Iran, Zionists trade massive blows
TEL AVIV/TEHRAN: The Zionist bombed nuclear targets in Iran on Thursday and Iran fired missiles and drones at the Zionist entity, as a week-old air war escalated with no sign yet of an exit strategy from either side. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday strongly condemned the Zionist attacks on Iran in a phone call and stressed the need for a diplomatic solution, Moscow and Beijing said.
Putin and Xi 'strongly condemn (the Zionist entity's) actions', Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters after the call. He added that Moscow and Beijing believed the end to the hostilities 'should be achieved exclusively by political and diplomatic means'. Xi told Putin that a ceasefire was the 'top priority' and urged the Zionist entity to halt its attacks, Chinese state media reported.
'Promoting a ceasefire and cessation of hostilities is the top priority. Armed force is not the correct way to resolve international disputes,' Xi said, according to China's state news agency Xinhua. 'Parties to the conflict, especially (the Zionist entity), should cease hostilities as soon as possible to prevent a cyclical escalation and resolutely avoid the spillover of the war,' he added.
Following a strike that damaged the Soroka medical center in the southern Zionist city of Beersheba, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tehran's 'tyrants' would pay the 'full price'. 'Are we targeting the downfall of the regime? That may be a result, but it's up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom,' Netanyahu said. 'Freedom requires these subjugated people to rise up, and it's up to them, but we
may create conditions that will help them do it.'
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted Zionist military and intelligence headquarters near the hospital. Zionist Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military had been instructed to intensify strikes on strategic-related targets in Tehran in order to eliminate the threat to the Zionist entity and destabilize the 'Ayatollah regime'.
Three diplomats told Reuters that Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have spoken by phone several times since the Zionist entity began its strikes last week. In an apparent reference to the US, Iran's Supreme National Security Council said on Thursday it would use a different strategy if a 'third party' joined the Zionist entity in the war.
In the latest wave of attacks, the Zionist entity said it had struck Iran's Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. It initially said it had also hit Bushehr, site of Iran's only functioning nuclear power plant, but a spokesperson later said it was a mistake to have said this. An Iranian diplomat told Reuters Bushehr was not hit and the Zionist entity was engaged in 'psychological warfare' by discussing it. Any attack on the plant, near Arab neighbors and housing Russian technicians, is viewed as risking nuclear disaster.
A week of Zionist air and missile strikes has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people. Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least two dozen people in the Zionist entity. Both countries have not issued an updated official toll. Iran's state media have ceased showing widespread images of destruction. The Internet has been almost completely shut down, and the public has been banned from filming.
On Thursday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement it had launched combined missile and drone attacks at military and industrial sites linked to the Zionist entity's defense industry in Haifa and Tel Aviv. The Zionist entity reported missiles launched from Iran towards its territory.
Iran has been weighing its wider options in responding to the biggest security challenge since its 1979 revolution. A member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security Committee Presidium, Behnam Saeedi, told the semi-official Mehr news agency Iran could consider closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of daily global oil consumption passes. Oil prices jumped on Thursday. Iran was maintaining crude oil supply by loading tankers one at a time and moving floating oil storage much closer to China, two vessel tracking firms told Reuters, as the country seeks to keep a key source of revenue while under attack.
Earlier, the Zionist military said it targeted the Khondab nuclear site near Iran's central city Arak overnight, including a partially-built heavy-water research reactor. Heavy-water reactors produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb. Iranian TV showed footage of smoke billowing from the direction of Arak, but Iran's atomic energy agency said the attack caused no casualties. The Zionist military also said it attacked launch sites in western Iran after attempts to restore them were detected
Arash, 33, a government employee in Tehran, said a building next to his home in Tehran's Shahrak-e Gharb neighborhood had been destroyed in the strikes. 'I saw at least three dead children and two women in that building. Is this how Netanyahu plans to 'liberate' Iranians? Stay away from our country,' he told Reuters by telephone. Thousands of residents have fled Tehran, a city of 10 million, jamming the highways out. Samira, 11, moved in with her grandparents in the northwestern city of Urmia after her family fled Tehran when a shopping center near their house was struck.
Inside the Zionist entity, the missile strikes over the past week are the first time a significant number of projectiles from Iran have pierced defenses and killed Zionists in their homes. The director general of the Zionist hospital that was damaged in Beersheba, Shlomi Kodesh, told reporters at the site that a missile strike had destroyed several wards and wounded 40 people, mostly staff and patients. Missiles also hit a building in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv. 'It's very scary,' said Yaniv, 34, who lives nearby. He said he heard a deafening explosion when the missile hit, shaking his apartment tower. – Agencies
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Kuwait Times
6 hours ago
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Iran, Zionists trade massive blows
TEL AVIV/TEHRAN: The Zionist bombed nuclear targets in Iran on Thursday and Iran fired missiles and drones at the Zionist entity, as a week-old air war escalated with no sign yet of an exit strategy from either side. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday strongly condemned the Zionist attacks on Iran in a phone call and stressed the need for a diplomatic solution, Moscow and Beijing said. Putin and Xi 'strongly condemn (the Zionist entity's) actions', Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters after the call. He added that Moscow and Beijing believed the end to the hostilities 'should be achieved exclusively by political and diplomatic means'. Xi told Putin that a ceasefire was the 'top priority' and urged the Zionist entity to halt its attacks, Chinese state media reported. 'Promoting a ceasefire and cessation of hostilities is the top priority. Armed force is not the correct way to resolve international disputes,' Xi said, according to China's state news agency Xinhua. 'Parties to the conflict, especially (the Zionist entity), should cease hostilities as soon as possible to prevent a cyclical escalation and resolutely avoid the spillover of the war,' he added. Following a strike that damaged the Soroka medical center in the southern Zionist city of Beersheba, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tehran's 'tyrants' would pay the 'full price'. 'Are we targeting the downfall of the regime? That may be a result, but it's up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom,' Netanyahu said. 'Freedom requires these subjugated people to rise up, and it's up to them, but we may create conditions that will help them do it.' Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted Zionist military and intelligence headquarters near the hospital. Zionist Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military had been instructed to intensify strikes on strategic-related targets in Tehran in order to eliminate the threat to the Zionist entity and destabilize the 'Ayatollah regime'. Three diplomats told Reuters that Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have spoken by phone several times since the Zionist entity began its strikes last week. In an apparent reference to the US, Iran's Supreme National Security Council said on Thursday it would use a different strategy if a 'third party' joined the Zionist entity in the war. In the latest wave of attacks, the Zionist entity said it had struck Iran's Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. It initially said it had also hit Bushehr, site of Iran's only functioning nuclear power plant, but a spokesperson later said it was a mistake to have said this. An Iranian diplomat told Reuters Bushehr was not hit and the Zionist entity was engaged in 'psychological warfare' by discussing it. Any attack on the plant, near Arab neighbors and housing Russian technicians, is viewed as risking nuclear disaster. A week of Zionist air and missile strikes has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people. Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least two dozen people in the Zionist entity. Both countries have not issued an updated official toll. Iran's state media have ceased showing widespread images of destruction. The Internet has been almost completely shut down, and the public has been banned from filming. On Thursday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement it had launched combined missile and drone attacks at military and industrial sites linked to the Zionist entity's defense industry in Haifa and Tel Aviv. The Zionist entity reported missiles launched from Iran towards its territory. Iran has been weighing its wider options in responding to the biggest security challenge since its 1979 revolution. A member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security Committee Presidium, Behnam Saeedi, told the semi-official Mehr news agency Iran could consider closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of daily global oil consumption passes. Oil prices jumped on Thursday. Iran was maintaining crude oil supply by loading tankers one at a time and moving floating oil storage much closer to China, two vessel tracking firms told Reuters, as the country seeks to keep a key source of revenue while under attack. Earlier, the Zionist military said it targeted the Khondab nuclear site near Iran's central city Arak overnight, including a partially-built heavy-water research reactor. Heavy-water reactors produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb. Iranian TV showed footage of smoke billowing from the direction of Arak, but Iran's atomic energy agency said the attack caused no casualties. The Zionist military also said it attacked launch sites in western Iran after attempts to restore them were detected Arash, 33, a government employee in Tehran, said a building next to his home in Tehran's Shahrak-e Gharb neighborhood had been destroyed in the strikes. 'I saw at least three dead children and two women in that building. Is this how Netanyahu plans to 'liberate' Iranians? Stay away from our country,' he told Reuters by telephone. Thousands of residents have fled Tehran, a city of 10 million, jamming the highways out. Samira, 11, moved in with her grandparents in the northwestern city of Urmia after her family fled Tehran when a shopping center near their house was struck. Inside the Zionist entity, the missile strikes over the past week are the first time a significant number of projectiles from Iran have pierced defenses and killed Zionists in their homes. The director general of the Zionist hospital that was damaged in Beersheba, Shlomi Kodesh, told reporters at the site that a missile strike had destroyed several wards and wounded 40 people, mostly staff and patients. Missiles also hit a building in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv. 'It's very scary,' said Yaniv, 34, who lives nearby. He said he heard a deafening explosion when the missile hit, shaking his apartment tower. – Agencies
Kuwait Times
6 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Ministers assure key essentials abundant, call to avoid hoarding
KUWAIT: Minister of Social Affairs Amthal Al-Huwailah and Minister of Commerce and Industry Khalifa Al-Ajeel hold a meeting to follow up on the readiness of cooperative societies and stocks of goods. - KUNA KUWAIT: The ministers of social affairs and commerce and industry on Thursday reiterated that essential commodities are available in large quantities and called on the public not to hoard food products. Amthal Al-Huwailah and Khalifa Al-Ajeel said after a meeting to assess the situation and coordination between the two ministries that 'the strategic stock of essential and basic commodities is available in sufficient quantities and that coordination between the two ministries is ongoing to ensure its continuous availability'. The two sides called on citizens and residents not to stock foodstuff or hoard them at home to avoid the risk of spoilage or improper storage, adding there is nothing to worry about as commodities are available for all. The meeting was held within the framework of activating the national contingency plan and assessing field inspections and visits to cooperative societies to ensure their complete readiness amid an intensification in the fighting between neighboring Iran and the Zionist entity. The two ministers also called on local companies and factories to accord priority in supplies to cooperative societies because they are concerned with providing and distributing foodstuff and other commodities, adding that cooperative societies work around the clock to guarantee stability in the market and meet people's dmands. Since the outbreak of hostilities, almost all ministries and departments have been making necessary preparations to ensure that the country is not affected by the fallout of the war. Meanwhile, the supreme commission for citizenship announced on Thursday that it has recommended revoking the Kuwaiti citizenship of several people, but did not release the exact number. The commission however said the revocations were due to holding third-country citizenship, obtaining citizenship by fraud and for the sake of the country's interests. Kuwait has so far revoked the citizenship of over 37,000 Kuwaitis, most of them foreign women who were naturalized after getting married to Kuwaiti men. The commission's decision becomes effective after its approval by the Cabinet.
Kuwait Times
6 hours ago
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Kuwaitis evacuated from Iran begin arriving home
KUWAIT: The first group of Kuwaiti citizens evacuated from Iran arrived safely in Kuwait early Saturday morning, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues its full-scale emergency plan to secure the return of nationals stranded in the neighboring country. The flight, operated directly by Kuwait Airways, landed at Terminal 4 of Kuwait International Airport just after midnight, carrying 334 Kuwaiti men and women. The passengers had been transported overland to the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, where they boarded the evacuation flight. Deputy Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah received the returnees at the airport. The evacuation is part of Kuwait's proactive strategy to protect its people in light of the escalating conflict between Iran and the Zionist entity, who have traded missiles for nine days. No injuries have been reported among Kuwaiti nationals in Iran since the start of Zionist airstrikes last week, which have killed at least 430 people according to Iranian authorities. 'We thank the governments of Iran and Turkmenistan for facilitating the safe transfer of our citizens," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Dozens of relieved family members waited atthe terminal, welcoming their loved ones with tears, prayers, and flower bouquets. Some children wore t-shirts with photos of family members and a message that read, 'Welcome home. Your return has brightened our lives.' Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Yahya confirmed the arrival, noting that two more evacuation flights are scheduled — the second later Saturday and the third on Sunday. He stressed that all efforts are being made to complete the evacuation quickly and safely. Assistant Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs Sameeh Hayat previously stated that more than 1,000 Kuwaitis are expected to be evacuated, many of them visiting Iran. 'Kuwait gives top priority to the safety of its citizens abroad, especially under current circumstances,' Al-Yahya said in a statement last week. 'We began identifying citizens in Tehran, then in Mashhad and Qom. We have contacted all Kuwaitis in these cities, recorded their numbers, and began evacuating them at the earliest opportunity and from the closest crossing points." — Agencies Deputy Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah receives evacuees at Kuwait International Airport (T4). — KUNA Children wearing t-shirts with photos of their loved ones and the message "Welcome home. Your return has brightened our lives" wait for evacuees, as security personnel look on.
