Prominent Democrat warns against Israel drawing US into Iran war

"The President has been earnestly and completely committed to a peace process. He's given Iran every opportunity, those talks are ongoing, but he also fully recognizes the threat that Iran poses," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress on Thursday.

"Netanyahu is going to put his country first, and we're going to put our country first, and we're positioned properly in the region to ensure that we're prepared for any potential contingency," Hegseth told a House hearing on the 2026 defense budget.

"The first set of documents obtained from the Israeli regime shows that Grossi, the Secretary General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, had full cooperation and close coordination with this regime and fully implemented its orders," the Tasneem news agency wrote on X.

The outlet, which is affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guards, included images of email exchanges in Hebrew and and what appeared to be a printed letter from Meirav Zafary-Odiz, Israel's ambassador to the IAEA, to its now chief Raphael Grossi.

Dated 2016, the alleged letter requests a meeting.

Other documents appeared to be email exchanges between Zafary-Odiz and an Israeli academic using an University of Washington email address and focused on panel discussions on nuclear topics.

Iran's intelligence ministry said last week it had obtained a trove of sensitive material from Israel, including documents it says are related to the Jewish state's nuclear and strategic facilities.

Israeli security experts cast doubt on the assertion, saying it was likely part of a state attempt to sway opinion as US-Iran nuclear talks enter a critical phase.

Amir Rashidi, director of cyber security and digital rights of the Iran-focused human rights NGO the Miaan Group, said the documents released on Thursday appeared dubious.

"There are several red flags that raise questions about the authenticity and origin of these materials," he wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

Their presentation as screenshots impairs verification through metadata and timestamps, pages are numbered in Persian-Arabic script and Iranian hackers' past compromising of academic accounts makes the university email address suspect, Rashidi said.

Tehran said nuclear talks with Washington have been rendered more complicated after the UN nuclear watchdog passed a resolution calling Iran non-compliant.

“Sunday’s negotiations in Oman are taking place under the shadow of the new resolution passed by the IAEA Board of Governors, which adds to the complexity of the discussions," foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on Thursday.

"We will be in Muscat to defend the rights of the Iranian nation, our principled positions, and the nuclear achievements of Iranian scientists,” he added.

China called for peaceful resolution of the nuclear stand-off with Iran on Thursday, shortly after the UN nuclear watchdog declared Tehran non-compliant.

"China has always advocated resolving the Iranian nuclear issue through political and diplomatic means, and supports Iran in maintaining dialogue and negotiations with all relevant parties and working towards a solution that addresses the legitimate concerns of all sides," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Thursday.

Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency condemned Thursday’s IAEA Board of Governors resolution as politically motivated and warned of immediate retaliatory measures.

“Today we witnessed that the Board of Governors of the IAEA was completely divided, and a politically motivated resolution submitted by the E3 and the US was adopted with the lowest possible vote,” Najafi said after the vote.

“This is the second time that the Board would not support a resolution completely. The resolution was unfortunately adopted, and we stated before its adoption that Iran will not stand still. We will react very strongly.”

“As my Minister stated yesterday, this is another major strategic mistake by the E3, which will be met with a strong reaction from Iran. We will announce some new measures to the IAEA, and the sponsors of the resolution should bear the consequences of what they tabled,” he added.