Global Edition

Questions cloud Trump's case for war against Iran

BY W.G. DUNLOP

  • "President Trump did not make a strong case for an imminent threat posed by Iran that would justify the massive joint US-Israeli strikes," said Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
  • President Donald Trump made his case for war against Iran early on Saturday as US and Israeli forces bombed the Islamic republic, saying conflict was required to eliminate "imminent threats" from Tehran.
  • "President Trump did not make a strong case for an imminent threat posed by Iran that would justify the massive joint US-Israeli strikes," said Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
President Donald Trump made his case for war against Iran early on Saturday as US and Israeli forces bombed the Islamic republic, saying conflict was required to eliminate "imminent threats" from Tehran.
Iran "rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions," Trump said in a roughly eight-minute video message posted on social media more than an hour after US strikes began.
"They attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long-range missiles" that "could soon reach the American homeland," the US president said, also calling on Iranians to overthrow their government.
But Iran was said to have signaled in talks that it was willing to cease stockpiling nuclear material, while Tehran may still be years away from developing significant quantities of missiles with intercontinental range -- raising significant questions about Trump's rationale for the conflict.
"President Trump did not make a strong case for an imminent threat posed by Iran that would justify the massive joint US-Israeli strikes," said Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"His call for the Iranian people to prepare to take control underscores that the ambitions here are more akin to regime change," Yacoubian said, also noting that according to intelligence assessments, Iran's nuclear program was "still not close to weaponizing."
Trump had repeatedly claimed to have obliterated Tehran's nuclear program in June 2025 strikes, and the US military did not mention nuclear-related sites in a list of targets it had struck on Saturday.

Progress in negotiations?

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who has been mediating talks between Tehran and Washington, said Friday that Iran had agreed to cease stockpiling nuclear material needed to make a weapon -- a major concession he said would have eliminated the nuclear threat.
"If you cannot stockpile material that is enriched then there is no way you can actually create a bomb," Albusaidi told CBS's "Face the Nation."
"If the ultimate objective is to ensure forever that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, I think we have cracked that problem through these negotiations," the foreign minister said.
Trump's assertion that Iranian missiles could "soon" strike the United States is meanwhile called into question by a 2025 Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that said Tehran did not have intercontinental ballistic missiles then, and that it could take until 2035 for it to develop 60 such weapons.
Tehran currently possesses short- and medium-range ballistic missiles with ranges that top out at about 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers), according to the US Congressional Research Service.
Aside from nuclear and missile issues, Trump cited other sources of tension with Iran, including the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, attacks by Iranian proxy groups on US forces and international shipping in the region, as well as Iran's deadly crackdown on protesters.
But proxy attacks on American forces were not currently ongoing, and Trump had hailed a ceasefire last year as having halted attacks on shipping by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels.
And while Trump had repeatedly threatened military intervention if Iran killed protesters, he pulled back from ordering strikes last month at the height of Tehran's crackdown on dissent.
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US

Latest developments in US, Israel strikes on Iran

  • - Missile, drone wave - In response, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and other American bases in the Gulf, after launching a first wave of missile and drone attacks at Israel.
  • The United States and Israel launched waves of strikes Saturday against targets in Iran, sparking swift retaliation by the Islamic republic which responded with missile attacks across the region.
  • - Missile, drone wave - In response, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and other American bases in the Gulf, after launching a first wave of missile and drone attacks at Israel.
The United States and Israel launched waves of strikes Saturday against targets in Iran, sparking swift retaliation by the Islamic republic which responded with missile attacks across the region.
Here are the latest developments as the military action announced by US President Donald Trump and the Israeli government sparked a flurry of salvos from Iran that closed airspaces around the Middle East.

Strikes across Iran

The joint operation began with smoke rising over Tehran after strikes that Israel said were pre-emptive.
Shortly after, Trump announced US combat operations against Iran, with the goal of "eliminating imminent threats".
Israel's military said it targeted multiple sites where senior Iranian officials had gathered in Tehran, and launched strikes against Iran's missile launchers.
It said 200 fighter jets had taken part in the "extensive attack" on Iran, hitting more than 500 targets.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were many signs Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed. 
And Trump, asked by NBC News about a report of Khamenei's demise, told the broadcaster: "We feel that that is a correct story."
Two Israeli TV networks reported a photo of Khamenei's body had been shown to Trump and Netanyahu.
Israel's Channel 12 network reported that "30 bombs were dropped on" Khamenei's compound. 
Witnesses said they heard cheers on Tehran's streets after reports of Khamenei's death. 
In an NBC News interview, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had earlier said Khamenei was alive, along with all high-ranking officials.
Netanyahu said the attacks killed senior Iranian officials and warned that thousands more targets would be struck in the coming days.
The Iranian judiciary's Mizan Online website said 108 people died in a strike on a girls school in Minab, citing a provincial official who blamed Israel.

Missile, drone wave

In response, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and other American bases in the Gulf, after launching a first wave of missile and drone attacks at Israel.
Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service said it was treating a man with blast injuries in the north of the country, after missiles were launched from Iran.
The Israeli military said it deployed search and rescue teams to multiple locations across the country following reports of fallen projectiles.
Iran's top security official Ali Larijani vowed to "teach an unforgettable lesson" to the United States and Israel.

Gulf explosions, strait closed

Explosions were reported across the Gulf region.
The United Arab Emirates said it intercepted a second wave of Iranian strikes, after a first killed one civilian in Abu Dhabi.
Witnesses in Dubai said they heard an explosion and saw missiles streak across the sky, and witnesses told AFP they heard an explosion and saw smoke rising from the man-made island The Palm. Four people were injured.
AFP correspondents in the Saudi capital Riyadh heard loud explosions, as well as in Bahraini capital Manama and across Qatar's Doha.
Qatar's defence ministry said it had intercepted several missile attacks targeting the Gulf state.
A drone struck Kuwait's international airport and a base housing US personnel was targeted. Three Kuwaiti soldiers and 12 other people were wounded, authorities said.
Saudi Arabia condemned Iranian attacks targeting its neighbours, but made no mention of attacks on the kingdom.
Jordan said it had intercepted 13 ballistic missiles.
Explosions were also heard near the US consulate in Iraq's Erbil, according to AFP journalists.
Two people were killed in air strikes on an Iraqi military base housing the powerful pro-Iran group Kataeb Hezbollah, which threatened the US with a response.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards also moved to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which much of the world's oil and gas passes.
The Guards warned several ships the strait was "basically closed", the Tasnim news agency reported, with the EU's naval mission to the Red Sea confirming that vessels had received radio messages despite no formal closure order. 

Allied support, warnings

French President Emmanuel Macron called for an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting over the escalation.
Oman's foreign minister, who has been mediating talks between Tehran and Washington, said he was "dismayed" by the violence.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Canberra supports the US action against Iran, while the UK expressed fear the military strikes could blow up into "a wider regional conflict".
The European Union said developments in Iran were "perilous".
Russia slammed the strikes as a "dangerous adventure" that could spark regional "catastrophe".
Pakistan condemned the "unwarranted attacks against Iran", and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas slammed the strikes on its backer.
Another Iranian ally, Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, called on countries and people in the region to stand against Israel and the US.

Airspace closures, flights nixed

Qatar's civil aviation authority said the Gulf state's airspace had been temporarily closed. Iraq closed its airspace while Syria closed part of its airspace for 12 hours.
Russia cancelled commercial flights to both Iran and Israel "until further notice".
Air France cancelled its Tel Aviv and Beirut flights, while Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines were among several carriers that suspended flights to the region.
Israel closed Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Saturday as a security measure.
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Israel

Fears of Mideast war as US-Iran conflict flares

  • - Lebanon: Won't be dragged into war - Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed his country would not be dragged into war, after Israel announced it was carrying out strikes targeting Iran proxy Hezbollah in south Lebanon amid the Iran operation. 
  • Countries around the world voiced fears of a Middle East conflagration after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran Saturday, and Iran targeted US bases in the region in retaliation.
  • - Lebanon: Won't be dragged into war - Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed his country would not be dragged into war, after Israel announced it was carrying out strikes targeting Iran proxy Hezbollah in south Lebanon amid the Iran operation. 
Countries around the world voiced fears of a Middle East conflagration after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran Saturday, and Iran targeted US bases in the region in retaliation.

UN condemns escalation

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres condemned the latest developments.
"I call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation," he said in a statement, adding that the attacks on both sides undermined international peace and security.
UN rights chief Volker Turk said further attacks would "only result in death, destruction and human misery".

EU condemns Iran

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen condemned Iran's "unjustifiable attacks" on the United Arab Emirates Saturday.
"These attacks constitute a blatant violation of the UAE's sovereignty and a clear breach of international law," the European Commission President wrote on X.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers for Sunday.

Russia: Nuclear 'catastrophe'

Russia condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, warning they were "bringing the region to the brink of a humanitarian, economic, and -- this cannot be ruled out -- radiological catastrophe". 

UN nuclear watchdog: 'monitoring'

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in a statement calling for restraint added that so far, there was "no evidence of any radiological impact".

China: 'Immediate halt'

China urged "an immediate halt to military actions", with Beijing's foreign ministry insisting that "Iran's national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected".

Qatar: 'Right to respond'

Qatar, which hosts a US military base, condemned an Iranian missile attack on its territory and warned it "reserves its full right to respond to this attack".

Norway: Israel broke international law

Norway's foreign minister said Israel's strikes on Iran broke international law, noting that "a pre-emptive attack would require the existence of an imminent threat".

SAfrica: Israel, US broke international law

The US and Israeli strikes on Iran violated international law, said South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa.
"Anticipatory self-defence is not permitted under international law and self-defence cannot be based on assumption or anticipation," he said in a statement, calling for "maximum restraint".

India: 'Dialogue and diplomacy'

India's foreign ministry insisted that "dialogue and diplomacy should be pursued" while the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states must be respected".
- UK-France-Germany slam Iran - 
Britain, France and Germany jointly condemned Iran's retaliatory strikes, each saying they had played no part in the US-Israeli operation.
London expressed fears the situation could escalate "into a wider regional conflict".
French President Emmanuel Macron, urging a halt to the "dangerous" escalation, called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.

Lebanon: Won't be dragged into war

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed his country would not be dragged into war, after Israel announced it was carrying out strikes targeting Iran proxy Hezbollah in south Lebanon amid the Iran operation. 

Shah's son: 'Final victory' near

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last shah and a leading critic of Tehran, claimed "final victory" was near following the strikes. "Together we can take back and rebuild Iran," said Pahlavi -- who lives in exile in the US.

Egypt: 'Grave risks'

Egypt's foreign ministry said it "strongly condemns Iran's targeting of the unity and territorial integrity of brotherly Arab states", warning of "the grave risks this poses to the security and stability of Arab states".

Turkey condemns both sides

"We are deeply disturbed over the US-Israel attacks on our neighbour Iran," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised address.
He also denounced Iran's drone and missile attacks against the Gulf as "unacceptable, regardless of the reason".
"In order to prevent our region from experiencing greater suffering, all actors, especially the Islamic world, must take action," he added.

Jordan: Defend itself

Jordan's government urged de-escalation while warning it would defend the kingdom's interests "with all its might". A government spokesman said the country was not part of the conflict.

Hamas: US-Israel 'aggression'

Palestinian militant group and Iran ally Hamas condemned the US and Israel's "aggression" towards Tehran, calling it "a direct assault on the entire region".

Palestinian Authority: condemns Iran

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) "strongly condemned" Iran's attacks on Arab countries, including several Gulf nations.
It rejected "any infringement on their sovereignty or aggression against them by any party", without mentioning the earlier US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Ukraine: Oust 'terrorist regime'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky argued the strikes on Iran created an opportunity for the Iranian people to oust the "terrorist regime" in Tehran.

Red Cross: 'Dangerous chain reaction'

International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric warned that the "military escalation in the Middle East is igniting a dangerous chain reaction across the region, with potentially devastating consequences for civilians".

African Union: Stability at risk

The African Union called "for restraint, urgent de-escalation and sustained dialogue" after the strikes, warning that conflict could risk harming people on the continent. 
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conflict

Residents flee as Iran missiles stun peaceful Gulf cities

BY TALEK HARRIS

  • Those attacks were a Gulf rarity at the time.
  • A barrage of Iranian strikes caused havoc across the Gulf on Saturday, shattering the aura of peace so highly prized by the oil-rich region's wealthy rulers. 
  • Those attacks were a Gulf rarity at the time.
A barrage of Iranian strikes caused havoc across the Gulf on Saturday, shattering the aura of peace so highly prized by the oil-rich region's wealthy rulers. 
Missiles streaked across clear desert skies as smoke plumed from US bases in Manama and Abu Dhabi and loud thuds shook high-rise windows in Dubai.
In Qatar, dozens of people fled in panic as a falling missile plunged into a residential neighbourhood, erupting in a fireball as it hit the street.
Flames and smoke erupted from a luxury hotel on Dubai's Palm, the landmark, palm tree-shaped development of land reclaimed from the sea, after a loud bang sent passers-by scurrying for cover.
And in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates' capital, golfers enjoying a quiet round were stunned to see dozens of projectiles flying overhead. 
The Gulf monarchies have worked hard to stay on the periphery of Middle East conflict, relying on their stability to attract business, trade and tourism. 
The staunch US allies have carefully courted Iran, their powerful Shia neighbour. Saudi Arabia, a rival heavyweight, mended ties with Tehran after a seven-year rupture in 2023.
Given their reputation for calm, Saturday's sudden attacks on US military bases caused widespread shock among the Gulf's diverse, expat-heavy populations. 
In Bahrain's capital Manama, residents were hurriedly evacuated from the Juffair district housing the US navy's Fifth Fleet, whose base was hit in the attack. 
"When we heard the sounds, we cried out of fear," said Jana Hassan, a 15-year-old school student, who was visiting a friend in the area. 
"We didn't know what to do... I will never forget the sound of those loud blasts." 
In Dubai, the Middle East's commercial hub with the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, residents looked up to see missiles surge through the sky.
"It was a rumble and then a bang," one resident told AFP, asking not to be named.

'Very scary and very loud'

An American resident of Qatar's capital Doha, who also asked not to be identified, heard two blasts as she was driving home, where she "heard several more and the glass was shaking". 
She said she was "furious" about the instability, after 20 years of living in Qatar. Her teenage sons, she said, are "asking me if we will have to go back home". 
Qatar was targeted twice last year, when Iran mounted a telegraphed attack on the Al Udeid US base in June and Israel struck a Hamas meeting in Doha in September. 
Those attacks were a Gulf rarity at the time. The UAE had not been troubled since a deadly assault by Yemen's Houthi rebels in 2022, whose attacks on Saudi Arabia have also stopped in recent years.
"As a Lebanese, I am traumatised," a 31-year-old expat and mother of two living in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, told AFP. 
"We came to the Gulf because it's known to be safer than Lebanon. Now I don't know what to do or how to think really," added the woman, who did not want to be named. 
Another Riyadh resident, from Jordan, said: "It was honestly very scary and very loud. 
"I was just walking out with my little boy when we suddenly heard the blast. People around us were looking up at the sky, trying to understand what was happening.
"It's not something you expect in Riyadh."
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Israel

Could the US-Israel war on Iran drag on?

BY DELPHINE TOUITOU AND DAPHNE BENOIT

  • Lebanon's Hezbollah has already called on Saturday for "the states and peoples of the region" to oppose the "aggression" on Iran.
  • The US-Israeli strikes launched on Iran Saturday could become an extended operation, with strategic goals both multiple and complex -- aiming to decapitate the Islamic republic and eviscerate its security capabilities.
  • Lebanon's Hezbollah has already called on Saturday for "the states and peoples of the region" to oppose the "aggression" on Iran.
The US-Israeli strikes launched on Iran Saturday could become an extended operation, with strategic goals both multiple and complex -- aiming to decapitate the Islamic republic and eviscerate its security capabilities.
In the 12-day war in June last year, the Israelis, backed by the Americans, carried out targeted strikes aimed at destroying key Iranian nuclear sites.
This time "we are embarking on an operation that is unfolding on a completely different scale, more complex and more complicated" than in June, Israel's army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir warned.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said US and Israeli installations involved in the operation were "legitimate targets" -- before Iran's state televison announced a new wave of missiles had been fired at US bases in the Gulf.
"We are in a large-scale military campaign that, in my opinion, is going to last several days, or even several weeks," said David Khalfa, co-founder of the Atlantic Middle East Forum research centre.

'Existential' phase

He described the attacks as a "multi-domain offensive" aimed "both at disrupting the regime's chain of command, shaking the repressive apparatus at its foundations, and provoking at the very least an internal transition, if not outright regime change".
The joint US-Israeli strikes targeted Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei -- still alive, according to Tehran -- as well as the chief of staff and head of the Revolutionary Guards, the regime's ideological army.
On top of that, there have been strikes on Iran's ballistic missile programme.
"This is an all-out decapitation campaign and an effort to wear down Iran's capabilities," Khalfa told AFP.
"It is a direct blow to the state's security architecture and governing apparatus," said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at British think tank Chatham House.
"This new stage of conflict is existential and clearly about regime survival. It is also unlikely to end quickly."
Araghchi appeared to be dampening down an escalation by announcing on US television that he had explained to Gulf capitals that Tehran had "no intention of attacking them" but was targeting US bases on their soil "as an act of self-defence".
Although there is currently no communication with Washington, "if the Americans want to talk to us, they know how they can contact me," the Iranian minister said, adding he was "clearly interested in de-escalation".

Potential conflagration

According to Khalfa however, the Iranians are already "in horizontal escalation".
At a moment when the regime's survival is at stake, "they are prepared to regionalise the conflict by targeting American bases in the Arabian-Persian Gulf and by striking Israel as well", he argued.
The danger is that Arab countries "might decide to allow the Americans to launch strikes from their bases, or even join the fray themselves because they consider that the Iranian regime has crossed red lines by attacking them on a massive scale," said Khalfa.
At the same time, Iran's proxies could also push for a regional escalation that would prolong the conflict.
Lebanon's Hezbollah has already called on Saturday for "the states and peoples of the region" to oppose the "aggression" on Iran.
Washington itself "risks being drawn into a new conflict in the Middle East with no clear way out", said Brandan Buck, a researcher at the Washington-based Cato Institute.
President Donald Trump "is repeating the same pattern of strategic self-delusion that trapped his predecessors, promising limited action while paving the way for a protracted conflict", he said. 
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Israel

Iranians abroad jittery but jubilant at US, Israeli strikes

  • "America is attacking the military bases, the people who 40 days ago were killing our children, so they are helping us.
  • "War is no good but it's better than the regime killing our children," said a 39-year-old Iranian in Istanbul, saying he was "happy" US and Israeli warplanes were attacking Iran. 
  • "America is attacking the military bases, the people who 40 days ago were killing our children, so they are helping us.
"War is no good but it's better than the regime killing our children," said a 39-year-old Iranian in Istanbul, saying he was "happy" US and Israeli warplanes were attacking Iran. 
Like many Iranians exiled to neighbouring Turkey, Reza, who did not want to give his surname, has been glued to his phone since news broke that Israel and the United States had begun air strikes on Iran. 
Despite worrying about their families, most exiles in Turkey's largest city told AFP they were happy with the strikes, which US President Donald Trump had threatened in January over Iran's protest crackdown that left thousands dead.
"America is attacking the military bases, the people who 40 days ago were killing our children, so they are helping us. This war is no good, people will die, but I'm happy," Reza, a mature student, told AFP.
Ali, a film director who like almost all the Iranians interviewed by AFP did not give his surname, agreed.
"Now people in Iran are full of hope and they are very, very happy," Ali said. 
"Iranians have been counting the minutes until America came to destroy the regime."
Over the past few weeks, Trump has sent warships and dozens of fighter planes to the Middle East, raising fears of a US strike -- even as US and Iranians diplomats held indirect talks on Iran's nuclear programme. 
But early on Saturday, the tensions came to a head as Israeli and US warplanes began hitting targets in Iran, with Trump urging Iranians to stand up to their government and telling them: "The hour of your freedom is at hand."
Turkey, which shares a 500-kilometre (300-mile) border with Iran, currently hosts more than 74,000 Iranians with residence permits and some 5,000 refugees.
While the unrest has raised fears of an influx of people, there have been no reports of unusual activity at the Turkey-Iran border so far. 

'Difficult days ahead'

"I'm both worried and happy, hoping for Iran's freedom," said Sepideh, a former teacher, who told AFP she managed to speak to a few friends in the morning, despite Iran cutting off all internet access.
Even with the internet shutdown, Mehdi, an engineer from the northern Iranian city of Tabriz, said he had managed to reach his family on Friday night. 
"Everyone was aware of the possibility of war, so they have been saving fuel and storing enough food. They are planning to move to rural areas," he said.
"We never wanted war in our country. It is the mullahs' brutal theocracy that has put us in this situation," he said. 
"We don't support Trump or Israel either, we want freedom and democracy, but this will not come easily. There will be very difficult days ahead, but Iran will get through this period. We will survive."
Some are hoping the strikes will bring people back on the streets in another show of mass protest that could ultimately bring down Iran's authoritarian government. 
"People are full of anger -- many thousands of people died in the protests and they are waiting like a wolf for an opportunity for revenge. This is their best chance," said Reza. 
Others are already looking to a future when the country will begin a transition to democracy -- with some putting their hopes in Reza Pahlavi, the exiled eldest son of Iran's last shah, who rose to prominence during the recent protests. 
"Every Iranian is ready: as soon as Prince Reza Pahlavi gives the order that we can return, we won't stay away a minute longer," said Amir Hossein, a singer from Tehran. 
"We will all come back to build a magnificent Iran."

European diaspora

Members of the diaspora across Europe came together to express solidarity with their people.
Around 20 people demonstrated outside the Iranian embassy in Brussels, with some holding Iran's pre-Islamic revolution flag -- now a symbol of opposition to the current leadership.
In London, some 300 people gathered with US flags outside the prime minister's residence and offices, with more joining the march as it moved toward the Iranian embassy, an AFP reporter observed.
Bita, a member of the Stage of Freedom group that organised the protest, hailed an "incredibly positive" mood inside Iran.
"The people of Iran have been willing this, have been calling for this… ultimately they will bring about the regime change they want that will benefit not only Iran, not only the Middle East, but the West," Bita said.
A small anti-war protest was meanwhile attended by a few dozen people, who shouted "Hands off Iran" and "Stop killing children".
In Berlin, a rally in front of the Iranian embassy denounced both the government and the Shah's son, calling for "Neither monarchy nor the mullahs' dictatorship" but "democracy, equality".
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technology

Vietnam AI law takes effect, first in Southeast Asia

BY TRAN THI MINH HA

  • The law applies to developers as well as providers and deployers of the technology, whether they are Vietnamese organisations or foreign entities operating in the country.
  • A law regulating artificial intelligence went into effect in Vietnam on Sunday, making it the first country in Southeast Asia with a comprehensive framework on the booming technology.
  • The law applies to developers as well as providers and deployers of the technology, whether they are Vietnamese organisations or foreign entities operating in the country.
A law regulating artificial intelligence went into effect in Vietnam on Sunday, making it the first country in Southeast Asia with a comprehensive framework on the booming technology.
Passed by the National Assembly in December, the law focuses on the risks posed by generative AI, requiring human oversight and control along the lines of the European Union's landmark AI Act.
Many nations are moving to address the dangers of chatbots and image generators -- from misinformation to online abuse and copyright violations -- but few have enacted legislation.
The legislation, which is in force as of March 1, "paves the way for Vietnam to deeply integrate with international standards while maintaining digital sovereignty", the government said in a December report.
It requires companies to clearly label AI-generated content such as deepfakes that cannot readily be differentiated from reality.
It also requires them to disclose to customers when they are interacting with an artificial rather than human agent.
The law applies to developers as well as providers and deployers of the technology, whether they are Vietnamese organisations or foreign entities operating in the country.
Vietnam has set ambitious double-digit growth targets for the next five years, with expansion of the digital economy a key part of its development strategy.
AI and the data economy are "pillars" of a "more sustainable and smarter new development" model, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh was quoted as saying Wednesday on the government's website.
Under the law, the government will establish a national AI computing centre, improved data resources and large language models in Vietnamese.

'Not the final word'

So far only a handful of countries have implemented far-reaching regulatory frameworks on AI.
The United States has opposed what Vice President JD Vance called "excessive regulation", warning it could stifle innovation in the key sector.
In January, South Korea became the first country to have an AI law take full effect, while the European Union is gradually phasing in a set of rules that will become completely applicable in 2027.
While Vietnam's law is a regulatory milestone, analysts said its impact would depend on how the government enforces it and on what guidance it issues on implementation.
The law is "not the final word" but rather a "decisive starting point", Vietnam-based LNT & Partners law firm said in an analysis on its website.
"It establishes responsibility, human control, and risk management as the governing themes of AI regulation," the firm said.
However, it added, "the true impact will depend on implementing decrees, sectoral regulations, and enforcement practice".
Patrick Keil, senior legal adviser at law firm DFDL, called the law "a significant statement of national ambition" but told AFP businesses will continue to face some uncertainty about their obligations until the government issues further guidance.
At an AI summit hosted by New Delhi in February, 91 countries and international organisations called for "secure, trustworthy and robust" AI.
But their declaration, signed by the United States and China, was criticised by AI safety campaigners for being too generic to protect the public.
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Israel

Republicans back Trump, Democrats attack 'illegal' Iran war

BY ROBIN LEGRAND

  • The Republican stressed that when the House and Senate reconvene, he will work with Democrats to "force a congressional vote on war with Iran."
  • Republicans largely welcomed strikes launched Saturday by US forces and ally Israel against Iran but prominent Democrats condemned what they called an illegal aggression.
  • The Republican stressed that when the House and Senate reconvene, he will work with Democrats to "force a congressional vote on war with Iran."
Republicans largely welcomed strikes launched Saturday by US forces and ally Israel against Iran but prominent Democrats condemned what they called an illegal aggression.
"Today, Iran is facing the severe consequences of its evil actions," including "terrorism," the murder of Americans and the regime's sustained nuclear ambitions, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson said in a statement.
"We pray for the safety of our brave servicemembers and our allies involved in Operation Epic Fury," the top Republican in Congress added.
However, the top Democrat in the Senate, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, demanded a briefing to Congress by the Trump administration.
"The American people do not want another endless and costly war in the Middle East when there are so many problems at home," he said.

'Justified'

For Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime supporter of US military intervention against the Islamic republic, Donald Trump's speech "will go down in history as the catalyst for the most historic change in the Middle East in a thousand years."
"It will be violent, extensive and I believe, at the end of the day, successful," he added in a series of X posts. "The demise of the ayatollah's regime with American blood on its hands is necessary and more than justified."
Many Republicans hailed Trump's decisive action. Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Tom Cotton pointed to multiple grievances against Iran, including the 1979 hostage crisis and the deadly Beirut bombing of 1983.
"Iran has waged war against the US for 47 years," Cotton posted on X. "The butcher's bill has finally come due for the ayatollahs."
Trump has near total control of his Republican Party and dissent is rare.
Congressman Thomas Massie broke ranks to say: "I am opposed to this war."
"This is not 'America First,'" Massie posted, referring to Trump's widely used campaign slogan.
The Republican stressed that when the House and Senate reconvene, he will work with Democrats to "force a congressional vote on war with Iran."

'Unconstitutional'

The White House said Saturday that prior to the attacks, Secretary of State Marco Rubio telephoned and briefed the so-called Gang of Eight, the top congressional Republicans and Democrats on classified intelligence matters.
Democrats were largely united against the large-scale attack.
Senator Jack Reed, top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, argued Trump "has thrust our nation into a major war with Iran -- one he never made a case for, never sought congressional authority for, and for which he has no endgame."
The administration "has left the American people in the dark about the true costs, risks, and duration of this conflict."
Leftist Senator Bernie Sanders slammed Trump for triggering "an illegal, premeditated and unconstitutional war," saying the US administration "lied to" Americans and that the conflict with create further instability.
"Might does not make right. It creates international anarchy, death, destruction and human misery," he said in a statement.
Senator Ruben Gallego assailed Trump for contradicting his campaign promises of reducing US military interventions and releasing all files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
"Trump ran on exposing the pedophiles and stopping wars. Trump is now protecting the pedophiles and starting wars," Gallego posted.
rle-mlm/des

US

In Iran attack, Trump seeks what he foreswore -- regime change

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former staunch Trump ally who resigned from Congress after falling out with him, said Trump was no different from previous presidents in launching "another foreign war for foreign people for foreign regime change."
  • Launching a major attack alongside Israel against Iran, US President Donald Trump is openly pursuing the goal he once adamantly rejected -- regime change.
  • Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former staunch Trump ally who resigned from Congress after falling out with him, said Trump was no different from previous presidents in launching "another foreign war for foreign people for foreign regime change."
Launching a major attack alongside Israel against Iran, US President Donald Trump is openly pursuing the goal he once adamantly rejected -- regime change.
Trump, who ordered a military buildup in the Middle East unseen since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, made clear in a video address that the goal of the bombing campaign dubbed "Epic Fury" was to topple the cleric-run state that has long been a US nemesis.
Trump, who had publicly suggested for weeks a more limited goal of forcing a deal to end Tehran's contested nuclear program, said to Iranians: "When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take."
"This will be, probably, your only chance for generations," Trump said. "The hour of your freedom is at hand."
Indicating coordination, the son of Iran's late pro-Western shah, who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic revolution, released his own address at the same time in which he called on Iranians to be patient and wait for his call to take to the streets "for the final action."
While there are differences between the two situations, Trump's language evoked that of president George W. Bush when he invaded Iraq in 2003, with talk of the need for pre-emptive action and pointing to disputed weapons allegations to justify overthrowing a government.
Trump himself said that the Iraq war was a historic mistake by Bush, who spent much more time than Trump laying out his case for war to the public.
"In the end, the so-called nation-builders wrecked far more nations than they built, and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves," Trump said in a speech last year in Saudi Arabia, now being hit by Iranian counter-attacks.
Trump campaigned billing himself as the peace candidate and has loudly said he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for assorted US mediation drives around the world. 
His close aide Stephen Miller in social media posts during the 2024 campaign charged that "millions die" if rival Kamala Harris wins.
"Trump said warmongering neocons love sending your kids to die for wars they would never fight themselves," Miller wrote, posting: "Kamala = WWIII. Trump = Peace."
In December, the Trump administration released a national security strategy that called for the United States to address threats in the Middle East "without decades of fruitless 'nation-building' wars."

Changing equation in Iran

Much has changed in Iran since Trump's earlier statements.
Mass demonstrations, initially triggered by concerns over the cost of living, started building in late December and posed the greatest threat ever to the Islamic republic.
Authorities crushed the demonstrations ruthlessly, with thousands of people killed.
Trump also showed a willingness to use force in Venezuela, ordering a January 3 attack in which US forces snatched leftist leader Nicolas Maduro.
But Trump's previous operations have been one-off strikes that he has quickly framed as victories.
In Venezuela, Trump has worked with Maduro's vice president and successor Delcy Rodriguez, threatening her with violence if she does not cooperate, rather than seeking to install the democratic opposition long supported by Washington.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former staunch Trump ally who resigned from Congress after falling out with him, said Trump was no different from previous presidents in launching "another foreign war for foreign people for foreign regime change."
"But it feels like the worst betrayal this time because it comes from the very man and the admin who we all believed was different and said, no more," she wrote on social media.
Brandan Buck, a research fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, said that Trump, in urging the downfall of the Islamic republic, had offered "no clear conception of victory."
"Instead, the President is repeating the same pattern of strategic self-deceit that has ensnared his predecessors -- promising limited action while inviting prolonged conflict."
Most Republicans lined up to support the attack, with many issuing calls for freedom and democracy more reminiscent of Bush than Trump.
Republican Senator John Cornyn said that Iran's government has carried out an "all-out assault on the West and our values" and voiced hope that through Trump's actions Iranians "will finally be free."
sct/dw

conflict

Afghanistan says civilians killed in Pakistan air strikes

  • This month's violence is the worst since October fighting killed more than 70 people on both sides, with land borders between the neighbours largely shut since.
  • Afghanistan accused Pakistan of killing civilians in rural Kandahar on Saturday, as deadly violence flared between the South Asian neighbours.
  • This month's violence is the worst since October fighting killed more than 70 people on both sides, with land borders between the neighbours largely shut since.
Afghanistan accused Pakistan of killing civilians in rural Kandahar on Saturday, as deadly violence flared between the South Asian neighbours.
Months of cross-border clashes escalated Thursday when Afghanistan launched an offensive along the frontier, with Pakistani forces hitting back on the border and from the skies.
On the road between the Afghan capital Kabul and the border, an AFP journalist in Jalalabad heard a jet and two explosions on Saturday. Afghan security forces said they had downed a Pakistani fighter jet and captured its pilot, which Islamabad denied as "totally untrue".
In rural southern Kandahar, construction workers said they were hit by two air strikes, which the manager of the site said killed three people.
"Everything went dark before our eyes," said 20-year-old Enamullah, who only gave one name. "I came from Kabul just to earn a piece of bread."
Pakistan acknowledged bombing key cities a day earlier including Kabul and Kandahar, which is home to Afghanistan's supreme leader. Islamabad has not commented on civilian casualties.
Afghan officials said Thursday's border offensive was a response to earlier air strikes that killed civilians, which Pakistan said targeted militants.
In addition to those killed in Kandahar, the Afghan government's deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said Pakistani fire has killed 30 civilians across eastern Khost, Kunar and Paktika provinces since Thursday.
Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.

'Everyone just got out'

On Saturday, residents in Paktika told AFP exchanges of fire were ongoing, while in Khost some people had fled their homes near the frontier.
"The bombardments started, children, women, everyone just got out," said Mohammad Rasool, 63, who had reached another district.
"Some didn't have shoes, some weren't veiled," he told AFP.
Diplomatic efforts have failed to secure a truce, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar engaged in efforts to halt the fighting. China said it was "working with" both countries and called for calm.
The United States backed "Pakistan's right to defend itself against Taliban attacks", Allison Hooker, the under secretary of state for political affairs, wrote on X after talks with her Pakistani counterpart.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to act against militant groups that carry out attacks in Pakistan, which the Taliban government rejects.
Many attacks have been claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group that has stepped up assaults in Pakistan since 2021, the year the Taliban authorities returned to power in Kabul.
This week's escalation marked the first time that Pakistan has focused its air strikes on Afghan government facilities, analysts noted, a stark change from previous operations that it said targeted militants.
Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesman for Pakistan's prime minister, told AFP that gunmen he said were associated with the Pakistani Taliban had attacked a checkpoint in the northwest. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for that attack.
"Pakistan's immediate and effective response to aggression continues," Zaidi said Friday, giving a figure of nearly 300 Afghan soldiers and militants killed.

'Open war'

Pakistan's information minister said on Saturday that 37 locations across Afghanistan had been hit by air strikes since its operation began.
Islamabad said earlier 12 of its soldiers had been killed.
Fitrat, Afghanistan's deputy spokesman, said more than 80 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 27 military posts captured.
The Afghan government earlier put the death toll among its troops at 13.
The defence ministry in Kabul has also said it carried out air strikes on Pakistani territory over the past two days, which observers said could have been drones.
Islamabad declared "open war" on Friday against the Taliban authorities, while the Afghan government called for "dialogue" to resolve the conflict.
This month's violence is the worst since October fighting killed more than 70 people on both sides, with land borders between the neighbours largely shut since.
Several rounds of negotiations between Pakistan and Afghanistan last year followed a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey.
Saudi Arabia intervened this month after repeated breaches of the initial truce, mediating the release of three Pakistani soldiers captured by Afghanistan in October.
burs-pbt/rsc/ami

US

Streets empty and shops close as US strikes confirm Iranian fears

  • Saturday's attack came as Tehran and Washington were engaged in negotiations aimed at reaching a deal.
  • For weeks, Iranians had been nervously anticipating another attack by the United States and Israel, despite Tehran and Washington holding negotiations aimed at averting a violent showdown.
  • Saturday's attack came as Tehran and Washington were engaged in negotiations aimed at reaching a deal.
For weeks, Iranians had been nervously anticipating another attack by the United States and Israel, despite Tehran and Washington holding negotiations aimed at averting a violent showdown.
Nevertheless, on Saturday morning just before the strikes, life in Tehran was moving at its usual pace, taxis and buses were inching through mid-morning traffic and people were running errands.
Then the routine was shattered by a series of detonations. Security forces flooded the streets and dark columns of smoke rose near the home of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"I am hearing explosions and fighter jets overhead," one resident of central Tehran said at around 9:45 am local time, before communications and internet access were cut.
Within minutes of the attack, traffic-choked streets slowed and long queues formed outside bakeries and gas stations. Police and security forces were out in numbers.
Saturday is usually the start of Iran's working week, but many shops pulled down their shutters and few pedestrians risked going out, an AFP journalist saw.
From outside the capital, reports came in that targets had been hit in almost two thirds of Iran's provinces.
Loud screams could be heard in the background of media footage of the soot-covered debris from a school building hit in the southern province of Hormozgan.
As distraught people gathered at the site, the reported death toll rose to reach at least 51 students.
With US President Donald Trump urging Iranians to rise up against their leaders, rumours swirled over the status of Iran's senior military and political figures.
But state media was quick to insist that President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and "all the commanders" of Iran's army were in good health.
One small demonstration took to the streets, covered by state media, with around 300 pro-government marchers convening on Tehran's Palestine square.
Beyond Tehran, explosions were reported in Kermanshah in the west, Isfahan in the centre and as far as Zahedan in the southeast.
In response, the Revolutionary Guards announced missile and drone strikes on Israel as well as on the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain.
Explosions were also reported over cities across the region, including in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan.
Within Iran, the country's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, said contingency plans were being activated.
Schools were ordered closed until further notice, while banks were to remain open and government offices would operate at half capacity.
Local media quoted officials as saying that food and fuel supplies were covered and that subway and bus services would continue operating as usual.
Saturday's attack came as Tehran and Washington were engaged in negotiations aimed at reaching a deal.
The strikes recalled the 12-day war in June, when Israel launched attacks just days before a planned sixth round of talks between Tehran and Washington.
Iranian authorities have anticipated the possibility of renewed conflict since last June's war, which officials said aimed to bring down the Islamic republic.
For many ordinary Iranians, tension had already been high following mass protests in late December triggered by economic hardship that left thousands dead.
Ahead of the strikes, social media users -- particularly on Instagram -- on Friday shared safety advice on what to do in the event of explosions or air strikes.
Following the attacks, the military's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said operations "will continue without pause until the enemy's definitive defeat".
bur/dc/amj

US

Israelis shelter underground as Iran fires missiles

  • There too, numerous blasts broke the stillness of the empty streets as barrages came one after the other, sometimes rattling windows as missiles detonated overhead.
  • Across Israel, city streets stood deserted on Saturday as residents took cover in shelters, while the blasts from Iranian missiles being intercepted reverberated overhead.
  • There too, numerous blasts broke the stillness of the empty streets as barrages came one after the other, sometimes rattling windows as missiles detonated overhead.
Across Israel, city streets stood deserted on Saturday as residents took cover in shelters, while the blasts from Iranian missiles being intercepted reverberated overhead.
It was the second time in under a year that Israelis were undertaking this grim wartime routine, having first fled Iranian missiles during a 12-day war between the arch-foes last June.
The United States and Israel launched a wave of strikes against military targets in Iran on Saturday, sparking a rapid Iranian retaliation towards Israel.
In the commercial hub of Tel Aviv, Orit Baisa, 42, rushed to an underground car park as soon as he heard the air raid sirens warning of an incoming missile barrage.
"We don't have a shelter, no safe room. The stairwell isn't a compliant secure room. This (car park) is the safest place there is," he said.
"If this (war) is going to last, then yes, sure, we'll go back to it, bring the tents, the mattresses, bring all the equipment and live here, like last time", he told AFP.
Andrea Siposova, who fled to the same car park, told AFP she had prepared for the shelter in case war broke out.
"We were already prepared with our emergency backpacks in case this happens. And yeah, so once we got the alert that there is a missile attack, we came to the shelter", said Siposova, a 31-year-old originally from Slovakia who now lives in Tel Aviv.
Roi Elba came to the shelter with his dog Gaia to wait out a missile salvo.
"It's the place to be when it's unsafe outside. Most of the buildings, most of the apartments in Tel Aviv, in the centre of Tel Aviv, don't have a safe room, shelter".

Assault rifles and strollers

Inside, some people had brought prams, others, who were reservists, their assault rifles while some began praying in a small group. 
Several dogs were there, too, hunkering down with their owners.
Outside of the car park, white trails scarred the blue sky as Israel's air defence system launched into action to detonate Iranian missiles before they could land, an AFP journalist reported.
Further north on Israel's coast, a projectile lifted a large blast of water in Haifa Bay as it exploded in the Mediterranean Sea, water and smoke rising high above a nearby commercial ship, an AFP photojournalist reported.
After a projectile struck a building in the nearby city of Tirat Carmel, residents were evacuated, according to the same journalist.
Israel's first responders agency, Magen David Adom instructed its ambulances to use sirens as little as possible, so as to avoid people confusing the sound for that of air raid sirens, it said in a statement.
By mid-afternoon on Saturday, it had reported only one mild injury linked to missiles, a 50-year-old man injured by a blast in Israel's north.
All other national agencies also sprang into wartime mode, with the education ministry cancelling all classes and the aviation authority halting all flights in and out of the country.
In Jerusalem, the streets were mostly empty, with residents staying home or close to shelters.
There too, numerous blasts broke the stillness of the empty streets as barrages came one after the other, sometimes rattling windows as missiles detonated overhead.

'Trapped'

In the nearby West Bank city of Ramallah, 15 kilometres north of Jerusalem, Palestinians mostly carried on with life as usual, with markets in full swing and conversations only occasionally interrupted by overhead blasts.
"There have been wars since our great-great-grandparents' time. Nothing concerns us. Our lives must continue as normal", Ghazala Arar, a resident of the nearby Jalazone camp, told AFP.
For most, the main inconvenience remained the Israeli military's closure of many of the hundreds of checkpoints that restrict movement in the Palestinian territory, locking some people out of their homes.
"I'm trying to go to Jenin, but all the checkpoints are closed. The attack happened in an instant -- we are trapped here", Rajwa Atatra, who had come to Ramallah from the northern city of Jenin to visit her brother, told AFP.
vid-pho-lba/jd/dcp

history

Climate change forces facelift for Michelangelo masterpiece

  • Work is normally carried out when the Sistine Chapel is closed to visitors and without the need for scaffolding but Vatican Museums officials said this was not possible for The Last Judgment because of the scale of the work.
  • Michelangelo's famous The Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel is getting its biggest facelift in more than three decades to remove a light whitish residue left by sweaty visitors.
  • Work is normally carried out when the Sistine Chapel is closed to visitors and without the need for scaffolding but Vatican Museums officials said this was not possible for The Last Judgment because of the scale of the work.
Michelangelo's famous The Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel is getting its biggest facelift in more than three decades to remove a light whitish residue left by sweaty visitors.
The restoration of the 16th century masterpiece in the Vatican is aimed at bringing back to light the vibrant colours of the work, which measures nearly 14 metres (46 feet) high.
Visitors will still be able to access the Sistine Chapel during the restoration but the fresco is obscured by a large scaffolding covered with a reproduction of the work.
Vatican Museums director Barbara Jatta described the white layer being removed as "a bit like a cataract", during a press tour on Saturday of the project, due to be completed before Easter.
Jatta said the layer covered "the entire 180 square-metre surface" of the work.
The Vatican Museums said in a statement that the substance was "invisible to the naked eye" but had "dimmed" the original colours of the piece.
The fresco is being dabbed with distilled water through a layer of Japanese paper to remove the substance, identified as calcium lactate.
"Perspiration has increased in recent years because of climate change. Due to perspiration we produce lactic acid... which becomes calcium lactate," Fabio Morresi, head of scientific research at the Vatican Museums, told reporters.
Vatican Museums staff said measures had already been taken to reduce the number of visitors present at any one time in the Sistine Chapel, which is also the place where cardinals meet in closed-door conclaves to elect new popes.

Part of overhaul

Morresi described the difference in the fresco before and after the treatment as like "two different worlds" and said working on the masterpiece was an "emotional" process.
The Last Judgment, which was painted between 1536 and 1541, is the centrepiece of the Sistine Chapel, and is located just behind the altar.
Then-pope Paul III was said to have been so impressed by the work that he fell on his knees and ask for divine forgiveness when he first saw it.
Of the fresco's 391 figures, many are nude or semi-nude, which caused scandal at the time.
Many were covered up with cloths painted over the original following Michelangelo's death.
Some of the painted cloths were removed in 1994 during the last major restoration.
The current project is being sponsored by US donors and is part of a major overhaul of the Sistine Chapel that began in 2010.
Work is normally carried out when the Sistine Chapel is closed to visitors and without the need for scaffolding but Vatican Museums officials said this was not possible for The Last Judgment because of the scale of the work.
Morresi said the restoration felt personal for him because he was hired in 1988 when the last major facelift of the Sistine Chapel was just starting and he is now nearly at retirement age. 
"It's marvellous... There's a piece of me in here," he said.
dt/ach/rmb 

Global Edition

Congo-Brazzaville president vows to keep power as campaign kicks off

  • - Contested elections - Congo-Brazzaville, a former French colony, is rich in oil but nearly half of its six million people live below the poverty line.
  • Congo-Brazzaville's 82-year-old President Denis Sassou Nguesso promised to extend his decades-long time in power on Saturday as campaigning kicked off for next month's presidential election in the oil-rich central African nation. 
  • - Contested elections - Congo-Brazzaville, a former French colony, is rich in oil but nearly half of its six million people live below the poverty line.
Congo-Brazzaville's 82-year-old President Denis Sassou Nguesso promised to extend his decades-long time in power on Saturday as campaigning kicked off for next month's presidential election in the oil-rich central African nation. 
Thousands of supporters turned out to watch Sassou Nguesso parade in an open-topped convertible at a rally held by the president's Congolese Labour Party (PCT) in the country's economic and oil capital Pointe-Noire, on the Atlantic coast.
Campaigning will end on March 13, with the first round of voting on March 15.
Six opposition candidates have formally confirmed they will be standing, including first-time 34-year-old candidate Destin Gavin, from the Republican Movement (MR).
But the fragmented and muzzled opposition stands little chance of winning, with the ruling party promising a "wave" in favour of its "patriarch", according to roadside campaign posters.
"Have no fear, on March 15, we will win!" Sassou Nguesso told the rally, dressed in a white shirt adorned with an elephant. 
The career military officer first led Congo under the one-party system from 1979 to 1992 before losing the country's first multi-party elections to former prime minister Pascal Lissouba.
He overthrew Lissouba in a civil war to return to power in 1997.
Earlier this month, he announced he would be seeking a new five-year term, which, according to the constitution, would be his last.
Sassou Nguesso is one of Africa's longest-ruling leaders after Paul Biya of Cameroon, who has been in office since 1982, and Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who took power in a 1979 coup.
He was the victor in 2002 and 2009 and was able to stand again -- and win -- in 2016 and 2021 after a constitutional change that removed the upper age limit of 70 and extended the maximum number of terms of office.

Contested elections

Congo-Brazzaville, a former French colony, is rich in oil but nearly half of its six million people live below the poverty line.
While many of the young people bearing T-shirts with the president's likeness in the crowd at Saturday's rally in Pointe-Noire expressed confidence in Sassou Nguesso, some pointed to the country's economic worries. 
"We came here to support him, but the Congolese people are suffering. What we want is work," says Flora Kouka, a nurse.
At Saturday's rally, Sassou Nguesso touted his economic record all the same, pointing to the development of the roads, fossil fuel sector and farming, and conceded he would have to pass the baton at some point. 
"Our generation is laying the groundwork for the youth to pick up the torch one day," he said.
His political opponents have systematically contested all of his election victories since 2002.
Two candidates who ran in the 2016 elections -- General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and Andre Okombi Salissa -- are still being held after convictions for "attacking internal security" in 2018 and 2019.
They had strongly disputed the official results, which gave Sassou Nguesso 60 percent of the vote.
NGOs and civil society groups regularly condemn violations of civil liberties and threats against political opponents.
The president is nonetheless reputed to have brought a degree of stability back to the country scarred by civil war in the 1990s and to a region plagued by conflict.
clt/phz/sbk/st

conflict

Iran's Khamenei: ruthless revolutionary at apex of Islamic republic

BY STUART WILLIAMS

  • Khamenei, now 86, has dominated Iran for the last three-and-a-half decades since taking on the post for life in 1989 as leader of the Islamic revolution following the death of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
  • Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, a pillar of its theocratic system since the Islamic revolution, has seen off a succession of crises throughout his rule with a mixture of repression and strategic manoeuvring but now could be facing his biggest challenge.
  • Khamenei, now 86, has dominated Iran for the last three-and-a-half decades since taking on the post for life in 1989 as leader of the Islamic revolution following the death of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, a pillar of its theocratic system since the Islamic revolution, has seen off a succession of crises throughout his rule with a mixture of repression and strategic manoeuvring but now could be facing his biggest challenge.
The United States and Israel launched strikes against targets in Iranian cities on Saturday, sparking a swift response from the Islamic republic whose Guards announced the launch of a wave of missile and drone attacks at Israel.
While the scope of the attack on Iran remains to be seen, it could range from the limited to targeting the very apex of the leadership.
Khamenei, now 86, has dominated Iran for the last three-and-a-half decades since taking on the post for life in 1989 as leader of the Islamic revolution following the death of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
He has remained in power after overcoming 1999 student demonstrations, 2009 mass protests sparked by disputed presidential elections, and 2019 demonstrations that were brutally suppressed.
He also survived the 2022-2023 "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement sparked by the death in custody of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women.
Khamenei was forced to go into hiding during the 12-day war against Israel in June, which exposed deep Israeli intelligence penetration of the Islamic republic that led to the killing of key security officials in air strikes.
But he survived that war and, after nationwide protests again shook the Islamic republic earlier this year, he emerged defiant as ever.

Tight security

Khamenei lives under the tightest security, and his relatively infrequent public appearances are never announced in advance or broadcast live.
As supreme leader he never sets foot outside the country, a precedent set by Khomeini following his triumphant return to Tehran from France in 1979.
Khamenei's last known foreign trip was an official visit to North Korea in 1989 as president, where he met Kim Il Sung.
There has long been speculation about his health given his age, but there was nothing in his most recent appearance to fuel any new rumours.
Khamenei's right arm is always inert. It was partially paralysed following an assassination attempt in 1981 authorities have always blamed on the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) group, one-time allies of the revolution now outlawed in the country. 

'I am opposed'

Repeatedly arrested under the shah for his anti-imperial activism, Khamenei shortly after the Islamic revolution became Friday prayer leader of Tehran and also served on the frontline during the Iran-Iraq war.
He was elected president in 1981 following the assassination of Mohammad Ali Rajai, another attack blamed on the MEK. 
During the 1980s, Khomeini's most likely successor was seen as the senior cleric Ayatollah Hossein Montazeri but the revolutionary leader changed his mind shortly before his death after Montazeri objected to the mass executions of MEK members and other dissidents.
When Khomeini died and the Islamic republic's top clerical body the Assembly of Experts met, it was Khamenei who they chose as leader.
Khamenei famously initially rejected the nomination, putting his head in his hands in a show of despair and declaring, "I am opposed". But the clerics stood in unison to seal his nomination and his grip on power has not slackened since.
Khamenei has now worked with six elected presidents, a far less powerful position than supreme leader, including more moderate figures like Mohammad Khatami who were allowed to make stabs at cautious reform and rapprochement with the West.
But in the end, Khamenei has always come down on the side of hardliners.
He is believed to have six children although only one, Mojtaba, has public prominence. He was placed under sanctions by the United States in 2019 and is one of the most powerful backstage figures in Iran.
A family dispute has also caught attention: his sister Badri fell out with her family in the 1980s and fled to Iraq in the war to join her husband, a dissident cleric. 
Some of their children, including a nephew who is now in France, have become vehement critics.
sjw/ser

Iran

Trump says US aims to destroy Iran's military, topple government

BY DANNY KEMP WITH SEBASTIAN SMITH IN WASHINGTON

  • We're going to annihilate their navy," Trump said in the address from his Florida home posted to his Truth Social platform.
  • US President Donald Trump announced a major attack against Iran on Saturday, vowing to "annihilate" the country's navy and missile sites, and urging Iranians to overthrow their government.
  • We're going to annihilate their navy," Trump said in the address from his Florida home posted to his Truth Social platform.
US President Donald Trump announced a major attack against Iran on Saturday, vowing to "annihilate" the country's navy and missile sites, and urging Iranians to overthrow their government.
In a video address after the United States and Israel started bombing Iran, Trump made clear the goal was destruction of the Islamic republic's military and toppling of the authorities in power since the 1979 revolution.
"We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally -- again -- obliterated. We're going to annihilate their navy," Trump said in the address from his Florida home posted to his Truth Social platform.
He urged opponents of the Iranian authorities to rise up, saying "the hour of your freedom is at hand."
"When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take," Trump said. This "will be probably your only chance for generations."
But in a section of the short speech that was aimed at the US public, Trump acknowledged that "the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost" in what the Pentagon dubbed "Operation Epic Fury."
"We may have casualties," Trump warned.
Any loss of life on the US side would be politically hazardous for Trump himself, especially after his refusal to seek approval for war against Iran from Congress -- and his own lengthy record of opposing foreign interventions.
A one-day raid to oust the former strongman leader of Venezuela in January was accomplished without US fatalities. Surgical air strikes on Iran's main nuclear sites last June also went off without US losses. 

Bombs 'dropping everywhere'

"Operation Epic Fury" is on an entirely different scale militarily and politically.
An attack was widely expected after Trump ordered the biggest military deployment to the Middle East in years. But critical lawmakers have for days been asking why Trump has not addressed the US public or Congress to explain the need for war.
Trump's video appeared without warning on his Truth Social site at 2:30 am in Florida, where he was spending the weekend at his luxury golf club.
Trump, wearing a white baseball cap marked "USA" and no tie with his white shirt and dark jacket, stood at a podium between two flags against a black background.
He sought to justify the assault on Iran saying: "Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime."
"They attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas and could soon reach the American homeland," he said.
He urged Iranian forces to surrender, including the elite Revolutionary Guards that is tasked with safeguarding the cleric-run government.
"To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces, and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity or in the alternative, face certain death."
But Trump warned ordinary Iranians that the US bombing would be large-scale.
"Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere."
Trump on Friday insisted that he had not decided whether to attack, and his envoys on Thursday held talks with Iran's top diplomat toward a deal on concerns led by Tehran's nuclear program.
The top diplomat of Oman, which mediated talks Thursday in Geneva between the United States and Iran, had been optimistic for a compromise. 
He met Friday with US Vice President JD Vance and told CBS News that Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium that could build an atomic bomb, a goal denied by Tehran.
bur-sms/jfx

literature

New 'Wuthering Heights' film unleashes fresh wave of Bronte-mania

  • "Everyone is talking about Emily Bronte and 'Wuthering Heights'....
  • Perched on the edge of the rugged Yorkshire moors that inspired Emily Bronte to write her masterpiece "Wuthering Heights", the quaint village of Haworth has long been a place of literary pilgrimage.
  • "Everyone is talking about Emily Bronte and 'Wuthering Heights'....
Perched on the edge of the rugged Yorkshire moors that inspired Emily Bronte to write her masterpiece "Wuthering Heights", the quaint village of Haworth has long been a place of literary pilgrimage.
Now the latest big-screen adaptation of her classic 1847 novel  -- starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi and with a Charli XCX soundtrack -- is drawing a fresh influx of visitors.
It was here that Emily and her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, lived and wrote.
More than 150 years after the sisters' deaths, "the world is still fascinated with their stories," said Canadian retiree Nancy Marto, adding that being able to visit Haworth was "a dream come true".
"I think the fact that there is a new version of 'Wuthering Heights'... speaks to the power of these authors, to Emily, but also to her sisters," she said.
Two weeks after the release of the film, picturesque Haworth in northwest England with its narrow, cobbled streets and small stone houses, is packed.
The film, loosely based on the book, was one of the most anticipated of the year.
At the heart of the plot is the passionate relationship between Heathcliff, a boy of mysterious origins taken in by the wealthy Mr Earnshaw and his daughter Catherine.
The moors, battered by the elements, play a central role in the novel, as well as in Emerald Fennell's film.

'Completely besotted'

Johnnie Brigg, a local tour guide, has been inundated with requests in recent weeks.
"They want to come here and experience the Brontes, the moor, and find their own interpretation of Emily," he said.
The film would attract a "whole new generation of people" who had not yet read the book but were "completely besotted" after seeing the film, he added.
The parsonage between the village and the moors where the Brontes lived with their clergyman father and brother, Branwell, is now a museum dedicated to their memory.
Emily's sister Charlotte also wrote "Jane Eyre"  here, another classic of English literature.
The museum's Mia Ferullo, who has been giving talks on "Bronte-mania" for the past fortnight, said "so many people" were "picking up the book for the first time" as a result of the film.
Museum director Rebecca Yorke said 500 people of all ages and backgrounds visited on one Saturday.
Numbers like that were usually only seen in peak season such as during the August summer holidays, Yorke said.
"Everyone is talking about Emily Bronte and 'Wuthering Heights'.... It's just extraordinary," she added.
vid-ctx/har/sbk/ceg

military

15 dead as cash-packed military plane crashes in Bolivia

  • The Bolivian Air Navigation and Airports authority NAABOL said in a statement that the C-130 departed from the eastern city of Santa Cruz and crashed while landing at the international airport, which suspended its operations.
  • At least 15 people were killed Friday when a Bolivian military cargo plane carrying banknotes crashed while landing near the capital city La Paz, authorities said, prompting police to repel bystanders grabbing cash.
  • The Bolivian Air Navigation and Airports authority NAABOL said in a statement that the C-130 departed from the eastern city of Santa Cruz and crashed while landing at the international airport, which suspended its operations.
At least 15 people were killed Friday when a Bolivian military cargo plane carrying banknotes crashed while landing near the capital city La Paz, authorities said, prompting police to repel bystanders grabbing cash.
The aircraft, a C-130 Hercules transport plane, veered off the runway at El Alto International Airport and crashed into an avenue, destroying multiple cars and damaging trucks, local media footage showed.
Colonel Pavel Tovar of the National Fire Department told reporters that "between 15 and 16 (dead) people have been counted" in the disaster.
"We are recovering the bodies of these people who have sadly suffered in the accident," he said.
The Ministry of Defense confirmed the crash, without providing further details. At least two dozen other people were wounded, according to reports.
Fatalities were recorded both at the airport and on the busy avenue where the crashed plane struck several vehicles. Mangled parts of the aircraft were seen on the roadway.
The Bolivian Air Navigation and Airports authority NAABOL said in a statement that the C-130 departed from the eastern city of Santa Cruz and crashed while landing at the international airport, which suspended its operations.
The C-130 Hercules -- manufactured by Lockheed Martin -- was carrying Bolivian banknotes, which scattered upon impact. 
Footage from local media showed police using tear gas to disperse people who approached the crash site to gather the money.
It was not immediately known what caused the crash. 
La Paz, at an altitude of 3,650 meters (11,975 feet) and surrounded by Andean peaks, is the highest administrative capital in the world. 
jac-gta-mel/mlm/jfx

Grynspan

Costa Rica's Grynspan pledges reform in bid for UN chief job

BY ROBIN MILLARD

  • The Costa Rican former vice-president said she wanted to rebuild global trust in the United Nations if she becomes its next secretary-general.
  • Rebeca Grynspan is upbeat about her chances of becoming the next head of the United Nations, which she insists must become more agile in tackling the world's crises.
  • The Costa Rican former vice-president said she wanted to rebuild global trust in the United Nations if she becomes its next secretary-general.
Rebeca Grynspan is upbeat about her chances of becoming the next head of the United Nations, which she insists must become more agile in tackling the world's crises.
The Costa Rican former vice-president said she wanted to rebuild global trust in the United Nations if she becomes its next secretary-general.
"We are very optimistic. I think that I am more than a viable candidate," Grynspan said on Friday, her last working day before stepping aside as head of the UN trade and development agency UNCTAD to focus on her campaign.
The second term of current UN chief Antonio Guterres expires at the end of the year.
"My profile is right for this moment. I know the UN enough to reform it and enough to defend it," she told the UN correspondents' association ACANU.
"I have a lot of experience in my political life, taking decisions under a lot of stress and in complex situations. I have been in the highest positions in the UN."
It is Latin America's turn next for the top UN job and two other candidates are running: former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, and Rafael Grossi, the Argentinian head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Founded in 1945, the UN has never had a woman secretary-general.
Grynspan, an economist, is not looking to be chosen on that basis.
"I don't need any favours to be elected for the secretary-general; I just need people not to discriminate me for being a woman," the 70-year-old said.
"If the competition will be fair, with no biases, I will make it. I have the CV; I have the merits."

Rebuilding trust

Last month, Guterres warned that the UN was facing financial collapse and could run out of cash by July, with member states neither paying in full nor or time.
"The UN has to change," said Grynspan.
There are far greater capacities in civil society and the private sector than in 1945, "and we need to be able to harness that: we don't have to do everything in the UN."
As for peace and security, "prevention and mediation are essential. But they need agility and flexibility from the structures of the UN. And I don't think we have that right now."
US President Donald Trump has slashed funding to some UN agencies and has repeatedly questioned the UN's relevance and attacked its priorities, setting up his own "Board of Peace".
"The UN is unique because it's the only legitimate, universal organisation," said Grynspan.
"We need to rebuild trust with the member states. We need to regain the belief that the UN is useful to solve problems," she said, vowing to bring her personal qualities to the task.
"I am able to reach to people not only with logic, but also with inspiration, optimism and hope," she said.
"We need more of that too, because we need to connect again much more with people. We will need to conquer the hearts and minds again."

Leadership style

The UNCTAD chief said her leadership style revolved around being "direct, honest, and evidence-based... There have to be reasons, not only emotions."
Grynspan recounted that her parents, who were from Poland, "barely survived" World War II. Her maternal grandparents were killed in the Holocaust.
Her parents went "with nothing" to Costa Rica, a country that "allowed them to have a good life".
"Costa Rica has taught me a lot. It's a country that I not only love dearly, but I admire," she said.
"I am not an impetuous person. I think things through. I have the serenity not to lose it under tension and under pressure. I consult. I hear. And I am brave. I take risks."
rjm/ceg

Paramount

Paramount acquires Warner Bros. in $110 bn mega-merger

  • "Paramount/Warner Bros is not a done deal," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Friday.
  • US media conglomerate Paramount Skydance announced Friday it will acquire Warner Bros.
  • "Paramount/Warner Bros is not a done deal," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Friday.
US media conglomerate Paramount Skydance announced Friday it will acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in a deal valuing the combined company at $110 billion, after beating Netflix in a bruising bidding war.
The agreement ends a five-month saga and creates an entertainment behemoth whose impact on a struggling media landscape -- and connections to Donald Trump's White House -- will be closely scrutinized.
The merged entity will include CNN, CBS, HBO and Nickelodeon as well as some of Hollywood's most valuable franchises, including Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, the DC Universe, Mission Impossible and SpongeBob SquarePants.
Under the terms of the agreement, Paramount will pay $31.00 per share in cash for all outstanding Warner Bros. shares, implying an equity value of $81 billion -- and $110 billion when including the mountain of debt Paramount will take on.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by both companies' boards and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, the companies said.
"Our pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery has been guided by a clear purpose: to honor the legacy of two iconic companies while accelerating our vision of building a next-generation media and entertainment company," said Paramount chairman and CEO David Ellison.
The deal closes a battle that ended Thursday when Netflix walked away, unwilling to match Paramount's latest offer.

Regulatory hurdles ahead

Wall Street praised the deal, with shares of Paramount up more than 20 percent Friday. Simultaneously, Netflix was up nearly 14 percent, as many investors concluded the fight had not been worth it for the streamer.
"Netflix's withdrawal from the race will leave it free to refocus on its business, while its closest competitors grapple with long and distracting regulatory approval and merger integration processes," said HSBC analyst Mohammed Khallouf.
Questions now pivot to the Ellison family, which will control a constellation of media properties spanning the globe -- though at the cost of accumulating a pile of debt.
If regulators approve the deal, David Ellison is widely expected to embark on a painful round of cost-cutting to pare down the load.
His father, Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, one of the world's richest men, largely financed the takeover, offering a financial guarantee that finally persuaded the Warner Bros. board.
Larry Ellison is also a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, who said he would weigh in on the deal. Both Paramount and Netflix sought to curry favor with the White House, with Paramount winning out.
The deal still faces regulatory hurdles. The European Commission is reviewing the merger, as are several US states, including California.
"Paramount/Warner Bros is not a done deal," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Friday.
The Paramount offer includes financing from three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds -- those of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi -- which could also attract extra scrutiny on national security concerns.
Paramount has offered a $7 billion regulatory termination fee should the deal fail to close on regulatory grounds, and has covered the $2.8 billion breakup fee Warner Bros. Discovery owed Netflix when it walked away from their agreement.
arp/nro/mlm