DUBAI: Iran will reciprocate if its ships are seized, the legal adviser to Iran’s President told state media on Thursday, in response to a statement by the United States Department of Justice.
This month, the Department of Justice issued a statement announcing the seizure of more than 500,000 barrels of Iranian fuel to clamp down on the “Revolutionary Guards’ financing network.”
“If an Iranian ship is seized, we will reciprocate and the legal way is not closed in this regard,” legal adviser Mohammad Dehghan said, adding that he was not able to confirm whether US authorities had seized an Iranian vessel.
Court orders by Iran’s judicial system have often been grounds for the seizure of foreign tankers by the Revolutionary Guards.
Since late last year, global shipping has been disrupted in the Red Sea as Iran-aligned Houthi fighters in Yemen have targeted ships in support of the Palestinian Hamas group in its conflict with Israel.
Iran will reciprocate if its ships are seized, official says
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Iran will reciprocate if its ships are seized, official says

- US Department of Justice issued a statement announcing the seizure of more than 500,000 barrels of Iranian fuel
Under pressure, Hezbollah weighs scaling back its arsenal
Another senior official, who is familiar with Hezbollah’s internal deliberations, said the group had been holding clandestine discussions on its next steps
BEIRUT: Hezbollah has begun a major strategic review in the wake of its devastating war with Israel, including considering scaling back its role as an armed movement without disarming completely, three sources familiar with the deliberations say.
The internal discussions, which aren’t yet finalized and haven’t previously been reported, reflect the formidable pressures the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group has faced since a truce was reached in late November.
Israeli forces continue to strike areas where the group holds sway, accusing Hezbollah of ceasefire violations, which it denies. It is also grappling with acute financial strains, US demands for its disarmament and diminished political clout since a new cabinet took office in February with US support.
The group’s difficulties have been compounded by seismic shifts in the regional power balance since Israel decimated its command, killed thousands of its fighters and destroyed much of its arsenal last year.
Hezbollah’s Syrian ally, Bashar Assad, was toppled in December, severing a key arms supply line from Iran. Tehran is now emerging from its own bruising war with Israel, raising doubts over how much aid it can offer, a regional security source and a senior Lebanese official told Reuters.
Another senior official, who is familiar with Hezbollah’s internal deliberations, said the group had been holding clandestine discussions on its next steps. Small committees have been meeting in person or remotely to discuss issues including its leadership structure, political role, social and development work, and weapons, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The official and two other sources familiar with the discussions indicated Hezbollah has concluded that the arsenal it had amassed to deter Israel from attacking Lebanon had become a liability.
Hezollah “had an excess of power,” the official said. “All that strength turned into a weak point.”
Under the leadership of Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed last year, Hezbollah grew into a regional military player with tens of thousands of fighters, rockets and drones poised to strike Israel. It also provided support to allies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Israel came to regard Hezbollah as a significant threat. When the group opened fire in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in 2023, Israel responded with airstrikes in Lebanon that escalated into a ground offensive.
Hezbollah has since relinquished a number of weapons depots in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese armed forces as stipulated in last year’s truce, though Israel says it has struck military infrastructure there still linked to the group.
Hezbollah is now considering turning over some weapons it has elsewhere in the country — notably missiles and drones seen as the biggest threat to Israel — on condition Israel withdraws from the south and halts its attacks, the sources said.
But the group won’t surrender its entire arsenal, the sources said. For example, it intends to keep lighter arms and anti-tank missiles, they said, describing them as a means to resist any future attacks.
Hezbollah’s media office did not respond to questions for this article.
Isreal’s military said it would continue operating along its northern border in accordance with the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, in order eliminate any threat and protect Israeli citizens. The US State Department declined to comment on private diplomatic conversations, referring questions to Lebanon’s government. Lebanon’s presidency did not respond to questions.
For Hezbollah to preserve any military capabilities would fall short of Israeli and US ambitions. Under the terms of the ceasefire brokered by the US and France, Lebanon’s armed forces were to confiscate “all unauthorized arms,” beginning in the area south of the Litani River — the zone closest to Israel.
Lebanon’s government also wants Hezbollah to surrender the rest of its weapons as it works to establish a state monopoly on arms. Failure to do so could stir tensions with the group’s Lebanese rivals, which accuse Hezbollah of leveraging its military might to impose its will in state affairs and repeatedly dragging Lebanon into conflicts.
All sides have said they remain committed to the ceasefire, even as they traded accusations of violations.
PART OF HEZBOLLAH’S ‘DNA’
Arms have been central to Hezbollah’s doctrine since it was founded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to fight Israeli forces who invaded Lebanon in 1982, at the height of the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war. Tensions over the Shiite Muslim group’s arsenal sparked another, brief civil conflict in 2008.
The United States and Israel deem Hezbollah a terrorist group.
Nicholas Blanford, who wrote a history of Hezbollah, said that in order to reconstitute itself, the group would have to justify its retention of weapons in an increasingly hostile political landscape, while addressing damaging intelligence breaches and ensuring its long-term finances.
“They’ve faced challenges before, but not this number simultaneously,” said Blanford, a fellow with the Atlantic Council, a US think tank.
A European official familiar with intelligence assessments said there was a lot of brainstorming underway within Hezbollah about its future but no clear outcomes. The official described Hezbollah’s status as an armed group as part of its DNA, saying it would be difficult for it to become a purely political party.
Nearly a dozen sources familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking said the group wants to keep some arms, not only in case of future threats from Israel, but also because it is worried that Sunni Muslim jihadists in neighboring Syria might exploit lax security to attack eastern Lebanon, a Shiite-majority region.
Despite the catastrophic results of the latest war with Israel — tens of thousands of people were left homeless and swathes of the south and Beirut’s southern suburbs were destroyed — many of Hezbollah’s core supporters want it to remain armed.
Um Hussein, whose son died fighting for Hezbollah, cited the threat still posed by Israel and a history of conflict with Lebanese rivals as reasons to do so.
“Hezbollah is the backbone of the Shiites, even if it is weak now,” she said, asking to be identified by a traditional nickname because members of her family still belong to Hezbollah. “We were a weak, poor group. Nobody spoke up for us.”
Hezbollah’s immediate priority is tending to the needs of constituents who withstood the worst of the war, the sources familiar with its deliberations said.
In December, Secretary General Naim Qassem said Hezbollah had paid more than $50 million to affected families with more than $25 million still to hand out. But there are signs that its funds are running short.
One Beirut resident said he had paid for repairs to his apartment in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs after it was damaged in the war only to see the entire block destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in June.
“Everyone is scattered and homeless. No one has promised to pay for our shelter,” said the man, who declined to be identified for fear his complaints might jeopardize his chances of receiving compensation.
He said he had received cheques from Hezbollah but was told by the group’s financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hassan, that it did not have funds available to cash them. Reuters could not immediately reach the institution for comment.
Other indications of financial strain have included cutbacks to free medications offered by Hezbollah-run pharmacies, three people familiar with the operations said.
SQUEEZING HEZBOLLAH FINANCES
Hezbollah has put the onus on Lebanon’s government to secure reconstruction funding. But Foreign Minister Youssef Raji, a Hezbollah critic, has said there will be no aid from foreign donors until the state establishes a monopoly on arms.
A State Department spokesperson said in May that, while Washington was engaged in supporting sustainable reconstruction in Lebanon, “this cannot happen without Hezbollah laying down their arms.”
Israel has also been squeezing Hezbollah’s finances.
The Israeli military said on June 25 that it had killed an Iranian official who oversaw hundreds of millions of dollars in transfers annually to armed groups in the region, as well as a man in southern Lebanon who ran a currency exchange business that helped get some of these funds to Hezbollah.
Iran did not comment at the time, and its UN mission did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters.
Since February, Lebanon has barred commercial flights between Beirut and Tehran, after Israel’s military accused Hezbollah of using civilian aircraft to bring in money from Iran and threatened to take action to stop this.
Lebanese authorities have also tightened security at Beirut airport, where Hezbollah had free rein for years, making it harder for the group to smuggle in funds that way, according to an official and a security source familiar with airport operations.
Such moves have fueled anger among Hezbollah’s supporters toward the administration led by President Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam, who was made prime minister against Hezbollah’s wishes.
Alongside its Shiite ally, the Amal Movement, Hezbollah swept local elections in May, with many seats uncontested. The group will be seeking to preserve its dominance in legislative elections next year.
Nabil Boumonsef, deputy editor-in-chief of Lebanon’s Annahar newspaper, said next year’s poll was part of an “existential battle” for Hezbollah.
“It will use all the means it can, firstly to play for time so it doesn’t have to disarm, and secondly to make political and popular gains,” he said.
UN records 613 killings in Gaza near humanitarian convoys or aid distribution points run by US group
UN records 613 killings in Gaza near humanitarian convoys or aid distribution points run by US group

- Deaths near aid points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and near humanitarian convoys
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: The UN human rights office said Friday it has recorded 613 killings in Gaza near humanitarian convoys and at aid distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organization since it first began operations in late May.
Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the rights office was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings. But she said “it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points” operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
She said it was not immediately clear how many of those killings had taken place at GHF sites, and how many occurred near convoys.
Speaking to reporters at a regular briefing, Shamdasani said the figures covered the period from May 27 through June 27, and “there have been further incidents” since then. She said she was basing the information on an internal situation report at the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Shamdasani said the figures, compiled through its standard vetting processes, were not likely to tell a complete picture, and “we will perhaps never be able to grasp the full scale of what’s happening here because of the lack of access” for UN teams to the areas.
Israeli military prepares plan to ensure Iran cannot threaten country, defense minister says

- Longtime enemies engaged in 12-day air war in June
- Israel and Iran agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24
DUBAI: The Israeli military is preparing an enforcement plan to “ensure that Iran cannot return to threaten Israel,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told senior military officials.
He said the military must be prepared, both in intelligence and operations, to ensure Israel has air superiority and to prevent Tehran from reestablishing its previous capabilities.
He made his remarks following a 12-day air war between the longtime enemies in June, during which Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities, saying the aim was to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies seeking nuclear arms and that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.
Israel and Iran agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire that ended hostilities on June 24.
Trump expects Hamas decision in 24 hours on ‘final’ Gaza peace proposal

- Israel has earlier agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday it would probably be known in 24 hours whether the Palestinian militant group Hamas has agreed to accept what he has called a “final proposal” for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza.
The president also said he had spoken to Saudi Arabia about expanding the Abraham Accords, the deal on normalization of ties that his administration negotiated between Israel and some Gulf countries during his first term.
Trump said on Tuesday Israel had accepted the conditions needed to finalize a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, during which the parties will work to end the war.
He was asked on Friday if Hamas had agreed to the latest ceasefire deal framework, and said: “We’ll see what happens, we are going to know over the next 24 hours.”
A source close to Hamas said on Thursday the Islamist group sought guarantees that the new US-backed ceasefire proposal would lead to the end of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Two Israeli officials said those details were still being worked out. Dozens of Palestinians were killed on Thursday in Israeli strikes, according to Gaza authorities.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, Israeli tallies show.
Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s subsequent military assault has killed over 56,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced Gaza’s entire population and prompted accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the accusations.
A previous two month ceasefire ended when Israeli strikes killed more than 400 Palestinians on March 18. Trump earlier this year proposed a US takeover of Gaza, which was condemned globally by rights experts, the UN and Palestinians as a proposal of “ethnic cleansing.”
Abraham Accords
Trump made the comments on the Abraham Accords when asked about US media reporting late on Thursday that he had met Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman at the White House.
“It’s one of the things we talked about,” Trump said. “I think a lot of people are going to be joining the Abraham accords,” he added, citing the predicted expansion to the damage faced by Iran from recent US and Israeli strikes.
Axios reported that after the meeting with Trump, the Saudi official spoke on the phone with Abdolrahim Mousavi, chief of Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces.
Trump’s meeting with the Saudi official came ahead of a visit to Washington next week by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Darfur civilians ‘face mass atrocities and ethnic violence’

- Medical charity warns of new threat from escalation in fighting in Sudan civil war
KHARTOUM: Civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan face mass atrocities and ethnic violence in the civil war between the regular army and its paramilitary rivals, the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres warned on Thursday.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have sought to consolidate their power in Darfur since losing control of the capital Khartoum in March. Their predecessor, the Janjaweed militia, was accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.
The paramilitaries have intensified attacks on El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state which they have besieged since May 2024 in an effort to push the army out of its final stronghold in the region.
“People are not only caught in indiscriminate heavy fighting ... but also actively targeted by the Rapid Support Forces and their allies, notably on the basis of their ethnicity,” said Michel-Olivier Lacharite, Medecins Sans Frontieres’ head of emergencies. There were “threats of a full-blown assault,” on El-Fasher, which is home to hundreds of thousands of people largely cut off from food and water supplies and deprived of access to medical care, he said.