
Six nuclear scientists killed in Israeli attacks, Tasnim news agency reports
The Republican Guard-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported that six nuclear scientists were killed in Israel's attack on Iran.
"Abdolhamid Minouchehr, Ahmadreza Zolfaghari, Amirhossein Feqhi, Motalleblizadeh, Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, and Fereydoun Abbasi were the nuclear scientists martyred" in Israel's attack, Tasnim reported.

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Middle East Eye
3 hours ago
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Ali Shamkhani: Iranian negotiator thought killed by Israel is alive, says state media
A senior Iranian negotiator who was suspected killed in an Israeli air strike in Tehran last week is alive, according to state media. Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to Iran's supreme leader and representative at talks with the United States, was thought among the senior Iranian officials reportedly killed by Israeli attacks in the early hours of 13 June. However, on Friday, state media in Iran carried a letter from Shamkhani addressed to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in which he stated he was, in fact, alive. "I am alive and ready to sacrifice myself," read the letter, which was reported by several Iranian outlets, including state-owned broadcaster IRIB and Tasnim, which is linked to the Revolutionary Guard. "Victory is near. The name of Iran will be immortalised in the highest history as usual," the purported letter said. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters A range of Israeli and Iranian outlets initially reported that Shamkhani had been killed in a blast that struck his home. Samira - not her real name - a Tehran resident who lives directly opposite Shamkhani's residence, told Middle East Eye earlier this week it was a "miracle" she had survived the blast herself. "We got up from the ground in fear and realised the apartment across from ours had been bombed," she said. "Both my husband and I were thrown from our bed. The explosions didn't stop. We had no idea what was happening." Khamenei assassination could draw Hezbollah into Israel-Iran hostilities, say sources Read More » Several Iranian media outlets, including IRNA, Tasnim and Fars, said on Friday that Shamkhani had been "severely injured and taken to hospital" after the blast and is now "in stable condition". No new photos have been released of the advisor, however. Shamkhani had been leading Iran's talks with the US over limitations to the country's nuclear programme when Israel launched a surprise assault that has killed hundreds. A range of senior Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists have been slain over the past week, while Israel has struck much of the country's nuclear infrastructure. On Friday, thousands of people demonstrated against Israel in Tehran, chanting slogans in support of their leaders, according to images broadcast by state television. "This is the Friday of solidarity and resistance of the Iranian nation throughout the country," said a news anchor. Demonstrators reportedly held portraits of commanders killed since the start of the war with Israel, while others waved Iranian and Hezbollah flags. According to the state broadcaster, other demonstrations took place in cities across the country, including Tabriz in northwest Iran, and Shiraz in the south.


Sharjah 24
8 hours ago
- Sharjah 24
Trump extends deadline for TikTok sale by 90 days
"I've just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025)," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, putting off the ban for the third time. A federal law requiring TikTok's sale or ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump's January inauguration. The Republican, whose 2024 election campaign relied heavily on social media, has previously said he is fond of the video-sharing app. "I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok," Trump said in an NBC News interview in early May. "If it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension." TikTok on Thursday welcomed Trump's decision. "We are grateful for President Trump's leadership and support in ensuring that TikTok continues to be available for more than 170 million American users," the platform said in a statement. Digital Cold War? Motivated by a belief in Washington that TikTok is controlled by the Chinese government, the ban took effect on January 19, one day before Trump's inauguration, with ByteDance having made no attempt to find a suitor. TikTok "has become a symbol of the US-China tech rivalry; a flashpoint in the new Cold War for digital control," said Shweta Singh, an assistant professor of information systems at Warwick Business School in Britain. Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, but reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform -- which boasts almost two billion global users -- after coming to believe it helped him win young voters' support in the November election. The president announced an initial 75-day delay of the ban upon taking office. A second extension pushed the deadline to June 19. He said in May that a group of purchasers was ready to pay TikTok owner ByteDance "a lot of money" for the video-clip-sharing sensation's US operations. Trump knows that TikTok is "wildly popular" in the United States, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday, when asked about the latest extension. "He also wants to protect Americans' data and privacy concerns on this app, and he believes we can do both things at the same time." The president is "just not motivated to do anything about TikTok," said independent analyst Rob Enderle. "Unless they get on his bad side, TikTok is probably going to be in pretty good shape." Tariff turmoil Trump said in April that China would have agreed to a deal on the sale of TikTok if it were not for a dispute over his tariffs on Beijing. ByteDance has confirmed talks with the US government, saying key matters needed to be resolved and that any deal would be "subject to approval under Chinese law." Possible solutions reportedly include seeing existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company. Additional US investors, including Oracle and private equity firm Blackstone, would be brought on to reduce ByteDance's share in the new TikTok. Much of TikTok's US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company's chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally. Uncertainty remains, particularly over what would happen to TikTok's valuable algorithm. "TikTok without its algorithm is like Harry Potter without his wand -- it's simply not as powerful," said Kelsey Chickering, principal analyst at Forrester. Despite the turmoil, TikTok has been continuing with business as usual. The platform on Monday introduced a new "Symphony" suite of generative artificial intelligence tools for advertisers to turn words or photos into video snippets for the platform.


Gulf Today
a day ago
- Gulf Today
Oklahoma aspires to become hub for mineral refining
Nestled beneath Oklahoma's Wichita Mountains sits a two-story warehouse containing the only machine in the United States capable of refining nickel, a crucial energy transition metal now dominated by China. The facility, owned by startup Westwin Elements, aims to help Oklahoma become the epicentre for US critical minerals processing, a sector the country largely abandoned decades ago. The state will have to overcome several obstacles to get there, including a lack of major critical mineral deposits, a weak education system and its location at the centre of the United States — far from international shipping lanes. Yet Oklahoma's push into minerals processing marks an unexpected twist in the country's efforts to wean itself off Chinese rivals who have blocked exports. President Donald Trump has said he wants to boost US production of minerals used across the economy. In Oklahoma, the country's only nickel refinery, its largest lithium refinery, two lithium-ion battery recycling plants, a rare earths magnet facility, and several electronic waste collection facilities are under construction or in operation — more than in any other state. They join a Umicore site that produces germanium crystals for solar panels. An aluminum smelter — the country's first since 1980 — is set to break ground next year at a site bordering an Arkansas River tributary. "I've strategically made a conscious effort to go after some of these new industries that I think are going to be critical," Governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican, told Reuters. "There's money flying into critical minerals from the investment side, so it might as well be located in Oklahoma." Investors and corporate executives say the state's location, lack of mineral deposits, and other detracting factors are outweighed by a string of positives: Oklahoma has railways and highways bisecting the state en route to the three US coasts, a workforce with deep energy experience, state rebates and other financial incentives, a large inland port with access to the Mississippi River watershed, and accommodating regulators. Officials boast on social media that Oklahoma is a "one phone call state," a description meant to evoke what they see as a streamlined regulatory process. Australia-based MLB Industrial, a startup that supplies lithium-ion batteries to the locomotive industry, expanded its business to Oklahoma earlier this year for that very reason. "Other states were looking for a large, established company to invest, rather than a company with a growth profile," said Nathan Leech, MLB's CEO, who moved his family to Oklahoma. "We intend to grow in Oklahoma." A nickel refinery, in particular, has been sought by Washington for years but Chinese market dumping had scared away would-be entrants, said a source familiar with the Trump administration's minerals policy. KaLeigh Long founded Westwin and named it after her desire for the US to shake off Chinese minerals dependence — as she puts it, "The West will win." The firm has built a demonstration facility 85 miles (137 km) south of the state capital that it says can refine 200 metric tons of nickel annually and will expand to produce 34,000 metric tons per year by 2030. If successful, the Westwin facility would refine 10% of America's annual nickel needs, demand projections from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence show, drawing on rock taken from Turkish and Indonesian mines, as well as recycled US batteries. Even as Oklahoma promises state tax rebates and other incentives, Westwin is lobbying Washington not to eliminate a federal production tax credit heavily opposed by Republicans along with other green energy subsidies enacted by former President Joe Biden, as Reuters reported earlier this month. Westwin is in negotiations with the Pentagon for a nickel supply deal that would keep metal inside the United States to make batteries for military drones and other equipment, according to a source familiar with the deliberations. Roughly 220 miles (354 km) northeast, a lithium refinery under construction from Stardust Power aims to produce 50,000 metric tons of the battery metal per year, about a fifth of what the US is expected to need by 2030. Japan's Sumitomo signed a preliminary agreement in February to buy up to half of the facility's output. Stardust aims for the plant to filter lithium from brines — something that has yet to happen at commercial scale — and will have roughly the same capacity as Tesla's refinery under construction in Texas. It will be powered in part by renewable energy; nearly half of the state's electricity is generated by wind turbines. "That was a huge draw," said Roshan Pujari, Stardust's CEO. The company is pushing forward even after rival Albemarle paused plans to build a large US refinery, citing weak lithium prices. "During these down cycles is the best time to be developing, because why do we want prices to be high when we have nothing to sell?" Pujari said. USA Rare Earth, which went public earlier this year, chose Oklahoma over Texas for its rare earths magnet facility given what it felt was the personalized support from Stitt and other officials, said CEO Josh Ballard. Magnets made from rare earths turn electricity into motion for EVs; the US stopped making them in the 1990s. Ballard says the facility is slated to open early next year and initially produce 1,200 metric tons annually, enough magnets to build more than 400,000 EVs. That supply is already highly sought after in the United States since China placed export restrictions on rare earths in April. Ballard said he has been fielding "a lot of phone calls" since April from prospective customers. The company on Tuesday signed a preliminary supply agreement with Moog for magnets used in AI data centers. "We can do this quickly. It's just a matter of how do we do it, and can the government help be a catalyst?" said Ballard. The company could get a boost from legislation introduced earlier this month by three U.S. senators - including Oklahoma's Markwayne Mullin - that would provide a tax credit for roughly 30% of the cost to manufacture a magnet made from rare earths. Elsewhere, two Oklahoma battery processing facilities - from Green Li-ion and Blue Whale Materials - will break down lithium-ion batteries into copper and other building blocks for new batteries. Natural Evolution, in Tulsa, is spearheading a push to expand electronic waste recycling. Green Li-ion, which has a recycling facility in Atoka - Country music star Reba McEntire's hometown - has held talks with Glencore as well as Westwin about buying a recycled version of battery scrap known as MHP, or mixed hydroxide precipitate, that can be used to make nickel products, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations. Glencore declined to comment. Most of the country's recycled batteries are exported now to China in the form of black mass, essentially shredded battery parts. Green Li-ion, which is headquartered in Singapore, moved its US operations to Oklahoma given the state's history with oil and gas extraction, skills it sees as complementary to black mass processing. "This state has a lot of chemical engineers," said Kevin Hobbie, the company's senior vice president of operations. Oklahoma's foray into the energy transition hasn't been all smooth sailing. Tesla supplier Panasonic in 2022 chose Kansas over Oklahoma for a battery plant after the Sunflower State wooed it with $1 billion in incentives. In January, EV startup Canoo filed for bankruptcy despite a $1 million state grant and Stitt's commitment for his administration to buy 1,000 of the company's vehicles. Canoo, which had several production facilities in Oklahoma, blamed uncertain demand for its cargo vans. State officials say they are trying to recoup the funds. Stitt said he is not bothered by the bankruptcy. "We're going to keep swinging for the fences," he said. Ernest Scheyder, Reuters