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Iran ‘Dramatically’ Increasing Enrichment to Near Bomb Grade: IAEA Chief
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi arrives on the opening day of the agency’s quarterly Board of Governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 20, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Lisa Leutner
Iran is “dramatically” increasing the amount of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent of weapons grade, that it is able to produce, the UN nuclear watchdog’s chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters in an interview.
The move is certain to cause even greater alarm in Western capitals already arguing that there is no civilian justification for Iran‘s enrichment to that level as no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs, which Iran denies pursuing.
Iran already has enough material enriched to up to 60 percent, its most highly enriched stock, for four nuclear weapons in principle if it enriched it further, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) yardstick. It has enough for more at lower enrichment levels.
“Today the agency is announcing that the production capacity is increasing dramatically of the 60 percent inventory,” IAEA chief Grossi said on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain’s capital.
He added that it was set to rise to “seven, eight times more, maybe, or even more” than the previous rate of 5-7 kg a month.
The escalation comes just a week after European and Iranian officials made little progress in meetings on whether they could engage in serious talks over the disputed nuclear program, before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.
Tehran was angered by a resolution last month put forward by Britain, Germany, and France, known as the E3, that criticized Iran for poor cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Trump, who after pulling the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers pursued a “maximum pressure” policy that sought to wreck Iran‘s economy, is staffing his new administration with noted hawks on Iran.
Friday’s move is also a setback for Grossi since he said after a trip to Iran in November that Tehran had accepted his “request” that it cap its stock of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent to ease diplomatic tensions, calling it “a concrete step in the right direction.”
Diplomats said at the time, however, that Iran‘s step, which included preparing to implement that cap, was conditional on the IAEA‘s 35-nation Board of Governors not passing a resolution against Iran over its insufficient cooperation with the agency, which the Board then did regardless.
“We do not have any diplomatic process ongoing which could lead to a de-escalation, or a more stable equation when it comes to Iran,” Grossi said. “This is regrettable.”
The head of France’s external intelligence service said last week that Iranian nuclear proliferation was undoubtedly one of the threats, if not the most critical threat in the coming months.
The British, German, and French foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The E3 have adopted a tougher stance on Iran in recent months, notably since Tehran ramped up its military support to Russia. However, they have always insisted that they wanted to maintain a policy of pressure and dialogue to revive talks well before the 2015 accord ends in October 2025.
That deal lifted international sanctions against Iran in return for Tehran accepting some curbs on its nuclear program. Since Trump left the deal, Iran has accelerated its nuclear program while limiting the IAEA‘s ability to monitor it.
The post Iran ‘Dramatically’ Increasing Enrichment to Near Bomb Grade: IAEA Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.