More Stories
Centrifuges at Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility are no longer operational due to physical damage from recent US strikes, Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Thursday.
“Given the power of these bombs and technical characteristics of the centrifuges, we do know that they are no longer operational, simply because of the vibration, which causes considerable, important physical damage,” Grossi told Radio France Internationale. He said satellite images indicate the enrichment hall at Fordow was likely hit.
Grossi added that Iran has not responded to the agency’s request to resume inspections. “The agency’s presence in Iran is not a gesture of generosity, it’s an international responsibility,” he said, stressing that inspections are a legal obligation under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Iran’s parliament voted Wednesday to suspend cooperation with the IAEA. The Supreme National Security Council must still approve the move.
Iranian authorities have arrested an alleged Mossad agent in the Tehran metro, saying he was transmitting the locations of sensitive and military sites using an electronic chip, state-run IRIB reported on Thursday.
IRIB quoted a police spokesperson as saying the man was detained after officers grew suspicious of his movements.
The report said that he allegedly received instructions in Hebrew and sent location data to unknown contacts.
The suspect and his equipment were handed over to specialized police units for further investigation, the report added.
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi has raised alarm over the fate of detainees moved from Tehran's Evin Prison after Israel's strike on the facility, saying many held in intelligence-run wards were transferred to unknown locations with no information about their condition.
“Men and women held in solitary confinement in Ward 209 were taken out of Evin in gray prison uniforms and loaded into vehicles,” Mohammadi said in a post on X. “Since then, there has been no information about the whereabouts or conditions of detainees held in Evin’s high-security wards.”
She said there has been no official word on the status of detainees from Wards 209 and 240 (run by the Ministry of Intelligence), Ward 2-A (controlled by the Revolutionary Guards), and Ward 241 (under Judiciary's Intelligence). Mohammadi warned that prisoners could have been taken to "secret or illegal detention sites, cut off from the outside world."
She added that inmates from Evin’s general wards have been relocated, with women sent to Qarchak Prison and men to Greater Tehran Prison — “both notorious for their harsh and inhumane conditions.”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has named nine members killed in an Israeli strike on the Seyyed al-Shohada base in Tehran province, Iranian media reported on Thursday.
The strike occurred earlier in the week, with the IRGC releasing the names several days later. Those killed were identified as Hassan Khansari, Soheil Rostamian, Sirous Moradi, Saeed Aslani, Mohsen Barkan, Majid Zarei, Mohammad Javad Borhani, Ali Abbasi, and conscript Soheil Lotfizadeh.
A university student has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out tasks under the direction of Iranian intelligence, Israel’s police and Shin Bet said in a joint statement on Thursday.
Bashar Hassan Qassem Mousa, 22, a resident of Deir al-Asad and a student at Ben-Gurion University, was detained over alleged security offenses involving contact with an Iranian operative, the police said.
According to investigators, Mousa allegedly received instructions and payment to perform various acts, including attempting to harm a public figure, scattering nails on a main road in Be’er Sheva, and encouraging divisive public discourse. Authorities said he was motivated by events in Gaza.
