The BBC, Reuters, Daily Mail and The Times report that France claims that Iran is responsible for a foiled Paris bomb plot. The BBC reports that French officials say Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence was behind a plot to bomb a rally of dissident group Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), which Iran has designated as a terrorist organisation. In a statement, the French Government said it had frozen the assets of two senior Iranian officials. On 30 June, Iranian opposition supporters gathered in Paris for a meeting of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Guests included US politicians Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker, and Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s lawyer. Reuters reports that a French diplomatic source said about the failed plot: “Behind all this was a long, meticulous and detailed investigation by our (intelligence) services that enabled us to reach the conclusion, without any doubt, that responsibility fell on the Iranian intelligence ministry.” The Daily Mail reports that in a joint statement, France’s interior, foreign and economy ministers said: “This extremely serious act envisaged on our territory could not go without a response.” The French Government has already announced it was freezing assets belonging to two suspected Iranian intelligence operatives, as well as others belonging to Iran’s ministry of intelligence and security. The Times reports that about 25,000 people attended the MEK event. Iran’s intelligence ministry, which is controlled by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, ordered the attack, French diplomats said. Paris believes that the bombing was hatched by hardline opponents of President Hassan Rouhani as a means of undermining his government. Israel’s national intelligence agency, the Mossad, was also involved in thwarting the attack, according to reports. Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat based in Vienna, is suspected of organising the plot. It was thwarted when Belgian police arrested two other Iranians in a car allegedly in possession of half a kilogram of explosives and on their way to attack the meeting. They are being held in Antwerp on terrorist charges. Iran denies any involvement in the alleged plot.

BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme included an interview with Iranian Foreign Minster Javad Zarif. Zarif said he was open to the possibility of a summit between President Trump and President Rouhani “provided it is a reliable meeting”. Referring to the US-North Korea summit earlier this year, Zarif said that Iran would not meet with the US if the outcome were to be “a photo opportunity and a two-page document”. He added: “We have a 150-page document, negotiated with six world powers. I can assure the US it will not get a better deal than the JCPOA [nuclear deal].

Reuters and the Daily Mail report that the IAEA said it will not submit to pressure from Israel. The UN agency says it will not take intelligence presented to it at face value, in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s description of a “secret atomic warehouse” in Iran. The Daily Mail reports that Netanyahu urged the IAEA to inspect the site in Turquzabad. The IAEA said it would not be told how to do its work. “All information obtained, including from third parties, is subject to rigorous review,” and that the IAEA’s work “must always be impartial, factual, and professional”.

Reuters reports that Iran has struck a deal with Damascus to build a $460m power plant in Syria’s coastal city of Latakia. Iran’s Minister of Energy Reza Ardakanian was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency that a memorandum of understanding was signed on Tuesday. Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that the MOU was signed by the head of the Iranian power and infrastructure group MAPNA and the head of the Syrian public authority for electricity generation.

The Daily Mail and Reuters report that the Palestinian leadership has appealed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to put pressure on Israel to halt demolition plans for Khan al-Ahmar, ahead of her visit to Israel. The Daily Mail says that Palestinian schoolchildren held posters of Merkel in Khan al-Ahmar pleading with her to intervene. Israel says the village was illegally built and offered to resettle residents a few miles away. But Palestinians and other critics say the demolition is aimed at displacing Palestinians in favour of settlement expansion. Israel’s Supreme Court recently rejected a final appeal against the plans. Reuters reports that Israel, which has long sought to clear the Arab nomads from tracts of land between the settlements of Maale Adumim and Kfar Adumim, said Khan al-Ahmar was built without the required permits. Palestinians say such documents are impossible to obtain. The UN, European Union and human rights groups have urged Israel not to demolish Khan al-Ahmar, citing the serious impact on the community and prospects for peace.

The Daily Mail, BBC and the Telegraph report that Russia has delivered its S-300 air defence system to Syria. The Daily Mail reports that Russian Defence Minister said that Russia has delivered four S-300 launchers along with radars and support vehicles. Speaking during a Security Council meeting chaired by President Vladimir Putin, Shoigu said it will take three months to train Syrian personnel to operate the system. The BBC reports that the delivery of the S-300 system had been suspended in 2013 following a request from Israel, but after the loss of the Russian reconnaissance plane, Shoigu said: “The situation has changed. And it’s not our fault.” The Telegraph reports that Israel voiced regret at the deaths of 15 Russian air crew, and blamed Syrian incompetence for the accident and that it was compelled to continue taking action against suspected deployments of Iranian-backed forces across its northern border. “We have not changed our strategic line on Iran,” Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said on Tuesday.

The Guardian and Reuters report that Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has described Jews as “hook-nosed” and blamed them for creating the troubles in the Middle East. The Guardian reports that in an interview on BBC’s Hard Talk he said:“If you are going to be truthful, the problem in the Middle East began with the creation of Israel. That is the truth. But I cannot say that.” Calling Israelis “special,” Mahathir challenged historical accounts that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, saying the figure was four million. When asked about the description of Jews in his book The Malay Dilemma, he said: “They are hook-nosed. Many people called the Malays fat-nosed. We didn’t object, we didn’t go to war for that.” Reuters report that when addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, Mahathir said the world “rewards Israel” for breaking international laws and committing acts of terrorism against Palestinians.

The Daily Mail reports that UNRWA workers have gone on strike in Gaza. Workers are protesting job cuts due to a funding crisis sparked by Trump’s aid cancellation. There have been more than 250 job cuts in Gaza and the occupied West Bank with 500 full-time roles having also become part-time. Even before the strike, laid-off employees had been preventing international and local staff from accessing UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City. Amir al-Mashal, head of the UNRWA employees union in Gaza, pledged “an intensification of union actions” in the coming weeks.The US has traditionally been UNRWA’s largest contributor, providing around $350m a year, but Trump has cancelled all support.

Maariv reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu has asked the IAEA to send inspectors to the secret Iranian atomic site revealed in his speech to the UN General Assembly. Haaretz leads on comments by the IAEA which said the organisation has checked every site that needs to be checked in Iran. Yossi Melman in Maariv argues that “in contrast to the impression created by the media, the IAEA neither denied nor contradicted, at least not yet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s revelations at the UN General Assembly about a secret site,” adding that the phrasing of Amano’s statement “is a masterpiece of excessive caution meant to comply with the agency’s mandate and regulations, without levelling accusations or humiliating Iran or contradicting Israel’s allegations”.

Haaretz reports on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s upcoming visit to Israel amid calls for her to prevent the demolition of the Bedouin village of Khan Al-Ahmar. The paper says the village “won’t be demolished during a snap visit to avoid diplomatic tensions”. Merkel and members of her cabinet are scheduled to pay a one-day visit to Israel tonight for the traditional G2G meeting. Merkel and Prime Minister Netanyahu will discuss bilateral relations, negotiations with the Palestinians, escalating violence in Gaza and the Iranian arena.

Maariv writes that for the eighth time in a decade, both Israel and Germany have held a joint cabinet meeting, and a cooperation agreement about education, particularly about youth exchange projects, is scheduled to be signed on Thursday. The paper adds that “serious disagreements regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, and Merkel’s rivalry with US President Donald Trump lie in the background”.

Israel Hayom quotes diplomatic sources who claim there is a gap between Merkel’s public statements and her actions on Iran. “Merkel is not Mogherini. Unlike the EU foreign affairs chief, who has ludicrously done everything she can to save the agreement, Merkel will not put herself on the line for it. She isn’t pushing for Germans to invest in Iran and she hasn’t expressed herself the same way that the EU foreign affairs chief has. Germany’s eyes are open to everything concerning the danger that Iran poses. There may be a disagreement about how to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons, but there’s consensus that this must be prevented and that Iran’s missile program and regional aggression must be stopped.”

Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom report on the feud between Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman on the government’s policy about Gaza. Bennett said that Lieberman’s policy on Gaza was weak and left-wing. Tal Lev-Ram in Maariv writes that “it seems that the political battles – the attempt to paint policy on Gaza as a matter of left versus right, and the cynical battle for the position of next defence minister – are paralysing the government and the security cabinet and not letting them adopt a concrete policy on the Gaza Strip … the IDF’s actions in Gaza are not a matter of left wing and right wing. More than anything else, Israel’s conduct in Gaza reflects an impasse in the decision-making process”.

Maariv and Kan Radio news report that Prime Minister Netanyahu is scheduled to be questioned at his residence on Friday for the 12^th time over ongoing corruption investigations. The interview is expected to focus primarily on Case 2,000 (the talks with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes) and will be based on material that the police received from state’s witness Nir Hefetz.