Iran reveals details of espionage activities by IAEA inspectors, while Degel HaTorah party withdraws from Netanyahu's cabinet
Will Netanyahu renew his war against Iran now to stay in power?
Last Sunday, 13th July 2025, Al Mayadeen reported that a senior Iranian lawmaker accused IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspectors of engaging in espionage activities during visits to the Iranian nuclear facilities in the past. In particular, Al Mayadeen quoted the following statements by Mahmoud Nabavian, deputy chairman of Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, to the Iranian Fars News Agency (all emphasis mine):
Why is it that every time these inspectors enter our nuclear facilities, and we conduct body checks, we find microchips in their shoes?
It is a fact, not a slogan, that these inspectors are spies.
Even now, they themselves admit all our main statistics and information are given to them [Western states] by Mr. Grossi.
They know [about Iranian nuclear facilities such as Natanz] because they are told by their satellites, their spies, and the agency itself.
…thus confirming once again that IAEA inspectors were acting as spies for Israel and Western countries.
Nevertheless, the day before, Saturday 12th July 2025, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that cooperation with IAEA has not ceased, but it has taken “a new form”, as reported by Al Mayadeen, which quoted him as saying:
Our cooperation with the Agency has not stopped, it has just got a new form. From now on, relations with the Agency will be managed through the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).
The Agency's request to continue cooperation with Iran will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the SNSC, and decisions will be made taking into account safety and security.
Security and safety are a matter of concern for inspectors approaching attacked nuclear facilities.
…adding that, as long as there are guarantees that his country will not be bombed again, Iran is still open to negotiations, though details are still to be defined:
We are examining its timing, its location, its form, its ingredients, the assurances it requires.
There is no other way but to return to diplomacy and a negotiated and agreed solution, and the recent war proved this even more than before.
Before that, the other side must reassure us that they want diplomacy, not that diplomacy is a cover to achieve their objectives.
It is also worth reporting the following statement by Araghchi on X, where he makes fun of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, indirectly, of US President Donald J. Trump:
Moving to Israel, yesterday Al Mayadeen (in its Short News)1 and local media (such as The Times of Israel and i24News) reported that the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) party Degel HaTorah2, which has four members in the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament), had announced its withdrawal from Netanyahu's cabinet and the the governing coalition over the Haredi conscription issue. The party's spiritual leader, Rabbi Dov Landau, wrote the following letter to his members of the Knesset:
Since the authorities are showing their intention to further restrict the lives of Torah scholars in various ways, and in attempts to humiliate and trample them, and time and again fail to fulfill their commitments to regulate the legal status of yeshiva students and Torah scholars—who are the crown of creation and the secret to its existence.
Therefore, my opinion is that we must immediately end our participation with the government and the coalition, including resigning from all the positions associated with it, and may God deliver us swiftly.
…as quoted by Israel National News. Yeshiva World News reported that the Haredi “Shas party is also expected to join the move” too, quoting its chairman Aryeh Deri as saying:
If UTJ withdraws from the government this week, Shas will join the move a few days later. Initially, the two parties will not act to dissolve the Knesset but will make another effort for the approval of the draft law from the outside.
Will Netanyahu renew his war against Iran now to cling to power and avoid prosecution over corruption charges?
Finally, it is worth reporting that earlier today the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) force of the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) “carried out a simultaneous, dual military operation using three drones”, two of which targeting “an important military target of the Zionist enemy in the Negev region” and the other the Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat) port in occupied Palestine, as reported by Yemen News Agency Saba.
I will conclude this short article with the following cartoon from Saba:
P.S.: For further reading on Iran, today Strategic Culture Foundation has an interesting article by Lorenzo Maria Pacini.
See also this Al Mayadeen article from today.
A faction of United Torah Judaism (UTJ).