Latest news with #Tehran
CTV News
an hour ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Iran ready to respond to any new attack, supreme leader says
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks to a group of people and officials in Tehran, Iran, Friday, March 21, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP) Iran is ready to respond to any renewed military attack, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, adding that Tehran was capable of delivering a bigger blow to adversaries than the one it gave during the 12-day Iran-Israel war. 'The fact that our nation is ready to face the power of the United States and its dog on a leash, the Zionist regime (Israel), is very praiseworthy,' Khamenei said in comments carried by state TV. Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities last month, saying that they were part of a program geared towards developing nuclear weapons. Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes. 'The base attacked by Iran was an extremely sensitive American regional base,' Khamenei said in reference to an Iranian missile barrage on Al Udeid base in Qatar, adding 'an even bigger blow could be inflicted on the U.S. and others.' Iran is under pressure to resume nuclear talks with the U.S. as Washington and three major European countries have agreed to set the end of August as the deadline for a deal. If no progress is reached by then, France's foreign minister warned international sanctions would be reapplied via the United Nations snapback mechanism. 'In both the diplomatic and military fields, whenever we enter the stage we do so with our hands full and not from a position of weakness,' Khamenei said. He urged diplomats to heed 'guidelines' and vigorously continue their work, without elaborating. Iran's parliament shared a statement on Wednesday saying the country should not resume nuclear talks with the U.S. as long as preconditions are unmet. (Reporting by Parisa Hafezi, Dubai newsroom; Editing by Alex Richardson and Andrew Cawthorne)
The Sun
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Iran threatens to ramp up enrichment of nuke-grade uranium AGAIN – just 24 days after Trump bombed ‘Mount Doom' facility
IRAN has again threatened to ramp up enrichment of its near-weapons-grade uranium stockpile just days after being bombed by the US. It comes after Israel said some of Iran's nuclear fuel survived US bombings during the 12-Day War last month. 10 10 10 Tehran admitted that Operation Midnight Hammer - which saw American B-2 Spirit bombers drop more than a dozen GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker buster bombs - did cause "excessive and serious" damage. But it said the bombings will not deter the regime from enriching uranium, which they claim is for peaceful civilian use. The uranium in question is enriched to 60 per cent - way above levels for civilian use but slightly below weapons-grade. That material, if further refined to 90 per cent, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs. Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission told Mehr News Agency: "We will never give up our legitimate right to enrich uranium. "Enrichment is a sovereign right that we will continue to pursue based on our national needs. "Bombing cannot erase this knowledge — it will only come back stronger." It comes as the UK, France and Germany have agreed to restore tough UN sanctions on Iran by the end of August if there has been no concrete progress on a nuclear deal. Ali Velayati, an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA: "If the negotiations [with the US] must be conditioned on stopping enrichment, such negotiations will not take place." Boroujerdi added: "We will in no way succumb to the West's demands for zero enrichment." The UN's top nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned Iran could start enriching uranium again within just months. Doubts remained whether Iran quietly removed 408.6 kgs of uranium from its most sensitive sites before the US strikes - potentially hiding nuclear material elsewhere in the country. Trump rips critics & insists 'bombs went through like butter' at Iran sites An Israeli official told The New York Times some of the uranium stockpile survived the US and Israeli bombings last month - and may be accessible to Iranian nuclear engineers. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not express concern about the remaining stockpile and said any attempt to recover it would be detected by the Israeli intelligence. They also said that Israel would have enough time to attack Iran's nuclear facilities again if the regime tries to recover it. But it was not clear immediately if the strikes - which hit Iran's Fordow nuclear enrichment plant, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities - were able to wipe out the entire stockpile of enriched uranium. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi admitted Iran could still have stockpiles of enriched uranium, saying: "We don't know where this material could be. 10 "So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved. So there has to be at some point a clarification," he said in an interview with CBS. "We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where it is and what happened," Grossi said. Satellite imagery showed trucks moving out of Fordow in the days leading up to the attack - leading to speculations that Iran moved some of its underground uranium stockpile. US and Israel, as well as independent experts, agree that all of Iran's working centrifuges at Natanz and Fordo — some 18,000 - were either destroyed or damaged beyond repair. DOOM & BOOM Satellite imagery appeared to show construction work at the Fordow Nuclear Enrichment facility in Qom, near Tehran. Heavy earthmoving equipment can be seen working near the impact craters caused by US GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs. Excavators and cranes can also be seen working, while more construction trucks are visible on roads leading to the impact points at the site. A new access road between the site's northern tunnel entrance and one of the impact craters can be seen after Israel said its air force struck Fordow to "disrupt" access to the site. David Albright, a US weapons expert, said in his assessment that Iran may be filling the craters and conducting engineering damage assessments and radiological sampling. 10 10 The 12-Day War began on June 13 when Israel launched Operation Rising Lion - a sophisticated campaign of bombing which targeted Iran's military nuclear sites. The Israelis also brilliantly orchestrated Operation Red Wedding - 30 top Iranian military chiefs killed in near-simultaneous blitz as Israel sought to root out the country's military strength entirely. Iran retaliated by launching daily salvos of ballistic missiles across Israel, but failed to hit any strategic targets. Less than a fortnight later, Trump joined the Israeli bombing campaign against Iran. The US military's flagship B-2 Spirit stealth bombers dropped more than a dozen 30,000lb GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). The bunker-buster bombs were used to hit Iran's Fordow Nuclear Enrichment Plant. Iran, which vowed to hit US military bases across the Middle East, sought its revenge by launching missiles at Al-Udeid Air Base - America's biggest military station in the region. 10 10
ABC News
5 hours ago
- Politics
- ABC News
How Ayatollah Khomeini changed Iran
With Iran still in the news, we thought we would revisit the man who created the regime that so many in the Israeli and American political establishments would love to topple: Ayatollah Khomeini. This is the man who came back from 16 years in exile to be the Supreme Leader of Iran's fundamentalist Islamic regime and overthrew the 2500 year old monarchy. This episode was originally published on the 22nd February 2024. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app. Check out our series on YouTube:
Khaleej Times
6 hours ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Dubai: Emirates resumes daily flights to Tehran from July 18
Dubai's local carrier Emirates is all set to resume operations between the UAE and Tehran on July 18, the carrier announced on July 16. The airline had earlier extended suspensions until July 17, after initially halting flights until June 30 followed by July 5. The suspensions came amid the 12-day attacks between Israel, US and Iran, leading to some airspace closures and multiple airlines cancelling their flights. Emirates stated it will be resuming operations with daily flights to the capital city. Customers with a confirmed booking to Tehran will be accepted to travel from the point of origin, whereas those holding a confirmed booking with flydubai from Dubai to Iran will also be accepted to travel from the point of origin. Flights between Dubai and three cities in Iran via flydubai had returned to full operations since July 4. Travellers have also been advised to check their flight timings on the flight status page and in case of rebooking, they must contact travel agencies. For those who directly booked with Emirates, they can contact the airline. The world's largest international carrier said on June 24 that it had resumed regularly scheduled operations after 'minimal disruption' due to the conflict. It "took immediate action by suspending flights only to areas directly impacted by conflict while maintaining operations to all other destinations." Emirates successfully maintained scheduled services by rerouting flights to avoid conflict zones. It flew over 1.7 million passengers on more than 5,800 flights during the crisis.
CNA
8 hours ago
- Politics
- CNA
Khamenei says Israel war meant to 'overthrow system' in Iran
TEHRAN: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday (Jul 16) that Israel's attacks during last month's 12-day war were intended to weaken the Islamic republic's system and spark unrest to topple it. "The calculation and plan of the aggressors was to weaken the system by targeting certain figures and sensitive centres in Iran," said Khamenei during a meeting with judiciary officials. During the meeting, excerpts of which were published in videos on his website, he said the move was meant to stir "unrest and bring people into the streets to overthrow the system". Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran on Jun 13, killing top military commanders and nuclear scientists. Iranian authorities said more than 1,000 people were killed in Iran. During the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that the Israeli strikes "certainly could" bring about a change in the Iranian system. "The Iranian regime is very weak," he said during the interview on Jun 15. Iran responded to the Israeli attacks with drone and missile fire, killing 28 people in Israel, according to Israeli authorities. On Jun 22, Israel's ally, the United States, launched unprecedented strikes of its own on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz. Iran hit back with missile strikes on the US Al-Udaid airbase in Qatar, which Khamenei described on Wednesday as a "big blow" to the US and warned that "even greater strikes can be dealt to the US and others". A ceasefire between Iran and Israel has been in place since Jun 24. Israel's attacks took place two days before Iran and the US were scheduled to meet for a sixth round of nuclear talks which had begun on Apr 12. The talks have not since resumed. Tehran has reiterated that it remains open to diplomacy provided that Washington offers guarantees it will not resort to military action against the Islamic republic. On Wednesday, Iran's parliament ruled out negotiations without meeting certain "preconditions", not giving specifics. Khamenei said Iranian diplomats and the military should exercise "care and precision" in the path ahead, without elaborating.
