WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump is expected this week to extend relief from economic sanctions to Iran as part of the nuclear deal, citing progress in amending US legislation that governs Washington’s participation in the landmark accord, according to US officials and others familiar with the administration’s deliberations.
But Trump is likely to pair his decision to renew the concessions to Tehran with new, targeted sanctions on Iranian businesses and people, the six people briefed on the matter said. The restrictions could hit some firms and individuals whose sanctions were scrapped under the 2015 nuclear agreement, a decision that could test Tehran’s willingness to abide by its side of the bargain.
The individuals — two administration officials, two congressional aides and two outside experts who consult with the government — weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. They cautioned that Trump could still reject the recommendation from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster and that no final decision had been made. They said heated discussions were going on within the administration and with key Republican lawmakers.
Trump must decide by Friday to extend the nuclear-related sanctions relief for Iran’s central bank or re-impose the restrictions that President Barack Obama suspended two years ago.
The old, central bank sanctions largely cut Iran out of the international financial system, and are considered to be the most powerful of the penalties imposed by the US during the Obama era, along with global penalties for buying Iranian oil. Some Iran hawks want to see both sets of restrictions return, but the six people with knowledge of Trump’s plans say the president isn’t planning to reinstate either at this point.
The individuals said Trump’s top national security aides appear to have successfully made a different case to the president: Waiving anew for 120 days the nuclear-linked sanctions while simultaneously imposing new measures to punish Iran’s ballistic missile testing, alleged terrorism support and human rights violations.
US to extend Iran sanctions relief: AP sources
US to extend Iran sanctions relief: AP sources
Why Israeli settler violence against Palestinians is surging in the West Bank
- Settler violence has increased, with more than 820 incidents recorded in the first half of 2025 — a 20 percent rise from last year
- Human rights groups accuse Israel of using attacks as an informal tool for land appropriation, with official support and military backing
LONDON: It began with an incident of the type that has become all too familiar in the West Bank, and yet has lately been overlooked by global media coverage distracted by the wars in Gaza and Iran.
On June 25, a force of about 100 of Israeli settlers, many of them masked, descended on the Palestinian West Bank town of Kafr Malik, 17 kilometers northeast of Ramallah.
It wasn’t the first time the town had been attacked, but this time was different.
Emboldened by right-wing ministers in Israel’s coalition government, settlers across the West Bank have become increasingly aggressive toward their Arab neighbors.
Kafr Malik, which sits close to an illegal settlement established in 2019, has been attacked again and again. But this time, the consequences went beyond harassment, beatings, and the destruction of property.
Accounts of what happened vary, but the basic facts are clear. In what The Times of Israel described as “a settler rampage,” the attackers threw stones at residents and set fire to homes and cars.
Men from the town formed a cordon to protect their families. In the words of a statement issued by the Israeli army, which until this point had not intervened, “at the scene, friction erupted between Israeli civilians and Palestinians, including mutual stone-throwing.”
The Israel Defense Forces then opened fire on the Palestinians, killing three men and wounding seven more, adding to a toll of more than 900 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since Oct. 7, 2023.
Five of the settlers were detained and handed over to the police. No charges have been forthcoming.
Daylight attacks like these have become increasingly commonplace in the West Bank, and routinely go unnoticed by the international community.
Attention was drawn to this one in part thanks to Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry, which issued a statement denouncing “the continued violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers, under the protection of the occupation forces, against Palestinian civilians, including the attacks in the village of Kafr Malik.”
A statement released by Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, which monitors settler violence in the West Bank, also condemned the latest violence.
“Under the auspices of (the) government and (with) military backing, settler violence in the West Bank continues and becomes more deadly by the day,” it said.
“This is what ethnic cleansing looks like.”
In the wake of the attack on Kafr Malik, Hussein Al-Sheikh, deputy to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, also laid the blame for settler violence on the Israeli government.
“The government of Israel, with its behavior and decisions, is pushing the region to explode,” he posted on X. “We call on the international community to intervene urgently to protect our Palestinian people.”
The “sad truth,” said Ameneh Mehvar, senior Middle East analyst at the independent conflict data organization ACLED, “is that this feels like deja vu, the same story repeating again and again.
“Although it’s not a new story, what is new is that settler violence is now increasing, with settlers becoming increasingly emboldened by the support that they’re receiving from the government.
“There is a culture of impunity. They don’t fear arrest, they don’t fear prosecution, and they don’t fear convictions. In the few cases when settlers are charged with an offense, less than three percent end in conviction.”
In November, Israel’s new defense minister, Israel Katz, announced that settlers would no longer be subject to military “administrative detention orders,” under which suspects can be held indefinitely without trial.
The orders remain in force for Palestinians, of whom, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, more than 1,000 remain detained, without charge or trial.
On July 3, figures released by the UN children’s fund, UNICEF, revealed that between Oct. 7, 2023, and June 30 this year, at least 915 Palestinians, including 213 children, have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
More than 9,500, including 1,631 children, have been injured.
Reflecting the recent Israeli military activity in the area, 77 percent of child killings in 2025 have been in the northern governorates of the West Bank, with the highest number of fatalities — 35 percent of the total — in Jenin.
According to figures compiled by ACLED, among the dead are 26 Palestinians killed in West Bank incidents involving settlers or soldiers escorting or protecting settlers.
Settlers have killed around a dozen people, while five more have died at the hands of “settlement emergency squads” — civilians armed by the Israeli government in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
Seven were killed by the IDF, which intervened after arriving at scenes of violence initiated by settlers — exactly what happened at Kafr Malik.
that this year is on track to become one of the most violent years for settler violence since ACLED began its coverage in Palestine in 2016,” said Mehvar.FASTFACTS
• Hamas on Friday said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a proposal for a ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
• Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said it supported ceasefire talks, but demanded “guarantees” that Israel “will not resume its aggression” once hostages held in Gaza were freed.
In addition, ACLED recorded more than 820 violent incidents involving settlers in the first six months of 2025 alone — a more than 20 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
“This means
Demonstrating just how emboldened settlers have become, many have clashed with units of the IDF in a series of incidents that began with the attack on Kafr Malik.
The settlers, who had been trying to establish an illegal outpost on Palestinian land near the village, turned on the soldiers, accusing the commander of being “a traitor.”
According to the IDF, they beat, choked, and hurled rocks at the troops, and slashed the tyres of a police vehicle.
Later that same evening, an army patrol vehicle in the vicinity was ambushed and stoned. The soldiers, who at first didn’t realize that their attackers were fellow Israelis, fired warning shots, one of which wounded a teenager, prompting further settler violence.
According to IDF reports, gangs of settlers tried to break into a military base in the central West Bank, throwing rocks and spraying pepper spray at troops, while in the Ramallah area an IDF security installation was torched.
These events have come as a shock to Israeli public opinion. In an editorial published on July 1, The Jerusalem Post condemned “the growing cancer of lawbreakers in (the) West Bank,” which “must be cut out, before it’s too late.”
It added that the “aggression by certain Jewish residents of Samaria (the Jewish name for the central region of the West Bank) against Palestinians” had been “overlooked during the past 20 months amid the hyperfocus on the Israel-Hamas war and the plight of hostages and then the lightning war with Iran,” but “it can’t be ignored — or swept under the rug — any longer.
“These fringe elements within the Jewish population … are not just terrorizing Palestinians — itself an affront — but they have no qualms about directing their violence against their fellow Israelis serving in the IDF.”
But singling out the extremist settlers for condemnation overlooks the reality that they have been encouraged and emboldened by the actions of ministers within the Israeli government, said Mehvar.
On May 29, defense minister Katz and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich authorized the construction of 22 new settlements and “outposts” in the West Bank.
They made no secret of the motive. The new settlements “are all placed within a long-term strategic vision,” they said in a statement.
The goal was “to strengthen the Israeli hold on the territory, to avoid the establishment of a Palestinian state, and to create the basis for future development of settlement in the coming decades.”
It was telling that the new settlements will include Homesh and Sa-Nur, two former settlements that were evacuated in 2005 along with all Israeli settlements in Gaza. Last year, the Knesset repealed a law that prevented settlers returning to the areas.
“The reality is that there have been so many incidents of violence, either by the army or by settlers, for a long time,” said Yair Dvir, spokesperson for Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
“There is a state of permanent violence in the West Bank, which is happening all the time, and it’s part of the strategy of the apartheid regime of Israel, which seeks to take more and more land in the West Bank,” he told Arab News.
He accused the government of pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing against the whole of Palestine. “And of course, it has used the war in Gaza to do the same also in the West Bank,” he added.
Keeping up with the unchecked proliferation of illegal outposts and settlements in the West Bank is extremely difficult because of the sheer pace and number of developments.
In November 2021, B’Tselem published a report revealing there were 280 settlements, of which 138 had been officially established by the state. In addition there were 150 outposts, often referred to as “farms,” not officially recognized by the state but allowed to operate freely.
Settlers had taken over vast areas in the West Bank, to which Palestinians had little or no access, B’Tselem reported in “State Business: Israel’s misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence.”
Some land had been “officially” seized by the state through military orders declaring an area “state land,” a “firing zone,” or a “nature reserve.” Other areas had been taken over by settlers “through daily acts of violence, including attacks on Palestinians and their property.”
The two methods of land seizure are often directly linked. “Settler violence against Palestinians serves as a major informal tool at the hands of the state to take over more and more West Bank land,” said the report.
“The state fully supports and assists these acts of violence, and its agents sometimes participate in them directly. As such, settler violence is a form of government policy, aided and abetted by official state authorities with their active participation.”
The report concluded that, in 2021, settlements in the West Bank were home to more than 44,000 settlers. But today, said Dvir, the figure is closer to 700,000.
“There has been a huge increase in the establishment of new outposts all over the West Bank in the past couple of years, even though all the settlements and outposts are illegal under international law,” he said.
“According to Israeli law, only the outposts are illegal, but they still get funding and infrastructure and, of course, are defended by the Israeli authorities.”
Mehvar fears the growth in officially sanctioned settlements is bound to see settler violence increase.
“There have always been attacks, but they were usually carried out at night, by a few individual criminals,” she said.
“But more and more we are seeing attacks in broad daylight, often in the presence of Israeli security forces, coordinated by settlers said to be communicating and organizing on WhatsApp groups.
“If more settlements are built, deep inside Palestine, not only will it make any hope of a Palestinian state almost impossible, but with so many settlers living in close proximity to Palestinian communities it will also make violence a lot more likely.”
Arab League chief warns of rising religious intolerance in Cairo forum address
- Ahmed Aboul Gheit says Islamophobia is a growing issue that undermines the values of coexistence
- Secretary-general highlights Arab League’s earlier resolutions condemning religious hatred
LONDON: Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary-general of the Arab League, called for wider efforts to combat Islamophobia during a speech at the International Conference on Combating Hatred against Islam in Cairo on Tuesday.
Aboul Gheit said that Islamophobia is a dangerous and growing issue that undermines the values of coexistence and mutual respect, the Kuwait News Agency reported.
He said that its root causes lie in incitement, a lack of understanding of Islamic values, and the false association of Islam with terrorism.
The Arab League chief also said that biased media coverage, which amplifies errors and promotes negative stereotypes, fuels extremist discourse and divides communities.
Aboul Gheit highlighted the role of traditional and digital media in fostering tolerance and diversity, and called for a comprehensive response involving governments, international organizations, and civil society, the KUNA added.
He highlighted the Arab League’s earlier resolutions condemning religious intolerance.
The conference in Cairo brought together representatives from the Arab League; Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; Al-Azhar; Christian institutions; and numerous Arab states to discuss strategies for promoting dialogue, understanding, and peaceful coexistence.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Paper: Paging Through History’
- Each papermaker refined their formula to allow ink to glide but not soak, creating sheets that were durable and portable
Author: Mark Kurlansky
“Paper: Paging Through History” by Mark Kurlansky, published in 2016, is a sweeping, detailed chronicle of how paper, arguably one of humanity’s most versatile inventions, traveled from its origins in ancient China across continents and centuries to reshape civilizations.
Kurlansky, an American journalist known for his deep dives into everyday materials, traces how humans moved from parchment and silk to mulberry bark and linen rags.
Oral narrators once carried knowledge across generations; paper allowed that information to outlive them.
Each papermaker refined their formula to allow ink to glide but not soak, creating sheets that were durable and portable.
The watermark, made from a simple wire design, left a faint imprint that branded the paper. That part was owned by the papermaker, not the paper mill, and customers began choosing paper based on those marks.
Paper was introduced to Europe by Arabs, who brought refined papermaking techniques to the continent. Europeans initially hesitated to adopt paper widely because oral tradition was the preferred way to share important stories; they felt that writing it down cheapened its value.
Over time, through trade and cultural contact in regions like Andalusia and along the Silk Road, paper gradually gained acceptance and became widely used.
Kurlansky delves into how the use of paper birthed various industries. It offered people with an entrepreneurial spirit the ability to make a living.
Papermakers changed the art world, too, with the introduction of special papers, such as watercolor paper.
Paper also shifted the world of journalism: Broadsheets, magazines, pamphlets, almanacs and, of course, books became more widely available at a lower cost. Yesterday’s newspaper would also be reused to line things like bird cages or to wrap food with.
It helped popularize things like playing cards, wrapping paper, wallpaper, paper fans, greeting cards and paper money, and lent itself to important medical, legal and political documents, such as the US Declaration of Independence.
“Paper: Paging Through History” was such a captivating read that I often paused to reflect, and I told everyone around me about the book. One moment that stood out was the 19th-century French campaign in which women were encouraged to donate their old handkerchiefs and linen to papermakers, as it might one day return to them in the form of a love letter.
Today, paper remains a vital medium where thoughts, plans, and dreams are recorded.
It might seem mundane, but in an increasingly digitized world, its ability to let a narrative stand the test of time is history itself, like this very book.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Life’s Devices’ by Steven Vogel
Life on Earth is subject to the pull of gravity, the properties of air and water, and the behavior of diffusing molecules, yet such physical factors are constraints that drive evolution and offer untold opportunities to creatures of all sizes.
With an illuminating foreword by Rob Dunn, this Princeton Science Library edition of “Life’s Devices” includes examples from every major group of animals and plants along with illustrative problems and suggestions for experiments that require only common household materials.
Imran Khan’s sons to lobby US, march in Pakistan in new protest movement — sister
- Khan’s PTI party last week announced new protest campaign after top court denied it reserved parliamentary seats
- His sister says Khan’s sons will highlight rights situation in Pakistan in US, ‘injustice’ being done to ex-PM
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s sons, Sulaiman Khan and Kasim Khan, will lobby in the United States (US) about Pakistan’s human rights record before traveling to the South Asian country to join a protest movement by their father’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Khan’s sister announced on Tuesday.
The PTI last week announced it would launch a nationwide protest movement against the government after the Islamic month of Muharram, days after Pakistan’s top court denied the party reserved parliamentary seats for minorities and women.
Khan’s party has frequently held protests in recent years, demanding a probe into Feb. 2024 election results and the release of Khan, who has been jailed for nearly two years. His sons live in the UK and have not visited Pakistan in years, facing criticism by Khan opponents for not joining demonstrations for their father’s release, which his party was calling supporters from all over the nation to join.
Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, told reporters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday that his sons, Sulaiman and Kasim, had decided to travel from the United Kingdom (UK) to the US and would eventually arrive in Pakistan to play their role in the PTI’s protest campaign against the government.
“Firstly, they are going to America and they’re telling all their friends, ‘And we will go and tell them [US administration] about the human rights [situation] and what injustice is being done to their father [in Pakistan]’,” Aleema said.
“Secondly, Sulaiman [and] Qasim have said, ‘After that, we will come to Pakistan.’ And they want to play their part in the [protest] movement.”
This is not the first time Khan’s sons have spoken about Pakistan’s domestic politics and their father, who has been in jail on corruption and other charges.
In a rare interview with business influencer and citizen journalist Mario Nawfal in May, they had urged US President Donald Trump and the “people of influence” around the world to help free their father from prison, speaking of alleged “suppression of democracy” in Pakistan and a lack of basic facilities for Khan in his prison cell.
Khan’s PTI has held frequent protests demanding his release and against the Pakistani government over what it says were rigged general elections in Feb. 2024 and a campaign to subdue PTI and its support base since Khan’s ouster from the PM’s office in April 2022.
Pakistani authorities deny the allegations and accuse the ex-premier and his party of leading violent anti-government protests in the past, particularly in May 2023 and Nov. 2024. Hundreds of PTI supporters were jailed after riots allegedly ordered by the party against the army on May 9, 2023, while the government says four troops were killed in protests in November last year to demand Khan’s release. The PTI denies instigating followers to violence.
The PTI announced the latest round of protests after the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench on June 27 ruled that the party was not entitled to reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies, upholding an earlier verdict by the Peshawar High Court. The dispute arose after the PTI lost its electoral symbol ahead of the February 8, 2024 national polls and its candidates contested as independents.
Despite PTI-backed candidates winning the most general seats, the party was denied reserved seats for women and minorities, which are allocated to political parties based on proportional representation, by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The government lost its two-thirds majority in parliament in July 2024 when the top court reversed the ECP’s decision, terming it unconstitutional and ordering the reserved seats to be allocated to PTI. The ECP and the political parties had filed review petitions, which were accepted by the top court last week.
