Latest news with #Marivan
Khaleej Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Israel-Iran conflict: Iranians buying supplies in Iraq tell of fear, shortages back home
Near the once-bustling Iraqi border crossing of Bashmakh, Iranian driver Fatah stocked up on rice, sugar and tea, staples that have become increasingly hard to get back home. Fatah — who like others in this story is being identified by a pseudonym — was among dozens of truck drivers waiting impatiently to cross back into Iran from Iraq's northern Kurdistan region, hauling not only their commercial cargo, but also essential goods for their families after days of Israeli attacks. AFP spoke with at least 30 Iranians near the Bashmakh crossing. They all refused to be interviewed on camera, and the few who agreed to describe life back home asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals back in Iran. "There are shortages of rice, bread, sugar and tea," Fatah said on Tuesday. Finding fuel has also become a major problem, with long queues of cars waiting hours in front of gas stations hoping the fuel did not run out, the 40-year-old driver added. A long journey awaits Fatah, who must deliver his load of asphalt to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas about 1,700 kilometres away, before turning around and driving almost the same distance back to the western city of Marivan, where his family lives and which has so far been spared bombardment. But "my route passes near the Natanz nuclear facility", Fatah said, referring to one of Iran's underground uranium enrichment sites that Israel has struck several times since the start of its campaign last week. Panic buying Israel launched a devastating surprise attack on Friday targeting Iran's military and nuclear sites and killing top commanders and scientists. Israel says its attacks are aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran denies. At least 224 people, including women and children, have been killed in the Israeli strikes, according to official figures. The assault has prompted retaliatory barrages of missiles from Iran that have killed at least 24 people in Israel, according to the prime minister's office. Aram, 28, keeps calling his wife, fearing for his family's safety after they had to flee their home when a strike hit a military site nearby in the city of Sanandaj. "My family is safe, but they had to move in with relatives in a village," Aram said. His wife told him that many families who lived near military sites in the area had been similarly displaced. The father of two said the shortages back home were mostly due to panic-stricken Iranians who rushed to markets to stockpile basic supplies. 'Shocked and distraught' Back in Iran, car dealer Shwan recalled how Israeli jets struck several military sites near his city of Bukan in the west. "People are shocked and distraught, they don't know what they should do," the 35-year-old told AFP via a messaging app from inside Iran. "We have a major problem with bread shortages," he said. People were queuing at bakeries for hours to get loaves of bread, sometimes to no avail, Shwan said. "Sometimes four members of one family go around bakeries looking for bread," he added. "It is also difficult to find rice or oil," and many civil servants have not received their salaries yet, he said. Avin, a 38-year-old seamstress, told AFP via a messaging app that the war "has spread fear among residents", even though the bombs have not touched her town of Saqqez in northwest Iran. "Some families with children left to villages outside the city," she said. Like others, she fears more shortages to come. "Most of the provisions come from Tehran," which has seen a massive exodus and is also grappling with scarcity. "Because of this, the market in our city came to a standstill."
Arab News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Iranians buying supplies in Iraq tell of fear, shortages back home
PENJWEN, Iraq: Near the once-bustling Iraqi border crossing of Bashmakh, Iranian driver Fatah stocked up on rice, sugar and tea, staples that have become increasingly hard to get back home. Fatah — who like others in this story is being identified by a pseudonym — was among dozens of truck drivers waiting impatiently to cross back into Iran from Iraq's northern Kurdistan region, hauling not only their commercial cargo, but also essential goods for their families after days of Israeli attacks. AFP spoke with at least 30 Iranians near the Bashmakh crossing. They all refused to be interviewed on camera, and the few who agreed to describe life back home asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals back in Iran. 'There are shortages of rice, bread, sugar and tea,' Fatah said Tuesday. Finding fuel has also become a major problem, with long queues of cars waiting hours in front of gas stations hoping the fuel did not run out, the 40-year-old driver added. A long journey awaits Fatah, who must deliver his load of asphalt to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas about 1,700 kilometers (1,060 miles) away, before turning around and driving almost the same distance back to the western city of Marivan, where his family lives and which has so far been spared bombardment. But 'my route passes near the Natanz nuclear facility,' Fatah said, referring to one of Iran's underground uranium enrichment sites that Israel has struck several times since the start of its campaign last week. Surprise attack Israel launched a devastating surprise attack on Friday targeting Iran's military and nuclear sites and killing top commanders and scientists. Israel says its attacks are aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran denies. At least 224 people, including women and children, have been killed in the Israeli strikes, according to official figures. The assault has prompted retaliatory barrages of missiles from Iran that have killed at least 24 people in Israel, according to the prime minister's office. Aram, 28, keeps calling his wife, fearing for his family's safety after they had to flee their home when a strike hit a military site nearby in the city of Sanandaj. 'My family is safe, but they had to move in with relatives in a village,' Aram said. His wife told him that many families who lived near military sites in the area had been similarly displaced. The father of two said the shortages back home were mostly due to panic-stricken Iranians who rushed to markets to stockpile basic supplies. Fear of shortages mounts Back in Iran, car dealer Shwan recalled how Israeli jets struck several military sites near his city of Bukan in the west. 'People are shocked and distraught, they don't know what they should do,' the 35-year-old told AFP via a messaging app from inside Iran. 'We have a major problem with bread shortages,' he said. People were queuing at bakeries for hours to get loaves of bread, sometimes to no avail, Shwan said. 'Sometimes four members of one family go around bakeries looking for bread,' he added. 'It is also difficult to find rice or oil,' and many civil servants have not received their salaries yet, he said. Avin, a 38-year-old seamstress, told AFP via a messaging app that the war 'has spread fear among residents,' even though the bombs have not touched her town of Saqqez in northwest Iran. 'Some families with children left to villages outside the city,' she said. Like others, she fears more shortages to come. 'Most of the provisions come from Tehran,' which has seen a massive exodus and is also grappling with scarcity. 'Because of this, the market in our city came to a standstill.'
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Torn between two worlds': Iranian-Australians caught up in Israel conflict
Mohammad Reza Azimi smiles at the camera before he takes one red ring from a pile in his hand and tosses it towards a spike. He is playing ring toss in Marivan, a town located in Iran near the Iraq border. The video was taken 13 days after he left Sydney to visit family in Iran, and three days since Israel launched its first attack on the country. 'It's hard to find even brief moments of happiness with everything going on here, but I try to hold on to the little things whenever I can,' he says in a caption on the video. An hour before he posted this video to his social media, he posted another of rockets lighting up the sky. 'I feel OK for now,' he told Guardian Australia on Monday. 'Although the situation remains unpredictable. I do my best not to focus too much on the tensions around me.' Azimi is one of potentially hundreds of Australian residents who are stuck in Iran, with foreign minister Penny Wong saying on Monday that at least 350 people have registered with the Australian government for help to leave the country. Another 300 have registered for help in Israel as the two countries continue to trade fire. Wong said there were 'a range of plans' to try to get people to safety, including a plan for assisted departures when the airspace is open and it's safe to do so. Azimi left Tehran where his parents and siblings live just a day before the attack and didn't even take his passport with him. He hasn't yet registered for help from the Australian government because he says he's unsure at this point what help they could provide. 'My family in Tehran has relocated temporarily to avoid the chaos. The area near their residence was among the places targeted, and I consider myself fortunate to have left when I did,' he said. Though he wants to get back to his family in Sydney, he describes in a recent social media post that his emotions are conflicted. 'No flights are available to return to Sydney. My wife and kids are waiting for me there. In Tehran, my parents and siblings,' he wrote on Sunday. 'What a painful dilemma — torn between two worlds, each pulling at the heart in its own way.' There are many others anxiously watching on from Australia who are also feeling personal toll of the turmoil deeply. Kambiz Razmara, the vice-president of the Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria, says that a member in their network in Melbourne had family members killed by Israeli strikes over the weekend. 'There are no drills, no shelters, nowhere for people to go, no sirens warning people of imminent threats of bombs, so it is an awful situation.' As the conflict entered its fourth day on Monday, more than 220 people had been killed, with 90% of those casualties reported to be civilians. Erfan, who moved to Melbourne from Tehran more than a decade ago, had hoped work might help to distract him from what's going on, but it hasn't. He sneaks glimpses of the news where he can – his mind racing with thoughts of his family who are in Iran and can hear Israel's bombs falling nearby. 'I just can't get my head out of it right now, no matter how hard I try to distract myself,' he says from work in Melbourne. He's also been struggling to sleep. This is not the first time Israel and Iran have traded fire since 7 October, but Erfan says now: 'I have a feeling of unknown. I don't really know what's going to happen this time. 'I'm really, really worried about the innocent people of Iran, because all this war and all of this conflict, all it does is affect innocent people.' Residents began to flee Tehran and head towards the countryside on Sunday as Israeli attacks on the Iranian capital escalated. Erfan's parents have not fled because they have nowhere to go: 'Where would they go? It could all be unsafe.' Shiva, who moved to Melbourne from Iran to study more than two years ago and is the president of the Iranian Student Society said there are hundreds of students from Iran studying in Australia. She's had a number of students raise concerns about how they'll pay their tuition fees that are due in the next few weeks if banks in Iran remain frozen. Asked what she is missing most about her home, she says: 'The people of Iran, they are so generous, are so kind and are so peaceful'. 'That's why our hearts are melting right now to see that Iran is in war because we not only care about our families, we care about our neighbours ad our people,' she adds. 'Every child lost feels like our own.' Razmara says most people in the Iranian diaspora and many inside Iran do not like the country's oppressive regime. He points to the death in custody of Mahsa Amini – a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, jailed for not wearing her hijab correctly and the morality laws that followed – as an example of this. However, he says that while people want change they are affronted by war and destruction without notice. People are torn because while they are 'desperate' for liberty and democracy, they don't think the attacks by Israel will bring about positive regime change. Azimi, who was due to return to Sydney on 4 July, says he is staying in Marivan while he assesses his next step. 'While it feels relatively calm during the day, the defense system is active from time to time, which is a constant reminder of the unstable environment,' he says.
The National
09-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Iran operated three secret nuclear sites until early 2000s, UN watchdog says
Iran had at least three undeclared nuclear sites until the early 2000s, but refuses to provide 'credible answers" about its activities there, the UN's nuclear watchdog said on Monday. The three sites, Varamin, Marivan and Turquzabad, were accessed by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2019 and 2020. Uranium particles were detected at the sites. But the agency's efforts to obtain an explanation have gone unanswered, said the IAEA director general Rafael Grossi. 'Unfortunately, Iran has repeatedly either not answered, or not provided, technically credible answers to the agency's questions,' he said at the quarterly board meeting on Monday. This included high-level meetings and consultations, he added. Mr Grossi last week met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Cairo, along with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty. The lack of answers has meant the IAEA could not conclude that Iran's nuclear programme is "entirely peaceful", as Tehran has long claimed, Mr Grossi said. He accused Tehran of seeking to 'sanitise the locations', which he said has impeded the agency's work. Details of the three sites were revealed in the IAEA's quarterly report, which was widely leaked last week. It found that Iran had an estimated 400kg of uranium enriched up to 60 per cent as of May 17, marking an increase of more than 133kg since the last report in February. Uranium needs to be enriched to about 90 per cent to develop nuclear weapons. The amount of material is enough to produce 10 weapons if refined to that level. "The agency's comprehensive assessment of what took place, based on our technical evaluation of all available safeguards-relevant information, has led us to conclude that these three locations, and other possible related locations, were part of an undeclared structured nuclear programme carried out by Iran until the early 2000s and that some activities used undeclared nuclear material," Mr Grossi said. He suggested the nuclear material produced at the sites was 'still outside of safeguards'. The announcement comes as Iran holds indirect negotiations with the US over its nuclear programme. Mr Grossi said he supported the negotiations and called for a diplomatic solution that would include arrangements for the IAEA to properly verify Iran's stockpile of nuclear material. 'I will continue to support and encourage the US and Iran to spare no effort and exercise wisdom and political courage to bring this to a successful conclusion,' he added. 'The effect of a stabilised situation in Iran with regards to its nuclear programme will be immediate and bring the Middle East one big step closer to peace and prosperity."
Shafaq News
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Iran appoints advisor for ties with Iraq's Kurdistan
Shafaq News/ Iran's Kurdistan Province has appointed Nejad Jahani as its new strategic advisor for relations with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Iranian state media reported on Wednesday. Jahani, who heads reconstruction and rehabilitation at Iran's National Disaster Management Organization, is also set to become governor of Marivan in Kurdistan Province.
