23/02/2026

MONDAY | FEB 23, 2026

9 Remark on Israel right to Middle East land slammed

Iran, US differ on sanctions relief scope

DUBAI: Iran and the United States have differing views over the scope and mechanism to lift sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, a senior Iranian official told Reuters yesterday, adding that new talks were planned early next month. The official said Tehran could seriously consider a combination of exporting part of its highly enriched uranium (HEU) stockpile, diluting the purity of its HEU and a regional consortium for enriching uranium, but in return Iran’s right to “peacful nuclear enrichment” must be recognised. “The negotiations continue and the possibility of reaching an interim agreement exists,” the official said. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday that he expected to have a draft counterproposal ready within days following nuclear talks with the United States last week, while President Donald Trump said he was considering limited military strikes. The senior official said Tehran will not hand over control of its oil and mineral resources but US companies can always take part as contractors in Iran’s oil and gas fields. In Washington, US envoy Steve Witkoff said Trump is questioning why Iran has not “capitulated” in the face of Washington’s military build up aimed at pressuring them into a nuclear deal. In a Fox News interview with Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara, Witkoff said the president was “curious” about Iran’s position after he had warned them of severe consequences in the event they failed to strike a deal. “I don’t want to use the word ‘frustrated’, because he understands he has plenty of alternatives, but he’s curious as to why they haven’t ... I don’t want to use the word ‘capitulated’, but why they haven’t capitulated,” he said.

TEL AVIV: Arab and Islamic countries yesterday issued a joint condemnation of remarks by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who suggested Israel had a biblical right to a vast swathe of the Middle East. Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and a fervent Israel supporter, was speaking on the podcast of far-right commentator and Israel critic Tucker Carlson. In an episode released on Friday, Carlson pushed Huckabee on the meaning of a biblical verse o Joint statement condemns comments by US ambassador

Palestinian territory or any other Arab lands”. The Palestinian Authority said Huckabee’s words “contradict US President Donald Trump’s rejection of (Israel) annexing the West Bank”. Huckabee published two posts on X clarifying his position on other topics but did not address his remark about the biblical verse. The speaker of the Israeli parliament, Amir Ohana, praised Huckabee for his general pro-Israel stance, and accused Carlson of “falsehoods and manipulations”. Carlson has found himself facing accusations of antisemitism, particularly following an interview with self-described white nationalist Nick Fuentes – a figure who has praised Hitler, denied the Holocaust and branded American Jews as disloyal. – AFP

Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria and the State of Palestine, as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council. They said the comments contravene the UN Charter and efforts to de-escalate the Gaza war and advance a political horizon for a comprehensive settlement. Earlier, several Arab states had issued independent condemnations. Saudi Arabia described the ambassador’s words as “reckless” and “irresponsible”. Kuwait decried what it called a “flagrant violation of the principles of international law”, while Oman said the comments “threatened the prospects for peace” and stability. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry reaffirmed “that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied

sometimes interpreted as saying that Israel is entitled to the land between the river Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates in Syria and Iraq. In response, Huckabee said: “It would be fine if they took it all.” When pressed, however, he continued that Israel was “not asking to take all of that”, adding: “It was somewhat of a hyperbolic statement.” The backlash widened sharply yesterday as more than a dozen Arab and Islamic governments, alongside three major regional organisations, issued a joint statement denouncing the US diplomat’s comments as “dangerous and inflammatory”. The statement, released by the United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Ministry, was signed by the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait,

ST FRANCIS RELICS GO ON SHOW ASSISI: Saint Francis of Assisi’s skeleton went on public display yesterday for the first time for the 800th anniversary of his death. Inside a nitrogen filled plexiglass case with the Latin inscription “Corpus Sancti Francisci” (The Body of St Francis), the remains are being shown in the Italian hill town’s Basilica of St Francis of Assisi. St Francis, who died on Oct 3, 1226, founded the Franciscan order after renouncing his wealth and devoting his life to the poor. Giulio Cesareo, director of communications for the Franciscan convent in Assisi said he hoped the display could be “a meaningful experience” for believers and non-believers alike. Cesareo, a Franciscan friar, said the “damaged” and “consumed” state of the bones showed that St Francis “gave himself completely” to his life’s work. His remains will be on display until March 22. – AFP DENMARK AIRLIFTS U.S. SUBMARINER NUUK: Danish forces evacuated a crew member from a US submarine off the coast of Greenland on Saturday after the sailor required urgent medical treatment, authorities said. Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command, which oversees Danish operations in the region, said the crew member was flown to a hospital in Nuuk after a medical emergency on board the vessel. Images posted online appeared to show the sail of a submarine surfacing in Nuuk’s bay. Since returning to the White House last year, US President Donald Trump has argued that Washington needs to control mineral-rich Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, for American national security. – AFP

BR I E F S

Demonstrators in Dublin hold banners and flags in support of Palestinians. – REUTERSPIC “Why, under this pressure, with the amount of seapower and naval power over there, why haven’t they come to us and said: ‘We profess we don’t want a weapon, so here’s what we’re prepared to do’? And yet it’s sort of hard to get them to that place.” – Reuters/AFP Missiles pound Kyiv near fourth anniversary of invasion

KYIV: Explosions rocked Kyiv before dawn yesterday after officials warned of a ballistic missile attack, just two days before the fourth anniversary of the Russia invasion. AFP journalists in the capital heard loud blasts beginning around 4am (10am in Malaysia), shortly after an air raid alert was issued. “The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic weapons,” the head of Kyiv’s military administration Tymur Tkachenko said on Telegram, urging people to remain in shelters. The air force later extended the alert nationwide, warning of a broader missile threat. Kyiv, regularly targeted by Russian missile and drone attacks since the start of the invasion, has faced waves

large numbers on both sides. Moscow occupies close to a fifth of Ukrainian territory and continues to grind forward in places, especially in the eastern Donbas region, despite heavy losses and repeated Ukrainian strikes on logistics. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP on Friday that Ukraine “is definitely not losing” the war and that victory remains the goal. He said Ukrainian forces had clawed back about 300sq km of territory in recent counter-attacks, gains AFP could not immediately verify. If confirmed, they would be Kyiv’s most significant advances since 2023. – AFP

It also came hours after blasts in Lviv, a western city near the Polish border that rarely sees deadly attacks. Explosions ripped through a central shopping street around 12.30am (6.30am in Malaysia), killing a policewoman and injuring 15 people after officers responded to a reported break-in. “This is clearly an act of terrorism,” mayor Andriy Sadovyi said, offering no details on perpetrators. Such attacks far from the front line have become more frequent over the past two years. Ukraine will mark four years since the Russian assault on Feb 24, 2022, a withering war that has shattered towns, uprooted millions and killed

of overnight strikes in recent weeks as Moscow has intensified its winter assaults on energy and military infrastructure. Temperatures had plunged to nearly minus 10ºC when the capital was struck again, with emergency services deployed across the city. Tkachenko later said the attacks had caused a fire on the roof of a residential building. The strikes also prompted heightened vigilance across Ukraine’s western border. Poland’s Operational Command said early yesterday it was scrambling jets after detecting “long range aviation of the Russian federation conducting strikes on the territory of Ukraine”.