Iran sets up new defence council after war with Israel
'The Supreme National Security Council approved the establishment of the National Defence Council,' state television said.
The new body – which will be chaired by the president and include top military commanders among other senior officials and ministers – will be tasked with 'reviewing defence strategies' and 'enhancing the capabilities of Iran's armed forces', it added.
'Indo-Pak, Iran-Israel wars increase importance of Pakistan'
On Friday, the Fars news agency said the decision comes as part of broader structural changes to Iran's security apparatus.
The move comes in the wake of a conflict with Israel that, according to official figures, left more than 1,000 people dead in Iran and 29 in Israel.
The war began on June 13, when Israel launched strikes on military, nuclear and residential sites in Iran.
Iran responded with retaliatory attacks on Israeli territory.
A ceasefire announced by the United States has been in place since June 24.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Lebanon's Hezbollah rejects cabinet decision to disarm it
BEIRUT: Hezbollah said Wednesday that it would treat a Lebanese government decision to disarm the group 'as if it did not exist', accusing the cabinet of committing a 'grave sin'. Amid heavy US pressure and fears Israel could expand its strikes on Lebanon, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Tuesday that the government had tasked the army with developing a plan to restrict weapons to government forces by year end. The plan is to be presented to the government by the end of August for discussion and approval, and another cabinet meeting has been scheduled for Thursday to continue the talks, including on a US-proposed timetable for disarmament. Hezbollah said the government had 'committed a grave sin by taking the decision to disarm Lebanon of its weapons to resist the Israeli enemy'. The decision is unprecedented since Lebanon's civil war factions gave up their weapons three and a half decades ago. Hezbollah chief says missiles will fall on Israel if it resumes war on Lebanon 'This decision undermines Lebanon's sovereignty and gives Israel a free hand to tamper with its security, geography, politics and future existence… Therefore, we will treat this decision as if it does not exist,' the group said in a statement. 'Serves Israel's interests' The government said its decision came as part of implementing a November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which culminated in two months of full-blown war. Hezbollah said it viewed the government's move as 'the result of dictates from US envoy' Tom Barrack. It 'fully serves Israel's interests and leaves Lebanon exposed to the Israeli enemy without any deterrence', the group said. Hezbollah was the only faction that kept its weapons after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. It emerged weakened politically and militarily from its latest conflict with Israel, its arsenal pummelled and its senior leadership decimated. Israel has kept up its strikes on Hezbollah and other targets despite the November truce, and has threatened to keep doing so until the group has been disarmed. An Israeli strike on the southern town of Tulin on Wednesday killed one person and wounded another, the health ministry said. Hezbollah chief says slain predecessor Nasrallah to be buried on 23rd Israel also launched a series of air strikes on southern Lebanon, wounding several people according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. Hezbollah said Israel must halt those attacks before any domestic debate about its weapons and a new defence strategy could begin. 'Pivotal moment' 'We are open to dialogue, ending the Israeli aggression against Lebanon, liberating its land, releasing prisoners, working to build the state, and rebuilding what was destroyed by the brutal aggression,' the group said. Hezbollah is 'prepared to discuss a national security strategy', but not under Israeli fire, it added. Two ministers affiliated with Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement walked out of Tuesday's meeting. Hezbollah described the walkout as 'an expression of rejection' of the government's 'decision to subject Lebanon to American tutelage and Israeli occupation'. The Amal movement, headed by parliament speaker Nabih Berri, accused the government of 'rushing to offer more gratuitous concessions' to Israel when it should have sought to end the ongoing attacks. It called Thursday's cabinet meeting 'an opportunity for correction'. Hezbollah opponent the Lebanese Forces, one of the country's two main Christian parties, said the cabinet's decision to disarm the militant group was 'a pivotal moment in Lebanon's modern history – a long-overdue step toward restoring full state authority and sovereignty'. The Free Patriotic Movement, the other major Christian party and a former ally of Hezbollah, said it was in favour of the army receiving the group's weapons 'to strengthen Lebanon's defensive power'. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a televised interview that any decision on disarmament 'will ultimately rest with Hezbollah itself'. 'We support it from afar, but we do not intervene in its decisions,' he added, noting that the group had 'rebuilt itself' following setbacks during its war with Israel.
Express Tribune
3 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Pakistan — between Beijing and Washington
The writer is a retired major general and has an interest in International Relations and Political Sociology. He can be reached at tayyarinam@ and tweets @20_Inam Listen to article Something unexpected happened after Indian Operation Sindoor and Pakistan's agile response through Operation Bunyan Marsus. The four-day skirmish left India red-faced despite its massive media onslaught, projecting the outcome as victory. President Trump took credit for the ceasefire, duly acknowledged by Pakistan, while an egotistic India still refuses to accept foreign interlocution. Then, on August 1, 2025, President Trump slapped a punitive 25% tariffs on India, letting Pakistan off with a relatively benign 19%. Earlier Trump had feted out Field Marshal Asim in the White House. He announced a massive trade deal with Pakistan on July 30. Cumulatively, the cited developments bring Pakistan back into relevance, and business with the West Plus, re-hyphenate it with India, debunk the massive Indian propaganda to paint Pakistan as 'Terroristan', and open new vistas for Islamabad. However, this closeness with the US again, to some analysts, is at the cost of Pak-China friendship. First Islamabad and Beijing. Two statements on August 1 — one from Foreign Office and the other from ISPR — clearly articulated the special nature of Pak-China friendship in context. Foreign Office spokesperson emphatically highlighted the decades-old strategic partnership with Beijing, notwithstanding Islamabad's relations with other countries. And perhaps for the first time, GHQ celebrated the 98th founding anniversary of China's People's Liberation Army on August 1 with a dignified ceremony attended by high-ranking Chinese officials. Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong was the chief guest. The Middle Kingdom conducts its foreign relations in a very matured, measured and deliberate manner. One remembers being part of a delegation led by the Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee, wherein bilateral exercise between both air forces was being discussed. When Pakistan had to remove the US-supplied F-16s from the planned manoeuvres at some later hours, the Chinese Defence Minister, Mr Lee Quang Li was extremely conciliatory to address the embarrassment. Chinese relations do not come with geo-strategic caveats. They ostensibly believe in 'harmony' and are sensitive to other nations' imperatives and compulsions. So, any closeness with the US is not, will not and should not come at the cost of Pak-China bilateralism, brotherhood and benevolence. Second, the conduct of the Pak-US relations. Since partnership against communism in the US-led SEATO, CENTO, GWOT, Islamabad has traditionally remained closer to the US, providing back-channel support to the 1971 Sino-US détente. Pakistan's military benefited particularly from the US hardware, doctrine and training. Our cantonments in Kharian, Multan and Gujranwala got infrastructure support from Washington. However, from geo-strategic partnership, Pakistan was later relegated to relative obscurity by Trump 1.0 and Biden Administrations, thanks partly to the pervasive Indian influence traditionally on the US policy apparatus. Trump 2.0 is more transactional, upending the traditional US geo-strategic construct and hence the punitive tariffs on India, and favour with Pakistan. Pakistan has, reportedly, the fourth largest hydrocarbon reserves along its coast. It must have been the size of these reserves that sparked President Trump's comment on X/Truth Social — "We are in the process of choosing the oil company that will lead this Partnership. Who knows, maybe they'll [Pakistan] be selling Oil to India one day." This is an unsettling discovery for Pakistan/region and good business for the US energy giant ExxonMobil that 'might' bid for and undertake offshore drilling. Any US company doing exploration would automatically ensure security of the operation. The growing Pak-US counterterrorism cooperation and mutual alignment over Afghanistan are also likely to cement bilateral ties, with China benefitting from a secure regional environment. Under the last PTI government, ExxonMobil, then undertaking offshore exploration, was not allowed access to an additional area in Kekra field. Pakistan 'expects' ExxonMobil to come back as negotiations move forward. More recently, Pakistan also inked an agreement to import US crude with first shipment expected in October. While earlier, Washington had refused to export LNG to Pakistan, given joint ventures between the US and Indian companies, implying Islamabad to go through New Delhi. Today the US Exim Bank is interested in providing capital to the stalled Reko Diq copper and gold mining project. American companies are mulling joint ventures with Pakistani firms to tap Pakistan's mineral sector, with an estimated potential of $ 8trillion. And GB, KP and Balochistan have substantial deposits of rare earths. Additionally, Pakistan's bitcoin policy also interests Trump personally. All this fits his economic outlook. Third, Pakistan's delicate diplomatic balancing. In a meeting with the Afghan acting Ambassador in Islamabad last year, Ambassador Sardar Ahmed Shakeeb mentioned that IEA leadership was very impressed with the way Pakistan handled its relations with America. As per an Indian analyst, Biswanath Bhattacharya, Islamabad has perfected 'balancing contradictions so deftly that even gravity seems to look on in admiration'. Despite being tethered economically and strategically to China, Islamabad is able to carve an advantage from a transactional, mercurial and unpredictable Trump White House, under the overall environment of Sino-US hostility. From being a vanguard nation in the Chinese BRI through CPEC, Pakistan not only secured a deal for American oil investment, but it also earned public endorsement from President Trump. In the last fiscal year, Pakistan's exports to the US stood at $6 billion, against $2.4 billion worth of imports. The ensuing surplus of $3.7 billion was worrying for President Trump. However, Pakistan under the new 19% tariff is still at relative advantage, compared to India's 25%, Bangladesh's 20%, Iraq's 35%, Vietnam's 20% and 19% for Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Pakistan, in trade negotiations, secured duty-free access to over 4,100 American products. Avoiding bloc politics, Pakistan's diplomatic work endears it today to the world powers — China, the US and Russia — increasingly through its geo-strategic relevance, and gutsy and matured dealings with a bellicose and arrogant India. Islamabad's foreign service understands that 'survival and prosperity depend on cultivating relationships with all major players'. It has been able to balance the dictates of BRI/CPEC through increasing cooperation with the US on Afghanistan, counterterrorism, and now, potentially on minerals, oil and gas. The oil deal marks a watershed in exploiting Pakistan's untapped hydrocarbons with American money and technology. These "fourth largest" reserves would catapult Pakistan from energy import to export, rewriting the region's geo-economics. Mr Bhattacharya admires "Pakistan's astonishing ability to dance on the diplomatic tightrope — undaunted, unbowed, and, for now, undefeated".
Business Recorder
4 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Only 1.5% of Gaza farmland usable: FAO
PARIS: Only 1.5 percent of Gaza's farmland is accessible and undamaged – less than a square mile – according to the latest satellite survey published Wednesday by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, which warned the Palestinian territory was on 'the brink of a full-scale famine'. In its previous survey, published at the end of May, the FAO had indicated that less than five percent of Gaza farmland was both accessible and undamaged, based on data from the UN Satellite Centre. The survey, which dates from July 28, found that 8.6 percent of Gaza's farmland was accessible, but only 1.5 percent, or 2.3 square kilometres (less than one square mile) was both accessible and usable. An additional 12.4 percent of farmland is undamaged, but not accessible. An overwhelming majority of Gaza's farmland – 86.1 percent – is damaged, the survey found. 'Gaza is now on the brink of a full-scale famine,' the FAO's director-general Qu Dongyu said in a statement. Dozens of Palestinians killed in Gaza as Hamas official vows to 'break' Israel 'People are starving not because food is unavailable, but because access is blocked, local agrifood systems have collapsed, and families can no longer sustain even the most basic livelihoods,' he added. Qu called for safe and sustained humanitarian access to restore local food production and avoid a further loss of life. 'The right to food is a basic human right,' he said. Before the conflict, agriculture accounted for around 10 percent of the Gaza Strip's economy. The FAO estimated that more than 560,000 people, or a quarter of the population, were being at least partially supported by agriculture and fishing. The Israeli government is under growing pressure to bring the war in Gaza to an end, with concern mounting after the United Nations warned that famine was unfolding in the territory of more than two million Palestinians. The October 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. The Israeli offensive has killed at least 61,158 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry, which are considered reliable by the United Nations.
