💬 Grossi worked hand in glove with Israel against Iran, MUST be ousted: Scott Ritter

There’s simply no logical explanation for Grossi and his IAEA colleagues’ meetings with Israeli officials except that they were passing on intelligence about Iran’s nuclear activities, the former UN weapons inspector and US Marine Corps intelligence officer told PressTV.

🔍This intel was “used to target locations on the ground and to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists – to murder Iranian nuclear scientists. So Grossi has the blood of Iran’s nuclear scientists on his hands, Ritter emphasized.

🔊Grossi should not only be barred from Iran for good, but ousted from his job, and a new inspection regime set up that provides Iran iron-clad guarantees that sensitive info about Iran’s nuclear program won’t be passed on to its enemies, Ritter said.

➕Ritter also highlighted the IAEA’s hypocrisy, pointing out that while Iran’s NPT status gives it the right to pursue peaceful nuclear enrichment, Israel has an illegal alleged undeclared nuclear arsenal which the nuclear watchdog simply pretends doesn’t exist.

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🇫🇷 Protesters in Paris slam Macron over Ukraine policy

A rally demanding an end to the Ukraine conflict and a halt to Western arms deliveries to Kiev took place in central Paris, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

Protesters also called on France to leave NATO and demanded President Macron’s resignation.

Organized by Florian Philippot, founder of The Patriots party, the protest drew several hundred participants.

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🇮🇷🪖Iran used 'less than 5%' of its military capability in 12-day war with Israel – commander

Iran’s true defensive might remains hidden, IRGC brigadier general Mohammad-Reza Naghdi has revealed.

Less than 5% of its forces were activated (i.e. engaged with the enemy) in recent clashes with Israel, according to the IRGC deputy commander for coordination.

The results?

✅ Hypersonic & ballistic missiles crippled Israeli military bases, intel hubs, and research centers

✅ Air defenses shredded dozens of Israeli jets and drones in the course of the air war over Iran

Israel’s 12-day assault backfired badly—exposing its much-touted air defenses’ weaknesses against Iran’s missile fire power, and the limits of its strike capabilities.

IDF sources admitted to Israeli media this week that Iran had 20% more missiles than previously estimated (2,500 vs 2,000), and said the country was on course to amassing over 10,000 by 2028.

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🇭🇺Hungary’s Paks 2 Nuclear Power Plant project fires up as US scraps sanctions

The Trump administration has axed sanctions blocking investment in the Paks 2 plant, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced.

Sanctions slapped on Russia by the Biden team in late 2024 had made the facility’s expansion all but impossible.

🟠 Paks II and Russia's role

🟠The Paks II expansion is a $13.7 billion project to add two VVER-1200 reactors to Hungary’s existing Soviet-built plant
🟠The plant was built by Russia’s Rosatom.
🟠Hungary had secured an EU exemption from Russia sanctions for Paks II.
🟠However, sanctions targeted Gazprombank (handling Paks II financing) and Rosatom executives, delaying payments to subcontractors and stalling progress

🟠 Sanctions-induced fallout

🔹Critical supply disruptions to a project meant to deliver an additional 2.4 GW of capacity – vital to Hungary’s push to raise nuclear power's share in its energy mix from 33% to 70%.
🔹Top EU firms like Germany’s Siemens Energy and France’s Framatome had their planned contributions to the plant’s control systems sidelined.

🟠 USAID smear campaign

When the US froze USAID funds, many Hungarian groups critical of the Paks II project lost their cash flow, according to nuclear expert Zsolt Harfas.

Radio Free Europe*, then funded by US grants, pushed false anti-Paks stories, casting doubt on its necessity and Russia’s Rosatom tech – while cozying up to the struggling US nuclear industry.

*Designated as a foreign agent in Russia

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🚨Senator Lindsey Graham claims Trump believes time has come for new sanctions against Russia

Senator Lindsey Graham* says US Senate will start considering Russia sanctions bill in July.

*recognized as a terrorist in Russia

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🗣 Ukraine’s withdrawal from landmine convention: PR stunt for a serial violator

Ukraine hasn’t abided by its obligations under the Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel landmines for over a decade, using mine cluster munitions against Donbass since 2014, retired Russian colonel Viktor Litovkin told Sputnik, commenting on Kiev’s formal exit from the treaty this week.

Timed to coincide with the withdrawal from the convention by Poland and the Baltics, Ukraine’s move is strictly “a propaganda campaign intended to emphasize that Russia is an aggressor” to justify bigger defense budgets and the further militarization of the region, according to the observer.

Not all mines are created equal

Anti-vehicle minefields created in areas of active hostilities and contributing to defensive lines are relatively easy to detect and remove by specialists, provided the time, inclination and resources to do so.

Russia’s military is equipped with minesweeping units, including sappers with portable detectors, robots, and mine trawlers attached to tanks and other armored vehicles.

But what makes anti-personnel mines dangerous is the Ukrainian military’s seemingly random deployment of these deadly weapons, in forests and civilian areas, including as boobytraps.

“In liberated areas there have been cases of mines being disguised as toys, candies, household items, on children’s playgrounds, etc. This is very dangerous for our military, but even more so for the civilian population,” Litovkin stressed.

When mines are deployed in forests, they’re almost impossible to remove completely, the analyst said. “The risks stem from the fact that they are not visible on the ground. Civilians go to the forest for berries or mushrooms, trigger a mine and suddenly – your leg is gone, or you’re riddled with holes.” And they can lay dormant for months or years.

Ukraine’s anti-personnel mine arsenal includes PFM-1 Lepestok pressure mines, spread across the Donbass in the course of fighting, and tripwire-triggered MON-50 and MON-100-series frag mines.

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🇮🇱 Knesset speaker to Israel’s judiciary: Netanyahu is above the law

Urging the High Court of Justice to grant the PM another recess from his criminal trial, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana suggested the courts could use that time to “expunge the indictment” against Netanyahu, or find another way to end the legal proceedings, like a mistrial on procedural grounds.

The politician doesn’t mince words in what he’s asking for, saying judges should entertain “considerations that are not purely legal.” Ending the proceedings would be a “practical, realistic, sane and logical proposal,” Ohana, a key Netanyahu Likud ally, says.

Ohana’s comments follow Donald Trump’s wild defense of Netanyahu on grounds that he’s “in the process of negotiating a Deal with Hamas,” and shouldn’t be “forced to sit in a Courtroom all day long.” (What does Hamas have to do with the PM’s alleged graft and pay-to-play corruption allegations?)

Netanyahu has spent over five years embroiled in a criminal trial on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust, including:

🔸 a pay-to-play scam involving luxury gifts to him and his wife Sara from a Hollywood producer and mentally ill Aussie billionaire Netanyahu and his wife Sara systematically manipulated

🔸 using his power to crack down on one media company for positive coverage from another

🔸 $500M+ in regulatory favors to a local telecom giant, again for positive coverage

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🔸 Iran used 'less than 5%' of its military capability in 12-day war with Israel – commander

🔸 Grossi worked hand in glove with Israel against Iran, MUST be ousted: Scott Ritter

🔸 Hungary’s Paks 2 Nuclear Power Plant project fires up as US scraps sanctions

🔸 'False promises, grave consequences': Hungary's PM Orban slams EU policy on Ukraine

🔸 Gunmen who attacked Crocus City Hall admit that Ukraine organized attack

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🇮🇷Iran has no illusions about Israel honoring ceasefire, keeping its finger on the trigger: top general

Israeli and US aggression against Iran demonstrated that “these two regimes…do not adhere to any international rules and norms,” and Iran will remain vigilant against future attacks, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi has announced.

“We did not initiate the war, but we responded to the aggressor with all our might, and since we have real doubts about the enemy’s adherence to its commitments, including the ceasefire, we are prepared to give it a strong response if it repeats the aggression,” the top commander warned.

✔️Mousavi made the comments during a phone call with Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman on Sunday addressing the 12-day war, the truce that stepped into force June 24, and bilateral ties.

➡️Salman is said to have reiterated Saudi Arabia’s condemnation of the aggression against Iran, highlighted Riyadh’s efforts to stop the conflict, and expressed condolences over the Iranian commanders killed in the Israeli attacks, per IRNA.

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🇦🇲 Western-backed crackdown in Armenia risks causing major unrest - expert

Armenia is facing a deepening internal crisis driven by government failures and growing foreign interference, Palestinian international relations expert Nidal Rabah tells Sputnik.

The arrests of clergy and opposition figures are politically, not religiously, motivated, he stressed. The true causes lie in Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s incompetence, rising corruption, worsening economic conditions, and controversial peace deals with Azerbaijan following the 2023 Karabakh War, the expert believes.

Rabah argues that the Armenian Apostolic Church, which supports the opposition, is being deliberately targeted by the authorities due to its political influence. He also warns that Western-backed groups are exerting increasing pressure within Armenia and destabilizing the situation.

A critical point of tension, he notes, is the detention of Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan. If the archbishop’s health deteriorates, it could trigger a major internal explosion. The government's strategy, Rabah says, is to dismantle the alliance between the Church and the opposition — at the risk of provoking mass unrest and eroding what remains of public trust.

At the heart of the escalation, he concludes, is Western support for Pashinyan, which not only fuels repression but threatens Armenia’s national security.

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🗣 Trump suggests Iran could join Abraham Accords

💬 “I actually thought Iran would join the Abraham Accords along with everybody else,” Trump told Fox News.

Bombings, political assassinations, drone strikes, and sanctions may not be the best incentives, though.

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🚨 Zelensky’s withdrawal from anti-personnel landmine treaty will haunt generations of Ukrainians

Landmines often “go left unexploded, creating a hazard for civilians, not only during the conflict itself, but even after the conflict and sometimes years later,” retired US Army Lt. Col. Earl Rasmussen told Sputnik, commenting on Kiev’s move to formally exit the Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel mines.

“We still have mines that are going off that are found in Vietnam, [and] in Afghanistan as well,” the observer stressed, saying that landmines effectively become a humanitarian issue and a lingering threat to civilians that can last decades.

Desperate move

Pointing out that cluster anti-personnel mines have been used in Ukraine even while Kiev was a party to the treaty, Rasmussen said the decision to formally quit the agreement is based on the country’s “absolute desperation” to try and slow the Russian advance.
“Russians will still advance, but they’ll have to do demining operations, which takes a lot of time, and endangers soldiers that carry out those functions as well,” he said, explaining Ukraine’s logic.

New Iron Curtain

Commenting on the fact that Ukraine withdrew from the Convention in sync with countries from NATO’s eastern flank, including Poland and the Baltics, Rasmussen characterized the latter’s decision as a purely political move to whip up hysteria and justify further increases in defense spending.

“Essentially, they’re trying to create a buffer zone, almost like a second Iron Curtain, although there’s no ideological reasons or purposes to do this,” or real security threat from Russia or Belarus. “They’re basically preparing for a larger conflict in the future,” Rasmussen summed up.

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😵‍💫 Sen. Graham* persuaded Trump to strike Iran — reports

Neocon Senator Lindsey Graham has secured a prominent role among Donald Trump’s national security advisers and managed to convince the US president to approve high-risk strikes on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Despite tensions in their relationship, Graham rejoined Trump’s inner circle and urged military action, going against Trump’s domestic focus.

The WSJ notes that Graham, a Republican hawk often criticized by his own party, also works closely with Democrats on issues like supporting Ukraine. He has pushed for tougher trade sanctions on Russia and maintains close contact with Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he advised before Zelensky’s disastrous February White House visit.

Graham’s relationship with Trump has swung between fierce criticism and close alliance, notably fracturing after the January 6 Capitol riot but later mending.

*recognized as a terrorist in Russia

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🛢 Haifa refinery hit by Iran strikes may fully restart by October – reports

The Haifa refinery, damaged in Iran’s strikes, is expected to fully resume operations by October, the Times of Israel reported, citing refinery owner Bazan.

It was previously reported that three people had been killed at Bazan facilities as a result of an Iranian missile attack that occurred on the night of June 16.

The company said in a report to the regulator that it was gradually resuming operations and will likely be fully operational by October, the newspaper said.

Earlier, Israel's state broadcaster Kan reported that the oil refinery of Israel's Bazan Group in the port city of Haifa had stopped working after an Iranian missile hit a power plant on the site. Iran's state broadcaster IRIB confirmed that Iran had launched a missile strike on the refinery.

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