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Tag: Ebrahim Raisi

  • Cause of helicopter crash that killed Iran’s president, foreign minister revealed in new report

    Cause of helicopter crash that killed Iran’s president, foreign minister revealed in new report

    According to the report, there were no signs of sabotage in parts and systems.

    Monday, September 2, 2024 8:55AM

    Iran's President Raisi dead in helicopter crash, Iranian state media reports

    Iranian state television said President Ebrahim Raisi and others were found dead at the site of a helicopter crash Monday.

    TEHRAN, Iran — An official investigation into the helicopter crash in May that killed Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and seven other people found it was caused by challenging climatic and atmospheric conditions, Iranian state TV reported Sunday.

    The video featured is from a previous report.

    The final report of the Supreme Board of the General Staff of the Armed Forces said the main cause of the helicopter crash was the complex climatic conditions of the region in spring, state TV said.

    The report also cited the sudden appearance of a thick mass of dense fog rising upwards as the helicopter collided with the mountain.

    According to the report, there were no signs of sabotage in parts and systems.

    Raisi died alongside seven others including his foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in the crash in a remote mountainous area in northwestern Iran.

    Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    AP

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  • Iran holds runoff presidential vote pitting hard-liner against reformist after record low turnout

    Iran holds runoff presidential vote pitting hard-liner against reformist after record low turnout

    DUBAI – Iran held a runoff presidential election on Friday that pitted a hard-line former nuclear negotiator against a reformist lawmaker after the first round of voting saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.

    Initial results early Saturday put reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian ahead of hard-liner Saeed Jalili, though it wasn’t clear how many people voted in the contest.

    Government officials up to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei predicted a higher participation rate as voting got underway, with state television airing images of modest lines at some polling centers across the country.

    However, online videos purported to show some polls empty while a survey of several dozen sites in the capital, Tehran, saw light traffic amid a heavy security presence on the streets.

    Polls closed after midnight, after voting was repeatedly extended by authorities as is tradition in Iran. Mohsen Eslami, an election spokesman, said Pezeshkian had 8.6 million votes, leading Jalili’s 7.5 million. He gave no total turnout figure as counting continued through the night.

    Khamenei has insisted the low turnout from the first round on June 28 did not represent a referendum on Iran’s Shiite theocracy. However, many remain disillusioned as Iran has been beset by years under crushing economic sanctions, bloody security force crackdowns on mass protests and tensions with the West over Tehran’s advancing nuclear program enriching uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.

    “I want to save the country from isolation we are stuck in, and from lies and the violence against women because Iranian women don’t deserve to be beaten up and insulted on the street by extremists who want to destroy the country by cutting ties with big countries,” voter Ghazaal Bakhtiari said. “We should have ties with America and powerful nations.”

    Jalili has a recalcitrant reputation among Western diplomats during negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, something that is paired with concern at home over his hard-line views on Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab. Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon, has campaigned on relaxing hijab enforcement and reaching out to the West, though he too for decades has supported Khamenei and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

    Pezeshkian’s supporters have been warning Jalili will bring a “Taliban”-style government into Tehran, while Jalili has criticized Pezeshkian for running a campaign of fear-mongering.

    Both contenders voted Friday in southern Tehran, home to many poor neighborhoods. Though Pezeshkian came out on top in the first round of voting on June 28, Jalili has been trying to secure the votes of people who supported hard-line parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who came in third and later endorsed the former negotiator.

    Pezeshkian offered no comments after voting, walking out with former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who struck Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. A rambunctious crowd surrounded the men, shouting: “The nation’s hope comes!”

    Both Pezeshkian and Jalili hope to replace the 63-year-old late President Ebrahim Raisi died in a May 19 helicopter crash that also killed the country’s foreign minister and several other officials.

    Jalili voted at another polling station, surrounded by a crowd shouting: “Raisi, your way continues!”

    “Today the entire world admits that it’s the people who decide who’s president for the next four years,” Jalili said afterward. “This is your right to decide which person, which path and which approach should rule the country in the next four years.”

    But as has been the case since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women and those calling for radical change have been barred from the ballot while the vote itself had no oversight from internationally recognized monitors. The country’s Interior Ministry, in charge of police, oversees the result.

    There have been calls for a boycott, including from imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, though potential voters in Iran appear to have made the decision not to participate last week on their own as there’s no widely accepted opposition movement operating within or outside of the country.

    Khamenei cast one of the election’s first votes Friday from his residence, TV cameras and photographers capturing him dropping the ballot into the box. He insisted those who didn’t vote last week were not boycotting the government.

    “I have heard that people’s enthusiasm is more than before,“ Khamenei said. “God willing, people vote and choose the best” candidate.

    One voter, 27-year-old Yaghoub Mohammadi, said he voted for Jalili in both rounds.

    “He is clean, without depending on powerful people in the establishment,” Mohammadi said. “He represents those who have no access to power.”

    By Friday night, both hard-line and reformist figures urged the public to vote as lines remained light in Tehran.

    “Until a few hours ago I was reluctant to vote,” said Ahmad Safari, a 55-year-old shopkeeper and father of three daughters who voted despite skipping the first round. “But I decided to vote for Pezeshkian because of my children. Maybe they’ll have a better future.”

    The vote comes as wider tensions have gripped the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel over the war in Gaza, while militia groups that Tehran arms in the region — such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels — are engaged in the fighting and have escalated their attacks.

    Iran also continues to enrich uranium at near weapons-grade levels and maintains a stockpile large enough to build several nuclear weapons, should it choose to do so. And while Khamenei remains the final decision-maker on matters of state, whichever man ends up winning the presidency could bend the country’s foreign policy toward either confrontation or collaboration with the West.

    More than 61 million Iranians over the age of 18 were eligible to vote, with about 18 million of them between 18 to 30. Voting was to end at 6 p.m. but was extended until midnight to boost participation.

    Raisi, who died in the May helicopter crash, was seen as a protégé of Khamenei and a potential successor as supreme leader.

    Still, many knew him for his involvement in the mass executions that Iran conducted in 1988, and for his role in the bloody crackdowns on dissent that followed protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by police over allegedly improperly wearing the mandatory headscarf, or hijab.

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    Karimi reported from Tehran, Iran. Associated Press journalists Amir Vahdat and Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

    Jon Gambrell And Nasser Karimi, Associated Press

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  • The Latest | Polls open in Iran runoff election to replace a president killed in a helicopter crash

    The Latest | Polls open in Iran runoff election to replace a president killed in a helicopter crash

    Iranians are voting in a runoff election on Friday to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a May helicopter crash in the country’s northwest along with the foreign minister and several other officials.

    Voters will choose between hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, who has aligned himself with those seeking a return to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

    Domestic issues that have loomed over the race include a renewed crackdown on mandatory headscarfs for women and a proposed gasoline price hike, as well as years of economic malaise marked by widespread unemployment and high inflation.

    After a record-low turnout in the first round of voting June 28, it remains unclear how many Iranians will take part in Friday’s poll. Iranian law requires that a runoff if no one candidate gets more than 50% of all votes cast in the first round.

    While 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has final say on all matters of state, presidents can bend Iran toward confrontation or negotiations with the West.

    Here is the latest:

    Who is running in the presidential runoff election?

    Iran has two candidates set to face off on Friday’s runoff presidential election. One is Saeed Jalili, 58, who served as Iran’s top nuclear negotiator under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from 2007 to 2013. His hard-line vision for Iran has been criticized by opponents as being like the “Taliban” and risks inflaming public tensions after years of economic hardship and mass protests. The other is Massoud Pezeshkian, 69, who has allied himself with relatively moderate elements of Iran’s political system, including former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who helped reach Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Pezeshkian is a heart surgeon and a longtime lawmaker from Tabriz in northwestern Iran. Jalili supporters have criticized Pezeshkian’s campaign for fear-mongering, while Khamenei has issued a veiled warning about outreach to the U.S.

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    Michael Wakin in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.

    What power does an Iranian president have?

    Iranian presidents serve four-year terms and are limited to serving two terms. Iran’s president is subordinate to the supreme leader and over the recent years, the supreme leader’s power appears to have grown stronger amid tensions with the West. However, a president can bend the state’s policies on both domestic issue and foreign affairs. Former President Hassan Rouhani, for example, struck the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers with the blessing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The hard-line tack taken by the late President Ebrahim Raisi also had Khamenei’s backing.

    How is Iran ruled?

    Iran describes itself as an Islamic Republic. The Shiite theocracy holds elections and has elected representatives passing laws and governing on behalf of its people, but the unelected supreme leader has the final say on all state matters and the Guardian Council must approve all laws passed by the parliament. Those who led a protest movement after hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed 2009 re-election remain under house arrest. Security forces answering only to the supreme leader also routinely arrest dual nationals and foreigners, using them as pawns in international negotiations. Mass protests in recent years have seen bloody crackdowns on dissent. Meanwhile, hard-liners now hold all levers of power within the country. The Guardian Council approves all candidates and has never allowed a woman to run for president. It routinely rejects candidates calling for dramatic reform, stifling change.

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    Follow AP’s coverage of the Iranian presidential election at https://apnews.com/hub/iran.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

    Associated Press

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  • Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, a hard-line diplomat, dies in helicopter crash

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, a hard-line diplomat, dies in helicopter crash

    DUBAI – Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, a hard-liner close to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who confronted the West while also overseeing indirect talks with the U.S. over the country’s nuclear program, died in the helicopter crash that also killed the country’s president, state media reported Monday. He was 60.

    Amirabdollahian represented the hard-line shift in Iran after the collapse of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers after then-U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord. He served under President Ebrahim Raisi, a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and followed their policies.

    However, Amirabdollahian also was involved in efforts to reach a détente with regional rival Saudi Arabia in 2023, a move eclipsed months later by tensions that arose over the Israel-Hamas war. But he remained close to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, once praising the late Gen. Qassem Soleimani, slain in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

    “You should thank the Islamic Republic and Qassem Soleimani because Soleimani has contributed to world peace and security,” Amirabdollahian once said. “If there was no Islamic Republic, your metro stations and gathering centers in Brussels, London and Paris would not be safe.”

    Amirabdollahian served in the Foreign Ministry under Ali Akbar Salehi in 2011 through 2013. He then returned for several years under Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was a key player in the nuclear deal reached under the administration of the relative moderate President Hassan Rouhani.

    But Zarif and Amirabdollahian had a falling out, likely over internal differences in Iran’s foreign policy. Zarif offered him the ambassadorship to Oman, still a strategically important post given the sultanate long serving as an interlocutor between Iran and the West. But Amirabdollahian refused.

    He became foreign minister under Raisi with his election in 2021. He backed the Iranian government position, even as mass protests swept the country in 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who had been earlier detained over allegedly not wearing a hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities. The monthslong security crackdown that followed the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained.

    In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the “physical violence” that led to Amini’s death.

    During the Israel-Hamas war, he met with foreign officials and the leader of Hamas. He also threatened retaliation against Israel and praised an April attack on Israel. He also oversaw Iran’s response to a brief exchange of airstrikes with Iran’s nuclear-armed neighbor Pakistan and worked on diplomacy with the Taliban in Afghanistan, with whom Iran had tense relations.

    Amirabdollhian is survived by his wife and two children.

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    Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

    Jon Gambrell, Associated Press

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  • The Latest | Netanyahu says Israel will decide how to respond as Iran warns against retaliation

    The Latest | Netanyahu says Israel will decide how to respond as Iran warns against retaliation

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would decide whether and how to respond to Iran’s major air assault earlier this week, brushing off calls for restraint from close allies.

    Israel has vowed to respond to Iran’s unprecedented attack, leaving the region bracing for further escalation after months of fighting in Gaza. Israel’s allies have been urging Israel to hold back on any response to the attack that could spiral.

    The diplomatic pressure came as Iran’s president warned that even the “tiniest” invasion of its territory would bring a “massive and harsh” response.

    Over the weekend, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel after an apparent Israeli strike killed two Iranian generals. Israel and Iran have waged a long shadow war, but the strike was Iran’s first direct military attack on Israel. Israel says it and its partners intercepted nearly all the missiles and drones.

    Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned Israel against any retaliation as he addressed an annual army parade, which was moved from its usual route and not broadcast live on state TV — possibly to avoid being targeted. In remarks carried by Iran’s official IRNA news agency, Raisi said the weekend attack was limited, and that if Iran had wanted to carry out a bigger attack, “nothing would remain from the Zionist regime.”

    Regional tensions have increased since the start of the latest Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, when Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a cross-border attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza that has caused widespread devastation and killed more than 33,800 people, according to local health officials.

    Currently:

    — Netanyahu brushes off calls for restraint as Iran warns against retaliation

    — Lebanon says Israeli agents likely killed Hezbollah-linked currency exchanger

    — EU leaders vow to impose tougher sanctions against Iran

    — The G7 eyes targeted sanctions on Iran and a message of restraint

    — US House’s Ukraine, Israel aid package gains Biden’s support. What’s inside the package?

    Here is the latest:

    U.S. AND 47 OTHER COUNTRIES CONDEMN IRANIAN ATTACK ON ISRAEL

    UNITED NATIONS – The United States and 47 other countries issued a statement unequivocally condemning attacks on Israel by Iran “and its militant partners.”

    The statement issued Wednesday night calls their “dangerous and destabilizing actions” an escalation “that poses a grave threat to international peace and security.”

    The Iranian attack on Saturday marked the first time Tehran has launched a direct military assault on Israel. Israeli authorities said Iran lunched more than 300 drones and missiles, 99% of which were intercepted by air defenses in tandem with the U.S., Britain, France and Jordan.

    The attack took place less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consulate building in Damascus.

    The 48 mainly Western countries also condemned the fact that the ballistic and cruise missiles and attack drones “violated the airspace of several regional states, putting at risk the lives of innocent people in those countries, and appeared to traverse airspace near the holy sites in Jerusalem.”

    The countries also condemned Iran’s seizure of a Portuguese-flagged commercial ship near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and called for the immediate release of the ship and its crew.

    “We welcome the efforts to avert a further immediate escalation of violence in the region following the successful coordinated efforts to defend against Iran’s attack,” the statement said. “We call on all regional parties to take steps to avert further escalation of the situation.”

    UNRWA HEAD SAYS ISRAEL IS TRYING TO END ITS OPERATIONS IN GAZA

    UNITED NATIONS – The head of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees is accusing Israel of trying to end its operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

    Philippe Lazzarini is urging the U.N. Security Council to safeguard his agency’s critical role as the relief agency for Palestinians.

    Lazzarini told the council Wednesday that Israel has banned the agency from delivering aid to Gaza. International experts have warned that faminine is imminent in the northern part of the territory.

    Since the war began, Lazzarini said, 178 personnel from the agency known as UNRWA have been killed. More than 160 of the agency’s premises, which were mostly used to shelter Palestinians, have been damaged or destroyed, killing more than 400 people.

    “We demand an independent investigation and accountability for the blatant disregard for the protected status of humanitarian workers, operations, and facilities under international law,” UNRWA’s commissioner general said.

    Israel has alleged that 12 of UNRWA’s thousands of workers participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war. Lazzarini pledged to implement recommendations and strengthen safeguards to ensure UNRWA’s neutrality.

    QATAR SAYS IT’S RETHINKING ITS MEDIATOR ROLE

    DOHA, Qatar — Qatar’s prime minister said Wednesday the country is reevaluating its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas.

    Qatar has been a key intermediary throughout the war in Gaza. It, along with the U.S. and Egypt, was instrumental in helping negotiate a brief halt to the fighting in November that led to the release of dozens of hostages.

    Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdurrahman Al Thani said there had been an “abuse” of Qatar’s mediation for “narrow political interests.”

    He did not name one side in his remarks. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticized Qatar and recently threatened to shutter Qatar-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera.

    Top Hamas leaders live in exile in Qatar, which is seen as one of the only parties with influence over the militant group.

    Al Thani said there were “limits” to the role of mediator and “to the ability to which we can contribute to these negotiations in a constructive manner.”

    Mediators have been trying to push Hamas and Israel toward a cease-fire deal, but the sides remain far apart on key terms.

    UN SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES `MAXIMUM RESTRAINT’

    UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is reiterating his call for “maximum restraint” between Israel and Iran.

    U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Wednesday that rhetoric in the Middle East is becoming “increasingly dangerous.” Dujarric said the world and the region “cannot afford another open conflict.”

    The comments follow the Israeli prime minister’s vow to respond to Tehran’s first direct attack against his country and the Iranian’s president’s warning of a massive response if Israel does.

    UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO VOTE ON PALESTINIAN STATE

    UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to vote this week on a resolution that would give a green light for a Palestinian state to join the United Nations as a full member, a move opposed by the United States.

    The vote was scheduled for Friday afternoon. But Arab nations are pressing for a vote Thursday, when the council is holding a ministerial meeting on the Palestinian Authority’s request for full U.N. membership.

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered the application in 2011. That bid failed because the Palestinians did not get the required minimum support of nine of the Security Council’s 15 members.

    In early April, after years of failed on-and-off peace talks, the Palestinians turned to the United Nations again to fulfill their dream of an independent state, sending a letter to the Security Council that was supported by 140 countries.

    The United States, Israel’s closest ally, had promised to veto any resolution endorsing Palestinian membership.

    U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood reiterated the longstanding position last week: “The issue of full Palestinian membership is a decision that should be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.”

    Israel says such steps are an attempt to sidestep the negotiating process. Israel’s current right-wing government is dominated by hard-liners who oppose Palestinian statehood.

    ISRAEL’S AIR FORCE REVIEWS ITS DEFENSE OF IRAN’S ATTACK

    SDEROT, Israel — An Israeli military official says the air force is preparing for future attacks from Iran.

    The official said Wednesday that the air force has been reviewing its successful defense against Iran’s missile attack over the weekend as it makes adjustments for potential additional fighting.

    Israel has promised to respond against Iran, raising the possibility of a full-blown war, with Lebanon’s well-armed Hezbollah militant group almost certainly joining the fold.

    Hezbollah, which has been locked in daily tit-for-tat fighting with Israel through the six-month Gaza war, is believed to have well over 100,000 rockets and missiles in its arsenal. Combined with Iran’s weapons, that could pose a major test for Israel’s air defense systems.

    “We are preparing ourselves for the next time, debriefing the mission and seeing how could we prepare ourselves for the for the next attack,” said Brig. Gen. Doron Gavish, the former commander of Israel’s air defense who is now serving in reserves. He spoke to reporters at a military base in southern Israel.

    Iran says its strike was a response to an alleged Israeli airstrike that killed two Iranian generals in Syria on April 1.

    Israel says 99% of the more than 300 missiles and drones that Iran lauched were intercepted. It was assisted a coalition of international partners and the fact that Iran telegraphed its attack ahead of time.

    ISRAEL SAYS IT ARRESTED AND KILLED MILITANTS IN BEIT HANOUN

    JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Wednesday that it arrested and killed militants in an operation in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun over the past week.

    The announcement comes after Palestinians said troops conducted raids there and forced displaced people to leave their shelters.

    The military said it was a “focused operation” meant to remove militants from a civilian area. It did not say how many people were killed or arrested.

    It said it targeted two facilities used as schools after intelligence pointed to militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The military said forces told civilians to leave the building before raiding it.

    Palestinians had reported heavy bombardment of Beit Hanoun. Witnesses said many people had been interrogated and some adults were detained and taken to unknown locations.

    Palestinians have said the forces have left the town. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the operation was over.

    It was the latest in a series of Israeli raids in northern Gaza.

    14 WOUNDED IN HEZBOLLAH ATTACK ON NORTHERN ISRAEL

    JERUSALEM — A drone and rocket attack by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on a border town in Israel’s north wounded 14 soldiers, Israel’s military says.

    Wednesday’s strike hit a community center in the town of Arab al-Aramshe where soldiers were sleeping, the military said. Six soldiers were seriously wounded, two were moderately wounded and six were lightly wounded.

    Hezbollah has said it targeted a military facility on the border to avenge the killing of a number of its fighters, including a commander, in Israeli strikes the previous day.

    The Israeli military said its fighter jets responded by striking the areas from where the projectiles were fired, without elaborating on the location. It also said its fighters struck other Hezbollah military compounds in Naqoura and Yarine in south Lebanon.

    Israel’s rescue service Magen David Adom said earlier that at least 13 people were wounded, without disclosing their identities.

    Hezbollah, which is sponsored by Iran, has exchanged fire with Israeli forces on a near-daily basis since the start of the war in Gaza.

    ITALY WOULD CONTRIBUTE TO ANY UN PEACEKEEPING IN GAZA

    Italy’s foreign minister says Rome would be willing to contribute troops to any possible U.N. peacekeeping force for Gaza, even though no such proposal is currently on the table and Israel has rejected the idea.

    In an interview with The Associated Press, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani suggested a U.N. force under Arab command could help provide security if Israel and the Palestinians make headway on an eventual two-state solution. He said the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon could be the model.

    “If there is the solution and for a short time we need the presence of the United Nations under Arab control, we are ready for sending Italian soldiers,” Tajani said ahead of a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Capri.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a foreign peacekeeping force in Gaza after the war, saying only Israel is capable of keeping the territory demilitarized.

    GERMANY STANDS IN ‘FULL SOLIDARITY’ WITH ISRAEL

    TEL AVIV, Israel — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday expressed her country’s full solidarity with Israel in the face of Iran’s attack on the weekend.

    She vowed consequences for Iran and said the European Union was working on imposing on further sanctions.

    “We will not tolerate this. We stand in full solidarity with Israel,” she told reporters. “Iran and its proxies such as Hezbollah or the Houthis must not be allowed to add fuel to the fire.”

    Baerbock called on Israel to exercise restraint in its reaction to Iran’s attack in order to avoid a further escalation of the conflict.

    “Everyone must now act prudently and responsibly. I’m not talking about giving in. I’m talking about prudent restraint, which is nothing less than strength,” the German minister said. “Because Israel has already shown strength with its defensive victory at the weekend.”

    The minister also called for the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza and demanded more humanitarian aid for Gaza’s civilian population.

    ARROW 3 MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM USED SUCCESSFULLY, MAKER SAYS

    JERUSALEM — The Arrow 3 missile defense system, designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles, was deployed successfully against a missile salvo for the first time over the weekend to repel the Iranian attack on Israel, the system’s maker said Wednesday.

    Speaking to The Associated Press, Boaz Levy, chief executive of state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, the primary builder of the Arrow system, said that the system has been “operational for decades,” but was used Saturday “for the very first time against ballistic missiles in a salvo scenario,” intercepting high-flying munitions inside and outside the atmosphere.

    Of about 300 drones and missiles launched by Iran into Israeli airspace Saturday night, the military says that 99% were intercepted by Israel’s multilayered air defense system, wounding only one person — a young girl.

    “There is no hermetic seal. no system can give you an hermetic seal. But we did succeed to have 99% of success,” said Levy.

    The Arrow’s success Saturday night in defending Israel is likely to please Germany, which recently signed a contract with Israel and the United States to procure Arrow 3. When operational, the system could protect much of Europe from long-range ballistic missiles.

    UK FOREIGN SECRETARY DAVID CAMERON IN ISRAEL FOR MEETINGS

    JERUSALEM — U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron says “it’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act” against Iran, but he hopes it will do so “in a way that is smart as well as tough and also does as little as possible to escalate this conflict.”

    Cameron landed in Israel on Wednesday for meetings with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials.

    He said his main aim was to “focus back the eyes of the world back on the hostage situation” and urged Hamas to agree to a temporary cease-fire agreement.

    Cameron told broadcasters that “the real need is to refocus back on Hamas, back on the hostages, back on getting the aid in, back on getting a pause in the conflict in Gaza.”

    Cameron is due to travel from the Middle East to a meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers in Italy. He said he wanted the group of wealthy industrialized nations to “show a united front” and impose coordinated sanctions on Iran in response to its “malign activity” in the region.

    “They need to be given a clear and unequivocal message by the G7 and I hope that will happen at the weekend,” Cameron said.

    RIGHTS GROUP SAYS ISRAELI FORCES JOINED OR FAILED TO STOP SETTLER ATTACKS ON PALESTINIANS

    JERUSALEM — Human Rights Watch says Israeli forces either took part in or failed to stop settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank that displaced hundreds of people from several Bedouin communities last fall.

    Settler violence surged after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered the war in Gaza, leading to the complete uprooting of at least seven Palestinian Bedouin communities and displacement from several others, according to the New York-based rights group.

    Settlers launched another wave of attacks late last week after a 14-year-old Israeli boy was killed in what Israeli authorities say was a militant attack. The United Nations’ human rights office on Tuesday called on Israeli security forces to “immediately end their active participation in and support for settler attacks on Palestinians.”

    The Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday focused on the earlier rash of violence. The rights group says Israeli settlers assaulted Palestinians, stole their belongings and livestock and threatened to kill them if they did not leave permanently. The settlers also destroyed homes and schools.

    The military didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

    IRAN THREATENS ‘MASSIVE’ RESPONSE IF ISRAEL LAUNCHES ‘TINIEST INVASION’

    TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s president has warned that the “tiniest invasion” by Israel would bring a “massive and harsh” response, as the region braces for potential Israeli retaliation after Iran’s attack over the weekend.

    President Ebrahim Raisi spoke Wednesday at an annual army parade that was relocated to a barracks north of the capital, Tehran, from its usual venue on a highway in the city’s southern outskirts. Iranian authorities gave no explanation for its relocation, and state TV did not broadcast it live, as it has in previous years.

    Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend in response to an apparent Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria on April 1 that killed 12 people, including two Iranian generals.

    Israel, with help from the United States, the United Kingdom, neighboring Jordan and other nations, successfully intercepted nearly all the missiles and drones.

    Israel has vowed to respond, without saying when or how, while its allies have urged all sides to avoid further escalation.

    Raisi said Saturday’s attack was a limited one, and that if Iran had wanted to carry out a bigger attack, “nothing would remain from the Zionist regime.” His remarks were carried by the official IRNA news agency.

    UN APPEALS FOR $2.8 BILLION TO PROVIDE AID TO 3 MILLION PALESTINIANS

    UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations is appealing for $2.8 billion to provide desperately needed aid to 3 million Palestinians, stressing that tackling looming famine in war-torn Gaza doesn’t only require food but sanitation, water and health facilities.

    Andrea De Domenico, the head of the U.N. humanitarian office for Gaza and the West Bank, told reporters Tuesday that “massive operations” are required to restore those services and meet minimum standards — and this can’t be done during military operations.

    He pointed to the destruction of hospitals, water and sanitation facilities, homes, roads and schools, adding that “there is not a single university that is standing in Gaza.” De Domenico said there are signs of Israel’s “good intention” to get humanitarian aid into Gaza, but the U.N. keeps pushing because it’s not enough. He pointed to Israeli denials and delays on U.N. requests for aid convoys to enter Gaza.

    The U.N. humanitarian official called for a complete change of focus to recognize that preventing famine goes beyond providing flour for bread or pita and to recognize that “water, sanitation and health are fundamental to curb famine.”

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Ebrahim Raisi Fast Facts | CNN

    Ebrahim Raisi Fast Facts | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the life of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi.

    Birth date: December 14, 1960

    Birth place: Mashhad, Iran

    Full name: Sayyid Ebrahim Raisol-Sadati

    Father: Seyyed Haji, a cleric

    Mother: Sayyedeh Esmat Khodadad Husseini

    Marriage: Jamileh Alamolhoda (1983-present)

    Children: Two daughters

    Education: Attended seminary in Qom; Shahid Motahari University, Ph.D in law

    Religion: Islamic, Shiite Muslim

    His father passed away when Raisi was 5 years old.

    Wears a black turban, signifying that he is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.

    Has long opposed engagement with the West and is a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

    Raisi is the first elected Iranian leader who is under US sanctions.

    Early 1980s – Prosecutor for the cities of Karaj and Hamadan.

    1985-1988 – Deputy prosecutor of Tehran, Iran.

    1988 – According to different rights groups, Raisi is part of a four-person “death panel” which allegedly oversees the mass execution of up to 5,000 political prisoners. To date, Raisi has never publicly commented on these allegations, but it’s believed that he rarely leaves Iran for fear of retribution or international justice over the executions.

    1989-1994 – Prosecutor general of Tehran.

    1994-2004 – Head of the General Inspection Organization, tasked with investigating misconduct and corruption.

    2004-2014 – First deputy chief justice.

    2006 – Raisi is elected to the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that appoints the supreme leader.

    2012 – Becomes prosecutor general of the Special Court for the Clergy.

    2014-2016 – Prosecutor general of Iran.

    2016-2019 – Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, a foundation reportedly worth billions, and responsible for managing the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad.

    May 19, 2017 – Loses in the presidential election to Hassan Rouhani, claiming 38.5% of the vote to Rouhani’s 57%.

    March 7, 2019 – Ayatollah Khamenei appoints Raisi as chief justice.

    March 12, 2019 – Elected deputy chief of the Assembly of Experts.

    November 4, 2019 – The US Department of the Treasury sanctions Raisi, citing his participation in the 1988 “death commission” and also a United Nations report indicating that Iran’s judiciary approved the execution of at least nine children between 2018 and 2019.

    June 19, 2021 – Is declared the winner of a historically uncompetitive presidential election in Iran. Raisi wins almost 18 million of the nearly 29 million ballots cast, according to Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli. Many reform-minded Iranians had refused to take part in an election widely seen as a foregone conclusion. Overall voter turnout was only 48.8% – the lowest since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979.

    June 21, 2021 – In his first international news conference since being elected president, Raisi says he would not meet with US President Joe Biden, even if both sides agreed on terms to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, under which Iran had pledged to stop uranium enrichment in return for the lifting of crippling US sanctions. Responding to a question from CNN, the president-elect accuses the United States and the European Union of violating the deal and calls on Biden to lift all sanctions, before adding that Iran’s ballistic missile program is “not up for negotiation.”

    August 5, 2021 – Is officially sworn in as president.

    November 2023 – Raisi attends a summit in Saudi Arabia where Arab and Muslim leaders decry Israeli “war crimes” in Gaza. Speaking at the summit, Raisi says “we have gathered here today to discuss the focus of the Islamic world, which is the Palestinian cause, where we’ve witnessed the worst crimes in history.”

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  • Renewed Israel-Gaza war crowds out climate at COP28

    Renewed Israel-Gaza war crowds out climate at COP28

    Press play to listen to this article

    Voiced by artificial intelligence.

    DUBAI — The war in Gaza crashed into the United Nations climate summit on Friday, as furious sideline diplomacy, blunt censures of violence and an Iranian boycott shoved global warming to the side.

    It was a sharp change in tone from the COP28 opening on Thursday, which ended on an upbeat note as countries promised to support climate-stricken communities. The mood darkened the following day as news broke that the week-old truce between Israel and Hamas was collapsing. 

    Israeli President Isaac Herzog spent much of the morning in meetings telling fellow leaders about “how Hamas blatantly violates the ceasefire agreements,” according to a post on his X account. He ended up skipping a speech he was meant to give during Friday’s parade of world leaders.

    There were other conspicuous no-shows. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was absent, despite being listed as an early speaker. And Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority leader, also disappeared from the final speakers’ list after initially being scheduled to talk just a few slots after Herzog. 

    Then, shortly after leaders posed for a group photo in the Dubai venue on Friday, the Iranian delegation announced it was walking out. The reason, Iran’s energy minister told his country’s official news agency: The “political, biased and irrelevant presence of the fake Zionist regime” — referring to Israel. 

    By Friday afternoon, the Iranian pavilion had emptied out. 

    The backroom drama played out even as leader after leader took the stage in the vast Expo City campus to make allotted three-minute statements on their efforts to stop the planet from boiling. The World Meteorological Organization said Thursday that 2023 was almost certain to be the hottest year ever recorded.

    U.N. climate talks are often buffeted by outside events. This is the second such meeting held after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That war provoked some public barbs and backroom discussions at last year’s summit in Egypt, but leaders still maintained their scheduled speaking slots and a veneer of focus on the matter they were supposedly there to discuss.

    This year, that veneer cracked. 

    “There are currently a number of very, very serious crises that are causing great suffering for many people. It was clear that these would also affect the mood at the COP,” a German diplomat, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, told POLITICO. 

    But that can’t distract officials working on climate change, the diplomat added: “It is also clear that no one on our planet, no country on Earth, can escape the destructive effects of the climate crisis.” 

    Tell-tale signals

    There had been early signs that the conflict would spill over into discussions at the climate summit. 

    Sameh Shoukry, president of the COP27 climate conference and Egyptian minister of foreign affairs, Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, president of COP28 | Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    At Thursday’s opening ceremony, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry — president of last year’s COP27 summit — asked all delegates to stand for a moment of silence in memory of two climate negotiators who had recently died, “as well as all civilians who have perished during the current conflict in Gaza.” 

    On Friday, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were among the leaders who used their COP28 speeches to draw attention to the war.

    “This year’s COP must recognize even more than ever that we cannot talk about climate change in isolation from the humanitarian tragedies unfolding around us,” Abdullah said. “As we speak, the Palestinian people are facing an immediate threat to their lives and wellbeing.”  

    Ramaphosa went further: “South Africa is appalled at the cruel tragedy that is underway in Gaza. The war against the innocent people of Palestine is a war crime that must be ended now. 

    But, he added, “we cannot lose momentum in the fight against climate change.”

    Asked for comment, an official from the United Arab Emirates, which is overseeing COP28, said the country had invited all parties to the conference and “are pleased with the exceptionally high level of attendance this year.” 

    The official added: “Climate change is a global issue and as the host for this significant, momentous conference, the UAE  welcomes constructive dialogue and continues to work with all international partners and stakeholders across the board to deliver impactful results for COP28.”  

    The other summit in Dubai

    In the back rooms of the conference venue, leaders were holding urgent talks on the war. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken huddled with Herzog on Thursday, according to a post on Herzog’s X account. 

    “In addition to participating in the COP, I’ll have an opportunity to meet with Arab partners to discuss the conflict in Gaza,” Blinken told reporters Wednesday while in Brussels for a NATO gathering. He didn’t offer further details.

    A senior Biden administration official told reporters Vice President Kamala Harris would also be “having discussions on the conflict between Israel and Hamas” during her trip to Dubai.

    On his X account, Herzog said he had met with “dozens” of leaders at the summit. His post featured photographs of Britain’s King Charles III, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, India’s Narendra Modi and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He also posted about meetings with Blinken and UAE leader Mohamed bin Zayed.

    Erdoğan met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at COP28 to discuss the war in Gaza, according to a statement by the Turkish communications directorate that made no mention of climate action. 

    U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made no secret of the fact that he intended to use some of his brief visit to Dubai to talk about regional security.

    U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made no secret of the fact that he intended to use some of his brief visit to Dubai to talk about regional security | Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    “I’ll be speaking to lots of leaders … not just [about] climate change, but also the situation in the Middle East,” he told reporters on his flight out of the U.K. Thursday night.

    The reignited Israel-Hamas conflict came to dominate his time at the summit. Meetings with other leaders were arranged with regional tensions in mind — not climate. Sunak met Israel’s Herzog and Jordan’s Abdullah, as well as Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al Sisi and the emir of Qatar.  

    “Given the events of this morning in Israel and Gaza, the prime minister has spent most of his bilateral meetings discussing that situation,” Sunak’s spokesperson told reporters in Dubai.

    The meetings focused on “what more we can do both to support the innocent civilians in Gaza, to de-escalate tensions, to get more hostages out and more aid in,” the spokesperson said.

    Even the U.K.’s ostensibly nonpolitical head of state, King Charles III — in Dubai to give an opening address to world leaders — was deployed to aid the diplomatic effort. Buckingham Palace said the king would “have the opportunity to meet regional leaders to support the U.K.’s efforts to promote peace in the region.”

    Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron was planning to meet various leaders on the security situation and then fly on for talks in Qatar, according to an Elysée Palace official. 

    Meanwhile, three of Europe’s leaders who have been the strongest backers of the Palestinians — Irish leader Leo Varadkar, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — held talks on the fringes of COP on Friday morning.

    Earlier on Friday, Israel withdrew its ambassador to Spain, blasting what it called Sánchez’s “shameful remarks” on the situation.

    Brazil’s Lula, whose country will host a major COP conference in 2025, lamented that just as more joint action is needed to prevent climate catastrophe, war and violence were cleaving the world apart.  

    “We are facing what may be the greatest challenge that humanity has faced till now,” he said. “Instead of uniting forces, the world is going to wars. It feeds divisions and deepens poverty and inequalities.”

    Zia Weise, Suzanne Lynch and Charlie Cooper reported from Dubai. Karl Mathiesen reported from London.

    Clea Calcutt contributed reporting from Paris. Nahal Toosi contributed reporting from Washington, D.C. 

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  • Iran pledges more access for nuclear inspectors, head of UN watchdog says

    Iran pledges more access for nuclear inspectors, head of UN watchdog says

    Iran pledged to re-install monitoring equipment at its nuclear facilities and to assist an investigation into uranium traces detected at undeclared sites, the head of the U.N.’s nuclear agency said Saturday after a visit to Tehran.

    Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other top officials in Tehran on Saturday.

    “Over the past few months, there was a reduction in some of the monitoring activities” related to cameras and other equipment “which were not operating,” Grossi told reporters upon his return to Vienna. “We have agreed that those will be operating again.”

    A joint statement issued on Saturday by the IAEA and Iran’s nuclear agency included assurances that Tehran would address long-standing complaints about access to its disputed nuclear program. But the text went into little detail, and similar promises by Iran have yielded little in the past.

    “Iran expressed its readiness to continue its cooperation and provide further information and access to address the outstanding safeguards issues,” according to the joint statement.

    “These are not words. This is very concrete,” Grossi said of the assurances he received in Tehran, the Associated Press reported.

    The visit to Iran followed a recent report from the IAEA, seen by CNN and other media, that confirmed that uranium particles enriched to 83.7 percent purity, close to the 90 percent needed to make a nuclear bomb, were found at an Iranian nuclear site. The report raised concerns that Tehran was speeding up its enrichment.

    Grossi said the Iranians had agreed to increase inspections at that site by 50 percent, the AP reported.  

    Iran also will allow the re-installation of extra monitoring equipment that had been put in place under the 2015 nuclear deal, but then removed last year as the agreement fell apart, Reuters reported.

    The 2015 deal gave Tehran relief from most international sanctions as long as it allowed the U.N. watchdog to monitor its nuclear activities. But it began to unravel after the U.S.’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump.

    Iran also “will allow the IAEA to implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities,” according to Saturday’s joint statement. “Modalities will be agreed between the two sides in the course of a technical meeting which will take place soon in Tehran,” it said.

    Grossi said there was a “marked improvement” in his dialogue with Iranian officials, according to the AP. “I hope we will be seeing results soon. We will see.”

    Jones Hayden

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  • Isolated Iran finds ally China reluctant to extend it a lifeline | CNN

    Isolated Iran finds ally China reluctant to extend it a lifeline | CNN

    Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in today’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, CNN’s three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.


    Abu Dhabi, UAE
    CNN
     — 

    Shortly before leaving for his first state visit to China on Tuesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi issued a thinly veiled criticism of his powerful ally, saying the two countries’ relationship has not lived up to expectations.

    The first Iranian president to arrive in China on a state visit in two decades, Raisi was keen to tell Beijing that it has not given enough support to Tehran, especially economically.

    “Unfortunately, I must say that we have seriously fallen behind in these relations,” he said, referring to trade and economic ties. Part of his mission, he said, was to implement the China-Iran Strategic Partnership Plan (CISPP), a pact that would see Beijing invest up to $400 billion in Iran’s economy over a 25-year period in exchange for a steady supply of Iranian oil.

    Raisi said that economic ties had regressed, and that the two nations needed to compensate for that.

    The public criticism on the eve of the landmark trip demonstrated the heavily-sanctioned Islamic Republic’s disappointment with an ally that has in many ways become one of its few economic lifelines.

    The speech was likely “a reflection of Tehran’s frustration with China’s hesitancies about deepening its economic ties with Iran,” Henry Rome, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told CNN. “The same issues that have constrained China-Iran relations for years appear to remain.”

    Analysts said Raisi’s speech was a clear call for China to live up to its end of the relationship, seeking economic guarantees from the Asian power so he can have something to show at home amid a wave of anti-government protests and increasing global isolation.

    “The mileage Raisi will get for having a visit is going to be very limited if that visit doesn’t produce anything,” said Trita Parsi, vice-president of the Quincy Institute in Washington, DC. “The Iranians are not in a position right now in which a visit in and of itself is sufficiently good for them…They need more.”

    Whether Iran is satisfied with what China offered it, however, is yet to be seen.

    “Though more substance may be achieved following the visit, the reality is that Raisi needs both the substance and the announcement of concrete agreements,” said Parsi. He added that China, on the other hand, appears to be inclined to “play matters down” as it balances the partnership with its ties with Gulf Arab states at odds with Iran, as well as its own fraught relations with the US.

    In a joint statement, both China and Iran said they are “willing to work together to implement” the CISPP and “continue to deepen cooperation in trade, agriculture, industry, renewable energy, infrastructure and other fields.”

    On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who accompanied Raisi to China, said that the two countries agreed to remove obstacles in the way of implementing the CISPP, adding that Iran was “optimistic at the results of the negotiations,” according to state news agency IRNA.

    Chinese President Xi Jinping also accepted an invitation to visit Iran on a future date.

    Raisi’s trip comes as Beijing strengthens its ties with Iran’s foe Saudi Arabia, and as cheap Russian oil potentially threatens Iran’s crude exports to China.

    Less than two years after he took power, Raisi’s term has witnessed growing isolation from the West – especially after Iran supplied Russia with drones to use in its war on Ukraine – and failed efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal that removed some barriers to international trade with the Islamic Republic.

    As Western sanctions cripple its economy, Beijing has helped keep Tehran afloat economically. China is Iran’s biggest oil customer, buying sanctioned but cheap barrels that other nations would not touch.

    Tehran’s other ally, Russia, has however been biting into its Asian oil market as China buys more Russian barrels – also sanctioned by the West – for cheap, threatening one of Iran’s last economic lifelines.

    The visit is therefore a strategic one, analysts say, and an attempt by Iran pull itself back up from domestic instability and worsened isolation from the West.

    “(It) is an opportunity for Raisi to try to draw a line under the past five months of domestic unrest and project a sense of normalcy at home and abroad,” said Rome.

    But Jacopo Scita, a policy fellow at the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation in London, said he did not expect the visit to result in much more than a recognition of China’s partnership with Iran.

    “Raisi will hardly get much from the economic perspective, except for a new series of memoranda of understanding and some minor deals,” he told CNN.

    Iran has also been reminding its people that looking eastward is the right path toward economic revival as prospects of returning to nuclear agreement fade, said Parsi. The government has been keen to show that it has “an eastern option” that is supportive and lucrative, he said.

    Scita said that China is unlikely to live up to Iran’s expectations, however.

    “I don’t believe that Beijing can offer guarantees to Tehran except a pledge to continue importing a minimum amount of crude regardless of the global market situation and China’s domestic demand,” he told CNN.

    How Raisi’s visit will be received back at home remains unclear. If the trip yields no concrete results in the coming days, then Iran’s move eastward could prove to be “a huge strategic mistake that the Raisi government has really rushed into,” said Parsi.

    Additional reporting by Adam Pourahmadi and Simone McCarthy

    Turkey’s earthquake left 84,000 buildings either destroyed or in need of demolition after sustaining heavy damage, Turkish Urban Affairs and Environment Minister Murat Kurum said Friday, according to state media.

    The deadly earthquake – which sent shockwaves across the region – has so far killed more than 43,000 across both Turkey and Syria.

    At least 38,000 people died in Turkey, according to Turkey’s governmental disaster management agency, AFAD. The death toll in Syria remains at least 5,841, according to the latest numbers reported Tuesday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

    Here’s the latest:

    • Since the February 6 earthquake, a total of 143 trucks loaded with aid provided by six UN agencies have crossed from Turkey to northwest Syria through two border crossings, a OCHA statement said Friday.
    • Two men were rescued in Hatay ten days after the earthquake struck, said Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Friday. And late on Thursday, a 12-year-old boy was rescued from rubble in southern Hatay 260 hours after the earthquake hit, according to CNN Turk, which reported live from the scene.
    • World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said upon returning from Syria on Tuesday that more than a decade of war in the region has left towns destroyed, with the health system unable to cope with this scale of emergency. “Survivors are now facing freezing conditions without adequate shelter, heating, food, clean water or medical care,” he said.
    • Turkey added Elazig as the 11th province in the list of those impacted by the quake, the ruling party spokesman said.
    • A Turkish family was reunited with the ‘miracle baby’ that was found in the rubble of the quake after they had given up hope.
    • A confused woman asked her rescuers “What day is it?” when pulled alive from the rubble of last week’s earthquake after 228 hours.
    • After attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel on to Turkey and Greece on Sunday to see US efforts to assist with the earthquake and to meet with Turkish and Greek officials, the State Department said Wednesday.

    Palestinian activist beaten by Israeli soldier says he is scared for his life

    Palestinian activist Issa Amro, who was filmed being assaulted by an Israeli soldier on Monday, told CNN Thursday that he is physically and psychologically affected by the attack and fears for his life.

    • Background: Lawrence Wright, a writer for the New Yorker magazine, posted video of the assault on Twitter. It showed two IDF soldiers manhandling well-known activist Amro, throwing him onto the ground, and one soldier kicking him, before that soldier is pushed away by other troops. The Israeli soldier who was filmed assaulting Amro in Hebron was sentenced to 10 days in military jail. In response to CNN’s interview with Amro, Israel Defense Forces international spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said there was “no justification” for the soldier’s behavior, but suggested Amro had provoked the incident.
    • Why it matters: Amro said he is afraid for his life and for the lives of the people in the area, but added that, “unfortunately what happened to me is happening almost every day.” He said he filed many complaints to the Israeli police about soldier and settler violence, but had gotten no accountability. Amro also said he wants the Biden administration to reopen the Palestinian consulate in East Jerusalem.

    Protesters set fire to ATMs as Lebanese lira hits 80,000 against the dollar in new record low

    Lebanon’s national currency has hit a new record low of 80,000 Lebanese lira against the US dollar, according to values sold on the black market on Thursday. On Thursday, protesters blocked roads across Beirut and set fires to ATMs and bank branches, according to videos posted on social media by the organizers, United for Lebanon and the Depositors Outcry Association, who are both advocating for the release of depositor savings.

    • Background: The lira has been on an exponential fall since January 20 when the Lebanese central bank (BDL) adjusted the official exchange rate for the first time in decades, from LL1,500 to LL15,000. Lebanese banks have been closed since Tuesday due to a strike announced by the Association of Banks in Lebanon. Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement Thursday that “efforts are continuing to address the financial situation.”
    • Why it matters: Lebanon has been in a deepening financial crisis since 2019. The country moved toward securing an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout in April 2022, but the deal is yet to be finalized.

    Iran denies links to new al-Qaeda leader, calls US claim ‘Iranophobia’

    Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Thursday denied claims by the US that al-Qaeda’s new leader, Seif al-Adel, is living in his country. “I advise White House to stop the failed Iranophobia game,” wrote Abdollahian on Twitter. “Linking Al-Qaeda to Iran is patently absurd and baseless,” he said.

    • Background: US State Department spokesman Ned Price on Wednesday told reporters that the US backs a UN report linking al-Adel to Iran. “Our assessment aligns with that of the UN, the assessment that you (a reporter) referenced that Saif al-Adel is based in Iran,” said Price during a press briefing, adding that “offering safe haven to al-Qaeda is just another example of Iran’s wide-ranging support for terrorism, its destabilizing activities in the Middle East and beyond.”
    • Why it matters: Tensions between Iran and the US have only worsened in recent months, as the Islamic Republic supplies drones to Russia for use in its war on Ukraine and negotiations to revive a 2015 deal remain frozen. The US said it killed al-Qaeda’s former leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a drone strike on Kabul, Afghanistan last year.

    A Roman-era lead sarcophagus was uncovered on Tuesday at the site of a 2000-year-old Roman necropolis in the Gaza Strip. The necropolis is along the Northern Gaza coast and 500 meters (0.3 miles) from the sea.

    The sarcophagus may have belonged to a prominent individual based on where it was found, the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities’ director of excavation and museums, Jehad Yasin, told CNN on Thursday.

    Yasin said the ancient Roman cemetery was discovered in 2022 “as excavations were carried out at the site in cooperation with Premiere Urgence Internationale and funded by the British Council.”

    Premiere Urgence Internationale, a French humanitarian organization, has collaborated on “Palestinian cultural heritage preservation” projects in Gaza under a program called INTIQAL.

    The coffin was exhumed from the site to perform archaeological analysis for bone identification, which will take around two months, according to Yasin.

    A team of experts in ancient funerary will unseal the coffin in the coming weeks.

    While Gaza is a site of frequent aerial bombardment and a land, air, and sea blockade imposed by Israeli and Egyptian officials, the sarcophagus remains intact.

    “The state of preservation of the sarcophagus is exceptional, as it remained sealed and closed,” read a press release from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

    French and Palestinian archaeologists have uncovered eighty-five individual and collective tombs in the 3,500-square-meter Roman acropolis since its discovery last year, while ten of them have been opened for excavation.

    Beyond the rubble of the coastal enclave lay dozens of artifacts and burial sites from the Roman, Byzantine and Canaanite eras.

    Last year a Palestinian farmer discovered the head of a 4,500-year-old statue of Canaanite goddess Anat while another Palestinian farmer discovered a Byzantine-era mosaic in his orchard.

    In 2022 the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities released their first Arabic archaeological guide titled “Gaza, the Gateway to the Levant.” The guide charts 39 archaeological sites in Gaza, including churches, mosques and ancient houses that date back to 6,000 years.

    The ministry expects more archaeological findings at the necropolis.

    Further sarcophagi are likely to be uncovered in the following months, said Director Yasin.

    By Dalya Al Masri

    A man and woman walk along a damaged street at night in earthquake- stricken Hatay, Turkey on Thursday.

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  • Hackers interrupt Iran president’s TV speech on anniversary of revolution | CNN

    Hackers interrupt Iran president’s TV speech on anniversary of revolution | CNN

    The Islamic Republic marked the 44th anniversary of the Iranian revolution on Saturday with state-organized rallies, as anti-government hackers briefly interrupted a televised speech by President Ebrahim Raisi.

    Raisi, whose hardline government faces one of the boldest challenges from young protesters calling for its ouster, appealed to the “deceived youth” to repent so they can be pardoned by Iran’s supreme leader.

    In that case, he told a crowd congregated at Tehran’s expansive Azadi Square: “the Iranian people will embrace them with open arms”.

    His live televised speech was interrupted on the internet for about a minute, with a logo appearing on the screen of a group of anti-Iranian government hackers that goes by the name of “Edalate Ali (Justice of Ali).”

    A voice shouted “Death to the Islamic Republic.”

    Nationwide protests swept Iran following the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police.

    Security forces have responded with a deadly crackdown to the protests, among the strongest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution ended 2,500 years of monarchy.

    As part of an amnesty marking the revolution’s anniversary, Iranian authorities on Friday released jailed dissident Farhad Meysami, who had been on a hunger strike, and Iranian-French academic Fariba Adelkhah.

    On Sunday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an amnesty covering a large number of prisoners, including some arrested in recent anti-government protests.

    Rights group HRANA said dozens of political prisoners and protesters, including several prominent figures, had been freed under the amnesty but that the exact conditions of their release were not known.

    Rights activists have expressed concern on social media that many may have been forced to sign pledges not to repeat their “offenses” before being released. The judiciary denied this on Friday.

    HRANA said that as of Friday, 528 protesters had been killed, including 71 minors. It said 70 government security forces had also been killed. As many as 19,763 protesters are believed to have been arrested.

    Iranian leaders and state media had for weeks appealed for a strong turnout at Saturday’s rallies as a show of solidarity and popularity in an apparent response to the protests.

    On the anniversary’s eve Friday night, state media showed fireworks as part of government-sponsored celebrations, and people chanting “Allahu Akbar! (God is Greatest!).” However, many could be heard shouting “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the Islamic Republic” on videos posted on social media.

    The social media posts could not be verified independently.

    Government television on Saturday aired live footage of the state rallies around the country.

    In Tehran, domestic-made anti-ballistic missiles, a drone, an anti-submarine cruiser, and other military equipment were on display as part of the celebrations.

    “People have realized that the enemy’s problem is not woman, life, or freedom,” Raisi said in a live televised speech at Tehran’s Azadi Square, referring to the protesters’ signature slogan.

    “Rather, they want to take our independence,” he said.

    His speech was frequently interrupted by chants of “Death to America” – a trademark slogan at state rallies. The crowd also chanted “Death to Israel.”

    Raisi accused the “enemies” of promoting “the worst kind of vulgarity, which is homosexuality”.

    Adelkhah, who had been in prison since 2019, was one of seven French nationals detained in Iran, a factor that has worsened relations between Paris and Tehran in recent months.

    She was sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison on national security charges. She was moved to house arrest later but in January returned to jail. Adelkhah has denied the charges.

    Meysami’s release came a week after supporters warned that he risked dying because of his hunger strike. He was arrested in 2018 for protesting against the compulsory wearing of the hijab.

    In announcing Adelkhah’s release on Friday, the French foreign ministry called that her freedoms be restored, “including returning to France if she wishes.”

    “Legally, her file is considered completed, and legally there should be no problem to leave the country, but this issue has to be reviewed. So … it is not clear how long it will take,” said her lawyer, Hojjat Kermani.

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  • 2 killed as demonstrations around Iran enter 4th week

    2 killed as demonstrations around Iran enter 4th week

    SULIMANIYAH, Iraq — Anti-government demonstrations erupted Saturday in several locations across Iran as the most sustained protests in years against a deeply entrenched theocracy entered their fourth week. At least two people were killed.

    Marchers chanted anti-government slogans and twirled headscarves in repudiation of coercive religious dress codes. In some areas, merchants shuttered shops in response to a call by activists for a commercial strike or to protect their wares from damage.

    Later Saturday, hackers broke into the evening news on Iran’s state TV for 15 seconds, just as footage of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was being broadcast. The hackers flashed an image of Khamenei surrounded by flames. A caption read “Join us and stand up!” and “The blood of our youth is dripping from your claws,” a reference to Khamenei.

    A song with the lyrics “Woman. Life. Freedom” — a common chant of the protesters — played in the background.

    The protests erupted Sept. 17, after the burial of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman who had died in the custody of Iran’s feared morality police. Amini had been detained for an alleged violation of strict Islamic dress codes for women. Since then, protests spread across the country and were met by a fierce crackdown, in which dozens are estimated to have been killed and hundreds arrested.

    In the city of Sanandaj in the Kurdish-majority northern region, one man was shot dead Saturday while driving a car in a major thoroughfare, rights monitors said. The France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network and the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, said the man was shot after honking at security forces stationed on the street. Honking has become one of the ways activists have been expressing civil disobedience. Video circulating online showed the slain man slumped over the steering wheel, as distraught witnesses shouted for help.

    The semi-official Fars news agency, believed to be close to the elite paramilitary force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, said Kurdistan’s police chief denied reports of using live rounds against protesters.

    Fars claimed that people in Sanandaj’s Pasdaran Street said the victim was shot from inside the car without elaborating. But photos of the dead man indicate that he was shot from his left side, meaning he likely was not shot from inside the car. The blood can be seen running down the inside of the door on the driver’s side.

    A second protester was killed after security forces fired gunshots to disperse crowds in the city and 10 protesters were wounded, the rights monitors said.

    A general strike was observed in the city’s main streets amid a heavy security presence and protesters burned tires in some areas. Patrols have deterred mass gatherings in Sanandaj but isolated protests have continued in the city’s densely populated neighborhoods.

    Demonstrations were also reported in the capital Tehran on Saturday, including small ones near the Sharif University of Technology, one of Iran’s premier centers of learning and the scene of a violent government crackdown last weekend. Authorities have closed the campus until further notice.

    Images on social media showed protests also took place in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

    Other protests erupted at Azad University in northern Tehran, in other neighborhoods of the capital and in the city’s bazaar. Many shops were closed in central Tehran and near the University of Tehran.

    President Ebrahim Raisi in a meeting with students from the all-female Al-Zahra University in Tehran alleged again that foreign enemies were responsible for fomenting the protests. He has made the claim without giving specifics or providing any evidence.

    “The enemy thought that it can pursue its desires in universities while unaware that our students and teachers are aware and they will not allow the enemies’ vain plans to be realized,” he said.

    Meanwhile, thousands of people in The Hague, Netherlands chanted and sang in a solidarity demonstration in support of the protesters in Iran.

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  • UN says detained Iranian-American was allowed to leave Iran

    UN says detained Iranian-American was allowed to leave Iran

    UNITED NATIONS — An 85-year-old Iranian-American who formerly worked for the U.N. children’s agency and was detained in Iran in 2016 has been permitted to leave the country for medical treatment abroad, the United Nations said Saturday.

    U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced the departure of Baquer Namazi and said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was grateful he could leave following the U.N. chief’s appeals to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

    Dujarric said the secretary-general was also pleased that Namazi’s son, Siamak Namazi, had been released from detention.

    An international human rights lawyer handling their case, Jared Genser, tweeted Saturday: “I am delighted to confirm for the first time in seven years that Siamak #Namazi is spending a night at home with his parents in Tehran. Baquer Namazi’s travel ban has been lifted. We won’t rest until they return to the U.S. & their long nightmare has ended.”

    Namazi, a former UNICEF representative, was detained in 2016 when he traveled to Tehran to see his son, a businessman arrested in Iran months earlier. Both Namazis were sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran on what the United States and United Nations say were trumped-up spying charges.

    Baquer Namazi was granted medical furlough in 2018 and his sentence was subsequently commuted to time served, but Iranian authorities had not permitted him to leave the country. Last October, he underwent surgery in Iran to clear a blockage in an artery to the brain that his family and supporters described as life-threatening.

    Siamak Namazi had remained jailed in Iran’s notorious Evin prison.

    Dujarric said the U.N. “will continue to engage with the Iranian authorities on a range of important issues, including the regional situation, sustainable development and the promotion and protection of human rights.”

    The State Department said it was gratified to learn of Iran’s actions but added that “our efforts are far from over.”

    “We remain committed and determined to securing the freedom of all Americans unjustly detained in Iran and elsewhere. They should be reunited with their loved ones as soon as possible,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

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  • Kurdish officials: Death toll climbs in Iranian drone attack

    Kurdish officials: Death toll climbs in Iranian drone attack

    KOYA, Iraq — An Iranian drone bombing campaign targeting the bases of an Iranian-Kurdish opposition group in northern Iraq on Wednesday killed at least nine people and wounded 32 others, the Kurdish Regional Government’s Health Ministry said.

    The strikes took place as demonstrations continued to engulf the Islamic Republic after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who was detained by the Iranian morality police.

    Iran’s attacks targeted Koya, some 65 kilometers (35 miles) east of Irbil, said Soran Nuri, a member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan. The group, known by the acronym KDPI, is a leftist armed opposition force banned in Iran.

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in a statement said the attacks “impacted the Iranian refugee settlements” in Koya, and that refugees and other civilians were among the casualties.

    Iraq’s Foreign Ministry and the Kurdistan Regional Government have condemned the strikes.

    Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency and broadcaster said the country’s Revolutionary Guard targeted bases of a separatist group in the north of Iraq with “precision missiles” and “suicide drones.”

    Gen. Hasan Hasanzadeh of the Revolutionary Guard said 185 Basijis, a volunteer force, were injured by “machete and knife” in the unrest, state-run IRNA news agency reported Wednesday. Hasanzadeh also said rioters broke the skull of one of the Basij members. He added that five Basijis are hospitalized in intensive care.

    The Iranian drone strikes targeted a military camp, homes, offices and other areas around Koya, Nuri said. Nuri described the attack as ongoing.

    Iraq’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said the government in Baghdad was expected to summon the Iranian ambassador to deliver a diplomatic complaint over the strikes.

    In Baghdad, four Katyusha rockets landed in the capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Wednesday as legislators gathered in parliament.

    The zone, home to the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, is a frequent target of rocket and drone attacks that the United States blames on Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups.

    The Iraqi military earlier said in a statement that one rocket landed near parliament, another near the parliament’s guesthouse, and a third at a junction near the Judicial Council. Two security officials told the AP that the fourth rocket also landed near parliament.

    Iraqi state news reported four security officers were wounded.

    The office of Iraq’s caretaker prime minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, in a statement said security forces were pursuing the assailants who fired the rockets, and asked protesters to remain peaceful.

    Cellphone footage circulating on social media showed smoke billowing from a carpark near the parliament building.

    Following the first series of strikes in northern Iraq, Iran then shelled seven positions in Koya’s stronghold in Qala, a KDPI official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity in order to speak publicly. The Qala area includes the party’s politburo.

    An Associated Press journalist saw ambulances racing through Koya after the strikes. Smoke rose from the site of one apparent strike as security forces closed off the area.

    Meanwhile, security forces lobbed tear gas and fired rubber bullets at protesting Iranian Kurds in Sulimaniyah.

    On Saturday and Monday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard unleashed a wave of drone and artillery strikes targeting Kurdish positions.

    The attacks appear to be a response to the ongoing protests roiling Iran over the death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who was detained by the nation’s morality police.

    The U.S. Department of State called the Iranian attacks an “unjustified violation of Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

    “We are also aware of reports of civilian casualties and deplore any loss of life caused by today’s attacks,” said spokesperson Ned Price in a statement. “Moreover, we further condemn comments from the government of Iran threatening additional attacks against Iraq.”

    The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said in a tweet that the country cannot be treated as “the region’s “backyard” where neighbors routinely, and with impunity, violate its sovereignty.”

    “Rocket diplomacy is a reckless act with devastating consequences,” the U.N. agency said.

    Meanwhile, Britain’s State Minister for the Middle East said the attacks “demonstrate a repeated pattern of Iranian destabilizing activity in the region,” while the German Foreign Ministry and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also condemned Iran for the strikes.

    The U.N. secretary-general called on Iran early Wednesday to refrain from using “unnecessary or disproportionate force” against protesters as unrest over a young woman’s death in police custody spread across the country.

    Antonio Guterres said through a spokesman that authorities should swiftly conduct an impartial investigation of Amini’s death, which has sparked unrest across Iran’s provinces and the capital of Tehran.

    “We are increasingly concerned about reports of rising fatalities, including women and children, related to the protests,” U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in a statement. “We underline the need for prompt, impartial and effective investigation into Ms. Mahsa Amini’s death by an independent competent authority.”

    Protests have spread across at least 46 cities, towns and villages in Iran. State TV reported that at least 41 protesters and police have been killed since the demonstrations began Sept. 17.

    An Associated Press count of official statements by authorities tallied at least 14 dead, with more than 1,500 demonstrators arrested.

    Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard in a statement called for an international investigation over the deaths of protesters.

    “Dozens of people, including children, have been killed so far and hundreds injured,” the statement read. “The voices of the courageous people of Iran desperately crying out for international support must not be ignored.”

    The human rights organization added that it has documented cases of Iranian security forces sexually assaulting women protesters.

    Meanwhile, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it documented the arrests of at least 23 journalists as the clashes between security forces and protesters heated up.

    CPJ in a Wednesday statement called on Iranian authorities to “immediately” release arrested journalists who covered Amini’s death and protests.

    Dujarric added that Guterres stressed the need to respect human rights, including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association during the meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on September 22nd.

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