Category Archives: Iran

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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Iranians head out to vote in second round of presidential election

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An expected low turnout reflects growing opposition to the Islamic Republic, critics say

Iranians vote today in the run-off round of a presidential election offering a choice between a veteran hardliner and a reformist who has backed pragmatic cooperation with the west – but against the backdrop of an expected low turnout that critics say reflects opposition to the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s two identities were on display in the final rallies of the campaign as the two presidential candidates offered contrasting visions of their country’s prospects, focused on whether sanctions have trapped Iran or are just a broken western lever that can no longer inflict damage to the economy.

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Middle East crisis: Israeli and Palestinian forces fighting ‘above and below ground’ in northern Gaza – as it happened

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Israel’s military says ‘large number’ of militants dead in Shujaiya area near Gaza City amid reports of bodies in streets

In an update to the earlier news about Israeli forces advancing further into Shujaiya, residents said Israeli tanks, which moved back into Shujaiya four days ago, fired shells towards several houses, leaving families trapped inside and unable to leave.

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his position that there was no substitute for achieving victory in the war against Hamas.

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Iran heading for runoff election after neither lead candidate scores majority

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Turnout estimated to be as low as 40%, a record low since the revolution and a rebuff for the regime

Iran is heading to a runoff election in a week’s time after the reformist lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian secured a narrow lead over the hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili but failed to secure more than 50% of the votes.

Turnout may end up low as 40%, a record low for an Iranian presidential election since the revolution in 1979.

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Iran goes to polls to elect new president after Raisi killed in helicopter crash

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Millions expected to boycott election as they believe regime will manipulate result to ensure loyalist victory

More than 61.5 million Iranians aged over 18 have been given a chance to vote for a new president and send a message to the regime about the state of the economy, although millions were expected to boycott an election they believe will be manipulated by the regime to ensure a loyalist victory.

Iran’s leaders want to renew their legitimacy after a steady decline in turnout reached crisis point last year with fewer than 41% voting in parliamentary elections, and fewer than 10% in the capital, Tehran.

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US imposes fresh sanctions on Iran over apparent nuclear escalations

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Blinken says Tehran has expanded uranium enrichment project ‘in ways that have no credible peaceful purpose’

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has announced fresh sanctions against Iran’s petroleum sector in response to what he described as an expansion of the country’s nuclear programme which has provoked renewed fears that it is preparing to build an atomic bomb.

The embargoes – on three unnamed entities involved in the transport of Iranian petroleum or petrochemical products – were announced amid a chorus of warnings of a renewed conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Iran’s proxy Hezbollah, the powerful Shia group that dominates Lebanon.

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Javad Zarif, negotiator of Iran nuclear deal, backs reformist presidential candidate

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Fiery former foreign minister enters campaign to elect consensual reformist Masoud Pezeshkian

Javad Zarif, the former foreign minister and probably the Iranian politician best known to the west, has thrown himself into the campaign to elect the reformist Masoud Pezeshkian as the country’s president.

Zarif emerged from academia back to frontline politics to face heckling at public rallies, outright bans from one university and allegations that he is seeking to settle scores with those who thwarted his foreign policy when in office between 2013 and 2021.

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Intense phase of Israel’s war with Hamas nearing end, says Netanyahu

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Israeli PM says he hopes for diplomatic solution to conflict but will solve it in ‘a different way’ if necessary

Israel’s prime minister has said the most intense phase of the assault against Hamas in Gaza is coming to an end, freeing up forces to move to the Lebanese border, where escalating exchanges of fire with the militant group Hezbollah have increased fears of a wider war.

In his first public interview with a Hebrew-language network outlet in more than eight months of conflict, broadcast on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu also walked back on his commitment to a US-backed ceasefire proposal with Hamas, instead suggesting a more limited offer.

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Iran court overturns death sentence of rapper Toomaj Salehi, lawyer says

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Musician, 33, faces retrial after being sentenced to death for ‘corruption on Earth’

Iran’s supreme court has overturned the death sentence imposed on the rapper Toomaj Salehi, his lawyer said.

The decision comes in the middle of Iran’s presidential election campaign but seems unrelated to the fierce public debates under way about Iran’s future direction, including the rights of women not to wear the hijab if they wish.

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Canada lists Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as terrorist group

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Move comes five years after US did so and will add to pressure on European governments to follow suit

Canada has listed Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group, joining the US and adding to pressure on European governments to follow suit.

The move means police can now charge people who materially or financially support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and requires banks to freeze any assets linked to the organisation.

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Iran’s reformist presidential candidate eyes improved relations with US

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Masoud Pezeshkian hopes to win over an apathetic electorate and revive talks on the country’s nuclear deal

The sole reformist candidate in Iran’s presidential elections this month has said he wants improved relations with the US, as he accused his conservative rivals of blighting the Iranian economy by not doing enough to revive the a nuclear deal with the west that had led to the lifting of some sanctions.

Masoud Pezeshkian, who has unveiled the combative former foreign minster Javad Zarif as his foreign policy adviser, also suggested under his presidency he might also review its relations with Russia, arguing eastern powers should not think that they are Iran’s only option.

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