“Iran cannot strike Israel,” Iraqi FM says at Davos

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 17, 2024. (X: @Davos)
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Updated 18 January 2024
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“Iran cannot strike Israel,” Iraqi FM says at Davos

  • Fouad Hussein told Asharq Al-Awsat that there is no Mossad in Iraq, contrary to Iran's claims
  • Says the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq will be done through negotiations 

Hours before Iraq filed a complaint against Iran to the Security Council, the Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein condemned, in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Iran’s attack on Irbil, considering the escalation “an attempt by Iran to export its internal problems.” 

Hussein, who was speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, said that “his country has taken political and diplomatic measures to respond to the Iranian bombardment that killed 4 civilians in Irbil on Monday evening,” denying Tehran’s claims about the presence of the Israeli Mossad in Iraq. 

He also linked the attack on the Iraqi Kurdistan region to the rising tensions between Tehran and Tel Aviv due to the war in Gaza, considering that “there are likely rules of engagement between the Iranians and the Israelis.” 

Regarding Baghdad’s interest in the withdrawal of US forces stationed in Iraqi military bases, Hussein said that his government seeks to reach a “negotiation process” with Washington, highlighting that “the Americans are ready to sit at the negotiation table but under normal circumstances.” 

The past few weeks witnessed an escalation against US interests in Iraq. Washington responded by targeting the headquarters of Iraqi factions with close ties to Iran.  

As for the Iraqi-Saudi relations, Hussein said that they are excellent, expressing his country’s aspiration “to strengthen economic cooperation and push Saudi investments towards Iraq.” 

Below is the full script of the discussion: 

Allow me to start with the Revolutionary Guard’s attack that targeted the Iraqi Kurdistan region on Monday evening, along with the official Iraqi condemnation that followed and the summoning of the Chargé d’Affaires of the Iranian Embassy. What additional measures is Iraq considering in response to this escalation? 

The measures that Iraq is taking are diplomatic, political and legal. When it comes to diplomatic measures, we have summoned the second-highest-ranking diplomat at the embassy (as the Iranian ambassador is in Tehran) and handed him a note of protest regarding the Iranian aggression against Iraq’s territory in Irbil and the killing of Iraqi citizens. 

We have recalled the Iraqi ambassador from Tehran to Baghdad. Based on the directives of the prime minister, the federal and regional governments have formed an investigation committee.

The head of the committee, who is the Iraqi national security adviser, will submit his report on Wednesday to the prime minister. According to what I have heard from the national security adviser, the owner of the house that was bombed, who is a well-known Kurdish-Iraqi businessman, was killed along with his daughter, while his other daughter and wife were injured. His guest, an Iraqi from Mosul, was killed as well. One Filipina worker, who was inside the house at the time of the attack, was also killed, while 3 other Filipina workers were injured and are receiving the necessary treatment at the hospital. As for the house, it was completely destroyed. 

In addition to the measures I have mentioned, we have filed a complaint to the United Nations Security Council. 

Iran says that it targeted an Israeli Mossad headquarters in Irbil. Does the Israeli intelligence agency really have a presence in Iraq? 

The Iranians blaming others is strange. They are witnessing problems, such as assassinations and terrorist attacks, inside their country due to the failure of the relevant bodies there, but they try to export these problems abroad. 

About a year ago, (Iran) bombed a residential house belonging to another Kurdish-Iraqi businessman with 12 rockets. An Iraqi governmental delegation went to Tehran back then with an investigation committee to prove that the house that was targeted was indeed a normal house, where the family of the businessman lived. 

(The Iranians) claimed that the house was a Mossad headquarters, but they were fully aware that their claim was false. They were promoting this false media campaign internally (to address) an internal campaign that started due to a terrorist attack that took place near Kermanshah. 

They, in fact, cannot confront Israel. So, they attack Irbil. There is no truth (to Iran’s claims in terms of the presence of a Mossad headquarters). This is an internal Iranian issue and they are exporting it abroad. They cannot confront Israel even though they are present in Syria and at the Israeli borders. 

If they wanted to attack Israel, they could have done that. They are present in Syria and south Lebanon. They have, as they say, rockets that can reach Israel from their territories. 

Why do they attack Irbil? Irbil is part of Iraq and Iraq is a neighboring and friendly country to Iran. They share significant historical, geographical, religious, cultural and economic relations. 

We used to defend Iran. We are the ones who repaired the bad relations between Iran and the Arab countries and, sometimes, between Iran and the European countries and the US. 

Iran is attacking an allied government. This is a strategic mistake and I think that whoever carried out this operation in Tehran will realize, after some time, that he made a strategic mistake when dealing with Iraq. 

Did the Israeli war against Gaza turn Iraq into a field where Iran and the US exchange messages? Is this what led the Iraqi government to announce its interest in the withdrawal of US forces? 

When relations become tense between Iran and another country, the tension is in fact between Iran and Washington. These negatively tense relations reflect on Iraq. So, there would be a conflict, but on the Iraqi scene. 

Today, the relations between Israel and Iran are tense and dangerous. However, the Iranians do not take the battle to Israel, as they have their interests. Therefore, for the sake of internal consumption, they transferred the battle to the Iraqi Kurdistan region or the Iraqi scene, which is a big mistake. 

What I get from this is that there are agreed-upon rules of engagement between the Israelis and Iranians. I think that the attack on Irbil, in the mind of some people in Tehran, was in response to what happened in Kerman, meaning the terrorist attack for which ISIS Khorasan claimed responsibility. 

If this group, which has intellectual, ideological and security conflicts with Iran, was responsible for the terrorist attack that martyred many people in Kerman, why is Iran exporting this problem to the Iraqi Kurdistan region? Or if this operation targeted the Israelis, as claimed by Iran, the Israelis are in their country. 

The Iranians claim that they are fighting the Israelis. Therefore, I feel that there are rules of engagement in place between them. However, for the sake of internal consumption, the Iranians bombed the militarily weak link, which is weak now because Iraq is a friend of Iran. They hit their friend and do not confront their enemy. 

Did you set a timeline for the US forces' withdrawal from Iraq? 

The Iraqi government confirms that this issue will be solved through negotiations, not by force. This is the main idea. We need negotiations that would lead us to achieve this objective with the agreement of both parties. We are currently still discussing the initiation of these negotiations with the US. 

As for the violence and counter-violence (that Iraq has witnessed recently), the Americans say that they will not sit at the negotiation table by force. They are ready to negotiate the US presence on Iraqi territories but under normal circumstances. 

We should resort to history here. The Americans came to Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government. Therefore, we can very easily ask them to leave. However, this must be done based on a joint agreement. 

We need a negotiation process. We are currently in talks with the US to agree on the initiation of the said process and then announce it. We hope to reach an agreement swiftly. 

Some Kurdish and Sunni actors don’t seem to support a US withdrawal right now. Is there consensus among Iraqi components about this step? 

Some issues are national issues, and this is a reality. The Iraqi government is a coalition government. We have a political leadership represented by the State Administration Coalition, which formed this government and includes representatives of all the components through their parties. 

Therefore, when we start negotiations, we should tackle their content during the political leadership meeting. When we reach a consensus about the results, it would be a national decision through legal frameworks, meaning through the approval of the Iraqi government.  

We need approval, but we have a political framework to discuss these issues. 

The raison d’être of US troops in Iraq was to assist Iraqi forces in combating terrorism. Are Iraqi forces now able to confront the renewed terrorist threat? 

There’s an equation in place. It is true that US troops in Iraq and the International Coalition Forces were established to combat Daesh. They came to Iraq upon the government’s approval back then and without it, they wouldn’t have been able to enter Iraq. Thanks to the efforts of the Iraqi army, the Popular Mobilization Forces and the Peshmerga Forces, and the support of the coalition forces as well as other countries, including Iran, the people of Iraq were able to defeat Daesh and break what is called “the Daesh State.” 

Daesh ended and turned into a terrorist gang. A war against gangs doesn’t involve armies. It is an intelligence and information war. 

We are currently the ones initiating the attack against these gangs here and there, based on the military concept. We do not need additional forces, because the forces on the Iraqi scene, including the army, the Popular Mobilization Forces, the Peshmerga or the security forces in general, are sufficient. 

As a state, we need to be fully sovereign in terms of security. As for the friendly states, they can have a presence – if needed – on Iraqi territory for training and advice purposes, and with the approval of the Iraqi government. 

We don’t need combat troops. However, in order to reach the stage of these forces’ departure from Iraqi territory, we need negotiations. That’s the difference between the government’s proposal and the proposals made by some of the other groups. We believe in dialogue and negotiations, as, through them, we can reach an agreement for the withdrawal of these forces.  

How many US troops are in Iraq today? 

I think there are 2,500 US troops, not more.  

Between 2003 and 2011, the number of US troops deployed in Iraq at certain stages reached 160,000 US soldiers. Today, we are talking about a small number. 

Moreover, if we look at the Americans in Iraqi camps – there are no US camps – we find that their average age is not that of combat soldiers. They are experts, advisers or trainers. 

There are multiple investment projects between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and trade between the two countries has risen to about $1 billion annually. How do you evaluate the relations between Riyadh and Baghdad today? 

Political relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia today are excellent. By the way, we played a major role in restoring the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran. We are happy with that, as Iran is a neighboring country with which we share our borders. Whenever the relationship between the Arab States surrounding Iraq and Iran is good, it is in Iraq’s interest. 

Tensions in the region affect Iraq negatively, and good relations affect Iraq positively. Iraq’s security depends on the region’s security. 

The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iraq is excellent. We started discussing how to cooperate in the fields of trade and economy. Furthermore, we always cooperate with Saudi Arabia to coordinate positions on oil issues within the framework of OPEC, as well as at the international level and within the League of Arab States. 

We look forward to developing the relations between both countries, establishing strong economic relations, and to Saudi companies investing in Iraq, since we need foreign investments to build the Iraqi economy. 

There is regular communication between Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as between the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and I. We will both meet here in Davos in a few days. 

The Iraqi Prime Minister visited Damascus last July. It was the highest-level Arab visit after Damascus returned to the League of Arab States. Tell us about the Iraqi-Syrian relations today. 

The Syrian-Iraqi relations have not been interrupted, as have relations between many Arab States and Syria. 

During previous meetings of the League of Arab States, we were keen on proposing Syria’s return. Iraq was also among the countries that called for Syria’s return to international forums, so the Syrian government could be an actor in the negotiations and achieve a state of stability on its territories. 

Moreover, destabilizing Syria affects Iraq negatively. 

We should not forget that “Daesh” established its so-called “Daesh State” on Iraqi and Syrian territories, and at a certain point, controlled around 50 percent of the Syrian territories and one-third of the Iraqi territories. 

Stability in Syria positively reflects on the security situation in Iraq. There are multiple terrorist organizations in Syria, while in the Al-Hol camp and Syrian prisons near the Iraqi border, there are thousands of Daesh militants. If these people were released or were able to escape, many of them would definitely try to cross the border into Iraq and undermine Iraq’s security and stability. 

From this perspective and the humanitarian perspective, we call for the stability of Syria. We know that the Syrian crisis is a local, national, regional and international crisis that involves different actors. There are not only two teams but several teams in the same arena. Solving this crisis requires cooperation at the Arab, regional and global levels. 

As for the humanitarian side of things, there are around eight million Syrians who are either displaced or refugees, while Syria’s economy has been completely destroyed. Syrians are facing a tragedy due to inflation, the “deteriorating” economic situation, the “scarcity” of electricity and the “absence” of services. We stand in solidarity with the Syrian people, hoping they will overcome this tragedy. Therefore, we “strive” to interact with others in order to create a state of stability in Syria. 

 

• This was originally published in Asharq Al-Awsat 


Iran will reportedly share images of captured Israeli fighter jet pilots ‘soon’

Updated 1 min 44 sec ago
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Iran will reportedly share images of captured Israeli fighter jet pilots ‘soon’

  • Tehran said on Friday that 2 Israeli F-35 pilots were in custody, one of them a woman
  • Israel has not said whether it lost any pilots during initial surprise attack on Iranian targets 5 days ago

RIYADH: Iran will share images of captured Israeli F-35 pilots “soon,” the Tehran Times reported on Tuesday.

Authorities in Iran said on Friday that two Israeli fighter jet pilots were in custody, one of them a woman. Israel has yet to confirm whether any of its pilots were missing following the initial surprise attack on Iranian targets on Friday morning.

Missile and drone attacks by both countries against each other have continued every day since then, prompting growing fears that the fighting could spiral out of control and spark a major regional conflict.

Also on Tuesday, Iranian media reported that a “terrorist team” linked to Israel and armed with explosives had been arrested in a town southwest of Tehran.


What Israel’s bombing of Iran’s state broadcaster says about its targeting of journalists

Updated 18 June 2025
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What Israel’s bombing of Iran’s state broadcaster says about its targeting of journalists

  • Israeli forces struck Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB on Monday, killing two staff and injuring others during a live broadcast
  • Press freedom advocates say the Tehran strike echoes Israel’s pattern of targeting media in Gaza and the West Bank

LONDON: In what press freedom groups say is only the latest in a string of attacks on media workers, the Israeli military on Monday struck the headquarters of the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting network in Tehran.

The attack, which interrupted a live broadcast, killed at least two members of staff  — news editor Nima Rajabpour and secretariat worker Masoumeh Azimi — and injured several others, according to state-affiliated media.

In footage widely shared online, Sahar Emami, an anchor for the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, was seen fleeing the studio as the screen behind her filled with smoke. Moments earlier, she had told viewers: “You hear the sound of the aggressor attacking the truth.”

The strike destroyed the building — known as the Glass Building — which burned through the night. Israel immediately claimed responsibility.

Defense Minister Israel Katz had issued a warning less than an hour earlier, calling IRIB a “propaganda and incitement megaphone,” urging up to 330,000 nearby residents to evacuate.

The attack drew swift condemnation from Iranian officials. Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, called it “a wicked act of war crime,” urging the international community to demand justice from Israel for its attack on the media.

NUMBER

70%

Israel is responsible for the majority of journalist killings globally in 2024, the highest number by a single country in one year since the Committee to Protect Journalists began documenting this data in 1992.

Source: CPJ

“The world is watching,” Baqaei wrote on X. “Israeli regime is the biggest enemy of truth and is the No#1 killer of journalists and media people.”

Over the past week, the long-running shadow war between Israel and Iran has escalated dramatically. On Friday, Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities, including the Natanz enrichment site.

With the stated aim of preventing Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, the strikes caused significant damage to the country’s nuclear infrastructure and military command structure, with multiple high-ranking commanders killed.

Mourners attend the funeral of members of the press who were killed in an Israeli strike, at the Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on December 26, 2024. (AFP)

Iran has retaliated with missile barrages targeting Israeli cities and military bases. Civilian casualties have mounted on both sides, and major cities like Tehran and Tel Aviv have experienced widespread panic and disruption.

The Israeli attack on IRIB shows media workers are not exempt from the violence.

Sara Qudah, regional director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said she was “appalled by Israel’s attack on Iran’s state television channel,” noting that the lack of international censure “has emboldened it to target media elsewhere in the region.”

There is absolutely no logical reason for Israel to target a media outlet in Iran that poses no threat to anyone, says Peyman Jebelli, Head of IRIB

Loreley Hahn Herrera, lecturer in global media and digital cultures at SOAS University of London, echoed this view.

“The exceptional status through which Western powers have historically shielded Israel has allowed it to systematically commit international law and human rights violations without ever being held accountable or suffer any legal, financial, military or diplomatic repercussions,” she told Arab News.

“This has indeed emboldened Israel to attack not only Palestine and Iran. In the last months, Israel has broken the ceasefire in Lebanon, bombed Yemen, and Syria as well.”

Palestinian journalist Mohammed Al-Zaanin waits at Nasser hospital for treatment after sustaining injuries during Israeli bombardment of the Bani Suheila district in Khan Yunis in the  southern Gaza Strip on July 22, 2024. (AFP)

Israel’s treatment of media workers in combat zones has long been documented by press freedom organizations. Despite repeated calls for accountability, Israel has consistently evaded consequences.

“Israel has a sophisticated political communication strategy which rests on its hasbara (propaganda) that has worked hand in hand with its material strategies to control the public spaces in the West through repeating narratives about victimhood and its right to defend itself,” Dina Matar, professor of political communication and Arab media at SOAS, told Arab News.

Monday’s strike in Tehran closely mirrors Israel’s record in Gaza and the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023. Under the banner of “eliminating terrorists,” Israel has killed at least 183 journalists in Palestine and Lebanon, according to CPJ. Others put the figure closer to 220.

This frame grab from a video released by Iran state TV shows the network building on fire after an Israeli drone attack, June 16, 2025, in Tehran, Iran. (Iran state TV, IRINN via AP)

A separate report published in April by the Costs of War project at Brown University described the Gaza conflict as “the worst ever for journalists.”

Titled “News Graveyards: How Dangers to War Reporters Endanger the World,” the study concluded that more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in all major US wars combined.

The report was swiftly attacked by Israeli nationalists, who dismissed it as “garbage” and factually flawed for not linking the journalists killed to militant activity.

A tribute for slain Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is shown during an observation of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba in the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations on May 15, 2023 in New York City. (AFP)

“There is no policy of targeting journalists,” a senior Israeli officer said last year, attributing the deaths to the scale and intensity of the bombardment.

But Herrera disagrees.

“Israel is not only targeting journalists, it is targeting the families of the journalists as a strategy to deter their coverage and punish them for reporting the war crimes Israel commits on a daily basis in occupied Palestine,” she said.

Palestinian journalists lift placards during a rally in protest of the killing of fellow reporters Hussam Shabat and Muhammad Mansour in Israeli strikes a day earlier, at the al-Ahli Arab hospital, also known as the Baptist hospital, in Gaza City on March 25, 2025. (AFP)

Herrera cited several examples where Israel appeared to punish journalists by targeting their families. One case was that of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, who was broadcasting live when he learned that his wife, daughter, son, and grandchild had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023.

A more recent case involved photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who was killed alongside several family members. Both attacks, Israel claimed, were aimed at Hamas operatives, but critics say they reflect a broader strategy of silencing coverage through collective punishment.

Yet accusations of Israel’s targeting of journalists precede the last 20 months.

Mourners and colleagues holding 'press' signs surround the body of Al-Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul, killed along with his cameraman Rami al-Refee in an Israeli strike during their coverage of Gaza's Al-Shati refugee camp, on July 31, 2024. (AFP)

“Israel has a long and documented history of targeting Palestinian journalists,” said Matar, pointing to the 1972 assassination of writer Ghassan Kanafani in Beirut.

A prominent Palestinian author and militant, Kanafani was considered to be a leading novelist of his generation and one of the Arab world’s leading Palestinian writers.

He was killed along with his 17-year-old niece, Lamees, by an explosive device planted in his car by Mossad, in one of the first known extrajudicial killings for which the Israeli spy agency ever claimed responsibility.

Relatives over the body of journalist Ahmed Mansur at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 8, 2025. (AFP)

More recently, in May 2022, Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by an Israeli soldier during a raid in Jenin, despite wearing a press vest. Initial Israeli claims blaming Palestinian fire were quickly disproven by independent investigations and the UN.

A 2025 documentary identified the suspected shooter, but no one has been held accountable.

Foreign media workers have also been killed. In 2014, Italian journalist Simone Camilli and his Palestinian colleague Ali Shehda Abu Afash died when an unexploded Israeli bomb detonated while they were reporting in Gaza.

This frame grab from a video released by Iran state TV shows anchor Sahar Emami amid an explosion from an Israeli attack during a live TV broadcast, June 16, 2025, in Tehran, Iran. (Iran state TV, IRINN via AP)

In 2003, Welsh documentarian James Miller was fatally shot by Israeli forces while filming in Rafah.

A year earlier, Italian photojournalist Raffaele Ciriello — on assignment for Corriere della Sera — was shot dead by Israeli gunfire in Ramallah during the Second Intifada, becoming the first foreign journalist killed in that conflict.

No one has been held accountable in any of these cases.

“The reason behind Israel’s targeting and killing of journalists is to send a clear message and instill fear of reporting Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the West Bank, as it can carry the consequence of death and/or injury,” said Herrera, who noted Israel’s refusal to allow international media into Gaza as part of a wider strategy to monopolize the narrative.

“This is an attempt to minimize or flat out stop any negative coverage of Israeli actions in Gaza and the rest of the occupied territories,” she said. “Israel does not want international media, and particularly Western media, to cover their genocide campaign and their ongoing and systematic war crimes … and push further the delegitimization of Israel.”

While Israel has so far refused to grant broader media access to the enclave, Western news organizations and human rights groups have attempted to push back against the Israeli narrative, arguing that affiliation with outlets like Al-Aqsa TV or Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB does not justify extrajudicial killings.

“News outlets, even propagandist ones, are not legitimate military targets,” the Freedom of the Press Foundation said in a statement on Monday. “Bombing a studio during a live broadcast will not impede Iran’s nuclear program.”

As the conflict with Iran escalates, incidents like Monday’s bombing are likely to face growing scrutiny. For many observers, Israel’s actions are becoming increasingly indefensible, and international tolerance for such attacks may be nearing its limit.

“The international community has played an important role in allowing Israel to act in this manner,” said Herrera.

“Since its establishment in 1948, and even before that though the Balfour Declaration in 1917, the West has protected Israel in the international relations arena.

“The best example of this is the use of the US veto in the UN Security Council or the ever-present declarations that Israel ‘has a right to defend itself’ by European and American political leadership.

“Until the international community effectively implements sanctions, stops funding and arming Israel, we will only continue to witness Israel’s brazen violations of international and human rights law.

“We cannot expect Israel to self-regulate because Israel is not a democracy. Its political and legal systems are subservient to the Zionist ideology of colonization and racial supremacy, and will act to satisfy these aims.”

 


UAE warns against ‘miscalculated actions’ in Israeli-Iranian conflict, calls for immediate ceasefire

Updated 17 June 2025
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UAE warns against ‘miscalculated actions’ in Israeli-Iranian conflict, calls for immediate ceasefire

  • Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan says Emirati leadership is dedicated to promotion of stability, prosperity and justice
  • He highlights ‘the risks of reckless and miscalculated actions that could extend beyond the borders’ of Israel and Iran

LONDON: As military exchanges between Israel and Iran continued on Tuesday for a fifth consecutive day, the UAE’s minister of foreign affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, warned of the wider threat posed by the continuing conflict and called for an immediate ceasefire.

“There is no alternative to political and diplomatic solutions,” he said, calling on the UN and its Security Council to intervene and halt the escalating violence.

He also highlighted “the risks of reckless and miscalculated actions that could extend beyond the borders” of Israel and Iran, the Emirates News Agency reported.

The UAE believes “a diplomatic approach is urgently required to lead both parties toward deescalation, end hostilities, and prevent the situation from spiraling into grave and far-reaching consequences,” he added.

The goal of international diplomacy, he said, must be to immediately halt hostilities, prevent the conflict from spiraling out of control, and mitigate its effects on global peace and security.

The UAE condemned the Israeli airstrikes on Iran that began on Friday, which have targeted nuclear sites, military leaders, intelligence chiefs and atomic scientists. Iran has responded by firing ballistic missiles at Israeli towns and cities along the Mediterranean, including Tel Aviv, Rishon LeZion and Haifa.

Sheikh Abdullah said the Emirati leadership is dedicated to the promotion of stability, prosperity and justice, and he stressed the urgent need for wisdom in a region long embroiled in conflicts.

“The UAE believes that promoting dialogue, adhering to international law and respecting the sovereignty of states are essential principles for resolving the current crises,” he added.

“The UAE calls on the United Nations and the Security Council to fully uphold their responsibilities by preventing further escalation, and taking urgent and necessary measures to achieve a ceasefire and reinforce international peace and security.”


At least 60 people feared missing in two deadly shipwrecks off Libya, IOM says

Updated 17 June 2025
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At least 60 people feared missing in two deadly shipwrecks off Libya, IOM says

  • IOM says shipwrecks happened off the Libyan coast

CAIRO: At least 60 people were feared missing at sea after two deadly shipwrecks off the coast of Libya in recent days, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday.


Russia says Israel attacks on Iran are illegal, notes Iran’s commitment to NPT

Updated 17 June 2025
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Russia says Israel attacks on Iran are illegal, notes Iran’s commitment to NPT

  • The statement said Moscow was waiting for the International Atomic Energy Agency to provide “unvarnished” assessments of the damage caused to Iranian nuclear facilities by Israeli attacks

MOSCOW: Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denounced continued Israeli attacks on Iran as illegal and said a solution to the conflict over Tehran’s nuclear program could only be found through diplomacy.
A ministry statement posted on Telegram noted Iran’s “clear statements” on its commitment to adhere to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and its willingness to meet with US representatives.
The statement also said Moscow was waiting for the International Atomic Energy Agency to provide “unvarnished” assessments of the damage caused to Iranian nuclear facilities by Israeli attacks.