NPT withdrawal is on the table, Iranian MP says

The announcement was made by Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the group’s Supreme Political Council.

According to the Houthis, al-Rahawi and his colleagues were holding a cabinet meeting when the strike took place.

Al-Rahawi had served as prime minister since 2024, though his role was seen largely as administrative. The council announced that Mohamed Ahmad Moftah has been appointed as acting prime minister.

The Israeli military said on Friday that its air force carried out a broad operation against Houthi positions in Sanaa, targeting senior political and military leaders.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported the strike likely killed the entire Houthi cabinet, including al-Rahawi and up to 12 ministers.

The fresh airstrikes came after the Israeli military concluded that the Houthis had used cluster munitions in one of their ballistic missile attacks on the Jewish State.

Houthis ready to fight back

After confirming the deaths of the group’s senior officials, the Houthi defense minister announced that the Houthis are ready to confront Israel.

The Houthis have been launching attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab strait, and the Gulf of Aden since the outbreak of the Gaza war. Their operations, which have also extended into the Indian Ocean, have repeatedly disrupted maritime security.

The group has also launched missiles and drones toward Israel, framing its attacks as support for Palestinians. While the United States says it recently secured a halt to Houthi strikes on American vessels, the Houthis have said the truce does not apply to Israel and vowed to continue their attacks.

"The 30-day deadline has started and this does not mark the end of diplomacy," EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas told reporters on Saturday, after France, Britain and Germany triggered the "snapback" mechanism that will reimpose UN sanctions on Iran.

"Tehran still has the chance to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and resume negotiations with the US over its nuclear program. And the ball is in Tehran's court."

"So I stand ready to support any kind of diplomatic efforts towards finding a solution," she added.

The Western-sanctioned Nobitex exchange was hit on June 18 by the hacking group Predatory Sparrow and $90 million dollars in its currency was destroyed, according to independent monitors. Nobitex has denied any military or government connections.

Hackers analyzed the stolen data and identified assets, networks, and transactions linked to Iranian officials, distinguishing them from those of civilians and ordinary users, the source said.

Nobitex announced after the attack that losses were limited to hot wallets only. However, a source told Iran International that both hot and cold wallets had been affected.

Hot wallets are internet-connected digital wallets designed for quick transactions but vulnerable to hacks. Cold wallets—offline hardware devices or paper keys—offer higher security but are slower and less convenient for daily use.

Determining whether destroyed assets were in hot or cold wallets can be done by examining transaction patterns and blockchain data tagged by analysis firms.

The United States sanctioned Nobitex in September 2022, followed by Canada in December 2022 and New Zealand in 2023, citing the exchange’s role in arms cooperation with Russia and drone transfers in the Ukraine war.

While the released data suggested extensive sanctions-evasion activities, the Nobitex team insisted it is merely a startup and denied any illegal conduct.

During the June conflict, Israel-linked hackers launched some of the most disruptive cyberattacks of the campaign.

The Predatory Sparrow claimed responsibility for destroying $90mn from Iran’s Nobitex cryptocurrency exchange and crippling services at Bank Sepah and Bank Pasargad by disabling their main and backup data centers.

“During the Nobitex hack, the asset withdrawals specifically occurred from high-frequency addresses, typically associated with hot wallets, and were transferred to burn addresses,” Mehdi Saremi Far, a science and technology journalist, told Iran International.

Iran’s cryptocurrency market is estimated at $5–12 billion, with Nobitex handling about 87% of its transaction volume.

TRM Labs, which specializes in detecting and disrupting blockchain-based illicit activity such as ransomware and money laundering, announced in July that Nobitex was not only used for illicit activities but also served as a surveillance tool.

“The Nobitex breach showed that the exchange’s internal infrastructure was designed to evade detection by the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and US-based blockchain intelligence firms. This included modules for generating stealth addresses, obfuscating transactions, and evading surveillance,” TRM Labs said.

Iran will respond to the Europeans’ move to trigger the so-called "snapback" mechanism "in a smart and decisive manner, and based on national interests," said Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

Iran’s armed forces are now more operationally and logistically prepared than before the 12-day war with Israel, the defense ministry spokesman said on Saturday.

“Our military sustained damage during the 12-day war, but I can firmly say that Iran’s operational, combat, and defense readiness has significantly improved as a result of the experience gained,” Reza Talaei-Nik said.