Category World News

Tehran, Iran – Hardline lawmakers in Iran have once again demanded the country start building a nuclear bomb as Western powers are days away from reimposing United Nations sanctions amid concerns war could restart with Israel.

Led by a lawmaker from the ultraconservative holy Shia city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, 70 members of parliament signed onto a letter calling for a “change in the defence doctrine” of the theocratic establishment.

The letter, published by the state-run Fars news website, was not directly addressed to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei because his commands cannot be second-guessed by other authorities. Instead, it was directed at members of the Supreme National Security Council, which is in charge of the nuclear file and includes the president, judiciary and parliament chiefs.

Iran has long argued that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes and it has no intention of pursuing an atomic bomb, even though archnemesis Israel is known to be the only nuclear-armed power in the region.

The lawmakers argued that a fatwa, or an ultimate religious ruling, issued by Khamenei about two decades ago that prohibits the use of nuclear bombs does not technically forbid building or keeping them as deterrence.

They warned that Israel “has reached the brink of madness”, “attacks without respecting any international obligations and kills innocent people”.

Such rhetoric has intensified significantly among the more hardline elements of Iran’s establishment in the aftermath of Israel’s surprise attacks on Iran in June that triggered a 12-day war and also saw Washington intervene on Israel’s behalf and bomb Iran’s main nuclear facilities.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council announced on Sunday that cooperation is now suspended with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after action by France, Germany and the United Kingdom to reimpose international sanctions.

The European powers, known as the E3, are remaining signatories of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that United States President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned in 2018 and followed with tough sanctions. Despite strong opposition by China and Russia, which also negotiated and signed the 2015 nuclear agreement, the E3 triggered the “snapback” mechanism of the landmark accord and secured a vote at the UN Security Council last week.

All UN sanctions lifted as part of the 2015 deal will be reinstated by Sunday if there is no breakthrough agreement with Iran, which appears unlikely in the limited time left.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in New York early on Monday as the head of a delegation to hold negotiations with European and other powers. President Masoud Pezeshkian will be heading there on Tuesday to participate in the UN General Assembly, which will be heavily focused on Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and recognition of a Palestinian state.

Last week, Araghchi presented what he called an “actionable plan” to his European counterparts, which media reports said included Iran recovering and diluting its supply of highly enriched uranium in exchange for deferring the snapback sanctions.

The diplomat said Iran was “faced with a litany of excuses and outright deflection, including the farcical claim that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not represent the entire political establishment”. He emphasised that he has the “full support” of the establishment, including the Supreme National Security Council.

On behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I yesterday presented a reasonable and actionable plan to E3/EU counterparts to avert an unnecessary and avoidable crisis in the coming days.

Instead of being met with engagement on the substance of this plan, Iran is now faced with a…

Nuclear power plants deal with Russia

As the West ramps up pressure, Iran continues to huddle with China and Russia and tries to emphasise that Israel poses a threat to regional stability, particularly after its strikes on Qatar aimed at assassinating Hamas leaders.

On Monday, Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, arrived in Moscow to hold nuclear negotiations and attend the Russian Energy Week forum.

In Moscow, he told Iranian state television that the two countries will sign an agreement in the coming days that would see Russia build eight nuclear power plants in Iran. Eslami said four are envisaged in Bushehr, where there is an existing plant, and four in other unnamed locations to be determined by Iran.

This agreement comes as Iran has been facing an energy crisis and rolling blackouts for years, particularly in the summer, and it is seeking to produce 20,000 megawatts of power through nuclear energy.

Reza Salehi Amiri, Iran’s tourism minister, told local media on Monday that China is Iran’s largest trading partner “and we want it to be our top partner in tourism as well”.

Six unnamed traders cited by the Reuters news agency last week said Iran has increased its discounts for oil sold in China as the US piles up sanctions to drive down Iranian exports. For years, Iran has also kept tens of millions of barrels of oil in floating storage as part of a shadow fleet to circumvent sanctions.

Mohammad Reza Araf, Iran’s first vice president, said during a local meeting on Monday that the government has devised plans to manage the country’s ailing economy in case UN sanctions are reinstated. He did not provide details but said they include “livelihood and special support packages”.

Iran has already been resorting to cash handouts and various other schemes for years as a persistent inflation rate of more than 35 percent decimates its 90 million people.

Iran’s currency, the rial, hovered around 1.05 million to the US dollar in the open market in Tehran on Monday, which is near its all-time low registered at the start of September when the snapback mechanism was first triggered.

The country has headed into what is known as “holy defence week”, a period that marks eight years of fighting off an invasion by neighbouring Iraq in the 1980s, which was led by President Saddam Hussein, who was armed by both the West and the East. The Iran-Iraq War killed hundreds of thousands of people.

United States President Donald Trump on Friday dramatically ramped up the application fee for companies hiring employees on H-1B worker visas, the principal mechanism for firms to bring in workers with specialised skills from around the world in fields ranging from technology to teaching.

The increase, to $100,000 per application, is meant to deter companies from using the programme to bring in foreign workers at current levels, amid a growing and heated debate within the US on immigration.

However, the hike in fees has also led to confusion, set off worries over its effect on the US tech sector, and raised questions about who really gained from H-1B visas, how that has changed over the years, and who might lose out most with the revised rules.

What has the Trump administration announced?

Through a proclamation that the US president signed, his administration decreed that starting 12:01am ET (04:01 GMT) on Sunday, companies must pay $100,000 per H-1B application.

The fees previously ranged from $2,000 to $5,000, based on the size of the company applying for the visa.

“The fee is a one-time fee on submission of a new H-1B petition,” the White House said, explaining Trump’s proclamation.

It added that the rules do not apply to people who already hold H-1B visas or those who submitted their applications before September 21.

Separately, the Department of Labor is updating prevailing wage rules to ensure H-1B visas go to only highly qualified foreign workers, the White House said. Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security will prioritise high-skilled, higher-paid applicants in the H-1B lottery over those earning less, it added, also saying that other reforms to the H-1B visa system are under consideration.

What’s the Trump administration’s rationale for the visa fee hike?

The H-1B visa was introduced as part of a series of visa reforms that the US introduced in 1990 under President George HW Bush.

It lets companies hire foreign workers with specialised skills for up to six years in the US.

But critics have long argued that it is misused by recruitment firms to bring in workers at wages lower than what companies would have to pay US employees, both scamming the system and at the same time taking away jobs that would have otherwise gone to Americans.

The current minimum annual salary that companies are supposed to pay H-1B visa recipients is $60,000, whereas critics argue that a US tech worker would receive $100,000 or more for the same job.

“If you’re going to train somebody, you’re going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Friday.

Where do most H-1B visa holders come from?

Indian tech workers constitute the bulk of H-1B visa recipients.

In 2024, for instance, Indians received 71 percent of approved H-1B visas, followed by Chinese nationals in second place with 11.7 percent, according to US government data.

The Filipinos were third, accounting for 1.3 percent of approved H-1B visas; Canadians were in fourth place, accounting for 1.1 percent; and South Koreans were in fifth place, accounting for 1 percent.

But when it comes to the companies actually recruiting these workers and applying for visas on their behalf, the picture becomes more complex and reflects a shifting pattern.

(Al Jazeera)

Which companies have received the most H-1B visas historically?

Historically, Indian technology companies have brought the most employees holding H-1B visas to the US, taking the top four spots between 2009 and 2025.

According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data, between 2009 and June 30, 2025:

• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), an Indian multinational IT and consulting firm based in Mumbai, received the most H-1B visas: 98,259.
• Cognizant, born in India’s Chennai in the 1990s but now a US company, is in second place with 92,435 visas.
• Infosys, with its headquarters in India’s Bengaluru, comes next, with 87,654 visas.
• Wipro, also based out of Bengaluru, is in fourth place, with 77,289 visas.

Yet a look at recent years suggests a change has been under way.

Which companies have received the most H-1B visas recently?

Between 2015 and 2025, TCS, Cognizant and Infosys remained in the top three spots, but the fourth and fifth places were taken over by US technology giants Microsoft and Google, respectively.

Since 2020, the shift has been more dramatic, with US tech company Amazon topping the list (43,375), and Google (35,736) and Microsoft (35,356) taking the fourth and fifth spots.

Infosys (43,332 visas) and TCS (38,138) took the second and third positions, respectively.

Even more recent data points to a breakdown very different from what it was a decade ago.

In the first six months of 2025, TCS is the only Indian company in the top-10 H-1B visa recipients, with 5,505 visas. Cognizant, with its Indian roots, comes in at seventh place. Led by Amazon (10,044 visas), the rest of the leaderboard in terms of H-1B visa recipients is dominated by the who’s who of US tech, banking, consulting and retail: Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Google, JP Morgan Chase, Walmart and Deloitte.

What is behind this shift?

As scrutiny of the H-1B programme grew during Trump’s first term, top Indian companies which recruit foreign talent for US jobs began hiring more Americans.

During his first term, Trump described the H-1B programme as “very, very bad” for American workers. A few months before his first term ended in 2020, he temporarily banned H-1B visas, but the ban was overturned by a federal court.

By January 2025, more than half of TCS workers in the US were locally hired, company CEO K Krithivasan told Indian news channel CNBC-TV18.

Still, Indian tech majors have continued to face questions over their hiring practices in the US.

What allegations do Indian tech firms face in the US?

A former TCS employee sued the company in 2024, alleging that it had fired American workers in favour of younger graduates or employees of Indian or South Asian origin on temporary work visas. The lawsuit accused the company of violating federal and state laws against discrimination — charges that TCS has denied.

The case was filed by Randy Devorin in the Southern District Court of Florida and has since been transferred to the District of New Jersey. Devorin was terminated from his position in September 2023. In May this year, District Judge Brian R Martinotti denied a motion filed by TCS to dismiss some of the claims made against it.

The company has previously also faced similar allegations from other US employees.

But Indian firms are not the only ones that have been accused of racial or ethnic discrimination in hiring and firing practices.

On September 12, a class-action lawsuit was filed in a San Francisco federal court against Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company, Tesla. The suit alleged that Tesla violates federal civil law to hire foreigners by “systematic preference” and to fire a disproportionate number of US citizens.

The complaint stated that Tesla relies heavily on H-1B visa holders for skilled labour. In 2024, Tesla reportedly hired about 1,355 workers on H-1B visas while laying off more than 6,000 employees, most of whom were believed to be US citizens.

Musk, who sat next to Trump during the memorial of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk on Sunday, has long been a proponent of H-1B visas. Originally from South Africa, Musk once held an H-1B visa before becoming a naturalised US citizen.

In 2024, he wrote on his X platform: “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H-1B.”

Have Trump’s positions on the H-1B visa changed?

Yes, the US president has flip-flopped on the visa programme.

After criticising it during his first term in office, he offered a much more glowing review of it in December 2024. “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times,” he told The New York Post, describing it as a “great” programme.

Yet key sections of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) political constituency have been increasingly calling for H-1B visas to be scrapped, or for the programme to be dramatically overhauled.

Brazil has witnessed widespread demonstrations against a bill that could allow former president Jair Bolsonaro and others who were convicted of participating in a coup attempt in 2023 to be amnesty.