Author: Steven Sahiounie

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says diplomatic efforts have intensified in the Western Asia region for a renewed ceasefire in Gaza where the Israeli regime has been pounding the Palestinians for 75 days. “The diplomatic negotiations show that the region is gradually moving toward a ceasefire,” Amir-Abdollahian told reporters during a Wednesday trip to Qatar, where he held talks with Qatari authorities and Palestinian resistance officials. The minister said the aim of regional efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza is to put an end to the “catastrophic situation” in the territory or at least to reduce “the grievances of…

Syria’s permanent representative to the Arab League, Ambassador Hussam al-Din Ala, stressed the necessity of enhancing joint Arab solidarity and cooperation to confront the challenges of wars and crises and dealing with them in a coordinated manner, referring to Syria’s efforts in dealing with repercussions of the hostile war against it despite the difficult economic conditions and unilateral measures imposed on the country. The Ambassador, in a statement delivered at the forty-third session of the Council of Arab Social Affairs Ministers, said Syria calls for an immediate cessation of the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip and address its dangerous repercussions…

Türkiye’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz will visit Iran for political consultations, according to Turkish diplomatic sources on Wednesday. Yildiz and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani will lead the consultations in the Iranian capital Tehran on Dec. 20-21, the sources added. The talks are expected to focus on bilateral relations, and regional and international developments, particularly the situation in Gaza, where Israeli air and ground attacks have killed more than 19,000 people, displaced more than 90% of the population and destroyed over 60% of infrastructure. Source: Anadolu agency

Russia sees number one priority in the Gaza Strip in ending the bloodshed and solving humanitarian problems, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the plenary session of the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum. “Our meeting is taking place amid an unprecedented aggravation of the situation in the Middle East and continuing turbulence in the world. The complicated and complex nature of emerging challenges and threats makes a collective approach to addressing the tasks of strengthening peace and security in the region and ensuring its sustainable development increasingly relevant,” Lavrov said. “After the October 7 terrorist attack, which we categorically condemned, the…

The foreign minister of Iran warned the US government and the Zionist regime that the prolongation of war against Gaza will aggravate their already dismal political and economic conditions. In a meeting with his Qatari counterpart, held in Doha on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said it appears from a series of messages and signs that the US is making new attempts to disconnect itself from the Israeli atrocities against Palestine, although it has stood by the Zionist regime in its failed militancy in practice. Time is running against the US government and the Zionist regime, he added, warning…

Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry recently held talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and maritime security concerns in the southern Red Sea and Bab El-Mandeb, the strait that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Ahmed Abu Zeid, a spokesman for Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Shoukry received a phone call on Tuesday evening from Blinken who spoke of America’s keenness to work closely with Egypt on regional and global issues during the new term in office of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Shoukry and…

The attack in Rafah has been carried out in an area that includes a hospital and a United Nations-run shelter where thousands of people are crammed in. The street is usually very crowded. Elsewhere, in eastern areas of Khan Younis city, two people have been killed and 10 others wounded in an Israeli military bombardment. The Israeli military published a video today showing the explosions happening in about 56 residential areas of Shujayea neighbourhood [in Gaza City]. Israeli artillery shelling and exchange of gunfire between the Palestinian fighters and the Israeli troops did not stop in the north of the Gaza…

A senior Hamas official says the Palestinian movement is ready to release all Israeli captives in Gaza in return for Israel freeing Palestinian abductees, stressing however that the regime has so far blocked an exchange deal. Saleh al-Arouri, speaking to Press TV’s “Face to Face” program, said the recent ceasefire extension talks between Hamas and Israel collapsed due to the regime’s refusal to accept the movement’s all-for-all offer. He said Hamas has always said it wants Palestinian prisoners to be freed in return for the movement’s release of Israeli military captives held in Gaza. “We said it very clearly, we were ready…

A senior official of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement says the United States is leading Israel’s brutal war on the besieged Gaza Strip in an attempt to “uproot” the resistance, which has scuppered Washington’s plans to secure the occupying regime’s control over the region. Mohammad al-Hindi, deputy secretary general of the movement noted that the Operation al-Aqsa Storm was a “lightning bolt” that struck all US arrangements aimed at ending the Palestine cause and establishing Israel’s dominance over the region. Hindi noted that the US and Western countries seek to “eradicate” the resistance because Israel protects their interests in the region. He stressed that the resistance “is neither…

What is happening in Gaza is an “annihilation of human existence” enabled by Washington despite its claim to champion human rights across the globe, says Iran’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs. Ali Bagheri Kani said in an interview with Japan’s public broadcaster NHK on Tuesday that the Americans can no longer claim to be “advocates of human rights” whatsoever given their support for the brutal Israeli war. “The Americans claim to advocate human rights but what is happening in Gaza today is not just a violation of human rights but annihilation of human existence,” he said. “Therefore, the Americans…