A massive, fast-moving wildfire rages near Athens, Greece, fueled by strong winds, drought, scorching heat, reaching flames up to 25 meters (80 feet) high.

The blaze spread to the suburbs around 9 miles from the city center, forcing mass evacuations of over a dozen areas, including hospitals, monasteries, and homes.

The fire burned homes, businesses, cars, trees, an indoor stadium, and infrastructure, covering Athens in smoke and ash, causing power cuts, injuries, hospitalizations, and at least one death.

Hundreds of firefighters, commando teams, vehicles, volunteers, and assistance from other European nations were involved in extinguishing the fires, which broke out in 40 different locations on Monday.

Authorities mobilized a large-scale operation involving 685 firefighters, specialized wildfire response teams, military personnel, numerous vehicles and aircraft, and requested international aid.

Authorities attributed the heightened fire danger to climate change, which has made wildfires more frequent, intense, and a recurring threat in Greece and other regions like Spain and the Balkans.

Greece faces its worst wildfire season in two decades, with firefighters battling dozens of wildfires daily since the beginning of summer.

Sources: AP News, BBC News, Sky News, Independent, New York Times, Financial Times, ABC News, New York Post, South China Morning Post, CBC News, Yahoo News, CGTN, Kathimerini, Hindustan Times, Washington Post, Time

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Thursday that Iran could have enough enriched uranium for five nuclear weapons, and warned Tehran that proceeding to weapons-grade enrichment could "ignite the region."

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His remarks echoed international concerns, which have mounted over the past months, on Tehran enriching uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. Experts have said that the Islamic Republic has enough fuel to build "several" atomic bombs if it chooses.

"Make no mistake, Iran will not be satisfied by a single nuclear bomb," Gallant said during a visit to Athens.

Uranium enriched for use in nuclear power plants is normally below 20%, while 90% enrichment is considered to be weapons grade.

"So far, Iran has gained material enriched to 20% and 60% for five nuclear weapons," Gallant said. "Iranian progress, enrichment to 90%, would be a grave mistake on Iran's part and could ignite the region."

Israel's leadership argues that Iran can only be stopped from developing nuclear weapons by the threat of military action, while the United States publicly favors a return to multilateral diplomatic efforts.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in March it would restart inspections and camera-monitoring at some Iranian nuclear facilities after it reported that particles of highly enriched uranium were found at an underground nuclear site.

In Athens, Gallant was hosted by Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos. The two promised to further enhance military cooperation.

Greece last year launched a new international pilot training center, assisted by Israel and Israeli defense contractor Elbit in a $1.65 billion deal. And last month, Israel agreed to provide Greece with Spike anti-tank missiles in an agreement worth $400 million.

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Egypt has temporarily suspended talks on the normalization of ties with Turkey, according to a report in the Saudi-owned and Dubai-based Al Arabiya news channel over the weekend.

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The move also includes an immediate freeze of security cooperation.

One of the reasons for the move is Turkey's failure to quickly answer Cairo's demand it immediately act to remove Turkish mercenaries from Egypt's conflict-ridden neighbor to the west, Libya, among other things.

In an attempt to ease tensions, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry to wish him a happy Ramadan ahead of the monthlong holiday.

The situation is a complex one for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Around one month ago, his government began to restrict Muslim Brotherhood activity in Turkey, ordering Istanbul-based TV channels affiliated with the Islamist group to immediately stop their criticism of Egypt.

While Turkey has committed to implementing additional steps by the end of Ramadan to placate Egypt, Cairo has demanded immediate action on this front.

While Turkey is looking to sign a maritime border agreement with Egypt, according to a report in Saudi-owned Al Arabiya, Cairo sees Ankara's recent steps as far from sufficient. The recent halt in talks is due to the Turks moving to implement the Egyptian demand two senior Muslim Brotherhood members, Yahya Musa and Alaa al-Samahi, be immediately extradited, in two separate stages.

The Egyptians have refused to hold officials talks with the Turks in Cairo ahead of April.

In the meantime, Turkish authorities have temporarily revoked the Turkish citizenship of several senior Muslim Brotherhood figures.

According to Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, an expert on Turkish politics and foreign policy at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, Turkey's support for the Muslim Brotherhood is rooted both in ideology and "what it sees as vital coordination with Qatar."

Yanarock said, "Qatar and Turkey are known as two states that support the Muslim Brotherhood movement. At the same time, Turkey needs Qatar financially, and as a result, it cannot make an independent decision without Qatar.

"From an ideological standpoint, Erdogan was shocked by a recent letter sent by 103 former Turkish admirals [in which they warned Turkey's military was undergoing a process of Islamization] and he emphasized military coup culture. If he now takes steps against the Muslim Brotherhood, within Turkey, they will say he's taking steps against the culture of military coups although outside of the country he is normalizing ties with Egypt under [President Abdel Fattah] el-Sissi. He could be portrayed as two-faced on a policy level," he said.

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