IAEA holds emergency meeting and Gulf countries monitor radiation
The UN's nuclear watchdog will today hold an emergency meeting after the US launched strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran. Gulf countries and Iraq are monitoring radiation levels in the region as the conflict escalates. Meanwhile, Israel is dealing with the aftermath of retaliatory strikes from Iran.
On today's episode of Trending Middle East:
Gulf countries and Iraq on alert for radiation levels as Israel-Iran war rages
Iran attacks Israel after US bombs nuclear facilities
This episode features Cody Combs, Technology Policy Editor; Aarti Nagraj, Deputy Business Editor; and Thomas Helm, Jerusalem Correspondent.
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Khaleej Times
16 minutes ago
- Khaleej Times
Satellite images show US strikes damaged Iran's Fordow nuclear plant, but doubts remain
Commercial satellite imagery indicates the US attack on Iran's Fordow nuclear plant severely damaged, and possibly destroyed, the deeply-buried site and the uranium-enriching centrifuges it housed, but there was no confirmation, experts said on Sunday. "They just punched through with these MOPs,' said David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector who heads the Institute for Science and International Security, referring to the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting bombs that the US said it dropped. 'I would expect that the facility is probably toast.' But confirmation of the below-ground destruction could not be determined, noted Decker Eveleth, an associate researcher with the CNA Corporation who specialises in satellite imagery. The hall containing hundreds of centrifuges is "too deeply buried for us to evaluate the level of damage based on satellite imagery," he said. To defend against attacks such as the one conducted by US forces early on Sunday, Iran buried much of its nuclear programme in fortified sites deep underground, including into the side of a mountain at Fordow. Satellite images show six holes where the bunker-busting bombs appear to have penetrated the mountain, and then ground that looks disturbed and covered in dust. The United States and Israel have said they intend to halt Tehran's nuclear programme. But a failure to completely destroy its facilities and equipment could mean Iran could more easily restart the weapons program that U.S. intelligence and the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) say it shuttered in 2003. 'Unusual activity' Several experts also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of Fordow before the strike early Sunday morning and could be hiding it and other nuclear components in locations unknown to Israel, the US and UN nuclear inspectors. They noted satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showing "unusual activity" at Fordow on Thursday and Friday, with a long line of vehicles waiting outside an entrance of the facility. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday most of the near weapons-grade 60% highly enriched uranium had been moved to an undisclosed location before the US attack. "I don't think you can with great confidence do anything but set back their nuclear program by maybe a few years," said Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. "There's almost certainly facilities that we don't know about." Arizona Sen Mark Kelly, a Democrat and member of the Senate intelligence committee who said he had been reviewing intelligence every day, expressed the same concern. "My big fear right now is that they take this entire program underground, not physically underground, but under the radar," he told NBC News. "Where we tried to stop it, there is a possibility that this could accelerate it." Iran long has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But in response to Israel's attacks, Iran's parliament is threatening to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of the international system that went into force in 1970 to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, ending cooperation with the IAEA. "The world is going to be in the dark about what Iran may be doing," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association advocacy group. 'Double tap' Reuters spoke to four experts who reviewed Maxar Technologies satellite imagery of Fordow showing six neatly spaced holes in two groups in the mountain ridge beneath which the hall containing the centrifuges is believed to be located. General Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that seven B-2 bombers dropped 14 GBU-57/B MOPs, 30,000-pound precision-guided bombs designed to drive up to 200 feet into hardened underground facilities like Fordow, according to a 2012 congressional report. Caine said initial assessments indicated that the sites suffered extremely severe damage, but declined to speculate about whether any nuclear facilities remained intact. Eveleth said the Maxar imagery of Fordow and Caine's comments indicated that the B-2s dropped an initial load of six MOPs on Fordow, followed by a "double tap" of six more in the exact same spots. Operation Midnight Hammer also targeted Tehran's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, he said, and struck in Isfahan, the location of the country's largest nuclear research center. There are other nuclear-related sites near the city. Israel had already struck Natanz and the Isfahan Nuclear Research Center in its 10-day war with Iran. Albright said in a post on X that Airbus Defence and Space satellite imagery showed that US Tomahawk cruise missiles severely damaged a uranium facility at Isfahan and an impact hole above the underground enrichment halls at Natanz reportedly caused by a Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting bomb that "likely destroyed the facility." Albright questioned the US use of cruise missiles in Isfahan, saying that those weapons could not penetrate a tunnel complex near the main nuclear research center believed to be even deeper than Fordow. The IAEA said the tunnel entrances "were impacted." He noted that Iran recently informed the IAEA that it planned to install a new uranium enrichment plant in Isfahan. "There may be 2,000 to 3,000 more centrifuges that were slated to go into this new enrichment plant," he said. "Where are they?"
The National
an hour ago
- The National
UAE's Gargash slams Israeli minister's call for Gulf to fund war on Iran
Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed, on Monday slammed a call from the ultra-right Israeli Finance Minister for Gulf funding for Israel's war on Iran. "The audacity of Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich has reached the point of calling for Gulf (and German, French, and British) funding for Israel's war on Iran," he said in a post on X. The UAE, as well as other Gulf states, have condemned Israeli strikes on Iran that began last week. "Such a proposal is nothing but moral bankruptcy from an extremist who fails to grasp the consequences of escalation," Mr Gargash said.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Crater in the church and burnt bodies: survivors' harrowing testimonies of Damascus terrorist attack
The interior of Mar Elias Church in Dweila, a poor Christian neighbourhood of Damascus, lies in ruins. Religious icons have been knocked to the ground, a mix of blood and ash covers the floor, and prayer benches are shattered. At the entrance, a small but deep crater marks the site of a powerful explosion. Moments earlier, about 6.40pm, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest during Sunday Mass, after opening fire on worshippers gathered outside in the first major terrorist attack since the removal of Bashar Al Assad in December. The terrorist attack killed at least 20 people and wounded 52. Blood is everywhere, on the walls, on survivors' shirts, pooled on the ground, seeping down the steps leading to the church. Even the air is thick with its overwhelming smell. Chaos and panic gripped the area for hours after the attack, as ambulances rushed to the scene and civil defence teams searched for human remains inside the church. We brought five people to the hospital. They were burnt, completely burnt. The explosion was strong. It opened a crater in the church Nicolas Tadros, church bombing survivor Doctors at Mujtahed Hospital, Damascus's largest medical centre, told The National that ambulances brought in two bags of unidentified remains. Witnesses told The National at the scene of the blast that at least one suicide bomber opened fire outside the church before detonating an explosive vest inside, and that there was a second gunman who did not blow himself up. 'One of them ran away, the other didn't. There were two gunmen,' Nicolas Tadros, a survivor, said a few moments after the attack at the scene. 'We brought five people to the hospital. They were burnt, completely burnt. The explosion was strong. It opened a crater in the church. The explosion … it wasn't normal. But may God be with us,' he added. Malatios Shtayeh, a priest who was at the Mass, said he first heard gunfire outside the church and had a different version of events. 'After the gunfire outside stopped, we started hearing gunfire inside the church about two minutes later,' he told The National. 'Then two people entered with explosive vests strapped to their chests, and blew themselves up.' Death toll rises The Ministry of Health told state media that at least 20 people were killed and 52 wounded in an updated toll. 'A suicide bomber affiliated with the terrorist group ISIS entered Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighbourhood of the capital, Damascus, where he opened fire before detonating himself with an explosive vest,' state media reported. There was swift condemnation from outside Syria. The UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered condolences and expressed 'strong condemnation of these criminal acts', state news agency Wam reported. The UN's special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, expressed outrage at what he called a 'heinous crime'. Tom Barrack, a Syria envoy for US President Donald Trump, said 'these terrible acts of cowardice have no place in the new tapestry of integrated tolerance and inclusion that Syrians are weaving. The attack was the first of its kind in Syria in years and comes as Damascus is trying to win the support of minorities. As President Ahmad Al Shara tries to exert authority, his government has been carrying out anti-ISIS raids throughout the country since taking power. Still, many among minority groups have expressed distrust towards the new Syrian government, led by former members of the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, due to its extremist roots. In a country fractured by 14 years of civil war and haunted by simmering sectarian tension, the church attack has ignited fear and anger in the Christian community. 'Our state didn't protect us' 'We've never been used to asking for protection from anyone. We've always lived under the protection of God. But we are citizens of this country, and it is the duty of the state to protect us. This is not a privilege the state grants us: it is its responsibility,' Father Shtayeh said. 'But unfortunately, in the face of these so-called individual acts, our state didn't protect us. It didn't protect our country,' he added. The anger was further fuelled as some suggestions at the scene that the attack may have been carried out by remnants of the Assad regime, who launched an insurgency in March. Damascus Governor Maher Marwan, speaking at the site of the blast, denounced 'remnants of the regime' and their 'destructive hand in the region'. 'It's an attack against Christian," said Bassem, an employee at the church. "You see it with your own eyes, it's an suicide attack, it's clear. Since the beginning we were afraid that this might happen." Many say they no longer feel safe. But they cannot afford to go anywhere else. Dweila is a marginalised neighbourhood in Damascus. 'I was born here in Dweila, I will never feel safe again, but where could I go?' asked Hanna Naqoula, waiting at the hospital for his 15-year-old son who was badly injured in the attack.
