Iran hosts trilateral meeting with China and Saudi Arabia

Kamalvandi said the current safeguards agreement under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was written for “normal circumstances” and provides no clear mechanism for facilities that have come under attack. “The safeguards agreement was not designed for wartime situations and therefore needs to be updated,” he told IRNA.

He added that Iran remains committed to the NPT and its verification framework but said the agency’s political approach has complicated cooperation. “When a country is attacked, it cannot be expected to immediately allow inspectors into damaged sites, because that could mean handing sensitive information to its enemies,” Kamalvandi said.

The spokesman said Tehran would continue cooperating with the IAEA over undamaged facilities, but for those hit during recent strikes, “a new legal understanding is needed.” He said the safeguards regime allows for such revisions under its articles 20–22, which permit amendments in exceptional circumstances.

IAEA 'accepted Iran’s point' in Cairo talks

Kamalvandi also revealed that during recent discussions in Cairo, IAEA officials had effectively acknowledged Iran’s legal argument, accepting that the existing safeguards framework does not fully address post-conflict conditions. “Their agreement in Cairo shows that they understood our point — the current text cannot respond to the realities after the 12-day war,” he said.

He stressed that any future cooperation with the agency must ensure that Iran’s security and classified information are protected, saying Tehran is prepared to propose new verification methods “compatible with the realities of a conflict environment.”

“Our main goal is to find a path within the law,” Kamalvandi said. “We are not closing the door to cooperation, but the rules must reflect the conditions that Iran — or any country under attack — faces.”

Foreign minister warns of radiation risk at bombed nuclear sites

Meanwhile, earlier this week Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran faces “security threats and safety concerns” after strikes on its nuclear facilities during the 12-day war in June, warning of potential radiation leaks from damaged sites.

In an interview with Japan’s Kyodo News published on Sunday, Araghchi said the attacks had created “serious dangers,” including possible contamination and unexploded ordnance.

Araghchi added that while Tehran remains open to new nuclear talks if Washington shows “a logic of confidence-building,” IAEA inspections cannot resume at damaged facilities until “clear protocols” are established to protect both safety and sovereignty.

“During just one week, emergency departments nationwide recorded over 170,000 pollution-related visits,” Raisi said on Tuesday, noting that cases had risen by 20 to 25 percent compared with normal levels. “Most of these patients came from the 11 provinces with the highest pollution, showing the scale of the crisis,” he added.

Raisi said the Health Ministry estimates the annual health cost of pollution at about $17 billion, and that more than 59,000 people died last year from diseases linked to poor air quality.

Citing World Health Organization data, Raisi said most Iranian cities suffer from dangerously high levels of pollutants. “Tehran had only 14 clean-air days last year, Isfahan 16, Mashhad 28, and Ahvaz just two,” he said. “This means a large part of the population is exposed to hazardous air nearly all year.”

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  Air pollution killed seven Iranians every hour last year, official says

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  ‘We can’t breathe’: Iranians recount daily toll of persistent smog

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  Toxic air tightens grip on Iran, triggering widespread alerts

He said particles smaller than 2.5 microns “enter the bloodstream quickly and are proven causes of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and severe respiratory disorders.”

Tehran suffers record air pollution, Shargh reports

The reformist daily Shargh said the current Iranian year, 1404, has been Tehran’s worst for air pollution in at least two decades, with more than half of all days so far classified as polluted. “In no previous year have the data been this dark,” wrote analyst Ali Pirhosseinlou in a Tuesday commentary.

He said the number of “acceptable” air-quality days has dropped to about one-third of the year, while at least four days so far have seen daily air quality index readings above 200 — considered “very unhealthy.”

“The situation is worse than at any time in the past two decades,” Shargh wrote. “There is no plan to control the sources of pollution. No effort to renew diesel fleets, improve fuel quality, or reduce traffic. Instead, the municipality has restricted access to air-quality data.”

The paper concluded: “This is not interpretation – it is reality.”

The briefing, described by several participants, said Iran is rapidly restoring its missile manufacturing capacity after suffering heavy damage in June strikes.

The IDF official warned that Tehran’s missile program is “recovering at a fast pace” and remains a top strategic priority for Iran’s military planners.

The warning came as Iran intensified missile and drone testing during large-scale military exercises in the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea.

Last week, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy said a new missile tested during the drills had a range beyond the length of the Persian Gulf, without specifying the exact distance. “The Persian Gulf is 1,375 kilometers long – this missile’s range is beyond that,” Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said on state television.

Tangsiri said the weapon, built domestically by the IRGC Navy, “can be guided after launch” and demonstrated “very high precision.” State media said the exercises also involved ballistic and cruise missile fire, drone operations, and air defense maneuvers around the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s southern islands.

Iran’s missiles have a declared range of up to 2,000 kilometers, which officials say is sufficient for deterrence and covers Israel. The United States and its allies have urged Tehran to limit missile development to under 500 kilometers — a demand Iran has repeatedly rejected.

Following the top three, RSF listed the next biggest jailers in order as Belarus, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Iran, Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia. 21 journalists are currently imprisoned in Iran, it added, and one remains missing.

“This is where impunity for these crimes leads us,” RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin said in a statement.

“The failure of international organizations that are no longer able to ensure journalists’ right to protection in armed conflicts is the consequence of a global decline in the courage of governments, which should be implementing protective public policies,” it added.

The report dedicates separate sections to journalists working in war zones, including Russia, Ukraine, Sudan and Syria, warning that these environments have become increasingly deadly.

“About 43% of the journalists slain in the past 12 months were killed in Gaza by Israeli armed forces. In Ukraine, the Russian army continues to target foreign and Ukrainian reporters. Sudan has also emerged as an exceptionally deadly war zone for news professionals,” the report said.

Exiled journalists

RSF also places Iran among the top 10 countries whose journalists receive its assistance while in exile. The list includes Afghanistan, Russia, Sudan, Iran, Belarus, Myanmar, El Salvador and Kyrgyzstan.

“Out of over 40 media outlets supported by the RSF Assistance Office over the last 12 months, 19 were Afghanistan, Russia, Sudan, Iran, Belarus, Myanmar, El Salvador and Kyrgyzstan newsrooms that continued to produce journalism in exile,” the report noted.

More than half of the journalists who applied for RSF emergency assistance in 2025 had been forced into exile, coming from 44 countries.

“2025 will be remembered as the year press freedom died in plain sight,” the report concludes, urging targeted sanctions on officials and entities responsible for the surveillance and detention of journalists.

Following widespread protests that began in September 2022 in Iran, repression of the press intensified and shows no sign of easing.

The crackdown coincides with increased pressure after the outbreak of war between Iran and Israel in June, which over 700 people have been arrested on allegations of collaboration with Israel.

United Nations experts have urged Iran to end the post-ceasefire repression, warning that “post-conflict situations must not be used as an opportunity to suppress dissent and increase repression.”

“Unfortunately, in the past two weeks, I was summoned to these agencies because some fellow Jews posted comments and liked false content, causing misunderstandings among the country's intelligence agencies,” Najafabadi said in an open letter published on his Telegram channel.

Najafabadi called on members of the Jewish community in Iran to refrain from leaving comments or likes on social media that might cause suspicion.

“You are requested, if you have published any unusual, sensitive, or misconstruable comments or likes in cyberspace, to delete them as soon as possible,” the letter said.

‘Unfollow IDF’

“If you are a member of channels and pages of the Zionist regime, including Israel in Persian, and other hostile pages and channels, it is essential to immediately unfollow and cancel membership,” the letter added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) maintains a series of active accounts and channels on social media platforms such as X, Instagram, Facebook and Telegram in Persian.

“Continuing membership in the mentioned channels or failing to delete comments and likes could lead to judicial problems, and pursuing and resolving the issue in the future will become much more difficult,” it said.

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The letter is the latest document in an extensive campaign by Iranian intelligence agencies against the Jewish community, which has intensified after a 12-day war with Israel in June.

Since the recent military confrontation with Israel, dozens of Iranian Jews have been arrested on charges of "collaboration with hostile regimes.”

Kamran Hekmati, a 70-year-old Jewish man from New York, a father and grandfather who runs a jewelry business and holds dual American-Iranian citizenship, is currently detained. Rights groups, colleagues, and friends say he is being questioned over a past trip to Israel.

Hekmati was sentenced to prison in Iran for a trip he made 13 years ago to Israel to hold a ceremony for his son.

According to Israeli media reports, before the 1979 revolution, about 80,000 to 100,000 Jews lived in Iran, but today their number has decreased to fewer than 10,000.