Author: Gulf News Week
Multiple countries have shown interest in Pakistani weapons and jets. But Pakistan won’t find it easy to deliver, say analysts.Islamabad, Pakistan – By the standards of mega arms deals, the $1.5bn deal for Pakistan to reportedly sell jets and weapons to Sudan’s military isn’t huge.But the deal, which the Reuters news agency reported in early January was close to being finalised, could prove pivotal in the grinding war that has devoured Sudan for nearly three years between the country’s armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Why is Pakistan selling its JF-17…
Iranian and US officials traded barbs at UN Security Council meeting on deadly protests in Iran and amid threats of attack by Washington.The United Nations Security Council has held an emergency meeting to discuss deadly protests in Iran amid threats by United States President Donald Trump to intervene militarily in the country.Members of the influential 15-member UN body heard from Iran’s deputy UN representative, who warned at the meeting on Thursday that Iranians did not seek a confrontation but would respond to US aggression, and accused Washington of “direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran”.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1…
Tehran resident tells media tensions remain high amid heavy security presence in the Iranian capital.The White House says “all options remain on the table” for the United States to take military action against Iran, reiterating that Tehran would face “grave consequences” if the killings of antigovernment protesters continue.During a news conference on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said US President Donald Trump and his team had communicated to Iran that “if the killing continues, there will be grave consequences”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trump’s bluffs: Why US strike on Iran remains real threatlist 2 of…
New penalties come as US President Trump welcomes purported Iranian decision to halt execution of antigovernment demonstrators.The United States has imposed new sanctions against Iran, targeting political and security officials over the crackdown on antigovernment protesters, amid US President Donald Trump’s threats to intervene militarily against the country.The US penalties on Tuesday targeted Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), and several other officials, who it said were the “architects” of Tehran’s “brutal” response to the demonstrations.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Network linked to Israel pushes to shape external Iran protest narrativelist 2…
From Venezuela and Iran, Trump has attacked countries in the past when diplomacy appeared to be working.After threatening to attack Iran for days in support of protesters challenging the government in Tehran, United States President Donald Trump appeared to dial back the rhetoric on Wednesday evening.The killings in Iran, Trump said, had stopped, adding that Tehran had told his administration that arrested protesters would not be executed.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Timeline of how Iran’s deadly protests unfoldedlist 2 of 4Iran’s FM says no executions of protesters, as Trump lowers rhetoriclist 3 of 4Iran reopens airspace after…
An media investigation uncovers how a coordinated campaign involving Israeli officials and suspicious accounts are hijacking the #FreeThePersianPeople hashtag.Transcendent moments in geopolitics that reverberate around the world are no longer just forged in the streets or inside situation rooms. They are increasingly engineered in the digital sphere, where actors, often with a self-serving agenda, compete to control the narrative, define its meaning and decide who speaks for whom.In recent weeks as protests erupted in Iranian cities, the hashtag #FreeThePersianPeople trended on X. The campaign was accompanied by a flood of posts heralding an imminent “decisive moment” in Iran’s history and…
Tensions are rising as Israel’s army carries out near-daily attacks on Lebanon in violation of the 2024 Hezbollah ceasefire.Israel’s military has carried out attacks on two villages in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, local media outlets are reporting, amid growing concerns of a wider Israeli escalation as the government pushes for the disarmament of Lebanese group Hezbollah.In social media posts on Thursday, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee threatened residents of the neighbouring villages of Sohmor and Mashghara, telling them leave their homes ahead of planned strikes on buildings he claimed contained “Hezbollah infrastructure”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Lebanese fear US…
Amid recent mass protests and an internet blackout, there have been conflicting death toll reports from Iran.Protests in Iran, which began in late December 2025 over the country’s worsening economic conditions, have escalated into a broader challenge to its clerical leadership, which has been in power since the 1979 Islamic revolution.Tensions with the United States have mounted since US President Donald Trump suggested that Washington could militarily intervene in Iran if there was a crackdown on protesters.Critics of the Iranian government, primarily in the West, claim that thousands of people have died in the protests. In particular, the US-based Human…
One Palestinian man is shot and wounded, and at least 80 people are detained in mass overnight raids in the occupied territory.The Israeli military has launched raids and interrogations ensnaring more than 80 people across the occupied West Bank, wounding at least one man and demolishing the home of another as Israel escalates its attacks on the Palestinian territory in tandem with its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza.In one incident on Thursday, Israeli forces surrounded a home in Dura, south of the city of Hebron, before shooting and wounding the brother of Mahmoud al-Fasfous.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1…
As the US launches ‘Phase Two’, the former UN envoy heads to Cairo to meet Palestinian faction leaders, leading a fraught plan to replace Hamas with a technocratic administration.The search for a figure to lead post-war Gaza, which lies in ruins from Israel’s genocidal war, has moved from diplomatic backrooms to the negotiating tables in Cairo.Following the Arab veto of the regionally toxic former British leader Tony Blair, Washington has deployed its Plan B, Nickolay Mladenov, as the push for phase two of the fragile ceasefire gains some momentum.The 53-year-old former Bulgarian foreign minister and defence minister is no longer…