Oman announces US-Houthi ceasefire deal

A US F/A-18 Super Hornet attack fighter jet takes off from the US Navy’s Nimitz-class USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier at sea on March 16, 2025. (AFP)
A US F/A-18 Super Hornet attack fighter jet takes off from the US Navy’s Nimitz-class USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier at sea on March 16, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 06 May 2025
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Oman announces US-Houthi ceasefire deal

A US F/A-18 Super Hornet attack fighter jet takes off from the US Navy’s Nimitz-class USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.
  • “They said please don’t bomb us any more and we’re not going to attack your ships,” Trump said
  • There was no immediate response from the Houthis

WASHINGTON: The United States and Yemen’s Houthis have reached a ceasefire agreement, mediator Oman announced Tuesday, saying the deal would ensure “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea where the militia has attacked shipping.

It comes after President Donald Trump announced that the United States would end its attacks against the Houthis after the militia agreed to stop harassing ships in the Red Sea, though he made no direct mention of recent attacks on ally Israel.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said that “following recent discussions and contacts... with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides.”
“Neither side will target the other... ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping” in the Red Sea, he added in a statement posted online.
In surprise comments at the White House, Trump said the Houthis had “capitulated” after a near-daily, seven-week US bombing campaign that left 300 dead, according to an AFP tally of Houthi figures.
There was no official comment from the Houthis, who have been firing missiles and drones at ships on the vital trade artery during the Israel-Hamas war since late 2023, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
“The Houthis have announced... that they don’t want to fight anymore. They just don’t want to fight,” Trump said during a White House press appearance with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“And we will honor that, and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated,” he added.
“They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that’s... the purpose of what we were doing,” the US president said, adding that the information came from a “very, very good source.”
Trump’s comments came just hours after Israeli warplanes put Sanaa’s international airport out of action in a series of raids that killed three, according to the Houthis.
The Pentagon said last week that US strikes had hit more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since mid-March.
Tuesday’s Israeli strikes “completely destroyed” Yemen’s Sanaa airport on Tuesday, an airport official said, and also targeted power stations and a cement factory.
“Three planes out of seven belonging to Yemenia Airlines were destroyed at Sanaa airport, and Sanaa International Airport was completely destroyed,” the official said.
Israel’s military said “fighter jets struck and dismantled Houthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport.”
“Flight runways, aircraft and infrastructure at the airport were struck,” a statement said.
The Israeli strikes, in retaliation for a Houthi missile that gouged a crater at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport on Sunday, also killed four people on Monday.
On Tuesday, plumes of thick, black smoke were seen billowing from the airport. Residents reported power cuts in Sanaa and Hodeida after the Israelis also struck three electricity stations in and around the capital.
“I was sleeping at home when 15 missiles were fired at us,” said Abdallah, a 27-year-old student from Sanaa, who did not want to give his family name.
“I felt like the roof of the house had caved in. It was scary.”
One person was killed at the airport and two others at a power station in Sanaa, the Houthis’ Saba news agency said, citing the health ministry. Another 35 were wounded, Saba said.
“Our children are terrified,” said Umm Abdallah, a 35-year-old Sanaa resident, after Tuesday’s attacks.
“They are afraid to go to the bathroom or eat because of the strikes. I mean, they cuddled up next to me because of the fear and terror they felt.”
Just before Tuesday’s attacks, Israel’s military urged Yemeni civilians to “immediately” evacuate the airport and “stay away from the area” in an Arabic post on X.
The Houthis promised to hit back after the attack.
The “aggression will not pass without a response and Yemen will not be discouraged from its stance in support of Gaza,” the Houthi political bureau said in a statement.
Regional tensions have soared again this week over Israel’s plan to expand military operations in the Gaza Strip and displace much of the besieged territory’s population.
Hans Grundberg, the United Nations’ special envoy for Yemen, called the exchange of strikes between Yemen and Israel “a grave escalation in an already fragile and volatile regional context.”
Israel says it has targeted Yemen five times since July 2024, with Houthi authorities reporting a total of 29 people killed. Israel’s army regularly intercepts missiles from Yemen.
The Sanaa airport reopened to international flights in 2022 and offers a regular service to Jordan on the home-grown Yemenia airline.


Iran president says will not halt nuclear activity ‘under any circumstances’

Updated 3 sec ago
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Iran president says will not halt nuclear activity ‘under any circumstances’

Iran president says will not halt nuclear activity ‘under any circumstances’
“We are ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities,” said Pezeshkian

TEHRAN: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday his country will not halt nuclear activity “under any circumstances” amid ongoing fighting with Israel which hit nuclear sites.

“We are ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities, however, we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances,” said Pezeshkian during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Cyprus police arrest man on spying, terror charges

Cyprus police arrest man on spying, terror charges
Updated 35 min 25 sec ago
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Cyprus police arrest man on spying, terror charges

Cyprus police arrest man on spying, terror charges
  • Police declined to provide extensive details, citing “national security,“
  • Local media said the suspect was seen acting suspiciously near a British air force base at Akrotiri

NICOSIA: Cyprus police said they arrested an individual on espionage and terror charges on Saturday, with local media reporting the suspect had ties to Iran.

Police declined to provide extensive details, citing “national security,” but local media said the suspect was seen acting suspiciously near a British air force base at Akrotiri, outside the southern coastal city of Limassol.

Cypriot news outlet Philenews reported the man had links to “Iranian operatives” and had arrived on the Mediterranean island last month posing as a British tourist.

It said the arrest in Limassol on Saturday was based on information from a foreign intelligence service.

“Following a coordinated operation today, an individual suspected of involvement in terrorism-related offenses was arrested,” said a brief police announcement.

The suspect appeared before a district court and was issued an eight-day remand order for “offenses related, among others, to terrorism and espionage,” the police statement added.

Philenews said high-resolution cameras, telephoto lenses, notes, computers and three mobile phones were discovered at the suspect’s apartment.

It described the suspect as being of Azeri descent, referring to an ethnic group present in Azerbaijan and northwest Iran.

The outlet also reported that two people believed to be linked to the case were arrested in Britain.

The British foreign and defense ministries did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thanks to its location in the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus has become a key transit hub for third-country nationals fleeing the region since the recent outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Iran.

It has also become a staging post for Israelis seeking to return home by air or sea after being stranded abroad by the start of the fighting.


IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit

IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit
Updated 21 June 2025
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IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit

IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit
  • “There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi said

VIENNA: The UN nuclear agency confirmed on Saturday that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site had been hit, in the latest strike amid Israel’s bombing campaign.


“A centrifuge manufacturing workshop has been hit in Esfahan, the third such facility that has been targeted in Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear-related sites over the past week,” the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement quoting its chief Rafael Grossi.

“We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi was quoted as saying.


Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’

Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’
Updated 21 June 2025
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Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’

Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’
  • “Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster,” Fidan said
  • He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran

ISATANBUL: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday accused Israel of leading the Middle East toward “total disaster” by attacking Iran on June 13.

“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbor,” he told a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.

“There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem,” Fidan said.

He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran.

“We must prevent the situation from deteriorating into a spiral of violence that would further jeopardize regional and global security,” he added.

Speaking after Fidan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Western leaders of providing “unconditional support” to Israel.

He said Turkiye would not allow borders in the Middle East to be redrawn “in blood.”

“It is vital for us to show more solidarity to end Israel’s banditry — not only in Palestine but also in Syria, in Lebanon and in Iran,” he told the OIC’s 57 member countries.

The OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.”


Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel

Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel
Updated 21 June 2025
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Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel

Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel
  • Attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded

TEHRAN: Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people since they began last week, Iran’s health ministry said in an updated toll on Saturday, as fighting raged between the two foes.

“As of this morning, Israeli attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded by missiles and drones,” health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said in a post on X.