Tehran under fire as Israel begins new wave of strikes in Iran
JERUSALEM: Israel's military said it was carrying out a "series of strikes" around the Iranian capital Tehran and other areas of the country on Thursday.
There were no immediate details on the intended targets of the strikes, which came after Israel said it had intercepted a "suspicious aerial target" launched from Iran.--AFP
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Malaysian Reserve
41 minutes ago
- Malaysian Reserve
Malaysia calls on global powers to de-escalate conflicts
by HIDAYATH HISHAM MALAYSIA is urging influential nations to take decisive steps in de-escalating wars and conflicts worldwide, warning that unchecked aggression risks dismantling global diplomacy and humanitarian norms. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said recent events in the Middle East show how quickly dialogue can collapse under the weight of targeted violence, citing Israeli attacks on Iranian territory as an example. 'The incessant, punitive and unprovoked Israeli strikes on Iranian territory undertaken even as crucial talks were underway are certainly aimed at shattering the possibility of dialogue itself. 'We are for effective engagement. We are for unconditional peace in the region,' he said during his keynote address at the 38th Asia-Pacific Roundtable in Kuala Lumpur today. He stressed that international law and global order are under threat from actors operating with impunity, and called for powerful countries to step in. Touching on the ongoing crisis in Gaza, Anwar said Malaysia will continue speaking out despite its geographic distance from the conflict. He said the humanitarian toll has been too severe to ignore and called for immediate international action to enforce humanitarian law, secure a ceasefire and ensure aid reaches civilians in need. 'They require concerted international action to uphold humanitarian law, secure an immediate ceasefire and ensure the unfettered delivery of aid to those in desperate need. The credibility of the so-called rules-based order is on trial,' he said. Turning to other global hotspots, Anwar said the unresolved India-Pakistan conflict, the Taiwan Straits, the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea all reflect rising fault lines across the region. He said ASEAN remains united in condemning North Korea's provocations, reaffirming Malaysia's belief in diplomacy over confrontation. 'We must insist on the primacy of dialogue over disruption, of law over disorder of restraint over escalation,' he said. Anwar added that Malaysia envisions a regional security framework that is inclusive and sustainable, rejecting rigid geopolitical blocs. 'Malaysia believes the future of this region lies not in hardened blocks of fragile balances, but in a security architecture that is inclusive, predictable, one in which active non-alignment is not merely tolerated, but enabled to thrive,' he said.
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Iran, Israel trade deadly strikes as Trump hesitates
WASHINGTON: Iran and Israel traded further air attacks on Thursday as President Donald Trump kept the world guessing about whether the United States would join Israel's bombardment of Iranian nuclear and missile facilities. A week of Israeli air and missile strikes against its major rival has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed two dozen civilians in Israel. The worst-ever conflict between the two regional powers has raised fears that it will draw in world powers and deliver another blow to the Middle East, where the spillover effects of the Gaza war have undermined stability. Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he had made any decision on whether to join Israel's air campaign. "I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do," he said. Trump in later remarks said Iranian officials wanted to come to Washington for a meeting. "We may do that" he said, adding "it's a little late" for such talks. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rebuked Trump's earlier call for Iran to surrender in a recorded speech played on television, his first appearance since Friday. "Any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage," he said. "The Iranian nation will not surrender." Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons and says its program is for peaceful purposes only. The International Atomic Energy Agency said last week Tehran was in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years. The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva to urge Iran to return to the negotiating table, a German diplomatic source told Reuters. But while diplomatic efforts continue, some residents of Tehran, a city of 10 million people, on Wednesday jammed highways out of the city. Arezou, a 31-year-old Tehran resident, told Reuters by phone that she had made it to the nearby resort town of Lavasan. "My friend's house in Tehran was attacked and her brother was injured. They are civilians," she said. "Why are we paying the price for the regime's decision to pursue a nuclear programme?" A source familiar with internal discussions said Trump and his team were considering options that included joining Israel in strikes against Iranian nuclear installations. But the prospect of a US strike against Iran has exposed divisions in the coalition of supporters that brought Trump to power, with some of his base urging him not to get the country involved in a new Middle East war. Senior US Senate Democrats urged Trump to prioritise diplomacy and seek a binding agreement to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons, while expressing concern about his administration's approach. "We are alarmed by the Trump administration's failure to provide answers to fundamental questions. By law, the president must consult Congress and seek authorization if he is considering taking the country to war," they said in a statement. "He owes Congress and the American people a strategy for US engagement in the region." DRONE ATTACKS On Thursday morning, a missile warning was issued by Israel's military and explosions were heard over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The Israeli military said several civilian areas, including a hospital, were hit by Iranian missile strikes. In Iran, the ISNA news agency reported that an area near the heavy water facility of the Khondab nuclear facility was targeted by Israel. Earlier, air defences were activated in Tehran, intercepting drones on the outskirts of the capital, the semi-official SNN news agency reported. Iranian news agencies also reported it had arrested 18 "enemy agents" who were building drones for Israeli attacks in the northeastern city of Mashhad. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video released by his office on Wednesday, said Israel was "progressing step by step" towards eliminating threats posed by Iran's nuclear sites and ballistic missile arsenal. "We are hitting the nuclear sites, the missiles, the headquarters, the symbols of the regime," Netanyahu said. Israel, which is not a party to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty, is the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that. Netanyahu also thanked Trump, "a great friend of the state of Israel," for standing by its side in the conflict, saying the two were in continuous contact. Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the war to suggesting the United States might join it. In social media posts on Tuesday, he mused about killing Khamenei. Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked what his reaction would be if Israel did kill Iran's Supreme Leader with the assistance of the United States, said on Thursday: "I do not even want to discuss this possibility. I do not want to." Putin said all sides should look for ways to end hostilities in a way that ensured both Iran's right to peaceful nuclear power and Israel's right to the unconditional security of the Jewish state. Since Friday, Iran has fired around 400 missiles at Israel, some 40 of which have pierced air defences, killing 24 people, all of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The Iranian missile salvoes mark the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict that a significant number of projectiles fired from Iran have penetrated defences, killing Israelis in their homes. Iran has reported at least 224 deaths in Israeli attacks, mostly civilians, but has not updated that toll for days.
Malaysian Reserve
an hour ago
- Malaysian Reserve
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi marks 80th birthday in junta jail
YANGON — Myanmar's deposed democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi (picture) marked her 80th birthday in junta detention on Thursday, serving a raft of sentences set to last the rest of her life. Suu Kyi was the figurehead of Myanmar's decade-long democratic thaw, becoming de facto leader as it opened up from military rule. But as the generals snatched back power in a 2021 coup, she was locked up on charges ranging from corruption to breaching Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and is serving a 27-year sentence. 'It will be hard to be celebrating at the moment,' said her 47-year-old son Kim Aris from the UK. 'We've learned to endure when it's been going on so long.' He is running 80 kilometres (50 miles) over the eight days leading up to her birthday, and has collected over 80,000 well-wishing video messages for his mother. But Suu Kyi will not see them, sequestered in Myanmar's sprawling capital Naypyidaw from where the military directs a civil war against guerilla fighters. Aris said he has heard from his mother only once via letter two years ago since she was imprisoned. 'We have no idea what condition she's in,' he said, adding that he fears she is suffering from untreated medical problems with her heart, bones and gums. 'Do you still remember?' No formal celebrations are planned in junta-held parts of Myanmar, but a gaggle of followers in military-controlled Mandalay city staged a spontaneous protest ahead of her birthday, local media said. A few masked protestors showered a street with pamphlets reading 'freedom from fear' and 'happy birthday' as one member help up a portrait of Suu Kyi in shaky camera footage shared on social media. 'Do you still remember this great person?' asked one of the protestors in the video, which AFP has not been able to independently verify. While Suu Kyi remains hugely popular in the majority Buddhist country, her status as a democracy icon abroad collapsed before the military takeover after she defended the generals in their crackdown against the Rohingya Muslim minority. Hundreds of thousands were sent fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh under her rule, though some argued she was powerless against the lingering influence of Myanmar's military. Nonetheless institutions and figures that once showered Suu Kyi with awards rapidly distanced themselves, and her second round of imprisonment has received far less international attention. Locked away birthday Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San, became a champion of democracy almost by accident. After spending much of her youth abroad, she returned in 1988 to nurse her sick mother but began leading anti-military protests crushed by a crackdown. She was locked up for 15 years, most of it in her family's Yangon lakeside mansion where she still drew crowds for speeches over the boundary wall. The military offered freedom if she went into exile but her poised refusal thrust her into the spotlight and won her the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Suu Kyi was released in 2010 and led her National League for Democracy party to electoral victory in 2015, never formally in charge as army-drafted rules kept her from the presidency. If the octogenarian were released from her current incarceration, Aris predicts she would likely step back from a 'frontline position' in Myanmar politics. The military has promised new elections at the end of this year, but they are set to be boycotted by many groups comprised of former followers of Suu Kyi's non-violent vision who have now taken up arms. — AFP
