PFL MENA announces fight card for 2025 opening event in Jeddah
Featherweight champion Abdullah Al-Qahtani faces Islam Reda in main event
Strong featherweight and lightweight matchups in quarterfinals
Updated 11 April 2025
Arab News
JEDDAH: The Professional Fighters League (PFL) has announced the fight card for the opening event of the 2025 PFL MENA season, which will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, May 9, 2025.
Headlining the card is a highly anticipated featherweight quarterfinal bout, as Saudi champion Abdullah Al-Qahtani faces Egyptian star Islam Reda, known as “The Egyptian Zombie,” in a rematch of their 2018 contest, which ended in a win for Al-Qahtani.
Reda reached the featherweight final last season but was forced to withdraw due to injury, with Al-Qahtani stepping in and ultimately claiming the title.
The card will also feature the PFL MENA debuts of several top talents from the Middle East, including Salahdine Hamli from Morocco, Ezzedine Dourbani from Jordan, Yanis Ghemmouri from Algeria, and Hussein Salem from Iraq.
In addition, exhibition bouts will include the first appearances of Abdulaziz Bin Moammar, champion of the 2024 Saudi Games, and Yousef Al-Hosani, the Emirati jiu-jitsu champion and a strong candidate to become one of the region’s breakout stars.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s United Nations Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad this week criticized Israel for its “blatant aggression” against Iran at a UN Security Council meeting, calling on the international community to use dialogue and diplomatic engagement to resolve tensions in the Middle East.
Ahmad’s statement came on Friday as tensions in the Middle East soared after Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel late Friday night, lighting up the skies above Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The strikes were in response to a large-scale Israeli attack on Tehran’s nuclear facilities and military leadership early Friday. Iran said 78 people were killed and over 320 injured in the Israeli strikes.
At a UN Security Council briefing meeting on the Iran-Israel tensions on Friday, Ahmed said Tel Aviv’s “blatant provocations” posed a serious threat to the region and beyond, reiterating Iran’s right to self-defense. He said Israel’s recent military operations in Gaza and repeated cross-border strikes in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen demonstrate a consistent disregard for international norms.
“Such blatant aggression and contempt for international law has already had devastating consequences,” Ahmad said, pointing out that tens of thousands of people have been killed in Gaza due to Israel’s military operations since October 2023.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Asim Iftikhar Ahmad speaks during a UN Security Council briefing on Iran, at the UN Headquarters in New York on June 13, 2025. (Photo courtesy: X/@PakistanUN_NY)
Israeli leaders say the Friday attack was necessary to head off an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, though it remains unclear how close the country is to achieving that.
Iran maintains its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.
Ahmad said Israel’s actions risk eroding the trust of the negotiation process related to Iran’s nuclear program, which he said was crucial for the peaceful settlement of these issues.
“We call on all parties to fulfill their respective obligations and responsibilities and avoid escalation,” the Pakistani envoy said. “Even in these testing times, diplomatic engagement and dialogue must be prioritized.”
Ahmad reiterated that the UN Security Council bears the responsibility to maintain international peace and security, calling it to “hold the aggressor accountable for its actions.”
Israeli first responders arrive at a site hit by a missile fired from Iran, in Ramat Gan on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on June 13, 2025. (AFP)
“This Council must deny Israel the free hand, and the impunity with which it continues to operate in defiance of international law and international opinion,” he said.
Israel has long been determined to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a concern laid bare on Thursday when the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years censured Iran over its refusal to work with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site and install more advanced centrifuges.
Even so, there are multiple assessments on how many nuclear weapons Iran could conceivably build, should it choose to do so. Iran would need months to assemble, test and field any weapon, which it so far has said it has no desire to do. US intelligence agencies also assess Iran does not have a weapons program at this time.
Iran says nuclear talks with US ‘meaningless’ after Israel attack
"You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime (Israel) to target Iran’s territory,” says Iran's foreign ministry spokesman
Updated 27 min 27 sec ago
Reuters
CAIRO: Iran said on Friday the dialogue with the US over Tehran’s nuclear program is “meaningless” after Israel’s biggest-ever military strike against its longstanding enemy, accusing Washington of supporting the attack.
“The other side (the US) acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless. You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime (Israel) to target Iran’s territory,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying.
He said Israel “succeeded in influencing” the diplomatic process and the Israeli attack would not have happened without Washington’s permission.
Iran earlier accused the US of being complicit in Israel’s attacks, but Washington denied the allegation and told Tehran at the United Nations Security Council that it would be “wise” to negotiate over its nuclear program.
The sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks was set to be held on Sunday in Muscat, but it was unclear whether it would go ahead after the Israeli strikes.
Iran denies that its uranium enrichment program is for anything other than civilian purposes, rejecting Israeli allegations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.
US President Donald Trump told Reuters that he and his team had known the Israeli attacks were coming but they still saw room for an accord.
Malian army, Russian allies suffer heavy losses in separatist ambush
Separatist fighters claim destroying 21 military vehicles including armored cars and armed pick-up trucks in the ambush
Mali army’s general staff acknowledged in a statement that a logistics convoy had been ambushed at dawn on Friday
Updated 14 June 2025
AFP AP
DAKAR, Senegal: A separatist coalition battled Malian troops backed by Moscow-run mercenaries in the north of the country Friday, both sides and local sources said.
The deadly clashes, involving the separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and the Moscow-run Africa Corps, follows a series of attacks on the military in recent weeks.
In a statement Friday, the FLA said it had killed several dozen members of the Africa Corps.
“Around 15 bodies were left abandoned on the site of the fighting,” the statement added.
“We recovered 12 trucks loaded with cereals, tankers full of diesel, one military pickup, and one armored vehicles from the 30 vehicles in the convoy,” Mohamed Maouloud Ramadan, spokesman for the Azawad separatists, said in a statement that acknowledged the death of three of their members.
Viral videos shared by the separatists showed military trucks on fire in a large swathe of desert land amid gunfire as gun-wielding hooded young men posed in front of the trucks. The videos also showed bodies with uniforms that resemble those of the Malian army. The Associated Press could not independently verify the videos.
The FLA also said it had destroyed 21 military vehicles including armored cars and armed pick-up trucks.
Earlier, the army’s general staff acknowledged in a statement that a logistics convoy had been ambushed at dawn on Friday.
The army statement said the battle took place in the Kidal region where the army convoy had been conducting an “offensive operation against an armed terrorist group.”
It said “10 enemy combatants” had been killed.
Mali’s army retook several districts from separatists in 2023, among them Kidal, a pro-independence northern bastion.
Africa Corps is the successor to the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, which diplomatic and security sources confirmed to AFP over the weekend has now left Mali.
The group, overseen by Moscow’s defense ministry, is also actively supporting several other African governments.
“The fighters this Friday were fierce,” a regional elected official told AFP.
“There were losses on both sides. But we’ll have to wait for definitive figures.”
Since 2012, Mali has been mired in violence carried out by jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group, as well as other organizations.
The Azawad separatist movement has been fighting for years to create the state of Azawad in northern Mali. They once drove security forces out of the region before a 2015 peace deal that has since collapsed was signed to pave the way for some ex-rebels to be integrated into the Malian military.
The latest clashes show how difficult it is for security forces in Mali to operate in difficult terrains like Kidal, according to Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South think tank.
“It’s difficult to gather actionable intelligence to protect their convoys, and this gives a significant advantage to armed and jihadist groups”, said Lyammouri.
The latest attack occurred days after Russia’s mercenary group Wagner – which for more than three years helped Malian security forces in the fight against armed groups – announced it was leaving the country. The Africa Corps, under the direct command of the Russian defense ministry, said it will remain in Mali.
There are around 2,000 mercenaries in Mali, according to US officials. It is unclear how many are with Wagner and how many are part of the Africa Corps.
‘Enough escalation. Time to stop,’ UN chief says after Israel-Iran strikes
Peace and diplomacy must prevail,” Antonio Guterres said on X after Israel’s “preemptive” strikes on Iran and Tehran’s counter-attack
Updated 14 June 2025
AFP
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The UN chief called Friday for Israel and Iran to halt their escalating conflict, after the two countries exchanged a barrage of missiles.
“Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail,” Antonio Guterres said on X after Israel’s “preemptive” strikes on Iran and Tehran’s counter-attack.
King Salman orders Saudi officials to aid stranded Iranian Hajj pilgrims
Directive issued after authorities in Tehran close their airspace following attack by Israel said to have targeted Iranian nuclear sites, nuclear scientists and military chiefs
Plan for the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to provide help to the stranded pilgrims presented to the king by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Updated 14 June 2025
Arab News
RIYADH: King Salman on Friday ordered Saudi authorities to ensure that Iranian Hajj pilgrims stranded in the Kingdom receive all necessary support until it is safe for them to return home.
The directive came shortly after Israeli authorities launched early-morning airstrikes against Iran, which they said targeted nuclear sites, nuclear scientists and military chiefs. Tehran closed the country’s airspace in the aftermath.
The plan to provide help to stranded Iranian pilgrims was presented to the king by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has been tasked with ensuring they receive all necessary support.
The annual pilgrimage, a key pillar of Islam that all Muslims are required to complete at least once during their lives if physically and financially able, concluded on Monday. Tens of thousands of Iranians visit Saudi Arabia for Hajj each year. More than 1.6 million pilgrims from all over the world took part this year and authorities described it as a success.
Iran retaliated to the Israeli attack later on Friday by targeting Tel Aviv with missiles, raising fears of prolonged and more-dangerous exchanges of fire.
