Jeffrey Sachs exposes US, Israel's role in Syrian conflict
Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yilmaz, World Food Programme Chief Operating Officer Carl Skau, U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen and U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network President Jeffrey Sachs participate in a panel discussion titled 'Syria: Reconstructing and Reconciling the Country' at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum. Exposing the US and Israel's role in the Syrian crisis, Jeffrey Sachs said, "American interference, at the behest of Netanyahu's far-right Israel, has left the Middle East in ruins."
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First Post
4 hours ago
- First Post
Over 30 detained in Istanbul as police disrupt banned Pride March
Authorities have banned Pride marches in Turkey's largest city since 2015, citing public safety and security concerns read more Turkish police detained at least 30 individuals in central Istanbul on Sunday as they attempted to participate in a Pride March, which authorities had prohibited as part of a years-long crackdown on LGBTQ+ gatherings, according to an opposition legislator. Reuters video saw police scuffling with a group of protestors brandishing rainbow flags in the city centre before collecting them up and putting them into police vehicles. Kezban Konukcu, a pro-Kurdish DEM Party legislator who joined the march, told Reuters that at least 30 people were detained. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Police did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The Istanbul governor's office had already declared the march illegal, claiming that parties supporting it were acting 'illegally'. Authorities have banned Pride marches in Turkey's largest city since 2015, citing public safety and security concerns. President Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party has adopted increasingly harsh rhetoric against the LGBTQ+ community over the past decade. In January, Erdogan declared 2025 the 'Year of the Family,' describing Turkey's declining birth rate as an existential threat and accusing the LGBTQ+ movement of undermining traditional values. 'The primary goal of the gender neutralization policies, in which LGBT is used as a battering ram, is the family and the sanctity of the family institution,' Erdogan said in January. Rights groups have condemned Turkey's stance. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have warned that government rhetoric and actions are fuelling a hostile environment for LGBTQ+ people, contributing to rising discrimination and violence. Despite the bans, small groups of activists continue to mark Pride Week each year. Organizers say the increasingly aggressive police response reflects broader crackdowns on dissent and freedom of assembly in Turkey. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
NDTV
5 hours ago
- NDTV
Analysis: US Strikes On Iran's Nuke Sites Set Up "Cat-And-Mouse" Hunt For Missing Uranium
Vienna: The US and Israeli bombing of Iranian nuclear sites creates a conundrum for U.N. inspectors in Iran: how can you tell if enriched uranium stocks, some of them near weapons grade, were buried beneath the rubble or had been secretly hidden away? Following last weekend's attacks on three of Iran's top nuclear sites - at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan - President Donald Trump said the facilities had been "obliterated" by U.S. munitions, including bunker-busting bombs. But the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Tehran's nuclear program, has said it's unclear exactly what damage was sustained at Fordow, a plant buried deep inside a mountain that produced the bulk of Iran's most highly enriched uranium. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday it was highly likely the sensitive centrifuges used to enrich uranium inside Fordow were badly damaged. It's far less clear whether Iran's 9 tonnes of enriched uranium - more than 400 kg of it enriched to close to weapons grade - were destroyed. Western governments are scrambling to determine what's become of it. Reuters spoke to more than a dozen current and former officials involved in efforts to contain Iran's nuclear program who said the bombing may have provided the perfect cover for Iran to make its uranium stockpiles disappear and any IAEA investigation would likely be lengthy and arduous. Olli Heinonen, previously the IAEA's top inspector from 2005 to 2010, said the search will probably involve complicated recovery of materials from damaged buildings as well as forensics and environmental sampling, which take a long time. "There could be materials which are inaccessible, distributed under the rubble or lost during the bombing," said Heinonen, who dealt extensively with Iran while at the IAEA and now works at the Stimson Center think-tank in Washington. Iran's more than 400 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity - a short step from the roughly 90% of weapons grade - are enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. Even a fraction of that left unaccounted for would be a grave concern for Western powers that believe Iran is at least keeping the option of nuclear weapons open. There are indications Iran may have moved some of its enriched uranium before it could be struck. IAEA chief Grossi said Iran informed him on June 13, the day of Israel's first attacks, that it was taking measures to protect its nuclear equipment and materials. While it did not elaborate, he said that suggests it was moved. A Western diplomat involved in the dossier, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said most of the enriched uranium at Fordow would appear to have been moved days in advance of the attacks, "almost as if they knew it was coming". Some experts have said a line of vehicles including trucks visible on satellite imagery outside Fordow before it was hit suggests enriched uranium there was moved elsewhere, though U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved it. Trump has also dismissed such concerns. In an interview due to air on Sunday with Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures", he insisted the Iranians "didn't move anything." "It's very dangerous to do. It is very heavy - very, very heavy. It's a very hard thing to do," Trump said. "Plus we didn't give much notice because they didn't know we were coming until just, you know, then." The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The State Department referred Reuters to Trump's public remarks. A second Western diplomat said it would be a major challenge to verify the condition of the uranium stockpile, citing a long list of past disputes between the IAEA and Tehran, including Iran's failure to credibly explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites. "It'll be a game of cat and mouse." Iran says it has fulfilled all its obligations towards the watchdog. Picture Blurred Before Israel launched its 12-day military campaign aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities, the IAEA had regular access to Iran's enrichment sites and monitored what was inside them around the clock as part of the 191-nation Non-Proliferation Treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, to which Iran is a party. Now, rubble and ash blur the picture. What's more, Iran has threatened to stop working with the IAEA. Furious at the non-proliferation regime's failure to protect it from strikes many countries see as unlawful, Iran's parliament voted on Wednesday to suspend cooperation. Tehran says a resolution this month passed by the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations paved the way for Israel's attacks, which began the next day, by providing an element of diplomatic cover. The IAEA denies that. Iran has repeatedly denied that it has an active program to develop a nuclear bomb. And U.S. intelligence - dismissed by Trump before the airstrikes - had said there was no evidence Tehran was taking steps toward developing one. However, experts say there is no reason for enriching uranium to 60% for a civilian nuclear program, which can run on less than 5% enrichment. As a party to the NPT, Iran must account for its stock of enriched uranium. The IAEA then has to verify Iran's account by means including inspections, but its powers are limited - it inspects Iran's declared nuclear facilities but cannot carry out snap inspections at undeclared locations. Iran has an unknown number of extra centrifuges stored at locations the U.N. nuclear watchdog is unaware of, the IAEA has said, with which it might be able to set up a new or secret enrichment site. That makes hunting down the material that can be enriched further, particularly that closest to bomb grade, all the more important. "Iran's stockpile of 60% enriched uranium may not have been part of the 'mission' but it is a significant part of the proliferation risk - particularly if centrifuges are unaccounted for," Kelsey Davenport of the Washington-based Arms Control Association said on X on Friday. The IAEA can and does receive intelligence from member states, which include the United States and Israel, but says it takes nothing at face value and independently verifies tip-offs. Having pummelled the sites housing the uranium, Israel and the U.S. are seen as the countries most likely to accuse Iran of hiding it or restarting enrichment, officials say. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Chasing Shadows UN inspectors' futile hunt for large caches of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which preceded the US-led invasion in 2003, showed the enormous difficulty of verifying foreign powers' assertions about hidden stockpiles of material when there is little tangible information to go on. As in Iraq, inspectors could end up chasing shadows. "If the Iranians come clean with the 400 kg of HEU (highly enriched uranium) then the problem is manageable, but if they don't then nobody will ever be sure what happened to it," a third Western diplomat said. The IAEA, which answers to 180 member states, has said it cannot guarantee Iran's nuclear development is entirely peaceful, but has no credible indications of a coordinated weapons program. The U.S. this week backed the IAEA's verification and monitoring work and urged Tehran to ensure its inspectors in the country are safe. It is a long journey from there to accounting for every gram of enriched uranium, the IAEA's standard. The above-ground plant at Natanz, the smaller of the two facilities enriching uranium up to 60 percent, was flattened in the strikes, the IAEA said, suggesting a small portion of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile may have been destroyed. Fordow, Iran's most deeply buried enrichment plant, which was producing the bulk of 60%-enriched uranium, was first seriously hit last weekend when the United States dropped its biggest conventional bombs on it. The damage to its underground halls is unclear. An underground area in Isfahan where much of Iran's most highly enriched uranium was stored was also bombed, causing damage to the tunnel entrances leading to it. The agency has not been able to carry out inspections since Israel's bombing campaign began, leaving the outside world with more questions than answers. Grossi said on Wednesday the conditions at the bombed sites would make it difficult for IAEA inspectors to work there - suggesting it could take time. "There is rubble, there could be unexploded ordnance," he said. Heinonen, the former chief IAEA inspector, said it was vital the agency be transparent in real time about what its inspectors have been able to verify independently, including any uncertainties, and what remained unknown. "Member states can then make their own risk assessments," he said.
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First Post
5 hours ago
- First Post
Obliterated or obscured? UN struggles to trace missing uranium after US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites
The U.S. and Israeli bombing of Iranian nuclear sites creates a conundrum for U.N. inspectors in Iran: how can you tell if enriched uranium stocks, some of them near weapons grade, were buried beneath the rubble or had been secretly hidden away? read more Cargo trucks positioned near an underground entrance to Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), in Fordow, Iran, days before the American strikes. AFP The US strikes on Iran's key nuclear facilities have left United Nations inspectors grappling with a critical question: did the attacks destroy Iran's near-weapons-grade uranium or was it moved before the bombing ? Last weekend's bombardment of the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites was part of what Washington described as a mission to cripple Tehran's atomic ambitions. But according to a classified US intelligence report reviewed post-strike, the damage to Iran's nuclear program is expected to delay its progress by only a few months, an assessment that contradicts former President Donald Trump's declaration that the program had been 'completely and totally obliterated.' Israeli intelligence, meanwhile, believes the operation caused more substantial harm. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Despite the strikes, satellite imagery reviewed by the Telegraph shows Iran has already begun repairs at the Natanz Enrichment Complex. The Institute for the Study of War said images from June 27 reveal a filled-in crater and support equipment, signs that restoration is underway. Yet a far more urgent concern is the status of Iran's enriched uranium. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on Monday that centrifuges at the Fordow facility were likely badly damaged but it's unclear whether Iran's total stock—estimated at nine tonnes, including 400 kg enriched to 60%, just below weapons-grade was destroyed or relocated. Grossi warned that Iran could resume producing enriched uranium 'in a matter of months.' In the meantime, officials in Western capitals are scrambling to determine whether the material was destroyed, buried or secretly transferred before the attacks. According to The New York Times, US and Israeli intelligence suggest Iran may have anticipated the strikes. Maxar Technologies released satellite imagery from June 19 and 20, days before Operation Midnight Hammer began showing at least 16 cargo trucks outside the Fordow enrichment site. Two Israeli officials told the NYT that Iran probably moved 400 kg of 60% enriched uranium in advance. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that 'almost all' of the stockpile was relocated to a secure location. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The IAEA has been unable to verify any of this. Since the June 22 strikes, inspections have been suspended with Iran denying access to international monitors amid military tensions. Grossi, addressing the UN Security Council, said the delay hampers a 'critical' verification process and called for renewed diplomacy. However, Iranian officials have dismissed suggestions that Tehran will scale back its nuclear efforts. Deputy Foreign Minister Takht Ravanchi told local media, 'No one can tell us what we should and should not do.' Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was quoted by The Telegraph as saying that even if the facilities were wiped out, the enriched uranium, technical know-how and political resolve remain. Speaking to Reuters, more than a dozen former and current officials familiar with Iran's nuclear dossier suggested that the strikes may have inadvertently helped Iran mask its stockpiles. Former top IAEA inspector Olli Heinonen said the search for the missing material would likely involve long and complex efforts—digging through rubble, collecting environmental samples, and conducting forensic tests. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'There could be materials which are inaccessible, distributed under the rubble or lost during the bombing,' said Heinonen, now at the Stimson Center in Washington. The IAEA has long held that Iran's 400 kg of 60% enriched uranium, if further refined, could be enough to produce nine nuclear weapons. Even a small amount of that going unaccounted for would worry Western governments, who suspect Tehran wants to maintain the option of building a bomb. Grossi said Iran notified him on June 13, the day of the initial Israeli strikes that it was taking steps to safeguard its nuclear assets, though details were not provided. A Western diplomat cited by Reuters said most of the enriched uranium at Fordow appeared to have been removed ahead of the bombing, raising suspicions that Tehran was forewarned. Iran has repeatedly stated it is not pursuing a nuclear bomb and prior to the strikes, US intelligence assessments agreed. However, experts point out that enriching uranium to 60% has no civilian utility, power reactors run on uranium enriched to below 5%. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Kelsey Davenport of the Arms Control Association said on X that Iran's 60% enriched stockpile, while perhaps not the main military target, is a critical proliferation risk, especially if any of the centrifuges have also gone missing. While Israel and the US may soon press Tehran to prove its uranium stockpile hasn't been hidden or diverted, both countries are also the most likely to level such accusations, according to officials cited by Reuters. The situation brings back echoes of the Iraq war. As seen during the failed search for weapons of mass destruction in 2003, when hard intelligence is lacking, verification efforts risk devolving into futile pursuits. For now, the hunt continues with no clarity in sight.
