Advocacy group calls for Khamenei sanctions over clerics' Trump threats

In a statement on X, the agency said Director General Rafael Grossi had “reiterated the crucial importance” of holding talks with Iranian authorities to resume the IAEA’s “indispensable” monitoring and verification work “as soon as possible.”

The inspectors had remained in Tehran throughout the 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel.

The announcement follows a report by the Wall Street Journal that the inspectors were pulled out over safety concerns and transported by road to Armenia in a departure coordinated with Iranian authorities.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the newspaper reported that the agency had been trying to arrange the exit for several days and chose ground transport to reduce visibility and risk.

The move comes after weeks of rising tensions between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog. On Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian enacted a law requiring the suspension of cooperation under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’s safeguards agreement unless Iran’s demands for security guarantees are met.

Tehran has accused the IAEA of sharing sensitive data with Israel and the US, and of failing to condemn last month’s airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

While Iran has denied ending cooperation entirely, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said coordination with the agency would now be managed through Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

This is while hardline Iranian media have called for Grossi's arrest and execution, and a senior judiciary official said Grossi could face trial in absentia for “deceptive actions.”

It remains unclear when or whether IAEA inspectors will return. WSJ reporter Laurence Norman said there is “no reason to feel confident” they will be back in Tehran anytime soon, adding that it could be years before monitoring operations resume.

"The IDF achieved remarkable successes in thwarting Iran’s nuclear program and missile production system—the two threats that posed the greatest danger to Israel,” Katz said during a joint situational assessment with senior military officials.

He added that the Israeli army “must prepare both intelligence-wise and operationally to ensure air superiority over Tehran and to prevent Iran from rebuilding its capabilities.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who also took part in the briefing, said the recent operation marked a major milestone in Israel’s defense strategy. “The operation is over — but the campaign is not,” he said, describing it as the result of years of planning, intelligence gathering, and operational preparation.

US says Iran’s nuclear program set back by up to two years

The comments came as the US confirmed that strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure last month caused major setbacks. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on Wednesday that the June 22 attacks, carried out with bunker-buster bombs and Tomahawk cruise missiles, had set Iran’s program back by one to two years.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Fordow site had sustained heavy damage but insisted the nuclear program would continue. “Our peaceful nuclear program has turned into a matter of national pride and glory,” he told CBS News.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said Iran retains the technical ability to resume enrichment within months. In response to the strikes, Iran’s parliament passed a law requiring the suspension of cooperation with the IAEA until the security of its nuclear sites and scientists is guaranteed. The Supreme National Security Council has been tasked with assessing those guarantees, and the government must report to parliament every three months on the status of implementation.

Araghchi denied that Iran had ended its cooperation entirely, calling such claims “fake news.” He said Iran remains committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its safeguards agreement with the IAEA, and that future cooperation would now be coordinated through the National Security Council due to heightened security concerns.

"We just did a really great job. And then, of course, you cap it off with the hit, the perfect hit in Iran, where they were talking awfully badly, you know, death to America, death to Israel. They were talking awfully badly," Trump said at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa.

"They're not talking badly anymore, to be honest with you. And we might even meet with them and see," he added.

"They want to meet, they want to meet, and we'll see if we can do something. But they want to meet. I think they want to meet very badly."

'US not looking to hurt Iran'

Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews that "Iran does want to speak. And I think they'd like to speak to me. And it's time that they do."

"We're not looking to hurt them. We're looking to let them be a country again. They got beat up and, you know, they were they were both exhausted, frankly. But Iran really got beat up. And I think they want to meet. I mean, I know they want to meet. And if it's necessary, I'll do it."

Trump made the remarks after his phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where the two sides discussed Iran and Ukraine.

First sanctions after strikes

The US Treasury imposed sanctions on Thursday against a network that smuggles Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil and on a Hezbollah-controlled financial institution, the Treasury Department said.

A network of companies run by Iraqi-British national Salim Ahmed Said has been buying and shipping billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil disguised as, or blended with, Iraqi oil since at least 2020, the department said.

They were the first round of sanctions imposed against Iran following the US and Israeli strikes against Iranian military and nuclear facilities.

The meeting would mark the first direct engagement since President Donald Trump ordered strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last month.

"We have no travel announcements at this time," a White House official told Axios. The Iranian mission to the UN declined to comment.

The discussions, brokered with help from Omani and Qatari officials, follow a 12-day war between Israel and Iran that ended under a US-negotiated ceasefire. Witkoff and Araghchi have maintained contact during and since that conflict, the sources said.

Israel's Channel 12 first reported the planned meeting.

A key topic will be Iran’s growing stockpile of highly enriched uranium, including 400 kilograms enriched to 60%. US and Israeli officials say the material is currently inaccessible, sealed off by rubble at the bombed enrichment sites in Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan.

Iran has since announced the suspension of all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, citing a law passed by its parliament.

In a post on X, Araghchi said Iran remained committed to its Safeguards Agreement and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but added that any coordination with the IAEA would now be managed through Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

“In accordance with the new legislation... our cooperation with the IAEA will be channeled through Iran's Supreme National Security Council for obvious safety and security reasons,” he wrote.

Araghchi told CBS on Monday that talks with the United States are unlikely to resume soon, following US airstrikes on three major nuclear sites during the 12-day war with Israel.

“I don’t think negotiations will restart as quickly as that,” Araghchi said in his first interview with an American news outlet since the June airstrikes.

“We will have to first ensure that America will not revert to targeting us in a military attack during the negotiations.”

No final date for the Oslo meeting has been confirmed, and neither side has publicly acknowledged the planned talks.

The sanctions targeted companies linked to Iraqi-British businessman Salim Ahmed Said and expanding pressure on Iran’s petroleum trade and shadow fleet.

Said’s network, operating since at least 2020, used ship-to-ship transfers and forged documents to sell blended Iranian-Iraqi oil to global buyers, the Treasury said.

“Treasury will continue to target Tehran’s revenue sources and intensify economic pressure to disrupt the regime’s access to the financial resources that fuel its destabilizing activities,” said Secretary Scott Bessent.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned several vessels accused of secretly transporting Iranian oil, increasing pressure on Iran’s "shadow fleet," it said.

Several senior officials and one entity linked to the Iran-backed Hezbollah-controlled financial institution Al-Qard Al-Hassan was also targeted.

These officials conducted millions of dollars in transactions that ultimately benefited Hezbollah while concealing their involvement, according to the department.

This latest action, part of the US maximum pressure campaign on Iran, marks the eighth round of oil-trade-related sanctions since 2021.

All US-linked assets of the targeted entities are now frozen, and Americans are barred from dealings with them. The designations also expose foreign firms to secondary sanctions, heightening the cost of facilitating Iran’s oil trade.