Iran accuses IAEA chief of enabling strikes on nuclear sites

Tehran's former lead negotiator Javad Zarif torches UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi on X, accusing him of abetting strikes on Iran with comments on the whereabouts of highly enriched uranium.

"Having abetted the slaughter of innocents thru his fictitious IAEA report, @rafaelmgrossi is now conspiring to abet more war crimes through his reckless musing that Iran is hiding uranium at World Heritage Sites in Isfahan," Zarif posted on X on Friday.

"IAEA should rid itself of this disgrace," he added.

A senior Iranian cleric has dismissed diplomacy with Washington after the United States targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities amid Tehran's 12-day war with Israel.

“Iran once again saw and tasted the flavor of negotiations with the United States,” said Mohammadnabi Mousavi-Fard, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, during a Friday sermon.

On Israel, he said: “They spent day and night in shelters, and some fled by boat,” referring to Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks during the conflict.

Iran still possesses enough enriched material to build a nuclear bomb despite recent Israeli airstrikes, The Telegraph reported, citing a senior Israeli military official.

"We understand that there is still enriched material in Iran," the official was quoted as saying.

Despite US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, the prospect of Iran using its surviving enriched uranium to fashion a crude nuclear warhead in secret was “a concern,” the official added.

The official also warned that Israel would strike again if it detected renewed efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency on Friday urged Iranian citizens to avoid Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) personnel, bases, and government vehicles to stay safe, saying its war is with "the oppressive Islamic Republic regime," not the people.

"If someone from the IRGC near you suddenly receives a phone call or message on their personal phone, please move away from them," the agency said in one of its warnings to Iranians in a Persian-language post on X.

Iran remains prepared to deliver a strong response to any further actions by Israel or the United States, a senior lawmaker said on Friday, warning that "the war is not over."

Ebrahim Rezai, spokesperson for parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, made the comments during a Friday prayer gathering in Dashtestan, southern Iran, according to state media.

“We are fully ready to respond decisively to any movement by the Zionist regime and the United States,” he said. “Any miscalculation will be met with a firm reaction from our armed forces.”

Rezai accused Israel of launching its attack on Iran based on “false reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency,” and said "Western assumptions about Iranian weakness had proven wrong".