So, remember how things were getting a bit tense between Israel and Iran? Well, Israel’s military recently made a pretty significant claim, stating they had taken out nine of Iran’s top nuclear scientists and experts. That’s a big deal, right? But hold on, Iran’s atomic organization quickly shot that down, with their spokesperson refuting the claim entirely.
Meanwhile, it seems the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S. might be hitting a major snag. Iran’s foreign minister and lead negotiator reportedly said that continuing these discussions would be “unjustifiable” after Israel’s recent actions. Apparently, Israel launched what they called “preemptive” strikes on Thursday, targeting Iranian nuclear sites and military installations. Iran, of course, wasn’t going to let that slide and responded with waves of missiles on Friday.
As you can imagine, this whole situation sent ripples through the global markets. Oil prices shot up, U.S. stocks tumbled, and investors, looking for a safe harbor, flocked to gold.
Getting back to Israel’s claim, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) even took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce they had “ELIMINATED: 9 senior scientists and experts responsible for advancing the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program.” They went on to add that all these individuals were “key factors in the development of Iranian nuclear weapons,” and that the operations were based on intelligence.
However, Iran’s state TV, citing the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), reported that Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told local media that there were no fatalities from the Israeli attacks on their nuclear infrastructure. So, a clear disagreement there on the facts.
The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, was quoted by Bloomberg News, citing a government statement, as saying that continuing nuclear talks with the U.S. would be “unjustifiable.” This statement is being seen as a strong hint that Iran might just pull back from its negotiations with the Trump administration. A sixth round of these talks was actually scheduled for this upcoming Sunday.
And just a little side note for those interested in the financial markets, there are a few exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that focus on Israel, such as EIS, IZRL, ISRA, and ITEQ. Plus, for those tracking the broader U.S. market, there are several ETFs that follow the S&P 500 index, like SPY, VOO, IVV, RSP, SSO, UPRO, SH, SDS, and SPXU.