Gaza plan rejected by Netanyahu 'only way forward', Trump board head says
The US-backed plan for Gaza rejected on Sunday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains the "only way forward" to prevent a repeat of Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, the head of President Donald Trump's implementation board said.
"The option we are offering today is the only way forward that ensures this tragedy does not happen again," Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace's high representative for Gaza, said in an interview with Israel's Channel 12 television.
Iran names new head of top national security body
The former commander in chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezaei, has been named head of the country's highest national security body, the Iranian presidency announced on Sunday.
"In light of the resignation of Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr from his position as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and his appointment to new functions, President Masoud Pezeshkian has named Mohsen Rezaei as the head of this body," presidency spokesman Mehdi Tabatabaei said on X.
Rezaei, 71, led the Guards from 1981 to 1997 -- a tenure that included almost all of the Iran-Iraq war -- before going on to occupy several high-ranking political posts. He then served as military adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
Tehran's seeks withdrawal of US forces from region
Iran’s national security chief has outlined a list of demands for the US to meet before Tehran reopens the Strait of Hormuz.
They include lifting the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, compensation for war damages and the release of frozen Iranian assets. Separately, Iran and Oman say they are close to reaching a deal on managing the strategic waterway. FRANCE 24's Charlotte Lam reports.
Trump says US is 'low-keying it' with Iran, stresses economic pain, Axios reports
After months of US military strikes on Iran, sanctions and a blockade, President Donald Trump said on Sunday that his administration is watching economic pressure mount on Iran, according to an interview with Axios.
"We are low keying it," Trump was quoted as saying during a brief phone call. "We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money."
Iran sets tough terms to reopen Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s national security chief has outlined a list of demands for the US to meet before Tehran reopens the Strait of Hormuz. They include lifting the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, compensation for war damages and the release of frozen Iranian assets.
Separately, Iran and Oman say they are close to reaching a deal on managing the strategic waterway. FRANCE 24 International affairs editor Douglas Herbert shares his insights.
Syria says reached deal with Moscow on fate of Russian bases
Syria on Sunday said it reached a memorandum of understanding with Moscow over the fate of Russia's two bases in the country, agreeing to convert the military facilities into joint training and rehabilitation centres within three months.
Quoting the foreign ministry, Syria's official SANA agency said the military bases and facilities at Hmeimim Airport and Tartus port would be turned into "joint training and rehabilitation centres, within new arrangements that preserve mutual interests".
Israel, US spar over Gaza withdrawal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected the 15-point plan for Gaza promoted by US President Donald Trump and stressed that the Israeli military would not withdraw from the Palestinian territory until Hamas is "genuinely" disarmed.
In Iran, the Revolutionary Guards said the Strait of Hormuz would not be reopened until the US accepts Tehran's conditions. FRANCE 24 correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky brings us the latest.
Iran, Oman near deal on Strait of Hormuz
Iran says talks with Oman over reopening the Strait of Hormuz are nearing their final stages, but that reopening the waterway depends on further conditions and compensation for what Tehran calls violations of the June agreement.
Iran has issued new demands, including that the US lift its naval blockade of the strait and Iranian ports and withdraw its military forces from the area. FRANCE 24 speaks to Scott Lucas, Professor of International Politics at Clinton Institute at University College Dublin.
US must pressure Netanyahu to accept Gaza deal: Hamas official to AFP
The US must pressure Israel to accept the next phase of the Gaza plan, a Hamas official told AFP on Sunday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he rejected the US-backed agreement.
"We expect the mediators and the American guarantor to pressure Netanyahu and his government to adhere to the roadmap and not obstruct the process for internal political and electoral reasons," Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim told AFP.
Iran's supreme leader meets Pezeshkian, Iranian media reports
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has met with the country's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, as the latter began his third year in office, state-run Press TV reported Sunday.
"The talks covered people’s livelihood needs, conditions and future prospects of the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran, military developments, and ways to secure resources," the report said.
Iran to release footage of Supreme Leader in the future, Iranian news outlet reports
Footage of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei "among the people and out in streets, as well in meetings with the commanders of armed forces" will be released in the future, Basij Organisation deputy Qasem Qoraishi was reported on Sunday as saying.
Khamenei, who was appointed supreme leader in March, has not been seen in public since his appointment.
The report on the Iranian judiciary's news outlet Mizan appeared to be aimed at quashing speculation about his health. Senior Iranian sources have said he suffered facial disfigurement and other injuries in the strike that killed his father on February 28, the first day of US and Israeli air strikes on Iran.
Netanyahu vows Iran will 'not have nuclear weapons', with or without deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons, a goal he has long alleged Tehran is pursuing, regardless of the course of diplomacy with Washington and Arab states.
"I want to emphasise once again: with an agreement or without an agreement, as long as I am prime minister, Iran will not have nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu vows no Gaza pullout until Hamas 'genuinely disarmed'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected a Gaza plan hailed by US President Donald Trump, vowing no military pullout until Hamas is "genuinely" disarmed.
"Israel rejects the 15-point document. The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and our citizens," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting, referring to the Israeli military.
Netanyahu says Israel 'rejects' US Gaza plan endorsed by Hamas
Iran-backed Houthis say targeted Saudi forces in Yemen
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday said they had targeted "Saudi enemy" troops and equipment on Yemen's Red Sea coast city of Mokha after residents there said they heard blasts.
The group's military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Houthis had "carried out a large-scale and precise military operation targeting Saudi enemy troop concentrations and weapons depots in the Mokha area," using "a large number of ballistic missiles and drones".
IRGC says Hormuz won't reopen until US accepts Iran's conditions
Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) has said they will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the US accepts all of Tehran's demands.
"Our current strategy is to maintain this strait until the enemy accepts all our conditions," said Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi, as quoted by state TV, adding that "the strait is now actually a theatre of war for us and not just a waterway".
Iran says talks with US won't happen while interim MoU is breached
Iran and the US are not engaged in talks and Tehran will not start them as long as Washington breaches an interim deal signed in June, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said, referring to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the US and Iran.
Araghchi explained that messages between Iran and the US are being exchanged via intermediaries.
Araghchi repeated Tehran's position that an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman was in the "final stages" but would not reopen the strategic waterway. In comments reported by Mehr news agency, he said the agreement would set out the new shipping lanes to be used once the US fulfils other conditions and the strait is reopened to traffic.
Many of Iran’s demands ‘already agreed to’ by US in June MoU
Iran on Saturday issued a list of demands for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which several US media organisations have characterised as “new” preconditions.
Reporting from Washington DC, FRANCE 24’s Fraser Jackson notes that many of the demands were “already agreed to by the US in the [Islamabad] Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed back in June” between Iran and the US. “The difficulty was that the language then was quite broad, and the implementation was the problem,” Fraser explains.
A final deal requires an implementation timeframe and that has several "sticking points", Fraser notes.
Yemen's Houthis say struck refinery on Saudi's Red Sea coast
Yemen's Houthis say they have attacked an Aramco refinery in Jazan on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast.
The group's military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Houthis had "succeeded in targeting the Aramco refinery in Jazan with a drone, and the strike was precise", adding the attack had been launched in response to Saudi incursions into territory in northwest Yemen.
Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi defence pact technically same as NATO's Article 5, Fidan says
The Mecca defence pact signed between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is technically the same as
NATO's Article 5 mutual defence agreement, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday, adding the accord was not targeting Iran.
Speaking to the state-run Anadolu news agency, Fidan said a committee of ministers similar to that within NATO would be formed as part of the alliance, as well as a general secretariat based in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed the agreement on Friday
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
