OIC condemns attacks on Iran
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has announced plans to create a ministerial-level contact group aimed at engaging international and regional actors to help ease tensions and halt attacks on Iran.
Following a meeting of foreign ministers in Istanbul, the 57-member bloc issued a joint declaration condemning 'the aggression of Israel' and expressing 'great concern regarding this dangerous escalation'.
The statement stressed 'the urgent need to stop Israeli attacks' and called on the global community to take 'deterrent measures to stop this aggression and make Israel accountable for crimes committed'.
In a separate statement, the OIC also voiced alarm over recent US air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, calling them a 'dangerous escalation that could further heighten tensions and threaten peace, security, and stability in the region'.
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Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
Pakistan condemns Trump's bombing of Iran — a day after nominating him for Peace Prize
Tariq Butt, Gulf Today Correspondent / Reuters Pakistan condemned on Sunday the strikes ordered on its neighbour Iran by Donald Trump, a day after Islamabad had said it would nominate the US President for the Nobel Peace Prize. Pakistan on Sunday said Trump's decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities violated international law and that diplomacy was the only way to resolve the Iran crisis. "The unprecedented escalation of tension and violence, owing to ongoing aggression against Iran is deeply disturbing. Any further escalation of tensions will have severely damaging implications for the region and beyond," Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Shiite activists hold placards to condemn US and Israel's attacks on Iran, during a protest in Karachi on Sunday. AFP Also on Sunday, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif telephoned Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and "conveyed Pakistan's condemnation of the U.S. attacks," a statement from the Pakistani leader said. Pakistan's information minister and the foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the apparent contradiction in the country's positions over the weekend. In Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, thousands marched in protest against the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. Shiites hold portraits of Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to condemn US and Israel's attacks on Iran, during a protest in Karachi. AFP A large American flag with a picture of Trump on it was placed on the road for demonstrators to walk over. The protesters shouted out chants against America, Israel and Pakistan's regional enemy India. Pakistan on Saturday said it was nominating Trump as "a genuine peacemaker" for his role in bringing a four-day conflict with India to an end last month. It said he had "demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship." Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar has formally sent a letter of recommendation to the Nobel Committee in Norway, nominating US President Donald Trump for the Nobel peace prize. Officials said the letter cited Trump's role in defusing tensions between Pakistan and India earlier this year. The move recognises Trump's efforts in bringing about a ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed neighbours and for highlighting the Kashmir dispute on the international stage. The development comes after the government's announcement, made earlier on social media, of its decision to formally nominate Trump for the world's most prestigious peace award. Pakistani nationals who were residing in Iran, arrive with their belongings in Quetta. AFP In a statement issued on X, the federal government said that the international community had witnessed "unprovoked and unlawful Indian aggression," which it described as a "grave violation" of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The attack, according to the statement, resulted in the "tragic loss of innocent lives, including women, children, and the elderly." In response, Pakistan launched Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos - a "measured, resolute, and precise military" countermeasure. The operation, Pakistan stressed, was executed to re-establish deterrence and defend its territorial integrity while "consciously avoiding civilian harm." Amid the heightened tensions, the statement noted that President Trump "demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship" by engaging diplomatically with both Islamabad and New Delhi. This effort, it added, helped de-escalate the rapidly worsening situation, secured a ceasefire, and prevented a wider regional conflict. The government hailed Trump's actions as those of a "genuine peacemaker" with a firm commitment to resolving conflict through dialogue.
Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
Bombing alone is unlikely to secure regime change
By bombing three key nuclear sites in Iran, Donald Trump has made the US into a partner in Israel's war on that country. This is no surprise. Trump is to blame for the crisis which precipitated Israel's attack on Iran. Petty, peevish, and jealous Trump pulled the US out of former President Barack Obama's main foreign policy achievement. This was the 2015 six-power agreement limiting Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions. If Trump he had not withdrawn, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would have been deprived of his longed-for pretext to wage war on Iran. Since 1992, Netanyahu has been falsely claiming that Iran is only years, months, and weeks away from obtaining nuclear weapons and Israel has the right to defend itself by hitting nuclear facilities. At the time Trump took office in 2017, enrichment had been limited to 3.67 per cent for use in civilian power stations, 98 per cent of Iran's enriched uranium stocks had been eliminated, and Iran's nuclear facilities were constantly monitored by Iinternational Atomic Agency (IAEA) cameras and frequently inspected by IAEA teams. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi recently said at that stage Iran's nuclear programme was "primitive." Israel is the region's sole advanced nuclear power as it possesses an estimated 70-100 or more devices which can be delivered to targets. After ending US compliance with the deal in 2018, Trump reinstated sanctions on countries, businesses, institutions, and banks seeking to do business with Iran. The other five signatories — Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — were handcuffed and could not deliver without attracting US sanctions. Iran waited a year before breaching the terms of the deal. Since mid-2019, Iran began enriching uranium to 20 per cent which can be used for research reactors and 60 per cent which is close to the 90 per cent needed for weapons. Its stockpile now amounts to more than 400 kilos and IAEA scrutiny has been curbed. Iran has denied that it seeks nuclear weapons. While saying Iran's uranium stockpile was "at its highest level" and "unprecedented for a non-nuclear-armed state," US National Director of Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified before a Congressional committee in March that US intelligence continued "to estimate that Iran is not producing a nuclear weapon and that Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program[me] he suspended in 2003." US intelligence agencies reported that Iran would need three years to produce nuclear weapons once given the order by Khamenei. Trump contradicted Gabbard by saying that she was "wrong" and claimed Iran could obtain weapons within "a matter of weeks" without providing proof. "We can't allow that to happen." Bombing nuclear sites is a dangerous, illegal t act, a blatant violation of Article 56 of the 1949 Geneva Convention, which prohibits targeting nuclear power facilities. Striking an active enrichment site or spent fuel facility could release radiation, killing civilians and polluting aquifers, agricultural land, and global ecosystems for many generations. Trump's assertion that Iran is close to weaponisation must be compared by George W. Bush's lies that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction which were used to justify his 2003 war to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and occupy his country. The difference between then and now is the absence of boots on the ground. Neither Israel nor the US has been prepared to deploy troops. Bombing alone is unlikely to secure regime change. Netanyahu has used false claims as over Iran's nuclear programme to cover for this goal. Since the clerics ousted the pro-Israel shah in 1979 and adopted the Palestinian cause, Iran has been seen by Israel as a major regional antagonist and rival. There are several steps Iran must master before achieving weaponisation. Iran must design and manufacture an explosive device and transform it into a small, compact warhead to be delivered by an aircraft or a ballistic missile. According to experts this process is very complicated and could take years to achieve. Once in flight, the delivery vehicle must avoid anti-aircraft defences, arrive at the target, and detonate. Trump gave Israel two weeks to attain its military objective in Iran before he decided whether the US should enter the conflict, but he took this decision in just two days before bombing the nuclear sites. IHe is aware that Israel cannot continue with the war for very long. 'The main factor which will really determine the cost of the war will be the duration,' former Bank of Israel governor Karnit Flug told the Wall Street Journal. She said Israel's economy could sustain a short campaign. 'If it is a week, it is one thing. If it is two weeks or a month, it is a very different story.' The Wall Street Journal has estimated the war is costing Israel $200 million a day. Intercepting more than 400 incoming Iranian missiles with the Arrow 3 and David's Sling systems is the largest expenditure as each is priced at $700,000 to $4 million. Israeli F-35 warplane flights of some 1,800 kilometres cost about $10,000 an hour without adding the expenditure on guided bombs. The Israeli Aaron Institute for Economic Policy which said a month-long war could cost $12 billion. Non-military costs are mounting. Hundreds of 500 people have been evacuated from their homes and are being housed by the state. Damage has been inflicted on civilian infrastructure. The main hospital in Beersheba and the research buildings of the iconic Weizman Institute have been struck. Reconstruction of hundreds of buildings struck by Iranian missiles could amount to $400 million. Businesses, restaurants, shops, and offices have been shuttered. Fearful Israelis are fleeing the country on expensive boat journeys to Larnaca in Cyprus and on limited flights leaving Tel Aviv's main airport which is supposed to reopen for normal business today. Haaretz liberal daily columnist Gideon Levy said Israelis were instantly euphoric over the successes of Israeli pilots on missions over Tehran and Israeli agents who assassinated Iranian military personnel and nuclear scientists. However, he argued this has evaporated because of the price Israeli society is paying. Rushing to bomb shelters is not a "sustainable way of life." This war cannot go on, he said. "Everything is paralysed Economy is paralysed." He said he is not sure whether either Netanyahu or Khamenei can end the war so the timing of the war could depend on undependable Donald Trump.
Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
VIDEO: US strikes 3 Iranian sites, joining Israeli air campaign
The US military struck three sites in Iran early on Sunday, inserting itself into Israel 's effort to decapitating the country's nuclear programme in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict. Iran's nuclear agency on Sunday confirmed attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz atomic sites, but is insisting its work will not be stopped. The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran issued the statement after President Donald Trump announced the American attack on the facilities. "The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran assures the great Iranian nation that despite the evil conspiracies of its enemies, with the efforts of thousands of its revolutionary and motivated scientists and experts, it will not allow the development of this national industry, which is the result of the blood of nuclear martyrs, to be stopped,' it said in its statement. The decision to directly involve the US comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country's air defences and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But US and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and a 30,000-lb. bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear programme buried deep underground. President Donald Trump was the first to disclose the strikes. There was no immediate acknowledgment from the Iranian government. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that attacks targeted the country's Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. The agency did not elaborate. The US is stepping up evacuation flights for American citizens from Israel to Europe and continuing to draw down its staff at diplomatic missions in Iraq as fears of Iranian retaliation again US interests in the Middle East grow. Even before those airstrikes were announced by President Donald Trump on Saturday evening in Washington, the US embassy in Jerusalem announced the start of evacuation flights for American civilians from Israel. In addition to the flights, a cruise ship carrying more than 1,000 American citizens, including several hundred Jewish youngsters who had been visiting Israel on an organized tour, arrived in Cyprus, according to the document. Donald Trump said he worked "as a team' with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the collaboration was "perhaps' like "no team has worked before.' This handout satellite image shows an overview of Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), in Fordo, Iran. AFP But Trump also noted that no military in the world except for that of the US could have pulled off the attack. President Donald Trump called Iran "the bully of the Middle East' and warned of additional attacks if it didn't make peace. "If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier,' Trump said at the White House after the bombings of Iran's nuclear facilities were announced earlier. Trump portrayed the strike as a response to a long-festering problem, even if the objective was to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The Washington-based Arms Control Association, which focuses on nuclear nonproliferation, said the attack was an "irresponsible departure from Trump's pursuit of diplomacy and increases the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran.' "The US military strikes on Iranian nuclear targets, including the deeply fortified, underground Fordo uranium enrichment complex, may temporarily set back Iran's nuclear program, but in the long term, military action is likely to push Iran to determine nuclear weapons are necessary for deterrence and that Washington is not interested in diplomacy,' it warned. A police tape blocks off an area near the White House, following US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, in Washington, DC, U.S., on Saturday. Reuters Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported early Sunday that attacks also targeted the country's Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. IRNA quoted Akbar Salehi, Isfahan's deputy governor in charge of security affairs, saying there had been attacks around the sites. He did not elaborate. Another official confirmed an attack targeting Iran's underground Fordo nuclear site. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency early Sunday acknowledged an attack on the country's Fordo nuclear site. Quoting a statement from Iran's Qom province, IRNA said: "A few hours ago, when Qom air defenses were activated and hostile targets were identified, part of the Fordo nuclear site was attacked by enemies.' The IRNA report did not elaborate. Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, quoted a provincial official in Qom that air defense did recently fire in an attack believed to target the area around the Fordo facility, but offered no other information. The semiofficial Fars news agency, also close to the Guard, quoted another official saying air defenses opened fire near Isfahan and explosions had been heard. Fars also quoted the same official in Qom province, saying air defenses fired around Fordo. President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi arrives at Baghdad International Airport. File/Reuters President Abdel Fattah El Sissi of Egypt has expressed his government's "complete rejection' of Israel's campaign against Iran, calling for a negotiated solution to the conflict. El Sissi's comments came in a phone call Saturday with Iranian President Masoud Pezezhkin, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement. The statement said El Sissi voiced Egypt's "complete rejection of the ongoing Israeli escalation against Iran,' as a threat to the Middle East's security and stability. The Egyptian leader called for an immediate ceasefire to resume negotiations with the aim of reaching a "sustainable, peaceful solution to this crisis.'
