Archive July 2, 2025

In response to Israeli and US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities last month, President Masoud Pezeshkian has signed a law severing cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Iranian state TV reported on Wednesday that “Masoud Pezeshkian promulgated the law … interfering with the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

The announcement comes a week after Iran’s parliament passed a law requiring the IAEA to stop cooperating with Israel, citing Israel’s surprise surprise attack on Iran on June 13 and US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

IAEA inspectors won’t be able to visit nuclear sites without Iran’s Supreme National Security Council’s approval, according to the parliament resolution.

“These reports are known to us. The IAEA is awaiting Iran’s next official information, the organization stated in a statement.

Iranian officials have harshly criticized IAEA chief Rafael Grossi for rejecting Israeli and US strikes during the conflict, according to Iran’s foreign minister earlier this week.

Grossi has also received criticism from officials for a board resolution the IAEA passed on June 12 that accused Tehran of breaking its nuclear obligations.

According to Iranian officials, the resolution was one of the “excuses” for the 12 day-long Israeli attacks that started on June 13.

Grossi, the head of the IAEA, requested a visit to nuclear facilities that were bombed during the war, but Iran has also refrained.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X on Monday that Gorsi’s insistence on visiting the bombed sites under the pretext of safeguards was meaningless and possibly even malign in intent. Iran “reserves the right to pursue any defenses of its interests, its people, and its sovereignty.”

Pezeshkian earlier this week decried Grossi’s “destructive” behavior, while France, Germany, and the United Kingdom all decried unspecified “threats” directed at the IAEA chief.

The ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper in Iran recently argued that Grossi should be executed based on documents that revealed the spy’s identity to be an Israeli spy.

Grossi or the agency’s inspectors have been kept safe, according to Iran.

Israel’s surprise attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and military installations assassinated several senior military figures and scientists, starting the 12-day conflict. Israel was hit by a number of missile- and drone-firing waves by Tehran.

On June 22, Israel’s ally, the US, launched unprecedented strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities in Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz. On June 24, Iran and Israel reached a truce.

According to judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir, citing the most recent forensic evidence, at least 935 people have died as a result of Israeli attacks on Iran. 132 women and 38 children were among the deceased, Jahangir added.

According to Israeli authorities, 28 people were killed in retaliatory attacks by Iran.

Iran’s nuclear program was “obliterated,” according to US President Donald Trump, despite the extent of the damage’s nature.

Araghchi acknowledged that nuclear sites have suffered “serious” harm.

However, he stated in an interview with the US media outlet CBS Evening News that “one cannot destroy the technology and science through bombings.”

Australia has announced plans to tighten oversight of childcare facilities after a man in Melbourne was charged with dozens of sexual offences against children in his care.

The moves come after police in the southern state of Victoria announced on Tuesday that they had charged a 26-year-old childcare worker with more than 70 child sex offences, including rape.

The man, identified as Joshua Dale Brown, is accused of abusing eight victims, aged between five months and two years, at a childcare centre in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

Police have said they are also investigating evidence of abuse at a second childcare centre in the northwest of the city.

Authorities say the accused worked at 20 childcare facilities in total during an eight-year span that lasted until May.

Health authorities in Victoria have recommended that 1, 200 children linked to facilities where the man worked be tested for infectious diseases as a precautionary measure.

On Wednesday, Australian Education Minister Jason Clare said he would press ahead with legislation to strip funding from childcare facilities that do not meet adequate safety standards and examine other potential measures, including strengthening background checks for those working with minors.

“Any Australian who heard the news from Victoria yesterday would be sickened by what they heard”, Clare said during a news conference in Sydney.

“And for every parent that is directly affected by this in Victoria, they would be frightened and they’d be angry”.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said she would introduce a state register of childcare workers and ban personal devices at childcare centres from September.

Allan said her government would also commence an “urgent review” to examine options for improving safety in the sector, including potentially installing security cameras in childcare facilities.

“We will adopt every recommendation of the review and implement them as quickly as possible”, Allan said in a statement.

“Following yesterday, I know too many families are suffering unbearable pain and uncertainty. I cannot imagine what they are going through”.

The latest safety scare to engulf Australia’s childcare sector comes less than a year after a Queensland man pleaded guilty to sexually abusing dozens of girls at childcare centres in one of the worst paedophile cases in the country’s history.