Category Archives: Iran

Joe Biden to meet national security team as fears grow of retaliatory Iranian attack on Israel

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US is attempting to ‘turn the temperature down’ after assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders last week escalate tensions

Joe Biden is set to meet his national security team on Monday to discuss “developments in the Middle East”, the White House has said, as the US deploys extra fighter jets and warships to the region amid growing fears of an Iranian attack on Israel.

Regional tensions have increased after the assassination last week of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukur, a senior military commander from the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Both groups are backed by Iran, which has sworn revenge.

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Jordan in last-ditch effort to prevent Iran retaliating for Haniyeh killing

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Foreign minister’s rare visit to Tehran appears likely to fail given Iranian insistence on making a decisive response

Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, has made a rare visit to Iran in a last-ditch effort to persuade it to hold back from attacking Israel in response to the assassination of the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last week.

The western ally with a large Palestinian population is facing a tough balancing act as it faces domestic calls to break off relations with Tel Aviv and to stop protecting it after shooting down Iranian missiles aimed at Israel earlier this year.

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Hamas’s leader is dead, Iran vows revenge: can anything stop all-out war in the Middle East?

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The assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran humiliated Iran’s leaders, dashed hopes of a ceasefire and left the heavily armed nations of the Middle East moving inexorably closer to an all-out war they all claim not to want

If Iran’s newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian, was hoping for a honeymoon period after his inauguration last week, he must be sadly disappointed. Less than 12 hours after Pezeshkian was sworn in, an explosion, reportedly caused by a remotely controlled bomb, shook an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound in central Tehran. The target: Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, an honoured guest at the inauguration, and one of the Middle East’s most wanted. The bomb under the bed killed Haniyeh instantly. Honeymoon over.

Pezeshkian was the surprise winner of last month’s presidential election. Edging out a conservative hardliner favoured by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, he promised to repair tattered ties with the US and Europe. Many hoped his victory would herald a more open, more progressive era and defuse social tensions, especially over the enforced wearing of the hijab, which triggered huge unrest under his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi.

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Middle East crisis: Iran vows ‘severe’ revenge against Israel as US deploys jets and warships to region – as it happened

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Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters are marching through central London, UK.

Protesters waved banners reading “stop arming Israel”, “ceasefire now” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

This terrorist operation was carried out by firing a short-range projectile with a warhead of about 7 kilograms - causing a strong explosion - from outside the accommodation area.

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Assassination again shows Netanyahu’s disregard for US-Israel relations

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Hamas killing is further snub to Biden administration, which does not share methods or objectives of Israeli leader

Standing alongside Donald Trump in Florida a week ago, Benjamin Netanyahu was vague on the latest prospect of a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

“I hope we are going to have a deal. Time will tell,” the Israeli prime minister said, two days after his controversial address to a joint session of the US Congress.

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US bolsters military presence in Middle East as threat of regional escalation intensifies

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Washington is bracing for Iran and its allies to respond to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which Tehran blames on Israel

The US military will deploy additional fighter jets and navy warships to the Middle East, the Pentagon said on Friday, as Washington braces for Iran and its regional allies to make good on a promise to respond to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

After the back-to-back assassinations of Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday and top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut the evening before, international diplomats have scrambled to head off a full-fledged regional war. Rising tensions have spurred a growing list of major airlines into cancelling flights to Tel Aviv or Beirut, including Lufthansa, Delta and Air India.

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Hezbollah chief says conflict with Israel is in ‘new phase’ after assassinations

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Hassan Nasrallah calls for revenge at funeral of Fuad Shukr as does Iranian president at funeral of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh

The leader of Hezbollah has said that the Lebanese group’s conflict with Israel has entered “a new phase” after the back-to-back assassinations of a senior commander and Hamas’s political chief that risk plunging the Middle East into a regional war.

In a televised address broadcast to about 1,000 mourners at the Beirut funeral of Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Fuad Shukur, Hassan Nasrallah vowed that the powerful Shia militia would seek revenge.

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Middle East crisis: Israel confirms death of Hamas military chief who masterminded 7 October attack – as it happened

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The head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza last month, the Israeli military said on Thursday, a day after the group’s political leader was assassinated in Teheran.

“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) announces that on 13 July 2024, IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis, and following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike,” the military said.

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Australia news live: Penny Wong urges Australians to leave Lebanon; Chalmers says housing pipeline ‘not where we want it to be’

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The foreign minister says in video message there is a ‘real risk’ that conflict in the region would seriously escalate. Follow the day’s news live

Indigenous Australians ‘frustrated’ at slow progress

Indigenous Australians are “somewhere between disappointed and frustrated” at a lack of traction on socio-economic targets, after a scorecard found most aren’t being met.

You see those datasets that again reinforce what we heard even at the beginning of the year, and that is governments are not moving fast enough on this, it’s frustrating.

It’s not about finding a new pathway – certainly that’s not what the productivity commission is saying. It’s saying: share the decision-making – this is commonsense, governments talking to the people about the issues that impact them, and the solutions to solve that.

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Fears of escalation mount after Israeli killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders

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Iran vows revenge after airstrikes kill Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on same day as commander killed in Beirut

Iran has vowed revenge after airstrikes killed the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut in the space of 12 hours, as the dual Israeli assassinations crushed hopes for an imminent Gaza ceasefire and fuelled fears of a “dangerous escalation” in the region.

Israel did not directly claim the attack on Haniyeh, but there was little doubt among the country’s enemies, and its own politicians and analysts, about who was responsible.

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Humiliation of Haniyeh’s killing creates early crisis for Iran’s new president

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Masoud Pezeshkian hoped to improve relations with the west, but calls for armed response will be hard to ignore

Avenging the assassination of the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, is now Tehran’s duty as his killing occurred while he was a “dear guest” on Iranian soil, the country’s supreme leader has warned in his first reaction to the killing.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described Haniyeh’s killing, which Tehran views as a provocation designed to escalate the conflict in the Middle East, as a “bitter and difficult incident that happened in the territory of the Islamic republic”.

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Iran vows revenge after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Tehran

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Death came hours after Israel said it killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut, fuelling fears of regional conflict

Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was killed by a strike in Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday morning, only hours after Israel said it had killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

The dual assassinations are heavy blows to Hamas and Hezbollah, but also raise the stakes for Iran, which backs both groups and vowed revenge. They will fuel growing fears that the war in Gaza could escalate into a broader regional conflict.

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Iran’s new president rekindles faint hopes of rapprochement with west

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Masoud Pezeshkian says the Iranian people voted for change and promises constructive engagement with west

Iran’s new president has been formally inaugurated by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, opening up the slim hope of improved relations with the west, less internal censorship and a fresh approach to the economy.

In a ceremony on Sunday marking the start of his four-year presidency, Masoud Pezeshkian said the Iranian people had voted for change and promised constructive engagement with the west, a step he regards as a precondition for Tehran curbing inflation and securing growth.

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Israel strikes Lebanon as diplomats try to prevent regional war

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Jets strike south of country after rocket attack that killed 12 children in Golan Heights blamed on Hezbollah

Israeli jets struck southern Lebanon overnight as diplomats worked frantically to prevent a regional war after a rocket strike that killed 12 children in the occupied Golan Heights.

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, visited the scene of Saturday’s rocket attack in Majdal Shams, a predominantly Druze village, calling the strike “a terrible tragedy”.

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Severe heatwave in Iran forces shops and public institutions to close

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Temperatures reach 45C in parts of the country and 225 people seek treatment for heatstroke

A heatwave blanketing Iran has forced authorities to cut operating hours at various facilities on Saturday and order all government and commercial institutions to close on Sunday, as hospitals received more than 200 people for heatstroke treatment.

Temperatures ranged from 37C (98.6F) to 42C (107F) in the capital, Tehran, according to weather reports.

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Army chief says UK must double its lethality or be prepared for war in 2027

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Gen Sir Roly Walker says west faces ‘axis of upheaval’ with increasing threats from Russia, China and Iran

Britain must be prepared to fight a war in three years’ time and double the lethality of its army as the separate threats of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea come to a head, the new chief of the army has warned.

Gen Sir Roly Walker, the chief of the general staff, told reporters that the west faced “an axis of upheaval” with increasing military ambition and that a conflict involving one of the countries could lead to “a significant detonation” in another theatre.

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Iranian TV presenter stabbed in London moves abroad for safety

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Exclusive: Pouria Zeraati ‘no longer felt safe in UK’ as Tehran regime steps up threats and attacks on critics in exile

An Iranian television presenter, who was attacked in London by men believed to be acting for the Tehran regime, has moved abroad, saying that he no longer felt safe in the UK.

Pouria Zeraati said the UK’s approach to the threat posed by Iran on British soil could not guarantee his safety.

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Labour unlikely to rush into proscribing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

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Exclusive: Lammy said to be looking at creating new category of state-sponsored terrorism to allow restrictions to be imposed

Labour is unlikely to rush into proscribing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and will instead examine whether a new category of state-backed terrorism needs to be devised.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, will also consult colleagues on the implications for Iranian foreign policy of the election at the weekend of a reformist-backed president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

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Masoud Pezeshkian: the former heart surgeon who became president of Iran

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The reformist’s life has been shaped by conscription duty in a deprived city and great personal tragedy

The shock election of Masoud Pezeshkian as Iran’s new president is as much a testimony to his personality as to his politics.

A former heart surgeon and health minister, he came across in the many presidential TV debates as a man of great personal integrity and humility, desperate to bring the country together after it had been divided domestically and abroad.

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Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian wins Iran presidential election

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Victory reflects deep dissatisfaction with direction of country and could bring greater cooperation with west

The reformist Masoud Pezeshkian has pulled off a stunning victory in the Iranian presidential runoff, reflecting deep dissatisfaction with the direction of the country in recent years and opening potential new avenues of cooperation with the west.

Pezeshkian won 16,384,403 votes to defeat the ultra-conservative Saeed Jalili, who received 13,538,179 votes, on a final turnout of 49.8% – a big increase on the record low turnout of 39% recorded in the first round. In the first round, Pezeshkian came top, defeating three Conservative rivals. The turnout included more than 1m invalid votes.

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