Israeli spy chief to meet US officials on Iran deal

Israel says a deal would facilitate the funding of Iran-supported militants, while not preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. (Supplied)
Short Url
Updated 28 August 2022
Follow

Israeli spy chief to meet US officials on Iran deal

  • Israel says a deal would facilitate the funding of Iran-supported militants
  • According to Lapid, a new agreement would have to include an expiration date

JERUSALEM: The head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency will visit the United States in early September for talks on the possible revival of the Iran nuclear deal, an official said Sunday.
The announced visit is the latest in the Jewish state’s push to sway Western powers from a deal to return to the landmark 2015 deal with Tehran.
Israel says a deal would facilitate the funding of Iran-supported militants, while not preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon — a goal Iran has always denied.
Mossad chief David Barnea will “be visiting Washington in a week to participate in closed door meetings in Congress on the Iran deal,” a senior Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity, without providing further details.
Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that Israel’s “diplomatic fight” against the deal included its national security adviser and defense minister holding recent meetings in the United States.
“We are making a concerted effort to ensure the Americans and Europeans understand the dangers involved in this agreement,” Lapid said, stressing what was signed in 2015 was “not a good deal,” and that the one currently being formulated entails “greater dangers.”
In 2018, then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement designed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
His successor Joe Biden has sought to return to the deal, and after almost a year-and-a-half of talks, recent progress has put the Jewish state on edge.
According to Lapid, a new agreement would have to include an expiration date, and tighter supervision that would also “address Iran’s ballistic missile program and its involvement in terrorism throughout the Middle East.”
“We can reach such an agreement if a credible military threat is put on the table, if the Iranians realize that their defiance and deceit will exact a heavy price,” Lapid said, adding that the army and Mossad had “received instructions from us to prepare for any scenario.”
On Wednesday, Lapid said a new deal would “give Iran $100 billion a year” that would be used by Iran-backed militant groups Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, and noted he was holding talks with the leadership of Britain, France and Germany on the issue.


Legal cannabis blooms in Morocco but black market still beckons

Updated 20 sec ago
Follow

Legal cannabis blooms in Morocco but black market still beckons

Regulating cannabis farming brought with it hopes for fresh revenue and economic revitalization in the impoverished Rif region
The step made Morocco a forerunner among major producing countries and the first in the MENA to join a global trend

BAB BERRED, Morocco: Beneath the blazing summer sun, Abderrahman Talbi surveyed the neat rows of flourishing cannabis blooms in compact fields, reflecting on how his life has changed since he joined Morocco’s burgeoning legal cannabis industry two years ago.

Like many farmers in the northern Rif mountains who have long grown the crop illegally, Talbi is relieved that raids and seizures by the authorities are no longer a worry.

“I can now say I am a cannabis farmer without fear,” Talbi told Reuters. “Peace of mind has no price.”

Talbi’s pivot to legal farming is an example of what Morocco, one of the world’s biggest cannabis producers, hoped to achieve when it legalized cultivation for medical and industrial use, but not for recreational purposes, in 2022.

Regulating cannabis farming brought with it hopes for fresh revenue and economic revitalization in the impoverished Rif region.

The step made Morocco a forerunner among major producing countries and the first in the Middle East and North Africa to join a global trend that has seen countries like Canada, Germany and Uruguay legalize production and use.

It also hoped to lure farmers away from the illegal economy in the restive Rif mountains, where cannabis production has long been tolerated to facilitate social peace.

Al Hoceima, a major city in Rif, saw the largest protests in Morocco in 2016-17 over economic and social conditions.

BLACK MARKET’S LURE PERSISTS

Legalization efforts have gained traction, with about 5,000 farmers joining the industry this year, from just 430 in 2023, says Morocco’s cannabis regulator, or ANRAC.

And legal production surged to nearly 4,200 tons last year, a 14-fold increase over the first harvest in 2023.

Still, the black market remains dominant and lucrative due to demand for recreational use from Europe and regionally in Africa, potentially undermining efforts to fully regulate the sector.

Morocco has 5,800 hectares (14,300 acres) of legally planted land, according to ANRAC. That’s dwarfed by illegal cultivation spanning over 27,100 hectares, Interior Ministry data shows.

While many farmers still choose illicit cultivation, they face the risk of increased crackdowns by authorities, which led to the seizure of 249 tons of cannabis resin by September last year, up 48 percent from all of 2023, according to the Interior Ministry.

Mohammed Azzouzi, 52, spent three years in hiding for cannabis-related charges before receiving a royal pardon along with over 4,800 others last year.

Now, he is preparing for his first legal harvest and hopes to earn more than the 10,000 dirhams ($1,100) he used to make in the illegal economy each year.

RED TAPE
The country’s prohibition on growing cannabis for leisure use, along with bureaucratic red tape, limit legal farming, with every stage of the supply chain requiring a specific license from ANRAC, discouraging many a farmer from making the switch.

A grower who wants to cultivate legally needs to join a licensed cooperative, which buys the farmer’s product and processes it into derivatives or sells the resin to other licensed manufacturers.

Talbi’s cooperative, Biocannat, near the town of Bab Berred, 300 km (186 miles) north of Rabat, bought about 200 tons of cannabis last year from some 200 farmers, processing it into resin, supplements, capsules, oils and powders for medical and cosmetic purposes.

About 60 km east of Biocannat, in the main producing area of Issaguen, farmer Mohamed El Mourabit was initially hopeful about the legalization plan in 2021, but is less so now.

“The process is too complicated,” he said.

And money talks, as well, for many farmers, who are lured by the higher rewards of the black market, despite its risks.

While cooperatives take months to pay farmers about 50 dirhams per kilogram for the raw plant, on the illicit market, processed cannabis resin can fetch up to 2,500 dirhams per kilogram, farmers and activists say.

To close that gap, legalization advocates say growing for recreational use should be allowed, too.

But it’s not clear whether that will happen soon.

Mohamed Guerrouj, head of ANRAC, said legalizing recreational use would only be considered within a medical framework.

“The goal is to develop Morocco’s pharmaceutical industry ... not coffee shops,” he said.

Hamas says delegation leaving Doha after Gaza ceasefire talks breakdown

Updated 39 min 50 sec ago
Follow

Hamas says delegation leaving Doha after Gaza ceasefire talks breakdown

  • A high-level leadership delegation from Hamas is departing Doha heading to Istanbul
  • Israel has resisted international calls to agree a ceasefire in Gaza

GAZA CITY: Hamas’s negotiating team left the Qatari capital Doha for Turkiye on Tuesday to discuss the “latest developments” in the stalled Gaza ceasefire talks, a Hamas official told AFP.

“A high-level leadership delegation from Hamas, headed by Mohammed Darwish, president of the movement’s leadership council, and including the negotiation team and its head, Khalil Al-Hayya, is departing Doha heading to Istanbul,” the source told AFP.

“The delegation will hold several meetings with Turkish officials regarding the latest developments in the ceasefire negotiations, which stalled last week,” the source added.

For over two weeks, mediators in Qatar had been shuttling between Israeli and Hamas delegations in a bid to secure a breakthrough in indirect talks for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza, nearly two years into the war.

The United States joined Israel last week in pulling its negotiators from the negotiations, with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff blaming the Palestinian militant group for the failure to reach a deal and saying Washington would “consider alternative options.”

Hamas politburo member Bassem Naim told AFP on Friday that the latest discussions focused on details of an Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Israel has resisted international calls to agree a ceasefire in Gaza, with UN-backed experts warning on Tuesday that the Palestinian territory was slipping into famine.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar called the ceasefire demands “a distorted campaign of international pressure against Israel” that would leave Hamas in power in Gaza.

“It ain’t gonna happen, no matter how much pressure is put on Israel,” he said at a press conference Tuesday.


Germany’s Merz says Gaza aid airdrops could start as soon as Wednesday

Updated 29 July 2025
Follow

Germany’s Merz says Gaza aid airdrops could start as soon as Wednesday

  • “This work may only make a small contribution to humanitarian aid,” said Merz
  • Two A400M aircraft were on their way to Jordan at the moment

BERLIN: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that two of the country’s aircraft could fly aid airdrop missions from Jordan to Gaza as soon as Wednesday, calling the help a small but important signal.

“This work may only make a small contribution to humanitarian aid, but it sends an important signal: We are here, we are in the region,” said Merz at a press conference alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah in Berlin.

Two A400M aircraft were on their way to Jordan at the moment, where they would refuel and then fly their aid mission at the weekend at the latest, in coordination with France and Germany, said Merz.

Merz also welcomed initial steps taken by Israel to allow in aid but said more must follow.


Displaced Sudanese stream home from Egypt after army retakes Khartoum

Updated 29 July 2025
Follow

Displaced Sudanese stream home from Egypt after army retakes Khartoum

  • “I miss every corner of Sudan, really. I’m very happy that I’m going back,” a returnee said
  • Over 4 million Sudanese fled to neighboring countries — including more than 1.5 million to Egypt

CAIRO: Toting large suitcases and bags of belongings, the Sudanese families crowding into Cairo’s main railway station hoped to be returning to relative stability after fleeing Sudan’s civil war.

They are among thousands of displaced Sudanese streaming back home from Egypt into territory retaken by the Sudanese armed forces from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary in Khartoum and its environs since the start of this year.

“I miss every corner of Sudan, really. I’m very happy that I’m going back,” one of the returnees, Malaz Atef, told Reuters.

The families were waiting to board a free train to the southern Egyptian city of Aswan, from where they would take buses to the Sudanese capital Khartoum. A couple of young girls wore hats reading, “Thank you, Egypt” in Arabic.

Over 4 million Sudanese fled to neighboring countries — including more than 1.5 million to Egypt — after war broke out between the army and the RSF in April 2023, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration, or IOM.

Since the start of this year, over 190,000 people have crossed the border from Egypt into Sudan, more than five times the number who returned in all of 2024, an IOM report said earlier this month.

Sudan’s ambassador to Egypt, Emad el-Din Adawy, who visited the station on Monday, said the returns marked “an important stage for reconstruction and bringing back stability.”

Despite the relative calm in the capital, fighting between the RSF and the army is still raging in the central Kordofan region and Al-Fashir in Darfur in the west.

The war, triggered by a dispute over a transition to civilian rule between the army and the RSF, has displaced over 12 million people and pushed half the population into acute hunger, according to the United Nations.

Some Sudanese in Egypt have complained of difficulty finding jobs and discrimination, and Egypt has deported thousands of refugees it says entered illegally. Thousands of others have fled onwards to Libya.

The weekly trains from Cairo to help Sudanese to return home voluntarily have been financed by Sudanese businessmen, according to Adawy.

The Sudanese who have gone back so far have mostly headed to Khartoum, as well as to Sennar and El Gezira states to the capital’s south, according to the IOM.


France to air-drop aid into Gaza: diplomatic source

Updated 29 July 2025
Follow

France to air-drop aid into Gaza: diplomatic source

  • “France will carry out air drops in the coming days,” a diplomatic source said

PARIS: France will air-drop aid into Gaza “in coming days,” a diplomatic source said on Tuesday, as UN-backed experts warned the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory was slipping into famine.
“France will carry out air drops in the coming days to meet the most essential and urgent needs of the civilian population in Gaza,” the source said, also urging “an immediate opening by Israel of the land crossing points.”