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The UN nuclear watchdog stressed on Friday the “utmost urgency” of its request to verify all nuclear material in Iran, according to a confidential report seen by AFP.Two new reports are to be discussed at an International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors’ meeting next week, as the United States threatens strikes on Iran and presses its biggest military build-up in the Middle East in decades. On Thursday, Oman-mediated talks between Iran and the United States in Geneva were seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war. Initial optimism was tempered by Tehran warning Washington must drop “excessive demands” to reach a deal.The IAEA confirmed technical discussions on Iran’s nuclear programme would take place in Vienna next week, according to one of the reports. It added a “successful outcome” of Iran-US negotiations “would have a positive impact on the effective implementation of safeguards in Iran”.It also urged Iran to cooperate “constructively”, stressing “the utmost urgency” of the IAEA request to verify all its nuclear material.- ‘Increasing concern’ -Considerable uncertainty surrounds Iran’s stockpile of more than 400 kilogrammes (880 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60 percent that the nuclear watchdog estimated the Islamic republic had as of mid-June last year.  Israel launched strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that the US briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. Tehran suspended some cooperation with the IAEA and restricted the watchdog’s inspectors from accessing sites bombed by Israel and the United States, accusing the UN body of bias and of failing to condemn the strikes.”Within the group of affected facilities, it is a matter of increasing concern that Iran has never provided the agency with access to its fourth declared enrichment facility since it was first declared by Iran in June last year,” the IAEA said in the report.The agency does not know the precise location of the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant, it said in a second report.It said it had observed through commercially available satellite imagery, “regular vehicular activity” around the entrance to the tunnel complex at Isfahan, in which uranium enriched up to 20 percent and 60 percent was stored.Activities were also conducted at other affected nuclear facilities, including the enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordow, it added.”Without access to these facilities it is not possible for the agency to confirm the nature and purpose of the activities,” it said.Western countries, led by the United States and Israel, Iran’s arch-enemy and considered by experts to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, accuse the Islamic republic of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.Tehran denies having such military ambitions, but insists on its right to this technology for civilian purposes.Iran had been enriching uranium to 60 percent, well above the 3.67 percent limit allowed by a now-defunct 2015 nuclear agreement and close to the 90 percent needed to make a bomb, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage, UK police said Friday, after pro-Palestinian graffiti was sprayed on a Winston Churchill statue in central London.The iconic monument to Britain’s World War II prime minister in Parliament Square “was graffitied with red paint” overnight, the Metropolitan Police said on X.”Officers were on scene within two minutes of being alerted shortly after 4am (0400 GMT),” the force said.The incident came as police in Northern Ireland’s capital, Belfast. appealed for witnesses after a statue of Queen Victoria was vandalised, apparently by Irish Republican group Lasair Dhearg.The group posted a picture on social media appearing to show one of its supporters pouring red paint over the statue of the monarch whom it called the “Famine Queen”, a reference to the Irish potato famine of the mid-19th century.In London, the graffiti, which workers cleaned early Friday, called the wartime leader a “zionist war criminal”. The words “free Palestine” and “stop the genocide” were also sprayed on the statue.The man detained was also held on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act, police added.The Greater London Authority condemned the “vandalism” and said work was underway to remove the graffiti “as quickly as possible”. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office called the damage “completely abhorrent” and said it was “glad” police had made an arrest.”Churchill was a great Briton,” a spokesman said. “This government will always stand up for our values and the perpetrator must be held to account.”- Activist claims stunt -A Dutch activist, naming himself as Olax Outis, claimed responsibility for the stunt in a message shared on social media by campaign group Prisoners for Palestine. Outis said he was a member of Dutch group “Free the Filton 24 NL”, a group supporting the 24 Palestine Action activists charged over a break-in at a UK factory belonging to Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in 2024.The group posted a video on its Instagram account appearing to show a man dressed in overalls, with “I support Palestine Action” written on the back, painting the statue.  Other slogans painted onto the statue included “globalise the intifada”. In December, police said people chanting this phrase would be arrested as part of efforts to counter antisemitism and incitement to violence through slogans.That followed a deadly October attack on a synagogue in the English city of Manchester and a December shooting at a Jewish festival at Australia’s Bondi Beach in Sydney in which 15 people were killed.The intifada refers to Palestinian uprisings against Israeli occupation. The first raged from 1987 to 1993, while the second flared between 2000 and 2005.The 3.6 metre (12-foot) Churchill statue has been vandalised a number of times in recent years, including during Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion climate demonstrations in 2020.

US President Donald Trump on Friday voiced frustration with Iran’s stance in nuclear negotiations but said he had not yet decided whether to carry out a threatened attack, as US staff were authorized to leave Israel due to heightened risks.Trump has ordered the biggest military build-up in decades in the Middle East, with the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, approaching the coast of Israel, as he demands Iran agree to sweeping concessions on concerns starting with its nuclear program.A day after the United States and Iran held talks in Geneva, Trump said that the cleric-run state was “not willing to give us what we have to have” but added on military force, “We haven’t made a final decision.””We’re not exactly happy with the way they negotiated. They cannot have nuclear weapons, and we’re not thrilled with the way they’re negotiating,” Trump told reporters.”We want no nuclear weapons by Iran and they’re not saying those golden words.”Iran has said repeatedly that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons and agreed to restrictions on enrichment in a 2015 deal that Trump ripped up during his first term in office.Trump in June had said that Iran’s key nuclear sites had been “obliterated” after the United States joined a major Israeli bombing campaign.The renewed pressure comes weeks after Iranian authorities killed thousands of people as they crushed one of the biggest threats to the Islamic republic established after the 1979 revolution deposed the pro-Western shah.Trump said “nobody knows” if an attack would bring down the Iranian government.- Rubio heads to Israel -US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Israel for talks on Iran on Monday, the State Department announced. In a rare break from decades of precedent, the top US diplomat will travel without reporters on his plane.Rubio will head to Israel even after the US embassy announced it was allowing non-emergency US government personnel and family members to leave “due to safety risks.”Americans “may wish to consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available,” the embassy said on its website. Germany in a new advisory said it “urgently” discouraged travel to Israel.Britain said it was moving diplomatic staff out of Tel Aviv, Israel’s economic hub where most countries maintain embassies, to another location in the country as a “precautionary measure.”China, a main partner of Tehran, called on its citizens to evacuate Iran “as soon as possible.” The United States and European countries already have longstanding warnings on travel to Iran.- Holding out hope for talks -On February 19, Trump gave Iran 15 days to reach a deal. While Iran has insisted discussions focus solely on nuclear issues, Washington wants Tehran’s missile programme and its support for militant groups curtailed.Oman, which brokered the negotiations in Iran that included Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and roving negotiator Steve Witkoff, has offered a positive take on the talks.Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi met Friday in Washington with Vice President JD Vance.Busaidi wrote on X that he looked forward to “further and decisive progress in the coming days.” “Peace is within our reach,” he wrote.Iran has trumpeted what it calls progress during the negotiations. But Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also sounded a warning on Friday in talks with his Egyptian counterpart, saying that “success in this path requires seriousness and realism from the other side and avoidance of any miscalculation and excessive demands.”The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, confirmed that it would hold technical discussions with Iran on Monday.The agency called on Iran to cooperate with it “constructively,” stressing “the utmost urgency” of its request to verify all its nuclear material, according to a confidential report seen by AFP. In their capital Tehran, ordinary Iranians expressed distrust of the United States and hoped negotiations would lead to economic relief for their sanctions-hit nation. “Whatever the outcome of the negotiations… it should lead to some improvement in people’s economic situation. Not just a little — it is our right,” Ali Bagheri, 34, told AFP. Hamid Beiranvand, 42, said Iran should “not give any concessions” as Washington “breaks promises,” but that “everyone prefers that a war doesn’t happen.” burs-sct/aha

Veteran Hollywood star Susan Sarandon on Friday praised the Spanish government’s support for Gaza, saying it was “on the right side of history”.”I think Spain is doing an incredible job,” Sarandon, her voice trembling with emotion, told reporters in Barcelona.She lauded Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and actors such as Oscar-winner Javier Bardem for taking a strong public stand in support of Palestine.”When you turn on the TV and see how strong Spain is and how clear you are morally on these issues, it makes you feel less alone,” Sarandon said.The star of “Thelma and Louise” called Spain’s position “so important” in the United States, which she described as “a place where you feel repression and censorship”.Spain’s Sanchez has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s war on Gaza, becoming the most senior European leader to refer to the conflict as a “genocide”.His leftist government broke with European allies in 2024 by recognising a Palestinian state, infuriating Israel.”Whenever I have seen him, he has been on the right side of history and also said it in a very clear way.” Sarandon said of Sanchez, describing him  as “handsome and tall”.Sanchez thanked Sarandon, writing on X that “it is so moving for me that someone the whole of Spain has admired and respected for years has made such a wonderful public statement about our country”.Sarandon is in Barcelona to receive a lifetime achievement honour at Spain’s top film awards, the Goyas.She won the 1996 Best Actress Oscar for “Dead Man Walking”, where she played a nun who supports a man sentenced to death.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least seven people on Friday, with the military confirming strikes throughout the territory in response to a “ceasefire violation” in the south.It is the latest violence in the Palestinian territory to come despite a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas which came into effect in October.The civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authorities, told AFP that a drone strike in the southern city of Khan Yunis shortly after midnight killed three people.An air strike on a tent for displaced people west of Khan Yunis in the afternoon killed another person, the agency said.Two others were killed by Israeli fire in separate incidents in the northern city of Beit Lahia, while a strike in central Gaza killed one more.When asked about the incidents by AFP, the Israeli military referred to a statement about several armed Hamas members exiting a tunnel in the Rafah area a day earlier, which it said constituted “a violation of the ceasefire agreement.””Shortly after, the troops alongside the Israeli Air Force struck and eliminated some of the terrorists in order to remove the threat,” the statement said.The military told AFP that strikes were conducted “throughout the strip” in response to the “ceasefire violation in the area of Rafah”.AFP footage from Khan Yunis on Friday showed men carrying the deceased through the streets wrapped in white plastic body bags before their loved ones paid their final respects.”Israeli aircraft bombed them mercilessly, without warning, without knowing whether they were civilians or soldiers,” said Ahmad Mohammad Joudeh, a Khan Yunis resident.”You just need to move, to meet with your neighbour, to gather with friends late at night at one or three in the morning, and they will strike you,” he added.- ‘Save us’ -Maher Shabat, an eyewitness, described the moment the drone struck in the early hours of Friday.”Young people started screaming, ‘Save us! Save us!’ We ran to reach them and arrived in that area, and they told us to go back, not to approach, because the drone was still overhead,” he told AFP.Violence has continued in the Palestinian territory despite the ceasefire entering its second phase last month, with Israel and Hamas trading accusations of violations. Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, says at least 618 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began.The Israeli military says at least five of its soldiers have been killed in the same period.Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.

The USS Gerald R. Ford — the world’s largest aircraft carrier — is currently deployed in the Mediterranean Sea and is expected to take part in strikes against Iran if US President Donald Trump decides to launch them.Washington has threatened military action against Tehran if talks fail to reach a replacement for the nuclear deal Trump tore up in 2018, and he has ordered the deployment of a massive military force — including the Ford — to the Middle East.Below are some key facts about the aircraft carrier.- Massive warship -The ship is the first Ford-class carrier — a new design that will gradually replace older Nimitz-class ships — and was commissioned by Trump in 2017. The $13-billion vessel embarked on its first deployment five years later in 2022.The carrier — powered by two nuclear reactors — displaces 100,000 long tons when fully loaded, is more than 1,100 feet (335 meters) long and can sail at more than 34 miles (55 kilometers) per hour.The ship is crewed by more than 4,000 sailors, carries dozens of warplanes, and is currently accompanied by three guided missile destroyers.- Eight months at sea -The Ford has been at sea for more than eight months — a deployment that has already seen it take part in US operations in the Caribbean, where Washington’s forces have carried out strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats, interdicted sanctioned tankers and seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.The carrier has suffered significant problems with its toilet system while at sea, with US media reporting clogs and long lines for restrooms on the ship.The issue is not new — a 2020 report from the US Government Accountability Office said the ship’s toilet system was subject to “unexpected and frequent clogging” and requires acid flushes on a regular basis to clear it, at a cost of $400,000 each time.The Navy acknowledged the reports of toilet problems in a statement on Thursday, but cited ship leadership as saying that “clog incidents are addressed promptly by trained damage control and engineering personnel, with minimal downtime.”- Middle East deployment -The Ford spent about three months in the Caribbean before Trump ordered it to sail for the Middle East earlier this month as tensions with Iran rose.It entered the Mediterranean on February 20, then sailed to the Greek island of Crete, where it took on food, fuel and ammunition at Souda Bay before departing on Thursday.Satellite imagery showed the ship around 410 miles (660 kilometers) from the Israeli port city of Haifa — where media reports indicate it is heading — as of Friday morning.

Under the shadow of a possible war between the United States and Iran, Israelis expressed weariness at the prospect of strikes on their country but said they were ever-prepared for a regional flare-up.”The threat of war is, for us, a kind of routine,” lawyer Maya Liya Cohen told AFP in the northern port city of Haifa.”No matter what happens, what we do, if it has anything to do with us or nothing to do with us, then we are under continuous threat,” she added.President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran, and the US is currently pressing its biggest military build-up in the Middle East in decades. If war erupts, Israel could end up in the firing line of its regional arch-foe.For Israelis, memories of missile barrages from Iran lie in the not too distant past.Israel launched unprecedented strikes on Iran last June, triggering retaliatory drone and missile attacks and sparking a 12-day war.The US briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.In Israel, the war killed 30 people and caused considerable damage, notably to a hospital and public institutions, including some army bases.The lingering threat of war has prompted Cohen to adopt round-the-clock preparedness.  “We always have a safe place. It’s actually our bedroom in our house,” Cohen explained.”We have water, we have an emergency kit, we always have things that are ready over there in case.”- ‘Become resilient’ -Shira Pinkas, a 52-year-old writer and yoga teacher living in the Tel Aviv suburb of Kiryat Ono, told AFP she was weary of the uncertainty but had a small suitcase ready just in case.Pinkas lives with her twin six-year-old daughters on the fifth floor of an apartment building.Like Cohen and many other Israelis, her apartment is equipped with a “mamad”, or reinforced room, but even with the shelter she said she did not feel safe.”Last time (in June), 10 minutes from here in Petah Tikva, there were people who had taken refuge in a mamad on the fifth floor and were killed by a missile,” she told AFP by phone.During that war, Pinkas said her family slept in her basement yoga studio a few streets away, and that she was preparing her daughters for the same possibility now.”A month ago, I was really stressed, I didn’t want to relive what I had experienced in June. But now I’m less stressed. We’re a bit jaded,” she said.”I find that to survive situations like this, when you don’t know what the future holds, whether or not there will be a threat to your life, to be able to cope with it all you have to change your perspective, become resilient.”Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin said in a video statement on Friday that “we are aware of the sense of uncertainty and the tension felt by the public in light of regional developments”.The military “is closely monitoring developments in Iran and remains alert and prepared to defend you”, he said.”We are operating in full coordination with our partners in order to strengthen our defensive posture,” he added, emphasising that the guidelines for the public had not changed.- ‘Prepared for everything’ -Trump has repeatedly threatened Tehran with fresh military action if it does not cut a deal with the United States.Iran said Friday that in order to reach a deal, the US will have to drop its “excessive demands”, tempering the optimism expressed after ongoing Oman-mediated talks seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war.The US on Friday authorised the departure of non-emergency embassy staff from Israel “due to safety risks”, saying that people who wished to leave should do so while flights were still available.But for Yehuda Goldberg, a communications company manager in Haifa, life was continuing largely as normal.”We’re always prepared for everything. But on the other hand, we’re living life to the full,” he told AFP.”To tell you it’s comfortable, to tell you it’s easy, it’s not. But we are definitely at the best time of the existence of the Jewish people in the world. We have our own country,” he added.”It is our honour and duty to defend our country, to defend our people.” 

The United States authorised the departure of non-emergency embassy staff from Israel on Friday, as it threatened strikes on Iran and pressed its biggest military build-up in the Middle East in decades.The move came a day after a round of Oman-mediated talks between Iran and the US seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war, though initial optimism was tempered by Tehran warning Washington must drop “excessive demands” to reach a deal.As the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, was due to arrive off the coast of ally Israel, the US embassy there announced it was allowing non-emergency government personnel and family members to leave “due to safety risks”. “Persons may wish to consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available,” the embassy said on its website. The New York Times reported that US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee sent an email to embassy staff on Friday morning saying that those wishing to leave “should do so TODAY”. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold talks Monday in Israel on Iran, the State Department announced.Growing fears of conflict spurred China to join other countries in warning its citizens to leave Iran “as soon as possible”. Britain too withdrew its embassy staff from Iran.- ‘Our right’ -Iranian and Omani officials presented Thursday’s talks in Geneva as positive, but the United States has not publically commented on their outcome. In their capital Tehran, ordinary Iranians expressed distrust of the United States and hoped negotiations would lead to economic reprieve for their sanctions-hit nation. The high cost of living had sparked protests in December that rocked Iran’s clerical leadership, leading to a crackdown that killed thousands of people according to rights groups.”Whatever the outcome of the negotiations… it should lead to some improvement in people’s economic situation. Not just a little — it is our right,” Ali Bagheri, 34, told AFP. Hamid Beiranvand, 42, said Iran should “not give any concessions” as Washington “breaks promises”, but that “everyone prefers that a war doesn’t happen”. – Talks to continue -Trump on February 19 gave Iran 15 days to reach a deal. While Iran has insisted discussions focus solely on nuclear issues, Washington wants Tehran’s missile programme and its support for militant groups curtailed.Without specifying what demands he was referring to, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that “success in this path requires seriousness and realism from the other side and avoidance of any miscalculation and excessive demands”.Following the talks, Araghchi told state TV the negotiations “made very good progress and entered into the elements of an agreement very seriously, both in the nuclear field and in the sanctions field”.He said the next round would take place in “perhaps less than a week”, with technical talks at the IAEA to begin in Vienna on Monday.Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi also cited “significant progress” in the talks on X. The IAEA confirmed the technical discussions and called on Iran to cooperate with it “constructively”, stressing “the utmost urgency” of its request to verify all its nuclear material, according to a confidential report seen by AFP. – ‘Extremely alarmed’ -Trump said in his State of the Union address this week that Iran was working on missiles that could reach the United States and accused Iran of “pursuing sinister nuclear ambitions”. Iran has always insisted its nuclear programme was peaceful and called the claims “big lies”.Trump’s accusations were delivered in the same forum in which then-president George W. Bush laid out the case for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.Washington already had more than a dozen warships in the Middle East, including another aircraft carrier, before deploying the Gerald R. Ford. A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that the US briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. The UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “extremely alarmed” at the risk of a regional escalation around Iran and raised concerns over domestic issues in Iran, where protests have resumed. “I hope the voice of reason prevails,” he said. burs-sw/ser