Iran's 60% enriched uranium is well-protected, atomic agency says

US President Donald Trump favors financially crippling Iran over military intervention to address its nuclear ambitions and regional activities, according to Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel.

In a podcast interview, Huckabee said he hoped for a diplomatic resolution to the Iran situation, saying: "I'd love to see a diplomatic solution to the Iranian situation. Nothing would thrill me more. And I think the president is pushing for that because he really is a president of peace."

Huckabee added that “Trump has said repeatedly Iran will never have a nuclear device. They must have a total dismantlement of their nuclear program. What they must do is end enrichment of all kinds. Those are his words. Those are his doctrines."

The ambassador said Trump prefers economic measures, adding: "The president would rather bankrupt them than bomb them. That’s his view. It would be better to crush them financially than it would be to crush them militarily."

Huckabee also described Iran as the primary driver of regional instability, saying that groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are "empowered by Iran."

"That’s where they get a lot of their hardware. It is where they get a lot of their philosophical fanaticism. And it is also where they get most of their funding."

“During his police interrogation, it became clear that Iranian officials had recently contacted the minor, a resident of Tel Aviv, via the Telegram app, and asked him to perform several tasks in exchange for a sum of money,” a statement said on Tuesday.

The case mirrors dozens of others uncovered since the Gaza war, involving the arrests of Israelis for what the state alleges are Iranian-backed plots, some with aims to assassinate top military and political figures.

Suspects are recruited via social media, initially offered payment for seemingly innocuous tasks like spraying graffiti, then progressed to more serious activities, including intelligence gathering on the country's nuclear and defense facilities.

“The minor … sprayed graffiti in the Tel Aviv area and in return received sums of money. In addition, the minor was asked to photograph the Iron Dome system, but ultimately did not carry out this task," the police added.

He is now under house arrest.

Oded Ailam, a former head of counter-terrorism at Mossad, said that the legal system’s failings are making the deterrence strategy for Israel more challenging amid a wave of plots in the country.

“The Shin Bet does impressive work uncovering and thwarting these plots time and again. But once a case reaches the courtroom, the system falters. Weak evidence claims, outdated legal frameworks, and lenient sentencing all contribute to a breakdown in deterrence,” he wrote in a paper for the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

“Today’s espionage doesn’t involve trench coats and dead drops, it happens on Facebook, paid in dollars. Yet the legal response still treats it like a relic of another era.”

Indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States over its nuclear program are not at a dead end, a senior Iranian diplomat said, while warning that any resolution against Tehran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would reduce cooperation.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs and a member of its negotiating team, told the state news agency IRNA on Tuesdaythat international talks always have "many ups and downs." He added that it was too soon to draw conclusions from negotiations that began only a few months ago.

"The pace of the negotiations, whether slow or fast, is not very important to us; what matters is achieving national interests, which is our right and what our people care about."

Takht-Ravanchi confirmed that Iran is preparing a response to a written US proposal, saying, "Our response will definitely keep the window of diplomacy open.”

Takht-Ravanchialso addressed the idea of a multinational consortium for nuclear fuel, a proposal reportedly floated by Oman and the US. He added that while the concept is old, "a definite point is that enrichment must be done in Iran."

"If there is a consortium where enrichment is not done in Iran, but in another country, or if the enrichment part is not in Iran but other parts are in Iran, this is unacceptable from our point of view," he said.

He added that all sanctions, direct or indirect, related to the nuclear issue must be lifted, regardless of any re-labeling of sanctions over time.

Takht-Ravanchi also voiced concern about a potential resolution against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors, accusing European countries and the US of “political abuse” of the technical agency.

Asadollah Jaafari, who did not identify the two men, described them as "professional thieves” with multiple convictions as well as crimes such as destruction and intentional harm.

He added that the sentences were carried out "after undergoing legal procedures in the prosecutor's office, the preliminary court, and the provincial appeals court, with final confirmation of the verdict by the Supreme Court."

However, Jaafari did not provide specific details regarding the specific charges.

International human rights organizations have consistently condemned such punishments.

In April, Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, told Iran International in an interview that "corporal punishment, including amputation, is absolutely prohibited under international law. And if executed, will amount to torture or ill-treatment."

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a signatory, explicitly prohibits inhumane or degrading punishments. Human rights advocates argue that amputation sentences violate the fundamental principle of human dignity enshrined in international law.

At least 237 individuals in Iran were sentenced to amputation between 1 January 2000 and 24 September 2020, with at least 129 of those sentences carried out, according to Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office.

According to Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, Iran's judiciary chief, "If theft is proven under the conditions set by Islam, the thief's fingers must be amputated."

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization on Tuesday rejected comments by the UN nuclear watchdog chief suggesting Iran had warned it might pursue a nuclear weapon if attacked by Israel.

“No one in Iran has said that if Israel attacks, we will build a nuclear bomb,” Mohammad Eslami said in a televised interview. “As far as I know, such a statement has never been made.”

His remarks followed comments by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi, who told Israeli broadcaster i24News: “Such an attack might have an amalgamating effect which would make a determination on the part of Iran to go to a nuclear weapon or to abandon the treaty on non-proliferation. I’m telling you this because they have told me.”

Eslami said Iran's military had previously warned of a response to any attack on its nuclear sites, but dismissed the idea that it included nuclear weapons. “There was a warning last year, when Israeli officials said they would strike our nuclear facilities. Our armed forces said they would respond in kind—but nothing more,” he said.