MUSCAT: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi prepared for fresh nuclear talks with the United States in Oman on Friday after apparent progress in previous rounds.
Araghchi flew into Muscat ahead of Saturday’s meeting with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, their third encounter in as many weeks.
Araghchi will lead Iran’s delegation of diplomats and technical experts in indirect discussions with the US side, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X.
Iran’s top diplomat was a negotiator of the landmark nuclear accord abandoned by Trump during his first term in 2018.
Araghchi refused to discuss the talks as he signed copies of an Arabic translation of his book, “The Power of Negotiation” at a book fair in Muscat on Friday.
The latest round will include expert-level talks on Iran’s nuclear program, with Michael Anton, who serves as the State Department’s head of policy planning, leading the technical discussions on the US side, the department said.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi will head the Iranian technical team.
Baqaei posted that Iran’s delegation is “resolved to secure our nation’s legitimate and lawful right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes while taking reasonable steps to demonstrate that our program is entirely peaceful.”
“Termination of unlawful and inhumane sanctions in an objective and speedy manner is a priority that we seek to achieve,” he added.
According to Baqaei, the dialogue will again be mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi — who appeared with Araghchi at the book signing — on Saturday morning.
The meeting follows two earlier rounds of Omani-mediated negotiations in Muscat and Rome starting on April 12.
Since his return to office in January, Trump has reimposed sweeping sanctions under his policy of “maximum pressure” against Tehran.
In March, he sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for talks but warning of possible military action if they failed to produce a deal.
Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons — an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its program is for peaceful civilian purposes.
Baqaei earlier Friday said “progress in the negotiations requires the demonstration of goodwill, seriousness, and realism by the other side.”
Iran will treat Saturday’s talks seriously, Araghchi said in a recent interview, “and if the other party also enters seriously, there is potential for progress.”
In 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal signed three years earlier between Tehran and major world powers. The agreement eased sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
After Trump’s pullout, Tehran complied with the agreement for a year before scaling back its compliance.
Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit in the 2015 deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.
In an interview published by Time Magazine on Friday, Trump said the United States will “lead the pack” in attacking Iran if nuclear talks do not lead to a new deal.
But he expressed hope that an agreement could be reached and said he would be willing to meet Khamenei.
Iran FM Araghchi in Oman ahead of nuclear talks with US
https://arab.news/jnmch
Iran FM Araghchi in Oman ahead of nuclear talks with US
- Abbas Araghchi will be leading a diplomatic and technical-expert delegation for indirect discussions with the US side
- President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will represent the United States in the talks
Israel PM names new security chief, defying attorney general
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday his pick for the next head of the Shin Bet domestic security agency, defying the country’s attorney general and a significant segment of the public.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu announced this evening his decision to appoint Major General David Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet,” a statement from the premier’s office said.
The decision is the latest development in a long-running controversy surrounding the role, which has seen mass protests against the incumbent chief’s dismissal, as well as against moves pushed by Netanyahu’s government to expand elected officials’ power to appoint judges.
The supreme court on Wednesday ruled the government’s decision to fire current domestic security chief Ronen Bar was “improper and unlawful.”
Netanyahu’s move to tap Zini to replace Bar directly defied Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who had said that, given the court ruling, the premier “must refrain from any action related to the appointment of a new head of the Shin Bet.”
Netanyahu immediately responded in a rare press conference that his government would make an appointment despite Baharav-Miara’s stance.
Following Thursday’s announcement, the attorney general released a statement saying that the prime minister was acting “contrary to legal guidance.”
“There is serious concern that he acted while in a conflict of interest, and the appointment process is flawed,” the statement said.
Zini, the son of immigrants from France and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, has held “many” operational and command positions in the Israeli military, Thursday’s announcement said, including for some elite units and combat brigades.
The announcement comes after more than two months of political and legal wrangling over who should head the powerful agency.
In March, Netanyahu said that he was dismissing Bar due to “ongoing lack of trust.”
Israel issues evacuation warning for parts of Gaza
GAZA CITY: The Israeli army issued an evacuation warning on Thursday for 14 neighborhoods of northern Gaza, as it pressed a renewed offensive that has drawn international condemnation.
The warning came hours after the UN said it had collected and begun distributing around 90 truckloads of aid in Gaza, the first such delivery since Israel imposed a total blockade on the territory on March 2.
Under global pressure for an end to the blockade and the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was open to a “temporary ceasefire” in Gaza, but reaffirmed the military aimed to bring the entire territory under its control.
In an Arabic-language statement on Thursday, the military said it was “operating with intense force” in 14 areas in the northern Gaza Strip, accusing “terrorist organizations” of operating there.
The army issued a similar warning for northern Gaza on Wednesday evening in what the army said was a response to rocket fire.
It later announced three more launches from northern Gaza, but said the projectiles had fallen inside the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu said it was necessary to “avoid a humanitarian crisis in order to preserve our freedom of operational action” in Gaza.
Palestinians have been scrambling for basic supplies, with Israel’s blockade leading to critical food and medicine shortages.
Israel has meanwhile kept up its bombardment, with Gaza’s civil defense agency reporting at least 19 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday.
Umm Talal Al-Masri, 53, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, described the situation as “unbearable.”
“No one is distributing anything to us. Everyone is waiting for aid, but we haven’t received anything,” she said.
“We barely manage to prepare one meal a day.”
UN agencies have said that the amount of aid entering Gaza falls far short of what is required to ease the crisis.
“I am tormented for my children,” said Hossam Abu Aida, another resident of the Gaza Strip.
“For them, I fear hunger and disease more than I do Israeli bombardment,” the 38-year-old added. The army stepped up its offensive at the weekend, vowing to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.
Israel has faced mounting pressure, including from traditional allies, to halt its expanded offensive and allow aid into Gaza.
EU foreign ministers agreed on Tuesday to review the bloc’s cooperation accord with Israel.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has said the EU action “reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing.”
Sweden said it would press the 27-nation bloc to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, while Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador.
There has been a global spike in anti-Semitic attacks since the Hamas attack in 2023, with a gunman shooting dead two Israeli Embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.
Britain, France, Germany, the US, and other countries around the world all condemned the shooting.
British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ‘slaughterhouse’
- ‘There’s no food getting in so people are starving,’ surgeon Tom Potokar says
- World leaders urged to ‘stop talking and do something’
LONDON: British doctors working in Gaza have described the territory as a “slaughterhouse,” where the patients they are treating are severely malnourished.
Plastic surgeons and orthopedic specialists from the UK are based at the Amal and Nasser hospitals in Khan Younis in the south of the territory.
Dr. Tom Potokar, a plastic surgeon specializing in burn injuries, has worked in Gaza 16 times but said this mission had revealed a level of destruction far greater than his last visit in 2023, Sky News reported.
“What can you say, it’s horrific, it’s a slaughterhouse,” Potokar said after operating on a badly injured Palestinian woman whose husband and children were killed in an Israeli attack.
He urged world leaders to “stop talking and do something.”
Potokar moved to Amal hospital last week after the nearby European hospital where he had been working was hit by Israeli missiles and forced to close.
Gaza’s health care is in a state of collapse, with hospitals being repeatedly targeted by Israel since the war started in October 2023.
The relentless airstrikes and bombings have killed more than 53,000 people and hospitals are full of Palestinians with blast-related injuries.
A blockade of humanitarian aid since March has further strained hospitals, leaving doctors with limited supplies to treat the injured.
“The difference this time I think is the intensity,” Potokar said. “Back in October to December 2023 was the last time I was here, there was a lot of wounded and it was very intense as well.
“I think the difference this time is, because of the blockade there’s so little stuff getting in, there’s no food getting in so people are starving. There’s very little medical supplies coming in but also the other very noticeable thing is the massive extent of destruction. I mean, Khan Younis looks like Stalingrad.”
The report showed the chaos of the hospital’s emergency rooms, with badly injured children being brought in for initial treatment before being sent for surgery with the British medics.
Most of the injuries are blast wounds and the patients are malnourished.
In Nasser hospital, a baby arrived with chest and back burns, while another lay silent having suffered shrapnel wounds and was unable to see from one eye.
Dr. Victoria Rose, a British plastic surgeon working at the hospital, showed the inside of the burns unit, which was shut down after being hit by Israeli missiles.
Israel this week ordered residents to evacuate Khan Younis, leading to several of the hospital’s staff being unable to get to work, Rose said.
“My anesthetic nurse and Graeme’s orthopedic colleague had to leave us mid-case to go and evacuate their families to an area of safety,” she said.
Dr. Graeme Groom, a surgeon working alongside Rose, praised his Palestinian colleagues.
“These are people just like you and me, they have their homes, their families, they live normal lives. Many are very impressive people and without notice they have to pick up a grab bag and leave, look for food, look for water, look for shelter, but turn up at work each day,” he said.
The surgeons fear that the hospitals may have to be evacuated as Israel expands its military operation in the area as part of a plan to take complete control of the territory.
Israel strikes south Lebanon, army says Hezbollah fighter killed
- The Israeli military said its forces had carried out several strikes targeting Hezbollah sites and killed one militant
- The “urgent warning” was accompanied by a map showing a structure and the 500-meter radius around it marked in red
BEIRUT: Lebanese state media said an Israeli air strike hit a building in southern Lebanon on Thursday after Israel’s military issued an evacuation call warning of imminent action against Hezbollah militants.
Israel has kept up its air strikes in neighboring Lebanon despite a November truce aimed at halting more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah that included two months of full-blown war.
Without confirming the reported attack on the southern town of Toul, the Israeli military said its forces had carried out several strikes targeting Hezbollah sites and killed one militant.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said that “the Israeli enemy” struck a building in Toul, where the army had warned residents to evacuate the area around a building it said was used by Hezbollah militants.
The “urgent warning” was accompanied by a map showing a structure and the 500-meter (0.3-mile) radius around it marked in red.
“You are located near facilities belonging to the terrorist (group) Hezbollah,” the statement said in Arabic, urging people “to evacuate these buildings immediately and move away from them.”
There were no immediate reports of casualties in Toul.
In a separate statement, the military said it had “struck and eliminated a Hezbollah Radwan Force terrorist in the area of Rab El Thalathine,” about 17 kilometers (10 miles) to the southeast.
The NNA reported a “martyr” in an air strike in the same area, without identifying them.
The Israeli military said its forces also “struck a Hezbollah military site containing rocket launchers and weapons” in the Bekaa Valley as well as “terrorist infrastructure sites and rocket launchers belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization... in southern Lebanon.”
A military statement said that “the presence of weapons in the area and Hezbollah activities at the site constitute blatant violations of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon” under the November ceasefire agreement.
Israel will “continue to operate to remove any threat... and will prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to re-establish its terror capabilities,” it said.
Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah fighters were to pull back north of the Litani River and dismantle military infrastructure south of it.
Israel was to withdraw all forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems “strategic.”
The Lebanese army has deployed in the south and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.
The truce was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only people to bear arms in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
Egyptian president, UK prime minister discuss Gaza ceasefire, humanitarian aid
- Leaders discussed Egyptian, Qatari, and US efforts to enforce ceasefire in the Palestinian coastal enclave
- Abdul Fatah El-Sisi praised ‘positive’ UK position on Gaza, agreed with Sir Keir Starmer on continuing coordination
LONDON: Egyptian President Abdul Fatah El-Sisi praised the UK’s “positive position” on developments in Gaza during a phone call with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday.
The Egyptian Presidency said El-Sisi and Sir Keir discussed strengthening cooperation in the economic, trade, and investment sectors while continuing political consultations on various topics.
Ambassador Mohamed El-Shennawy, the presidential spokesman, said the two leaders discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip and Egyptian, Qatari, and US efforts to enforce a ceasefire in the Palestinian coastal enclave and ensure the flow of humanitarian aid.
The Egyptian president emphasized Cairo’s rejection of displacing Palestinians and expressed support for the Arab-Islamic plan to rebuild Gaza following a ceasefire.
El-Sisi praised the “positive” UK position regarding the situation in Gaza and agreed with the prime minister on continuing coordination to address regional and international developments.
The UK announced on Tuesday that it will stop free-trade negotiations with Israel and has summoned the Israeli ambassador to the Foreign Office in response to Tel Aviv’s expansion of military operations in Gaza.
