International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors returned to Iran for the first time after being expelled following Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear program in June. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that the inspectors would observe the changing of fuel at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. Araqchi also said that Iran had not yet reached an agreement with the IAEA for additional inspections.
News Briefs
August 12, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised interview that Iran retained 400 kilograms of enriched uranium which was not destroyed during Israeli and U.S. strikes against Iranian nuclear sites in June. Netanyahu claimed that Iran was no longer in a position to advance its nuclear program as a result of the strikes.
-- i24 News
August 9, 2025
Iran sent its nuclear scientists into hiding following its June war with Israel, according to an unnamed Iranian official. The scientists were moved to secure locations in Tehran and other cities in northern Iran. Israeli authorities allegedly maintain a list of approximately 100 surviving scientists and have implied that additional assassinations could take place if the scientists continue their work. Israel killed more than 30 Iranian researchers during the war.
-- The Telegraph
August 6, 2025
Iran executed Roozbeh Vadi, a nuclear scientist accused of spying for Israel. Vadi was a graduate of Amir Kabir University, and according to the university's alumni network he was working at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI)'s Research Institute for Nuclear Science. Iran's Ministry of Intelligence claimed that it has arrested 20 individuals connected to Israel. Human rights groups said that Iran has executed 10 people accused of spying for Israel since the brief war between the two countries in June.
-- New York Times
August 5, 2025
A delegation of Iranian nuclear scientists and procurement agents traveled to Moscow in August 2024 to visit Russian companies that produce dual-use technologies, according to documents reviewed by FT. The delegation was led by Ali Kalvand, the director of Tehran-based consulting firm DamavandTec, and its members included scientists and businessmen linked to Iran's Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND). The delegation visited two companies owned by a Russian nuclear scientist and vacuum technology expert that produce klystrons and electron accelerators, which have applications in nuclear weapons testing. Kalvand had earlier written to a Russian nuclear isotope supplier to request radioactive isotope samples including tritium, which has applications in nuclear implosion testing and boosting the yield of nuclear warheads.
-- Financial Times
July 23, 2025
Iran has agreed to host a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the coming weeks, an indication that it may allow international inspectors to resume monitoring nuclear work in the country. However, Iranian officials did not offer assurance that inspectors would eventually be allowed to visit Iran’s key nuclear sites of Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, which were struck by the United States. Following U.S. and Israeli air strikes, Iran enacted a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA and inspectors subsequently left the country for safety reasons. European foreign ministers told Iran that the reimposition of U.N. sanctions might be delayed if Tehran resumed cooperation with the IAEA.
-- Wall Street Journal
July 21, 2025
Iran tested its Ghased (Qased) satellite carrier rocket with a suborbital flight. It was the first Iranian test of a space launch vehicle (SLV) since the brief war between Iran and Israel in June. The Ghased SLV was developed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and first unveiled in 2020.
-- Associated Press
July 21, 2025
Brian Assi (Brahim Assi), a Lebanon–based salesman for a multinational heavy-machinery maker with a U.S. subsidiary in Alachua, Florida, was sentenced to 44 months in prison for a scheme to export two U.S.-origin blasthole drill rigs to Iran via Turkey and Iraq. Assi conspired with Tehran-based Sakht Abzar Pars Co. to carry out the illegal export, in which he arranged for an Iraq-based distributor to purchase the machinery and used freight forwarders to ship it to Iraq and Turkey. His Iran-based co-conspirators then intended to re-export the machines from Turkey to Iran. As part of the scheme, Assi entered false information into the U.S. Automated Export System (AES) database and falsely informed his employer that the Iraq-based distributor was the ultimate consignee for the drill rigs. Assi and his co-conspirators also caused approximately USD $2.7 million from the illicit transaction in Turkey to pass through the U.S. financial system.
-- U.S. Department of Justice
July 21, 2025
The European Union imposed sanctions on Hossein Shamkhani, a major Iranian oil trader, and several of his companies as part of the latest restrictive measures against Russia. Shamkhani was sanctioned for his role in trading Russia oil and acting as a “central player” in the “shadow fleet” of vessels Russia uses to circumvent restrictions on oil sales. Admiral Group and Milavous Group Ltd, two of Shamkhani’s Dubai-based firms, were also sanctioned by the EU. According to an investigation by Bloomberg News, Shamkhani’s network is heavily involved in exports of Russian and Iranian oil and has set up a hedge fund with offices in London, Dubai, and Geneva to manage the revenues from these exports.
-- RBC Ukraine
July 21, 2025
In an interview, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Iran will not give up its uranium enrichment program despite U.S. insistence and that “serious” damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities was caused by U.S. airstrikes. Araghchi would not comment on the fate of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile, but said that all enrichment activities had ceased for the time being and that the extent of the damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities is being evaluated by the atomic energy organization.
-- Fox News