Latest news with #CrispianBalmer
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Iran rules out nuclear talks under fire, sources say Qatar met energy majors
By Parisa Hafezi, Crispian Balmer and Jana Choukeir DUBAI/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Iran said on Friday it would not discuss the future of its nuclear programme while under attack by Israel, as Europe tried to coax Tehran back into negotiations and the United States considers whether to get involved in the conflict. A week into its campaign, Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets overnight, including missile production sites, a research body involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran and military facilities in western and central Iran. Iran launched a new barrage of missiles at Israel early on Friday, striking near residential apartments, office buildings and industrial facilities in the southern city of Beersheba. After air raid warnings later on Friday, Israeli media said initial reports pointed to missile impacts in Tel Aviv, the Negev and Haifa. World oil markets are on high alert for any strikes that hit energy facilities in Iran or elsewhere in the Gulf which affect supplies. Qatar held crisis talks this week with energy majors after Israeli strikes on Iran's huge gas field, which it shares with Qatar, an industry source and a diplomat in the region told Reuters. Doha was asking firms to raise U.S., UK and European governments' awareness of increasing risks to global gas supply, they said. QatarEnergy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump would decide on U.S. involvement in the conflict in the next two weeks, citing the possibility of negotiations involving Iran in the near future. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with the U.S. "until Israeli aggression stops". But he was due to meet European foreign ministers in Geneva for talks at which Europe hopes to establish a path back to diplomacy over Iran's nuclear programme. Two diplomats said before the meeting with France, Britain, Germany and the European Union's foreign policy chief that Araqchi would be told the U.S. is still open to direct talks. Expectations for a breakthrough are low, diplomats say. A senior Iranian official told Reuters Tehran was ready to discuss limitations on its uranium enrichment and that the European's role was now more prominent because Iran is unwilling to engage with the U.S. while under fire from Israel. But any proposal for zero enrichment - not being able to enrich uranium at all - will be rejected "especially now under Israel's strikes", the official said. Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this. CIVILIANS KILLED Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a U.S.-based human rights organisation that tracks Iran. The dead include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities. Both sides say they are attacking military and defence-related targets. An Iranian news website said a drone had struck an apartment in a residential building in central Tehran on Friday, but did not give details. Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear installations so far pose only limited risks of contamination, experts say. But they warn that any attack on the nuclear power station at Bushehr could cause a nuclear disaster. Israel says it is determined to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities but that it wants to avoid any nuclear disaster in a region that is inhabited by tens of millions of people and produces much of the world's oil. The meeting in Geneva was due to start on Friday afternoon. The Swiss city is where an initial accord was struck in 2013 to curb Iran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions being lifted. A comprehensive deal followed in 2015. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2018. A new series of talks between Iran and the U.S. collapsed when Israel started attacking Iran's nuclear facilities and ballistic capabilities on June 12. Trump has alternated between threatening Tehran and urging it to resume nuclear talks. His special envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, has spoken to Araqchi several times since last week, sources say. Western and regional officials say Israel is trying to shatter the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Katz said he had instructed the military to intensify attacks on "symbols of the regime" in the Iranian capital Tehran, aiming to destabilise it. Iran has arrested an "agent" of Israel's foreign spy agency Mossad who was sending information on Iranian air defence installations to Israel using WhatsApp messaging, Iran's state broadcaster said. Iranian opposition groups think their time may be near, but activists involved in previous protests say they are unwilling to unleash mass unrest with their nation under attack, and Iranian authorities have cracked down hard on dissent. Iranian state media reported rallies in several cities, describing them as rallies of "rage and victory,' and 'solidarity and resistance.'
Ya Libnan
6 days ago
- Politics
- Ya Libnan
Israel's ultimate goal of its attacks on Iran is 'regime change'
By Crispian Balmer , Maayan Lubell , Michael Martina and Matt Spetalnick Highlights Israel's surprise attack on Iran had an obvious goal of sharply disrupting Tehran's nuclear programme and lengthening the time it would need to develop an atomic weapon. But the scale of the attacks, Israel's choice of targets, and its politicians' own words suggest another, longer-term ambition: toppling the regime itself. The strikes early on Friday hit not just Iran's nuclear facilities and missile factories but also key figures in the country's military chain of command and its nuclear scientists, blows that appear aimed at diminishing Iran's credibility both at home and among its allies in the region – factors that could destabilize the Iranian leadership, experts said. 'One assumes that one of the reasons that Israel is doing that is that they're hoping to see regime change,' said Michael Singh of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior official under President George W. Bush. 'It would like to see the people of Iran rise up,' he said, adding that the limited civilian casualties in the initial round of attacks also spoke to a broader aim. In a video address hours after Israeli fighter jets began striking Iranian nuclear facilities and air defence systems, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appealed to the Iranian people directly. 'The Islamic regime, which has oppressed you for almost 50 years, threatens to destroy our country, the State of Israel,' Netanyahu said. Israel's objective was to remove the nuclear and ballistic missile threat, he said, but added: 'As we achieve our objective, we are also clearing the path for you to achieve your freedom. 'The regime does not know what hit them, or what will hit them. It has never been weaker. This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard,' Netanyahu said. But despite the damage inflicted by the unprecedented Israeli attack, decades of enmity toward Israel – not only among Iran's rulers but its majority-Shi'ite population – raises questions about the prospect for fomenting enough public support to oust an entrenched theocratic leadership in Tehran backed by loyal security forces. Singh cautioned that no one knows what conditions would be required for an opposition to coalesce in Iran. Friday's assault was the first phase of what Israel said would be a prolonged operation. Experts said they expected Israel would continue to go after key Iranian nuclear infrastructure to delay Tehran's march to a nuclear bomb – even if Israel on its own does not have the capability to eliminate Iran's nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only. The U.N. nuclear watchdog concluded this week that it was in violation of its obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty. Israel's first salvoes targeted senior figures in Iran's military and scientific establishment, took out much of the country's air defence system and destroyed the above-ground enrichment plant at Iran's nuclear site. 'As a democratic country, the State of Israel believes that it is up to the people of a country to shape their national politics, and choose their government,' the Israeli embassy in Washington told Reuters. 'The future of Iran can only be determined by the Iranian people.' Netanyahu has called for a change in Iran's government, . U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, while acquiescing to Israel's strikes and helping its close ally fend off Iran's retaliatory missile barrage, has given no indication that it seeks regime change in Tehran. The White House and Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York also did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter. ENDING NUCLEAR PROGRAM BEYOND REACH, FOR NOW Israel has much further to go if it is to dismantle Iran's nuclear facilities, and military analysts have always said it might be impossible to totally disable the well-fortified sites dotted around Iran. The Israeli government has also cautioned that Iran's nuclear program could not be entirely destroyed by means of a military campaign. 'There's no way to destroy a nuclear program by military means,' Israel's National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel's Channel 13 TV. The military campaign could, however, create conditions for a deal with the United States that would thwart the nuclear program . Analysts also remain skeptical that Israel will have the munitions needed to obliterate Iran's nuclear project on its own. 'Israel probably cannot take out completely the nuclear project on its own without the American participation,' Sima Shine, a former chief Mossad analyst and now a researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, told reporters on Friday. While setting back Tehran's nuclear programme would have value for Israel, the hope for undermining the regime could explain why Israel went after so many senior military figures, potentially throwing the Iranian security establishment into confusion and chaos. 'These people were very vital, very knowledgeable, many years in their jobs, and they were a very important component of the stability of the regime, specifically the security stability of the regime,' said Shine. 'In the ideal world, Israel would prefer to see a change of regime, no question about that,' she said. But such a change would come with risk, said Jonathan Panikoff, a former U.S. deputy national intelligence officer for the Middle East who is now at the Atlantic Council. If Israel succeeds in removing Iran's leadership, there is no guarantee the successor that emerges would not be even more hardline in pursuit of conflict with Israel. 'For years, many in Israel have insisted that regime change in Iran would prompt a new and better day – that nothing could be worse than the current theocratic regime,' Panikoff said. 'But history tells us it can always be worse (Reuters)
Japan Today
6 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
Israel's attacks on Iran hint at a bigger goal: regime change
By Crispian Balmer, Michael Martina and Matt Spetalnick A building stands damaged in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS Israel's surprise attack on Iran had an obvious goal of sharply disrupting Tehran's nuclear program and lengthening the time it would need to develop an atomic weapon. But the scale of the attacks, Israel's choice of targets, and its politicians' own words suggest another, longer-term objective: toppling the regime itself. The strikes early on Friday hit not just Iran's nuclear facilities and missile factories but also key figures in the country's military chain of command and its nuclear scientists, blows that appear aimed at diminishing Iran's credibility both at home and among its allies in the region - factors that could destabilize the Iranian leadership, experts said. "One assumes that one of the reasons that Israel is doing that is that they're hoping to see regime change," said Michael Singh of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior official under President George W Bush. "It would like to see the people of Iran rise up," he said, adding that the limited civilian casualties in the initial round of attacks also spoke to a broader aim. In a video address shortly after Israeli fighter jets began striking Iranian nuclear facilities and air defence systems, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appealed to the Iranian people directly. Israel's actions against Iran's ally Hezbollah had led to a new government in Lebanon and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, he said. The Iranian people had an opportunity too: "I believe that the day of your liberation is near. And when that happens, the great friendship between our two ancient peoples will flourish once again," said Netanyahu. But despite the damage inflicted by the unprecedented Israeli attack, decades of enmity toward Israel - not only among Iran's rulers but its majority-Shiite population - raises questions about the prospect for fomenting enough public support to oust an entrenched theocratic leadership in Tehran backed by loyal security forces. Singh cautioned that no one knows what conditions would be required for an opposition to coalesce in Iran. Friday's assault was the first phase of what Israel said would be a prolonged operation. Experts said they expected Israel would continue to go after key Iranian nuclear infrastructure to delay Tehran's march to a nuclear bomb - even if Israel on its own does not have the capability to eliminate Iran's nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only. The U.N. nuclear watchdog concluded this week that it was in violation of its obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty. Israel's first salvoes targeted senior figures in Iran's military and scientific establishment, took out much of the country's air defence system and destroyed the above-ground enrichment plant at Iran's nuclear site. "As a democratic country, the State of Israel believes that it is up to the people of a country to shape their national politics, and choose their government," the Israeli embassy in Washington told Reuters. "The future of Iran can only be determined by the Iranian people." Netanyahu has called for a change in Iran's government, including in September. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, while acquiescing to Israel's strikes and helping its close ally fend off Iran's retaliatory missile barrage, has given no indication that it seeks regime change in Tehran. The White House and Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York also did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter. Israel has much further to go if it is to dismantle Iran's nuclear facilities, and military analysts have always said it might be impossible to totally disable the well-fortified sites dotted around Iran. The Israeli government has also cautioned that Iran's nuclear program could not be entirely destroyed by means of a military campaign. "There's no way to destroy a nuclear programme by military means," Israel's National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel's Channel 13 TV. The military campaign could, however, create conditions for a deal with the United States that would thwart the nuclear program. Analysts also remain skeptical that Israel will have the munitions needed to obliterate Iran's nuclear project on its own. "Israel probably cannot take out completely the nuclear project on its own without the American participation," Sima Shine, a former chief Mossad analyst and now a researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, told reporters on Friday. While setting back Tehran's nuclear program would have value for Israel, the hope for regime change could explain why Israel went after so many senior military figures, potentially throwing the Iranian security establishment into confusion and chaos. "These people were very vital, very knowledgeable, many years in their jobs, and they were a very important component of the stability of the regime, specifically the security stability of the regime," said Shine. "In the ideal world, Israel would prefer to see a change of regime, no question about that," she said. But such a change would come with risk, said Jonathan Panikoff, a former U.S. deputy national intelligence officer for the Middle East who is now at the Atlantic Council. If Israel succeeds in removing Iran's leadership, there is no guarantee the successor that emerges would not be even more hardline in pursuit of conflict with Israel. "For years, many in Israel have insisted that regime change in Iran would prompt a new and better day - that nothing could be worse than the current theocratic regime," Panikoff said. "But history tells us it can always be worse." © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Analysis-After years of waiting, Israel's Netanyahu finally makes his move on Iran
By Crispian Balmer JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Iran once ridiculed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the boy who cried wolf for his constant public warnings about Tehran's nuclear programme, and his repeated threats to shut it down, one way or another. "You can only fool some of the people so many times," Iran's then-foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said in 2018 after Netanyahu had once again accused Iran of planning to build nuclear weapons. On Friday, after two decades of continually raising the alarm and urging other world leaders to act, Netanyahu finally decided to go it alone, authorising an Israeli air assault aimed, Israel says, at preventing Iran from obtaining weapons of mass destruction. In an address to the nation, Netanyahu, as he has so often before, evoked the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust in World War Two to explain his decision. "Nearly a century ago, facing the Nazis, a generation of leaders failed to act in time," Netanyahu said, adding that a policy of appeasing Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler had led to the deaths of 6 million Jews, "a third of my people". "After that war, the Jewish people and the Jewish state vowed never again. Well, never again is now today. Israel has shown that we have learned the lessons of history." Iran says its nuclear energy programme is only for peaceful purposes, although the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday declared the country in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years. Netanyahu, a former member of an elite special forces unit responsible for some of Israel's most daring hostage rescues, has dominated its politics for decades, becoming the longest-serving prime minister when he won an unprecedented sixth term in 2022. Throughout his years in office, he rarely missed an opportunity to lecture foreign leaders about the dangers posed by Iran, displaying cartoons of an atomic bomb at the United Nations, while always hinting he was ready to strike. In past premierships, military analysts said his room for manoeuvre with Iran was limited by fears an attack would trigger instant retaliation from Tehran's regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, that would be hard to contain. But the past two years have upended the Middle East, with Israel hammering Hamas after it launched a massive surprise attack of its own against Israel in October 2023, and then dismantling much of Hezbollah in just a few days in 2024. BLINDSIDED BY TRUMP Israel has also sparred openly with Tehran since 2024, firing rocket salvos deep into Iran last year that gave Netanyahu confidence in the power of his military reach. Israeli military sources said the strikes disabled four of Iran's Russian-made air-defence systems, including one positioned near Natanz, a key Iranian nuclear site that was targeted, according to Iranian television. "Iran is more exposed than ever to strikes on its nuclear facilities. We have the opportunity to achieve our most important goal — to thwart and eliminate the existential threat," Defence Minister Israel Katz said in November. But much to the consternation of Netanyahu, newly installed U.S. President Donald Trump blindsided him during a visit to the White House in April, when he announced the United States and Iran were poised to begin direct nuclear talks. Netanyahu has locked horns with successive U.S. presidents over Iran, most noticeably Barack Obama, who approved a deal with Tehran in 2015 imposing significant restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump pulled out of the accord in 2018, and Netanyahu had hoped that he would continue to take an uncompromising stance against Iran when he returned to office this year. In announcing talks, the White House set a two-month deadline for Iran to sign a deal. Even though a fresh round of meetings was set for this weekend, the unofficial deadline expired on Thursday and Netanyahu pounced. One Israeli official told state broadcaster Kan that Israel had coordinated with Washington ahead of the attacks and suggested recent newspaper reports of a rift between Trump and Netanyahu over Iran had been a ruse to lull the Tehran leadership into a false sense of security. IMAGE TARNISHED Trump - who said after the strikes began that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb but that he wants talks to proceed - has previously hailed the right-wing Netanyahu as a great friend. Other leaders have struggled with him. In 2015, then-President Nicolas Sarkozy of France was overheard talking about Netanyahu with Obama. "I can't stand him any more, he's a liar," he said. The man once known as "King Bibi" to his supporters has faced a difficult few years and at 75, time is running out for him to secure his legacy. His hawkish image was badly tarnished by the 2023 Hamas attack, with polls showing most Israelis blaming him for the security failures that allowed the deadliest assault since the founding of the nation more than 75 years ago. He has subsequently been indicted by the International Criminal Court over possible war crimes tied to Israel's 20-month invasion of Gaza, which has reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubble. He rejects the charges against him. Polls show most Israelis believe the war in Gaza has gone on for too long, with Netanyahu dragging out the conflict to stay in power and stave off elections that pollsters say he will lose. Even as the multi-front war has progressed, he has had to take the stand in his own, long-running corruption trial, where he denies any wrongdoing, which has further dented his reputation at home. However, he hopes a successful military campaign against Israel's arch foe will secure his place in the history books he so loves to read. "Generations from now, history will record that our generation stood its ground, acted in time and secured our common future. May God bless Israel. May God bless the forces of civilisation, everywhere," he said in Friday's speech. (Additional reporting by Alexander Cornwell and James Mackenzie; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Japan Today
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Tehran launches drones after Israel hits Iran nuclear facilities, missile factories
Rescuers work at the scene of a damaged building in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS By Crispian Balmer, Parisa Hafezi and Steve Holland Israel launched widescale strikes against Iran on Friday, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders and that this was the start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon. Iran had launched about 100 drones towards Israeli territory in retaliation, which Israel is working to intercept, Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said. Iranian media and witnesses reported explosions including at the country's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, while Israel declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes. Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards corps said its top commander, Hossein Salami, was killed and state media reported the unit's headquarters in Tehran had been hit. Several children had been killed in a strike on a residential area in the capital, it said. "We are at a decisive moment in Israel's history," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded video message. "Moments ago Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat." Defrin said 200 Israeli fighter jets took part in the strikes, hitting more than 100 targets in Iran. Israel could now confirm that the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards and the commander of Iran's Emergency Command were all killed in the strikes across Iran, he told an online briefing. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement that Israel had "unleashed its wicked and bloody" hand in a crime against Iran and that it would receive "a bitter fate for itself". Airlines cleared out of the airspace over Israel, Iran and Iraq and Jordan on Friday after the Israelis strikes, Flightradar24 data showed, with carriers scrambling to divert and cancel flights to keep passengers and crew safe. An Israeli military official said Israel was striking "dozens" of nuclear and military targets including the facility at Natanz in central Iran. The official said Iran had enough material to make 15 nuclear bombs within days. The United States said it had no part in the operation, which raises the risk of a fresh escalation in tensions in the Middle East, a major oil producing region. Alongside extensive air strikes, Israel's Mossad spy agency led a series of covert sabotage operations inside Iran, Axios reported, citing a senior Israeli official. These operations were aimed at damaging Iran's strategic missile sites and its air defense capabilities. Iranian state media reported that at least two nuclear scientists, Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were killed in Israeli strikes in Tehran. The National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company said the country's oil refining and storage facilities did not sustain damages and their activities were ongoing. Iran closed its airspace and Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice. Israeli military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said tens of thousands of soldiers had been called up and "prepared across all borders". "We are amidst a historic campaign unlike any other. This is a critical operation to prevent an existential threat, by an enemy who is intent on destroying us," he said. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar was holding a "marathon of calls" with counterparts around the world regarding Israel's attack on Iran, the foreign ministry said in a statement. TALKS WITH IRAN U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and that the United States was hoping to get back to the negotiating table, in an interview with Fox News after the start of the Israeli air strikes on Iran. "We will see," Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin quoted Trump as saying in a post on X. U.S. officials have repeatedly said that any new nuclear deal with Iran - to replace a failed 2015 accord between Tehran and six world powers - must include a commitment to scrap enrichment, viewed as a potential pathway to developing nuclear bombs. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly denied such intentions, saying it wants nuclear energy only for civilian purposes, and has publicly rejected Washington's demand to scrap enrichment as an attack on its national sovereignty. Iran's government said in a statement that Israel's "cowardly" attack shows why Tehran insists on enrichment, nuclear technology and missile power. Trump would convene a meeting of the National Security Council on Friday morning, the White House said. He had said on Thursday an Israeli strike on Iran "could very well happen" but reiterated his hopes for a peaceful resolution. The U.S. military is planning for the full range of contingencies in the Middle East, including the possibility that it might have to help evacuate American civilians, a U.S. official told Reuters. Iran's armed forces spokesperson said Israel and its chief ally the United States would pay a "heavy price" for the attack, accusing Washington of providing support for the operation. While the U.S. tried to distance itself from Israel's military operation, an Israeli official told public broadcaster Kan that Israel had coordinated with Washington on Iran. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was not involved in the strikes and Tel Aviv had acted unilaterally for self-defense. "Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel," he said. The attacks triggered sharp falls in stock prices in Asian trade on Friday, led by a selloff in U.S. futures, while oil prices jumped as investors scurried to safe havens such as gold and the Swiss franc. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned any military escalation in the Middle East, said deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq. "The Secretary-General asks both sides to show maximum restraint, avoiding at all costs a descent into deeper conflict, a situation that the region can hardly afford," Haq said. U.S. and Iranian officials were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks on Tehran's escalating uranium enrichment program in Oman on Sunday, according to officials from both countries and their Omani mediators. A U.S. official said those talks were still scheduled to proceed despite the Israeli attack. The Israeli military said on Friday that it was forced to act based on new intelligence information showing that Iran was "approaching the point of no return" in the development of a nuclear weapon. A source familiar with U.S. intelligence reports said there had been no recent change in the U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei had not authorised the restarting of the nuclear weapons program that was shuttered in 2003. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
