Iran to present a counter-proposal to US in nuclear talks, foreign ministry says
Iran will soon hand a counter-proposal in nuclear talks to the United States via Oman, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, in response to a US offer that Tehran deems 'unacceptable.'
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Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Mr. President: please keep Harvard proud of its Veritas
In autumn 1983, my Pan Am flight from Riyadh to Boston via New York landed in Massachusetts' freezing weather. The next day, I visited the Holyoke Center at Harvard University to finalize my registration with the admissions office for the Certificate in Special Studies program. When I asked about the Saudi graduate students there, they told me there were two: Musaad Al-Aiban and Ali Al-Shihabi. Before the end of the week, I met both of them, and they were very helpful in giving me advice on how to cope with my new life at Harvard. Harvard University is a beacon of academic excellence, research innovation, and social impact. Its enduring legacy, spanning centuries, is built upon a foundation of rigorous scholarship, distinguished faculty, and a commitment to the pursuit of knowledge. It operates under the guidance of its governing board, the Harvard Corporation, and is dedicated to promoting education and research. While it receives significant funding from various sources, including federal grants, it maintains autonomy in its academic programs and policies. This independence enables Harvard to pursue its educational objectives and uphold its values, even in the face of political pressures or public controversies. Harvard's stance on the Palestinian cause is complex and often subject to varied interpretation. The university facilitates academic discussions, events, and speakers addressing Palestinian rights and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which some view as support for Palestinian advocacy. Student groups, such as Students for Justice in Palestine, actively campaign for Palestinian rights, and Harvard's faculty frequently engage in these discussions through research and publications. Nevertheless, Harvard officially upholds a position of neutrality, emphasizing academic freedom and the importance of diverse perspectives in its educational environment. Harvard's stance on the Palestinian cause is complex and often subject to varied interpretation. The university facilitates academic discussions, events, and speakers addressing Palestinian rights and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which some view as support for Palestinian advocacy. Basil M.K. Al-Ghalayini Harvard University hosts numerous international students, enrolling thousands each year from various countries. In recent academic years, the international student population has generally constituted about 20 percent of the student body. Among them, Saudi students represent a significant group, with hundreds attending Harvard annually, supported by scholarships and government programs. This diverse student body enhances Harvard's global perspective and enriches its academic community, reflecting the university's commitment to attracting talent from around the world. It is worth noting that eight US presidents have graduated from Harvard: John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, John F. Kennedy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Additionally, many business leaders have studied at Harvard, including Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Ballmer. Although I have not been to the US in recent years, I miss my time at Harvard, living in the beautiful city of Cambridge by the Charles River. On my first day of arrival, the university's motto, Veritas — Latin for 'truth' — impressed me. A university that prides itself on the noble pursuit of ethical academics aims to reflect integrity in all its facets. Mr. President, please keep it this way.
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Meeting Change and Missed Opportunities
The fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime and the rise of Ahmed al-Sharaa to the Syrian presidency is the foundational episode of the regional transformation that is currently underway. It may well be one of the most consequential outcomes of the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation and its aftermath or even the most consequential strategic shift the region has witnessed since the 1967 defeat. We did not merely see a change at the top of the Syrian regime. The entire regional order that had been built around an Iranian-Syrian-Lebanese axis, whose influence stretched into Iraq and Palestine, has collapsed. A new phase has begun, and the door to the Levant has now been closed to Iranian expansion. The United States has returned to the region through the front door, with its role bolstered by a rare moment of Arab consensus regarding the need to curb the non-Arab spheres of influence that had crystalized over the past two decades. This turning point has drawn unprecedented Arab and international attention, led by Saudi Arabia and crowned by President Donald Trump's meeting with al-Sharaa. Global powers then raced to Damascus as they sought a role in reshaping Syria's regional role and strategic posture. This surge of attention has come as a surprise to Lebanon. The frustration of the Lebanese has raised legitimate questions about the gulf in Arab and international engagement with Syria when compared to Lebanon. Indeed, a change in leadership has also emerged in Beirut, which has now also exited the Syrian and Iranian spheres of influence. How could the spotlight shift away from a country long seen as the 'Arab world's concern' and the 'laboratory of international settlements'? Has the world made up its mind about Beirut? Lebanon, which has sustained Arab and international attention since the 1969 Palestinian crisis, is now squandering opportunity after opportunity, gradually losing what remains of international confidence in the country. Neither limited resources nor Lebanon's fragile political system explain this failure alone; the absence of a unified national vision, political will, and commitment to reform are also crucial factors. At the same time, most Arab states and international powers had been expecting a clear stance on the key question of sovereignty in the wake of regional and domestic changes. The authorities were expected to consolidate the state's monopoly over arms, fight corruption, and affirm judicial independence. Instead, Lebanon chose ambiguity, seemingly unaware of the significance of what has happened in Syria, Iran's retreat from the Levant, and Hezbollah's waning power. The result, three months into the new government's tenure, has been stagnation, kicking the can down the road, and petty deals. Hesitation continues to prevail, fueled by a fear of the specter of civil war and the daunting task of dismantling Hezbollah's deep entrenchment in the public sector, Lebanon's security apparatus and other state institutions The authorities are also reluctant to embark on the complex and delicate process of disentangling the Shiite community from Hezbollah. It seems that Lebanon is being steadily pushed to the margins, while Syria has been granted a historic opportunity backed by broad Arab and international support. Lebanon has received little more than initiatives that lack meaningful political backing, despite the formation of a new government that signals a desire for change. Rather than deliberate neglect, this state of affairs is a reflection of deepening despair over Lebanon's ability to seize the moment and engage with clear messages. Chief among them is the demand for a clear political decision on ending all forms of armed resistance, deeming Hezbollah's weapons as illegitimate, setting a timeframe for its disarmament and pursuing a permanent truce with Israel similar to that of the 1949 armistice. These steps would strip Israel of its pretexts, though it is nonetheless unlikely to play a constructive role in either Lebanon or Syria. The current ultra-right Israeli government is gripped by paranoia. It sees every political shift in an Arab country as a direct threat, demanding everything while offering no political concessions and favoring military solutions over political compromise. The successes it has achieved in its latest war have only hardened this disposition and deepened its delusion that force alone can dictate realities on the ground, even if this comes at the cost of regional stability and risks straining Israel's relations with the Trump administration, which seeks to broaden the Abraham Accords. In the end, the difference between Syria and Lebanon lies not in the scale of their respective crises, but in each country's ability to respond to those crises. The collapse of the Syrian regime has triggered a structural and strategic metamorphosis that has drawn in international and Arab actors eager to fill the vacuum and redraw the regional map. Syria finds itself at a moment that mirrors the post-Cold War era. This is a moment of reckoning, reshuffling, and opening up to new possibilities. Lebanon, by contrast, remains caught in a grey zone. It is neither fully collapsing nor genuinely recovering, content to manage its crises without resolving them. As Damascus transforms into the foundation of a new regional order in which it plays an active role, Beirut is fading from the world's view. The bell of transformation has rung, and opportunities do not wait for those who squander them. In a world ruled by hard reality rather than good intentions, hedging and delay no longer convince anyone.
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Information obtained by Iran ‘seem to refer' to Israeli nuclear research site: Grossi
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday that the information Iran claimed it seized regarding Israel's nuclear program 'seems to refer' to the country's Soreq Nuclear Research Center, the first acknowledgment outside of Tehran of the theft. The office of Israel's prime minister had no immediate response on the remarks by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who spoke during a news conference in Vienna. The alleged theft comes at a time of renewed tensions over Iran's nuclear program, which enriches uranium a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels and looks poised to reject a US proposal over a possible deal on its atomic program. 'We have seen some reports in the press. We haven't had any official communication about this,' Grossi told reporters. 'In any case, this seems to refer to Soreq, which is a research facility which we inspect by the way. We don't inspect other strategic parts of the program, but this part of the program we do inspect.' He did not elaborate on where he received his information, though the IAEA maintains a confidential reporting system for nations to report security incidents involving their nuclear programs. Soreq, located 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Tel Aviv, is a national laboratory for nuclear science established in Israel in 1958, engaged in nuclear science, radiation safety and applied physics. The IAEA has so-called 'item-specific safeguards agreements' with Israel, Pakistan and India, all countries that are not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Under Israel's agreement, the IAEA monitors Soreq but has no access to Israel's nuclear facility at Dimona, believed to provide the fuel for Israel's undeclared nuclear weapons program. Over the weekend, Iranian state television and later the country's intelligence minister claimed without offering evidence that Tehran seized an 'important treasury' of information regarding Israel's nuclear program. Israel, whose undeclared atomic weapons program makes it the only country in the Middle East with nuclear bombs, has not acknowledged any such Iranian operation targeting it – though there have been arrests of Israelis allegedly spying for Tehran amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib claimed thousands of pages of documents had been obtained which would be made public soon. Among them were documents related to the US, Europe and other countries which, he claimed, had been obtained through 'infiltration' and 'access to the sources.' He did not elaborate on the methods used. However, Khatib was sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2022 over directing 'cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in support of Iran's political goals.' For Iran, the claim may be designed to show the public that the theocracy was able to respond to a 2018 Israeli operation that spirited out what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a 'half ton' of documents related to Iran's program. That Israeli announcement came just before President Donald Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew America from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which greatly limited its program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. This week, Western nations are expect to go before the IAEA's Board of Governors with a proposal to find Iran in noncompliance with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. It could be the first time in decades – and likely would kick the issue to the UN Security Council. That could see one of the Western countries involved in the 2015 nuclear deal invoke the so-called 'snapback' of UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The authority to restore those sanctions by the complaint of any member of the original 2015 nuclear deal expires in October – putting the West on a clock to exert pressure on Tehran over its program before losing that power.
