WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
The Iran-Israel conflict is not abating. For the ninth day now, attacks have been taking place between the warring states, while some international officials are calling for a cessation of hostilities and trying to find a diplomatic solution.
Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, air defenses, and key military and regime officials in Tehran continue without interruption and with equal intensity. Iranian missiles are flying in the opposite direction toward targets in Israel.
Key meeting
US President Donald Trump will hold a key meeting of his national security team at the White House tonight, on the ninth day of the war between Israel and Iran, Axios reports. The meeting will be held in the crisis room, and the agenda will include a potential American response to the deepening regional escalation.
According to information from multiple sources, the meeting could mark a turning point in the previous American policy of restraint. A few days ago, Trump announced that he would make a decision on a possible military response within two weeks, but the fact that he is gathering his security top brass tonight suggests that a decision could come sooner.
Iran ready to provide guarantees
Iranian President Masoud Pezizkian, after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, said that they are ready to provide guarantees that their nuclear program is used for civilian purposes.
Like Fukushima
Given the growing tensions between Iran and Israel, more and more experts are expressing concern about the possibility of an attack on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, which, they say, could have serious consequences.
Robert Kelly, a former inspector for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and senior fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, warned of the possible consequences of an attack on this facility in an interview with Al Jazeera.
"If the reactor were hit by a bomb or if the cooling systems were disabled, a Fukushima-like accident could occur, with a core meltdown and possibly a small release of radioactive gases into the environment," Kelly said. He added that in the case of Fukushima, the radiation "did not travel far" and that there were no human casualties.
He particularly stressed that Moscow would be very unhappy if the reactors in Bushehr were attacked, given that Russia is the main contractor for the construction of the plant, including a second reactor that is currently under construction.
Iran's Health Ministry: More than 400 killed in Israeli attacks
More than 400 people have been killed in Iran in Israeli attacks since Israel launched a major military offensive on June 13, an Iranian health ministry spokesman said.
Hossein Kermanpour wrote on the X platform that 3,056 people were injured in the attacks. He added that 54 women and children and five health workers were among the dead, stressing that "most of the victims and wounded were civilians".
This is the first official update on the death toll since June 15, when authorities reported that 224 people had been killed and more than 1,200 injured.
Earlier, the Nour news agency reported that at least 430 people had been killed and 3,500 wounded in Iran since the start of the conflict, also citing health ministry figures.
Macron: Iran must never obtain nuclear weapons
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he had spoken by phone with Iranian President Massoud Pezizkian. Macron said that he had agreed with his Iranian counterpart to accelerate negotiations between European powers and Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
In a post on social media, Macron stressed: "Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons and it is up to it to provide all the necessary evidence that its intentions are exclusively peaceful." He concluded that he was "convinced that there is a way out of war and a way to prevent an even greater danger." To achieve this, he added, "we will accelerate the negotiations that France and its European partners are conducting with Iran."
