DUBAI: Iranian oil exports will continue regardless of who is elected as the next US president, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji said on Wednesday, amid concerns that a Donald Trump presidency could curb Iranian crude sales.
“Whatever government comes to power in the United States will not be able to prevent Iranian oil exports,” Owji said in comments quoted by Iran’s official news agency IRNA.
In 2018, then-President Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear pact with Iran and re-imposed sanctions which hurt Iran’s oil sector, with production dropping to 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd).
US President Joe Biden took office in 2021 and since then Iran has managed to raise output to 3.5 million bpd while tripling exports, according to Owji.
Iran has expanded oil trade with China.
Iran will elect a new president on June 28 following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.
The US presidential election is scheduled for November 5.
No future US government can prevent Iran oil exports, minister says
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No future US government can prevent Iran oil exports, minister says
- In 2018, then-President Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear pact with Iran and re-imposed sanctions which hurt Iran’s oil sector
- US President Joe Biden took office in 2021 and since then Iran has managed to raise output to 3.5 million bpd while tripling exports
Jordan FM says Israel ‘killing all prospects’ for regional peace
- His comments came after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz approved a plan to conquer Gaza City, an urban area home to hundreds of thousands of people in the north of the Palestinian territory
MOSCOW: Jordan’s foreign minister said Wednesday that Israel’s assault on Gaza had caused “massacres and starvation” and that its wider actions were “killing all prospects” for peace in the Middle East.
His comments came after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz approved a plan to conquer Gaza City, an urban area home to hundreds of thousands of people in the north of the Palestinian territory.
Most of the territory’s population has been displaced since the war began, many repeatedly, according to the United Nations.
Addressing Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov at a meeting in Moscow, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said he hoped to discuss “efforts to end the aggression on Gaza, and the massacres and starvation that it is creating.”
This was in addition to the “illegal measures that continue to undermine the two-state solution and kill all prospects for peace in the region,” he added.
“We value your clear position against the war and your demand for reaching a permanent ceasefire,” he told Lavrov.
Israel denies its military targets civilians and says that there is no “policy of starvation” in Gaza.
The Israeli government’s plans to expand the war have triggered a wave of international condemnation as well as domestic protests.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,064 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza, which the United Nations considers reliable.
NATO chiefs to discuss Ukraine security guarantees
- Few details have leaked on the virtual meeting of military chiefs from NATO’s 32 member countries
Brussels, Belgium: NATO military chiefs were set Wednesday to discuss the details of eventual security guarantees for Ukraine, pushing ahead the flurry of global diplomacy aiming to broker an end to Russia’s war.
But even as diplomatic efforts continued Wednesday, Russian forces claimed fresh advances on the ground and Ukrainian officials reported more deaths from Moscow’s missiles.
Few details have leaked on the virtual meeting of military chiefs from NATO’s 32 member countries, which is due to start at 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT).
But on Tuesday evening top US officer Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held talks with European military chiefs on the “best options for a potential Ukraine peace deal,” a US defense official told AFP.
US President Donald Trump brought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to the White House Monday, three days after his landmark encounter with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Trump, long a fierce critic of the billions of dollars in US support to Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022, earlier said European nations were “willing to put people on the ground” to secure any settlement. He ruled out sending US troops but suggested it would provide air support instead.
But while Trump said Putin had agreed to meet Zelensky and accept some Western security guarantees for Ukraine, Kyiv and Western capitals have responded cautiously, as many of the details remain vague.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Telegram Wednesday that its troops had captured the villages of Sukhetske and Pankivka in the embattled Donetsk region.
They are near a section of the front where the Russian army broke through Ukrainian defenses last week, between the logistics hub of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka.
In the eastern Kharkiv region, the prosecutor’s office said a Russian drone strike on a civilian vehicle had killed two people, aged 70 and 71.
Russian glide bombs hit housing in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka overnight, trapping as many as four people under rubble, said the town’s military administration chief Sergiy Gorbunov.
And Russia aerial attacks on the northeastern town of Okhtyrka in the Sumy region wounded at least 14 people, including three children, according to regional governor Oleg Grygorov.
Zelensky said these latest strikes showed “the need to put pressure on Moscow,” including through sanctions.
Syrian, Israeli diplomats met in Paris to discuss de-escalation: Syrian state media
- Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer attended the meeting on Tuesday, along with Syria’s intelligence chief, Syrian state television said
DAMASCUS: Syria’s foreign minister met with an Israeli delegation in Paris to discuss de-escalation and the situation in Druze-majority Sweida province after deadly sectarian violence last month, state media reported Wednesday.
Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer attended the meeting on Tuesday, along with Syria’s intelligence chief, Syrian state television said, citing an unnamed government source.
The meeting discussed “de-escalation and non-interference in Syria’s internal affairs” and addressed monitoring the Sweida ceasefire announced by the United States last month, state news agency SANA said.
“Both sides affirmed their commitment to the unity of Syrian territory, their rejection of any projects aiming to divide it,” and emphasized that Sweida and its Druze citizens are an integral part of Syria, the broadcaster reported the source as saying.
A week of violence began on July 13 with clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin, but rapidly escalated, drawing in government forces, with Israel also carrying out strikes.
Israel, which has its own Druze community, has said it acted to defend the minority group as well as to enforce its own demands for the demilitarization of southern Syria.
“These talks are taking place under US mediation, as part of diplomatic efforts aimed at enhancing security and stability in Syria and preserving the unity and integrity of its territory,” SANA said, adding they resulted in “understandings that support stability in the region.”
Israel and Syria have technically remained at war since 1948.
As an Islamist-led offensive late last year toppled longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad, Israel deployed troops to the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights which has separated Israeli and Syrian forces since the armistice that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
State television said “the two sides discussed the need to reach a clear mechanism to reactivate the 1974 disengagement agreement... and establish a more stable environment.”
Discussions also addressed the humanitarian situation in southern Syria, with both parties agreeing on “the need to intensify assistance for the people of Sweida and the Bedouin,” it reported.
Hundreds demonstrated in Sweida on Saturday, calling for self-determination and some raising Israeli flags and accusing Damascus of imposing a blockade, something officials have denied, pointing to the entry of several aid convoys.
Paris hosted a similar meeting between Shaibani and Dermer last month, while a diplomatic source previously told AFP that other face-to-face meetings were held in Baku.
US envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack said on X late Tuesday that he met with Israeli Druze spiritual leader Mowafaq Tarif, discussing Sweida “and how to bring together the interests of all parties, de-escalate tensions, and build understanding.”
Attack on Darfur hospital kills one: MSF
- The hospital in Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur state, was attacked by armed relatives of a patient who had died of a gunshot wound
KHARTOUM: An armed assault on a hospital in the war-ravaged Darfur region of Sudan killed one person, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Wednesday, adding it had been forced to suspend operations.
Five people were also wounded in last week's attack, one of them a health worker supported by MSF, it added.
Since the war between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023, more than 120 aid workers have been killed, according to the United Nations.
"Humanitarian needs in Sudan have reached unprecedented levels. Yet those who step forward to help -- our frontline aid workers -- are being attacked, detained, harassed and even killed," UN humanitarian coordinator Luca Renda said Tuesday.
The hospital in Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur state, was attacked by armed relatives of a patient who had died of a gunshot wound. They then clashed with other armed individuals.
A hand grenade went off in front of the emergency room, causing the casualties.
The facility was the only referral hospital serving the area's population of around half a million, who are currently facing a deadly cholera outbreak.
According to Sudan's doctors' union, 90 percent of the country's hospitals have been forced to close at some point during the war. Many have been repeatedly bombed, stormed by fighters and looted of all supplies.
Doctors have themselves been attacked and forced to operate on fighters at gunpoint.
Nearly 25 million people in Sudan face dire hunger, with millions cut off from life-saving aid.
UAE aircraft dispatched to battle wildfires in Montenegro
DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates said it has dispatched a firefighting aircraft to join efforts to extinguish wildfires in the Republic of Montenegro.
“The team is actively working to combat fires across multiple areas of the country,” reported state-run WAM News Agency.
The aircraft departed Abu Dhabi on Monday for Podgorica carrying essential equipment and supplies.
The decision reflects the “solidarity of the UAE’s leadership and people with the government and people of Montenegro in addressing the unprecedented wildfire disaster,” WAM added.
