Nuclear Weapons

The research into a so-called doomsday train is a signal that the country is exploring new strategies for war as it modernises its military. The study says that a rail-based launch is harder to detect because the weapons are constantly on the move and any enemy damage to rails by enemy strikes can be quickly repaired, The Times, UK reported.

Elaborating on the present situation of the negotiations in the Austrian capital, the Minister said the achievement of an agreement in the talks hinges on Washington's adoption of a realistic approach, reports Xinhua news agency. In terms of bilateral ties between Iran and Qatar, Amir Abdollahian called for expanding bilateral economic cooperation, and following up on the implementation of the previously signed agreements.

The Department of the Treasury said in an announcement that the sanctions are imposed after Iran's missile attack on Erbil, Iraq and an "Iranian enabled Houthi" missile attack against a Saudi Aramco facility earlier this month, as well as other missile attacks by Iranian proxies against Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Xinhua news agency reported.

FM Amir Abdullahian briefed Assad on the ongoing nuclear talks, saying his country has made proposals in line with the rights and interests of the Iranian people, and reaching an agreement requires the West to show serious will in responding to the proposals, Xinhua news agency reported. The two sides also discussed bilateral cooperation in combating terrorism.

“We have a concept of domestic security, and it's public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used… So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN. The US has responded to these statements saying that Moscow is not behaving like a responsible nuclear power.

Ukrainian authorities said on Friday said Russian troops have bombed a nuclear research facility in the country's second largest city of Kharkiv. In a Facebook post, Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate said the bombing of the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology on Thursday night has caused a power outage at the Source of Neutron Nuclear Research Subcritical Unit.

Ukrenergo, the state energy company of Ukraine, claimed that there was an emergency power outage at the now-defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which fell to Russian troops on the first day of Moscow's war on Kiev. Due to the outage on Wednesday, on site emergency diesel generators were turned on to provide power systems important for safety, the company said in a Facebook post.

"He (Kim) expressed his great satisfaction over the fact that they confirmed the aerospace photographing method, the operating characteristics of high-resolution photographing equipment and the reliability of image transmission system through the recent important tests," the North's Korean Central News Agency was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is in danger of releasing radioactive dust to the entire Ukraine, said Slavutych Mayor Yuriy Fomichev. He recalled that Chernobyl was captured on the first day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He noted that through Chernobyl there was a real corridor through which military equipment moved.

In response to the fire at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said on Friday that the Department of Energy has "activated its Nuclear Incident Response Team" and is monitoring the situation. The fire erupted earlier in the day on the third, fourth and fifth floor of the plant's training building after Russian troops shelled the complex.