Middle East live: Iran military chief has 'complete doubts' about Israel ceasefire; 23 killed in strikes on Gaza
Donald Trump posts: "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA! GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!" But it remains unclear how close a ceasefire is. It comes as Israeli strikes overnight killed at least 23 people, according to medics. Listen to Trump 100 as you scroll.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
8 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Benjamin Netanyahu corruption trial delayed on diplomatic and security grounds
An Israeli court has cancelled this week's hearings in Benjamin Netanyahu's long-running corruption trial, accepting a request made by the prime minister on classified diplomatic and security grounds. 'Following the explanations given … we partially accept the request and cancel at this stage Mr Netanyahu's hearings scheduled' for this week, the Jerusalem district court said in its ruling, published online by Netanyahu's Likud party. The ruling said that new reasons provided by Netanyahu, the head of Israel's spy agency the Mossad and the military intelligence chief justified cancelling the hearings. It comes after Donald Trump last week called for the case to be thrown out. In remarks on social media, the US president suggested the trial could interfere with Netanyahu's ability to join negotiations with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran, adding that the US was 'not going to stand' for the continued prosecution, prompting Netanyahu to thank him in a message on X. In a social media post, Trump described the case against the Israeli premier as a 'witch hunt', saying the trial 'should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero'. Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust – all of which he denies. He has cast the trial against him as an orchestrated leftwing witch-hunt meant to topple a democratically elected rightwing leader. In one of the cases, he and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewellery and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favours. In two others, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to negotiate more favourable coverage from two Israeli media outlets. The prime minister has requested multiple postponements to the trial since it began in May 2020. Netanyahu's lawyers had asked the court to excuse him from testifying over the next two weeks so he could focus on security issues after a ceasefire with Iran and amid ongoing fighting in Gaza where Israeli hostages are held. They submitted the prime minister's schedule to the court to demonstrate 'the national need for the prime minister to devote all his time and energy to the political, national and security issues at hand'. The court initially rejected the lawyers' request, but said in its ruling on Sunday that it had changed its judgment after hearing arguments from the prime minister and other senior officials. A spokesperson for the Israeli prosecution declined to comment on Trump's post. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said last week that Trump 'should not interfere in a judicial trial in an independent country'. Trump said Netanyahu was 'right now' negotiating a deal with Hamas, though neither leader provided details, and officials from both sides have voiced scepticism over prospects for a ceasefire soon. On Friday, the Republican president told reporters he believed a ceasefire was close. With Reuters and Agence France-Presse
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Iran's nuclear enrichment ‘will never stop', nation's UN ambassador says
Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, said on Sunday that the Islamic republic's nuclear enrichment 'will never stop' because it is permitted for 'peaceful energy' purposes under the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. 'The enrichment is our right, an inalienable right, and we want to implement this right,' Iravani told CBS News, adding that Iran was ready for negotiations but 'unconditional surrender is not negotiation. It is dictating the policy toward us.' But Iravani said Tehran is 'ready for the negotiation, but after this aggression, it is not proper condition for a new round of the negotiation, and there is no request for negotiation and meeting with the president'. The Iranian UN envoy also denied that there are any threats from his government to the safety of Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or against the agency's inspectors, who are accused by some Iranian officials of helping Israel justify its attacks. IAEA inspectors are currently in Iran but do not have access to Iran's nuclear facilities. Pressed by the CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan on whether he would condemn calls for the arrest and execution of the IAEA head, which Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state said a newspaper close to Iran's leader had made, Iravani said that he would. 'There is no any threat,' Irvani said, but acknowledged that Iran's parliament had suspended cooperation with IAEA. The inspectors, he said, 'are in Iran, they are in safe conditions, but the activity has been suspended. They cannot have access to our site … our assessment is that they have not done their jobs.' Iravani also responded to questions on why Tehran has not accepted proposals for a diplomatic solution. Referring to Trump's 'unconditional surrender' demand, Irvani said that the US 'is dictating the policy towards us. If they are ready for negotiation, they will find us ready for that. But if they want to dictate us, it is impossible for any negotiation with them.' Iravani said on Saturday that Iran could transfer its stocks of enriched uranium to another country in the event of an agreement with the United States on Tehran's nuclear program, according to news site Al-Monitor. The transfer of 20% and 60% enriched uranium would not be a red line for Tehran, Iravani said, adding that the material could alternatively remain in Iran under IAEA supervision. But as he said again on Sunday, Iravani stressed that Iran would not renounce its right to domestic uranium production, a condition the US rejects. Irvani's comments comes as western nations, including the US, are pushing for Iran to resume negotiations over its nuclear program a week after the US launched strikes on three facilities, setting off days of heated dispute over whether the facilities has been 'totally obliterated', as Donald Trump initially claimed, or if they had delayed but not destroyed the program. Grossi told CBS that there is 'agreement in describing this as a very serious level of damage' but went on to say that Iran will likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium within months. 'The capacities they have are there,' he said. 'They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that. But as I said, frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there.' On Sunday, President Trump again dismissed reports that Iran had moved 400kg (880lb) on 60% enriched uranium ahead of the strikes on Fordow, regarded as the center of Iran's enrichment program. 'It's very hard to do, dangerous to do, it's very heavy, plus we didn't give them much notice because they didn't know they we were coming,' Trump told the Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. Trump speculated that vehicles seen near the entrances to Fordow before the strikes were likely masons brought in to seal up the facility. 'There are thousands of tons of rock in that room right now,' Trump said. 'They whole place was just destroyed.' However, the Washington Post reported on Sunday that the US obtained intercepted Iranian communications in which senior Iran officials remarked that damage from the attack was not as destructive and extensive as they anticipated. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, scoffed at the Iranian claims in a comment to the Post in which she did not dispute that such communications had been intercepted. 'The notion that unnamed Iranian officials know what happened under hundreds of feet of rubble is nonsense,' Leavitt said. Separately on Sunday, Abdolrahim Mousavi, Iran's armed forces chief of staff, reportedly told the Saudi defense minister during a call that Tehran is not convinced Israel will honour the ceasefire that ended their 12-day war announced by Trump. 'Since we are completely doubtful about the enemy honoring its commitments, including the ceasefire, we are prepared to give it a tough response in case of recurrence of an act of aggression', Mousavi said, according to Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu. Israel and the US, 'have shown that they do not adhere to any international rules and norms' the Iranian general added. 'We did not initiate war, but we responded with all our power to the aggressor.'
Times
an hour ago
- Times
British-Israeli soldier killed in explosion in Gaza
A British-Israeli soldier was killed by an explosive device in Gaza on Sunday, marking the deadliest month for soldiers fighting in the Palestinian territory this year. Sergeant Yisrael Natan Rosenfeld, 20, was killed in the city of Jabalia as the military expanded its operation in the north and centre of the Gaza Strip in its efforts to root out Hamas militants. Rosenfeld, who was serving with the Combat Engineering Battalion, moved to Israel with his family 12 years ago from the UK. His sister's husband, also an Israeli soldier, was killed in battle on October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas attacks that led to the war. A family friend told Haaretz newspaper that Rosenfeld was 'just a lovely, sweet boy who was always smiling'. She said: 'Today our sweet Nathan was taken from us and he is young, very young; this has to stop. Get the soldiers out of there and get the hostages out. Enough … my heart is broken.' He was 20th Israeli soldier killed this month, and the 880th in the Gaza war, by far the deadliest conflict for Israeli soldiers in the country's history. Last week, seven soldiers died in southern Gaza after an improvised bomb was thrown through the hatch of an armoured vehicle, killing everyone inside. The majority of Israelis, about 70 per cent according to polls taken throughout the 20-month conflict, support bringing an end to the war and the return of the remaining 50 hostages, fewer than half of whom are believed to still be alive. Rosenfeld is one of many British-Israelis serving in the Israeli military, and his death brings the toll to at least three killed since October 7 2023. Binyamin Needham, 19, was killed in December 2023 after serving for two days in Gaza. Another British-borne soldier, Nathanel Young, 20, was killed in February last year. Other dual citizens, including Emily Damari, who was freed in January, were kidnapped by Hamas. In April, a British lawyer filed a war crimes complaint against ten UK citizens on military duty in Gaza to the Metropolitan Police, alleging that they intentionally killed civilians and aid workers. The UK allows dual citizens to serve for foreign powers as long as their armed forces are legitimately recognised.
