Ukrainian military has hit an oil processing and pumping facility near the village of Kotovo in Russia's Volgograd region, causing a fire, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Saturday.
It said on the Telegram app that the facility handles processing, transportation, and pumping of oil via pipelines to Russian oil refineries and its export infrastructure.
Belite Bio announces it has completed its rolling New Drug Application submission to the U.S. FDA for tinlarebant for the treatment of Stargardt disease type 1.
In a commentary, the newspaper said any deal at this stage should be seen as an agreement to end the current war, not a settlement of the core disputes between Tehran and Washington.
“The issues between Iran and America, and especially Iran and Israel, have reached the level of an existential battle that will in practice end only with the decisive victory of one side,” Khorasan wrote.
The paper argued that negotiations and agreements would have little effect on that trajectory, describing them as a temporary phase before what it called the “final battle.”
It said the main function of a deal would not be recognition of Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz, the release of blocked Iranian assets or any other real gain written into the text, but rather “postponing the final battle” and giving both sides time to rebuild.
“The main function of this agreement is a breathing space and a chance to rebuild offensive and defensive combat power and prepare for a full-scale and major battle,” the paper wrote.
Khorasan’s commentary adds to hardline criticism inside Iran of a possible memorandum of understanding with the United States, even as Iranian officials say the text is in final review and could be signed remotely if talks are completed.
The report said access to roughly half a ton of highly enriched uranium is now far more difficult, dangerous and time-consuming than it was a month ago, when President Donald Trump was publicly suggesting the US military could move to seize it.
The added fortifications could complicate a proposed US-Iran deal that Washington says would require Tehran to turn over its enriched uranium for destruction and removal from the country.
CNN said most of the stockpile is believed by the international community to be in collapsed tunnels at the Isfahan nuclear complex, with some material held at other sites.
Experts cited by CNN said even Iran would now face a risky and complex task retrieving the uranium, requiring heavy excavation equipment and de-mining operations.
Scott Roecker, a former senior US nuclear material removal official, said the situation could also give Iran room to claim part of the stockpile is irretrievable, raising doubts over full verification.
CNN previously reported that the US military prepared plans in May for a possible ground operation inside Iran to seize the material, but Trump paused the plan after warnings it could trigger severe Iranian retaliation, prolong the war, disrupt the global economy and cause significant US casualties.
The report said the removal of Iran’s uranium under any deal would likely require a specialized US mobile uranium facility organized through the National Nuclear Security Administration at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Trump has said securing the material is a priority in negotiations to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but CNN said even top nuclear removal experts would need significant time to complete the task.
Ebrahim Azizi said the plan, formally described as a bill for the security, development and progress of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, would be a “complete and comprehensive” law if passed by parliament.
He compared the initiative to the nationalization of Iran’s oil industry, calling it a lasting measure.
Reuters said the reported UAE-Iran arrangement would include a halt to Iranian attacks on the UAE and a rebuilding of bilateral ties, including intelligence sharing and economic cooperation.
The report said Iranian Revolutionary Guards officials visited Abu Dhabi last week to meet Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser and deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi, and that UAE officials later traveled to Tehran to discuss details of the mechanism.
Reuters said the reported arrangement marked a tactical shift after weeks in which the UAE had been heavily targeted by Iran during the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic. Iran’s last known direct attack on the UAE was a May 4 strike on Fujairah port.
Alireza Salimi said no agreement should violate the Strategic Action Law to Lift Sanctions and Protect the Rights of the Iranian Nation, a law mandating the government to expand nuclear activities if US sanctions are not lifted.
Passed in 2020 after Tehran accused other parties to the 2015 nuclear deal of failing to meet their commitments, the law led Iran to step up uranium enrichment beyond the agreement’s limits and sharply restrict international inspections of its nuclear sites.
Its enrichment provisions were not merely a negotiating tactic. Iran began enriching uranium to 20% in early 2021, breaking the JCPOA limit of 3.65%, and later increased enrichment to 60% during talks with the West to revive the nuclear deal.
Under the same law, Tehran also halted voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol and restricted inspectors’ access to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites.
