Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi said that there are no heavy weapons at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP).

“There is no heavy weaponry there,” Grossi told reporters.

The IAEA director also said that he intends to travel to Ukraine and Russia soon.

"Yes, we need to [go to] Ukraine and Russia, as I have been doing since the beginning," Grossi said during a press conference in response to a question whether he intends to travel to Ukraine soon.

The IAEA must keep channels of communication open with Russia and Ukraine, Grossi added.

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'Nothing you can do to stop us': Iran's strikes on Israeli bases establish deterrence

Iran is playing the long game in its dealings with Israel, carefully calibrating its actions to restore deterrence against the country rather than concerning itself with world opinion, former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter stressed.

The analyst joined Sputnik's Fault Lines program and challenged the perception that Israel is in a stronger position after reports of intercepting most of Iran’s retaliatory strikes over the weekend.

“The job wasn't to say, ‘we're going to hurt you,’” Ritter claimed. “The job was to say, ‘hey, Israel, look around you. Right now you have America's most sophisticated X-band radar to give you intelligence when we launch our missiles… you have the whole world coming to your assistance to protect you and you can't stop our missiles from hitting your most important bases. That's the future, if you dare attack us again.’”

Israel has conspicuously forbidden journalists from observing the aftermath of Iran’s attack on Israel’s bases in recent days. Video posted to social media appeared to show several hypersonic missiles striking Israel’s Ramon military airbase in the Negev desert.

Ritter insisted Iran attacked Israel in such a way that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could save face while also revealing Tehran’s capabilities if Israel strikes it again. “All those things that were shot down – understand those were designed to be shot down,” he said. “Iran put a program together with the United States that said, ‘we're going to let you shoot all this stuff down so you feel good. But in the end our good stuff hit the bases, just so you know that we can do that anytime we want, and there's nothing you can do to stop us.’”

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💵 The US House Republican Conference is considering trying to pass multiple bills this week to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.

"I have just spoken with the HouseGOP conference on my plan to address national security supplemental legislation on the growing security crises," Johnson wrote on X. "This week, we will consider separate bills with a structured and germane amendment process to: fund our ally Israel, support Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression, strengthen our allies in the Indo-Pacific, pass additional measures to counter our adversaries and strengthen our national security."

House Republicans are reportedly considering providing $48.4 billion to Ukraine, $14.1 billion to Israel, and $2.4 billion for security operations in the Indo-Pacific region. There's also some $3.3 billion for the US submarine industrial base and $2.4 billion for US operations in the Red Sea.

Punch Bowl News reported that one of the bills will include a TikTok ban, a measure to sell seized Russian assets, lend-lease-style military aid, and convertible loans for humanitarian relief.

The House Republican leadership will attempt to advance the plan under a single rule.

On Monday, House Republicans held a closed-door conference meeting, where House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly outlined the plan to colleagues. Johnson told House Republicans that he will allow an amendment process for the legislation.

Johnson, who spoke with President Joe Biden earlier in the day, also reportedly said that any Ukraine aid legislation must be considered as a standalone bill.

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🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia did not participate in intercepting Iranian drones or missiles fired at Israel over the weekend, Al Arabiya broadcaster reported, citing sources.

On Monday, Israeli broadcaster Kan reported, citing a member of the Saudi royal family, that Saudi Arabia took part in repelling the attack on Israel.

"There is no official website that published a statement about Saudi participation in intercepting attacks against Israel," the sources were quoted as saying by the broadcaster on Monday.

On Saturday night, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched over 300 drones and missiles at Israel in its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The attack came in response to Israel's airstrike on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital in early April. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel had intercepted 99% of the aerial targets fired by Iran, including all drones.

Tehran claimed that its retaliatory attack “hit designated targets.”

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'Anarcho-capitalist' President Javier Milei wraps elite subservience in a radical package

President Javier Milei isolated Argentina from economic partners and its South American neighbors recently with announced plans to consider sending military aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia. The controversy comes as Milei’s approval rating has sunk amidst unyielding protest over hunger across the country.

Analyst Caleb Maupin joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program to discuss these latest developments, claiming the self-declared “anarcho-capitalist” Milei is attempting to sell elite-friendly neoliberal economics in a faux-radical package.

“I must say that I'm not shocked by Milei's behavior,” said the journalist. “He pulled Argentina out of the BRICS talks… He's a huge supporter of Israel and its atrocities against the Palestinians and what's going on right now.”

“Milei is espousing the ideology of the global elites, which is called neoliberalism,” Maupin explained. “He's now giving up Argentina's currency, he's trying to make Argentina at this point have the US dollar… When Ecuador took these moves in the late 90s it completely destroyed Ecuador's economy. Ecuador had a man-made famine in 1999 where people were starving and dying of malnutrition.”

“Neoliberalism has been tried as an economic system, and it has failed… Neoliberalism is still the same, and free market policies are what the World Economic Forum and the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and these huge globalist institutions, it's what they've been pushing from the beginning.”

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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it carried out strikes on military targets of Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

"A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorists in a military compound in the area of Meiss El Jabal, as well as an additional Hezbollah military compound in the area of Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon," the IDF said on Telegram.

In addition, earlier on Monday, IDF artillery opened fire to "remove a threat in the area Chebaa in southern Lebanon," the statement added.

The Hezbollah movement has been exchanging airstrikes with Israel regularly since October 2023, as the situation in the region deteriorated dramatically after Israel announced a military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel’s response to Iran's drone and missile attack would be wise, not emotional.

"We will respond to Iran, but we need to act wisely and not act on emotions. They need to be put under stress the same way they made us feel stressed," Netanyahu was quoted as saying by Israeli broadcaster Kan.

In addition, Netanyahu said at a meeting with members of the ruling Likud party that Israel's response must be coordinated with the United States, the report read.

Israel pledged to notify Washington to avoid a situation in which US troops would be put in danger, the report said, adding that Washington made this demand after Israel attacked the Iranian consulate in Damascus without informing the US about such plans.

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US President Joe Biden declined a request by lawmakers to publicly testify as part of an impeachment inquiry focused on alleged criminal activity by his family, the US House Oversight Committee said.

"President Joe Biden formally refused our invitation to testify in public about his knowledge of and participation in his family’s business schemes," the committee said in a statement published on X. "It is unfortunate President Biden is unwilling to answer questions before the American people and refuses to answer the very simple, straightforward questions we included in the invitation."

Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, participated in a closed hearing with lawmakers earlier this year but declined to attend a subsequent public hearing.

The American people deserve transparency from President Biden, the statement said. Biden continues to lie about his relationship with his son’s business partners, the statement added.

House lawmakers are investigating alleged criminal activity by the Biden family, including potential bribery and foreign influence peddling. Hunter Biden has denied that his father profited from or engaged in his business activities, which include serving on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) blasts suggestions to pass a single bill with aid to both Israel and Ukraine, calling it “antisemitic” because of “Ukrainian Nazis”.

Interestingly she doesn't object to either of the bills on a standalone basis, suggesting she's fine with helping “Ukrainian Nazis”? 🧐

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Australia refused Palestinians visitor visas out of fear that their stay wouldn’t be 'temporary'

In the first three months of the Israel-Gaza conflict, about 160 Palestinians were refused visitor visas by Australia mostly due to concerns that they would not stay temporarily, a recent report revealed. About 150 people were refused because they “did not demonstrate a genuine intention to stay temporarily in Australia”, while ten others who applied were rejected for other reasons.

“It is beyond cruel to deny people fleeing the onslaught in Gaza the possibility of safety because they might be unable to return to their homes,” added David Shoebridge, the Greens’ immigration spokesperson. “Let’s be clear, the main reason people would be unable to return to Gaza is because of the Israeli invasion, with 80% of homes in Gaza made uninhabitable.”

This report comes after one made a month ago which revealed that some Palestinians who had been granted visas were experiencing cancellations. Nearly 2,300 temporary visas—allowing persons to travel to Australia but not work, access healthcare, or education—had been granted to Palestinians who had connections to Australia between October 7 and February 6. However, only 330 people made it to Australia during that time period.

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US defense of Israel shows the West ‘has never been committed’ to international law

The United States’ unwavering defense of Israel’s deadly Gaza campaign proves the West is primarily interested in upholding historic patterns of colonial subjugation and domination, economist Radhika Desai told Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program.

“I think what's really emerging now is how the US has never been committed to anything vaguely like the United Nations Charter and anything vaguely like international law,” Desai highlighted as the Biden administration has repeatedly undermined the UN in recent months in its “ironclad” defense of Israel.

The analyst claimed the creation of Western-led institutions like NATO was designed to offer an alternative to the more egalitarian United Nations and its conception of international law. Through institutions like NATO the United States and its allies could continue to “make the rules as we go along,” she argued.

Although frequently billed as a “defensive” alliance, the end of the Cold War and the United States’ status as the lone global superpower allowed NATO to undertake a number of openly offensive military operations. NATO played a role in Western operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, but has perhaps been most criticized for its bombing of the former Yugoslavia.

“The fact of the matter is you can't talk about geopolitics,” she concluded. “You've got to talk about geopolitical economy. Because what do you think all this militarism is about? It's about essentially materiel or economic plunder, oppression, subordination, etcetera. So, let's call it what it is. The word imperialism very tidily encompasses that whole range of phenomena.”

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At midnight, the projectile hit a warehouse near the railroad in the town of Uman, Cherkassy Region of Ukraine, Nikolayev underground coordinator Sergey Lebedev told Sputnik, citing his colleagues.

"We have daily data on the movement of vans with cargo from Vinnitsa, and also noted transportation of tanks and other equipment - from 3 to 100 units per day, and a couple of weeks ago more than 20 boats and many boats," Lebedev said.

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Iran does not seek escalation in the region as the issue was resolved with the operation against Israel, the Iranian ambassador to Turkiye stated.

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Xi Jinping met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who came to China on a three-day visit

At a meeting with the German Chancellor, the Chinese leader stated that in order to resolve the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible, it is necessary to pay attention to peace and stability rather than pursue one's own interests.

In order to prevent the Ukrainian crisis from further escalation, all parties must work to restore peace, Xi Jinping added.

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