Iran Air could be banned from Europe if Tehran sends missiles to Russia, US warns

Iran Air could be banned from Europe if Tehran sends missiles to Russia, US warns
An Iranian-built missile is displayed during a rally as Milad telecommunication tower is seen at background, in Tehran, on Feb. 11, 2024. (AP/File)
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Updated 15 March 2024
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Iran Air could be banned from Europe if Tehran sends missiles to Russia, US warns

Iran Air could be banned from Europe if Tehran sends missiles to Russia, US warns
  • The United States has been increasingly aggressive at responding to what Washington considers belligerent behavior by Iran
  • One option under consideration by the G7 “would have the effect of ending flights from Iran Air, its flagship state-owned carrier, into Europe“

WASHINGTON/ROME: G7 nations are prepared to respond with severe new penalties that could include a ban on Iran Air flights to Europe if Iran proceeds with the transfer of close-range ballistic missiles to Russia, a senior US official said on Friday.
The official commented as the United States joined its six G7 allies in issuing a statement warning Iran against sending the missiles to Russia or else face the consequences.
“Were Iran to proceed with providing ballistic missiles or related technology to Russia, we are prepared to respond swiftly and in a coordinated manner including with new and significant measures against Iran,” the G7 statement said.
The United States has been increasingly aggressive at responding to what Washington considers belligerent behavior by Iran, such as its support for Iran-backed militias in the region who are launching attacks on US bases and Tehran’s alleged hacking of US infrastructure. The G7 move came in the aftermath of a Reuters report that said Tehran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles for use in its invasion of Ukraine.
The senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one option under consideration by the G7 “would have the effect of ending flights from Iran Air, its flagship state-owned carrier, into Europe — point being, this is not business as usual.”
Iran Air flies passengers from Iran to multiple cities in Europe.
The official said that while the United States had not been able to confirm that the transfer has already taken place as Reuters reported, there clearly was an effort by Tehran to advance negotiations with Moscow on the missiles.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Vienna on Friday: “On the question of Iranian missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine ... we sent very clear messages to Iran not to do it.”
He added: “This has been the subject of considerable conversation among a number of countries in Europe and the United States and I think that the concern about that eventuality, and the commitment to address it, if necessary, is very real, and very strong.”
US officials held indirect talks with Iranian officials in the same building in Oman earlier this year in a conversation that was about Iran’s support for Houthis launching attacks in the Red Sea, its support for Iran-backed proxies and other destabilizing behavior, a separate US official said.
The G7 statement said sending Iranian missiles to Russia would represent “a substantive material escalation in its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine – an aggression which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and the UN Charter.”
UN Security Council restrictions on Iran’s export of some missiles, drones and other technologies expired in October. However, the United States and European Union retained sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program amid concerns over exports of weapons to its proxies in the Middle East and to Russia.
Ballistic missiles would be a powerful new weapon for Russia to use in its war in Ukraine.
The United States has said Iran has already provided Russia with drones, guided aerial bombs and artillery ammunition that Moscow has used to attack Ukrainian targets.
Washington has been on high alert for a year about what it has described as an unprecedented Russian-Iranian defense partnership that will help Moscow prolong its war in Ukraine as well as pose a threat to Iran’s neighbors.
The G7 group of major Western democracies is currently chaired by Italy and also includes the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France and Canada.
The statement came as the European Union is also considering measures against Iran for arming Russia, Reuters reported this week.


Israel FM says ‘may have opportunity’ for Gaza hostage deal

Israel FM says ‘may have opportunity’ for Gaza hostage deal
Updated 9 sec ago
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Israel FM says ‘may have opportunity’ for Gaza hostage deal

Israel FM says ‘may have opportunity’ for Gaza hostage deal
JERUSALEM: Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Thursday that Israel may have “an opportunity now” to secure a deal for the release of its hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Speaking in a video message from a meeting in Malta, he said: “We may have an opportunity now for a hostage deal. Israel is serious about reaching a hostage deal and I hope we can do this and do it as soon as possible.”

Palestinian security forces exchange gunfire with militants in West Bank

Palestinian security forces exchange gunfire with militants in West Bank
Updated 55 min 22 sec ago
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Palestinian security forces exchange gunfire with militants in West Bank

Palestinian security forces exchange gunfire with militants in West Bank

JENIN: Gunfights erupted in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank on Thursday between militants and Palestinian security forces following the theft of vehicles belonging to the Palestinian Authority, according to AFP journalists in the city.
The intense exchanges of fire began around 9:30 PM (1930 GMT) and followed the deployment of members of the security forces around the Jenin refugee camp, which is adjacent to the city and a stronghold for armed groups in the territory, according to the journalist.
Witnesses reported that the Palestinian security forces set up roadblocks on routes leaving the camp.
Tensions were running high in Jenin earlier in the day after a group of armed men seized two vehicles belonging to the PA and paraded through the streets waving Islamic Jihad flags.
In a statement, General Anwar Rajab, spokesman for the security forces, said “a group of outlaws opened fire on the headquarters of the security services” and stole two vehicles.
He said the security forces would “recover the vehicles and hold accountable anyone who committed this act.”
Tensions between the PA and armed groups appear to have been exacerbated by recent arrests by the security forces.
At a press conference inside Jenin camp, Mahmud Abu Talal, spokesman for a collective of local armed groups, said the PA had “abandoned its people in the most difficult circumstances.”
He rejected the label of outlaws and accused the PA of “carrying out a continuous operation to undermine those who protect their people.”
Jenin has long been a bastion of Palestinian armed groups and was the focus of a major Israeli raid launched at the end of August.
Violence in the West Bank, already increasing, surged after the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
Israel has occupied the territory since 1967.


Syria war monitor says tens of thousands flee Homs as rebels advance

Syria war monitor says tens of thousands flee Homs as rebels advance
Updated 06 December 2024
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Syria war monitor says tens of thousands flee Homs as rebels advance

Syria war monitor says tens of thousands flee Homs as rebels advance

BEIRUT: Tens of thousands of members of President Bashar Assad’s Alawite minority community were fleeing Syria’s third city Homs Thursday, for fear that Islamist-led rebels would keep up their advance, a war monitor said.
Homs lies just 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Hama, which the rebels captured on Thursday.
Analysts said they expected the fighters led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) to push on toward the city, a key link between Damascus and the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast.
Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported “the mass exodus of Alawites from Homs neighborhoods, with tens of thousands heading toward the Syrian coast, fearing the rebel advance.”
Khaled, who lives on the city’s outskirts told AFP that “the road leading to (coastal) Tartus province was glowing... due to the lights of hundreds of cars on their way out.”
In April 2014, at least 100 people, mostly civilians, were killed in twin attacks in Homs that targeted a majority Alawite neighborhood.
The attacks were claimed by the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda which now HTS leader Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani previously led.
Jolani announced his group had cut ties with the jihadists in 2016, and Al-Nusra was dissolved the following year, to be replaced by the key component of HTS.
Haidar, 37, who lives in an Alawite-majority neighborhood, told AFP by telephone that “fear is the umbrella that covers Homs now.”
“I’ve never seen this scene in my life. We are extremely afraid, we don’t know what is happening from one hour to the next,” he said.
He has managed to send his parents to Tartus, but has not found a car to take him and his wife “due to the high demand.”
“When we find a car, we’ll leave as fast as possible for Tartus.”
The province, which hosts a naval base operated by Assad ally Russia, has remained safe though 13 years of war.


Hezbollah leader says $77m allocated to Lebanon war displaced

Hezbollah leader says $77m allocated to Lebanon war displaced
Updated 06 December 2024
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Hezbollah leader says $77m allocated to Lebanon war displaced

Hezbollah leader says $77m allocated to Lebanon war displaced
  • “A total of $57 million has been paid,” covering 172,000 families, or some 75 percent of those registered, while the rest will receive a total of $20 million, Qassem added
  • He thanked Iran for “the generous support,” emphasising Hezbollah’s commitment to shelter and reconstruction

BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Thursday that his group and its backer Iran had allocated $77 million so far to Lebanese displaced by its war with Israel, with more to come.
“In November, Hezbollah decided to give a monetary gift — a gift from the Iranian people and Hezbollah — of between $300 and $400 for each family,” out of more than 233,000 families who registered for its assistance, Qassem said.
“A total of $57 million has been paid,” covering 172,000 families, or some 75 percent of those registered, while the rest will receive a total of $20 million, he added in a televised address.
Qassem thanked Iran for “the generous support,” emphasising Hezbollah’s commitment to shelter and reconstruction.
Israel stepped up its campaign in south Lebanon in late September after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas following the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
In a report released last month, the World Bank provided estimates for damage between October 8, 2023, and October 27, 2024, saying “the conflict has caused $5.1 billion in economic losses,” with damage to physical structures amounting to “at least $3.4 billion” on top of that.
It has also “damaged an estimated 99,209 housing units” — mainly in the south near the border with Israel — totalling $2.8 billion in damage, it said.
Eighty-one percent of damaged and destroyed houses are in the southern districts of Tyre, Nabatiyeh, Sidon, Bint Jbeil and Marjayoun, it said.
Qassem said that in addition to the $77 million already set aside, for “all those whose homes have been completely destroyed and cannot return to them” in Beirut and its southern suburbs, Hezbollah will pay “$14,000 over one year” to cover rent and furniture.
Those living in other areas will receive $12,000 for the same purpose, he added.
“Most of the amount will be offered in cash by the Islamic republic (of Iran) for shelter,,” Qassem said, calling on “brotherly Arab countries and friendly countries to contribute to the reconstruction.”
After Hezbollah and Israel went to war in 2006, Gulf countries led by Qatar helped with reconstruction, while Iran assisted with rebuilding bridges, roads and establishing service centers.


Syrian, Iraqi, Iranian foreign ministers to meet on Friday

Members of a joint force involving Hashed Al-Shaabi and Iraqi army standing guard at the Iraqi-Syrian border on December 5. (AFP
Members of a joint force involving Hashed Al-Shaabi and Iraqi army standing guard at the Iraqi-Syrian border on December 5. (AFP
Updated 06 December 2024
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Syrian, Iraqi, Iranian foreign ministers to meet on Friday

Members of a joint force involving Hashed Al-Shaabi and Iraqi army standing guard at the Iraqi-Syrian border on December 5. (AFP
  • Ministers will discuss situation in Syria after militants seize Aleppo and Hama

CAIRO: Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein will meet his Syrian and Iranian counterparts on Friday to discuss the situation in Syria, the Iraqi state news agency said on Thursday.
The Friday meeting comes after a whirlwind advance by Syrian militantss that started last week as they captured the main northern city of Aleppo from Iran-backed Syrian President Bashar Assad and then captured the city of Hama on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, Syrian foreign minister Bassam Sabbagh arrived in Iraq’s capital Baghdad, the Iraqi state news agency (INA) said, adding that the Iranian foreign minister is to arrive on Friday.
Some Iraqi fighters entered Syria early this week to support Assad, Iraqi and Syrian sources said. Iraq’s Iran-aligned Hashd Al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition has mobilized along the border with Syria, saying this was purely preventative in case of spillover into Iraq.