Published on
06/07/2026 – 18:19 GMT+2

Hungary’s opposition Fidesz party has called for a demonstration on Thursday after Prime Minister Péter Magyar submitted a constitutional amendment to remove the country’s president, Tamás Sulyok.

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Magyar, who won a landslide victory in April’s election, ending Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power, has repeatedly called for the removal of the official appointed by his predecessor, whom he calls “Orbán’s puppet”.

Magyar’s amendment, filed on Saturday, states that “the mandate of the incumbent President of the Republic shall terminate on the day following the entry into force of the amendment to the Fundamental Law”.

The governing Tisza Party holds a supermajority in parliament, meaning the amendment is expected to pass. According to sources in the Hungarian parliament, the vote could take place as early as next week, but this has not been officially confirmed.

The constitutional changes would also remove four constitutional judges by setting their retirement age at 70, and limit parliamentary deputies to a 12-year mandate.

President Sulyok has said he has no intention of resigning, describing Magyar’s move as a threat to democracy.

“The question is whether this force will sweep away internationally recognised and required principles of the rule of law, as well as genuine representative democracy,” Sulyok said in a statement on Sunday.

Magyar pledged repeatedly during his election campaign to remove the president from office. He argues that Sulyok failed to fulfil his constitutional duties and did not stand up for opposition supporters during Orbán’s time in power.

“Viktor Orbán failed the Hungarian people, and Tamás Sulyok, whom he appointed, failed the Hungarian Republic,” Magyar said in June.

Fidesz has said the president’s removal would pave the way for tyranny, and has called for a demonstration on Thursday in support of Sulyok.

“The Tisza Party crosses all boundaries – human, moral and legal,” said Orbán. “Hungarian voters did not authorise this.”

The opposition argues that Sulyok was elected in accordance with the constitution, and that his removal would amount to personalised legislation.

A delegation from the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, an advisory body specialising in constitutional affairs, visited Hungary last week and met both the president and government officials. Its findings have not yet been made public.

The European Commission has said it is monitoring the constitutional amendment process in Hungary.

One of the leading American institutes devoted to research on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program sounded an alarm this week over the regime’s uninspected underground site in the Zagros Mountains. 

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have not been allowed to visit the secret site, known as Pickaxe Mountain.

The highly fortified facility is casting serious doubt on Iran’s willingness to abide by the terms of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) reached with the Trump administration. The United States, together with Israel, launched Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, 2026, targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities.

Experts from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) argue that halting work at Pickaxe Mountain and allowing IAEA inspectors access would be a key good-faith measure to test whether Iran is prepared to abandon its pattern of deception.

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Spencer Faragasso, a senior fellow with the group who covers Iran, North Korea, illicit trade, and nuclear issues, wrote on X: “Important update by us at @TheGoodISIS. The ongoing work at Pickaxe Mountain is deeply concerning. This work has continued steadily since at least 2020. In my view, this is a hedge by Iran in case negotiations fail — they will then have a nuclear facility in a late stage of construction. We assessed that Pickaxe is likely large enough to hold an enrichment plant.”

Iran has used facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan to enrich uranium, the key material for a nuclear weapons program.

Faragasso added, “If Iran is serious about negotiating, it should halt construction at Pickaxe Mountain as a token of good faith. But what can be expected from a regime as brutal and conniving as Iran’s?”

The institute posted a detailed analysis of new satellite imagery from late June 2026 showing continued activity at Pickaxe Mountain. 

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The institute wrote that “at Pickaxe Mountain, vehicle activity can be seen on the roads leading to the open set of Western tunnel portals, indicating that construction inside the tunnel complex, as well as hardening of the tunnel entrance, are ongoing. The MOU signed between the United States and Iran requires that Iran maintain the status quo, which should prohibit construction at any nuclear-related facility, including Pickaxe Mountain.”

In late June, the IAEA declined to answer a detailed Fox News Digital query on whether it would seek access to the Pickaxe Mountain facility. According to the satellite imagery obtained by the institute, “at Natanz, little activity can be seen. The access points to the below-ground enrichment halls have not been repaired. 

“The personnel entrances remain destroyed, and vehicle entrances remain severely damaged. A single vehicle can be seen on the road outside of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), which was destroyed in June 2025 but was later covered by Iran.”

The institute also reported, “As of June 29, 2026, there is no observed activity at Esfahan. The tunnel portals remain backfilled with dirt.” ISIS tracked developments at the Fordow site, buried inside a mountain north of the holy Islamic city of Qom.

“At Fordow, as earlier reported by the Institute, between May 10 and May 18, Iran added passive defensive measures in the form of earthen/rocky mounds and other objects on the roads leading to the tunnel entrances. The alternating placements of the piles/objects are very precise, which creates a series of chicanes, indicating they are not intended as obstructions but rather to prevent rapid ingress and egress by any vehicle toward the tunnels.”

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The institute added, “The June 21 Vantor image shows that the objects along the road remain there. The tunnel portals also remain backfilled with dirt” at Fordow.

Fox News Digital sent questions to the State Department and the Iranian Mission to the United Nations.