Iran demands ‘guarantee' US will lift sanctions in nuclear talks
Tehran called on Washington to provide a formal guarantee that it will lift sanctions imposed on Iran in ongoing talks on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
'We want to guarantee that the sanctions are effectively lifted,' foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a news conference in Tehran. 'So far, the American side has not wanted to clarify this issue.'
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US-backed Gaza aid group names evangelical as chairman
UNITED NATIONS: The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Tuesday named as its executive chairman an American evangelical Christian leader who has publicly backed President Donald Trump's proposal for the United States to take over the Palestinian enclave. The appointment of Rev. Dr. Johnnie Moore, a former evangelical adviser to the White House during Trump's first term in office, came as health officials said at least 27 people died and more than 150 were injured trying to reach a GHF aid site. "GHF is demonstrating that it is possible to move vast quantities of food to people who need it most — safely, efficiently, and effectively," Moore said in the foundation statement. "GHF believes that serving the people of Gaza with dignity and compassion must be the top priority." • GHF says it has delivered some 7 million meals in Gaza • UN refuses to work with GHF, says aid distribution militarized • Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid, Hamas denies it The GHF began operations one week ago under a distribution model criticized by the United Nations as the militarization of aid. The GHF says so far it has given out seven million meals from so-called secure distribution sites. It uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get aid into Gaza. The U.N. and aid groups have refused to work with the GHF because they say it is not a neutral operation. U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher has said it "makes aid conditional on political and military aims" and uses starvation as "a bargaining chip." The appointment of Moore could fuel U.N. concerns, given his support for the controversial proposal Trump floated in February for the U.S. to take over Gaza and develop it economically. After Trump proposed the idea, Moore posted video of Trump's remarks on X and wrote: "The USA will take full responsibility for future of Gaza, giving everyone hope & a future." 'BAD GUYS' The U.N. did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the appointment of Moore, who has accused the U.N. of ignoring "bad guys" stealing aid in Gaza. The U.N. has long-blamed Israel and lawlessness in the enclave for impediments getting aid into Gaza and distributing throughout the war zone. Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies. In a reference to the new GHF-led aid model, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week said Israel was "taking control of food distribution" in Gaza. "The @UN & others should clean up their act & work with America," Moore posted on May 26. "Surely, these old U.S. & E.U.-funded humanitarian orgs won't let people starve in exchange for being 'right' when they know what they have done hasn't worked & has, in fact, made a terrible war worse?" The war in Gaza has raged since 2023 after Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel in an October 7 attack and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies, and Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. Moore visited Israel about three months after the 2023 Hamas attack and wrote: "Never have I seen such horror." Just a couple of weeks later, he posted a video titled "Come visit beautiful Gaza," which sought to portray Gaza as a tourist destination if it wasn't for Hamas militants. Trump has said Gaza has the potential to be "The Riviera of the Middle East." The United Nations has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war with neighboring Arab states.
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Musk calls Trump's big beautiful bill ‘a disgusting abomination'
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Arab News
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Trump administration moves to fast-track firings of federal workers for misconduct
President Donald Trump's administration moved on Tuesday to make it easier to fire federal employees for misconduct, the latest step in a broader effort to overhaul the civil service and shrink the federal bureaucracy. The US Office of Personnel Management published a proposed rule that would allow the office, which acts as the federal government's human resources department, to direct other agencies to fire employees for conduct such as tax evasion, leaking sensitive information and refusing to testify in other workers' disciplinary cases. The rule would extend OPM's existing power to designate job applicants as unsuitable for federal employment, to current federal employees, a change it said was necessary to hold government workers accountable to the public. Federal workers have for decades been covered by an array of job protections, including the ability to contest firings by engaging in a lengthy administrative process. The proposal would allow agencies to refer misconduct cases to OPM instead of going through the traditional disciplinary process. If OPM determines that removal of an employee is required, an agency would have five days to terminate them. 'Illogically, the government has far greater ability to bar someone from federal employment who has committed a serious crime or misconduct in the past than it does to remove someone who engages in the exact same behavior as a federal employee,' OPM said in the proposal. The publication of the proposal kicked off a 30-day public comment period. Since Trump's second term began in January, the administration has moved aggressively to shrink the federal bureaucracy, including directing mass firings and layoffs and implementing changes to the civil service. Many of those policies have been met with court challenges and some have been temporarily blocked by judges. OPM, which is closely linked to the White House, has played a key role in those efforts by attempting to give Trump more direct control of the federal workforce. Many unions, Democrats and advocacy groups have said Trump's various policies violate complex federal civil service and labor laws meant to regulate government employment and ensure that federal workers are insulated from political influence. OPM on Tuesday said the policies agencies have followed for decades rely on overly cumbersome and restrictive procedures that protect misconduct. 'This arbitrary state of affairs seriously impairs the efficiency, effectiveness, and public perception of the Federal service,' the agency said.
