INTERNACIONAL
Iran nuclear deal hinges on IAEA access to long-blocked atomic weapon sites, experts say
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Having crushed Iran’s nuclear capabilities during two wars in joint attacks with the Israelis, the latest and most significant chapter of whether there will be peace is whether the regime will allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to its nuclear weapons facilities.
Conflicting statements and reports from President Trump and Iran’s Foreign Ministry suggest the U.N.’s IAEA will face the same recalcitrant policy from Tehran it has experienced for two decades in blocking its inspectors from conducting robust verification of the clerical regime’s vast nuclear facilities, including underground compounds. The IAEA sticking point might be a deal-breaker for President Trump.
David Albright, who is widely viewed as one of the world’s leading experts on Iran’s nuclear weapons program, told Fox News Digital the «IAEA comes up short» in its efforts to secure information and verification about Iran’s nuclear weapons program because «Iran has not cooperated for twenty years.»
THE RACE AGAINST TIME TO DESTROY IRAN’S ILLICIT NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM HEATS UP AMID FRESH STRIKES
Unidentified International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors at the nuclear research center of Natanz on Jan. 20, 2014. (Kazem Ghane /IRNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Albright, a physicist and president of the Institute for Science and International Security said, «Iran loves to generate plans of action that can be extended» and the process becomes a «pointless exercise.»
For Iran experts like Albright, Iran’s skill in the art of procrastination has allowed it to stretch out talks over the decades while working to advance its work on a nuclear weapons device and a missile system to deliver it.
As a result, Albright said «it colors my view of the MOU [Memorandum of Understanding]» agreed to between the U.S. and Iran that codifies IAEA inspections of Iran’s atomic weapons program.
Albright sees the IAEA as a key test for the success of U.S.-Iran talks. «The way Iran treats the IAEA will tell us if the negotiations are meaningful,» adding that Tehran’s regime has treated the IAEA terribly in the past.
OBAMA-ERA INSPECTION FLAWS IN IRAN COULD PERSIST AS EXPERTS WARN OF NUCLEAR BLIND SPOTS
President Donald Trump (C) gestures as he addresses the media alongside United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer (L), U.S. Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick (2L), U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2R) and U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent (R) during a closing press conference at the G7 summit, in Evian, eastern France. (Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)
The website of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared in a statement that «Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, speaking to reporters, denied reports published by certain media outlets claiming that the Islamic Republic of Iran has invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect its nuclear facilities.»
A headline in the Islamic Republic News Agency Wednesday stated, «No plan for access to Iran’s attacked nuclear facilities without final deal, says deputy FM.» The regime-controlled outlet noted that Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on his X account that no meeting was held with Grossi in Switzerland, despite the IAEA head requesting that Iran meet with him. «There is no plan for access to the facilities that were attacked or to the nuclear materials,» Gharibabadi wrote.
On Friday in Japan, IAEA Director Rafael Grossi told reporters, «This agreement expressly indicates that the nuclear part will be supervised, monitored, by the IAEA.» He added that «a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was subscribed by the two presidents, by President Donald Trump and President Pezeshkian from Iran, and this agreement expressly indicates that the nuclear part will be supervised, monitored, by the IAEA.»
He noted that «initial conversations» have started about inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites. «We hope to be there soon,» he said. It is unclear if Grossi’s team will examine all Iranian nuclear weapons facilities and suspected nuclear sites.
The IAEA declined to answer a detailed Fox News Digital press query on why previous IAEA oversight efforts failed; what would be different this time; whether inspectors can access meaningful sites or only symbolic locations; and would the IAEA focus on access to the Pickaxe Mountain facility versus sites already damaged or buried.
IRAN EXPANDS WEAPONIZATION CAPABILITIES CRITICAL FOR EMPLOYING NUCLEAR BOMB
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi meets with Iran’s then Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran, Iran, on May 6, 2024. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA)
Albright said Israel’s government has identified ten or more sites where Iran is suspected of being involved in nuclear weapons. The IAEA spokesman declined to comment on whether their inspectors will demand to visit those sites.
Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital that «Iran should be made to come clean and allow inspections not only at declared nuclear sites — especially the ones damaged during Operation Midnight Hammer — but also at universities, military bases and other state organizations that have been used to engage in dual-use research which is applicable to the development of a nuclear weapon should there be a leadership decision to do so. Inspections on Iran’s nuclear weaponization program were not part of the original 2015 JCPOA, which was one of its weaknesses.»
The JCPOA, whose formal name is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was negotiated by former President Obama’s administration in 2015. Albright, a sharp critic of the JCPOA, said the Obama deal accepted that Iran did not cooperate and «swept it under the rug.» Albright warned that «It is really important that the U.S. [Trump administration] not do a JCPOA.»
TRUMP’S NEW IRAN DEAL FACES NUCLEAR BLIND SPOT OVER URANIUM STOCKPILE, EXPERTS WARN
Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018. He said at the time the JCPOA was a «horrible one-sided deal that should never ever have been made.»
Brodsky stressed that «Any new agreement should include more robust inspection powers. Iran’s denial of inspections at the damaged nuclear facilities since June 2025 violates its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.»
When asked about the IAEA’s impotence with respect to intrusive sanctions on Iran’s nuclear facilities, a White House spokeswoman referred Fox News Digital to Vice President JD Vance and Grossi’s comments.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks to members of the media after the U.S. and Iran held high-level talks aimed at advancing a deal to end the Middle East conflict at the Lake Lucerne Summit, near Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, on June 22, 2026. (Photo by Nathan Howard / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
«The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country. That is a major milestone for the American people, and the first step in permanently denuclearize, easing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran,» Vance said on Monday. He added, «And that’s exactly what we wanted to do. That’s exactly what we asked to happen.»
President Trump wrote on Truth Social: «Despite their protestations and false statements to the contrary, coupled with the drumbeat of the Fake News, which is doing everything possible to make the U.S. Victory as small and insignificant as possible, Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!). This will insure ‘Nuclear Honesty.’ If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations! «
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The Islamic Republic’s spokesman to the U.N. did not respond to a Fox News Digital press query.
The U.S. State Department declined to comment.
war with iran, nuclear proliferation, united nations, iran, sanctions, donald trump
INTERNACIONAL
New York gubernatorial candidate urges 9/11 attendees to turn away from Mamdani during ceremony
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Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate in New York’s gubernatorial race, said Wednesday that attendees at this year’s Sept. 11 memorial ceremony should turn their backs on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani if he attends.
«I would equate this to a wake. You don’t go to a wake if you’re not welcome,» Blakeman, whose nephew was killed in the South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001, and who currently serves as Nassau County executive, told reporters.
«I think it’s completely appropriate if family members ask him not to come, but if he does come, I think there’s a respectful and peaceful way to protest that and I would suggest that people turn their back on the mayor,» he said.
FIREFIGHTER BROTHER OF 9/11 VICTIM INCENSED BY ‘RADICAL’ MUSLIMS WINNING KEY DEM PRIMARIES
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, right, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Blakeman called for a silent protest if Mamdani attends this year’s Sept. 11 memorial ceremony. (Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images; Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Blakeman argued Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase «globalize the intifada» should disqualify him from attending the ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
«He’s not welcome there because he has yet to say anything in opposition to the global intifada. As a matter of fact, it seems like he supports that phrase, which is part of the reason why we had the tragedy we had on 9/11,» Blakeman said.
Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The mayor has said he still plans to attend the ceremony.
9/11 FAMILIES PUSH TO BAN MAMDANI FROM 25TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE OVER ‘HOSTILE’ RECORD
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during an announcement on municipal grocery stores at a Campaign for Hunger community food distribution center in Brooklyn on July 27, 2026. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them at this year’s 9/11 commemoration — reaffirming that we will never forget the solemn day…» Mamdani said last week.
His comments came after relatives of Sept. 11 victims launched a petition urging the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to bar Mamdani from attending the ceremony in Lower Manhattan.
«Concerns have been raised about Mr. Mamdani’s public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile to these shared values,» the Change.org petition states.
«Given these concerns, we respectfully ask that the organizers carefully consider whether Mr. Mamdani’s participation would align with the intention of the ceremony and the expectations of the families most directly affected by the tragedy.»
JEWISH LEADERS FAULT MAMDANI RHETORIC AS UPPER WEST SIDE STABBING, HATE CRIME PROBE CONTINUES
Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County executive and Republican candidate for New York governor, who is running to unseat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and has secured President Donald Trump’s endorsement. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
A spokesperson for the 9/11 Memorial & Museum previously told Fox News Digital that the organization has «intentionally worked to keep the commemoration free of politics because remembering those we lost on 9/11 should never be a partisan issue.»
«Government officials from across the political spectrum, including every sitting president, governor, and mayor since 9/11, have attended the ceremony simply to bear witness — they do not deliver remarks and are asked to remain in a designated area,» the spokesperson added.
Former New York Gov. George Pataki was also asked Wednesday whether Mamdani should attend the ceremony.
«It’s my nature to be inclusive, and that is my instinct, but Sept. 11 is different. So, I may have comments on that,» Pataki said, according to the New York Post.
The 9/11 Memorial in the financial district of Lower Manhattan, New York at the site of World Trade Center. (iStock)
Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
zohran mamdani, new york city, politics, gubernatorial, september 11
INTERNACIONAL
La OMS afirmó que el brote de ébola en África está superando la capacidad de respuesta para combatirlo
El director general de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, señaló que el brote de ébola se expande a un ritmo superior a los esfuerzos de control, según advirtió durante una visita a la República Democrática del Congo (RDC). Esta situación crítica se suma a que parte del personal sanitario en el país está en huelga por falta de pago.
Casi tres meses después del inicio del brote, el número de nuevos casos se duplica en algunos puntos críticos, señaló Tedros tras reunirse con autoridades en Kinshasa, capital de RDC. Es la segunda vez que el titular de la OMS visita el país desde que se declaró la aparición de la enfermedad a mediados de mayo.
“Todos coincidimos en que debemos aumentar urgentemente y de manera masiva los esfuerzos en todos los pilares de la respuesta y entre todos los socios”, afirmó Tedros.
Según el Ministerio de Salud de RDC, hasta este jueves se registraron 3.973 casos confirmados y 1.801 muertes. En la provincia de Ituri, epicentro del brote, familias reportan que la huelga de trabajadores sanitarios agravó la falta de acceso a la atención médica en una zona ya afectada por el conflicto armado y la lejanía, cerca de las fronteras con Sudán del Sur, Uganda y Ruanda.
Algunos empleados comenzaron a recibir pagos la última semana por su trabajo desde el inicio de la emergencia, pero reclaman mejoras salariales. Anicet Baluku, residente de Bunia, capital de Ituri, responsabilizó a la huelga de la muerte de sus dos hermanos por ébola. “Urgimos a las autoridades a encontrar una solución rápida para evitar que otras familias sufran la misma tragedia”, declaró a The Associated Press.
Tedros instó a tomar medidas que permitan llegar a todas las localidades afectadas, fortalecer la coordinación bajo el liderazgo del gobierno y proteger a los trabajadores de la salud. “Ante todo, las comunidades deben estar en el centro de la respuesta y ser dueñas de ella”, afirmó. “No podemos detener el ébola sin su confianza, liderazgo y colaboración”.
El actual brote superó en velocidad de transmisión a todos los anteriores y es el segundo más grande registrado, solo superado por el brote de África Occidental entre 2014 y 2016, que alcanzó más de 28.000 casos y más de 11.000 muertes.
El virus Bundibugyo, responsable de este brote, no cuenta con tratamiento ni vacuna aprobados. Las autoridades consideran que el brote se originó en una zona remota antes de su declaración oficial el 15 de mayo.
Médicos Sin Fronteras advirtió que el brote continúa “propagándose a un ritmo alarmante y sin precedentes”. La organización señaló que, aunque la respuesta se está ampliando, aún no alcanza a las comunidades con suficiente rapidez para interrumpir las cadenas de transmisión.
Por su parte, el Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos anunció una asignación adicional de 242 millones de dólares para la respuesta inmediata al brote de ébola en la región, así como para medidas de preparación y asistencia humanitaria asociadas. Esta financiación eleva el total de la asistencia directa estadounidense a más de 512 millones de dólares.
La directora de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades de África, Jean Kaseya, alertó durante una visita a Bunia que el rastreo de contactos no está funcionando de manera efectiva. Entre el 60% y el 70% de los nuevos casos no corresponden a personas que estaban siendo monitoreadas tras haber estado expuestas a pacientes infectados.
La detección tardía de casos ha sido un factor determinante en la tasa de mortalidad del 45%, informaron las autoridades. El Ministerio de Salud reportó que, de los 77 casos notificados en las últimas 24 horas, 44 fueron fatales. Actualmente, al menos 717 pacientes permanecen aislados y 749 han logrado recuperarse.
La directora de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades de África, Jean Kaseya, señaló que el organismo coordina los esfuerzos con los equipos de respuesta en torno a la detección temprana, el rastreo de contactos más eficaz, el acceso rápido a atención de calidad y una mayor participación comunitaria.
(Con información de Associated Press)
General Health,Medicines,Africa,Health / Medicine
Senate panel moves to vote on Fauci contempt resolution
Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson reports on a Senate panel’s upcoming vote to hold former NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress. The resolution follows a contentious COVID-19 hearing where Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than one hundred times.
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Fox News Digital has confirmed that a key investigative panel in the Senate has obtained Dr. Anthony Fauci’s pandemic-era cellphone.
The cellphone was transferred from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations chaired by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.
A spokesperson for the senator told Fox News Digital the subcommittee «obtained a copy of Dr. Fauci’s iPhone that was used during his time at HHS.»
Whether the panel has access to the phone remains unclear.
RAND PAUL SEEKS CONTEMPT CHARGES AFTER FAUCI INVOKES FIFTH AMENDMENT MORE THAN 100 TIMES
Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and medical advisor to several U.S. presidents, testifies under subpoena about his role in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic at a U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., July 29, 2026. (Reuters/Nathan Howard)
The committee’s procurement of the phone, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee readies to decide whether to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress. It also follows the HHS’ move to dump over 1,000 pages of Fauci’s personal diary to the panel just days before the blockbuster hearing.
The hearing, slated for Thursday morning, comes after the panel’s chair, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., subpoenaed Fauci to testify on his alleged role in funding «risky» gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, where the COVID-19 virus originated.
A source close to Paul’s office told Fox News Digital that the lawmaker is also in possession of the phone.
Last week’s testimony was meant to serve as the climatic duel between Fauci and Paul, who has demanded Fauci be thrown into prison for his role in the nation’s pandemic policy and alleged lies to Congress.
But it didn’t turn out that way.
TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM FAUCI’S HEARING: PAUL BOOTS LAWYER, MORENO ERUPTS AS CONTEMPT VOTE LOOMS
Fauci, on advice from his lawyers, opted to plead the Fifth Amendment out of concern about self-incrimination before a panel that he charged was designed to ensnare him.
«Although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions,» Fauci said.
What ensued was Republicans on the panel peppering Fauci with questions probing his involvement in an alleged lab leak that led to the virus’ rapid spread to what day of the week it was. Democrats charged that his decision to activate his constitutional rights was the right call given Paul and his colleagues’ determination to catch him in a lie.
WATCH: RAND PAUL SAYS THERE’S ONE THING AMERICANS HAVE NEVER HEARD FROM FAUCI
Ranking member Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., speaks as U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan testifies at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations hearing on Capitol Hill June 11, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
And it culminated in Paul vowing that Fauci would face consequences for declining to comment and questioning whether his pardon from former President Joe Biden could protect him.
«I think there’s another legal question that the courts may have to decide upon, and that is whether or not a presidential pardon offers you complete immunity,» Paul said at the time.
Fox News Digital did not immediately receive comment from HHS on Fauci’s pandemic-era iPhone.
politics, senate elections, anthony fauci, rand paul, hearings, iphone
“Gasté mucho dinero en alcohol, mujeres y autos; el resto lo despilfarré”: la frenética historia de uno de los futbolistas más icónicos
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