Iran, Russia, China meet in New York to align on snapback risk

“Cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons that must never be used,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.

“By using such weapons in or near populated residential areas, Iranian forces endangered civilian lives and demonstrated clear disregard for international humanitarian law.”

According to Amnesty, Iranian ballistic missiles dispersed dozens of submunitions over the densely populated Gush Dan metropolitan area on 19 June, with additional strikes verified in Beersheba on 20 June and Rishon LeZion on 22 June. One of the submunitions struck the basketball court of a school in Beersheba. No injuries were reported, but remnants found at the scene matched cluster bomblets documented in the earlier Tel Aviv-area attack.

“Civilians, particularly children, are most at risk of injury or death from unexploded submunitions,” Guevara Rosas added.

Amnesty emphasized that the high dud rate of many submunitions leaves behind long-term threats. Some ordnance may remain explosive for years, posing risks to residents returning to affected areas.

Indiscriminate weapons and legal implications

Cluster munitions, which scatter small explosive devices over a wide area, are widely banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Neither Iran nor Israel is party to the treaty. Amnesty urged both governments to accede to the convention.

International humanitarian law forbids indiscriminate attacks, particularly those involving weapons that cannot be precisely directed at a specific military target. Launching such attacks into areas where civilians are present constitutes a war crime.

Amnesty said the ballistic missiles used by Iranian forces attacks were inaccurate by design. Previous assessments of similar strikes, including those launched in October 2024, found targeting errors averaging more than 500 meters.

The organization also cited past incidents suggesting Iran’s possession and testing of cluster submunitions. A similar munition landed in Gorgan, northern Iran, in September 2023 after what the Iranian Defense Ministry described as a failed weapons test. Though the ministry denied testing cluster ordnance, photographs published by state-aligned media closely resemble the bomblets found in Israel last month.

No Iranian response

Amnesty said it submitted formal inquiries to Iranian authorities on July 15 regarding the use of cluster munitions. No response had been received at the time of publication.

The 12 Day War between Iran and Israel in June resulted in the deaths of at least 1,062 people in Iran, including 786 military personnel and 276 civilians, according to the Iranian government spokesman.

"We have presented 1,062 martyrs in this war, including 102 women and 38 children," Fatemeh Mohajerani said in her weekly press briefing. She added that five paramedics, five nurses, and seven emergency responders were also among the casualties.

In Israel, at least 29 people, including women and children were killed as reported by the Israeli Health Ministry.

The move comes a month after US and Israeli attacks targeted Iranian nuclear sites and before European and Iranian envoys are due to meet in Istanbul for nuclear talks on Friday.

“A window now exists to completely change the trajectory of the Middle East for the better, but that window will close unless we convince Iran that its nuclear weapons program will never be tolerated, period,” Senator Pete Ricketts said in a floor speech on Wednesday.

“That’s why this resolution urges the E3 (UK, Germany and France) to snapback sanctions as soon as possible. We must not let Iran off the hook,” Senator Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican, said.

Any party to a now lapsed 2015 nuclear agreement is entitled to file a complaint accusing Iran of non-compliance, renewing sanctions the deal had suspended.

Despite heavy blows suffered during the conflict, Iran has refused to relinquish enrichment and insists its nuclear program is a peaceful national achievement.

“In order to seize this moment, the US and our allies must impose maximum pressure to the highest extent possible to force Iran to agree to permanently and verifiably end its nuclear program, including its capacity to enrich,” Ricketts added.

Speaking to Iran International, co-sponsor of the resolution Senator Jim Risch said the lawmakers wanted the European countries to trigger snapback "immediately".

"It is obvious that the intent of the Iranian regime is to build a nuclear weapon. We cannot have that, that’s got to stop," the Idaho Republican said.

"The president has re-enacted the maximum pressure campaign that we have had on Iran. It worked in the past, it can work again and that is what we are going to pursue."

“The issue with Trump and Netanyahu is not assassination, but the implementation of justice,” Kayhan wrote Wednesday, also referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic does not seek to kill anybody abroad.

"This is not our policy to kill anybody outside Iran, let alone the president of another country," he said, though clerics have issued fatwas calling for his death.

A hardline Iranian cleric close to Iran’s Supreme Leader called on Muslims to kill US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in June in response to their threats against Khamenei.

The call came days after Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi and Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani issued separate fatwas against Trump and Netanyahu.

Shirazi said in his statement: “Any regime or individual threatening the leaders of the Islamic Ummah (nation) and acting on those threats qualifies as a mohareb.”

Kayhan described both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as corruptors on earth and mohareb (enemy of God), terms which if invoked in fatwas or decrees under Shi'ite jurisprudence make it religiously obligatory for devout Shi'ite Muslims to act.

The penalty for the crimes in the Islamic Republic's theocratic system is death.

Kayhan also denounced Araghchi’s comment that “this has never been Iran’s policy to wipe out Israel from the map,” calling the comment “against the country’s official and strategic positions.”

The paper cited statements by the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, who said Israel “must vanish from the page of time,” as well as Khamenei’s 2015 vow that “Israel will not see the next 25 years.”

The backlash follows criticism from the Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Fars News Agency, which said Araghchi’s recent remarks admitting damage to the country's nuclear facilities and enrichment risked projecting weakness in the wake of the war with Israel.

“Our facilities have been damaged – seriously damaged,” Araghchi said in his interview after US strikes on the country's three main facilities were said to have "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program, according to Trump. “The extent of which is now under evaluation … enrichment has currently ceased."

Fars also faulted him for dismissing clerical fatwas targeting Trump, saying that to deny it undermines national resolve.

In January, Iran's President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that Iran “never attempted” to kill Trump, “and we never will.”

The launch is scheduled for 9:54 a.m. Tehran time from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome and will carry two primary satellites, Ionosfera-M 3 and 4, alongside 18 smaller payloads, including the unnamed Iranian satellite. Russian media did not mention Iran but said 17 of the small satellites are Russian-made CubeSats, and one is being launched “for the benefit of a foreign customer.”

On Monday, Iran also carried out a suborbital test of its Qased satellite launcher, which Tasnim described as part of ongoing efforts to develop space technologies. Experts say the test, led by the IRGC, also signaled defiance after the 12-day war with Israel and served as a platform for refining ballistic missile capabilities.

“The same rocket that launches satellites can launch missiles; it's the identical technology,” said Fatima Al-Asrar, a Yemeni-American policy analyst. Iran insists its space program is peaceful, but analysts warn that each test advances dual-use military know-how.

“The timing shows Iran wants to project strength despite its recent setbacks,” said Middle East analyst Sina Azodi. Other observers say the launches may be calibrated to stop short of triggering military retaliation while keeping pressure on Western powers.

Such tests have drawn Western concern due to their dual-use potential — the same technology used to launch satellites can also deliver ballistic missiles. In January 2024, the European Troika, Britain, France, and Germany, condemned Iran’s launch of the Soraya satellite aboard the Qaem 100 rocket, warning it used the same base as long-range missile systems.

“We are fully prepared for any Israeli military action, and our forces stand ready to strike deep into the occupied territories once again,” Masoud Pezeshkian told Al Jazeera Arabic, stressing however that the country does not want war.

The conflict between Iran and Israel was triggered by Israeli airstrikes on June 13 that hit military, nuclear, and civilian sites across Iran. Among those killed were senior Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists.

Iran retaliated with ballistic missile and drone attacks on Israel.

Iran says 1,062 people were killed during the 12-day conflict with Israel, including 786 military personnel and 276 civilians.

Israeli medical officials say a total of 28 people were killed and over 3,000 were wounded by Iranian attacks.

Pezeshkian said Tehran holds Washington partly responsible for the attacks after the US conducted follow-up strikes to Israel's opening attacks on three major Iranian nuclear facilities, later saying to have "obliterated" them. A ceasefire between Iran and Israel took effect on June 23.

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful. Pezeshkian repeated the same position in the interview, adding that the Islamic Republic has no intention of acquiring nuclear weapons.

“We categorically reject possessing nuclear weapons,” he said. “This is our political, religious, human, and strategic position.”

The president also disputed US President Donald Trump's statement that Iran’s nuclear capabilities had been destroyed, calling the claims an "illusion".

“Nuclear capability resides in the minds of our scientists, not in our facilities," he said.

Diplomatic negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program are expected to resume Friday in Istanbul, where Iranian officials will meet representatives of the E3—France, Germany, and the UK. Talks between Iran and the US, previously channeled through Oman, remain suspended following last month’s escalation.

The three European states, known as E3, have said they would restore international sanctions on Iran by the end of August if the country did not enter productive talks on its nuclear program with Western powers.

Pezeshkian said Tehran remains open to diplomacy but added that “Any future negotiations must be based on a win-win logic.”