Orientul Mijlociu

What You Need to Know About Iran’s Election and New President

In a clear challenge to regime hardliners, Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist and cardiac surgeon, won Iran’s snap presidential election on July 5. The elections were called after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash on May 19. The runoff had been considered a tight race, but Pezeshkian won decisively with almost three million more votes than Saeed Jalili, a hardliner and former nuclear negotiator. Due to take office in August, Pezeshkian, a former deputy speaker of parliament and health minister, will take power as Iran’s government faces legitimacy challenges amid an economic crisis. Beyond these domestic challenges, Iran’s new president will have to navigate the evolving regional fallout from the war in Gaza.

Iranian Officials Acknowledge Iran’s Role In Planning And Executing October 7 Hamas Invasion And Massacres In Southern Israel

On several occasions, Iranian officials have revealed that the Iranian regime was involved in the planning and execution of Hamas’s “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” the October 7, 2023 invasion and massacres in southern Israel in which over 1,200 Israelis were killed and over 240 were taken hostage. Statements by these officials contradict the regime’s official stance, as expressed by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on October 10, 2023, that Iran was not involved in the attack.[1]

Iran: Reformer Pezeshkian On The Path To Reforms? – Analysis

Reformer Masoud Pezeshkian, who advocates for greater openness towards the West, was elected President of the Islamic Republic of Iran in a decisive second round of presidential elections held on 5 July 2024. He faced hardline conservative candidate Saeed Jalili, succeeding President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May 2024. Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old cardiac surgeon, secured over 16 million votes (53.6%) out of a total of 30.5 million voters, while his opponent received 44.3%.

Turquie : laquais de l’OTAN ou véritable acteur de la multipolarité

Quelques rappels
De 1952 à 2002

Membre de l’OTAN depuis 1952, candidate à l’entrée dans les BRICS aujourd’hui, sanctionnée par son «allié» américain en vertu des sanctions «Caatsa» pour l’achat de S-400 Russes et pour sa non-participation aux sanctions contre la Russie et l’Iran, ouvertement présentée comme un ennemi lors d’un exercice de l’OTAN en 2017, la question se pose, légitimement, de savoir pourquoi la Turquie reste dans l’OTAN ?

Hamas says it’s waiting for Israeli response on ceasefire proposal

Hamas is waiting for a response from Israel on its ceasefire proposal, two officials from the Palestinian group said on Sunday, five days after it accepted a key part of a U.S. plan aimed at ending the nine-month war in Gaza.

“We have left our response with the mediators and are waiting to hear the occupation’s response,” one of the two Hamas officials told Reuters, asking not to be named.

The three-phase plan was put forward at the end of May by U.S. President Joe Biden and is being mediated by Qatar and Egypt. It aims to end the war and free around 120 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.

Another Palestinian official, with knowledge of the ongoing ceasefire deliberations, said Israel was in talks with the Qataris.

“They have discussed with them Hamas’ response and they promised to give them Israel’s response within days,” the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters on Sunday.

Israel’s government made no immediate comment on the timing of its deliberations.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, has dropped a key demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before signing an agreement. Instead, it said it would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout the six-week first phase, a Hamas source told Reuters on Saturday on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.

A Palestinian official close to the peace efforts has said the proposal could lead to a framework agreement if embraced by Israel and would end the war.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns will travel to Qatar next week for negotiations, a source familiar with the matter said.

The conflict, triggered by an Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas fighters, has claimed the lives of more than 38,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Hamas killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages in the worst assault in Israel’s history, according to official Israeli figures.

FIFTEEN KILLED IN GAZA STRIKES

Protesters took to the streets across Israel on Sunday to pressure the government to reach an accord to bring back Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza.

They blocked rush hour traffic at major intersections across the country, picketed politicians houses and briefly set fire to tires on the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway before police cleared the way.

Meanwhile, fighting continued to rage across Gaza, which has been largely reduced to rubble in the conflict.

Palestinian health officials said at least 15 people were killed in separate Israeli military strikes across the enclave on Sunday.

An Israeli air strike on a house in the town of Zawayda, in central Gaza, killed at least six people and wounded several others, while six others were killed in an air strike on a house in western Gaza, the health officials said.

Tanks deepened their raids in central and northern areas of Rafah on the southern border with Egypt. Health officials there said they had recovered three bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the eastern part of the city.

The Israeli military said on Sunday its forces have killed 30 Palestinian gunmen in Rafah during close combat and air strikes.

In Shejaia, an eastern suburb of Gaza City, the military said its forces killed several Palestinian gunmen, and located weapons and explosives.

The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked Israeli forces in several locations across the Gaza Strip with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.

Regional Conflict Intersects in Syria

As host of the key transit routes and operations Tehran uses to support Lebanese Hezbollah, Syria is a key battlefield in the burgeoning regional conflagration.

Israel has intensified its strikes on Iranian and Hezbollah-linked targets in Syria since the October 7 Hamas attack.

Syria has not joined other Iran-led Axis of Resistance partners in attacking Israel directly because of the weakness of the Assad regime as well as political differences with Hamas.

Imagine Hitler with Nuclear Bombs; Now Imagine Iran’s Mullahs with Nuclear Bombs

The Iranian regime is rapidly pursuing acquiring nuclear weapons. This breakout must be prevented. Iran is already supplying terror groups with ballistic missiles. Why wouldn’t it equip these groups with nuclear weapons as well? (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)

The Iranian regime is rapidly pursuing acquiring nuclear weapons. This breakout must be prevented.

Iran is already supplying terror groups — Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthis — with ballistic missiles. Presumably to hide behind “plausible deniability,” Iran’s regime does not seem particularly shy about arming these militias abroad with advanced weaponry. Why wouldn’t it equip these groups with nuclear weapons as well?