Nuclear Energy

France prepares to host Iran’s foreign minister in Paris for high-stakes talks on nuclear and regional tensions.

France will host Iran’s foreign minister in Paris this week for talks that are set to include stalled nuclear negotiations.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed on Monday that his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi will arrive on Wednesday for discussions that Paris hopes will nudge Iran back into full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as part of a defunct nuclear deal.

“This will be an opportunity for us to call on Iran to comply with its obligations towards the IAEA and for a swift resumption of cooperation with the agency,” Barrot said ahead of the meeting.

French officials also plan to raise the status of two French nationals who were released from detention in Iran but remain unable to leave the country. Both are currently staying inside the French embassy in Tehran, and Paris has repeatedly pressed for their return.

The Paris meeting comes as Tehran has signalled it sees little urgency in resuming indirect talks with the United States over the future of its nuclear programme.

Earlier this month, Iran declared it was “not in a hurry” to restart negotiations, despite mounting pressure following the return of United Nations sanctions and growing economic strain.

Araghchi reiterated that position in an interview with Al Jazeera, saying Tehran remained open to dialogue if Washington approaches talks “from an equal position based on mutual interest”.

He dismissed reported US conditions – including demands for direct talks, zero enrichment, restrictions on missile capabilities, and curbs on support for regional allies – as “illogical and unfair”.

“It appears they are not in a hurry,” he said. “We are not in a hurry, either.”

Tehran’s top diplomat also argued that regional politics are shifting in Iran’s favour.

Referring to the Israeli prime minister, he said: “I sometimes tell my friends that Mr [Benjamin] Netanyahu is a war criminal who has committed every atrocity, but did something positive in proving to the entire region that Israel is the main enemy, not Iran, and not any other country.”

A planned sixth round of indirect US–Iran nuclear talks collapsed in June after Israel attacked Iranian nuclear sites, triggering a 12-day war that killed more than 1,000 people in Iran and caused billions of dollars in damage.

The two sides reached a ceasefire after the US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.

US President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a deal between the US, Iran, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, China and the European Union that saw Tehran curtail its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iran has since continued to violate provisions of the agreement, arguing that the US withdrawal has nullified the deal. Iranian officials maintain that the country is only developing its nuclear programme for civilian purposes.

UN sanctions against Iran were reimposed in September as part of the 2015 agreement’s “snapback” mechanism.

Foreign minister says Iran has not been enriching uranium at any of its sites since Israel and the US bombed them.

Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities maintain that the United States and its allies are set on a forceful approach over the country’s nuclear programme, so negotiations appear far off.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has left no room for talks by repeatedly presenting “maximalist demands”, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday at a news conference in Tehran.

“The current approach of the US government in no way shows readiness for an equal and fair negotiation to secure mutual interests,” he said on the sidelines of the state-organised Tehran Dialogue Forum, which diplomats and envoys from across the region attended.

Iranian officials said they have been receiving messages from neighbouring countries that are trying to mediate and keep the peace. A letter from Araghchi was also delivered to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Sunday that deals with Iran, the ceasefire in Gaza and other issues, according to Iranian media.

Araghchi said communication channels remain open with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well. Iran’s envoy to Vienna, where the nuclear watchdog is based, was joined on Friday by counterparts from China and Russia in a meeting with the representatives of the United Nations agency.

“There’s no enrichment right now because our nuclear enrichment facilities have been attacked,” the foreign minister said at the news conference. “Our message is clear: Iran’s right for peaceful use of nuclear energy, including enrichment, is undeniable, and we will continue to exercise it.”

Last week, the latest IAEA confidential report on Iran’s nuclear programme was leaked to Western media, which reported that the UN agency has not been able to verify Iran’s stockpile of 60 percent-enriched uranium since its facilities were bombed and severely damaged by the US and Israel in June.

The IAEA said it needed “long overdue” inspections of seven of the sites targeted during the war, including Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.

Iran has granted the IAEA access to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and the Tehran Research Reactor but has said security and safety conditions have not been met for inspections at other facilities as the high-enriched uranium stays buried.

Another resolution?

Iranian officials signalled over the weekend that three European powers – France, the United Kingdom and Germany – which were part of the country’s now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, may be mobilising to introduce another Iran-focused resolution to the IAEA’s board.

Iran responded to several previous censure resolutions with escalations in uranium enrichment, and Israel launched its June attacks on Iran a day after the IAEA passed a European-tabled resolution that found Tehran noncompliant with its nuclear safeguards commitments.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Sunday, the deputy for international and legal affairs in Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, said Iran “reserves the right to reconsider its approaches” if a new resolution moves through.

He said the three European countries’ effort was a US-backed move to reinstate UN sanctions against Iran despite strong opposition from China and Russia last month and it “eliminated them from the field of dialogue and diplomacy with Iran”.

“Another resolution will bear no additional pressure on Iran, but the message it will send shows that collaboration and coordination are not important to them,” Gharibabadi said.

Iran’s nuclear programme chief, Mohammad Eslami, also slammed the West and the IAEA, telling reporters on Sunday that the UN agency is being used for political purposes, which “enforces double standards and a law of the jungle that must be stopped”.

“The attacks on Iran’s facilities were unprecedented. It was the first time that nuclear facilities under agency supervision were attacked, which meant a violation of international law, but the IAEA did not condemn the attacks,” Eslami said.

Iran’s military commanders continue to signal defiance as well. Defence Minister Amir Hatami told a meeting of lawmakers on Sunday that armed forces have been “sparing no moment in improving defence capabilities” after the 12-day war with Israel.

Tensions remain high in the region after the war with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday confirming that it seized a Cyprus-registered tanker that transited through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s near-bomb-grade uranium stockpile ‘a matter of serious concern’ after 12-day war with Israel, watchdog says.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not been able to verify Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium since Israel and the United States struck the country’s nuclear sites back in June, according to a new report.

The watchdog circulated a confidential report to member states, claiming it had been unable to carry out “long overdue” inspections of seven of the sites targeted in the so-called 12-day war, including major facilities Fordo and Natanz.

The report, seen by several news agencies, said the watchdog needed to verify “inventories of previously declared nuclear material” to settle concerns over “the possible diversion of declared nuclear material from peaceful use”.

While the report criticised Iran’s lack of cooperation, it did say that IAEA inspectors would be visiting the country on Wednesday to conduct inspections at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre site, located some 350km (215 miles) southeast of Tehran

During the war, Israel struck buildings at the Isfahan site, among them a uranium conversion facility. The US also struck Isfahan with missiles.

Iran suspended all cooperation with the IAEA after the war with Israel, but went on to reach an agreement in Cairo at the beginning of September to resume inspections.

But later that same month, the United Nations reimposed crushing sanctions on Iran, drawing an angry response from Tehran and leading the country to halt implementation of the Cairo agreement.

In August, European powers had reimposed the UN sanctions after Iran failed to enter into direct talks with the US and clarify the status of its near weapons-grade uranium stockpile.

‘A matter of serious concern’

The US and Israel claimed they attacked Iran because it was getting too close to being able to produce a nuclear weapon.

Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful, and the IAEA has said it has no credible indication of a coordinated weapons programme there.

Ever since the 12-day war, the agency has been calling on Iran to say what happened to its stock, which is enriched to up to 60 percent purity, a short step from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.

Iran’s near-bomb-grade uranium stockpile was “a matter of serious concern”, said the report. In theory, the stockpile would be enough to produce about 10 nuclear bombs.

While some enriched uranium will have been destroyed in the attacks, diplomats say much of the stock was likely stored at a deeply buried facility at Isfahan where the entrance tunnels were hit, but damage appears limited.

The agency has so far only inspected some of the 13 nuclear facilities that were “unaffected” by Israeli and US attacks. It said that re-establishing a full picture of stocks would be arduous.

Justice Minister German Galushchenko allegedly took part in the scheme involving state nuclear power firm Energoatom.

Ukraine has suspended Justice Minister German Galushchenko for his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal involving the state-run nuclear power company, Energoatom, during his tenure as the country’s energy minister.

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced on Wednesday that Galushchenko had been suspended from his duties, which will be carried out by Deputy Justice Minister for European Integration Lyudmyla Sugak.

Galushchenko, who served as energy minister for four years before taking over the justice portfolio in July, is accused of profiting from a scheme that laundered money from Energoatom.

Ukraine’s Pravda news outlet reported that anticorruption authorities raided Galushchenko’s offices on Monday.

‘I will defend myself in court’

In a statement, Galushchenko said he had spoken with the prime minister and agreed his suspension is appropriate while he defends his case.

“A political decision must be made, and only then can all the details be sorted out,” said Galushchenko. “I believe that suspension for the duration of the investigation is a civilised and correct scenario. I will defend myself in court and prove my position.”

According to Ukraine’s Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), the alleged $100m scheme was orchestrated by businessman Timur Mindich, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

SAPO’s investigators say Galushchenko helped Mindich manage illicit financial flows in the energy sector, while contractors working with Energoatom were forced to pay bribes of 10 to 15 percent to avoid losing contracts or facing payment delays.

Accusations of kickbacks in the energy sector are particularly sensitive in Ukraine, much of which is facing lengthy daily blackouts as it fends off massive Russian attacks on its infrastructure.

The scandal also highlights a potential challenge to Ukraine’s European Union membership bid, for which eradicating corruption remains a key condition.

Addressing the country on Monday, Zelenskyy urged full cooperation with the anticorruption inquiry and said anyone implicated should be held to account.

Zelenskyy’s comments come just months after he was forced to reverse plans to curb the independence of the country’s key anticorruption watchdogs – SAPO and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine – following widespread protests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told top Kremlin officials to draft proposals for the possible resumption of nuclear weapons testing, as Moscow responds to President Donald Trump’s order that the United States “immediately” resume its own testing after a decades-long hiatus.

The Russian leader told his Security Council on Wednesday that should the US or any signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) conduct nuclear weapons tests, “Russia would be under obligation to take reciprocal measures”, according to a transcript of the meeting published by the Kremlin.

“In this regard, I instruct the Foreign Ministry, the Defence Ministry, the special services, and the corresponding civilian agencies to do everything possible to gather additional information on this matter, have it analysed by the Security Council, and submit coordinated proposals on the possible first steps focusing on preparations for nuclear weapons tests,” Putin said.

Moscow has not carried out nuclear weapons tests since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But tensions between the two countries with the world’s largest nuclear arsenals have spiked in recent weeks as Trump’s frustration with Putin grows over Russia’s failure to end its war in Ukraine.

The US leader cancelled a planned summit with Putin in Hungary in October, before imposing sanctions on two major Russian oil firms a day later – the first such measures since Trump returned to the White House in January.

Trump then said on October 30 that he had ordered the Department of Defense to “immediately” resume nuclear weapons testing on an “equal basis” with other nuclear-armed powers.

Trump’s decision came days after he criticised Moscow for testing its new Burevestnik missile, which is nuclear-powered and designed to carry a nuclear warhead.

According to the Kremlin transcript, Putin spoke with several senior officials in what appeared to be a semi-choreographed advisory session.

Defence Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin that Washington’s recent actions significantly raise “the level of military threat to Russia”, as he said that it was “imperative to maintain our nuclear forces at a level of readiness sufficient to inflict unacceptable damage”.

Belousov added that Russia’s Arctic testing site at Novaya Zemlya could host nuclear tests at short notice.

Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, also cautioned that if Russia does not “take appropriate measures now, time and opportunities for a timely response to the actions of the United States will be lost”.

Following the meeting, state news agency TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Putin had set no specific deadline for officials to draft the requested proposals.

“In order to come to a conclusion about the advisability of beginning preparations for such tests, it will take exactly as much time as it takes for us to fully understand the intentions of the United States of America,” Peskov said.

Russia and the US are by far the biggest nuclear powers globally in terms of the number of warheads they possess.

The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation (CACNP) estimates that Moscow currently has 5,459 nuclear warheads, of which 1,600 are actively deployed.

The US has about 5,550 nuclear warheads, according to the CACNP, with about 3,800 of those active. At its peak in the mid-1960s during the Cold War, the US stockpile consisted of more than 31,000 active and inactive nuclear warheads.

China currently lags far behind, but has rapidly expanded its nuclear warhead stockpile to about 600 in recent years, adding about 100 per year since 2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

France, Britain, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea comprise the remaining nuclear-armed countries.

The US last exploded a nuclear device in 1992, after former Republican President George HW Bush issued a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing following the collapse of the Soviet Union a year earlier.

Since 1996, the year the CTBT was opened for signatures, only three countries have detonated nuclear devices.

India and Pakistan conducted tests in 1998. North Korea has carried out five explosive tests since 2006 – most recently in 2017 – making it the only country to do so in the 21st century.

Such blasts, regularly staged by nuclear powers during the Cold War, have devastating environmental consequences.

Trump has yet to clarify whether the resumption he ordered last week refers to nuclear-explosive testing or to flight testing of nuclear-capable missiles, which would see the National Nuclear Safety Administration test delivery systems without requiring explosions.

Security analysts say a resumption of nuclear-explosive testing by any of the world’s nuclear powers would be destabilising, as it would likely trigger a similar response by the others.

Andrey Baklitskiy, senior researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, said that the Kremlin’s response was a prime example of the “action-reaction cycle”, in which a new nuclear arms race could be triggered.

“No one needs this, but we might get there regardless,” he posted on X.

Russian MOD Belousov suggests Russia should start to prepare for a full-scale nuclear test in response to the US statements. Action-reaction cycle at its best. No one needs this, but we might get there regardless

— Andrey Baklitskiy (@baklitskiy) November 5, 2025