China supports Iran in defending security, says foreign minister

China supports Iran in defending security, says foreign minister
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. (File/AFP)
Short Url
Updated 11 August 2024
Follow

China supports Iran in defending security, says foreign minister

China supports Iran in defending security, says foreign minister
  • Wang repeated Beijing’s denunciation of the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, saying the strike had violated Iran’s sovereignty

BEIJING: China supports Iran in defending its “sovereignty, security and national dignity,” Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told Iran’s acting foreign minister in a phone call on Sunday, according to a statement by China’s foreign ministry.
In the phone call, Wang repeated Beijing’s denunciation of the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, saying the strike had violated Iran’s sovereignty and threatened regional stability.
Iran and the Palestinian group Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out strike that killed Haniyeh.
Israel has not claimed or denied responsibility for the killing, which has fueled concern that the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip was turning into a wider Middle East war.
Iran has vowed to “harshly punish” Israel over the assassination.
Wang told Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister, that the killing of Haniyeh had “directly undermined the Gaza ceasefire negotiation process and undermined regional peace and stability,” China’s foreign ministry said.
“China supports Iran in defending its sovereignty, security and national dignity in accordance with the law, and in its efforts to maintain regional peace and stability, and stands ready to maintain close communication with Iran,” Wang was quoted as saying.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday nominated Abbas Araqchi as the country’s foreign minister. Araqchi had been Iran’s chief negotiator in nuclear talks from 2013 to 2021.


Salvagers launch new attempt to tow an oil tanker blown up by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

Salvagers launch new attempt to tow an oil tanker blown up by Yemen’s Houthi rebels
Updated 56 min 13 sec ago
Follow

Salvagers launch new attempt to tow an oil tanker blown up by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

Salvagers launch new attempt to tow an oil tanker blown up by Yemen’s Houthi rebels
  • EU’s Operation Aspides published images dated Saturday of its vessels escorting ships heading to the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion

DUBAI: A new attempt has begun to try to salvage an oil tanker burning in the Red Sea after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a European Union naval mission said Saturday.
The EU’s Operation Aspides published images dated Saturday of its vessels escorting ships heading to the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion.
The mission has “been actively involved in this complex endeavor, by creating a secure environment, which is necessary for the tugboats to conduct the towing operation,” the EU said.
A phone number for the mission rang unanswered Saturday.


The Sounion came under attack from the Houthis beginning Aug. 21. The vessel had been staffed by a crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, who were taken by a French destroyer to nearby Djibouti.
The Houthis later planted explosives aboard the ship and detonated them. That’s led to fears the ship’s 1 million barrels of crude oil could spill into the Red Sea.
The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors. One of the sunken vessels, the Tutor, went down after the Houthis planted explosives aboard it and after its crew abandoned it due to an earlier attack, the rebel group later acknowledged.
Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.


Syria’s Assad names ex-minister Jalali to form cabinet

Syria’s Assad names ex-minister Jalali to form cabinet
Updated 14 September 2024
Follow

Syria’s Assad names ex-minister Jalali to form cabinet

Syria’s Assad names ex-minister Jalali to form cabinet

CAIRO: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree naming former communications minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali to form a new cabinet, state media said on Saturday. 


Gaza rescuers say 11 from one family killed in Israeli strike

Gaza rescuers say 11 from one family killed in Israeli strike
Updated 14 September 2024
Follow

Gaza rescuers say 11 from one family killed in Israeli strike

Gaza rescuers say 11 from one family killed in Israeli strike
  • The strike took place near the Shujaiya school in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City

GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency said an Israeli air strike hit a house in Gaza City on Saturday morning and killed 11 members of a single family, including women and children.
“We have recovered the bodies of 11 martyrs, including four children and three women, after an Israeli air strike hit the house of the Bustan family in eastern Gaza City,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
The strike took place near the Shujaiya school in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, he said.
“Rescuers are continuing to search for the missing,” Bassal said.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strike.
Bassal said Israeli forces carried out similar strikes in some other parts of the Hamas-run territory overnight, killing at least 10 people.
Five people were killed in northwestern Gaza City when an air strike hit a group of people near Dar Al-Arqam school, he said.
Three others were killed in a strike in the Al-Mawasi area of the southern Khan Yunis governorate, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge, Bassal added.
The war in Gaza broke out after the October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 captives during the attack, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. The count includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has so far killed at least 41,118 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-run territory, which does not provide details of civilian and militant deaths. The UN human rights office says most of the dead have been women or children.


Iran successfully launches satellite into space

Iran successfully launches satellite into space
Updated 14 September 2024
Follow

Iran successfully launches satellite into space

Iran successfully launches satellite into space
  • The Chamran-1 satellite has a weight of 60kg and it reached a 550km orbit in space
  • Testing space hardware and software is the main mission of the satellite, report says

TEHRAN: Iran Saturday sent a research satellite into orbit with a rocket built by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The report said the Chamran-1 satellite has a weight of 60 kilograms and successfully reached in 550-kilometer (341 miles) orbit in space. It said testing space hardware and software is the main mission of the satellite.
IRNA said land stations received signals from the satellite, too.
It said the satellite-carrier rocket Qaem-100, using solid fuel, was designed and made by the Guard aerospace division. Iran says it has 13 more satellite launches in a row.
Though Iran has long planned to send satellites into orbit, this is the first launch under reformist President Masoud Pezezhkian after his hard-line predecessor Ebrahim Raisi died in a May helicopter crash.
In January Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket.
The program is seen by the West as part of the improvement of Tehran’s ballistic missiles. The launch also comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sparking fears of a regional conflict.
The United States has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.


Iran successfully launches satellite into space

Iran successfully launches satellite into space
Updated 14 September 2024
Follow

Iran successfully launches satellite into space

Iran successfully launches satellite into space
  • The Chamran-1 satellite has a weight of 60 kilograms and it successfully reached a 550-kilometer orbit in space
  • Testing space hardware and software is the main mission of the satellite

TEHRAN: Iran Saturday sent a research satellite into orbit with a rocket built by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The report said the Chamran-1 satellite has a weight of 60 kilograms and successfully reached in 550-kilometer (341 miles) orbit in space. It said testing space hardware and software is the main mission of the satellite.
IRNA said land stations received signals from the satellite, too.
It said the satellite-carrier rocket Qaem-100, using solid fuel, was designed and made by the Guard aerospace division. Iran says it has 13 more satellite launches in a row.
Though Iran has long planned to send satellites into orbit, this is the first launch under reformist President Masoud Pezezhkian after his hard-line predecessor Ebrahim Raisi died in a May helicopter crash.
In January Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket.
The program is seen by the West as part of the improvement of Tehran’s ballistic missiles. The launch also comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sparking fears of a regional conflict.
The United States has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.