Iran's president appoints moderate politician to top security post
The decree, reported by the state-run IRNA news agency, marks Larijani's return to a post he previously held for two years from 2005 to 2007. He replaces Gen. Ali Akbar Ahmadian, who had been in the role since 2023
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CNN
25 minutes ago
- CNN
Israel advances controversial settlement plan, aiming to ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state'
Israel is moving forward with controversial plans to build thousands of new housing units in the occupied West Bank, splitting the territory in two, a scheme far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said would 'permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state.' The E1 settlement project, frozen for decades because of vociferous international opposition, would connect Jerusalem to the settlement of Maale Adumim, making a future Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem virtually impossible. It would also split the West Bank in half, preventing the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state. Smotrich announced the pending approval of 3,401 new housing units on Thursday in a press conference held on the site of the planned construction. 'They will talk about a Palestinian dream, and we will continue to build a Jewish reality,' Smotrich said. 'This reality is what will permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize.' Final approval for the plan is expected next week. Smotrich has repeatedly lobbied Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the occupied West Bank and apply Israeli sovereignty to the entire territory. In a statement, the presidency of the Palestinian National Council blasted the new settlement plans as a 'systemic plan to steal land, Judaize it, and impose biblical and Talmudic facts on the conflict.' Speaker Rawhi Fattouh said the 'colonial plan falls within the policy of creeping annexation' of the West Bank, which is accompanied by settler violence against Palestinians. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law. But during the first Trump administration, the State Department reversed longstanding US policy and ruled settlements were 'not inconsistent' with international law. The Biden administration left this new policy in place. Smotrich announced the advancement of the plan in the press conference on Thursday, presenting it as Israel's response to the recent wave of countries announcing their intention to recognize a Palestinian state. The Israeli settlement watchdog 'Peace Now' blasted the advancement of the E1 plan, deeming it 'deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution.' In a statement, it said 'We are standing at the edge of an abyss, and the government is driving us forward at full speed. There is a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to the terrible war in Gaza — the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel — and it will ultimately come. The government's annexation moves are taking us further away from this solution and guaranteeing many more years of bloodshed.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Analysis-Diplomacy or defiance: Iran's rulers face existential choice after US-Israeli strikes
By Parisa Hafezi DUBAI (Reuters) -Weakened by war and diplomatic deadlock, Iran's clerical elite stands at a crossroads: defy pressure to halt its nuclear activity and risk further Israeli and U.S. attack, or concede and risk a leadership fracture. For now, the Islamic Republic establishment is focusing on immediate survival over longer-term political strategy. A fragile ceasefire ended a 12-day war in June that began with Israeli air strikes, followed by U.S. bunker-busting bombings of three underground Iranian nuclear sites. Both sides declared victory but the war exposed the military vulnerabilities and punctured the image of deterrence maintained by a major Middle East power and Israel's arch regional foe. Three Iranian insiders told Reuters the political establishment now views negotiations with the U.S. - aimed at resolving a decades-long dispute over its nuclear ambitions - as the only way to avoid further escalation and existential peril. The strikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets, which included killings of top Revolutionary Guard commanders and nuclear scientists, shocked Tehran, kicking off just a day before a planned sixth round of talks with Washington. While Tehran accused Washington of "betraying diplomacy", some hardline lawmakers and military commanders blamed officials who advocated diplomacy with Washington, arguing the dialogue proved a "strategic trap" that distracted the armed forces. However, one political insider, who like others requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, said the leadership now leaned towards talks as "they've seen the cost of military confrontation". President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that resuming talks with the United States "does not mean we intend to surrender", addressing hardliners opposing further nuclear diplomacy after the war. He added: "You don't want to talk? What do you want to do? ... Do you want to go (back) to war?" His remarks were criticised by hardliners including Revolutionary Guards commander Aziz Ghazanfari, who warned that foreign policy demands discretion and that careless statements could have serious consequences. Ultimately, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holds the final say. Insiders said he and the clerical power structure had reached a consensus to resume nuclear negotiations, viewing them as vital to the Islamic Republic's survival. Iran's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. DYNAMICS AND EXTERNAL PRESSURE U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned they will not hesitate to hit Iran again if it resumes enrichment of uranium, a possible pathway to developing nuclear weapons. Last week, Trump warned that if Iran restarted enrichment despite the June strikes on its key production plants, "we'll be back'. Tehran responded with a vow of forceful retaliation. Still, Tehran fears future strikes could cripple political and military coordination, and so has formed a defence council to ensure command continuity even if the 87-year-old Khamenei must relocate to a remote hideaway to avoid assassination. Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C., said that if Iran seeks to rapidly rebuild its nuclear capacity without securing diplomatic or security guarantees, "a U.S.–Israeli strike won't just be possible - it will be all but inevitable". "Re-entering talks could buy Tehran valuable breathing room and economic relief, but without swift U.S. reciprocity it risks a hardline backlash, deepening elite divisions, and fresh accusations of surrender," Vatanka said. Tehran insists on its right to uranium enrichment as part of what it maintains is a peaceful nuclear energy programme, while the Trump administration demands a total halt - a core sticking point in the diplomatic standoff. Renewed United Nations sanctions under the so-called "snapback" mechanism, pushed by three European powers, loom as a further threat if Tehran refuses to return to negotiations or if no verifiable deal to curb its nuclear activity results. Tehran has threatened to quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But insiders say this is a pressure tactic, not a realistic plan - as exiting the NPT would telegraph an Iranian race for nuclear bombs and invite U.S. and Israeli intervention. A senior Western diplomat said Iran's rulers were vulnerable as never before, and any defiance was a gamble liable to backfire at a time of rising domestic unrest, impaired deterrence power and Israel's disabling of Iran's militia proxies in wars around the Middle East since 2023. MOUNTING ANXIETY Among ordinary Iranians, weariness over war and international isolation runs deep, compounded by a growing sense of failed governance. The oil-based economy, already hobbled by sanctions and state mismanagement, is under worsening strain. Daily blackouts afflict cities around the country of 87 million people, forcing many businesses to cut back. Reservoirs have receded to record lows, prompting warnings from the government of a looming 'national water emergency.' Many Iranians - even those opposed to the Shi'ite theocracy - rallied behind the country during the June war, but now face lost incomes and intensified repression. Alireza, 43, a furniture merchant in Tehran, said he is considering downsizing his business and relocating his family outside the capital amid fears of further air attack. "This is the result of 40 years of failed policies," he said, alluding to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Western-backed monarchy. "We are a resource-rich country and yet people don't have water and electricity. My customers have no money. My business is collapsing." At least 20 people across Iran interviewed by phone echoed Alireza's sentiment - that while most Iranians do not want another war, they are also losing faith in the establishment's capacity to govern wisely. Despite broad discontent, large-scale protests have not broken out. Instead, authorities have tightened security, ramped up pressure on pro-democracy activists, accelerated executions and cracked down on alleged Israeli-linked spy networks - fuelling fears of widening surveillance and repression. However, sidelined moderates have resurfaced in state media after years of exclusion. Some analysts see this as a move to ally public anxiety and signal the possibility of reform from within - without "regime change" that would shift core policies. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Mark Heinrich) Solve the daily Crossword
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Israeli official says settlement construction he's OK'd in West Bank "finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state"
Israel's far-right finance minister announced approval Thursday of the construction of a contentious settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that Palestinians and rights groups worry would scuttle plans for a future Palestinian state by effectively cutting the West Bank into two separate parts. The announcement comes as several major U.S. allies have announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September. "This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize," said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. "Anyone in the world who tries today to recognize a Palestinian state - will receive an answer from us on the ground." Development in E1, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen due to U.S. pressure during previous administrations. On Thursday, Smotrich praised President Trump and U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee as "true friends of Israel as we have never had before." The E1 plan hasn't yet received its final approval, which is expected next week. The plan includes around 3,500 apartments to expand the settlement of Maale Adumim, Smotrich said. While some bureaucratic steps remain, if the process moves quickly, infrastructure work could begin in the next few months and construction of homes could start in around a year. Rights groups swiftly condemned the plan. Peace Now called it "deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution" that is "guaranteeing many more years of bloodshed." The Palestinian foreign ministry called the plan an extension of crimes of what it says are genocide, displacement and annexation, the Reuters news agency reports. Israel fiercely denies those characterizations. It wasn't immediately clear if Netanyahu backs the E1 plan, Reuters said. Smotrich's popularity has dropped in recent months, Reuters notes, with polls showing his party wouldn't win a single seat if parliamentary elections were held today.
