DUBAI: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the turnout in the country’s first round of presidential elections was “lower than expected,” semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
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Iran’s Khamenei says turnout in presidential election was “lower than expected” — Tasnim
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Iran’s Khamenei says turnout in presidential election was “lower than expected” — Tasnim
Israeli team led by spy chief Barnea meets Qatari mediators on Gaza deal
- US believes Israel and Hamas have a “pretty significant opening” to reach an agreement
- No public statement was issued after the talks
JERUSALEM: Israel’s spy chief held talks with Qatari mediators on Friday in the latest effort for a truce and hostage release deal for Gaza, almost nine months into the Israel-Hamas war.
A source with knowledge of the negotiations said Mossad chief David Barnea and his delegation had left Doha straight after the meetings on the latest Hamas ideas for an agreement.
No public statement was issued after the talks.
The US, which has worked alongside Qatar and Egypt in trying to broker a deal, had talked up the significance of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to send a delegation to Qatar.
The US believes Israel and Hamas have a “pretty significant opening” to reach an agreement, a senior official said.
The Gaza war — which has raised fears of a broader conflagration involving Lebanon — began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the military says are dead.
In response, Israel has carried out a military offensive that has killed at least 38,011 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.
US President Joe Biden announced a pathway to a truce deal in May that he said had been proposed by Israel. It included an initial six-week truce, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza population centers and the freeing of hostages by Palestinian militants.
Talks subsequently stalled but the US official said on Thursday that the new proposal from Hamas “moves the process forward and may provide the basis for closing the deal,” though “significant work” remained.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told AFP that the group expected a swift Israeli response — “likely today or tomorrow morning” — to its new “ideas.”
He blamed Israel for the deadlock since Biden’s announcement.
Hamdan said the ideas had been “conveyed by the mediators to the American side, which welcomed them and passed them on to the Israeli side. Now the ball is in the Israeli court.”
Hamdan said the Doha talks “will be a test for the US administration to see if it is willing to pressure the Zionist entity to accept these proposed ideas.”
There has been no truce in the war since a one-week pause in November saw 80 Israeli hostages freed in return for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The war has uprooted 90 percent of Gaza’s population, destroyed much of the territory’s housing and other infrastructure, and left almost 500,000 people enduring “catastrophic” hunger, UN agencies say.
The main stumbling block to a truce deal has been Hamas’s demand for a permanent end to the fighting, which Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners strongly reject.
The Israeli leader has faced a well-organized protest movement demanding a deal to free the hostages, which took to the streets again on Thursday evening.
Netanyahu insists the war will not end until Israel destroys Hamas and the hostages are freed.
The head of the World Health Organization warned that “further disruption to health services is imminent in Gaza due to a severe lack of fuel.”
Only 90,000 liters (20,000 gallons) of fuel entered Gaza on Wednesday, but the health sector alone needs 80,000 liters each day.
The WHO and its partners in Gaza were having “to make impossible choices” as a result, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have voiced hope that a ceasefire in Gaza could lead to an easing of violence on the Israel-Lebanon border as well.
Since the war began, Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement has exchanged near-daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army in support of its Palestinian ally.
The exchanges have intensified over the past month after Israel killed senior Hezbollah commanders in targeted air strikes.
Hezbollah said it fired more than 200 rockets and “explosive drones” at army positions in northern Israel and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights in its latest round of reprisals on Thursday.
A military source said the rocket fire killed a soldier in northern Israel.
Hamas said Friday that its foreign relations chief Khalil Al-Hayya had met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to coordinate their “resistance efforts” and the upcoming truce negotiations.
Hamas delegation holds talks in Beirut with Hezbollah
- Naim Qassem: ‘Prospects of war expansion are unlikely, but Hezbollah is prepared for worst possibilities’
- Nasrallah received Hamas deputy chief Hayya for the meeting, which reviewed “the latest security and political developments” in the Gaza Strip
BEIRUT: Hezbollah and Hamas leaders discussed the latest developments in ceasefire negotiations with Israel at a meeting in Beirut on Friday
Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general, received a Hamas delegation headed by Khalil Al-Hayya, and both sides discussed “the developments of the ongoing negotiations and the proposals aiming to stop the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
A statement issued by Hezbollah and Hamas affirmed that both parties “emphasized continued field and political coordination at all levels to achieve the desired goals.”
The Hamas delegation also met with the leaders of the Islamic Group in Lebanon, which is an ally of Hezbollah.
The group said the discussion focused on “indirect negotiations and the implications of these developments for Palestine, Lebanon, and the region.”
The talks also tackled ways to face the “challenges of the next phase, emphasizing the importance of cooperation and the mobilization of the nation’s capabilities in this pivotal battle,” the statement added.
The talks came as Israel continued its raids on Lebanese border villages, with a drone raiding Markaba, injuring a paramedic next to an aid station for the Islamic Risala Scout.
Israeli media outlets said that five missiles were launched from Lebanon toward western Galilee without triggering local sirens.
Talks took place in Paris on Friday as part of efforts to de-escalate the situation along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
A White House official said Amos Hochstein, a senior US official at the heart of the discussions, spoke about efforts to restore calm in meetings with French officials.
Reuters quoted a White House source as saying that France and the US shared the goal of diplomatically resolving the current conflict.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan expressed the Kingdom’s “concern over the risk of the war expanding in Lebanon.”
In a statement, he said: “We do not see any political horizon,” noting that “a ceasefire in Gaza could help stop the tension in southern Lebanon.”
Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem commented on the diplomatic efforts to Russian Sputnik Radio.
Qassem said foreign delegates, including from the US and French, wanted to separate the Lebanese front from the war in Gaza, and are trying to appease Israel to allow Jewish settlers to return to their homes.
“There’s no discussion without a ceasefire, which will then be followed by the necessary political discussion and a review of the latest developments,” he warned.
Qassem said that “the chances of an expanded war are not likely soon, but Hezbollah is prepared for the worst possibilities.”
Qassem said Israel’s “only option is to accept Hamas’ conditions because it won’t stop its resistance as long as the aggression and the targeting of civilians continue.”
He also wondered “whether the Israeli Army can tolerate (Hezbollah’s) attrition operations.”
Qassem said the party had not built its military position based on political analysis but on information and field results.
He said: “Reaching an agreement is the strongest option today, especially amid the upheaval inside Israel, in addition to the Israeli opposition and its ability to pressure (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu).”
He added that he expected Hamas to play a major role in Palestine after the war ended, contrary to Israeli aims.
This came as the UN said the number of civilian casualties in Lebanon reached 98 as of June 28, including 31 women, 12 children, 21 health workers and three journalists.
A renewed report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs or OCHA said that “IDPs and host communities were experiencing “escalating fatigue, heightening the risk of intra-Lebanese tensions.”
It said internally displaced people were grappling with extended displacement and uncertain living conditions, while host communities were beginning to feel the pressure on local resources and, in some instances, competition for jobs.
According to the International Organization for Migration, around 96,829 people from border towns have been displaced mostly to relatives’ homes, while 16 shelters are housing around 1,498 displaced people.
The Ministry of Agriculture observed that more than 1,240 hectares of land had been destroyed, while around 72 percent of farmers had lost their sources of income in the south, with 340,000 livestock and a significant number of beehives destroyed as a result of Israeli bombing.
The National Council for Scientific Research documented “more than 175 Israeli attacks with phosphorus bombs and more than 196 attacks with incendiary bombs.”
It said that 10 water facilities had been destroyed, and more than 100,000 residents had been affected by water shortage.
The clashes have caused the closure of around six healthcare centers in Marjayoun and Bint Jbeil and the partial or complete closure of 72 private and public schools in the affected towns.
BEIRUT: Hezbollah and Hamas leaders discussed the latest developments in ceasefire negotiations with Israel at a meeting in Beirut on Friday
Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general, received a Hamas delegation headed by Khalil Al-Hayya, and both sides discussed “the developments of the ongoing negotiations and the proposals aiming to stop the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
A statement issued by Hezbollah and Hamas affirmed that both parties “emphasized continued field and political coordination at all levels to achieve the desired goals.”
The Hamas delegation also met with the leaders of the Islamic Group in Lebanon, which is an ally of Hezbollah.
The group said the discussion focused on “indirect negotiations and the implications of these developments for Palestine, Lebanon, and the region.”
The talks also tackled ways to face the “challenges of the next phase, emphasizing the importance of cooperation and the mobilization of the nation’s capabilities in this pivotal battle,” the statement added.
The talks came as Israel continued its raids on Lebanese border villages, with a drone raiding Markaba, injuring a paramedic next to an aid station for the Islamic Risala Scout.
Israeli media outlets said that five missiles were launched from Lebanon toward western Galilee without triggering local sirens.
Talks took place in Paris on Friday as part of efforts to de-escalate the situation along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
A White House official said Amos Hochstein, a senior US official at the heart of the discussions, spoke about efforts to restore calm in meetings with French officials.
Reuters quoted a White House source as saying that France and the US shared the goal of diplomatically resolving the current conflict.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan expressed the Kingdom’s “concern over the risk of the war expanding in Lebanon.”
In a statement, he said: “We do not see any political horizon,” noting that “a ceasefire in Gaza could help stop the tension in southern Lebanon.”
Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem commented on the diplomatic efforts to Russian Sputnik Radio.
Qassem said foreign delegates, including from the US and French, wanted to separate the Lebanese front from the war in Gaza, and are trying to appease Israel to allow Jewish settlers to return to their homes.
“There’s no discussion without a ceasefire, which will then be followed by the necessary political discussion and a review of the latest developments,” he warned.
Qassem said that “the chances of an expanded war are not likely soon, but Hezbollah is prepared for the worst possibilities.”
Qassem said Israel’s “only option is to accept Hamas’ conditions because it won’t stop its resistance as long as the aggression and the targeting of civilians continue.”
He also wondered “whether the Israeli Army can tolerate (Hezbollah’s) attrition operations.”
Qassem said the party had not built its military position based on political analysis but on information and field results.
He said: “Reaching an agreement is the strongest option today, especially amid the upheaval inside Israel, in addition to the Israeli opposition and its ability to pressure (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu).”
He added that he expected Hamas to play a major role in Palestine after the war ended, contrary to Israeli aims.
This came as the UN said the number of civilian casualties in Lebanon reached 98 as of June 28, including 31 women, 12 children, 21 health workers and three journalists.
A renewed report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs or OCHA said that “IDPs and host communities were experiencing “escalating fatigue, heightening the risk of intra-Lebanese tensions.”
It said internally displaced people were grappling with extended displacement and uncertain living conditions, while host communities were beginning to feel the pressure on local resources and, in some instances, competition for jobs.
According to the International Organization for Migration, around 96,829 people from border towns have been displaced mostly to relatives’ homes, while 16 shelters are housing around 1,498 displaced people.
The Ministry of Agriculture observed that more than 1,240 hectares of land had been destroyed, while around 72 percent of farmers had lost their sources of income in the south, with 340,000 livestock and a significant number of beehives destroyed as a result of Israeli bombing.
The National Council for Scientific Research documented “more than 175 Israeli attacks with phosphorus bombs and more than 196 attacks with incendiary bombs.”
It said that 10 water facilities had been destroyed, and more than 100,000 residents had been affected by water shortage.
The clashes have caused the closure of around six healthcare centers in Marjayoun and Bint Jbeil and the partial or complete closure of 72 private and public schools in the affected towns.
Close adviser of Syrian president dies after car crash: Presidency
- Shibl was involved in incident on Yaa’four Road in Damascus
DAMASCUS: Luna Shibl, an adviser to Syrian president Bashar Assad, died on Friday three days after she was involved in a car accident, the office of the president said.
“The presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic mourns the death of the adviser Luna Al-Shibl, who passed away today after a serious car accident,” it said in a statement.
“She served in recent years as a director of the political and media office of the presidency and then as a special adviser to the presidency,” it added.
State media reported on Tuesday that Shibl was involved in a traffic accident on Yaa’four Road in Damascus, suffering a “cerebral haemorrhage” after her car “veered off the road,” after which she was taken to a clinic near the crash site and then transferred to intensive care in Al-Shami Hospital in the Syrian capital.
The 48-year-old rose to prominence for quitting a prestigious journalism career at Qatar-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera to become Assad’s media adviser.
She carved out a place within Assad’s inner circle as she accompanied him to high-level meetings in Syria and on his rare visits abroad and played an important role during the most intense years of the Syrian civil war. She was part of the delegation to ultimately doomed peace talks in 2014.
Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported earlier this week that she had fallen out of official favor in recent months and her brother had been arrested.
“There was growing dissatisfaction with her within the regime,” said Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman.
“Accusations surfaced that she leaked minutes of closed meetings between Assad and Iranian officials,” Abdulrahman added.
Syrian intelligence arrested her brother “on charges of communicating with a party hostile to Syria” after Israel struck the Iranian consulate in Damascus in April, the monitor said.
In 2020, Washington sanctioned Shibl and her husband Ammar Saati, with the US Treasury saying at the time that “she has been instrumental in developing Assad’s false narrative that he maintains control of the country and that the Syrian people flourish under his leadership.”
* With AFP
Psychological wounds hard to heal for Gaza war victims
- Child amputees and elderly people in wheelchairs are among the patients on the converted ship off Al-Arish funded and operated by the UAE
- If that only scratches the surface of the needs of Gaza, it reflects the difficulty of providing aid for the sealed and bombarded territory
AL-ARISH, Egypt: On a floating hospital near Gaza, doctors aren’t just treating physical wounds — they’re providing emotional support too for children and adults haunted by months of terrifying war.
Child amputees and elderly people in wheelchairs are among the patients on the converted ship off Arish, northern Egypt, funded and operated by the United Arab Emirates.
About 2,400 people have been treated at the temporary facility, whose rows of tents below deck hold about 100 patients at a time, says deputy medical director Abdullah Al-Zahmi.
If that only scratches the surface of the needs of Gaza, it reflects the difficulty of providing aid for the sealed and bombarded territory.
More than 38,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war broke out nearly nine months ago, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Nine-year-old Yazan is one of those traumatized by the war, after being brought to the hospital about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Gaza without his parents and having a leg amputated because of his wounds.
Zahmi jokes with the boy, asks how his parents are doing in Gaza and assures him he will soon have a prosthetic leg fitted.
“The traditional relationship between the patient and the doctor” has dissolved, the doctor tells AFP.
“Every day we see each other, we speak comfortably, and we care about their needs, problems, and psychological pain.”
Yazan’s parents were not allowed to accompany him through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, Zahmi says, without giving further details. The route was closed by Israeli forces in early May.
The boy’s condition “was initially a concern for us, as dealing with him was difficult because he was emotional and in need of his mother and father.”
“But as days passed, we began to include Yazan as one of our family... and now he has become an icon for us because of his clinging to life, his constant smile, and everyone’s love for him,” Zahmi says.
The child is undergoing psychological and social rehabilitation and communicates daily with his family, Zahmi adds.
Smiling as he sits inside one of the tents, Yazan shows the doctor a picture of him with his father before the outbreak of war last October.
After his artificial leg is fitted, Yazan says he wants to “walk and play football,” adding that his “favorite player is (Cristiano) Ronaldo.”
“I would like to return to Gaza and live with my father and mother,” he says.
Zahmi says more than 840 operations have been carried out at the hospital, which has a surgical department, an intensive care and anaesthesia unit, X-ray facilities, a pharmacy and laboratory.
Its 60 staff span specialities including orthopaedics, internal care, neurosurgery and dentistry.
The hospital also provides communal spaces and communications with relatives in Gaza or elsewhere, Zahmi says.
“We provide them with high-speed Internet, outdoor areas for playing and resting, and a place for prayer,” he says.
In the main loading area of the 200-meter ship, ambulances are preparing to transfer patients to a plane to the UAE, where they will receive further treatment.
According to Zahmi, they are among those chosen as part of a UAE initiative to receive 1,000 wounded children and 1,000 cancer-sufferers from the Gaza Strip.
Other patients discharged from the hospital are taken to housing designated for them by Egyptian authorities.
For any patients who need further treatment but who are not being flown to the UAE, the Emirates Red Crescent will cover their costs at an Egyptian hospital.
Fadia Al-Madhun, 44, is on the floating hospital with her husband, who was injured in a bombing that targeted their Gaza home.
“We left the house. It was bombed. We did not take clothes or anything else,” says Madhun, wearing a floral hijab.
“They gave us everything (including) psychological support for our children,” she adds.
Zahmi says the hospital staff have seen “many families who lost their children and people who lost their fathers and mothers, and therefore we understand the tragedies.”
“We listen a lot and try to accept, but in the end, no matter how much we console them, the wound runs deep and remains in the memory,” he adds.
ICC prosecutor opted for warrants over visit to Gaza
- ICC mission planned for Gaza, Ramallah, Jerusalem was called off
- Sudden cancelation angered Washington, London
- In call, UK’s Cameron threatened to pull UK out of ICC and cut funds
THE HAGUE/WASHINGTON: On May 20, the same day International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan made a surprise request for warrants to arrest the leaders of Israel and Hamas involved in the Gaza conflict, he suddenly canceled a sensitive mission to collect evidence in the region, eight people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Planning for the visit had been under way for months with US officials, four of the sources said.
Khan’s decision to request the warrants upended the plans backed by Washington and London for the prosecutor and his team to visit Gaza and Israel. The court was set to gather on-site evidence of war crimes and offer Israeli leaders a first opportunity to present their position and any action they were taking to respond to the allegations of war crimes, five sources with direct knowledge of the exchanges told Reuters.
Khan’s request for a warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the court’s first attempt to detain a sitting, Western-backed head of state — also flew in the face of efforts the US and Britain were leading to prevent the court from prosecuting Israeli leaders, the sources said.
The two states have said the court has no jurisdiction over Israel and that seeking warrants would not help resolve the conflict.
Khan’s office told Reuters the decision to seek warrants was, in line with its approach in all cases, based on an assessment by the prosecutor that there was enough evidence to proceed, and the view that seeking arrest warrants immediately could prevent ongoing crimes.
Reuters is the first to report in detail about the planned trip and the repercussions of its cancelation.
Khan had for three years been working to improve relations with the US, which is not a member of the court. He had asked Washington to help put pressure on its ally Israel – also not a court member – to allow his team access, four sources said.
His move has harmed operational cooperation with the US and angered Britain, a founding member of the court, the sources said.
A senior US State Department official said Washington continued to work with the court on its investigations in Ukraine and Sudan, but three sources with direct knowledge of the US administration’s dealings with the court told Reuters cooperation has been damaged by Khan’s sudden action.
They said problems have played out in preparations for new indictments of suspects in Sudan’s Darfur and the apprehension of fugitives. Two of the sources said one operation to detain a suspect, which they declined to describe in detail, did not go ahead as planned due to the loss of key US support. All the sources expressed concerns Khan’s action would jeopardize cooperation in other ongoing investigations.
However, Khan’s sudden move has drawn support from other countries, exposing political differences between national powers over the conflict and the court. France, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland have made statements endorsing Khan’s decision; Canada and Germany have stated more simply that they respect the court’s independence.
The world’s war crimes court for prosecuting individuals, the ICC does not have a police force to detain suspects, so it relies on 124 countries that ratified the 1998 Rome treaty that founded it. Non-members China, Russia, the US and Israel sometimes work with the court on an ad hoc basis.
A few hours’ notice
Khan personally decided to cancel the visit to the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah, which was due to begin on May 27, two of the sources said.
Court and Israeli officials were due to meet on May 20 in Jerusalem to work out final details of the mission. Khan instead requested warrants that day for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.
A UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that initial discussions had taken place regarding a visit to Gaza by Khan, covering security and transportation.
Flight tickets and meetings between senior-level court and Israeli officials were canceled with just hours of notice, blindsiding some of Khan’s own staff, seven sources with direct and indirect knowledge of the decision said.
The US State Dept. official said that abandoning the May visit broke from the prosecution’s common practice of seeking engagement with states under investigation. Three US sources said, without providing details, that Khan’s motive to change course was not clearly explained and the about-face had hurt the court’s credibility in Washington.
Khan’s office did not directly address those points but said he had spent the three previous years trying to improve dialogue with Israel and had not received any information that demonstrated “genuine action” at a domestic level from Israel to address the crimes alleged.
Khan “continues to welcome the opportunity to visit Gaza” and “remains open to engaging with all relevant actors,” his office said in an email.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters Hamas had no prior knowledge of Khan’s intentions to send a team of investigators into Gaza.
Netanyahu’s office and the Israeli Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage. Nearly 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ground and air campaign, Gaza’s health ministry says.
Washington blindsided
The ICC admitted “the State of Palestine” in 2015, and Khan says his office has jurisdiction over alleged atrocity crimes committed since Oct. 7 by Palestinians in Israel and by anyone in the Gaza Strip. Neither the US or Britain recognize the Palestinian state, so they dispute the court’s jurisdiction over the territory.
Even though Washington and London argue that the court has no jurisdiction in this situation, they were talking to Israel to help prosecutor Khan arrange the visit, four sources close to their administrations told Reuters.
The sources said they had been aware that Khan might seek warrants for Netanyahu and other high-level Israeli officials: Since at least March, Khan or members of his team had been informing the governments of the US, UK, Russia, France and China about the possibility of bringing charges against Israeli and Hamas leaders.
A diplomatic source in a Western country said, without giving details, there was a diplomatic effort under the radar to try to convince the ICC not to take this path.
“We worked hard to build a relationship of no surprises,” said one US source, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the case.
Blinken on May 21 called Khan’s decision “profoundly wrong-headed,” saying it was out of line with the process he expected and would complicate prospects for a deal on freeing hostages or a ceasefire. He told a Senate appropriations committee he would work with Republicans to impose sanctions against ICC officials.
On the same day, Cameron told parliament Kahn’s move was mistaken.
In private, he responded furiously to the change of plan, calling it “crazy” because Khan’s team had not yet visited Israel and Gaza, and threatening in a phone call with Khan to pull Britain out of the court and cut financial support to it, three sources with direct knowledge of the discussion said. A foreign office official declined to comment on the phone call or on Britain’s relationship to the court.
In June, the ICC allowed the UK to file a written submission outlining its legal arguments that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the case. The issue of the court’s jurisdiction divides both members and non-members of the court.
The US has a fraught relationship with the court. In 2020, under the former US President Donald Trump, Washington imposed sanctions against it, which were dropped under President Joe Biden.
Khan’s office said he “has made significant efforts to engage with the United States in recent years in order to strengthen cooperation, and has been grateful for the concrete and important assistance provided by US authorities.”
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