Several dead in US strikes on Yemen and submarine sinks off Egypt
On today's episode of Trending Middle East:
Two killed in strikes on Yemeni capital as US maintains pressure on Houthis
What Signalgate says about America's attitude to Yemen
Kurdish 'Foxtrot' gangster flees Turkey to avoid extradition to Sweden
Six dead after tourist submarine sinks off Egypt's Red Sea coast
This episode features The National 's Mina Aldroubi and Tariq Taher.
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The National
16 hours ago
- The National
Normality on the streets, anxiety in the air: Tehran's people fear peace is illusory, renewed war inevitable
As the smoke of war clears over Iran, the scent of saffron once again fills the aisles of Tehran's Tajrish bazaar, where life appears to be back to normal almost two months after the conflict with Israel ended. The capital's jammed streets, bustling malls, reopened cafes and renewed festivals paint a picture of recovery. Yet, under the skin, Iranians are grappling with jitters of a conflict that could reignite at any moment. 'Yes, things are very much normal. We travel, we work, and listen to music. But every day I check the news with my heart in my throat,' Fereshteh Naeemi, a 34-year-old shopkeeper in the Tajrish bazaar, told The National. 'One day Israel threatens; the other day Iran says something. I try to stay away from the news, but it's inevitable. Everyone's talking about it. We live with this stress every day.' Iranians are not only faced with the continuous war of words between Israel and Iran, but also the economic pressures and security reshuffles that reflect Tehran's efforts to regroup and prepare for a possible return to fighting. Meanwhile, the country's leadership is doing everything to project normality. State broadcaster IRIB has dropped its wartime analysis shows and resumed routine programming. The supreme leader's latest address was delivered standing – rather than seated as usual – to symbolise resilience and survival. And perhaps most strikingly, the absence of morality police on the streets is seen as an attempt to rally different voices under the banner of national unity. But to many Iranians, these moves feel staged rather than organic. 'It feels like the 1980s' When Iranians woke up on June 13 to massive blasts in the heart of Tehran – scenes they had only seen in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza – they concluded it was finally Iran's turn. Israel, which for years had branded Iran as the 'head of the snake' of the so-called Axis of Resistance, had unleashed its strikes. It was over, many thought. Iran was caught off guard – not just its air defences, but people's psyche and above all, the economy. Prices skyrocketed. Food inflation surged by 50 per cent and some items, including bottled water, vanished off supermarket shelves as families scrambled to flee big cities, especially Tehran. The government moved quickly to stabilise prices and prevent unrest. It worked, and the focus rapidly shifted back to the war itself. Fast-forward to after the war, as Tehran's residents trickled back and were confronted by new prices. Bread and rice had doubled, gold soared and the rial collapsed past 900,000 to the US dollar. Meanwhile, property sales across the capital slumped amid fears that the conflict would resume. 'It feels like the 1980s again,' Hossein Javanzadeh, a 63-year-old taxi driver who remembers the Iran-Iraq war, told The National. 'Back then, too, everyone stopped buying houses. All they wanted was dollars and gold. It's the same now. Nobody knows what's coming next.' Iran's nuclear policy reflects the same duality. Its leaders maintain deliberate ambiguity – projecting their programme's resilience while simultaneously signalling an openness to dialogue. Military reshuffle Deep underground, uncertainty is even greater. Key atomic sites, including Natanz with its 60 per cent enrichment capacity and the heavily fortified Fordow facility, were struck by Israel and the US. While surface damage is visible in satellite imagery, the impact on underground infrastructure remains unclear. Both Iran and the US agree the strikes slowed enrichment, but Iran says it had removed its 400kg of highly enriched uranium beforehand. Since the end of the conflict, no media, even state outlets, have been allowed access to the underground facilities. Observers say this ' strategic ambiguity ' allows Iran to shield itself from war while keeping diplomacy on the table. 'Iran's playing a skilful game of shadowboxing with its nuclear plans,' Iran-based journalist and commentator Amir Jaber says. 'It talks about surviving the strikes but hides its wounds, telling the west: 'Come talk, but don't expect to peek inside yet.' 'It buys Tehran time to rebuild and maybe push its nuclear programme further, but it's risky. If Israel and the US think Iran's too close to dangerous enrichment levels, they might skip talks and decide to strike again.' In the wake of unprecedented losses among Iran's top brass, the fiery anti-Israeli speeches once delivered by commanders have fallen silent, giving way to a new rhetoric that mixes defiance with pragmatism. Tehran has also moved to reshuffle its command structure. The creation of a Supreme National Defence Council, chaired by President Masoud Pezeshkian, shows that Iran's security architecture needed reshaping. The decision to reappoint Ali Larijani as head of the Supreme National Security Council further underscores a push for synergy in command should war reignite. Overall, Iran's military movements are silent, but they carry the unmistakable scent of war, which is detected not only on military bases but also mingles in the saffron-scented streets of Tehran. 'We must be prepared at every moment for confrontation. Right now, we are not even in a ceasefire [agreement]; we are in a cessation of hostilities,' said First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref this week.
Middle East Eye
a day ago
- Middle East Eye
UAE anti-terror laws 'cover' for crackdown on peaceful dissent, report shows
The United Arab Emirates' landmark 2014 anti-terror law is being used as a tool of political control rather than a way to protect national security, a new report by Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) said. The non-governmental organisation was founded in 2005 by Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Tawakkol Karman. In a 48-page report released last week, the findings point to vague legal provisions in the UAE that allow for what the authors have couched as dangerous prosecutorial overreach. Federal Law No. 7 of 2014 represents the UAE's most comprehensive legal instrument addressing terrorism-related offenses. It was created because of a confluence of regional instability and the UAE's own strategic recalibration. There was also the regional rise of the Islamic State, which added to the urgency of the law's development. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Reformists have also long said that the law was designed to halt the rise of a popular brand of political Islam in the early 2010s. But its criminalisation efforts under broad terms such as "offending the state" and "undermining national unity" raise significant human rights concerns, the report said. "Compounding this issue is the law's reference to individuals who 'threaten', 'aim', 'plan', or 'seek' to commit terrorist crimes - formulations so vague that they could encompass expressions of opinion, political advocacy or even the exercise of conscience," the authors said. As a result, Federal Law No. 7 has caused the suppression of civil society engagement and dissent, leading to the detention of journalists, lawyers and academics, and creating a chilling effect across the country, the report explained. Among the most notable cases are individuals who received a decade or longer prison sentences for being part of the so-called 'UAE 94': when 94 activists were prosecuted for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2012-2013. UAE top court upholds life terms for 24 convicted in mass trial Read More » The detainees were largely affiliated with the political reform party al-Islah, whose approach was solely non-violent. But for some of the most high profile dissidents, serving their sentence was not enough - the UAE tried several of them again in 2022-2023 under the vague terms of the 2014 anti-terror law, and extended their sentences, the report showed. Many of the alleged activities in the case that became known as the 'UAE 84' in its second round pre-dated the anti-terror law itself, raising concerns about the retroactive application of criminal law. Human rights lawyer Mohammed al-Roken - after spending a decade in prison - is now serving a life sentence for opposing the act of citizenship revocation by the Emirati government, the report said. Activists Maryam al-Balushi and Amina al-Abdouli were sentenced to an additional three years in prison in 2021 for "publishing information that disturbs public order", after they shared audio recordings with United Nations Special Procedures, in which they described torture and abuse in UAE prisons. "The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that both women were subjected to unfair trials and arbitrary detention. Their cases demonstrate how the law is used to silence prisoners who expose abuse, even while in custody," the report said. And even though they are now working in exile, Mohammed al-Zaabi and Hamad al-Shamsi, who remain advocates for the UAE's political prisoners, have been added to the country's terrorism blacklist. Recommendations But it's not just criticism of the UAE and its ruling family that has landed people in prison. The economist Nasser bin Ghaith has been arrested multiple times for his critical views of regional governments. In 2017 he was sentenced to a decade behind bars on charges including "offending the state" and "communicating with banned groups". Families of political prisoners often face harassment, travel bans and surveillance, and live in fear of acts of retaliation, the report also said. "These cases reflect the systematic use of counterterrorism legislation to dismantle civil society, criminalize peaceful expression and suppress legitimate dissent rather than targeting genuine threats," WJWC noted. Punishments in the UAE for perceived terror offenses also far exceed the international standard, it showed. "Arbitrary deprivation of liberty is prohibited; detention must be time-bound and subject to judicial oversight," the report said, adding that there must be "independent and transparent investigations into all torture allegations, holding perpetrators accountable". But the UAE allows for indefinite detention in "counseling centres" even after a prison sentence is served, without a clear path to contest continued detention. There are also no independent authorities to investigate torture complaints, which are widespread, the report indicated. "The UAE's continued failure to ratify key international treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and its non-compliance with obligations under instruments it has ratified - such as the Convention Against Torture - highlight a profound gap between international human rights commitments and domestic legal practice," the authors wrote. The WJWC also issued a call to "international actors - including UN bodies, human rights organisations and the UAE's Western allies - to exert meaningful diplomatic and policy pressure to encourage reforms". The report argued that because the UAE presents itself as a key global counterterrorism partner, it legitimises its policies to governments abroad, when it is only further asserting authoritarian control. The WJWC urged immediate changes toward detailing the language in the anti-terror law, ensuring transparency in independent judicial proceedings and allowing public access to trials. It called for the repeal of provisions allowing for indefinite detention, and a "guarantee" that any "rehabilitation" programmes are in fact voluntary. The UAE must also assume full engagement with UN human rights bodies and allow for country visits for compliance assessments, the WJWC argued.
The National
2 days ago
- The National
Trump administration has revoked more than 6,000 student visas
President Donald Trump 's administration has revoked more than 6,000 student visas since January 20, the State Department confirmed to The National on Monday. The State Department, which is responsible for issuing and overseeing visas, said that it had revoked the visas for a host of reasons including ' overstays and law violations". Fox News, which first reported the story, quoted a department official as saying the majority of infractions were for 'assault, DUI [driving under the influence], burglary and support for terrorism". The State Department said that about 200 to 300 of the visas were revoked under INA 3B, a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows for the revocation or refusal of visas on terrorism grounds. The Trump administration has accused universities of failing to clamp down on anti-Semitism and has taken particular aim at foreign students who protested in support of Palestine during a wave of campus demonstrations last year. In pursuit of this aim, immigration officers have made several controversial arrests, including former Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil. Mr Khalil, a legal US resident who played a prominent role in pro-Palestine campus protests, was arrested in March by plainclothes immigration officers who said his green card had been revoked. He was released on bail in June and has filed a $20 million lawsuit against the Trump administration. visitor visas for Gazans, even those seeking medical treatment after being injured in Israel's war on the enclave.
