26/06/2025

THURSDAY | JUNE 26, 2025

9

Fragile ceasefire holding

IRAN BANK LISTED AS ‘TERROR ORGANISATION’ TEL AVIV: Israel’s defence minister yesterday designated Iran’s central bank a “terror organisation”, saying the move was aimed at halting financing for Iran-backed groups. Minister Israel Katz “signed a special order designating Iran’s central bank, two additional Iranian banks (and) an Iranian armed forces affiliated company ... as terror organisations,” a statement from his office said. “Part of Israel’s broader campaign against Iran”, the move aimed “to target the heart of the Iranian regime’s terror financing system, which funds, arms and directs terror throughout the Middle East”. The head of Israel’s military Eyal Zamir said in a statement on Tuesday:“The campaign against Iran is not over. We are entering a new phase based on the achievements of the current one.” – AFP IRAQI COMMENTATOR HELD OVER POST BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities said they arrested a political commentator yesterday over a post alleging that a military radar system struck by a drone had been used to help Israel in its war against Iran. After a court issued a warrant, the Defence Ministry said that Iraqi forces arrested Abbas al-Ardawi for sharing content online that included “incitement intended to insult and defame the security institution”. In a post on X, which was later deleted but has circulated on social media as a screenshot, Ardawi told his more than 90,000 followers that “a French radar in the Taji base served the Israeli aggression” and was eliminated. Early on Tuesday, unidentified drones struck radar systems at two military bases in Taji, north of Baghdad, and in southern Iraq, officials have said. – AFP UK TO BUY NUCLEAR CAPABLE AIRCRAFT LONDON: Britain will reintroduce fighter jets capable of carrying atomic weapons to support Nato’s nuclear mission, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said, as he prepares for a Nato summit. The country will buy 12 nuclear weapon-capable F-35A fighters, expanding the country’s deterrence arsenal, which is limited to submarine-launched missiles. “These F35 dual capable aircraft will herald a new era for our world-leading Royal Air Force and deter hostile threats that threaten the UK and our Allies,” Starmer said in a statement on Tuesday. Downing Street described it as the “biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation”. – AFP BRITAIN SAYS CHINESE SPYING INCREASING LONDON: Chinese spying and attempts by Beijing to undermine Britain’s democracy and economy have risen in recent years, the UK government said on Tuesday in a report on the Asian giant. Foreign Secretary David Lammy told parliament the Labour administration would invest £600 million (RM3.5 billion) in its intelligence services as a result of the findings. Prime Minister Keir Starmer commissioned an “audit” of Britain’s relations with Beijing after he swept to power in landslide general election win last July. The report, published on Tuesday, recommended high-level engagement with China for a “trade and investment relationship” but also building “resilience” against threats posed by Beijing. – AFP

BR I E F S

o Iran president announces victory

intact, the Washington Post said, citing an unnamed person familiar with the report. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country had successfully ended the war in what he called a “great victory”. Pezeshkian also told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Tehran was ready to resolve differences with the US, according to IRNA news agency. Israel launched the surprise air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq. Iran, which denies trying to build nuclear weapons, retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites and cities. Israel’s military lifted restrictions on activity across the country on Tuesday night, and officials said Ben Gurion Airport, the country’s main airport near Tel Aviv, had reopened. Iran’s airspace likewise will be reopened, state-affiliated Nournews reported. The truce appeared fragile: Both Israel and Iran took hours to

acknowledge they had accepted the ceasefire and accused each other of violating it. Trump scolded both sides but aimed especially stinging criticism at Israel, telling the ally to “calm down now”. He later said Israel called off further attacks at his command. Defence Minister Israel Katz said he told his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, that his country would respect the ceasefire unless Iran violated it. Pezeshkian likewise said Iran would honour the ceasefire as long as Israel did, according to Iranian media. Israeli armed forces chief of staff Eyal Zamir said a “significant chapter” of the conflict had concluded but the campaign against Iran was not over. He said the military would refocus on its war against Hamas in Gaza. Iranian authorities said 610 people were killed in their country by Israeli strikes and 4,746 injured. Iran’s retaliatory bombardment killed 28 people in Israel, the first time its air defences were penetrated by large numbers of Iranian missiles. – Reuters

the Iranians and get to a comprehensive peace agreement, and I am very confident that we are going to achieve that,” he added. Trump said over the weekend that stealth bombers had “obliterated” Iran’s programme to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its enrichment activities are for civilian purposes only. But Trump’s claim appeared to be contradicted by an initial report by one of his administration’s intelligence agencies. One source said Iran’s enriched uranium stocks had not been eliminated, and the country’s nuclear programme, much of which is buried deep underground, may have been set back only a month or two. The White House said the intelligence assessment was “flat out wrong”. According to the report, which was produced by the Defence Intelligence Agency, the strikes sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities, but did not collapse underground buildings, said one of the people familiar with its findings. Some centrifuges remained

TEL AVIV: The ceasefire brokered by President Donald Trump between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding yesterday a day after both countries signalled that their air war had ended, at least for now. Each side claimed victory on Tuesday after 12 days of war, which the US joined with airstrikes in support of Israel to take out Iran’s uranium-enrichment facilities. Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said late on Tuesday that talks between the United States and Iran were “promising” and that Washington was hopeful for a long term peace deal. “We are already talking to each other, not just directly but also through interlocutors. I think that the conversations are promising. We are hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement that resurrects Iran,” Witkoff said in an interview on Fox News. “Now it’s for us to sit down with

Dutch protesters demonstrating on Zuiderstrand Beach against the violence in Gaza, on the sidelines of a Nato Summit in The Hague, the Netherlands. – REUTERSPIC

US allocates US$30m to Gaza aid operation WASHINGTON: The United States is giving US$30 million (RM127 million) to a humanitarian group delivering aid in Gaza despite concern among some US officials about the month-old operation and the killing of Palestinians near food distribution sites, according to four sources and a document seen by Reuters. “priority directive” from the White House and State Department. The document showed an initial US$7 million disbursement had been made. The United States could approve additional monthly grants of US$30 million for the GHF, said two of the sources, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. has not publicly disclosed its finances, from an audit usually required for groups receiving USAID grants for the first time. Such an audit “would normally take many, many weeks if not months”, said one source, who is a former senior US official.

including eastern and western Gaza City and the town of Bani Suheila in eastern Khan Younis. Qatar News Agency reported that a family, comprising a father, mother and five of their children, were killed in an airstrike targeting the Al-Shawa area in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City. Several others were wounded in the attack. Five other civilians, including a child, were killed in a separate strike targeting a group near the College of Training in western Gaza City. In southern Gaza, a Palestinian was killed following an airstrike on Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis. Medical sources confirmed that 31 Palestinians, including children, have been killed since early yesterday in raids. The death toll in Gaza has risen to 56,077, with 131,848 injured since Oct 7, 2023. – Reuters/Bernama

The GHF also was exempted from additional vetting required for groups supplying aid to Gaza, ruled by Hamas, to ensure that there are no links to extremism, the sources said. The GHF is working in Gaza with a for-profit logistics firm, Safe Reach Solutions, headed by a former CIA officer, and its security contractor, UG Solutions, which employs US military veterans. In Gaza at least 12 Palestinians were killed and several others injured yesterday as Israeli forces intensified their bombardment of various areas in the Gaza Strip,

The White House referred questions about the matter to the State Department. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation declined to comment on the funding or the concerns of some US officials about the operation. Israel’s embassy did not respond to a request for comment. In approving the funding, the sources said the State Department exempted the foundation, which

Washington has long backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation diplomatically, but this is the first known US government financial contribution to the organisation, which uses private US military and logistics firms to transport aid into the enclave for distribution at so called secure sites. A document reviewed by Reuters showed that the US$30 million US Agency for International Development grant to GHF was authorised on Friday under a