Netanyahu causing 'great problems' for Iran and the region
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
Hamas agrees terms for Gaza ceasefire, source tells Al Jazeera
Hamas agrees terms for Gaza ceasefire, source tells Al Jazeera NewsFeed A Hamas source told Al Jazeera the group has agreed terms for a ceasefire in Gaza, as a step towards ending the war. The plan calls for a 60-day pause in fighting and the release of half of Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Al Jazeera's Hamda Salhut reports. Video Duration 00 minutes 55 seconds 00:55 Video Duration 01 minutes 02 seconds 01:02 Video Duration 00 minutes 54 seconds 00:54 Video Duration 00 minutes 37 seconds 00:37 Video Duration 01 minutes 03 seconds 01:03 Video Duration 03 minutes 05 seconds 03:05 Video Duration 01 minutes 22 seconds 01:22
Al Jazeera
6 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Iran's president visits Armenia for talks on US-backed Azerbaijan corridor
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is visiting Armenia for talks on a planned corridor linking Azerbaijan near the border with his country, days after Iran said it would block the project included in a United States-brokered peace accord that puts a potential Washington presence on Iran's doorstep. The land corridor, dubbed the 'Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity' (TRIPP), is part of a deal signed earlier this month in Washington between former foes Armenia and Azerbaijan. US President Donald Trump said the deal granted the US exclusive developmental rights to the transport corridor. Washington was also signing bilateral agreements with both countries to increase cooperation in areas like energy, trade and technology, including artificial intelligence. Before departing for the Armenian capital Yerevan on Monday, Pezeshkian described the possible presence of American companies in the region as 'worrying.' 'We will discuss it [with Armenian officials] and express our concerns,' he told state television. The proposed route would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave, passing near the Iranian border. Tehran has long opposed the planned transit route, also known as the Zangezur corridor, fearing it would cut the country off from Armenia and the rest of the Caucasus while bringing potentially hostile foreign forces close to its borders. Since the deal was signed on August 8, Iranian officials have stepped up warnings to Armenia, saying the project could be part of a US ploy 'to pursue hegemonic goals in the Caucasus region'. On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described it as a 'sensitive' issue, saying Tehran's main concern is that it could 'lead to geopolitical changes in the region'. 'They [Armenian officials] have assured us that no American forces … or American security companies will be present in Armenia under the pretext of this route,' he told the official IRNA news agency. The proposed corridor has been hailed as beneficial by other countries in the region including Russia, with which Iran has a strategic alliance alongside Armenia. Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said Tehran would block the initiative 'with or without Russia'. Trump 'thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years', Velayati told state-affiliated Tasnim News soon after the deal was signed, adding that the area would become 'a graveyard for Trump's mercenaries'. Moscow cautiously welcomed the deal, saying that it supported efforts to promote stability and prosperity in the region. Similarly to Iran, however, it warned against outside intervention, arguing that lasting solutions should be developed by countries in the region. Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan that had a mostly ethnic Armenian population at the time, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan Baku took control of the territory in a military operation in 2023, leading to an exodus of the ethnic Armenian population. Armenia last year agreed to return several villages to Azerbaijan in what Baku described as a 'long-awaited historic event'.
Al Jazeera
8 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Qatari PM, Egyptian president back efforts to reach Gaza ceasefire
Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to discuss a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as Israel intensifies its offensive to seize Gaza City. 'El-Sisi and the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar stressed the importance of efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza,' according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency on Monday. The two leaders 'affirmed their rejection of the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and the displacement of Palestinians', as Israel plans to seize Gaza City and force Palestinians from the enclave's main urban centre. They also insisted that establishing a Palestinian state is 'the path to peace'. A source told Al Jazeera that 'intensive discussions' are currently taking place in Egypt between a Hamas delegation and mediators. Hamas, which governs Gaza, has been calling for a ceasefire, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rebuffed the offer. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been mediating between Israel and Hamas since the beginning of the war in Gaza that has killed 62,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children. Efforts by mediators have so far failed to secure a lasting ceasefire in the ongoing war, which over more than 22 months has created a dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. A truce brokered by Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators that came into force in January was broken by Israel in March. Since then, it has imposed a total blockade, causing famine and starvation. More than 260 Palestinians have died due to the Israeli-induced starvation crisis. The latest round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, facilitated in Doha by mediators, lasted for several weeks before ending on July 25 without any results. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, visiting the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Monday, said that Qatar's prime minister was visiting 'to consolidate our existing common efforts in order to apply maximum pressure on the two sides to reach a deal as soon as possible'. Alluding to the dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip, where United Nations agencies and aid groups have warned of a humanitarian crisis, Abdelatty stressed the urgency of reaching an agreement. 'The current situation on the ground is beyond imagination,' he said. Thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee again from Gaza City ahead of an impending Israeli offensive. 'Genocides don't end through negotiated solutions' Commenting on the Qatari prime minister's trip to Egypt, Abdullah Al-Arian, an associate professor of history at Georgetown University in Qatar, said it was important to remember that similar negotiations have occurred before, but it is 'a lack of Israeli political will' that has ultimately stalled them. Israel 'has continued to pursue this genocide and taking it to new, horrific, unprecedented levels', he told Al Jazeera, adding that there has been a lack of international pressure to secure a ceasefire agreement. 'Historically, genocides don't end through negotiated solutions … They end usually because the party that committed the genocide is forced to end it, usually through external pressure, external intervention of some kind, and that has not happened yet,' the academic stressed. On Monday, human rights group Amnesty International accused Israel of enacting a 'deliberate policy' of starvation in Gaza as the UN and aid groups continued to warn of famine in the Palestinian enclave. In a report quoting displaced Palestinians and medical staff who have treated malnourished children, Amnesty said: 'Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip.' The UN and the international community have been slamming Israel for blocking necessary aid from entering the war-torn enclave.
