Oslo: The Nobel Foundation, commenting on the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado handing over her award to US President Donald Trump, has stressed on the mission of the Foundation to uphold the dignity of the prizes as well as their administration.

In a post on its Facebook page on Sunday, the Foundation stated, “The Foundation upholds Alfred Nobel’s will and its stipulations. It states that the prizes shall be awarded to those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind,” and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize.”

Referring to Machado, the Venezuelan Opposition leader, handing over her prize to President Trump, the Foundation continued, “A prize can therefore not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed.”

On its official website, the Foundation explained on Friday, “A Nobel Peace Prize laureate receives two central symbols of the prize: a gold medal and a diploma. In addition, the prize money is awarded separately,” and added, “Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize. Even if the medal or diploma later comes into someone else’s possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”

The Foundation has also said that a laureate cannot share the prize with others, nor transfer it once it has been announced. “A Nobel Peace Prize can also never be revoked. The decision is final and applies for all time,” it has stressed.

Washington: President Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days Monday, at least delaying once again a dangerous showdown between the world’s two biggest economies.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that “all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same.” Beijing at the same time also announced the extension of the tariff pause, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The previous deadline was set to expire at 12:01 am Tuesday. Had that happened the US could have ratcheted up taxes on Chinese imports from an already high 30 per cent, and Beijing could have responded by raising retaliatory levies on US exports to China.

The pause buys time for the two countries to work out some of their differences, perhaps clearing the way for a summit later this year between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and it has been welcomed by the US companies doing business with China.

Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council, said the extension is “critical” to give the two governments time to negotiate a trade agreement that US businesses hope would improve their market access in China and provide the certainty needed for companies to make medium- and long-term plans.

“Securing an agreement on fentanyl that leads to a reduction in US tariffs and a rollback of China’s retaliatory measures is acutely needed to restart US agriculture and energy exports,” Stein said.

China said Tuesday it would extend relief to American companies who were placed on an export control list and an unreliable entities list. After Trump initially announced tariffs in April, China restricted exports of dual-use goods to some American companies, while banning others from trading or investing in China. The Ministry of Commerce said it would stop those restrictions for some companies, while giving others another 90-day extension.

Reaching a pact with China remains unfinished business for Trump, who has already upended the global trading system by slapping double-digit taxes – tariffs – on almost every country on earth.

The European Union, Japan and other trading partners agreed to lopsided trade deals with Trump, accepting once unthinkably US high tariffs (15 per cent on Japanese and EU imports, for instance) to ward off something worse.

Trump’s trade policies have turned the United States from one of the most open economies in the world into a protectionist fortress. The average US tariff has gone from around 2.5 per cent at the start of the year to 18.6 per cent, highest since 1933, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.

But China tested the limits of a US trade policy built around using tariffs as a cudgel to beat concessions out of trading partners. Beijing had a cudgel of its own: cutting off or slowing access to its rare earths minerals and magnets – used in everything from electric vehicles to jet engines.

In June, the two countries reached an agreement to ease tensions. The United States said it would pull back export restrictions on computer chip technology and ethane, a feedstock in petrochemical production. And China agreed to make it easier for US firms to get access to rare earths.

“The US has realised it does not have the upper hand,” said Claire Reade, senior counsel at Arnold & Porter and former assistant US trade representative for China affairs.

In May, the US and China had averted an economic catastrophe by reducing massive tariffs they’d slapped on each other’s products, which had reached as high as 145 per cent against China and 125 per cent against the US.

Those triple-digit tariffs threatened to effectively end trade between the United States and China and caused a frightening sell-off in financial markets. In a May meeting in Geneva they agreed to back off and keep talking: America’s tariffs went back down to a still-high 30 per cent and China’s to 10 per cent.

Having demonstrated their ability to hurt each other, they’ve been talking ever since.

“By overestimating the ability of steep tariffs to induce economic concessions from China, the Trump administration has not only underscored the limits of unilateral US leverage, but also given Beijing grounds for believing that it can indefinitely enjoy the upper hand in subsequent talks with Washington by threatening to curtail rare earth exports,” said Ali Wyne, a specialist in US-China relations at the International Crisis Group. “The administration’s desire for a trade detente stems from the self-inflicted consequences of its earlier hubris.”

It’s unclear whether Washington and Beijing can reach a grand bargain over America’s biggest grievances. Among these are lax Chinese protection of intellectual property rights and Beijing’s subsidies and other industrial policies that, the Americans say, give Chinese firms an unfair advantage in world markets and have contributed to a massive US trade deficit with China of USD 262 billion last year.

Reade doesn’t expect much beyond limited agreements such as the Chinese saying they will buy more American soybeans and promising to do more to stop the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl and to allow the continued flow of rare-earth magnets.

But the tougher issues will likely linger, and “the trade war will continue grinding ahead for years into the future,” said Jeff Moon, a former US diplomat and trade official who now runs the China Moon Strategies consultancy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Brussels: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30 per cent of the Donetsk region that Ukraine controls as part of a ceasefire deal.

Zelenskyy said Russia’s position had been conveyed to him by US officials ahead of a summit Friday between Putin and US President Donald Trump in Alaska on the war in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would not withdraw from territories it controls, saying that would be unconsitutional and would serve only as a springboard for a future Russian invasion.

It remained unclear whether Ukraine would take part in the Friday summit. European Union also has been sidelined from the meeting, and they appealed to Trump on Tuesday to protect their interests.

Zelenskyy said at a news briefing in Kyiv that Putin wants the remaining 9,000 square kilometres of Donetsk under Kyiv’s control, where the war’s toughest battles are grinding on, as part of a ceasefire plan. He said the Russian position was conveyed to him by US officials.

Doing so would hand Russia almost the entirety of the Donbas, a region comprising Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland that Putin has long coveted.

Zelenskyy was offering new details on the call he held with Trump and special envoy Steve Witkoff, after the latter’s bilateral meeting with Putin. Witkoff told Zelenskyy that Russia was ready to end the war and that there should be territorial concessions from both sides. Some European partners were also part of the call.

“And that, probably, Putin wants us to leave Donbas. That is, it didn’t sound like America wants us to leave,” he said, recounting the call. Further meetings at the level of National Security Advisors further clarified what Russia actually wanted, Zelenskyy said.

Meanwhile, Russian forces on the ground have been closing in on a key territorial grab around the city of Pokrovsk, potentially to use as leverage in any peace negotiations.

Seeking Trump’s ear before the summit

Trump has said he wants to see whether Putin is serious about ending the war, now in its fourth year. The US president has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory. He also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender.

The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia’s energy might to try to intimidate the EU, might secure favourable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them.

European countries’ overarching fear is that Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine.

Their leaders said Tuesday they “welcome the efforts of President Trump towards ending Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” But, they underlined, “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine” and “international borders must not be changed by force.”

The Europeans on Wednesday will make a fresh attempt to rally Trump to Ukraine’s cause at virtual meetings convened by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump did not confirm whether he would take part but did say “I’m going to get everybody’s ideas” before meeting with Putin.

Russia holds shaky control over four of the country’s regions, two in the country’s east and two in the south.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the chief of Zelenskyy’s office, said anything short of Russia’s strategic defeat would mean that any ceasefire deal would be on Moscow’s terms, erode international law and send a dangerous signal to the world.

‘A profoundly alarming moment for Europe’

Trump’s seemingly public rehabilitation of Putin — a pariah in most of Europe — has unnerved Ukraine’s backers.

The summit in Alaska is a “profoundly alarming moment for Europe,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

According to Gould-Davies, Putin might persuade Trump to try to end the war by “accepting Russian sovereignty” over parts of Ukraine, even beyond areas that it currently occupies. Trump also could ease or lift sanctions which are causing “chronic pain” to the Russian economy.

That would provoke a “really serious split in the transatlantic alliance,” he said.

The war isn’t about Russia’s territorial expansion but about Putin’s goal of subordinating Ukraine, which would create the opportunity to threaten other parts of Europe, Gould-Davies said.

It was unclear whether the Europeans also were unsettled by Trump mistakenly saying twice he would be traveling to Russia on Friday to meet Putin. The summit is taking place in the U.S. state of Alaska, which was colonized by Russia in the 18th century until Czar Alexander II sold it to the U.S. in 1867.

Tuesday’s European joint statement was meant to be a demonstration of unity. But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is Putin’s closest ally in Europe and has tried to block EU support for Ukraine, was the only one of the bloc’s 27 leaders who refused to endorse it.

Russia closes in on Pokrovsk

Russia appeared close to taking an important city in the Donetsk region, Pokrovsk.

Military analysts using open-source information to monitor the battles said the next 24-48 hours could be critical. Losing Pokrovsk would hand Russia an important victory ahead of the summit. It also would complicate Ukrainian supply lines to the Donetsk region, where the Kremlin has focused the bulk of military efforts.

“A lot will depend on availability, quantity and quality of Ukrainian reserves,” Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, wrote on social media late Monday.

Ukraine’s military said its forces are fending off Russian infantry units trying to infiltrate their defensive positions in the Donetsk region. The region’s Ukrainian military command on social media Monday acknowledged that the situation remains “difficult, unpleasant and dynamic.”

Elsewhere in Ukraine, a Russian missile attack on a military training facility left one soldier dead and 11 others wounded, the Ukrainian Ground Forces posted on social media. Soldiers rushing to shelters were hit with cluster munitions, according to the Ukrainian Ground Forces.

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has said India is very close to China in terms of its purchases of Russian oil and will pay tariffs of 50 per cent as he indicated that you are going to see so much secondary sanctions.

Trump signed an executive order Addressing Threats to the US by the Government of the Russian Federation early on Wednesday slapping an additional 25-per cent tariff on India for New Delhi’s purchases of oil from Russia. This took the total levies imposed on India to 50 per cent among the highest that Washington has imposed on any country, after the Trump administration had announced 25-per cent tariffs on India last week that come into effect from August 7. The additional 25-per cent duty will come into effect after 21 days or August 27.

At the White House event Trump was flanked by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Vice President J D Vance, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Besant and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as the technology giant announced that it will invest USD 600 billion in the United States over the next four years.

Trump was asked several questions about his decision to impose an additional tariff on India.

To a question that if he reaches a deal with Ukraine and Russia, would he drop the additional tariffs on India Trump said We will determine that later but right now they are paying a 50-per cent tariff.

Trump was then told that Indian officials have said there are other countries like China that are buying Russian oil, to which he said, “It is okay.” On why was he singling India out for these additional tariffs, the US president said “it has only been eight hours, so let us see what happens over the next

You are going to see a lot more. You are going to see so much secondary sanctions.

The United States has imposed this additional tariff or penalty for Russian imports only on India, while other buyers, such as China and Turkiye, have so far escaped such measures. The 30-per cent tariff on China and 15 per cent on Turkiye is lower than India’s 50 per cent.

Asked about the additional penalties on India and whether he has any similar plans to enact more tariffs on China for its purchases, Trump said, “Could happen, could happen. Depends on how we do. Could happen.

On another question on possible tariffs on China for its purchases of Russian oil, he said, “It may happen, I do not know, I cannot tell you yet. We did it with India. We are doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China.

Reacting to Trump’s additional tariffs, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that it is extremely unfortunate” that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest.

We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India the MEA statement said, adding that the US has in recent days targeted India’s oil imports from Russia.

“We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable. India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests,” it said.

In the executive order, Trump said he has determined that “it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.

I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil. Accordingly, and as consistent with applicable law, articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 per cent Trump said in the executive order.

He also announced that the US will be putting a tariff of approximately 100 per cent on chips and semiconductors coming into the country. “But if you are building in the United States of America, there is no charge.

If you have made a commitment to build, or if you are in the process of building as many are there is no tariff.

India buys about 88 per cent of its crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel, from overseas. Russian oil made up for hardly 0.2 per cent of all crude oil that India imported till 2021. After Moscow invaded Ukraine, Russian oil was available at a discount to international benchmarks due to western sanctions and was quickly lapped up by Indian refiners.

Russia is now India’s largest oil supplier

In July, India imported about five million (50 lakh) barrels of oil a day of which 1.6 million (16 lakh) came from Russia.

After the new levy, India will attract the highest tariff of 50 per cent along with Brazil. After this, India’s competitors will be much better placed in the US market as their duty is lower — Myanmar (40 per cent), Thailand and Cambodia (both 36 per cent), Bangladesh (35 per cent), Indonesia (32 per cent), China and Sri Lanka (both 30 per cent), Malaysia (25 per cent), the Philippines and Vietnam (both 20 per cent).

The announcement comes at a time when a team from Washington is scheduled to visit India from August 25 for the sixth round of negotiations for the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA).

Tel Aviv: The Israeli military has intercepted a Gaza-bound aid ship seeking to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory, detaining 21 international activists and journalists and seizing all cargo, including baby formula, food and medicine, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said Sunday.

The coalition that operates the vessel Handala said the Israeli military “violently intercepted” the ship in international waters about 40 nautical miles from Gaza, cutting the cameras and communication, just before midnight Saturday.

“All cargo was non-military, civilian and intended for direct distribution to a population facing deliberate starvation and medical collapse under Israel’s illegal blockade,” the group said in a statement.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Israel’s Foreign Ministry posted on X early Sunday that the Navy stopped the vessel and was bringing it to shore.

It was the second ship operated by the coalition that Israel has prevented in recent months from delivering aid to Gaza, where food experts have for months warned of the risk of famine. Activist Greta Thunberg was among 12 activists on board the ship Madleen when it was seized by the Israeli military in June.

The ship’s interception comes as Israel faces mounting international criticism over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, with concern growing over rising hunger in the territory amid Israeli restrictions on aid.

A regional human rights group, Adalah, said the raid on the vessel violated international law. It demanded the immediate release of the 21 activists, including lawmakers and human rights campaigners, from 10 countries.

“The flotilla never entered Israeli territorial waters, nor was it intended to do so; it was headed toward the territorial waters of the State of Palestine, as recognised under international law,” Adalah said in a statement. “Israel has no legal jurisdiction or authority over the international waters in which the vessel was sailing.”

Adalah demanded immediate disclosure of the activists’ location and legal status.

Lawmaker Nicola Fratoianni, of a left-wing environmentalist party, called on the Italian government to ensure the safety of the two Italians on board.

Also on board were seven US citizens, including a human rights attorney, a Jewish US war veteran and a Jewish-American activist, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Tel Aviv: A key governing partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday it is quitting the government, leaving him with a minority in parliament.

The Shas ultra-Orthodox party said it was leaving over disagreements surrounding a proposed law meant to grant wide military draft exemptions to its constituents.

A second ultra-Orthodox party quit earlier this week over the same issue.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with US President Donald Trump

Washington: President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks at the White House next Monday, according to two US administration officials.

The visit comes as the US leader has begun stepping up his push on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire and hostage agreement and bring about an end to the war in Gaza.

The officials were not authorised to comment publicly on the visit that hasn’t been formally announced and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Netanyahu’s visit comes after Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer’s visit to Washington this week for talks with senior administration officials on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other matters.

The president in public comments has signalled he’s turning his attention to bringing a close to the fighting between Israel and Hamas, since the ceasefire to end 12 days of fighting between Israel and Iran took hold a week ago.

Trump on Friday told reporters, “We think within the next week we’re going to get a ceasefire” in Gaza, but didn’t offer any further explanation for his optimism.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier on Monday said Trump and administration officials were in constant communication with Israeli leadership and bringing about an end to the Gaza conflict is a priority for Trump.It’s heartbreaking to see the images that have come out from both Israel and Gaza throughout this war, and the president wants to see it end. He wants to save lives,” Leavitt added.

An eight-week ceasefire was reached as Trump took office earlier this year, but Israel resumed the war in March after trying to get Hamas to accept new terms on next steps.

Talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over a major sticking point — whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement. About 50 hostages remain captive in Gaza, with less than half believed to be alive.

The timing of Netanyahu’s visit to Washington was first reported by Axios.

Trump will embrace Netanyahu as he pushes back against skeptical questions from Democratic lawmakers and others about how far US and Israeli strikes have set back Iran’s nuclear programme.

A preliminary report issued by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, meanwhile, said the strikes did significant damage to the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites, but did not totally destroy the facilities.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday that the three Iranian sites with “capabilities in terms of treatment, conversion and enrichment of uranium have been destroyed to an important degree”.

But, he added some is still standing and that because capabilities remain, “if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.

He said assessing the full damage comes down to Iran allowing inspectors access.

Trump in recent days has also inserted himself into Israeli domestic affairs, calling for charges against Netanyahu in his ongoing corruption trial to be thrown out.

Trump’s in a social media post last week condemned the trial as a “WITCH HUNT”, and vowed that the United States will be the one who “saves” Netanyahu from serious corruption charges.

The decision by Trump to plunge himself into one of Israel’s most heated debates has unnerved some in its political class.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration on Monday approved a new half-billion-dollar arms sale to Israel to resupply its military with bomb guidance kits for precision munitions.

The State Department said the sale is worth USD 510 million. It includes more than 7,000 guidance kits for two different types of Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMs.

The deal is relatively small given that the U.S. provides Israel with more than USD 3 billion annually in military aid. But Israel has relied on JDAMs and other related US weaponry in its war against Hamas in Gaza and its recent strikes against Iran.

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the department said in a statement.

“This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives.”

US President Donald Trump

Washington (AP): The Trump administration violated federal privacy laws when it turned over Medicaid data on millions of enrollees to deportation officials last month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleged on Tuesday, saying he and 19 other states’ attorneys general have sued over the move.

Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s advisers ordered the release of a dataset that includes the private health information of people living in California, Illinois, Washington state, and Washington, DC, to the Department of Homeland Security, The Associated Press first reported last month.

All of those states allow non-US citizens to enrol in Medicaid programmes that pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer dollars.

The unusual data sharing of private health information, including addresses, names, social security numbers, immigration status, and claims data for enrollees in those states, was released to deportation officials as they accelerated enforcement efforts across the country. The data could be used to help the Department of Homeland Security locate migrants in its mass deportation campaign, experts said.

Bonta said the Trump administration’s data release violates federal health privacy protection laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

“This is about flouting seven decades of federal law policy and practice that have made it clear that personal healthcare data is confidential and can only be shared in certain narrow circumstances that benefit the public’s health or the Medicaid program,” Bonta said during a news conference on Tuesday.

The Trump administration has sought to arm deportation officials with more data on immigrants. In May, for example, a federal judge refused to block the Internal Revenue Service from sharing immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help agents locate and detain people living without legal status in the U.S.

The move to shore up the federal government’s data on immigrant Medicaid enrollees appears to have been set in motion in May, when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it would be reviewing some states rolls to ensure federal funds have not been used to pay for coverage for people with “unsatisfactory immigration status.”

As part of the review, CMS asked California, Washington and Illinois to share details about non-US citizens who have enrolled in their state’s Medicaid program, according to a June 6 memo signed by Medicaid Deputy Director Sara Vitolo that was obtained by the AP. The memo was written by several CMS officials under Vitolo’s supervision, according to sources familiar with the process.

CMS officials attempted to fight the data sharing request from Homeland Security, saying that to do so would violate federal laws, including the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act of 1974, according to the memo.

The legal arguments outlined in the memo were not persuasive to Trump appointees at HHS, which oversees the Medicaid agency.

Four days after the memo was sent, on June 10, HHS officials directed the transfer of “the data to DHS by 5:30 ET today,” according to email exchanges obtained by AP.

HHS is “aggressively cracking down on states that may be misusing federal Medicaid funds,” agency spokesman Andrew Nixon said in a statement. The agency has not provided details on DHS’ role in the effort. Nixon also defended the legality of releasing the data to DHS.

“HHS acted entirely within its legal authority – and in full compliance with all applicable laws – to ensure that Medicaid benefits are reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them,” he said in the statement.

Dozens of Democratic members of Congress — in both the House and Senate — have sent letters to the involved agencies, demanding that data sharing cease and that Homeland Security destroy the information it has received so far.

Moscow: Russia and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday called for an immediate cessation of the Israel and Iran conflict and an intensification of political and diplomatic efforts to resolve Tehran’s nuclear issue.

According to the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin discussed the issue during a telephonic conversation with his UAE counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

“The imperative of an early cessation of hostilities and intensification of political and diplomatic efforts in the interests of resolving controversial issues related to the Iranian nuclear programme was emphasised,” the Kremlin said in a statement after the talks.

During the call, Putin also highlighted Russia’s readiness to provide mediation assistance in promoting dialogue between Israel and Iran, and briefed his UAE counterpart on his contacts with a number of foreign leaders about this.

As Israel and Iran continued to strike each other for the sixth day, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the nuclear threat is no longer hypothetical but real in West Asia.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel is pursuing two goals — to foil Iran’s nuclear ambitions and to neutralise its missile production and attack capabilities.

“All this leads not just to escalation, but to a direct threat to the region and the world because attacks are being carried out on peaceful atomic or nuclear facilities,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a radio interview.

She underscored that the nuclear threat has a practical dimension, not a hypothetical one and upheld Tehran’s right to have peaceful nuclear facilities that were now under attack.

Israel launched Operation Rising Lion last week, targeting Iran’s nuclear, missile and military infrastructure. Iran later launched retaliatory strikes on Israel.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson, Brig Gen Effie Defrin, at a press conference, said the Israeli Air Force has hit over 1,100 Iranian assets in hundreds of strikes in Iran since Friday.

Iran launched some 30 ballistic missiles at Israel in two barrages overnight, the IDF spokesperson confirmed, claiming that most of the projectiles were intercepted and there were no injuries.