TEHRAN: Iran on Wednesday rejected what it called “malicious” accusations by US media implicating it in a plot to kill former US president Donald Trump.
CNN reported Tuesday that US authorities received intelligence from a “human source” weeks ago on an alleged Iranian plot against the former president, prompting his protection to be boosted. Other US outlets also reported the alleged plot.
CNN said the alleged plot was not linked to Saturday’s shooting at a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania, in which the former president was wounded and a supporter killed.
The US National Security Council said it had been “tracking Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials for years” after Tehran threatened revenge for the 2020 killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in neighboring Iraq.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations called the accusations “unsubstantiated and malicious.”
Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Iran “strongly rejects any involvement in the recent armed attack against Trump.”
He added however that Iran remains “determined to prosecute Trump over his direct role in the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani.”
Soleimani headed the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, overseeing Iranian military operations across the Middle East.
Trump ordered his killing in a drone strike just outside Baghdad airport.
Iran rejects accusations implicating it in plot to kill Donald Trump
https://arab.news/8zdpw
Iran rejects accusations implicating it in plot to kill Donald Trump
- Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Iran ‘strongly rejects any involvement in the recent armed attack against Trump’
Kosovo voters cast ballots in a second attempt this year to elect a government and avoid more crisis
Kosovo voters cast ballots in a second attempt this year to elect a government and avoid more crisis
- The prime minister’s party is again the favorite in the race, but it is unclear whether it will manage to muster a majority this time in the 120-member parliament
PRISTINA: Voters in Kosovo cast ballots on Sunday in an early parliamentary election in hopes of breaking a political deadlock that has gripped the small Balkan nation for much of this year.
The snap vote was scheduled after Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s governing Vetevendosje, or Self-Determination, party failed to form a government despite winning the most votes in a Feb. 9 election.
The deadlock marked the first time Kosovo could not form a government since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a 1998-99 war that ended in a NATO intervention.
The prime minister’s party is again the favorite in the race, but it is unclear whether it will manage to muster a majority this time in the 120-member parliament, after other mainstream parties refused an alliance.
According to Kosovo’s election laws, 20 parliamentary seats are automatically assigned to ethnic Serb representatives and other minority parties.
Another inconclusive vote would further deepen the crisis. Kosovo has already not approved a budget for next year, sparking fears of possible negative effects on the already poor economy in the country of 2 million people.
Lawmakers are set to elect a new president in March as current President Vjosa Osmani’s mandate expires in early April. If this fails too, another snap election must be held.
The main opposition parties are the Democratic League of Kosovo and the Democratic Party of Kosovo. They have accused Kurti of authoritarianism and of alienating Kosovo’s US and European Union allies since he came to power in 2021.
A former political prisoner during Serbia’s rule in Kosovo, the 50-year-old Kurti has taken a tough stand in talks mediated by the European Union on normalizing relations with Belgrade. In response, the EU and the United States imposed punitive measures.
Kurti has promised to buy military equipment to boost security.
No reliable pre-election polls have been published. Kurti’s party at the previous election won around 42 percent of the votes while the two main rival parties had together around 40 percent.
Analysts say that even the slightest changes in numbers on Sunday could prove decisive for the future distribution of power but that nothing is certain.
Tensions with restive ethnic Serbs in the north exploded in clashes in 2023 when scores of NATO-led peacekeepers were injured. In a positive step, ethnic Serb mayors this month took power peacefully there after a municipal vote.
Kurti has also agreed to accept third-country migrants deported from the United States as part of tough anti-immigration measures by the administration of President Donald Trump. One migrant has arrived so far, authorities have told The Associated Press.
Kosovo is one of the six Western Balkan countries striving to eventually join the EU, but both Kosovo and Serbia have been told they must first normalize relations.
