WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden said Friday that the United States would support Iranians a year after the death of Mahsa Amini sparked mass protests, as Washington unveiled fresh sanctions against “egregious” rights abusers.
Biden said in a statement that “today — as we remember Mahsa’s tragic death — we reaffirm our commitment to the courageous people of Iran who are carrying on her mission.”
“Iranians alone will determine the fate of their country, but, the United States remains committed to standing with them — including providing tools to support Iranians’ ability to advocate for their own future,” Biden added.
Biden said the United States was “announcing additional sanctions targeting some of Iran’s most egregious human rights abusers” to mark the anniversary.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died on September 16 last year after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
Her death triggered months of nationwide demonstrations under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom.”
The US Treasury Department said it had added 25 Iranian officials, three media outlets and a research firm onto their sanctions blacklist, saying all were linked to Tehran’s suppression of protests after Amini’s death.
Most were regional commanders of the national police force and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Also sanctioned was Gholamali Mohammadi, the head of Iran’s Prisons Organization, who the Treasury said presides over serious human rights abuses including torture and rape.
Three state-controlled media groups, Press TV, Tasnim News and Fars News were also placed on the blacklist.
The “Internet research firm” refers to a company that helps the government police and censor the Internet.
The Treasury said they “work in tandem with Iranian security and intelligence services ... extending the regime’s oppressive reach.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington’s sanctions were in coordination with the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia “and other partners who are also imposing sanctions this week.”
London announced fresh sanctions against Iran earlier Friday.
The sanctions come after the US and Iran reached a deal to release five detained US citizens in exchange for the unfreezing of $6 billion of Iranian funds.
The US citizens are expected to be released next week.
US stands with Iranians one year after Mahsa Amini death: Biden
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US stands with Iranians one year after Mahsa Amini death: Biden
- Biden said “today — as we remember Mahsa’s tragic death — we reaffirm our commitment to the courageous people of Iran who are carrying on her mission“
- Biden said the United States was “announcing additional sanctions targeting some of Iran’s most egregious human rights abusers” to mark the anniversary
Kurds in Iraq and Syria celebrate the Nowruz festival of spring at a time of new political horizons
- Nowruz, the Farsi-language word for “new year,” is an ancient Persian festival that is celebrated in countries including Iraq, Syria, Turkiye and Iran
- or many, Nowruz festivities symbolized not only the arrival of spring but also the spirit and aspirations of the Kurdish people
AKRE. Iraq: Kurds in Iraq and Syria this week marked the Nowruz festival, a traditional celebration of spring and renewal, at a time when many are hoping that a new political beginning is on the horizon.
Nowruz, the Farsi-language word for “new year,” is an ancient Persian festival that is celebrated in countries including Iraq, Syria, Turkiye and Iran. It is characterized by colorful street festivals and torch-bearing processions winding their way into the mountains.
For many, Thursday and Friday’s Nowruz festivities symbolized not only the arrival of spring but also the spirit and aspirations of the Kurdish people, who are now facing a moment of transformation in the region.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which holds sway in much of northeastern Syria, recently signed a landmark deal with the new government in Damascus that includes a ceasefire and eventual merging of the SDF into the Syrian army.
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkiye that has spilled over into conflict in Syria and northern Iraq, recently announced a ceasefire after the group’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, called for its members to put down their weapons.
In Iraq, calls for unity
As the sun set behind the mountains of Akre in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq Thursday, more than 1,500 volunteers climbed the steep hills, carrying burning torches as their faces shimmered in the light of the flame.
From a distance, their movements looked like a river of fire flowing up and down the mountain. At the top, small bonfires burned, while the sky was filled with the flashing colors of fireworks.
Women wearing colorful dresses with gold and silver jewelry and men dressed in traditional outfits with wide belts and turbans danced in the streets of the town and in the hills, Kurdish flags waving above the crowds.
The sound of dahol drums and zurna flutes echoed everywhere, mixed with modern Kurdish folk songs played from loudspeakers.
According to Akre’s directorate of tourism, some 88,000 people attended the event, including Kurds who traveled from around the region and the world. The substantial turnout came despite the fact that this year the festival coincides with Ramadan, during which many Kurds — like other Muslims — fast from sunrise to sunset daily.
Among those dancing on the hill was Hozan Jalil, who traveled from Batman city in Turkiye. Jalil said he is happy about the peace process and hopeful that it will bear results, although he was also somewhat circumspect. “I hope it won’t finish with regrets and our Kurdish people will not be deceived or cheated,” he said.
Jalil said Nowruz to him represents unity between Kurdish people across national boundaries. “This year, Nowruz to me symbolizes the point of achieving freedom for all Kurdish people,” he said.
For the people of Akre, Nowruz has become a tradition that connects them to Kurds and others everywhere. A local from Akre, described her pride in hosting such a celebration in her town.
“It’s a great feeling that everyone from all over the world comes to Akre for this celebration because it makes Akre the capital of Nowruz for the whole world,” said Guevara Fawaz. She was walking through the town’s main square with her family dressed in traditional Kurdish clothes.
Like Jalil, she voiced hopes that the PKK-Turkiye talks would progress and “achieve peace in all four parts of Kurdistan.”
A changing reality in Syria
Across the border in Syria, where former President Bashar Assad was unseated in a lightning rebel offensive in December, Nowruz celebrations took place openly in the streets of the capital for the first time in more than a decade since anti-government protests spiraled into a civil war in 2011.
Hundreds of Kurds packed into Shamdeen Square in the Roken Al-Din neighborhood, the main Kurdish area in the Syrian capital, to light the Nowruz fire, waving Kurdish flags alongside the new, three-starred Syrian flag.
In the village of Hemo, just outside the city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria, the Kurdish flag, along with flags of Abdullah Ocalan and the SDF, waved high above the crowds as people danced in the streets.
The new rulers in Damascus, Islamist former insurgents, have promised to respect minorities. A temporary constitution announced earlier this month states that “citizens are equal before the law ... without discrimination based on race, religion, gender or lineage.”
But many Kurds were unhappy that the text does not explicitly recognize Kurdish rights.
Mizgeen Tahir, a well-known Kurdish singer who attended the festivities in Hemo, said, “This year, Nowruz is different because it’s the first Nowruz since the fall of the Baath regime and authority,” referring to the now-disbanded Baath party of the Assad dynasty.
But Syria’s Kurdish region “is at a turning point now,” he said.
“This Nowruz, we’re unsure about our situation. How will our rights be constitutionally recognized?” Media Ghanim, from Qamishli, who also joined the celebrations, said she is hopeful that after Assad’s fall, “we will keep moving forward toward freedom and have our rights guaranteed in the Syrian constitution.”
“We hope these negotiations will end with success, because we want our rights as Kurds,” she said.
Israeli military says it intercepted missile fired from Yemen; Houthis claim responsibility
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Friday, one day after shooting down two projectiles launched by Houthi militants.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it fired a ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a televised statement in the early hours of Saturday.
Saree said the attack against Israel was the group’s third in 48 hours.
He issued a warning to airlines that the Israeli airport was “no longer safe for air travel and would continue to be so until the Israeli aggression against Gaza ends and the blockade is lifted.”
However, the airport’s website seemed to be operating normally and showed a list of scheduled flights.
The group’s military spokesman has also said without providing evidence that the Houthis had launched attacks against the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea.
The group recently vowed to escalate attacks, including those targeting Israel, in response to US strikes
earlier this month, which amount to the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. The US attacks have killed at least 50 people.
The Houthis’ fresh attacks come under a pledge to expand their range of targets in Israel in retaliation for renewed Israeli strikes in Gaza that have killed hundreds after weeks of relative calm.
The Houthis have carried out over 100 attacks on shipping since Israel’s war with Hamas began in late 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians.
The attacks have disrupted global commerce and prompted the US military to launch a costly campaign to intercept missiles.
The Houthis are part of what has been dubbed the “Axis of Resistance” — an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias including Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and armed groups in Iraq, all backed by Iran.
Turkiye condemns ‘deliberate Israeli strike’ on Gaza hospital; Israel army insists it ‘struck terrorists’
- Nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed since Israel on Tuesday shattered the truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages and brought relative calm since late January
ISTANBUL/JERUSALEM: Ankara on Friday condemned what it said was a “deliberate” attack by Israel on a Turkish-built hospital in the Gaza Strip.
“We strongly condemn the destruction by Israel of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital,” said a foreign ministry statement.
Israel’s military acknowledged the attack, but insisted it “struck terrorists” in what it described as an inactive Gaza hospital used by Hamas militants.
“Earlier today (Friday), the IDF (military) struck terrorists in a Hamas terrorist infrastructure site that previously had served as a hospital in the central Gaza Strip,” a military spokesman told AFP in response to a question about the Turkish accusations.
Nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed since Israel on Tuesday shattered the truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages and brought relative calm since late January.
Israeli ground forces on Friday advanced deeper into Gaza and vowed to hold more land until Hamas releases its remaining hostages.
In the southern city of Rafah, officials said Israeli bombardments had forced residents into the open, deepening their suffering. Officials said they halted the building of shelter camps to protect employees.
Israel had already cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians. It says military operations will escalate until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed alive — and gives up control of the territory.
Israel had ignored international condemnation of its indescriminate strikes, with Defense Minister Israel Katz warning that Israel would carry out operations in Gaza “with increasing intensity until the hostages are released by Hamas.”
UN condemns violence in Gaza and West Bank, urges Israel to resume aid deliveries
- Middle East peace envoy Sigrid Kaag denounces settlement expansions; says ‘nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people’
- She calls on Hamas to release remaining hostages; warns both sides to respect obligations under international humanitarian and human rights laws
NEW YORK CITY: A top UN official on Friday condemned ongoing violence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, urged all parties to respect international humanitarian and human rights laws, and called for an immediate ceasefire and the resumption of aid deliveries to Gaza.
During a meeting of the Security Council, the third this week on events in the region, the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Sigrid Kaag, also condemned the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and warned that continuing violations of Security Council Resolution 2334 are damaging the prospects for a two-state solution.
Adopted in 2016, Resolution 2334 calls for “immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation and destruction,” along with the reversal of “negative trends on the ground that are imperiling the two-state solution.”
In a report presented to the council, Kaag said Israeli authorities have approved about 10,600 new housing units in settlements, including 4,920 in East Jerusalem, despite the resolution’s demand for a halt to such activities.
Her report also highlighted a sharp increase in seizures and demolitions of Palestinian-owned properties. It said that during the reporting period, from Dec. 7, 2024, to March 13, 2025, at least 460 structures were destroyed, displacing 576 Palestinians, including nearly 300 children.
Such actions have been strongly criticized by the UN as a violation of international law, and Kaag reiterated that they undermine hopes for a viable Palestinian state.
“Unfortunately, the high number of fatal incidents across the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel precludes me from detailing all,” she continued.
The situation in Gaza continues to be dire, Kaag said, with the UN confirming that at least 3,860 Palestinians were killed during the reporting period, and about 6,000 injured. The humanitarian crisis in the war-battered enclave remains “catastrophic,” as Israeli authorities have halted the entry of essential goods and supplies. Access to clean water is restricted for more than half a million people there, and the already fragile health infrastructure has been severely affected.
Kaag reiterated that the provision of humanitarian aid “is not negotiable” and deliveries must be allowed to reach those in need. She strongly condemned the blocking of aid to Gaza by Israeli authorities, as well as “the widespread killing” and wounding of civilians, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.
“Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” she said.
Kaag also condemned “indiscriminate attacks and the use of human shields” by Hamas, and stressed that all parties involved must “respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
She called for the immediate release of the 59 remaining Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and other Palestinian groups during the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, 24 of whom are alive and 35 dead.
“Palestinian armed groups continued to hold hostages in horrific conditions, and fired rockets indiscriminately towards Israel,” said Kaag. “Hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally.
“I strongly condemn the reported ill-treatment of hostages. I remain appalled that there are reasonable grounds to believe that hostages may be subjected to sexual violence and abuse. I also reiterate my condemnation of Hamas’s abhorrent public displays accompanying the release of living and deceased hostages.”
Kaag also condemned the reported ill-treatment, including sexual abuse, of Palestinians held in Israeli detention facilities and said that when detainees are released, this must also be carried out in a dignified way.
Violence in the West Bank continues to escalate, with Israeli military operations and settler-related violence contributing to rising casualty figures. At least 123 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed. Meanwhile, 10 Israelis, including children, have lost their lives in attacks by Palestinians. Rising tensions within Palestinian refugee camps, particularly in Jenin and Tulkarem, have resulted in the widespread displacement of occupants and the demolition of homes.
“The escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank is deeply troubling,” Kaag said. “Alongside the rising death toll, Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank are being emptied and sustaining massive infrastructure damage during Israeli operations.”
Kaag rejected any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians from the occupied territories, warning that such action amounts to “a grave violation of international human rights and humanitarian law.”
She condemned violence on both sides of the conflict and called for a policy of “maximum restraint” from the security forces. Lethal force must only be used when “strictly unavoidable to protect life,” she added.
Kaag also expressed alarm over ongoing attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers, some of which have occurred with the support of Israeli security forces.
In addition, she voiced concern about the ongoing Israeli efforts to undermine the UN Relief and Works Agency, which provides vital aid and services to Palestinian refugees.
In her closing remarks, she emphasized the need for a political process within which to resolve the ongoing conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.
“We must work collectively to establish a political framework that outlines tangible, irreversible and time-bound steps,” she said.
“A viable two-state solution — Israel and Palestine, of which Gaza is an integral part, living side-by-side in peace and security — is long overdue.”
UAE top, Saudi Arabia third in Arab region in 2025 World Happiness Report
- UAE placed ahead of UK, US in global list
LONDON: The UAE secured 21st place in the 2025 World Happiness Report, ahead of the UK, the US, and France, while also ranking as the happiest country in the Arab world, it was announced this week.
The annual report, compiled by Gallup, evaluated happiness levels in 147 nations based on data collected between 2022 and 2024.
Finland retained its position as the happiest country in the world for the eighth consecutive year, while Mexico and Costa Rica entered the top 10. The US, meanwhile, ranked 24th and the UK 23rd.
Within the Arab region, Kuwait was ranked 30th globally, making it the second happiest country in the region.
Saudi Arabia was in 32nd place, ranking third in the Arab world.
Oman placed 52nd globally, securing the fourth position regionally, while Bahrain ranked 59th worldwide and fifth in the Arab world.
Libya, Algeria, Iraq, and the Palestinian Territories rounded out the regional rankings at 79th, 84th, 101st, and 108th globally, respectively.
The report measured national happiness based on several key factors, including gross domestic product per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, perceptions of corruption, and generosity.
