Mossad chief says Iran still determined to build nuclear bomb

The document was signed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the end of their negotiations.

Lavrov said the consultations plan was drawn up following the entry into force of a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty between the two countries earlier this year.

“Without any doubt, the main and key document in our relations is the comprehensive strategic partnership treaty between the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was signed this year and has entered into force,” Lavrov offering no details on the consultations agreement.

He said the treaty formally set out the special nature of bilateral relations and established key areas of cooperation and a long-term, 20-year outlook.

'Treaty deepens long-term cooperation'

The comprehensive strategic partnership treaty, signed in January by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and ratified by both countries’ parliaments, commits Moscow and Tehran to closer cooperation across political, economic, security and technological fields.

While it does not include a mutual defense clause, the agreement provides for expanded military-technical cooperation, coordination on security issues, closer economic ties and efforts to reduce the impact of Western sanctions, including through financial and trade mechanisms outside the dollar system.

Lavrov said the signing of the 2026-28 consultations plan marked a first in the history of ties between the two countries.

“Today, for the first time in history, we are signing a consultations program between the foreign ministries of Russia and Iran for the years 2026 to 2028,” he said, adding that dialogue between the two ministries was regular and highly valuable.

Broader coordination under sanctions

Both countries have stepped up coordination as they face extensive Western sanctions. They cooperate in forums such as BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union, and have expanded ties in energy, transport, trade, technology and space.

Iran and Russia say the strategic partnership treaty and the newly signed consultations plan provide a structured roadmap for advancing those ties over the coming decades.

The 2025 National Security Strategy reflects a narrowing of what Washington now defines as its core national interests, Taleblu said, with Iran mentioned just three times despite being labeled a central threat in Trump’s 2017 strategy.

“There’s a focus on the homeland, the Western Hemisphere, strategic competition with China and getting Europe to do more,” said Taleblu, an analyst for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington DC, adding that Iran is absent from the list of top-tier threats outlined in the document.

The strategy released this month emphasizes reducing US involvement in the Middle East in favor of focusing on great power competition with China, threats in the Western Hemisphere and urging Europe to shoulder more security responsibility.

Iran appears to have slipped down Washington’s priority list following last year’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran, which the United States briefly joined.

“It seems like, at least for the Trump administration, they’re content to take that victory lap,” Taleblu said on Eye for Iran, saying the White House is attempting to declare success and move on following US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The NSS suggests Washington is ready to “turn the page” on a region that has dominated US foreign policy for decades, he added, and it credits Trump’s energy policies, regional diplomacy and limited use of force for creating political space to step back from the Middle East.

US strikes on Iran included the use of 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs carried by B-2 stealth bombers.

While President Trump has said Iran’s major nuclear sites were “obliterated,” US intelligence assessments indicate the program was set back but not completely destroyed, according to officials cited in US media reports.

Iran is believed to possess more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium whose whereabouts remain unknown, and Iranian officials have said they rebuilt its missile capacity and would respond forcefully to any future attack.

“Iran may be weakened, but it is down and not out,” Taleblu added.

The strategy document implies that major regional crises — including the Gaza war, the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon, Houthi attacks from Yemen and instability in post-Assad Syria — are either resolved or on track toward resolution.

The document does not appear to assess that Iran could strongly reverse recent setbacks to its nuclear program and its so-called Axis of Resistance coalition.

While Taleblu credited the Trump administration for reviving elements of its maximum pressure campaign of sanctions, he criticized what he called gaps. Iranian oil exports have reached record highs, and the administration has not issued a single new human rights designation related to Iran in 2025.

“While the regime is threatening the life of this very president and the first family, it is beyond me to be thinking about peace and prosperity without a clear strategy to contain Iran further,” Taleblu said, “There is a lot of room for improvement when I look at both this document and the administration’s track record this year.”

Graham, a veteran foreign policy hawk representing South Carolina, was speaking to reporters after being briefed along with dozens of other senators on Venezuela strategy by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

"If, after all this Maduro is still in power. That's the worst possible signal you could send to Russia, China, Iran," said Graham, "I want to reassert again, you cannot allow this man to be standing after this display of force."

The United States has ramped up a military deployment in the Caribbean as part of a pressure campaign on Venezuela and its leader Nicolas Maduro. US attacks on alleged drug boats there and in the Pacific have killed at least 87 people, in strikes which Democratic opponents and rights groups say violate the laws of war.

The Trump administration has branded Maduro a narco-terrorist and said drug flows from Venezuela kill innocent Americans and justify a wartime approach.

Trump has vowed to extend US attacks to the mainland and said in an interview last week that Maduro's "days are numbered," without elaborating.

His influential chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair in an interview published on Tuesday that "(Trump) wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle."

"I want clarity right here," Graham added in his remarks to reporters. "I want us to be level with the American people on what we're doing. I think we're doing a good thing. I think we're making us safer as a nation. We're cleaning up our backyard."

"Too many Americans have died ... he's aligned with Hezbollah. There's a million reasons you want Maduro to go, but just say it. Just say, this man in our backyard runs a narco-terrorist state along with international terrorists."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week cast Venezuela as a regional platform for Iranian influence, describing Maduro’s government as a narcotics transit hub that hosts Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

Little public evidence exists about the security relationship Venezuela has with Iran or its armed allies. Tehran and Caracas boosted ties under Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez, who cast himself as a bulwark against what he called American imperialism.

Maduro has rejected US accusations that he runs a drug cartel and calls the military buildup in the region a bid to impose Washington's will on his oil-rich country.

Trump has presented himself as a peacemaker, as a leader who is ending wars as he puts it through a so-called peace through strength strategy.

The Trump administration's new National Security Strategy (NSS), released earlier this month, makes an argument for a hands-off approach to the Middle East, while showing clear willingness to lean into tensions with Venezuela.

While the Trump administration maintains their main efforts are about combatting alleged drug smuggling, Graham sees US posturing as signaling regime change, demanding clarity.

"I want clarity right here, President Trump is saying his days are numbered. That seems to me that he's got to go," Graham said.

The replacement for António Guterres is due to be chosen next year and serve from 2027 to 2031. Argentina last month named its native son Grossi, 64, to fill the position and he is considered a top contender.

Since 2019, Grossi has led the International Atomic Energy Agency as it attempted to manage the still festering Iran nuclear dossier, which came to a head last year with surprise US and Israeli attacks on Iran's nuclear sites in a 12-day war in June.

Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani appeared to single Grossi out without naming him in remarks to the Security Council on Wednesday.

“A candidate who has deliberately failed to uphold the UN Charter—or to condemn unlawful military attacks against safeguarded, peaceful nuclear facilities," he said, "undermines confidence in his ability to serve as a faithful guardian of the Charter and to discharge his duties independently, impartially and without political bias or fear of powerful States, as required under the Charter.”

Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon but Israel and Western states doubt its intentions, especially after Grossi's IAEA flagged in the months running up to the conflict that Iran's enrichment activities were ramping up.

The country's uranium stock refined to up to 60% had hit nearly 275 kilograms, Grossi warned, which according to an IAEA yardstick was enough in principle for six nuclear bombs if enriched further.

No civilian purpose existed for such activities, Grossi warned.

The United States held five rounds of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program earlier this year, for which US President Donald Trump set a 60-day deadline.

When no agreement was reached by the 61st day on June 13, Israel launched a surprise military offensive followed by US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.

The attacks killed nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians. Iranian counterattacks killed 32 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.

Grossi did not offer any assessment of the conflict but has worked to try to restore inspections of stricken sites in an effort Iran has largely opposed as diplomacy stays in a deep post-war freeze.

The United Nations has struggled to influence conflicts which have raged in the Middle East and Europe in recent years, earning the ire of both its critics and advocates who hope it can play a greater role in multilateral peace efforts.

Iran's intervention appeared to be the most substantive challenge yet to Grossi's bid.

Iravani said a UN secretary-general must have “a clear and non-derogable responsibility” to safeguard member states' rights and their equal participation in the global system.

“Failure to do so weakens the United Nations and erodes the principle of sovereign equality at the heart of the UN system,” he said.

The group, known as Handala, said it had released information on 13 individuals it described as key designers of systems such as Arrow and David’s Sling.

The material published by the group included photos, names, professional credentials, email addresses, locations and phone numbers.

“These individuals, who were once thought to be hidden in the shadows, are now fully exposed to the world,” the group said in a statement carried by Iran’s ISNA news agency, adding that it would pay $30,000 for what it called valuable information.

Israeli media outlets, including the Jerusalem Post, have not confirmed whether the information released by the group is accurate.

Who is Handala?

Handala is widely described by cybersecurity researchers and Western officials as tied to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence.

Researchers say the group operates as part of a broader cyber unit known as Banished Kitten, also referred to as Storm-0842 or Dune, which they link to the ministry’s Domestic Security Directorate.

The group has been linked to cyber operations against Israeli infrastructure and public institutions for around two years.

In January, it claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on Israeli kindergartens that disrupted public address systems at about 20 locations. In August, the group was linked to hacks targeting multiple Israeli entities, including academic institutions, technology firms, media outlets and industrial companies.

Handala has also been linked to cyber operations targeting Iran International, a London-based Persian-language broadcaster. In July, Iran International said leaked materials published by Iranian state outlets originated from earlier hacks carried out in the summer of 2024 and January 2025.

The broadcaster attributed those hacks to a broader cyber unit known as Banished Kitten. The channel said the hackers may have installed malware through compromised Telegram accounts. “These cyberattacks are part of a broader campaign of threats targeting Iran International, including physical threats against our staff,” it said.

Iran International said its journalists have faced sustained harassment since the channel was founded in 2017, including threats of assassination and kidnapping, physical assaults, online abuse and hacking.