7 from Iran, 18 from Israel arrive in Hyderabad
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Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Iran executes 2 opposition members over alleged attacks on civilian sites
Iran said Sunday it has executed two members of the exiled opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq after convicting them of carrying out attacks on public and civilian infrastructure. Iranian courts charged the two men with several offenses, including waging war against the state.(Representational Photo) The judiciary's official news website, Mizan Online, reported that Behrouz Ehsani Eslamlou and Mehdi Hasani were hanged on Sunday morning after being found guilty of using improvised mortar launchers to target residential areas, educational institutions and government buildings. In January, rights group Amnesty International had issued an appeal for Eslamlou and Hasani, saying the two had been interrogated without the presence of lawyers and had been subjected "to torture and other ill-treatment, including beatings and prolonged solitary confinement, to extract self-incriminating statements.' The Mojahedin Organization of Iran, also known as the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, issued a statement decrying the executions and said both men had been 'subjected to savage torture.' Calling for international condemnation of the executions, the group said another 14 people have been sentenced to death in Iran for alleged membership in the organization 'and are at imminent risk of execution.' Iranian courts charged the two men with several offenses, including waging war against the state, conspiracy, sabotage and membership in a terrorist organization. Prosecutors accused them of plotting to destabilize national security and damage public property. The Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, once a Marxist-Islamist group that opposed Iran's monarchy, backed the 1979 Islamic Revolution but later broke with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's government. It carried out a series of deadly bombings and assassinations in the 1980s and supported Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war — stances that still provoke widespread resentment within Iran. The group is now largely based in Albania but claims to operate a clandestine network inside Iran. The last known execution of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq members took place in 2009, following their conviction in connection with an attempted bombing in Tehran's central Enghelab Square.
India.com
2 hours ago
- India.com
Even After U.S. Plea, Saudi Refused Defense Aid To Israel; Prince Salman Rejected Trump's Request Against Iran
Riyadh/Washington: A previously undisclosed standoff unfolded behind the scenes of the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June, as Saudi Arabia flatly refused a direct request from the United States to transfer its powerful American-made THAAD air defense systems to Israel, according to two senior U.S. defense officials cited by the Middle East Eye . At the height of the conflict, Iran had unleashed waves of advanced ballistic missiles, and Israel's stockpile of interceptor missiles, especially the high-altitude THAADs, was running dangerously low. Faced with the rapid depletion of its own interceptors like the Arrow and Patriot, the U.S. administration urgently reached out to Riyadh. But the response it got was immediate and firm. According to one official familiar with the internal deliberations, 'We were asking everyone to contribute. When that failed, we tried to negotiate. But this was not just about one country.' American officials tried to convince Saudi Arabia that Tehran was not only a threat to Israel; it posed a looming danger to Saudi national security as well. But the Saudis did not budge. Despite being fully capable of aiding Israel, the kingdom chose to prioritise its own defense. Saudi Arabia had already activated its THAAD systems in response to threats from Houthi rebels, with some units even deployed to guard the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. At one point during the war, Israeli defense officials were forced to let some incoming Iranian missiles fall on uninhabited areas as they rationed what little interceptor stock remained. U.S. think tanks had already flagged the issue in classified memos, highlighting Israel's supply of Arrow and Patriot systems was shrinking by the hour. Meanwhile, on July 3, nine days after a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, Saudi Arabia inaugurated a newly acquired THAAD battery from the United States, a move closely watched in Washington. Concerns were spiraling inside the Pentagon. The Guardian reported that the United States itself was down to just 25% of its Patriot interceptor reserves, and Pentagon planners were alarmed about whether America could even sustain its own global military posture if the Iran-Israel war escalated further. One American official told the Middle East Eye that internal projections showed a 'catastrophic depletion' of interceptors was imminent. In a desperate move, the United States tested its Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) from a Navy destroyer of the Arleigh Burke class to reinforce Israeli defenses. The Telegraph confirmed that Iran had already scored direct hits on five key Israeli military bases. The final twist came when The Wall Street Journal revealed that American officials had floated the idea of redirecting Saudi THAAD systems to Tel Aviv, but Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman rejected it outright. Washington then turned to the UAE with a similar request. Whether the Emirates complied remains unknown. No official confirmation has surfaced. The silence speaks volumes. As it stands, this behind-the-curtain episode exposes not only the limits of U.S. influence in the Gulf, but also the extent to which Saudi Arabia has begun charting its own course, even when it means defying its closest Western ally in the middle of a regional war.
The Hindu
5 hours ago
- The Hindu
UN to use 'humanitarian pauses' to try to reach Gaza's starving
The United Nations said it would try to reach as many starving people as possible in Gaza after Israel announced it would establish secure land routes in for humanitarian convoys. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said it had enough food in, or on its way to, the region to feed the 2.1 million people in the Gaza Strip for almost three months. UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said on X he welcomed the announcement of "humanitarian pauses". "In contact with our teams on the ground who will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he said. WFP said the pauses and corridors should allow emergency food to be safely delivered. "Food aid is the only real way for most people inside Gaza to eat," it said in a statement. It said a third of the population had not been eating for days, and 470,000 people in Gaza "are enduring famine-like conditions" that were leading to deaths. WFP said more than 62,000 tonnes of food assistance was needed monthly to cover the entire Gaza population of two million. The agency noted that, on top of Sunday's "pause" announcement, Israel had pledged to allow more trucks to enter Gaza with quicker clearances along with "assurances of no armed forces or shootings near convoys". "Together, we hope these measures will allow for a surge in urgently needed food assistance to reach hungry people without further delays," it said. 'Dystopian landscape' UN rights chief Volker Turk said Israel, as the occupying power in Gaza, was obliged to ensure sufficient food was provided to the population. "Children are starving and dying in front of our eyes. Gaza is a dystopian landscape of deadly attacks and total destruction," he said in a statement. He criticised a U.S. and Israel-backed outfit, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), that in late May began distributing foodstuffs when UN-organised efforts were blocked. Mr. Turk said the GHF's "chaotic, militarised distribution sites were "failing utterly to deliver humanitarian aid at the scope and scale needed". His office says Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid in Gaza since the GHF started operations -- nearly three-quarters of them in the vicinity of GHF sites. 'Starvation crisis' "The starvation of people in Gaza must end now," UN refugees chief Filippo Grandi said on X. "Standing with UN and NGO colleagues ready to deliver desperately-needed, lifesaving aid to hundreds of thousands at risk of death." Fletcher's UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Friday that conditions on the ground in Gaza were "already catastrophic" and deteriorating. "The starvation crisis is deepening," it said. OCHA said UN teams were in place to ramp up deliveries into the Palestinian territory as soon as they were permitted to do so. "If Israel opens the crossings, lets fuel and equipment in, and allows humanitarian staff to operate safely, the UN will accelerate the delivery of food aid, health services, clean water and waste management, nutrition supplies, and shelter materials," it said.
