FM Araqchi says Iran to work with IAEA, but inspections may be risky
The new law stipulates that any future inspection of Iran's nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs approval by the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security body.
"The risk of spreading radioactive materials and the risk of exploding leftover munitions ... are serious," state media cited Araqchi as saying. "For us, IAEA inspectors approaching nuclear sites has both a security aspect ... and the safety of the inspectors themselves is a matter that must be examined."
While Iran's cooperation with the nuclear watchdog has not stopped, it will take a new form and will be guided and managed through the Supreme National Security Council, Araqchi told Tehran-based diplomats.
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Sky News
25 minutes ago
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At least 19 killed in crowd crush near distribution site, says Israel-backed aid group
At least 20 people have been killed in an incident in Khan Younis, according to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israel and US-backed organisation. In a statement, it said 19 people were trampled and one was stabbed in a surge "driven by agitators in the crowd". "We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd - armed and affiliated with Hamas - deliberately fomented the unrest," it said. "For the first time since operations began, GHF personnel identified multiple firearms in the crowd, one of which was confiscated. An American worker was also threatened with a firearm by a member of the crowd during the incident." The statement is unusual for the GHF, as the controversial group, which has been rejected by the United Nations and other aid groups, rarely acknowledges trouble at its distribution sites. The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory. It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates. Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid. The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner. It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants. After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the UN has called the GHF's aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards. In response, a GHF spokesperson said: "The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys." The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups - which refuse to work with the GHF - had "nearly all of their aid looted" by Hamas or criminal gangs. Please refresh the page for the latest version.
Daily Mail
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Brit who was shot and held hostage by Hamas praises 'good news' that her kidnapper has been killed by Israel and says 'there should be much more good news like this'
Freed British hostage Emily Damari welcomed news that her Hamas captor had been killed by Israel. Ms Damari, 29, was taken from her home during Hamas' incursion into southern Israel on October 7, 2023. She was held for 471 days as one of 251 hostages taken into the Palestinian enclave, before being released in January as part of a wider ceasefire agreement. The Israeli military said this week that Muhammad Nasr Ali Quneita, who held Ms Damari hostage in his home at the start of the war, had been killed in an air strike. 'One of many, Ms Damari wrote on Instagram. 'Yes, there should be many more good news like this and we will hold them accountable for it all, God willing... [sic]' She went on to call for the release of her fellow hostage still held in Gaza, writing: 'The real victory will be when Gali, Ziv and the other 48 hostages return.' It is believed there are still 20 living captives still in the Palestinian enclave. Negotiations for their release are still ongoing, with U.S. President Donald Trump set to meet Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on Wednesday to discuss ceasefire proposals, Axios reports. Israeli and Hamas negotiators have been taking part in the latest round of ceasefire talks in Doha since July 6, discussing a U.S.-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire that envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the conflict. U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators have been working to secure an agreement, however, Israel and Hamas are divided over the extent of an eventual Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave. As diplomats work desperately towards a lasting ceasefire agreement, Israel continues to pound the beleaguered Gaza Strip with air strikes. The IDF claimed to have killed Hamas' Muhammad Nasr Ali Quneita in an air strike in a post shared to social media on Monday. 'IDF & ISA [Shin Bet] eliminated Muhammad Nasr Ali Quneita, the Hamas terrorist who infiltrated Israel on Oct 7 and held Emily Damari hostage,' the military wrote on Twitter/X. 'Quneita was a terrorist in Hamas's Al-Furqan Battalions' military intelligence, who infiltrated Israel during the brutal Oct 7 massacre and held Emily Damari hostage in his home at the start of the war.' The Hebrew language IDF account expanded, clarifying that Quneita was killed on June 19, 2025, in the Gaza City area. 'IDF and Shin Bet will continue to operate with force against the terrorists who took part in the murderous massacre on October 7,' it said. Ms Damari recalled the day she was taken into Gaza. 'I remember his face that day when he transferred me to the tunnels deep beneath the ground,' she wrote. 'Where there's no air, no light, and no will to live. Above us, we could hear planes, bombs, and an entire war unfolding. 'Then he looked at me with the smile of a deceiver and told me "That's it, tomorrow you're going home."' 'He didn't say that because it was true. He said it so I would start to have hope. So I would wait and wait, and nothing would happen. 'I looked at him and told him he was a liar (and if you knew what it's like to tell a terrorist the word liar...). 'He looked at me angrily and asked, "Me? A liar? Why do you think that?" 'And I said to him, "Because I hear the planes. There's no ceasefire and no deal close." 'And sadly, between the two of us, I was right.' Emily was in her home in Kibbutz Kfar Azza, two miles from the border with Gaza, when Hamas and affiliated groups stormed into Israel, according to her family. Ms Damari, a Spurs fan, was born in Kfar Aza and lived on the kibbutz her whole life, but visited England regularly. Gunmen entered the house on October 7 and shot her dog dead. The same bullet that killed her beloved pet hit her in the leg. Emily was shot and left with 'severe injuries' before being blindfolded and kidnapped in the back of her own car. She was then driven into Gaza and kept in captivity for more than a year, along with her friends Gali and Ziv. She said she was then taken to Al Shifa Hospital and wheeled into an operating theatre beside a corpse. A Palestinian medic walked in and told her: 'Hi, I'm Dr Hamas,' Emily revealed on Instagram. She was operated on and woke up to be told 'that I no longer have two fingers, and the leg wound remains open with four stitches instead of 16'. Fellow captive Romi Gonen, a trained medic, helped treat Emily's wound as they remained together for most of their 15 months in captivity. Her mother, Mandy, from Beckenham, South East London, said it was a 'miracle' she didn't contract a life-threatening infection in the tunnels. Romi and Emily were freed on January 19, 2025. The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel. Israel says Hamas killed 1,200 and took about 250 hostages. Gaza's health ministry says Israel's subsequent military assault has killed over 58,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced Gaza's entire population and prompted accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the accusations. A previous two month ceasefire ended when Israeli strikes killed more than 400 Palestinians on March 18. Donald Trump earlier this year proposed a U.S. takeover of Gaza, which was condemned globally by rights experts, the U.N. and Palestinians as a proposal of 'ethnic cleansing.'
Telegraph
25 minutes ago
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‘Taliban fighters came to my house. I escaped just in time'
The knock came at 3am, sharp and deliberate against the aged metal door. But the house, in western Afghanistan, was empty – it had been for nearly two years, ever since the day everything changed for the man who once called it home. He sits now in a cramped shelter across the border in Iran, watching his phone buzz with another frantic message from family who stayed behind in Afghanistan. The Taliban had come again, searching, questioning, demanding answers his relatives couldn't give. 'They've been going to my relatives' homes twice a week asking about me. I'm just glad I managed to flee, otherwise they would have killed my whole family,' the former member of the Afghan special forces told The Telegraph from a small town outside Tehran. 'They came to my house a few weeks ago, which is right next to my parents', and started knocking at 3am, looking for me. They think I return home at night.' His name had appeared on a 'kill list' of Afghans who had helped British forces before the fall of Kabul in 2021. The list, carrying 25,000 names of soldiers and their families, was accidentally leaked online in 2022 by a Royal Marine. The names were supposed to remain secret, protected by government security protocols. Instead, they became a Taliban hunting manual. The man and a group of other Afghans on the list had heard rumours of compensation. One law firm – based in the UK – is suing the Ministry of Defence on behalf of at least 1,000 Afghans who claim they were affected by the breach. However, for those on the list who never made it to the UK, compensation is the least of their priorities. 'Officially, through the case we filed, no one has communicated anything to us,' the man said. 'We are very disappointed and just waiting. The British government has not told us what to do. 'I'm not alone, there are many people like me here and in Afghanistan who have been living in fear and waiting when death would knock on the door.' Britain has secretly offered asylum to nearly 24,000 Afghan soldiers and their families caught up in the most serious data breach in history. The leak, involving the details of 18,800 soldiers, along with about 6,000 of their family members, was revealed on Tuesday after a two-year super-injunction was lifted by the High Court in London. However, the former member of the Afghan special forces said many of those who were taken to Britain were neither high-ranking nor facing serious threats to their lives. ' People like base gardeners or low-ranking soldiers were taken to Britain, but many high-ranking colonels whose lives are truly at risk were left behind, just waiting for death to come,' he said. 'It's deeply disappointing. This isn't justice. I don't understand how they prioritised the evacuations – they even took the guy who used to polish shoes, or a base's barber, but left behind many colonels.' The Home Office regularly declines to comment on the specific categories of individuals brought to the UK. The man served with the British Army's special forces, his skills and courage earning him respect among his international colleagues. His nephew told The Telegraph from Afghanistan: 'He was too courageous and everyone in his unit knew that, but England left him behind after their forces left. 'For months he was living in different homes of relatives and in villages and towns around Herat.' When Western forces withdrew in 2021, the man applied for asylum in the UK, submitting documents that included his service record and his family's details. It was supposed to be his pathway to safety. Instead, it became his death warrant. The Taliban claims they obtained the list from the internet during the first days after it was leaked. While the Government spent £7 billion on a covert operation to relocate thousands of affected Afghans to the UK, the man and his family remained trapped in limbo, their names circulating among Taliban units with orders to find them. 'They keep pressuring us to reveal his whereabouts,' his nephew said. 'They once arrested me and beat me for a day. My uncle served with the special forces. The Taliban keep saying he must come with them for questioning.' Taliban fighters don't just visit once and leave. They return regularly, methodically working through extended family networks, applying pressure with each visit. They know intimate details. Information that could only have come from the leaked asylum applications. 'It's putting everyone in the family at risk,' the nephew explains. 'Being related to someone on a Taliban kill list is a death sentence. He added: 'They have all his details – his name, his wife's name, even his children's names. We were shocked when they listed them.' The Taliban's message to the family is brutally clear: if they can't find the man, they'll kill another family member instead. 'The blood of a spy is in your veins,' they told his relatives, transforming his service into a hereditary crime that endangers everyone who shares his name. Nearly two years have passed since he fled to Iran with his family, but the pursuit hasn't diminished. If anything, it has intensified. A senior Taliban official told The Telegraph that a special unit had been launched to find those on the list, with names handed over to border forces to prevent escape. The hunt has become institutionalised, with senior figures in Kandahar pressuring officials in Kabul to locate the targets. 'These people are seen as traitors,' a Taliban official said, 'and the plan has been to find as many of them as possible.' For the man hiding in Iran, the news grows more desperate by the day. The Islamic Republic is now deporting hundreds of thousands of Afghans back into Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Iran is using espionage allegations against Afghans as a pretext for the mass arrests and deportations following the recent conflict with Israel. The Telegraph spoke to Afghans in Iran, at the border, and in Afghanistan who said the regime in Tehran was targeting them to divert public attention from its 'humiliation' by Israel in last month's 12-day war. During the conflict, daily deportations jumped from 2,000 to over 30,000 as Iranian authorities turned public anger toward the vulnerable minority. Those persecuted by the regime also reported suffering widespread abuses including beatings, arbitrary detention. Since early June, nearly 450,000 Afghan refugees, many who arrived after the Taliban returned to power in 2021, have been deported and 5,000 children separated from their parents, according to UN agencies. 'The situation in Iran isn't good,' the former special forces member said. 'I emailed them [British officials], but all I got was an automatic reply saying they'd get back to me.'
