Iraqi police said a drone crashed on the 20th near the residence of Iraqi parliament speaker Halbousi in western Anbar province, causing no casualties or property damage. A police source told Xinhua the unidentified drone fell in the Karma area about 150m from Halbousi's home. The crash ignited nearby reeds; civil defence extinguished the fire. Security services are conducting forensic analysis of the wreckage and the cause remains under investigation. No group has claimed responsibility and Ira

IAEA said its team learned an on-site internal power-line problem had most recently disconnected the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant's only available external power line.

Qin Tian, deputy director of the Middle East Institute at the China Institute of International Relations, said Iran is deliberately slowing and controlling the pace of negotiations, adopting a wait‑and‑see approach: if a memorandum’s implementation yields tangible benefits for Tehran, Iran will engage actively; if implementation falls short and Iran does not receive expected gains, it will not advance further talks. Qin said Washington has not clearly benefited from prior conflict or from the current ceasefire memorandum, and with US midterm elections approaching the Trump administration’s space for large‑scale military action against Iran is increasingly constrained. As a result, the US appears to be relying chiefly on economic inducements in the memorandum — proposals such as an Iran reconstruction fund and unfreezing Iranian assets — to boost Tehran’s negotiating incentives. Qin added Israel is similarly constrained: it wants to disrupt US‑Iran negotiations but must avoid antagonizing Washington, limiting its willingness to pursue large‑scale military operations.