UN conference on Palestinian state postponed because of Middle East tensions
After
Macron told reporters that the two-state conference was postponed for logistical and security reasons, and because some Palestinian representatives couldn't come to the event. He insisted that it would be held 'as soon as possible' and that he was in discussion with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about a new date.
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The U.N. ambassadors from France and Saudi Arabia said in a letter to the 193 U.N. member nations that the delay is 'due to the current circumstances in the Middle East that prevent regional leaders from attending the conference in New York.'
France's Jerome Bonnafont and Saudi Arabia's Abdulaziz Alwasil said the conference will open on June 17 in the General Assembly hall, but only to propose and agree to its suspension. They invited all countries to attend the opening.
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'We are determined to resume the conference at the earliest possible date,' the two ambassadors said.
Macron said the aim of the conference 'is a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizing the existence and the security of Israel.' Any such state would exclude any Hamas leaders, he said.
Macron said that the Israel-Iran conflict, the war in Gaza and the situation for Palestinians around the region are all 'interlinked.'
Macron spoke on Friday with 10 world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about the Israeli strikes on Iran and consequences.
One of the aims at the U.N. conference was to increase the number of countries recognizing Palestinian territories as an independent state. So far, more than 145 of the 193 U.N. member nations have done so. The Palestinians view their state as encompassing Gaza and the West Bank with east Jerusalem as the capital.
Netanyahu has rejected the creation of a Palestinian state, and Israel refused to participate in the conference.
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Hamilton Spectator
15 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Oman says US-Iran talks over Tehran's nuclear program ‘will not now take place' after Israel strikes
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Oman's foreign minister says planned talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program 'will not now take place' after Israel's strikes targeting the Islamic Republic. Badr al-Busaidi made the announcement on social media Saturday. It comes after Iran's foreign minister said any talks would be 'unjustifiable' amid the ongoing attacks. Oman has been mediating the talks. 'The Iran US talks scheduled to be held in Muscat this Sunday will not now take place,' al-Busaidi wrote. 'But diplomacy and dialogue remain the only pathway to lasting peace.' A sixth round was due to happen in Muscat, Oman's capital, before the Israeli strikes began Friday. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel's defense minister warned Saturday that 'Tehran will burn' if Iran continues firing missiles, as the countries traded blows a day after Israel launched a blistering surprise attack on Iranian nuclear and military sites, killing several top generals. The attacks have left Iran's surviving leadership with the difficult decision of plunging deeper into conflict with Israel's more powerful forces or seeking a diplomatic route. The ongoing Israeli strikes appear to have halted — for now — any diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program . Israel and Iran signaled more attacks are coming despite urgent calls from world leaders to deescalate to avoid all-out war. The region is already on edge as Israel makes a new push to eliminate the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza after 20 months of fighting. Israel — which is widely believed to have a nuclear weapons program — said its hundreds of strikes on Iran over the past two days also killed nine senior scientists and experts involved in Iran's nuclear program. Iran's U.N. ambassador said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded. Iran retaliated by launching waves of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions lit the night skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook buildings. The Israeli military urged civilians, already rattled by the war in Gaza sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, to head to shelter for hours. Health officials said three people were killed and dozens wounded. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Iran will pay a heavy price for harming Israeli citizens. 'If (Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front — Tehran will burn,' Katz said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that his objective was to eliminate any Iranian threat to Israel, but he also urged Iranians to rise up against their leaders. Strikes could derail nuclear talks The U.S. and Iran were scheduled to be in Oman on Sunday for their sixth round of indirect talks over Iran's nuclear program. Iran's top diplomat said Saturday the talks were 'unjustifiable' after the Israeli strikes, likely signaling no negotiations this weekend. But he stopped short of saying the talks were canceled. The comments by Abbas Araghchi, Iran's minister of foreign affairs, came during a call with Kaja Kallas, the European Union's top diplomat. The Israeli airstrikes were the 'result of the direct support by Washington,' Araghchi said in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. The U.S. has said it isn't part of the strikes. There was no immediate word from the White House after Araghchi's comments. On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iran to reach a deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program. He warned on social media that Israel's attacks 'will only get worse,' adding that 'Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.' Iranian missiles strike Israel Khamenei signaled in a recorded message Friday that Iran was prepared to keep up its retaliatory attacks on Israel: 'We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed.' Iran launched waves of missiles at Israel late Friday and early Saturday, and Iranians awoke to state television airing repeated clips of strikes on Israel, as well as videos of people cheering and handing out sweets. The Iranian attacks killed at least three people and wounded 76, mostly in and around Tel Aviv, according to two local hospitals. One missile severely damaged at least four homes in the nearby city of Rishon Lezion, according to first responders. The Israeli military said seven soldiers were lightly wounded when a missile hit central Israel, without specifying where. It was the first report of Israeli military casualties since the initial Israeli strikes. U.S. ground-based air defense systems in the region were helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures. In Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, an Associated Press journalist saw burned-out cars and at least three damaged houses, including one whose front was nearly entirely torn away. Residents of a central Israeli city that was hit Friday night told the AP the explosion was so powerful it shook their shelter door open. 'We thought, that's it, the house is gone, and in fact half of the house was gone,' said Moshe Shani. Israeli police said debris from the interception of drones and missiles fell in dozens of locations in northern Israel, causing damage and fires but no injuries. Israel's main international airport said Saturday it will remain closed until further notice. Indications of a new Israeli attack Iranian state television reported online that air defenses were firing in the cities of Khorramabad, Kermanshah and Tabriz. Footage from Tabriz showed black smoke rising from the city. An Israeli military official said Saturday that the military was poised to carry out more strikes in Iran, saying, 'This is not over.' He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with official procedures. Israel's army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said Israel had attacked more than 400 targets across Iran, including 40 in Tehran, where dozens of fighter jets were 'operating freely.' He said it was the deepest point Israel's air force had operated. Defrin said fighter jets struck over 40 'missile-related targets and advanced air defense array systems' across Iran. Overnight, the sound of explosions and Iranian air defense systems firing at targets echoed across central Tehran. Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported a fire at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport. Countries in the region condemned Israel's attack, while leaders around the globe called for immediate deescalation from both sides. 'More than a few weeks' to repair nuclear facilities Among the key sites Israel attacked was Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. Satellite photos analyzed by AP show extensive damage there. The images shot Saturday by Planet Labs PBC show multiple buildings damaged or destroyed. The structures hit include buildings identified by experts as supplying power to the facility. U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed. The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged the infrastructure there, he said. Israel said it also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, including 'infrastructure for enriched uranium conversion,' and said it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan. The Israeli military official said that according to the army's initial assessment 'it will take much more than a few weeks' for Iran to repair the damage to the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. The official said the army had 'concrete intelligence that production in Isfahan was for military purposes.' Israel denied it had struck the nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Tehran, after an Iranian news outlet close to the government reported the sound of explosions nearby, Netanyahu said the attack had been months in the making and was planned for April before being postponed. Among those killed were three of Iran's top military leaders: one who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard , Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard's aerospace division, which oversees its arsenal of ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Two of Bagheri's deputies were also killed, Iran confirmed Saturday. On Saturday, Khamenei named a new leader for the Revolutionary Guard's aerospace division: Gen. Majid Mousavi. ___ Lidman and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
CNN
15 minutes ago
- CNN
Israel attacked three key Iranian nuclear facilities. Did it strike a decisive blow?
Israel's unprecedented attacks on Iran had at their core an elusive and high-risk goal: eradicating the country's controversial nuclear program. Israel targeted three key Iranian nuclear facilities – Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow – and a number of top scientists involved in nuclear research and development. The extent of the damage – and whether Iran's nuclear program can survive – is not immediately clear. An Israeli military official said at a briefing Saturday that strikes on Iran's nuclear sites in Natanz and Isfahan were able to damage the sites 'significantly;' Iran said that damage to the facilities was limited but acknowledged the deaths of nine experts. 'We are at a key point where, if we miss it, we will have no way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons that will threaten our existence,' Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Friday. 'We have dealt with Iran's proxies over the past year and a half, but now we are dealing with the head of the snake itself.' Iran insists its program is peaceful - here's what we know about the damage to the three sites. Initial assessments indicate that Israel's strikes on Iran's Natanz nuclear facility were extremely effective, going far beyond superficial damage to exterior structures and knocking out the electricity on the lower levels where the centrifuges used to enrich uranium are stored, two US officials told CNN. 'This was a full-spectrum blitz,' said another source familiar with the assessments. The strikes destroyed the above-ground part of Natanz's Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant, a sprawling site that has been operating since 2003 and where Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Weapons-grade uranium is enriched to 90%. CNN obtained radar imagery from a space imaging company, Umbra, which captured damage to several areas of the Natanz facility. Other satellite imagery reviewed by CNN showed the same damage more clearly, with black plumes of smoke visibly rising from multiple locations across the site. Electrical infrastructure at Natanz – including the main power supply building, plus emergency and back-up generators – was also destroyed, the IAEA said. That assessment is supported by the two US officials, who told CNN that electricity was knocked out on the lower levels where the centrifuges used to enrich uranium are stored. That aspect of the operation is crucial, because much of the Natanz facility is heavily fortified and underground, so wiping out the power to those parts of the facility is the most effective way to impact underground equipment and machinery. It does not appear that Israel damaged those underground parts of the plant directly, the IAEA said, but the loss of power to the underground cascade hall 'may have damaged the centrifuges there.' Natanz has six above-ground buildings and three underground buildings, two of which can hold 50,000 centrifuges, according to the non-profit Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). Centrifuges are machines that can enrich uranium by spinning the gas at high speeds. There is no wider radiological impact. 'The level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels,' the IAEA said. 'However, due to the impacts, there is radiological and chemical contamination inside the facilities in Natanz,' it added – though the levels would be manageable. The extent of damage at the Isfahan nuclear site in central Iran was more difficult to parse in the hours after it was struck, with conflicting claims over the attack's impact emerging in Israel and Iran. Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said Saturday that damage at the site – Iran's largest nuclear research complex – was limited. Equipment at the two facilities was moved in anticipation of the strikes, Kamalvandi said. A shed at the facility caught fire, he added, and there is no risk of contamination. But Israel were more bullish; an IDF official said during a Saturday briefing that the site took significant damage. The facility was built with support from China and opened in 1984, the NTI says. According to the non-profit, 3,000 scientists are employed at Isfahan, and the site is 'suspected of being the center' of Iran's nuclear program. It 'operates three small Chinese-supplied research reactors,' as well as a 'conversion facility, a fuel production plant, a zirconium cladding plant, and other facilities and laboratories,' the NTI says. At a Saturday briefing, an IDF official said Israel had 'concrete intelligence' that Iran was 'moving forward to a nuclear bomb' at the Isfahan facility. Despite advancing its uranium enrichment significantly, Iran has repeatedly said that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and denied that it was developing an atomic bomb. The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant is a far more difficult site to target. The plant is buried deep in the mountains near Qom, in northern Iran, and houses advanced centrifuges used to enrich uranium up to high grades of purity. Israel targeted the site during its Friday attacks, but the IAEA said it was not impacted and the IDF has not claimed any significant damage there. Iranian air defenses shot down an Israeli drone in the vicinity of the plant, Iranian state media Press TV reported Friday evening. Fordow's fate could be pivotal to the overall success of Israel's attacks. In 2023, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that uranium particles enriched to 83.7% purity – which is close to the 90% enrichment levels needed to make a nuclear bomb – had been found in Fordow. 'If Fordow remains operational, Israel's attacks may barely slow Iran's path to the bomb,' James M. Acton, the co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote on Friday. Acton said Israel might be able to collapse the entrance to the facility, but noted that destroying much more of the Fordow site will be a difficult task for Israel. CNN's Katie Polglase, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Christian Edwards, Henry Zeris, Thomas Bordeaux, Avery Schmit, Teele Rebane, Isaac Yee, Mostafa Salem, Betsy Klein, Sarah Ferris, Katie Bo Lillis, Kylie Atwood and Alayna Treene contributed reporting
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The world won't acknowledge it yet, but we owe Israel a debt of gratitude
'I swear I believe Armageddon is near.' This was Ronald Reagan's initial reaction, writing in his diary, after hearing news of the Israeli attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak on June 7 1981. The Israeli attack was a major operational success, destroying Osirak and denying Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein a nuclear bomb. In time, American leaders would come to recognise that they owed Israel a huge debt of gratitude for disarming Iraq's monstrous tyrant. Yet this is not how they reacted publicly at the time. For the deeply religious Reagan, with his profound aversion to nuclear weapons, his initial reaction was a mix of horror and confusion. As the historian William Inboden put it in The Peacemaker, his recent book on the US president's national security strategy, 'Reagan worried that his first year in office might also be the last year of Earth's existence.' President Donald Trump may not share Reagan's religious faith but he has spoken repeatedly over many years of his fear of nuclear war. This is likely to colour his response to the Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Like the Reagan White House, the Trump's administration's avowed policy positions should, on the surface, lead it to endorse the strikes – support for Israel, opposition to nuclear proliferation and disgust at the target, in both cases a tyrannical regime that has committed itself to Israel's destruction and unleashed bloodshed across the region. Yet other diplomatic considerations led the Reagan administration to publicly disassociate itself from Israel. The White House denounced the attack. At the United Nations, Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick allowed a Security Council Resolution condemning Israel to pass without issuing a US veto. And initially the US suspended any further sales of F-16s to positions derived from a number of conflicting policy priorities. First, there was concern about the reaction of America's Arab allies, particularly Saudi Arabia. Secondly, there was a growing sense in the White House that the US should support Saddam's Iraq in its war with Iran, which had begun the previous year. Thirdly, there was concern about the potential for wider regional escalation, particularly in Lebanon. That war-torn country, occupied by Syria, had served as the base for regular Palestinian guerilla attacks on Israel and was now hosting Syrian SA-6 missiles. Israel was determined to remove this threat but the Reagan administration wanted to negotiate a settlement. Fourthly, and overhanging all of this, was the wider fear that America's Cold War antagonist the Soviet Union might exploit the regional there were other officials in the administration who recognised that what Israel had done at Osirak was necessary, not only for its own security but that of the US too. And while Reagan reprimanded the Israeli ambassador that the US was 'caught by surprise,' he would very quickly begin to empathise with the Israelis. 'Indignation on behalf of Iraq is a waste,' he wrote in his diary. 'Saddam Hussein is a 'no good nut' and I think he was trying to build a nuclear weapon.' What's more, he had 'called for the destruction of Israel' and the threat thus had to be removed. After reflection, Reagan resumed sending F-16s to like Reagan, President Trump has distanced his administration from the Israeli strikes, although he has not yet gone so far as to issue any condemnation. Like Reagan, Trump had hoped to solve broader regional issues by negotiations rather than strikes. Yet there are important differences with 1981. Firstly, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made it clear that Israel had informed the US ahead of time that 'this action was necessary for its self-defence.' Secondly, many of America's Arab allies, particularly Saudi Arabia, have long feared what Iran's theocratic Shiite rulers will do with a nuclear weapon. They are less likely than they were in 1981 to be condemning Israel's attack on Iran behind closed doors, whatever they say publicly. Thirdly, Iran has moved well beyond Saddam's rhetorical denunciation and support for terrorist attacks. Since October 7th 2023, they and their proxies have unleashed a broad, multi-front attack on Israel with its by escalating its conflict with Israel, Iran has also left itself weaker, with its proxies devastated and its own air defences largely demolished by Israel last year. The Iranian nuclear weapons programme might be more sophisticated and spread out than the Iraqi one at Osirak. But Iran is also more isolated in the region. Even more so than with Saddam in 1981, the moment of maximum danger has already approached for Israel. While intelligence then suggested Osirak would become operational within months, the Iranians are currently enriching uranium to such levels that they are already a threshold nuclear state that could step over that precipice in as in 1981, much of the region and the wider world will condemn Israel's actions. But just as then, I suspect in time, the vast majority will come to be exceedingly grateful for what they have done. Iranian drones are already enabling Russia to pound Ukrainian cities, while the Islamic Republic's agents are targeting dissidents in the West, interfering in our elections, and unleashing violence on our streets. A nuclear weapon in the hands of Ayatollah Khamenei would have been as dangerous, if not worse, than one in the hands of Saddam remains to be seen if the Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities prove as successful as their previous attack on Osirak. If it does then Western governments should be grateful to Israel. Just don't expect to hear much thanks. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
