Istanbul: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday vowed that Israel would pay a price for the “genocide” in Gaza as he marked the first anniversary of the war in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas.
“It should not be forgotten that Israel will sooner or later pay the price for this genocide that it has been carrying out for a year and is still continuing,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.
A vocal advocate of the Palestinian cause, including Hamas, Erdogan has often attacked Israel, branding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the “butcher of Gaza” and comparing him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.
“Just as Hitler was stopped by an alliance of humanity, Netanyahu and his murder network will be stopped in the same way,” Erdogan said.
“A world in which no account is held for the Gaza genocide will never find peace.”
The Turkish leader, who often lauded Hamas as freedom fighters, said what has been massacred before the eyes of the entire world for exactly one year “is actually all of humanity, and all of humanity’s hopes for the future.”
Erdogan also criticized the international system’s failure to stop the conflict in Gaza and now in Lebanon and said: “Israel’s long-standing policy of genocide, occupation and invasion must now come to an end.”
Erdogan says on Gaza war anniversary that Israel will pay price for ‘genocide’
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Erdogan says on Gaza war anniversary that Israel will pay price for ‘genocide’
- A vocal advocate of the Palestinian cause, including Hamas, Erdogan has often attacked Israel
Iran president says will not halt nuclear activity ‘under any circumstances’
TEHRAN: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday his country will not halt nuclear activity “under any circumstances” amid ongoing fighting with Israel which hit nuclear sites.
“We are ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities, however, we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances,” said Pezeshkian during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Cyprus police arrest man on spying, terror charges
- Police declined to provide extensive details, citing “national security,“
- Local media said the suspect was seen acting suspiciously near a British air force base at Akrotiri
NICOSIA: Cyprus police said they arrested an individual on espionage and terror charges on Saturday, with local media reporting the suspect had ties to Iran.
Police declined to provide extensive details, citing “national security,” but local media said the suspect was seen acting suspiciously near a British air force base at Akrotiri, outside the southern coastal city of Limassol.
Cypriot news outlet Philenews reported the man had links to “Iranian operatives” and had arrived on the Mediterranean island last month posing as a British tourist.
It said the arrest in Limassol on Saturday was based on information from a foreign intelligence service.
“Following a coordinated operation today, an individual suspected of involvement in terrorism-related offenses was arrested,” said a brief police announcement.
The suspect appeared before a district court and was issued an eight-day remand order for “offenses related, among others, to terrorism and espionage,” the police statement added.
Philenews said high-resolution cameras, telephoto lenses, notes, computers and three mobile phones were discovered at the suspect’s apartment.
It described the suspect as being of Azeri descent, referring to an ethnic group present in Azerbaijan and northwest Iran.
The outlet also reported that two people believed to be linked to the case were arrested in Britain.
The British foreign and defense ministries did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thanks to its location in the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus has become a key transit hub for third-country nationals fleeing the region since the recent outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Iran.
It has also become a staging post for Israelis seeking to return home by air or sea after being stranded abroad by the start of the fighting.
IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit
- “There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi said
VIENNA: The UN nuclear agency confirmed on Saturday that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site had been hit, in the latest strike amid Israel’s bombing campaign.
“A centrifuge manufacturing workshop has been hit in Esfahan, the third such facility that has been targeted in Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear-related sites over the past week,” the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement quoting its chief Rafael Grossi.
“We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi was quoted as saying.
Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’
- “Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster,” Fidan said
- He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran
ISATANBUL: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday accused Israel of leading the Middle East toward “total disaster” by attacking Iran on June 13.
“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbor,” he told a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.
“There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem,” Fidan said.
He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran.
“We must prevent the situation from deteriorating into a spiral of violence that would further jeopardize regional and global security,” he added.
Speaking after Fidan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Western leaders of providing “unconditional support” to Israel.
He said Turkiye would not allow borders in the Middle East to be redrawn “in blood.”
“It is vital for us to show more solidarity to end Israel’s banditry — not only in Palestine but also in Syria, in Lebanon and in Iran,” he told the OIC’s 57 member countries.
The OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.”
Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel
- Attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded
TEHRAN: Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people since they began last week, Iran’s health ministry said in an updated toll on Saturday, as fighting raged between the two foes.
“As of this morning, Israeli attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded by missiles and drones,” health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said in a post on X.
