US reportedly preparing for possible weekend Iran strike
On Tuesday, a pro-Israel hacking group claimed responsibility for a disruptive cyberattack against a major Iranian bank, and Iran's state-run IRIB News reported that Israel had launched a full-scale cyberattack on the country's critical infrastructure.
Then on Wednesday, the pro-Israel hackers announced a new breach targeting an Iranian crypto exchange.
Predatory Sparrow's claims that it hacked Iran's Bank Sepah and Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex are the latest manifestation of that digital tit-for-tat.
And on Thursday, there were reports that the state-run TV was hacked.
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News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Western nations call for immediate end to Gaza war as Israel expands offensive
More than two dozen Western countries called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza on Monday, saying that suffering there had "reached new depths" as Israel's military expanded its operations to the central city of Deir el-Balah. After more than 21 months of fighting that have triggered catastrophic humanitarian conditions for Gaza's more than two million people, Israeli allies Britain, France, Australia, Canada and 21 other countries, plus the EU, said in a joint statement that the war "must end now". "The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths," the signatories added, urging a negotiated ceasefire, the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants and the free flow of much-needed aid. The plea came as Deir el-Balah came under intense shelling on Monday, after Israel's military warned of imminent action in an area where it had not previously operated. The military a day earlier had ordered those in the central Gaza area to leave immediately as it was expanding operations, including "in an area where it has not operated before". Between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area when the evacuation order was issued, according to initial estimates from the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA. Deir el-Balah resident Abdullah Abu Saleem, 48, told AFP on Monday that "during the night, we heard huge and powerful explosions shaking the area as if it were an earthquake". He said this was "due to artillery shelling in the south-central part of Deir el-Balah and the southeastern area". "We are extremely worried and fearful that the army is planning a ground operation in Deir el-Balah and the central camps where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering," he added. - 'Extremely critical' - In their statement, the Western countries also denounced Israel's aid delivery model in Gaza, saying it was "dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity". The UN has recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food since late May, when Israel began easing a more than two-month aid blockade. "We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food," the statement said. In Deir el-Balah, AFP images showed plumes of dark smoke billowing into the sky. The spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, Mahmud Bassal, told AFP that "we received calls from several families trapped in the Al-Baraka area of Deir el-Balah due to shelling by Israeli tanks". The Israeli military did not provide immediate comment when contacted by AFP. Since the start of the war, nearly all of Gaza's population has been displaced at least once by repeated Israeli evacuation orders. According to OCHA, the latest order means that 87.8 percent of the territory is now under evacuation orders or within Israeli militarised zones. Hamdi Abu Mughseeb, 50, told AFP that he and his family had fled northwards from their tent south of Deir el-Balah at dawn following a night of intense shelling. "There is no safe place anywhere in the Gaza Strip," he said. "I don't know where we can go." Mai Elawawda, communications officer in Gaza for the UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, said the situation was "extremely critical", describing shelling "all around our office, and military vehicles are just 400 metres (1,300 feet) away from our colleagues and their families". - 'Shocked and alarmed' - The families of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war said they were "shocked and alarmed" by reports of evacuation orders for parts of Deir el-Balah. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum demanded political and military authorities "to clearly explain why the offensive in the Deir el-Balah area does not put the hostages at serious risk". Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's attack on Israel, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Civil defence spokesman Bassal reported at least 15 people killed by Israeli forces across Gaza on Monday. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties. Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 59,029 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Hamas's 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
UK, Australia, France and other nations call for an immediate end to war in Gaza
Twenty six countries, including Australia, the UK and France, have demanded an immediate end to the war in Gaza and called for Israel to lift aid restrictions. The joint statement comes amid growing international concern over the number of deaths at aid sites in the enclave. "We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now," the foreign ministers of Britain, Australia, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, Denmark and other countries said in a joint statement. The statement also calls Israeli government's aid delivery model "dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity". "We are prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region," it adds. The statement also includes condemnation for Hamas's treatment of hostages held captive since the October 7 2023 attack. "We condemn their continued detention and call for their immediate and unconditional release," it said. "A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families." The statement has been signed by foreign ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
Herald Sun
6 hours ago
- Herald Sun
Iran confirms fresh nuclear talks with European powers: state media
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News. Iran confirmed fresh talks with European powers to be held on Friday in Istanbul, the country's state media reported, the first since the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago. Iranian diplomats will meet counterparts from Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, after the trio warned that sanctions could be reimposed on Tehran if it does return to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme. Western nations and Israel have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied. "In response to the request of European countries, Iran has agreed to hold a new round of talks," said foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghai, as quoted by state TV on Monday. The subject of the talks will be Iran's nuclear programme, it added. A German diplomatic source had told AFP on Sunday the E3 were in contact with Tehran and said "Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon". "That is why Germany, France and the United Kingdom are continuing to work intensively in the E3 format to find a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear programme," the source said. Israel launched on June 13 a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, targeting key military and nuclear facilities. The United States launched its own set of strikes against Iran's nuclear programme on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz. - Kremlin meeting - Iran and the United States had held several rounds of nuclear negotiations through Omani mediators before Israel launched its 12-day war against Iran. However, US President Donald Trump's decision to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities effectively ended the talks. The E3 countries last met with Iranian representatives in Geneva on June 21 -- just one day before the US strikes. Also Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a surprise meeting in the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran's supreme leader on nuclear issues. Larijani "conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear programme", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the unannounced meeting. Putin had expressed Russia's "well-known positions on how to stabilise the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear programme", he added. Moscow has a cordial relationship with Iran's clerical leadership and provides crucial backing for Tehran but did not swing forcefully behind its partner even after the United States joined Israel's bombing campaign. - Snapback mechanism - Iran and world powers struck a deal in 2015 called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which placed significant restrictions on Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. But the hard-won deal began to unravel in 2018, during Trump's first presidency, when the United States walked away from it and reimposed sanctions on Iran. European countries have in recent days threatened to trigger the deal's "snapback" mechanism, which allows the reimposition of sanctions in the event of non-compliance by Iran. After a call with his European counterparts on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Western allies had "absolutely no moral (or) legal grounds" for reactivating the snapback sanctions. He elaborated in a post to social media Sunday. "Through their actions and statements, including providing political and material support to the recent unprovoked and illegal military aggression of the Israeli regime and the US... the E3 have relinquished their role as 'Participants' in the JCPOA," said Araghchi. That made any attempt to reinstate the terminated UN Security Council resolutions "null and void", he added. "Iran has shown that it is capable of defeating any delusional 'dirty work' but has always been prepared to reciprocate meaningful diplomacy in good faith," Araghchi wrote. However, the German source said Sunday that "if no solution is reached over the summer, snapback remains an option for the E3". Ali Velayati, an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last week there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities. burs-sbk/jj/tc/mtp Originally published as Iran confirms fresh nuclear talks with European powers: state media
