Palestinians chant "I love you Trump" as US-backed aid enters region
Washington, DC: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Sunday shared a video of Palestinians expressing gratitude to US President Donald Trump as Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) relief kits were distributed.
The people in the video were seen chanting slogans like "I love you Trump" and "I love you Donald."
She also shared a post by Trump saying, "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!"
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "many opportunities have opened up" following Israel's military operations in Iran, including the possibility of bringing home the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
Speaking at a Shin Bet security agency facility in southern Israel on Sunday, Netanyahu said, "As you probably know, many opportunities have opened up now following this victory. Firstly, to rescue the hostages. Of course, we will also need to solve the Gaza issue, defeat Hamas, but I believe we will accomplish both missions," as per CNN.
Netanyahu's comments mark one of the first times he has clearly prioritised the return of the hostages over the defeat of Hamas.
For months, Netanyahu has prioritised the defeat of Hamas in Gaza and spokeabout a "total victory." At the beginning of May, he called defeating Hamas the "supreme objective," not freeing the hostages, CNN reported.
His comments Sunday mark a potentially significant change in how he has talked about Israel's goals in the war. He has repeatedly faced criticism from the families of hostages, opposition politicians and large segments of the Israeli public for not clearly placing the return of the hostages as Israel's primary goal.
Reacting to his comments Sunday, the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters called for a single comprehensive deal to bring back all 50 hostages and end the fighting in Gaza, as per CNN.
"What is needed is release, not rescue. This difference of one word could mean the difference between salvation and loss for the hostages," the forum said in a statement.
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Observer
6 hours ago
- Observer
Which Iran will we get?
The 12-day war that pitted Iran against two nuclear powers, Israel and the US, is one of those conflicts that permits all sides to declare victory. For the Islamic Republic, that declaration came quickly, and centred on the fact that the regime is still standing. Despite heavy losses and widespread damage, there was no collapse, no revolt, and no regime change. To many Iranians, especially among the opposition abroad (some of whom — from the exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, to the former armed group Mojahedin-e-Khalq — openly cheered the strikes), the scale of the onslaught suggested an intent to topple the government. But a revolt was always unlikely, given who was calling for it. The urban middle class — the backbone of Iran's civic and professional life — was not going to rise up on behalf of the two foreign powers most associated with decades of coercion and violence in the region. Thus, whether ordinary Iranians 'won' or not will depend on what comes next: how the government responds, how quickly it can rebuild civilian infrastructure, and whether it offers concessions to a middle class that rallied around the flag in the face of a brutal bombing campaign. Some change was already coming well before Israel attacked. Since mid-2023, the Islamic Republic has been showing signs of a strategic shift inward. It did not directly enter the fray after Hamas's October 7th attack on Israel, nor in response to its allies in Lebanon and Syria coming under pressure. Owing to mass protests in 2022, the regime curtailed street-level enforcement of the unwritten dress code. When I visited Tehran and a few smaller cities last April, I was struck by how much the urban scene had changed. Many women (though not most) went out with their hair uncovered, and mingled freely with young men in the coffee shops that have mushroomed across urban Iran. Then came Masoud Pezeshkian's surprising election to the presidency in June 2024. A more reform-minded figure, he succeeded Ebrahim Raisi, who had made hijab enforcement a priority and cracked down violently on protests. By contrast, when a new hijab law was passed, Pezeshkian refused to enforce it, allowing a new social norm to take hold. Moreover, the Iranian economy is not as weak as foreign media coverage often suggests. The data do not paint a rosy picture, but nor do they point to an imminent collapse. Despite the draconian US sanctions imposed in 2018 (after Donald Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal), the economy has been slowly recovering. By 2024, GDP had surpassed its 2018 peak, and growth averaged around 3 per cent per year – aided by oil exports that benefited from the Biden administration's lax sanctions enforcement. Pezeshkian's appointments — including a progressive minister of welfare and labour and a young Chicago-educated economy minister — signalled a turn toward better economic management. Internally, there has been a major debate over whether Iran can meet the 8 per cent growth target that is regularly listed in annual budgets and five-year plans. The consensus among economists was 'not without sanctions relief,' which in turn would require diplomacy, not missiles. Still, the Pezeshkian administration's economic reforms likely bolstered the urban middle class's willingness to stand with the government in the face of Israeli air strikes. Iran's rather measured response to the US attack on its nuclear sites shows where its leaders' priorities lie. They see renewed conflict as a distraction from their development mission, originally laid out in the 2005 Twenty-Year Vision Plan to place Iran among the region's top economies by 2025. The immediate question is whether the recent war will push Iran further toward militarisation and an expanded role for the state in the economy, or toward greater freedom for civil society and the private sector. Many will remember how the bloody eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s led to entrenched rationing, central planning, and dominance by state-linked institutions. It took nearly two decades of reform to reintroduce market principles and revive the private sector. Iran may be better positioned today, because the war was limited in scope, and the private sector and market institutions are more firmly established. Just as the Iran-Iraq War led to vast development investments that acknowledged the contribution of rural communities, this one may catalyse a similar gesture of recognition for the urban middle class. If so, that would go far toward achieving the kind of social consensus (vefagh) that Pezeshkian is seeking. Two decades ago, the joke in Iran was that the Islamic Republic had a consistent Korea strategy, except that sometimes it resembled the North, and sometimes the South. Now Iran faces a similar choice. The North Korean model may seem attractive to some, with its nuclear deterrence, stifling of dissent, and closed borders. But most observers familiar with Iran's culture, religion, history, and temperament would not regard this as a viable option – even after a war that has exposed Iran's vulnerability in the absence of nuclear weapons. Undoubtedly, there will be tensions between rebuilding the military and addressing civilian needs – from shoring up the water supply to distributing gasoline and dealing with youth employment. Fortunately, unlike a military buildup, economic reconstruction can be advanced through broadly felt policies that attract private-sector engagement and reduce the budgetary trade-off between defence and development. Assuming the cease-fire holds, the real question will not be who won or lost. It will be whether Iran uses the pause to double down on economic development, or whether the trauma of war will provoke an ideological hardening. The pro-development option may be constrained by the nature of the regime; but the alternative – a permanent wartime posture – is economically and socially untenable. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2025.
Observer
6 hours ago
- Observer
Israel steps up Gaza bombardment ahead of White House talks on ceasefire
CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Palestinians in northern Gaza reported one of the worst nights of Israeli bombardment in weeks after the military issued mass evacuation orders on Monday, while Israeli officials were due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by the Trump administration. A day after U.S. President Donald Trump urged an end to the 20-month-old war, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected at the White House for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran, and possible wider regional diplomatic deals. But on the ground in the Palestinian enclave there was no sign of fighting letting up. "Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes," said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. "In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions." Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said. At least 25 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, health authorities said, including 10 people killed in Zeitoun. The Israeli military said it struck militant targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centers, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians. The heavy bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction. The military ordered people there to head south, saying that it planned to fight Hamas militants operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City. Later on Monday, health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said at least 13 people had been killed southwest of Gaza City, bringing Monday's death toll to at least 38. Medics said most of the casualties were hit by gunfire, but residents also reported an airstrike. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military on the incident. NEXT STEPS A day after Trump called to "Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back", Israel's strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Netanyahu's, was expected on Monday at the White House for talks on Iran and Gaza, an Israeli official said. In Israel, Netanyahu's security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza. On Friday, Israel's military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday, Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two warring sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks. A Hamas official said that progress depends on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel says it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that Israel has agreed to a U.S.-proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage deal, and put the onus on Hamas. "Israel is serious in its will to reach a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza," Saar told reporters in Jerusalem. The U.S. has proposed a 60-day ceasefire and the release of half the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the remains of other Palestinians. Hamas would release the remaining hostages as part of a deal that guarantees ending the war. The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages back to Gaza in a surprise attack that led to Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, has displaced almost the whole 2.3 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis. More than 80% of the territory is now an Israeli-militarized zone or under displacement orders, according to the United Nations.
Times of Oman
15 hours ago
- Times of Oman
"I am not offering Iran anything": Trump denies nuclear deal talks
Washington: US President Donald Trump has denied engaging in any talks with Iran or offering them concessions. In a late-night post on Truth Social, Trump stated, "I am not offering Iran ANYTHING, unlike Obama, who paid them $Billions under the stupid 'road to a nuclear weapon JCPOA (which would now be expired!), nor am I even talking to them since we totally OBLITERATED their Nuclear Facilities." On Friday, Trump also refuted media reports suggesting that his administration had explored the possibility of allowing Iran access to up to $30 billion for a civilian nuclear energy programme. In response to the ongoing tensions, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that President Donald Trump should put aside the "disrespectful tone" towards Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei if the US wants to have a deal with Iran. Underscoring that Iran does not take it kindly to threats and insults, Aragchi said that Iran would not hesitate to unveil its real capabilities. "The complexity and tenacity of Iranians are famously known in our magnificent carpets, woven through countless hours of hard work and patience. But as a people, our basic premise is very simple and straightforward: we know our worth, value our independence, and never allow anyone else to decide our destiny," Iranian Foreign Minister wrote on X. He added, "If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran's Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and stop hurting his millions of heartfelt followers." "The Great and Powerful Iranian People, who showed the world that the Israeli regime had NO CHOICE but to RUN to "Daddy" to avoid being flattened by our Missiles, do not take kindly to Threats and Insults. If Illusions lead to worse mistakes, Iran will not hesitate to unveil its Real Capabilities, which will certainly END any Delusion about the Power of Iran", the post further mentioned. He concluded his remarks by saying, "Good will begets good will, and respect begets respect." The remarks by the Iranian Foreign Minister come amid the backdrop of the US hinting towards talks with Iran. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday (US local time) had said the Trump administration is focused on diplomacy and peace, adding that the US continues to remain in close communication with the Iranians. Addressing a press briefing, Leavitt said, "I spoke to our special envoy Witkoff at length this morning and I can assure all of you we continue to be in close communication with the Iranians and through our intermediaries as well, namely the Qataris, who have been an incredible ally and partner throughout this entire effort. As I said, this administration is always focused on diplomacy and peace, and we want to ensure we can get to a place where Iran agrees to a non-enrichment civil nuclear program." Her remarks follow after the US had conducted precision strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites under Operation 'Midnight Hammer'.
