Xinhua Middle East news summary at 2200 GMT, June 22
DAMASCUS -- A suicide bomber stormed a crowded church in the Syrian capital Damascus during Sunday mass, opening fire on worshippers before detonating his explosives, killing at least 19 people and injuring dozens more, security sources and a monitoring group said.
The Syrian health authorities put the latest official death toll at 13, with 53 others wounded. (Syria-Church Blast-Death Toll)
- - - -
TEHRAN -- Iran on Sunday reported explosions near the southern city of Bushehr, where a nuclear power plant is located, and in the central province of Yazd, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The explosions in Yazd were the result of Israel's "aggressions" against two military areas in the province, Fars quoted a statement by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps as saying. (Iran-Israel-Attacks)
- - - -
RIYADH -- The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said on Sunday that no abnormal radiation levels have been detected across its member states following recent U.S. attacks on nuclear facilities in Iran.
In a statement released through its Emergency Management Center, the GCC General Secretariat confirmed that radiation and environmental indicators remain within safe and technically permissible limits. (GCC-Radiation-Report)
- - - -
TEHRAN -- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that the United States must "receive the response to its aggression," following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Pezeshkian made the remarks during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to a statement from his office. In response to Macron's call for restraint, Pezeshkian said the United States must face consequences for its attacks on Iran. (Iran-President-Warning)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Qatar urges Israel, Hamas to seize ‘window of opportunity' for Gaza truce
US President Donald Trump voiced optimism about a new ceasefire in Gaza. (AP pic) DOHA : Gaza mediators are engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from this week's ceasefire with Iran and work towards a truce in the Palestinian territory, Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said. Israel and Iran on Tuesday agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the US and Qatar just hours after the Islamic republic launched a salvo of missiles towards the wealthy Gulf state, targeting the American military base hosted there. The unprecedented attack on Qatari soil followed Washington's intervention into a days-long war between Israel and Iran which saw US warplanes strike Iranian nuclear facilities, prompting promises of retaliation from Tehran. In an interview with AFP on Friday, Ansari said Doha – with fellow Gaza mediators in Washington and Cairo – was now 'trying to use the momentum that was created by the ceasefire between Iran and Israel to restart the talks over Gaza'. 'If we don't utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it's an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past. We don't want to see that again,' the spokesman, who is also an adviser to Qatar's prime minister, said. US President Donald Trump voiced optimism on Friday about a new ceasefire in Gaza saying an agreement involving Israel and Hamas could come as early as next week. Mediators have been engaged in months of back-and-forth negotiations with the warring parties aimed at ending 20 months of war in Gaza, with Ansari explaining there were no current talks between the sides but that Qatar was 'heavily involved in talking to every side separately'. A two-month truce, which was agreed as Trump came into office in January, collapsed in March with Israel intensifying military operations in Gaza afterwards. 'We have seen US pressure and what it can accomplish,' Ansari said referring to the January truce which saw dozens of hostages held by Hamas released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The Qatari official said particularly in the context of US enforcement of the Israel-Iran truce, it was 'not a far-fetched idea' that pressure from Washington would achieve a fresh truce in Gaza. 'We are working with them very, very closely to make sure that the right pressure is applied from the international community as a whole, especially from the US, to see both parties at the negotiating table,' Ansari said. There were no casualties on Monday when Iran targeted Al Udeid, the Middle East's biggest US base and headquarters of its regional command. Ansari said that as leaders were weighing their response to the attack, a call came from the US president to Qatar's emir, saying 'there is a possibility for regional stability… and that Israel has agreed to a ceasefire'. 'Qatar could have taken the decision to escalate,' Ansari said. 'But because there was a chance for peace… we opted for that,' he said.
Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Iran's judiciary says Israeli strike on Tehran's Evin prison killed 71
Rights groups say the heavily fortified Evin prison holds political prisoners and foreign nationals. (Maxar Technologies/AFP pic) TEHRAN : An Israeli strike on Tehran's Evin prison during this month's 12-day war killed at least 71 people, Iran's judiciary said today, days after a ceasefire ended hostilities between the two arch-foes. The strike on Monday destroyed part of the administrative building at Evin, a large, heavily fortified complex in the north of Tehran, which rights groups say holds political prisoners and foreign nationals. 'According to official figures, 71 people were killed in the attack on Evin prison,' said judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir of the attack, part of the bombardment campaign Israel launched on June 13. According to Jahangir, the victims at Evin included administrative staff, guards, prisoners and visiting relatives as well as people living nearby. Images shared by the judiciary showed destroyed walls, collapsed ceilings, scattered debris, and broken surfaces across waiting areas at the facility. The judiciary said that Evin's medical centre and visiting rooms had been targeted. On Tuesday, a day after the strike, the judiciary said that the Iranian prison authority had transferred inmates out of Evin prison, without specifying their number or identifying them. The inmates at Evin have included Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi as well as several French nationals and other foreigners.
Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Iran condemns Trump's ‘disrespectful and unacceptable' comments on Khamenei
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the US president should put aside the disrespectful tone towards Iran's Supreme Leader. (Pool/AP pic) TEHRAN : Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi condemned Saturday the 'disrespectful and unacceptable' comments from Donald Trump, after the US president claimed to have saved Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from an 'ugly and ignominious death'. 'If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran's Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and stop hurting his millions of heartfelt supporters,' Araghchi posted on his account on social media platform X. 'The Great and Powerful Iranian People, who showed the world that the Israeli regime had NO CHOICE but to RUN to 'Daddy' to avoid being flattened by our Missiles, do not take kindly to Threats and Insults,' the foreign minister said. The US carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, with no consensus as to how effective they were. With those strikes, Washington joined Israel's bombardments of Iran's nuclear programme in the 12-day conflict launched on June 13. The foreign minister's condemnation on Saturday came after Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he had saved the Iranian leader from assassination, accusing Khamenei of ingratitude. 'I knew EXACTLY where he was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the U.S. Armed Forces, by far the Greatest and Most Powerful in the World, terminate his life,' Trump posted. 'I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH, and he does not have to say, 'THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!'' Trump also said that he had been working in recent days on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran, one of Tehran's main demands. 'But no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more,' Trump added, exhorting Iran to return to the negotiating table. Iran has denied it is set to resume nuclear talks with the US after Trump said that negotiations would begin again next week.
