Iran has 'serious doubts' over Israel's commitment to ceasefire
Iran's armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi has said that Tehran was not convinced Israel would abide by a ceasefire that ended their 12-day war earlier this month.
"We did not start the war, but we have responded to the aggressor with all our power, and as we have serious doubts over the enemy's compliance with its commitments including the ceasefire, we are ready to respond with force" if attacked again, Mousavi was quoted as saying by state TV, six days into the ceasefire which US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday.
He was speaking after Iran's judiciary said that an Israeli strike on Tehran's Evin prison during this month's 12-day war killed at least 71 people, days after the ceasefire as announced.
The strike on Monday destroyed part of the administrative building at Evin, a large, heavily fortified complex in the north of Tehran, which rights groups say holds political prisoners and foreign nationals.
"According to official figures, 71 people were killed in the attack on Evin prison," said judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir of the attack, part of the bombardment campaign Israel launched on 13 June.
According to Mr Jahangir, the victims at Evin included administrative staff, guards, prisoners and visiting relatives as well as people living nearby.
Images shared by the judiciary showed destroyed walls, collapsed ceilings, scattered debris, and broken surfaces across waiting areas at the facility.
The judiciary said that Evin's medical centre and visiting rooms had been targeted.
On Tuesday, a day after the strike, the judiciary said that the Iranian prison authority had transferred inmates out of Evin prison, without specifying their number or identifying them.
The inmates at Evin have included Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi as well as several French nationals and other foreigners.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of the UN's nulear watchdog has said it is likely that Iran will be able to produce enriched uranium "in a matter of months".
His assessment conflicts with that of US President Donald Trump who maintains that Iran's nuclear programme was set back decades by US bombing raids last weekend.
In an interview with US media network CBS, Mr Grossi said the raids by US stealth bombers had inflicted some but not total damage on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Speaking earlier this week Mr Grossi also said his inspectors' top priority was to return to Iran's nuclear facilities to assess the impact of recent military strikes on Tehran's nuclear programme.
Germany backs Israel after Iran war in first high-level visit
Separately, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has expressed support for Israel during a visit to the site of an Iranian missile strike near Tel Aviv.
It was the first visit by a senior foreign official since the war between Iran and Israel.
"We must deepen our support for Israel," Mr Dobrindt said, speaking amid the rubble in Bat Yam, south of the coastal hub of Tel Aviv, where an Iranian strike killed nine people including three children.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the German visit a gesture of "solidarity" and urged the international community to reimpose sanctions on Iran.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on 17 June, on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Canada, said Israel was doing the "dirty work... for all of us" by targeting Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
Israel has acknowledged being hit by more than 50 missiles during the 12-day war with Iran, resulting in 28 deaths, but the true extent of the damage may never be known due to stringent media restrictions.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
18 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
West condemns 'threats' against head of nuclear watchdog
The UK, France and Germany have condemned what they describe as threats against the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and called on Iran to guarantee the safety of the watchdog's staff on its territory. "France, Germany and the United Kingdom condemn threats against the Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi and reiterate our full support to the Agency and the DG in carrying out their mandate," said a joint statement issued by their foreign affairs ministries. "We call on Iranian authorities to refrain from any steps to cease cooperation with the IAEA. We urge Iran to immediately resume full cooperation in line with its legally binding obligations, and to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of IAEA personnel," they added. The joint statement did not specify what threats had been made against Mr Grossi. Earlier, Iran said that it could not be expected to guarantee the safety of IAEA inspectors, so swiftly after its nuclear sites were struck by Israel and the United States strikes in the 12-day conflict that ended with a ceasefire last week. "How can they expect us to ensure the safety and security of the agency's inspectors when Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities were attacked a few days ago?" foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a news conference. The IAEA's board voted earlier this month to declare that Iran was in violation of its obligations under the global nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iranian officials have suggested that vote helped pave the way for Israel's attacks. Mr Baghaei said that a parliamentary bill approved by the Guardian Council makes it mandatory for the government in Tehran to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. "Iran shouldn't be expected to accept its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty when the UN nuclear watchdog has stopped short of condemning the attacks on Iran's nuclear sites," he added. Iran hits out at Trump 'psychological and media games' Iran has criticised US President Donald Trump's shifting stance on whether to lift economic sanctions against the country as "games" that were not aimed at solving the problems between them. "These [statements by Trump] should be viewed more in the context of psychological and media games than as a serious expression in favour of dialogue or problem-solving," Mr Baghaei said. The comments came after Iran's deputy foreign minister said that talks between Tehran and Washington cannot resume unless the US rules out further strikes. Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC that the US had signalled it wants to return to the negotiating table. "We have not agreed to any date, we have not agreed to the modality. "Right now we are seeking an answer to this question. Are we going to see a repetition of an act of aggression while we are engaging in dialogue?" The US needed to be "quite clear on this very important question", he said. The two countries were in talks over Tehran's nuclear programme when the strikes took place earlier this month. The deputy minister said that the US had signalled it did "not want to engage in regime change" by targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mr Takht-Ravanchi also said that Iran should still be allowed to enrich uranium. "The level of that can be discussed, the capacity can be discussed, but to say that you should not have enrichment, you should have zero enrichment, and if you do not agree, we will bomb you, that is the law of the jungle".
RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Israel steps up Gaza bombardment ahead of White House talks on ceasefire
Palestinians in northern Gaza reported one of the worst nights of Israeli bombardment in weeks after the military issued mass evacuation orders this morning, while Israeli officials were due in the US for a new ceasefire push by the Trump administration. A day after US President Donald Trump urged an end to the 20-month-old war, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected at the White House for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran, and possible wider regional diplomatic deals. But on the ground in the Palestinian territory there was no sign of fighting letting up. "Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes," said one man in Gaza City. "In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions." Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said. At least 25 people were killed in Israeli strikes, health authorities said, including ten people killed in Zeitoun. The heavy bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction. The military ordered people there to head south, saying that it planned to fight Hamas militants operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City. A day after Mr Trump called to "Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back", Israel's strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Mr Netanyahu's, was expected today at the White House for talks on Iran and Gaza, an Israeli official said. In Israel, Mr Netanyahu's security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza. On Friday, Israel's military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and yesterday, Mr Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two warring sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks. A Hamas official said that progress depends on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel says it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms. The war began when Hamas fighters stormed in to Israel on 7 October 2023, killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages back to Gaza in a surprise attack that led to Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, has displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population and plunged the territory into a humanitarian crisis.
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
German foreign minister pledges continued support for Ukraine in Kyiv visit
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul is visiting Kyiv in a show of continuing support for Ukraine's fight to repel Russia as US-led international peace efforts fail to make progress. Mr Wadephul is due to meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha. The German minister said in a statement that Germany will help Ukraine 'continue to defend itself successfully – with modern air defence and other weapons, with humanitarian and economic aid'. Germany has been Ukraine's second-largest military backer after the United States, whose continuing support is in doubt. However, Berlin has baulked at granting Mr Zelensky's request to provide Ukraine with powerful German- and Swedish-made Taurus long-range missiles. This is due to fears that such a move could enrage the Kremlin and end up drawing Nato into Europe's biggest conflict since the Second World War. Instead, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged in May to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would be free of any Western-imposed limitations on their use and targets. Mr Wadephul was accompanied on his trip to Kyiv by German defence industry representatives. Russia's invasion shows no sign of letting up. Its grinding war of attrition along the roughly 620-mile front line and long-range strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have killed thousands of troops and civilians. The Russian effort to capture more Ukrainian territory has been costly in terms of casualties and damaged armour. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and has not budged from his war goals. Mr Putin 'doesn't want negotiations, but (Ukrainian) capitulation', Mr Wadephul said in his statement. Russia launched its biggest combined aerial attack against Ukraine at the weekend, Ukrainian officials said, in its escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts.
