Nuclear Weapons

To address this alarming situation, the US reached out to India and China for assistance in dissuading Russia from pursuing such a course of action. The CNN report highlighted the significant impact of public statements and outreach efforts made by Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in preventing the crisis from escalating further.

Kim Gunn, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, held discussions with his US counterpart, Jung Pak, and Japanese counterpart, Hiroyuki Namazu, denouncing the missile launch as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

Eslami, President of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), made the remarks on Monday while delivering a speech at the 67th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the Austrian capital Vienna, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.

His remarks at the parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee came on Tuesday amid media reports that the US was making progress toward a nuclear deal with Iran, an arch-foe of Israel in the Middle East. "No agreement with Iran will be binding on Israel, which will continue to do everything to defend itself.

"The water level in the reservoir that is supplying Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been falling throughout the day, but the facility has back-up options available and there is no short-term risk to nuclear safety and security," IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Tuesday.

"Military activities continue in the region and may well increase very considerably in the near future," IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told a UN Security Council briefing on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported. The plant has been operating on significantly reduced staff, which despite being in temporary shut-down is not.

Senator Rabbani added that the country also needs to know "if our strategic relationship with China is under threat or we are being called up to play role in the region which will facilitate the military presence of an imperialist power," The Express Tribune reported. "These and other questions require a policy statement by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the floor of a joint sitting in the parliament," he added.

In an interview with IRNA published on Sunday, Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), said the IAEA inspections of Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) have now increased to 11 from eight, commenting on the reports of a 50-per cent rise in the IAEA's inspections of Iranian nuclear sites, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Raisi made the remarks on Saturday in a meeting with visiting Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi in the capital Tehran, according to a report on the website of the president's office. Countries like Israel and the US use the nuclear issue as an "excuse" to further pressure the Iranian people, said the President, pointing out that it was the US that violated the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Xinhua news agency reported.

There was no discrepancy between the design information questionnaire submitted by Iran to the international nuclear watchdog and the layout of centrifuges at Iran's nuclear facilities, Iranian Students' News Agency quoted President of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami as saying on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.