, taken within a scope that does not affect our military readiness." Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister and a senior party official: "No matter how desperately the Lee Jae Myung government they do all sorts of righteous things to attract our attention and receive international attention, there can be no change in our state's understanding of the enemy." What Happens Next South Korean media reported that the dismantling of the speakers could help revive the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement, which called for a halt to hostile acts within a 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) zone around the MDL, which was one of Lee's campaign pledges. However, critics said that Seoul's action could play into Pyongyang's hands as the presence of the loudspeakers made them one of the few ways to pressure North Korea, which last week rejected any softening of its position toward the South.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Videos of emaciated Israeli hostages in Gaza increase pressure on Netanyahu for a ceasefire
APTOPIX Israel Palestinians JERUSALEM (AP) — New images of emaciated Israeli hostages held in Gaza have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, even as his government considers another expansion of the nearly 22-month war. The videos released late last week by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad show two skeletal hostages pleading for their lives. In one, Evyatar David says he is digging his own grave and speaks of days without food. In the other, Rom Braslavsky writhes in agony on a dirty mattress and says injuries in his foot prevent him from being able to stand. The Associated Press does not normally publish videos of hostages filmed under duress, but is publishing brief excerpts after receiving consent from their families. The videos led tens of thousands of Israelis to take to the streets on Saturday night and demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly protests in recent months. 'In this new video, his eyes are extinguished. He is helpless, and so am I,' Braslavski's mother, Tami, said in a statement. Warnings of famine in Gaza The videos were released as warnings about famine among Palestinians are growing in Gaza. Images of starving Palestinians have drawn international condemnation of Israeli policies limiting aid deliveries into the territory. Families of the hostages fear that the lack of food threatens the remaining hostages, too. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages are believed to be alive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was shocked by the images of the two hostages and met with the Red Cross to ask that it bring hostages food and medicine — access that the organization says it has never been granted by Hamas. 'When I see these, I understand exactly what Hamas wants,' Netanyahu said on Sunday. 'They do not want a deal. They want to break us using these videos of horror.' Netanyahu said the videos renewed his determination to release the hostages and eliminate Hamas. He added that the militant group is starving the hostages 'like the Nazis starved the Jews.' The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was 'appalled by the harrowing videos' and called for access to the hostages. Hamas' military wing said it was ready to respond positively to Red Cross requests to deliver food to hostages, if humanitarian corridors for aid deliveries are opened in a 'regular and permanent manner' in Gaza. It also asserted that the hostages 'eat the same food as our fighters and the general public' and denied any intentional starvation of them. Israel's mission to the U.N. said it requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the hostages, which will take place Tuesday. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said he will travel to New York for the meeting. The videos were being used by Hamas 'to force upon us their conditions on remaining in power in Gaza,' Sa'ar asserted. Netanyahu on Monday said he will convene the Cabinet this week to instruct Israel's military on how to achieve the goals of defeating the enemy, releasing the hostages and assuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel: 'all of them, without exception.' More starvation deaths The videos of the hostages emerged as experts warn that Gaza faces 'a worst-case scenario of famine ″ because of Israel's blockade. No aid entered Gaza between March 2 and May 19, and aid has been limited since then. The United Nations says at least 850 people have been killed attempting to access aid near chaotic and dangerous distribution sites set up by Israel and the United States in May. Gaza's Health Ministry said Monday that five more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours. A total of 87 adults have died of malnutrition-related issues since the ministry started counting such deaths in late June, it said. Ninety-three children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war in Gaza began, the ministry said. Israel's government has denied that people are starving to death in Gaza. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the war, and another 251 were abducted. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up over half the dead, is part of the Hamas government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable casualty count. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn't provided its own. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Videos of emaciated Israeli hostages in Gaza increase pressure on Netanyahu for a ceasefire
APTOPIX Israel Palestinians JERUSALEM (AP) — New images of emaciated Israeli hostages held in Gaza have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, even as his government considers another expansion of the nearly 22-month war. The videos released late last week by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad show two skeletal hostages pleading for their lives. In one, Evyatar David says he is digging his own grave and speaks of days without food. In the other, Rom Braslavsky writhes in agony on a dirty mattress and says injuries in his foot prevent him from being able to stand. The Associated Press does not normally publish videos of hostages filmed under duress, but is publishing brief excerpts after receiving consent from their families. The videos led tens of thousands of Israelis to take to the streets on Saturday night and demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly protests in recent months. 'In this new video, his eyes are extinguished. He is helpless, and so am I,' Braslavski's mother, Tami, said in a statement. Warnings of famine in Gaza The videos were released as warnings about famine among Palestinians are growing in Gaza. Images of starving Palestinians have drawn international condemnation of Israeli policies limiting aid deliveries into the territory. Families of the hostages fear that the lack of food threatens the remaining hostages, too. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages are believed to be alive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was shocked by the images of the two hostages and met with the Red Cross to ask that it bring hostages food and medicine — access that the organization says it has never been granted by Hamas. 'When I see these, I understand exactly what Hamas wants,' Netanyahu said on Sunday. 'They do not want a deal. They want to break us using these videos of horror.' Netanyahu said the videos renewed his determination to release the hostages and eliminate Hamas. He added that the militant group is starving the hostages 'like the Nazis starved the Jews.' The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was 'appalled by the harrowing videos' and called for access to the hostages. Hamas' military wing said it was ready to respond positively to Red Cross requests to deliver food to hostages, if humanitarian corridors for aid deliveries are opened in a 'regular and permanent manner' in Gaza. It also asserted that the hostages 'eat the same food as our fighters and the general public' and denied any intentional starvation of them. Israel's mission to the U.N. said it requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the hostages, which will take place Tuesday. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said he will travel to New York for the meeting. The videos were being used by Hamas 'to force upon us their conditions on remaining in power in Gaza,' Sa'ar asserted. Netanyahu on Monday said he will convene the Cabinet this week to instruct Israel's military on how to achieve the goals of defeating the enemy, releasing the hostages and assuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel: 'all of them, without exception.' More starvation deaths The videos of the hostages emerged as experts warn that Gaza faces 'a worst-case scenario of famine ″ because of Israel's blockade. No aid entered Gaza between March 2 and May 19, and aid has been limited since then. The United Nations says at least 850 people have been killed attempting to access aid near chaotic and dangerous distribution sites set up by Israel and the United States in May. Gaza's Health Ministry said Monday that five more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours. A total of 87 adults have died of malnutrition-related issues since the ministry started counting such deaths in late June, it said. Ninety-three children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war in Gaza began, the ministry said. Israel's government has denied that people are starving to death in Gaza. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the war, and another 251 were abducted. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up over half the dead, is part of the Hamas government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable casualty count. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn't provided its own. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at
