Foreign
Iran strike narrowly missed Israeli nuclear plant
An Iranian missile strike has hit the town of Dimona in southern Israel, near to a nuclear facility.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was not aware of any damage to the nuclear research facility located about eight miles (13km) outside Dimona.
A report by the BBC quoted an Iranian state TV to have said the strike was in response to a reported attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility earlier on Saturday. The IAEA said “no increase in off-site radiation levels” had been reported after that incident.
Rafael Grossi, the IAEA’s director general, said “maximum military restraint should be observed, in particular in the vicinity of nuclear facilities”.
Israel’s ambulance service said it was treating 40 people following the strike in Dimona, including 37 with mild injuries and a 10-year-old boy in serious condition.
It said 68 others were being treated following a separate strike in the nearby town of Arad, including 47 with mild injuries and 10 in serious condition.
“This is a very severe scene,” emergency medical technician Yakir Talkar said in a statement describing Arad, adding there were “many wounded with varying degrees of injury”.
Israeli authorities are now investigating how missiles made it through air defence systems.
“In both Dimona and Arad, interceptors were launched that failed to hit the threats, resulting in two direct hits by ballistic missiles with warheads weighing hundreds of kilograms,” Israeli firefighters said.
The Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Centre – located in the Negev desert – is often referred to colloquially as the “Dimona reactor”. It is long accepted as holding Israel’s undeclared arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Officially, the site is said to focus solely on research. But for around six decades, it has been an open secret that Israel developed a nuclear bomb there, even if each succeeding government has maintained a position of ambiguity over this.
It has meant that Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East. So, any indication that it is being targeted is taken with the utmost seriousness by Israel.
Both Israel and the US have set the elimination of any possible Iranian capacity to develop a nuclear bomb as the key aim of the war.
Iran’s own Atomic Energy Organisation (AEOI) described the attack on Natanz as a violation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, though it said “no leakage of radioactive materials” was reported and there was “no danger to residents of the surrounding areas”.
Natanz was also targeted in the first days of the war, which started on 28 February, by US-Israeli strikes, as well as during the 12-day war in June.
Asked about Natanz on Saturday, the Israel Defence Forces told Israeli and international media that it was not aware of a strike in the area.
Prime Minister of Hungary Péter Magyar on Monday scolded Viktor Orbán for not paying attention to the problems affecting Hungarians while focusing on issues in other countries.
In a speech after the electoral victory, Magyar assured his administration would refrain from interfering in the domestic affairs of other nations, urging foreign governments to do the same.
The prime minister noted that Orbán played a five-dimensional chess game, saying the attitude was probably one of the reasons for his defeat at the polls.
According to Magyar, his predecessor often talked about Ukraine, Russia, Iran, the Iranian Shah, the Iranian Ayatollah, and the United States presidential election.
“If he had been woken from his sleep, he would have said that he won the US presidential election, not Donald Trump,” the PM mocked.
Magyar criticized the Kremlin and advised Europe to prepare to protect itself. “The Russian state is a security risk,” he declared, recalling Hungary “felt the Russian bear before.”
The leader vowed his government will do “everything for diversification” of Hungary and Russia, but clarified that Budapest will not “decouple” relations with Moscow.
The PM, however, expressed opposition to Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the EU: “It is absolutely absurd for a country at war to be admitted to the European Union.”
Magyar also said he will not initiate a phone conversation with President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin but will respond if the leaders or their officials reach out.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday declined a detailed response to Magyar’s comment that he will not engage in negotiations with Russia
“We are ready to build relations with the new government,” the diplomat told reporters. “Much will depend on how it defines and pursues its national interests.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has removed an artificial intelligence-generated image of himself from social media after it sparked widespread backlash from religious groups and commentators who described it as offensive and inappropriate.
The image, originally shared on his Truth Social account late Sunday, portrayed Trump in flowing robes with a glowing hand placed on a seemingly ill individual, while other figures appeared to look on in reverence. An American flag was also visible in the background of the scene.
The post was deleted on Monday following growing criticism, including strong reactions from Christian leaders who accused the president of crossing a line with religious symbolism.
Responding to questions about the image, Trump denied any intent to portray himself as Jesus Christ. “I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do Red Cross,” he told reporters. “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
However, the explanation did little to calm concerns, as several religious commentators and conservative Christian voices within his political base condemned the post as disrespectful.
Among the critics was journalist Megan Basham, who described the image as “OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy” and called for an immediate apology. She further urged the president to retract the post and seek forgiveness.
The controversy also drew a formal response from the Knights Templar, which publicly condemned the image and demanded an apology, arguing that the depiction disrespected core Christian beliefs.
This is not the first time Trump has faced scrutiny over religious-themed imagery. In previous instances, he has shared or been associated with posts placing him alongside biblical figures or in symbolic religious settings, often drawing mixed reactions from supporters and critics alike.
Some of his close allies have also previously used religious comparisons in describing his political role, further intensifying debates about the intersection of politics, personality, and religious symbolism in his public communications.
The latest incident has reignited discussion over the use of AI-generated imagery in political messaging and the boundaries of religious representation in modern digital campaigning.
A senior US official denied on Saturday a report saying Washington had agreed to release Iran’s frozen assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks.
Iranian and US delegations have arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan for talks aimed at ending the war in the Middle East.
Tehran earlier said any agreement on a permanent end to fighting must include the unfreezing of sanctioned Iranian assets and an end to Israel’s war on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
An unnamed “senior Iranian source” told news outlet Reuters that the United States had agreed to unfreeze the assets and that the move was directly linked to ensuring safe passage in the Strait of Hormuz.
In a message from the White House, a senior US official responded to the report saying, “False. The meetings have not even started yet.”
On Saturday, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met US Vice President JD Vance in Islamabad, the former’s office said, adding that peace talks to end the Middle East war had “commenced.”
AFP
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