US envoy tells Lebanese leaders to ‘show some flexibility’
Political reform ‘only path out of this crisis,’ visiting diplomat warns
Updated 14 April 2021
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: A leading US diplomat has urged Lebanese officials to “show sufficient flexibility to form a new government capable of true and fundamental reform.”
Visiting US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale on Wednesday said that the urgently needed step offers “the only path out of this crisis.”
But he added: “It is also only a first step. Sustained cooperation will be needed if we are going to see transparent reforms implemented.”
Hale is on a two-day visit to Beirut at the request of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss Lebanon’s economic and political crisis.
On the first day of his visit, Hale said: “The US and its international partners are greatly concerned with the failure here to advance the critical reform agenda long demanded by the Lebanese people.”
The diplomat and foreign specialist had previously visited Lebanon in December 2019 and August 2020.
He said that “only little progress has been made regarding the long-overdue financial, economic and governance reforms, while millions of Lebanese endure mounting economic and social hardships on top of the pandemic.
“This is the culmination of decades of mismanagement, corruption and failure of the Lebanese leaders to put the national interests as a priority.”
Hale said: “The US and the international community are ready to help, but nothing meaningful can be done without a Lebanese partner.”
Hale met Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, Progressive Socialist Party head Walid Jumblat and caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe. He has also scheduled meetings with Lebanese opposition leaders.
In a statement issued by the US Department of State, Hale expressed US concerns over the “deteriorating social and economic situation, and the political impasse that has contributed to this deterioration.”
After the meeting, Wehbe said that Hale had outlined the new US administration’s approach to Middle East and Lebanese issues that “is closer to our vision.”
Hariri’s media adviser, Hussein Al-Wajh, told Arab News that Hale stressed the need for a government of independent specialists, as well as Washington’s readiness to help such a leadership and support Lebanon.
On the final day of his visit, Hale is expected to discuss the maritime borders’ demarcation issue with President Michel Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab.
On the eve of Hale’s arrival in Lebanon, Aoun refused to sign a draft amendment expanding Lebanon’s maritime borders in the south, instead referring the decision to a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
A written decision setting out Lebanon’s claim on the maritime boundaries has to be submitted to the UN, while Lebanon has also resumed indirect negotiations with Israel on the subject.
According to a political source, Aoun might be seeking to control negotiations with the US administration, which is sponsoring talks on the issue between Lebanon and Israel.
Hariri will fly to Moscow on Thursday, where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin along with the Russian premier and foreign minister.
Georges Chaaban, Hariri’s adviser for Russian affairs, said that the prime minister-designate will discuss Russia’s assistance in forming a government, addressing the economic crisis and securing COVID-19 vaccines.
Iran could again enrich uranium 'in matter of months': IAEA chief
“They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” Grossi said Friday, according to a transcript of the interview released Saturday
Updated 29 June 2025
AFP
WASHINGTON: UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months,” despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks, CBS News said Saturday.
Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear and military sites on June 13, saying it was aimed at keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon — an ambition the Islamic republic has consistently denied.
The United States subsequently bombed three key facilities used for Tehran’s atomic program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the extent of the damage to the nuclear sites is “serious,” but the details are unknown. US President Donald Trump insisted Iran’s nuclear program had been set back “decades.”
But Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said “some is still standing.”
“They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” Grossi said Friday, according to a transcript of the interview released Saturday.
Another key question is whether Iran was able to relocate some or all of its estimated 408.6-kilo (900-pound) stockpile of highly enriched uranium before the attacks.
The uranium in question is enriched to 60 percent — above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade. That material, if further refined, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs.
Grossi admitted to CBS: “We don’t know where this material could be.”
“So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved. So there has to be at some point a clarification,” he said in the interview.
For now, Iranian lawmakers voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA and Tehran rejected Grossi’s request for a visit to the damaged sites, especially Fordo, the main uranium enrichment facility.
“We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where is it and what happened,” Grossi said.
In a separate interview with Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” program, Trump said he did not think the stockpile had been moved.
“It’s a very hard thing to do plus we didn’t give much notice,” he said, according to excerpts of the interview. “They didn’t move anything.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday underscored Washington’s support for “the IAEA’s critical verification and monitoring efforts in Iran,” commending Grossi and his agency for their “dedication and professionalism.”
The full Grossi interview will air on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday.
Israeli protesters urge action for Gaza hostages after Iran truce
A crowd filled “Hostages Square” in central Tel Aviv, waving Israeli flags and placards bearing the pictures of Israelis seized by Palestinian militants during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel
Updated 28 June 2025
AFP
TEL AVIV: Thousands of demonstrators rallied in Israel on Saturday to demand that the government secure the release of 49 hostages still held in Gaza, AFP reporters saw.
It was the first rally by hostages’ relatives since Israel agreed a ceasefire with Iran on June 24 after a 12-day war, raising hopes that the truce would lend momentum to efforts to end the Gaza conflict and bring the hostages home.
Emergency restrictions in place during the war with Iran had prevented the normally weekly rally from taking place.
A crowd filled “Hostages Square” in central Tel Aviv, waving Israeli flags and placards bearing the pictures of Israelis seized by Palestinian militants during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The deadly attacks prompted Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch a fierce military offensive in Gaza, vowing to crush Hamas and free the hostages.
Twenty months and several hostage exchanges later, 49 of those seized are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead — raising pressure on Netanyahu’s government.
“The war with Iran ended in an agreement. The war in Gaza must end the same way — with a deal that brings everyone home,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main body representing the relatives, in a statement to mark the rally.
Some demonstrators called on US President Donald Trump to help secure a ceasefire in Gaza that would see the captives freed, hailing his backing for Israel in the conflict with Iran.
“President Trump, end the crisis in Gaza. Nobel is waiting,” read one placard, in reference to a possible peace prize for the US leader.
“I call on Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump,” one released hostage, Liri Albag, said at the rally.
“You made brave decisions on Iran. Now make the brave decision to end the war in Gaza and bring them home.”
Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach distribution sites, moving through Israeli military zones
Updated 29 June 2025
AFP
GAZA CITY: UN officials said a US- and Israeli-backed distribution system in Gaza was leading to mass killings of people seeking humanitarian aid, drawing accusations from Israel that the UN was “aligning itself with Hamas.”
Eyewitnesses and local officials have reported repeated killings of Palestinians seeking aid at distribution centers over recent weeks in the war-stricken territory, where Israeli forces are battling militants.
The Israeli military has denied targeting people seeking aid, and the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has denied that any deadly incidents were linked to its sites.
The new aid distribution system has become a killing field with people shot at while trying to access food for themselves and their families.
Philippe Lazzarini, Head of the UN agency for Palestinian affairs
But following weeks of reports, UN officials and other aid providers denounced what they said was a wave of killings of hungry people seeking aid.
“The new aid distribution system has become a killing field,” with people “shot at while trying to access food for themselves and their families,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian affairs , or UNWRA.
Palestinians mourn over the bodies of loved ones killed during overnight Israeli strikes, on the grounds of Al-Shifa hospital in the central Gaza Strip on June 28, 2025. (AFP)
“This abomination must end through a return to humanitarian deliveries from the UN, including @UNRWA,” he wrote on X.
The Health Ministry in the territory says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.
Hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza.
Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach the sites, moving through Israeli military zones.
The country’s civil defense agency has also repeatedly reported people being killed while seeking aid.
“People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“The search for food must never be a death sentence.”
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, branded the GHF relief effort “slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid.”
That drew an angry response from Israel, which said GHF had provided 46 million meals in Gaza.
“The UN is doing everything it can to oppose this effort. In doing so, the UN is aligning itself with Hamas, which is also trying to sabotage the GHF’s humanitarian operations,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a newspaper report that the country’s military commanders ordered soldiers to fire at Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Left-leaning daily Haaretz had earlier quoted unnamed soldiers as saying commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds near aid distribution centers to disperse them even when they posed no threat.
Haaretz said the military advocate general, the army’s top legal authority, had instructed the military to investigate “suspected war crimes” at aid sites.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the claim.
Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz that their country “absolutely rejects the contemptible blood libels” and “malicious falsehoods” in the Haaretz article.
The military said in a separate statement it “did not instruct the forces to deliberately shoot at civilians, including those approaching the distribution centers.”
It added that Israeli military “directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians.”
Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza from March for more than two months.
It began allowing supplies to trickle in at the end of May, with GHF centers secured by armed US contractors and Israeli troops on the perimeter.
Guterres said that from the UN, just a “handful” of medical deliveries had crossed into Gaza this week.
Tehran remains committed to diplomacy, but ‘peace by force is not peace,’ Iran’s ambassador to Japan tells Arab News Japan
In exclusive interview, Peiman Seadat slams the US for siding with “aggressor” Israel, says Iran "now assessing the situation”
Sees growing alignment between Iran and Arab and Islamic states and “positive and constructive path” toward regional peace
Updated 57 min 8 sec ago
Khaldon Azhari
TOKYO: From the only country ever targeted by atomic bombs, a senior Iranian diplomat has called for a return to diplomacy over destruction amid simmering nuclear tensions in the Middle East.
Peiman Seadat, Tehran’s ambassador to Japan, says his country remains open to dialogue but cautions that “peace by force is not peace” following recent attacks on its nuclear sites and failed negotiations.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News on Saturday, Seadat described genuine diplomacy as requiring “mutual respect, even on points of disagreement, equal footing, and a willingness to achieve a satisfactory outcome for parties involved.”
Iranian authorities are “now assessing the situation” and weighing options for resuming negotiations, he said.
Peiman Seadat, Iran’s ambassador to Japan. (AN photo)
Seadat’s remarks come amid simmering tensions following a 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, which ended with a ceasefire on June 24.
Accusing both the US and Israel of choosing aggression over diplomacy, he said the attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities were carried out two days before planned talks with the US, and thus have deepened a “legacy of distrust.”
“Rather than condemning the party that disrupted the negotiations, the Americans sided with the aggressor,” he said. “They, therefore, betrayed the very negotiation to which they were a party.
“Accordingly, the conclusion is that they were complicit in the aggression, a fact they further proved when they launched attacks against our peaceful nuclear sites, thus joining the Israelis in gross violation of every tenet of international law.”
In his first public remarks after the truce, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared victory, claiming Iran “slapped America in the face” by striking the Al-Udeid base in Qatar in retaliation for the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.
An Iranian woman marches with a poster of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on June 28, 2025, during the funeral of Iranian armed forces generals and nuclear scientists killed in Israeli strikes. (AP Photo)
Warning that any future attacks would prompt further strikes on American targets, he asserted Iran’s regional capabilities and rejected calls for concessions.
Khamenei also downplayed the impact of the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, claiming that the US acted mainly to protect Israel after Iranian missiles penetrated Israeli defenses.
US President Donald Trump ridiculed Khamenei’s victory claims, insisting Iran had been “decimated” and its nuclear sites “obliterated” during the conflict.
Trump said he had considered but ultimately rejected plans to assassinate Khamenei, claiming he “saved him from a very ugly and ignominious death” by stopping direct attacks from the US or Israel.
He also said he halted plans to lift sanctions on Iran following Khamenei’s “blatant and foolish” statements and warned he would “absolutely” consider bombing Iran again if Tehran resumed nuclear enrichment at threatening levels.
Trump further claimed to have pressured Israel to avoid delivering a “final knockout” blow, suggesting Israeli strikes could have targeted Tehran directly if not for US intervention.
On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned Trump’s comments, saying a potential nuclear deal hinges on the US ending its “disrespectful tone” toward the supreme leader.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi mourns next to the coffin of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami, who was killed during Israeli strikes, during a state funeral procession at Enghelab (Revolution) Square in the capital Tehran on June 28, 2025. (AFP)
“If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and stop hurting his millions of heartfelt supporters,” Araghchi posted on the social platform X.
Seadat said that Iran remained committed to diplomacy, citing his country’s continued adherence to the 2015 nuclear deal and participation in talks until Israeli strikes derailed the process.
“Iran has always been a party to genuine diplomacy, but peace by force is not peace; it is, rather, coercion,” he said. “What we wanted was a cessation of aggression, and we achieved it at this stage, with resolve. So, while we remain highly vigilant, we will see how the situation unfolds.”
As diplomatic strains persist, Israeli officials have signaled a readiness to escalate. On June 26, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told local media that Israel has a “green light” from Trump to strike Iran again if it appears to be advancing its nuclear program.
He added that Israel would not have needed US permission to target Khamenei directly.
That same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory and framed the conflict as a strategic opportunity to expand diplomatic ties with Arab states.
“We have fought with determination against Iran and achieved a great victory. This victory opens the path to dramatically enlarge the peace accords,” Netanyahu said in a video address, referencing the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries in 2020.
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows excavators at tunnel entrances at the Fordo facility in Iran on Friday, June 27, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
However, Gulf states have condemned both Iran’s missile strike on Qatar and Israel’s attacks on Iranian facilities, citing concerns over regional stability and national sovereignty.
In a joint statement on June 16, Arab countries rejected and condemned Israel’s military aggression against Iran, calling instead for a return to negotiations.
Seadat insisted that Iran’s nuclear program remains peaceful and said Iran’s parliament moved to limit cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) only after repeated, ignored reassurances from Tehran.
“Up to the moment our sites were attacked in contravention of the NPT rules, the IAEA Statute, and two resolutions by its General Conference that prohibit any attack on IAEA-safeguarded peaceful nuclear sites, 130 IAEA inspectors were in place, meaning one-fifth of all inspections conducted by the IAEA in the world,” Seadat said.
He added: “Regardless of disagreements, the IAEA continued its most robust verification regime in the world in Iran.”
This photo taken on January, 20, 2014, shows an IAEA inspector at the Iranian nuclear research center of Natanz as an interim deal with world powers on Iran's nuclear program came into force. (AFP)
Even after the attacks, Seadat said, both the IAEA and US intelligence confirmed there were no signs of nuclear weapons activity — despite early claims, which he attributed to a “very irresponsible” IAEA report.
He said the 2015 nuclear agreement created “a balance: a cap on our peaceful nuclear program in return for full removal of sanctions.” That arrangement, he added, was especially reassuring as it was backed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
“This is a model that Japan and some others have. They also enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. I do not know what to say, unless the meaning of reassuring has changed, perhaps because of the aggressions by the Israeli regime and the Americans on Iran,” Seadat said.
Tensions had started escalating after a May 31 IAEA report revealed that Iran had increased uranium enrichment to 60 percent — the only non-nuclear weapons state to do so — and expanded its stockpile of near-weapons-grade material by 50 percent in three months. Iran dismissed the report as “politically motivated” and “baseless accusations.”
Members of the United Nations Security Council listen as IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi speaks via video during a meeting on threats to international peace and security at the United Nations headquarters on June 22, 2025 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
On Wednesday, Rafael Grossi, IAEA director general, said his top priority is resuming inspections in Iran to determine the impact of the recent strikes. The extent of any damage remains unclear.
While Grossi suggested Iran may have relocated parts of its stockpile ahead of the attacks, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday he had seen no intelligence supporting that claim.
Looking ahead, Seadat noted that Japan could play a significant diplomatic role, referencing its unique moral standing as the only country to have experienced atomic bombings.
“The Hibakusha, the first generation of survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, still walk among us in Japan,” he said. “Because of this, Japan possesses a profound moral authority, having known the depths of suffering like few others.”
He added that Japan is well-positioned to support peace through “inclusive” regional development, particularly efforts that enhance energy security for all.
Seadat also said there is growing alignment between Iran and Arab and Islamic states, which he described as a “positive and constructive path” toward regional peace.
However, he cautioned that maintaining momentum would require active, sustained support from all sides.
Although East Asia lies far from Iran, Seadat emphasized cultural similarities and the potential for cooperation — especially through Japan’s technological expertise and diplomatic engagement.
“We need this new paradigm in our region, and I believe Japan, through the dynamism of its diplomacy, can contribute to it,” he said.
‘We must help them’: Morocco students get peers back in school
“We must help them come back,” said Rifai, who goes to middle school in Tiflet
Moroccan authorities offer dropouts a chance back in with support from fellow students
Updated 28 June 2025
AFP
TIFLET, Morocco: Moroccan student Said Rifai, 15, is on a mission to help his peers pursue education in a country where an estimated 270,000 children drop out of school each year.
“We must help them come back,” said Rifai, who goes to middle school in Tiflet, a town east of the capital Rabat, and has already helped several of his friends back to school as part of a national youth-led effort.
To tackle the problem, which educators and officials warn exacerbates social inequalities and drives poverty, Moroccan authorities offer dropouts a chance back in with support from fellow students.
One of Rifai’s classmates, Doha El Ghazouli, who is also 15, said that together they had helped several friends return to school “before they abandoned their future.”
Huda Enebcha, 16, told AFP how she and her friend Ghazouli managed to convince a neighbor to resume her studies.
“We helped her review the most difficult subjects, and we showed her videos of some school activities,” said Enebcha.
“She finally agreed after a lot of effort.”
To ease the transition back into the education system, the “second chance school” scheme offers some teenagers vocational training alongside remedial classes, with an emphasis on giving former dropouts agency and choice.
Hssain Oujour, who leads the national program, said 70 percent of the teenagers enrolled in it have taken up vocational training that could help them enter the labor force, with another 20 percent returning to the traditional school system.
Across Morocco, a country of 37 million people, classrooms are often overcrowded, and the public education system is generally viewed as inferior to private institutions, which charge fees that can be prohibitive for many families.
Around 250 million children worldwide lack basic literacy skills, and in Morocco, nearly one in four inhabitants — around nine million people — are illiterate, according to the UN children’s agency UNICEF.
Dropout rates tend to be higher in rural and impoverished areas, said Said Tamouh, the principal of the Jawhara School in Tiflet that the students interviewed by AFP attend.
An NGO-run “second chance school” nearby has some 110 students, who can sign up for art classes, hairdressing training or classical Arabic language courses.
Sanae Sami, 17, who took up a make-up class, said she was “truly” given another shot at pursuing education.
“When you leave school, there’s nothing for you,” she said.
“That’s why I decided to come back, especially thanks to the teachers at this center.”
Hafida El Fakir, who heads the Salam association which runs the school, said that “support and guidance” were key in helping students “succeed and go far.”
Amine Othmane, a student who had re-entered the system last year with encouragement from his friends, is now helping others.
To convince dropouts, he said, “they first have to regret leaving and want to return.”
Back in school, 18-year-old Aya Benzaki now hopes to achieve her dream of graduating with a diploma, and Jihane Errafii, 17, said she was grateful for the friends who had supported her journey.
