
Iran will not compromise on right to uranium enrichment: Senior Iranian official
'Iran will not abandon its right to uranium enrichment because of mounting frictions in the region,' a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday (June 12, 2025), adding that a 'friendly' regional country had alerted Tehran over a potential military strike by Israel.
The official said the tensions were intended to "influence Tehran to change its position about its nuclear rights" during talks with the United States on Sunday in Oman.
Sixth round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and U.S. on June 15, says Oman Foreign Minister
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (June 11, 2025) U.S. personnel were being moved out of the Middle East because it could be a "dangerous place", adding that the United States would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Tehran and Washington will hold a new round of talks in Oman's capital Muscat to resolve a decades-long standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
After five rounds of discussions between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Mr. Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff several obstacles remain. Among them are Iran's rejection of a U.S. demand that it commit to scrapping uranium enrichment.

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Scroll.in
25 minutes ago
- Scroll.in
Iran retaliates with missile attacks on Israel
Iran on Saturday retaliated with missile attacks on Israel a day after Tel Aviv struck what it claimed were Iranian nuclear targets and also on other sites with an aim of stalling Tehran's nuclear programme. The retaliatory attack also came amid Israel Defense Forces' second wave of strikes in Iran, including on a nuclear plant in Isfahan. Air raid sirens sounded across Israel as Iranian missiles struck. Explosions were heard in Jerusalem, BBC reported. A high-rise building was hit in central Tel Aviv and an apartment block was destroyed in nearby Ramat Gan city, Reuters reported. While the Israeli military confirmed the Iranian attack, the number of casualties was not immediately clear. Amid the second wave of strikes by Israel, explosions were heard in the Iranian capital Tehran, including one at the Mehrabad airport, state-backed Mehr news agency reported. The casualties in Iran were not immediately clear. In a televised address to the nation broadcast amid the retaliation, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the country's military was prepared to counterattack. 'Don't think that they [Israel] hit and it's over. No,' Khamenei said. 'They started the work and started the war. We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed.' Khamenei had on Friday vowed to respond to the Israeli attack. The Israeli Defense Forces on Friday hit sites in Tehran, Kermanshah and Tabriz, among other cities. Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz was among the targets that were hit. At least 78 persons were killed and 320 injured in the Israeli strikes on Friday, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Sa'eed Iravani, Iran's envoy to the United Nations, as saying. Iranian military chief Mohammad Bagheri and Hossein Salami, the chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, were among those killed in the attack. Claiming that Iran was 'closer than ever to obtaining' a nuclear weapon, Tel Aviv said on Friday that it had 'no choice but to fulfil the obligation to act in defence of its citizens'. Iran has for long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.


Mint
27 minutes ago
- Mint
GDP's dirty little secret: Why we should be tracking GVA instead
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate is the headline number everyone tracks to figure out how the economy is doing. It's time we shifted focus to gross value added, or GVA, which is a more direct measure of the incomes generated in the economy. That's because GDP numbers are affected by random decisions by the GST Council to raise tax rates or by the government to slash subsidies. Cut subsidies, boost growth. Such a prescription might seem like snake oil for the consumption of the simpleminded. But cutting subsidies has, indeed, been the simple route to boost GDP growth in India. India's GDP growth in the final quarter of 2024-25 was a dramatic 7.4%. The growth in GVA, which is what counts for creating jobs and putting income in the hands of people, was a more modest 6.8%. The divergence between the growth rates of GDP (6.5%) and GVA (6.4%) has been modest for 2024-25 as a whole. It was starker in 2023-24, when the GDP growth rate was 9.2%, while GVA grew by only 8.6%. The more subsidies are cut, the greater the boost GDP growth gets over GVA growth. Also read | Growth in charts: GDP-GVA divide, export silver lining, capex push India is not accustomed to the chainsaw breed of fiscal conservatism that Elon Musk vocally championed before his high-profile breakup with US President Donald Trump. In the US, the notion that cutting welfare expenditure and other subsidies will make for a healthier fisc and a more robust economy is part of the mainstream narrative, at least on one side of the political divide. The conventional wisdom in Republican circles is that ridding government expenditure of waste and excess would make room for lower government borrowing and lower taxes, and these two would, combined with a dose of deregulation, boost growth. In India, too, many economists have used this approach – not to genuinely foster growth, but rather to dismiss the government's significant role in the economy by labelling it 'socialism' that curtails capitalist dynamism. The NDA government came to power as a slayer of big government and socialism. It once portrayed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme as a monument of national failure. But, in the face of revealed distress in the economy, it has also assiduously funded the scheme, regardless of how this made the 'monument of failure' shine brighter. There is a big difference between the role the state and subsidies play in an economy like the US and in India, whose per-capita GDP is 3% of the US's $89,000. The way India's GDP is computed allows for a lower subsidy bill to boost GDP, whatever the role of subsidies in supporting subsistence and sustaining growth. GVA is what really matters While GDP is the headline number on everyone's radar, what matters for creating jobs and incomes is GVA. GVA and GDP are highly correlated but not quite the same. The total value that is generated in an economy breaks down into gross profits and the sum total of wages and salaries. GDP is the value of all final goods and services produced and sold in the economy, whether for consumption, investment or export, net of the imports that go into the production of those goods and services. By taking into account only the final goods, we avoid double counting. Steel goes into machinery, construction, washing machines and safety pins. We look at only the value of these final goods, and not the value of the steel produced. Also read | Kaushik Basu: Redefine prosperity; GDP tunnel-vision could prove costly National income can be estimated either from the income side or the expenditure side. Data on income is hard to capture directly on a comprehensive basis, and it is easier to estimate the expenditure on things. When you buy pills, an X-Ray machine, or lab test, what you pay for includes the tax on the good or service. Some of the goods you buy are subsidised by the government, so the price is lower than the actual value – grain from the fair price shop, or electricity in many states for certain classes of consumers are just two examples of this. So, to arrive at the GVA of the economy, you must add up the total expenditure on final goods and services, which will give you GDP, subtract the taxes borne by these goods and services, and add back the subsidies that artificially lowered your expenditure. In other words, GVA = GDP - tax + subsidy. In other words, GDP = GVA + tax - subsidy. Taxes net of subsidies are called net taxes. So GDP = GVA + net taxes. For the same level of value added in the economy, you can have a higher or lower level of GDP by raising or lowering net taxes. You can raise net taxes by raising taxes, lowering the subsidy outgo, or both. You can lower net taxes by lowering tax collections or increasing the subsidy bill. As you can see from the table, when the GVA growth rate increased from 6.7% in 2022-23 to 8.6% the following year, that is, by 1.9 percentage points, the GDP growth rate rose 2.2 percentage points, from 7% to 9.2%. This was effected by reducing the outlays on major subsidies from 2% of GDP to 1.37% of GDP – a decline of 31.5%. Another 15.5% drop in the subsidy/GDP ratio helped boost the GDP number in 2024-25. To get a grip on economic activity and the incomes it generates, it is more useful to look at GVA, rather than GDP, since GDP is affected by changes to subsidy allocations. Also read: Mint Quick Edit | India's GDP: A key test lies ahead


India.com
28 minutes ago
- India.com
Parade Or Power Play And For Whom? Tanks, Troops And Flyovers – Trump Stages Unprecedented Military Show In DC On His Birthday
Washingto, DC: An extraordinary military display is set to unfold in the U.S. capital this weekend. Tousands of troops, columns of tanks and roaring fighter jets prepare to roll out in one of the largest ceremonial deployments ever seen in peacetime Washington. Set to be held on Saturday (June 14), the event will coincide with the 250th anniversary of the United States Army. This year's commemoration comes with an added layer of attention. It falls on President Donald Trump's 79th birthday, in his second term in office. More than 6,000 active-duty personnel, including artillery units, cavalry detachments and aviation wings, have been rehearsing for days near the National Mall. Satellite images show dozens of M1 Abrams tanks, Stryker units and Bradley fighting vehicles positioned at staging grounds in Virginia and southern Maryland. The Pentagon confirmed the inclusion of 34 ceremonial horses, two trained mules and a military working dog unit as part of the procession. While military parades have periodically occurred in U.S. history, today's spectacle is notable for its scale and timing. It follows major conflicts. Unlike traditional Independence Day reviews or post-war celebrations, this event appears carefully curated for maximum visibility and symbolic resonance. Though federal officials maintain that the day is intended to 'honor the heritage and achievements' of the Army, the narrative unfolding around it has shifted. White House press aides have shared promotional materials referring to the event as 'The American Power March', accompanied by the phrase – 'A capital city, a proud legacy and a moment the world will watch'. In the weeks leading up to the parade, deployments of the National Guard and Marine units to border protest sites in southern California reignited public discourse about the military's role in domestic law enforcement. Critics in the Congress have questioned the cost, timing and intent of Saturday's display, especially as it closely follows highly publicised civil unrest over recent immigration crackdowns. Several roads in central Washington have been closed since early Friday, with security fences and checkpoints set up along Constitution Avenue and the surrounding perimeter. Air traffic alerts have been issued for low-flying military jets expected to conduct formation flyovers during the program. Speaking on background, a senior defense official confirmed that planning for the display began months ago – with directives passed through the Department of the Army. The same official described the parade as 'an opportunity to present the readiness and evolution of America's ground forces'. While no official statements have linked the timing to the president's birthday, invitations for VIP seating include both the Army insignia and the presidential seal, along with a gold-lettered inscription – 'June 14 – A Date of Strength'. City residents have expressed mixed reactions. Some have welcomed the rare display of military pageantry, while others remain uneasy over its proximity to political symbolism. Many are expected to line the streets early Saturday morning, hoping to glimpse the long columns of machinery and formations that will pass through the heart of the capital. Whether framed as tradition, tribute or something else entirely, Washington is bracing for a spectacle that will leave an imprint – both on its streets and its political landscape.