25/05/2026

MONDAY | MAY 25, 2026

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Iran, US closing in on deal

Turkish opposition leaders face eviction from HQ ANKARA: Turkish authorities ordered police to evict the leadership of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) from their headquarters yesterday, enforcing a court ruling that reinstated the former leader and fuelled a political crisis. Riot police and crowds gathered outside the gates of CHP headquarters in the Turkish capital after the Ankara governor’s office issued the order to remove CHP members aligned with ousted leader Ozgur Ozel. A Turkish appeals court on Thursday annulled the results of a CHP congress at which Ozel was elected in 2023, citing unspecified irregularities. In Ozel’s place, the court reinstated former CHP Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who lost to President Tayyip Erdogan in elections earlier that year. Ozel called on Saturday for a new party congress to be held as soon as possible while Kilicdaroglu has said that a congress would be held at an “appropriate” time. The ousted CHP leadership under Ozel has condemned the court ruling as a “judicial coup” and Ozel promised to fight it through legal appeals and to remain “day and night” in the party’s Ankara headquarters. CHP lawmakers on Saturday elected Ozel as leader of the party’s parliamentary group. – Reuters TEHRAN: The United States and Iran could strike a deal to end the Middle East war as early as today, Washington’s top diplomat said, while Tehran insisted the agreement would do nothing to limit its nuclear programme. Washington and Tehran have observed a ceasefire since April 8 while mediators push for a negotiated settlement, although Iran has imposed controls on Gulf shipping and the US has blockaded Iran’s ports. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in New Delhi yesterday: “I do think perhaps there is the possibility that in the next few hours the world will get some good news.” This came after President Donald Trump posted on social media that the deal “has been largely negotiated, subject to finalisation between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other countries”. Rubio said the agreement would start a “process that can ultimately leave us where the president wants us to be, and that is a world that no longer has to fear or worry about an Iranian nuclear weapon”. Trump’s post stressed that the Strait of Hormuz would be re opened, a development that would bring relief to energy markets after a long Iranian blockade of a crucial waterway that in peacetime carries a fifth of world oil exports. Iranian officials confirmed the existence of a draft agreement, but stressed that – contrary to earlier long-standing US demands – talks on the issue of Iran’s contested nuclear programme have been deferred for 60 days after any deal. According to Fars news agency, Washington has agreed to release

o Nuclear programme talks deferred

part of Tehran’s funds frozen abroad under international economic sanctions and to end its naval blockade of ships travelling to and from Iranian ports. In exchange, “according to this draft, passage through the Strait of Hormuz would return to pre-war levels under Iranian management”. And, Fars said, “sanctions on oil, gas, petrochemicals and their derivatives would be temporarily lifted during the negotiation period so that Iran can freely sell its products”. Leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, as well as representatives from Turkiye and Pakistan, joined a call with Trump to discuss the deal on Saturday. Pakistan, which mediated historic face-to-face negotiations between US and Iranian delegations in April, hopes to host another round of talks “very soon”, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said. He said Pakistan’s powerful army chief Asim Munir, who visited Tehran on Friday and Saturday, also joined the call, which “provided a useful opportunity ... to move the ongoing peace efforts forward to bring lasting peace in the region”. Trump said a separate call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Israel bombing the southern village of Zawtar El Charkiyeh in Lebanon yesterday. – AFPPIC

Netanyahu “went very well”. US strikes on Iran have been carried out together with Israel since the war began on Feb 28. Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had warned earlier that Washington would face a tough response if it resumed hostilities, as Trump has often threatened.

“Our armed forces have rebuilt themselves during the ceasefire period in such a way that if Trump commits another act of folly and restarts the war, it will certainly be more crushing and bitter for the United States than on the first day of the war,” Ghalibaf said. On the war’s other main front in Lebanon, state media reported that

Israel struck the country’s south on Saturday, where fighting has continued despite an April 17 ceasefire. Lebanon’s military said a strike targeted an army barracks and wounded a soldier. The civil defence agency said yesterday its regional facility in Nabatieh had been destroyed by an Israeli strike. – AFP

Four held after clashes at Spain airport MADRID: Police detained four people at Bilbao airport in northern Spain on Saturday following clashes that broke out after activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla returned home. The incident occurred as and assaulting law enforcement officers, the Basque regional police force, the Ertzaintza, said. “Following what happened at the airport, the Ertzaintza internal affairs division has launched an investigation to determine whether the officers’ complied with procedures,” it said.

supporters gathered in the arrivals hall to welcome six campaigners as they arrived on a flight from Turkiye after having been detained by Israeli forces. When a relative of one of the activists tried to approach them, a police officer forcefully prevented him from doing so, leading to scuffles between both sides, public broadcaster TVE reported. Images broadcast by the station showed police striking people with batons at the airport and pinning others to the ground while being jeered by onlookers. Four people were arrested for serious disobedience, resisting arrest

Two of those arrested were activists who had just arrived from Turkiye, TVE reported. Amnesty International condemned what it described as the “excessive use of force” by Basque police officers at the airport and called for “effective accountability” over the incident, “The images published show no legitimate cause for the use of force,” it said. “It is very serious that batons were repeatedly used against people who had already been knocked down and were on the ground.”

Spanish activists are greeted as they arrive at the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport. – REUTERSPIC

Hundreds of activists from around the world were detained in Israel after they were intercepted at sea last week while attempting to break the blockade of the Palestinian territory. The group included 44 Spanish

nationals, according to Spain’s Foreign Ministry. Around 20 other activists landed at Barcelona airport on Saturday, where they were welcomed by supporters. – AFP

Four dead in massive Russian bombardment KYIV: Russia pounded Kyiv with a massive missile and drone attack that killed four people, authorities said yesterday, after President Vladimir Putin threatened retaliation for strikes in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Multiple rounds of loud explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital throughout the early hours of the morning, AFP journalists reported, in a barrage the air force said involved 600 drones and 90 missiles. of the surrounding Kyiv region said two people had also been killed there. Air defences intercepted 549 of the drones and 55 missiles, the air force said. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russians had fired a nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik missile in the barrage. “They are genuinely deranged.” Russia confirmed it had launched the Oreshnik at Ukraine. “In response to Ukraine’s terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure on Russian territory, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a massive strike using Oreshnik ballistic missiles, Iskander air-launched

government district to shake, while dozens of people took shelter in an underground metro station. Residents were instructed to stay in shelters. Klitschko said damage had been recorded in every district of Kyiv, adding that a strike on a school had sparked a fire and another on a business centre led to people being trapped in a shelter. Ukrainian authorities said strikes had also wounded 12 people in Kharkiv, 11 in Cherkasy and seven in Dnipropetrovsk. – AFP

“Three Russian missiles against a water supply facility, a market burnt down, dozens of residential buildings damaged, several schools, and he (Putin) launched his ‘Oreshnik’ against Bila Tserkva (in central Ukraine),” Zelensky said on Telegram.

ballistic missiles, Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched ballistic missiles and Tsirkon cruise missiles,” the Defence Ministry said. The blasts in the capital caused a residential building near the

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people had been killed in the capital and dozens wounded, while the head