Using the HIMARS, the Ukrainians in the last week have been able to 'significantly disrupt the ability of the Russians to move forward,' the official said. They have been “successfully striking Russian locations within Ukraine, deeper behind the front lines, and disrupting Russia's ability to conduct artillery operations,” the official said. They have not used them to strike outside of Ukraine, the official added. Ukraine's forces have used them to attack targets such as ammunition dumps, hitting them with guided missiles launched from farther away, out of range of Russian artillery. The United States started sending the systems after receiving assurances from Kyiv that it would not use them to hit targets inside Russian territory.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the additional HIMARS would bring to 12 the total number of these systems sent to Ukraine since last month.

For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. RFE/RL's Live Briefinggives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, Western military aid, worldwide reaction, and the plight of civilians and refugees. With writing and reporting by Ardeshir Tayebi Many of the demonstrations have been met by crackdowns from security forces. The poor economic situation has led hundreds of thousands of people to protest in recent months. The Iranian economy has been devastated by years of harsh economic sanctions imposed by the United States after Washington withdrew from an accord Iran signed with five world powers aimed at curbing Tehran's controversial nuclear program. Rohalmini also criticized the current health minister, Iraj Harirchi, and previous ones, saying that they should be tried for crimes for failing to 'implement general health policies.' In late June, Iran's Syndicate of Pharmaceutical Industries warned President Ebrahim Raisi of a critical situation in which pharmaceutical drug production lines could break down starting in July. Iran also is dependent on imports for most of the drugs needed to treat life-threatening ailments such as cancer and coronary disease. State media reported the cash-strapped Iranian government would save some $9 billion annually by reducing drug subsidies.Īlthough domestic manufacturers supply most of Iran's drugs, much of the raw materials needed for the medicines is imported. In a conference call with reporters a few days after the deal was announced, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace nonproliferation expert George Perkovich, who has a generally positive view of the deal, speculated that 'you're never going to have many of these questions fully resolved.'Īs Perkovich put it, the IAEA will determine that it 'can't make a final pronouncement on X, on Y, and on Z,' and the agreement would have to move forward in spite of that.īut there's an even more basic problem: The sides seem to disagree on the relationship between the IAEA road map and the other, much larger nuclear deal between the US and its partners.In March, the parliament voted in favor of cutting subsidies for drugs. The International Atomic Energy Agency was ' using Iranian language' in framing how disclosure issues would be settled, as the Royal United Services Institute's Aaron Stein put it in an interview with Vox. The Washington Institute for Near East PolicyĮven analysts generally supportive of the deal have acknowledged that the weaponization disclosure issue was settled on favorable terms for Tehran. This is a bit of a gamble, and The Journal notes that former CIA director Michael Hayden recently told a Congressional committee that the US did 'not have total knowledge of how much progress the Iranians had made.' It appears the administration may believe it can help establish an IAEA inspection baseline for Iran's nuclear program - knowledge of illicit supply chains, expertise, undisclosed locations, and military oversight of nuclear technology - without Iran having to fully comply with the road map. The administration documents quoted by The Journal also suggest that the US is comfortable that it already knows the former extent of Iran's program: 'The United States has shared with the IAEA the relevant information, and crafted specific measures that will enable inspectors to establish confidence that previously reported Iranian activities are not ongoing,' the administration report says.

REUTERS/Mehr News Agency/Majid Asgaripour Iranian workers in front of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, about 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) south of Tehran, in 2010.

Iran nuclear deal vox youtube