AFP Asia Business

Iran’s top diplomat said Friday that his country’s missile and defence capabilities would “never” be on the negotiating table, as US President Donald Trump appeared to cool on threats of a strike after a military build-up in the region. Tehran and Washington have been trading warnings since Trump first threatened to intervene over a deadly crackdown on recent protests and sent a naval fleet to the Middle East. But the US president brought the temperature down late on Thursday, saying he hoped to avoid military action and that talks with Iran were on the cards, having pressured Tehran for a deal on its nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was “ready to begin negotiations if they take place on an equal footing, based on mutual interests and mutual respect”, during a visit to Turkey, which has led a diplomatic push to mediate between Tehran and Washington. But, he emphasised, “I want to state firmly that Iran’s defensive and missile capabilities will never be subject to negotiation”, adding that no plans were in place to meet with US officials about resuming talks.  The Axios news site on Monday reported that US officials say any deal with Tehran would have to include a cap on its stockpile of long-range missiles, along with the removal of enriched uranium from the country and a ban on independent enrichment. Serhan Afacan, director of IRAM, the Ankara-based Centre for Iranian Studies, told AFP that trying to broker a deal now on the nuclear file along with other issues would likely “be impossible”. “For now, the ballistic missile programme remains a red line, as it sits at the core of Iran’s defence architecture,” he said. – ‘Reducing’ tensions -Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said restarting talks between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s nuclear programme was “vital for reducing regional tensions”. Speaking at a joint press conference in Istanbul with Araghchi, he said Israel was pushing for the United States to attack Iran, and urged Washington to “act with common sense and not allow this to happen”. Iran has blamed the United States and Israel for the protests that erupted in late December over economic grievances and peaked on January 8 and 9, accusing the two countries of fuelling a “terrorist operation” that turned peaceful demonstrations into “riots”. Araghchi was also due to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian by phone earlier Friday that Turkey was “ready to assume a facilitating role between Iran and the United States to de-escalate the tensions”. Pezeshkian, meanwhile, said the success of diplomacy depended on the “goodwill of the parties involved and the abandonment of belligerent and threatening actions in the region”, his office said.As well as Turkey’s diplomatic efforts to stave off a military confrontation, Erdogan has also been pushing Washington for a high-level trilateral meeting, a Turkish diplomat said, confirming local media reports.- ‘Consequences’ -Other regional actors have joined calls for diplomacy, including Gulf states, some of which host US military sites, and Tehran’s ally Russia. Pezeshkian urged coordinated regional efforts to reduce tensions in a call with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, saying Iran has “never sought war” but any aggression against it would “receive an immediate and firm response”. The European Union also urged against military action, but sent a message of condemnation to Tehran over the crackdown on protests — which rights groups say killed thousands of people — by designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a “terrorist organisation”. Iran quickly hit out at the move, with its judiciary chief calling it “hostile” on Friday and saying Europe “will suffer the consequences of their foolish act”, without elaborating. Araghchi in Istanbul also called the designation a “mistake”, adding Europe was a “continent in decline, and it has lost its role at the international level”. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it has confirmed 6,479 people killed in the demonstrations, including 6,092 protesters and 118 children, as internet restrictions imposed on January 8 continue to hinder access to information inside the country. But rights groups warn the toll is likely far higher, with estimates in the tens of thousands. Iranian authorities acknowledge that thousands were killed during the protests, giving a toll of more than 3,000 deaths, but say the majority were members of the security forces or bystanders killed by “rioters”. burs-sw/sjw/smw

Israel announced it would reopen the crucial Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday after months of urging from the UN, humanitarian organisations and ordinary Palestinians — but only for the “limited movement of people”.Earlier on Friday, the Islamist movement Hamas had called for the “immediate transition to the second phase” of the ongoing US-brokered truce in Gaza, namely its provision for the reopening of Rafah, as well as the entry of a technocratic Palestinian committee to administer the territory.Israel had previously expressed its unwillingness to reopen the gateway until getting back the remains of Ran Gvili, the last hostage to be held in Gaza, who was recovered earlier this week and laid to rest in Israel on Wednesday.”The Rafah Crossing will open this coming Sunday (February 1st) in both directions, for limited movement of people only,” COGAT, an Israeli defence ministry body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, said in a statement on Friday.Entry and exit “will be permitted in coordination with Egypt, following prior security clearance of individuals by Israel, and under the supervision of the European Union mission”, it added.The crossing, situated on the territory’s southern border with Egypt, is the only route in and out of Gaza that does not pass through Israel.It lies in territory held by Israeli forces since their pull-back behind the so-called “Yellow Line” under the terms of the ceasefire deal. Israeli troops still control more than half of Gaza.The gateway is a vital entry point for aid, but has been closed since Israeli forces took control of it in May 2024 — except for a limited reopening in early 2025 — and past bids to reopen it have failed to materialise.The fragile Gaza ceasefire has been in force since October 10.The plan, outlined by US president Donald Trump to put an end to the war, calls for the crossing to be reopened now that all hostages held by Palestinian militants have been released or returned to Israel.Prior to Israel’s announcement, Mirjana Spoljaric, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, had called on Friday for the international community “harness the momentum generated by the first phase of the agreement between Israel and Hamas to urgently improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza”.Spoljaric said this included Israel easing entry restrictions on so-called dual-use material and equipment, such as water pipes and generators, to restore basic infrastructure.The humanitarian situation in the territory of more than two million people remains grave, with most of the population displaced and many living in tents with little or no sanitation amid harsh winter weather.- Disarmament -Phase two of the ceasefire deal also stipulates the disarmament of Hamas, which has repeatedly called the issue of its weapons a red line, though it has suggested it could be willing to hand them over to a Palestinian governing authority.In return, Israel’s military is meant to gradually withdraw, with an international stabilisation force deployed in its stead.On Thursday, US President Donald Trump told his cabinet that “it looks like” Hamas would disarm, though the group has offered no confirmation.Washington had previously announced that the truce deal was entering its second phase with the naming of the Palestinian technocratic committee that will oversee day-to-day governance in the devastated territory.The reopening of Rafah is expected to allow the entry of the 15-member body, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, which answers to Trump’s “Board of Peace”.Since the ceasefire went into effect, Israel and Hamas have traded accusations of violations on a daily basis.The Israeli military said on Friday that it had identified “eight terrorists” who emerged from underground overnight, and that the air force had “struck and eliminated three” of them.Without providing information on the identities of the targets, it added that further strikes were launched and that “soldiers continue to conduct searches in the area in order to locate and eliminate all the terrorists”.The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.The Israeli retaliation flattened much of Gaza, a territory that was already suffering severely from previous rounds of fighting and from an Israeli blockade imposed since 2007.The two-year war has left more than 71,600 people dead in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, figures considered reliable by the United Nations.

When Hani Massalkhi went to pay his electricity bill in Damascus this week, he discovered that, under the new tariffs, the amount due was higher than his monthly income.Massalkhi, a retired agricultural engineer who lives on a $70-a-month pension, left without paying.”My bill used to vary between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds (less than $2). Now, it has surpassed 800,000 pounds”, or $72, he told AFP.In October, Syria’s energy ministry hiked prices by up to 6,000 percent, sending shockwaves through a population already reeling from more than 13 years of war.”Where are we supposed to get this money from?” Massalkhi wondered. “People are emerging from a crisis, exhausted…they can’t even put food on the table.”Authorities said the increase comes “within the framework of a project to reform the electricity sector, achieve sustainability, and improve service”.But, with most of Syria’s population living below the poverty line and the minimum wage at around $75, many have found themselves unable to pay the new tariffs.An official at the energy ministry did not respond to an AFP request for comment on the new prices.- ‘Electricity is a right’ -Since the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024, the new Syrian authorities have repeatedly vowed to increase electricity production in a country where power cuts can last up to 20 hours a day.Over the past year, they have signed contracts and memoranda of understanding to import gas from Turkey and Qatar to increase production.They also hope to attract funding and investments to rehabilitate Syria’s dilapidated infrastructure.The World Bank estimates that post-war reconstruction will cost more than $216 billion. However, citizens have yet to feel noticeable changes in their living conditions.Damascus residents now receive up to six hours of state-provided electricity daily, but those outside the capital remain mostly in the dark.Mohamad Ahmad, an economist and energy specialist at the Syria-focused consultancy Karam Shaar Advisory, told AFP that the price increase “primarily aims to prevent the financial collapse of the electricity sector”.”The core problem is not the tariff increase itself, but rather the erosion of wage purchasing power, particularly given that some employees earn less than $100 per month,” he added.On Thursday, a handful of people gathered outside the energy ministry in Damascus to protest the new tariffs, something unimaginable under the former government.They held placards that read “we won’t pay”, condemning the widening gap between incomes and bills.Protester Mohammed Daher, a retired public employee, told AFP that he now receives only two hours of electricity a day in the Tadamon suburb of Damascus.He said that although he carefully rations his power use at home, he was “shocked to find out that my bill has surpassed 350,000 pounds ($31),” when it used to be less than $2.”Where am I supposed to get that money from?” he added, saying his income was just $62 a month.Feminist activist Sawsan Zakzak, 65, said she had been limiting her electricity consumption because she and her husband live on low pensions.”We do not use air conditioning, and this year we did not use the boiler,” she said as she held a placard that read “electricity service is a right”. “We also only watch television for a short period of time, fearing high tariffs.”

Iran’s foreign minister was in Turkey on Friday as Ankara led a diplomatic push to mediate between Tehran and Washington, after US President Donald Trump cooled threats of an imminent strike on the Islamic republic. Tehran and Washington have been trading warnings since Trump threatened military action over a deadly crackdown on protests that erupted in late December over economic grievances and peaked on January 8 and 9. Pressure mounted after the United States moved a naval fleet into the region, with Trump warning time was “running out” for Tehran, pushing for Iran to make a deal on its nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb. The US president brought the temperature down late on Thursday, saying he hoped to avoid military action and saying talks were on the cards with Iran. “We have a group headed out to a place called Iran, and hopefully we won’t have to use it,” Trump said, while speaking to media at the premiere of a documentary about his wife Melania. The stand off has spurred calls for diplomacy from regional actors and allies of the rival countries. Iran’s neighbour Turkey led a diplomatic charge on Friday, offering to mediate between Tehran and Washington. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a call that Turkey was “ready to assume a facilitating role between Iran and the United States to de-escalate the tensions and resolve the issues”. Pezeshkian meanwhile said the success of diplomacy depended on the “goodwill of the parties involved and the abandonment of belligerent and threatening actions in the region,” his office said.The call came as Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had travelled to Istanbul for top-level talks on the matter with Turkish top diplomat Hakan Fidan as well as meet with Erdogan, Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement. – Immediate ‘countermeasures’ -Gulf states, some of which host US military sites, have also called for calm, while Tehran-ally Russia has urged negotiations. US ally the European Union also advocated against military action but sent a message of condemnation to Tehran over the crackdown on protests that rights groups say killed thousands of people by designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) a “terrorist organisation”. Iran quickly hit back at the move, with Araghchi calling it a “mistake” and the military saying it was “irresponsible and spite-driven”. On Friday, Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on X that “countermeasures will be immediate” in response to the designation. He accused the West of hypocrisy over Israel’s war in Gaza, saying “the meaning of terrorism in American and European discourse has been transformed”. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen had said, “‘Terrorist’ is indeed how you call a regime that crushes its own people’s protests in blood”, as she hailed the designation of the IRGC, which activists say played a frontline role in suppressing protests. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it has confirmed 6,479 people were killed in the demonstrations, including 6,092 protesters and 118 children, as internet restrictions imposed on January 8 continue to hinder access to information inside the country. But rights groups warn the toll is likely far higher, with estimates in the tens of thousands. Iranian authorities acknowledge that thousands were killed during the protests, giving a toll of more than 3,000 deaths, but say the majority were members of the security forces or bystanders killed by “rioters”. burs-sw/sjw/ser

Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi landed in Istanbul on Friday for talks where Turkey was to offer help to mediate tensions with the United States, which has mooted a possible military strike. During the visit, Araghchi was to hold talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and also meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement announcing his arrival. It was not immediately clear at what time the talks would take place but the two ministers were to hold a news conference at 13:45 pm (1045 GMT), the Turkish authorities said. Friday’s visit comes hours after US President Donald Trump said he hoped to avoid military action against Iran, which has threatened to strike American bases and aircraft carriers in response to any attack.For several weeks, Trump has been threatening to launch a military strike on Iran over its deadly protest crackdown earlier this month. A US naval strike group has been in Middle Eastern waters since Monday and Trump warned it was “ready, willing and able” to hit Iran “if necessary”. Late on Thursday, Trump — who had previously warned time was “running out” for Tehran — appeared to slightly pull back, saying: “We have a group headed out to a place called Iran, and hopefully we won’t have to use it.”Turkey has repeatedly expressed its staunch opposition to military action and was to offer to mediate between Washington and Tehran in talks with Araghchi on Friday. It is also considering measures to reinforce security along its border should the dispute escalate. Fidan has urged the sides to return to the negotiating table and suggested Washington tackle outstanding issues with Iran “one-by-one”, starting with the nuclear file rather than trying to address everything at once. As well as Turkey’s diplomatic efforts to stave off a military confrontation, Erdogan has also been pushing Washington for a high-level trilateral meeting, Turkey’s Hurriyet daily, which is close to the government, reported on Thursday. There was no official confirmation of the report. Alongside its diplomatic push, Ankara is assessing additional security precautions along its 500-kilometre (310-mile) frontier with Iran, a senior Turkish official told AFP.Turkey began construction of a wall in 2021 and has so far built 380 kilometres (236 miles) of concrete barrier and 553 kilometres of trenches with nearly 250 surveillance towers. burs-hmw/ach 

The Israeli military said on Friday it launched overnight strikes at “eight terrorists” in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, killing three of them, with a fragile ceasefire still in place in the Palestinian territory.The US-brokered ceasefire, which sought to halt the fighting between Israel and Hamas sparked by the group’s October, 2023 attack has been in place for more than three months despite both sides accusing the other of repeated violations.Earlier in January, Washington announced that the truce had progressed to its second phase, intended to bring a definitive end to the war, even as both sides accused each other of failing to comply with the terms of the truce.In a statement on Friday, the Israeli military said it had identified “eight terrorists” who emerged from underground and that the air force “struck and eliminated three of the terrorists”.Without providing any information on the identities of its targets, it said that further strikes were launched and that “soldiers continue to conduct searches in the area in order to locate and eliminate all the terrorists”.The Israeli military said its forces “remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat”. The first phase of the ceasefire largely halted the fighting and provided for the release of all remaining living and dead hostages held by militants in Gaza in exchange for prisoners and the bodies of dead Palestinians held by Israel.The remains of the final hostage, Ran Gvili, were returned earlier this week, with his funeral taking place on Wednesday. – Hamas disarmament -Israel said on Sunday that it would allow a limited reopening of the Rafah crossing, with only pedestrians allowed through, falling short of what aid groups and Gazans had hoped for.The humanitarian situation in the territory of more than two million people remains dire, with most of the population displaced and many living in tents with little or no sanitation amid harsh winter weather.The reopening of Rafah is also expected to allow the entry of the 15-member technocratic administrative committee created as part of the ceasefire to oversee the running of Gaza.The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, made up of Palestinians, is charged with managing day-to-day governance of the territory and answers to US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace”.A key point of the ceasefire’s second phase is the disarming of Hamas. On Thursday, Trump told his cabinet that “It looks like they’re going to disarm”.Publicly, the Islamist group has fiercely resisted the idea of giving up its weapons.In return, Israel is meant to fully withdraw its forces, who remain in control of more than half of Gaza, with an international stabilisation force deployed in their stead.