TEHRAN: Iran condemned new EU and British sanctions on Tehran and denied providing ballistic missiles to Russia, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, said in a post on X on Tuesday.
The European Union agreed on Monday to impose sanctions on seven people and seven organizations, including airline Iran Air, for their links to Iranian transfers of ballistic missiles to Russia.
The listings also include Saha Airlines and Mahan Air and Iran’s Deputy Defense Minister Seyed Hamzeh Ghalandari.
At the same time, Britain added nine new designations under its Iran sanctions regime.
Last month, the United States, citing intelligence it said had been shared with allies, said Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran for its war in Ukraine.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson denied on Tuesday his country provided ballistic missiles to Russia.
“Some European countries and the UK have unfortunately claimed without evidence that Iran has militarily intervened in this conflict which is totally refuted,” Baghaei said, referring to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Baghaei condemned the fresh sanctions saying that imposing new sanctions by the European Union and the UK on Iranian individuals and entities goes against international law.
Also facing sanctions under the EU move are prominent officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and the managing directors of Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries and Aerospace Industries Organization.
The sanctions include an asset freeze and a travel ban to the European Union.
Iran condemns EU, UK sanctions on Tehran, denies providing ballistic missiles to Russia
https://arab.news/znsmy
Iran condemns EU, UK sanctions on Tehran, denies providing ballistic missiles to Russia
King Abdullah reaffirms Jordan’s support for Lebanon in meeting with PM Mikati
- At the meeting at Al-Husseiniya Palace, King Abdullah affirmed Jordan’s support for its neighbor’s sovereignty, security and stability
DUBAI: Jordan’s King Abdullah held talks with Lebanon’s Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday in Amman on the situation in the latter’s country and Israel’s aggression in the south.
At the meeting at Al-Husseiniya Palace, King Abdullah affirmed Jordan’s support for its neighbor’s sovereignty, security and stability, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported on Monday.
He also expressed Jordan’s readiness to assist Lebanon in alleviating the suffering caused by the ongoing conflict.
“Jordan is working closely with Arab allies and key international players to stop the Israeli war on Lebanon,” King Abdullah said, warning that Tel Aviv’s continued aggression could escalate into a costly regional war.
Mikati thanked King Abdullah for the support, particularly his efforts to halt Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, and for the aid provided for those displaced by the conflict.
The meeting was attended by Crown Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, and the Director of the King’s Office Alaa Batayneh.
Israel says to hit back at Iran based on ‘national interest’
- Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest’
JERUSALEM: Israel will consider the United States’s opinion but will act against an Iranian missile attack based on its own “national interests,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday.
US President Joe Biden has cautioned Israel against striking Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities to avoid a further regional escalation and amid concerns over global energy prices.
“We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest,” the office said.
The statement followed a Washington Post report, citing unnamed US officials, that Netanyahu had reassured the White House any counterstrike would be limited to military sites.
The Wall Street Journal, also anonymous US officials, said the assurance was made in a call last week between Netanyahu and Biden, as well as in conversations between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.
The plan “was met with relief in Washington,” the Washington Post reported.
Iran launched about 200 missiles at Israel on October 1 in retaliation for an Israeli strike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian general Abbas Nilforoushan.
Israel has vowed to retaliate for the Iranian missile attack, with Defense Minister Gallant saying the response would be “deadly, precise, and surprising.”
Qatar Emir says Israel chose to expand ‘aggression’ to West Bank, Lebanon
- Qatari ruler says Israel had done so ‘because it sees that the scope for that is available’
DOHA: Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, said on Tuesday Israel deliberately chose to expand what he called its “aggression” to implement pre-planned schemes in the West Bank and Lebanon.
Israel had done so “because it sees that the scope for that is available,” he said in his annual speech to open the Shoura Council.
The Council has legislative authority and approves general state policies and the budget, but has no say in the setting of defense, security, economic and investment policy for the small but wealthy gas producer, which bans political parties.
Amendments to Qatar’s constitution will be proposed by the Shoura Council and put to a popular referendum vote, Qatar’s Emir added.
Iran’s Quds Force chief Qaani attends general’s funeral: state TV
- General Abbas Nilforoushan was killed last month alongside Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah
TEHRAN: Iranian commander Esmail Qaani on Tuesday appeared in public after weeks of absence to attend the funeral ceremony for general Abbas Nilforoushan, who was killed last month in Lebanon.
Nilforoushan, a general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut alongside Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
The funeral procession for the slain Iranian general began at the Imam Hossein Square in central Tehran Tuesday morning, according to a live broadcast on state television.
Qaani — who heads the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm — had disappeared from public view and was rumored in some media to have been targeted in an Israeli strike on Lebanon.
He appeared Tuesday at the funeral, clad in the Guards’ green military uniform.
Thousands attended the funeral procession in Imam Hossein Square, many of them carrying yellow Hezbollah banners and Iranian and Palestinian flags and chanting “Death to Israel.”
Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday the Islamic republic would use “all its capacities” to bring Israel to account over the deaths.
On October 1, Iran launched 200 missiles on Israel in retaliation for the death of Nilforoushan and Nasrallah, in its second-ever direct attack on its arch-foe.
The attack was also in retaliation for Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in July while he was in Tehran to attend an inauguration ceremony for Iran’s president.
Israel has vowed to retaliate for the missile attack, with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant saying Israel’s response will be “deadly, precise, and surprising.”
Iran has in recent days engaged in high-level diplomatic talks around establishing a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as ways to prevent the conflict from spreading across the region.
On a visit to Baghdad, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday said that Iran was “fully prepared for a war situation,” but added that “we do not want war, we want peace.”
In April Tehran had fired a volley of missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for a deadly strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, blamed on Israel.
Nineteen Lebanese killed in Israeli airstrike
- Strikes follow Hezbollah drone attack that killed four Israeli soldiers on Sunday night in Haifa
- Israel has killed over 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 amid protests, outrage
BEIRUT: Israel killed at least 19 people in an airstrike on the Christian-majority town of Aitou in the north of Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
The strike hit Aitou, located between Ehden and Zgharta. Operations across Lebanon also targeted towns in the south and Bekaa.
The building targeted by the strike was three stories high and had been rented five days earlier by a person from the Faqih family, originally from the border town of Aitaroun.
It was rented to house 25 people who had initially fled Aitaroun to the southern town of Srifa and from there moved to Aitou.
The increased intensity of Israeli attacks, along with the rising number of civilian Lebanese casualties, followed a severe blow to the Israeli military on Sunday night.
Hezbollah used a combat drone to target a training camp belonging to the Golani Brigade in Binyamina, south of Haifa, killing at least four soldiers and wounding more than 65 others.
The Israeli government stated that it “will not tolerate the recent strikes in Haifa and Herzliya.”
The attack was “difficult and painful,” said Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, while he inspected the training base on Monday.
The intensity of the Israeli strikes on Monday reached the point where dozens of airstrikes hit 12 towns in the Bekaa region within a few minutes.
The most dangerous was near a convoy of aid trucks bearing Red Cross flags passing through the town of Ain en route to Ras Baalbek.
One driver was injured, and the trucks were damaged due to the strike’s impact.
Caretaker Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamieh, who was following up on the convoy, said he was “surprised by the Israeli shelling near a truck bearing Red Cross flags after obtaining UN coverage to deliver the aid.”
Bashir Khadr, governor of Baalbek-Hermel, confirmed that “the trucks continued on their route despite the damages and successfully reached Ras Baalbek. The aid remained undamaged.”
A raid on the town of Sarbin on Sunday resulted in injuries to four Lebanese Red Cross paramedics and damage to two of their vehicles.
Israel said on Monday it captured a man in a Lebanese border town “named Waddah Younis, hailing from the town of Hula in the Marjeyoun district,” believed to be a member of Hezbollah.
Arab News learned that contact was lost with Younis, aged 50, around a week ago following an Israeli ground incursion into the town of Blida.
The party has not issued a statement confirming his capture.
He is the first member of Hezbollah to be taken prisoner in the support war for Gaza that Hezbollah initiated after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 last year .
The UN Special Coordinator in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, emphasized that the UN was “doing everything possible to create an opportunity for diplomatic solutions to the current situation” after talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Hezbollah has authorized Berri to communicate with external parties regarding a ceasefire.
She stated: “It is essential to clarify that Resolution 1701 must be implemented by both parties to achieve a solution.
“The various provisions included in Resolution 1701 must be implemented, and the current situation does not allow for any partial implementation of the resolution.
“The discussion with Speaker Berri focused on the mechanisms for applying Resolution 1701, as we are keen to ensure that history does not repeat itself concerning this resolution.”
She stressed: “We need a ceasefire, as it is difficult to talk during a war.”
The official stated that both the UN and external organizations were coordinating to address humanitarian needs.
On Monday, no incidents of Israeli aggression against UNIFIL forces in the border area were reported.
In a conversation with UNIFIL Commander Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, Berri commended his “wise and courageous stance in maintaining UNIFIL forces at their positions under their assigned tasks.”
According to his media office, Berri affirmed that “this step preserves the integrity of Resolution 1701.”
Hezbollah condemned what it deemed a “violation of the sanctity of Lebanese territory, sovereignty, and laws by the entry of a BBC team into a southern village accompanied by the Israeli army and the publication of reports by the institution.”
In a statement, Hezbollah called for “the necessary legal measures to be taken against BBC and its teams in Lebanon.”
As Israeli forces continued their attempts to penetrate the border area, Israeli artillery targeted a house in the town of Debel, located near the town’s church.
The Israeli military had previously requested that residents evacuate, but the inhabitants insisted on remaining.
This shelling was followed by an airstrike, resulting in injuries to a young girl while a family of five managed to escape unharmed.
Fr. Fadi Falfala, the parish priest, stated: “The residents are staying in their town and have not relocated to any other area.”
Airstrikes on a residence in Khirbet Selm killed two people, while two others died in an attack on a house in the town of Ansar.
Additionally, airstrikes on two homes in the town of Maaroub led to four injuries, two of which were critical.
The Israeli military again employed incendiary phosphorus bombs in its attacks on the south.
It announced that it eliminated “Mohammed Kamel Naeem, the commander of the anti-tank missile system in the Radwan Force affiliated with Hezbollah, through airstrikes targeting Nabatieh.”
The spokesperson for the Israeli military, Avichai Adraee, issued additional evacuation requests for residents in the south, naming 25 towns located north of the Litani River in the Nabatieh region and the Deir El Zahrani area.
Aerial reconnaissance aircraft returned to the skies over Beirut and its southern suburbs after a two-day hiatus, while a cautious calm prevailed in the neighborhoods of the southern suburbs, allowing residents to retrieve their belongings from homes that remain intact.
In the Bekaa, the simultaneous Israeli raids included villages in the Baalbek district, targeting Duris, Bourdai, Safri, Sareen, and Brital.
Hezbollah said it targeted “two gatherings of enemy forces in the Ramot Naftali settlement and the Rweisat Al-Alam site in the occupied Kfarchouba hills.”
It added that it targeted an Israeli force attempting to infiltrate the town of Markaba, and foiled an attempt by a group of soldiers to advance toward the town of Aita Al-Shaab, striking a gathering of soldiers south of Maroun Al-Ras with artillery shells.
Hezbollah said it also targeted “a concentration of Israeli forces in Labouneh and Khillat Wardaeh.”
Hezbollah targeted a rehabilitation and maintenance center south of Haifa, the Stella Maris naval base northwest of Haifa, and the Beit Lid barracks east of Netanya.
The group also attacked the Kiryat Shmona settlement and the Zibdin barracks in the occupied Shebaa Farms of Lebanon.
