AFP Asia Business

Relieved Israelis returned to work and school on Wednesday after the military lifted restrictions following a ceasefire with Iran, while some voiced lingering apprehension about the future.People sunbathed and played football on Tel Aviv’s beaches, streets and markets came back to life, and schools reopened on Wednesday following the deal to end the 12-day war.”Finally, we can start to live again,” said Yosi, 40, a yoga teacher and mother of two, sitting at a cafe in Tel Aviv.The western coastal city was among the sites struck repeatedly during Iran and Israel’s deadly exchanges of missiles.”I’m exhausted, but I was so relieved when I saw my two kids going to school this morning, meeting their friends, after 12 days at home,” she added.Traders unpacked their spices, clothes and souvenirs at Carmel market in the centre of the economic and tech capital, which is also renowned for its nightlife.”We hope now the clients will be back. We have suffered too much,” a jewellery trader, Ori, told AFP.Crowds of passengers moved through the Ben Gurion airport outside the city as commercial flights resumed.Families holding miniature Israeli flags smiled as they stepped off planes on their return. Some kneeled and kissed the tarmac.- Fears for future -For some, the relief was tinged with fear about further unrest.”I’m not religious but I pray that I won’t hear any more sirens, that I won’t have to run and hide in a shelter,” said Yafit Sofi, 33, between sips of beer in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening.”We want to party, we want to live, to regain our carefree attitude… But how long will this last? What will the next war be?” the young woman said.”So many people want to kill us, so many countries want to destroy Israel. And each time, it’s worse.”The ceasefire with Iran raised hopes for some that Israel would also halt the fighting in the nearby Palestinian territory Gaza where it has been battling to crush the Islamist militant group Hamas for more than 20 months.The area is suffering from famine-like conditions after Israel blocked all supplies from early March to the end of May and continues to impose restrictions, according to rights groups.The Israeli government declined to comment on any new ceasefire talks beyond saying that efforts to return Israeli hostages in Gaza were ongoing “on the battlefield and via negotiations”.In Tel Aviv, Yossi Bin, 45, an engineer, said now families in the city could “sleep peacefully”.”I hope it stays that way,” he added.”I truly hope the ceasefire will hold, and that (the government) take advantage… to take some action to bring calm to other fronts as well.”- Gaza suffering -Israel attacked Iran in a bid to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied having.The Israeli action killed at least 610 civilians and wounded more than 4,700, according to the Iranian health ministry.Iranian missile strikes on Israel killed 28 people, according to official figures and rescuers.”At first we felt like it was a game, it all seemed unreal. We were at the beach and suddenly we were running into shelters to hide,” said Dorothea Schupelius, 29, while strolling in Tel Aviv.”And then no, it wasn’t a game: real people died,” she said. “Everyone suffered.”Fashion designer Noa Karlovsky had a pile of wedding dresses sewn for her clients in her loft in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv.”Many of our men are in Gaza, and with the war in Iran, even more weddings have been cancelled,” she said sadly.”We can’t plan anything, we don’t really control our lives anymore. Our leaders are at war, but we’re just pawns. I’d like to start a family, but I wonder if it’s a good idea,” added the 30-year-old.

Iran on Wednesday hanged three men convicted of spying for Israel after what activists decried as an unfair trial, bringing to six the number of people executed on such charges since the start of the war between the Islamic republic and Israel.The hangings have also amplified fears for the life of Swedish-Iranian dual national Ahmadreza Djalali who has been on death row for seven-and-a-half years after being convicted of spying for Israel which his family vehemently denies.The executions also bring to nine the number of people executed by Iran on espionage charges since the start of 2025, with activists accusing the Islamic republic of using capital punishment as a means to instil fear in society.Idris Ali, Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul and Azad Shojai were executed earlier Wednesday in the northwestern city of Urmia, the judiciary said, the day after a truce between the Islamic republic and Israel came into effect.They had “attempted to import equipment into the country to carry out assassinations,” it added.Iran had executed three other men accused of spying for Israel since the start of the conflict on June 13, in separate hangings on June 16, June 22 and June 23.”The Islamic Republic sentenced Idris Ali, Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, and Azad Shojai to death without a fair trial and based on confessions obtained under torture, accusing them of espionage,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), told AFP.He said Ali and Shojai were two border porters — known locally as kolbar — who carry goods over the border. “They were arrested on charges of smuggling alcoholic beverages but were forced to confess to espionage for Israel,” he said. Ali and Shojai were members of Iran’s Kurdish minority while Rasoul, while also Kurdish, was an Iraqi national.- ‘Imminent risk’ -He warned that in the coming weeks the lives of “hundreds” more prisoners sentenced to death were at risk. “After the ceasefire with Israel, the Islamic republic needs more repression to cover up military failures, prevent protests, and ensure its continued survival.”Djalali was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to death in October 2017 on charges of spying following what Amnesty International has termed “a grossly unfair trial” based on “‘forced confessions’ made under torture and other ill-treatment.”Long held in Tehran’s Evin prison, which was hit by an Israeli strike on Monday before the truce, he has now been transferred to an unknown location, raising fears that his execution could be imminent, his family and government said.”He called me and said, ‘They’re going to transfer me.’ I asked where, and he said, ‘I don’t know,'” his wife Vida Mehrannia told AFP. “Is it because they want to carry out the sentence? Or for some other reason? I don’t know,” she said, adding that she was “very worried” following the latest executions.The Swedish foreign ministry said it had received information that he has been moved to an “unknown location” and warned there would be “serious consequences” for Sweden’s relationship with Iran were he to be executed.Amnesty International said Tuesday it was “gravely concerned” that he “is at imminent risk of execution”.- ‘Grossly unfair trials’ -Rights groups say defendants in espionage cases are often convicted under vaguely-worded charges which are capital crimes under Iran’s sharia law including “enmity against god” and “corruption on earth”.Analysts say that Israel’s intelligence service Mossad has deeply penetrated Iran, as shown by its ability to locate and kill key members of the Iranian security forces in the conflict. But rights groups say that those executed are used as scapegoats to make up for Iran’s failure to catch the actual spies.Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei had ordered swift trials against people suspected of collaborating with Israel with rights groups saying dozens of people have been arrested since the conflict started. “A rush to execute people after torture-tainted ‘confessions’ and grossly unfair trials would be a horrifying abuse of power and a blatant assault on the right to life,” said Hussein Baoumi, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.According to IHR, Iran has executed 594 people on all charges this year alone. Iran executes more people every year than any nation other than China.

President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that US strikes led to the “total obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear capabilities and set the country’s atomic programme back “decades”, while Israel said it was still early to fully assess the damage.Over a 12-day conflict, Israel pounded Iranian nuclear and military sites while Iran launched waves of missiles at its foe during their deadliest-ever confrontation.The United States joined the fray in support of its ally, hitting two nuclear facilities with massive bunker-buster bombs over the weekend, while a guided missile from a submarine struck a third.But leaked US intelligence cast doubt on the damage caused by American strikes, saying they had set back Tehran’s nuclear programme by just a few months.”They’re not going to be building bombs for a long time,” said Trump, adding that the strikes had set back the programme by “decades” and that the Iran-Israel ceasefire that he declared was going “very well”.Earlier, Israel’s military said it was “still early” to assess the damage caused to Iran’s nuclear programme.”I believe we have delivered a significant hit to the nuclear programme, and I can also say that we have delayed it by several years,” said Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin.The head of Israel’s military, Eyal Zamir, on Tuesday said Israel and the United States had set back Iran’s nuclear programme “by years”.But US media on Tuesday cited people familiar with the Defense Intelligence Agency intelligence report as saying the American strikes did not fully eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or enriched uranium stockpiles.The strikes sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to the report.Israel had said its bombing campaign, which began on June 13, was aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to the nation after the ceasefire, announced that “we have thwarted Iran’s nuclear project”.”And if anyone in Iran tries to rebuild it, we will act with the same determination, with the same intensity, to foil any attempt,” he said.- ‘Legitimate rights’ -Iranian lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favour of suspending cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, according to state TV.”The International Atomic Energy Agency, which refused to even marginally condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, put its international credibility up for auction,” parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, according to the broadcaster.The decision to suspend cooperation with the IAEA still requires the approval of the Guardian Council, a body empowered to vet legislation.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday his country was willing to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme, but that it would continue to “assert its legitimate rights” to the peaceful use of atomic energy.In an interview with the Al Araby Al Jadeed news outlet, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities would have “serious and profound repercussions” on the country’s future.He said Iran remained committed to the Non-Proliferation Treaty but that it had failed “protect us or our nuclear programme”, adding that Iran’s approach towards the non-proliferation regime “will undergo changes”, without elaborating.- Shadow war – While Iran and Israel have been locked in a shadow war for decades, their 12-day conflict was by far the most destructive confrontation between them.Israeli strikes hit nuclear and military targets — killing scientists and senior military figures — as well as residential areas, prompting waves of Iranian missile fire on Israel.The war culminated in US strikes on underground Iranian nuclear sites using bunker-busting bombs — which Israel lacks — followed by an Iranian reprisal targeting a US military facility in Qatar, the largest in the Middle East.Trump shrugged off that response as “weak”, thanking Tehran for giving advance notice and announcing the contours of the ceasefire just hours later.Some Israelis welcomed the truce.”Finally, we can sleep peacefully. We feel better, less worried, for the kids, for the family. And I hope it stays that way. That’s the most important,” Yossi Bin, a 45-year-old engineer in Tel Aviv, told AFP.In Iran, people remained uncertain whether the peace would hold.Amir, 28, fled from Tehran to the Caspian Sea coast and told AFP by phone, “I really don’t know… about the ceasefire but honestly, I don’t think things will return to normal.”Israeli strikes on Iran killed at least 610 civilians and wounded more than 4,700, according to the health ministry.Iran’s attacks on Israel killed 28 people, according to official figures and rescuers.burs-ser/dv

As the fragile Iran-Israel truce took hold, there was no letup in Turkey’s diplomatic efforts Wednesday to prevent any return to a conflict fraught with risk for Ankara’s domestic and regional policies. Hours after US President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met him for talks on the sidelines of a NATO summit for their third conversation in 10 days. Erdogan’s “intensive diplomatic efforts” to curb the conflict also involved calls with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian and top Middle Eastern leaders.”Turkey has been trying very hard to de-escalate the situation, but it’s not seen as a credible mediator, neither by Iran nor by Israel,” Gonul Tol of the Washington-based Middle East Institute told AFP.Turkey’s ties with Israel have been shattered by the Gaza war and Iranians see Ankara as complicit “because it hosts this strategic radar”, she said of a NATO early-warning system at Kurecik base in eastern Turkey that can detect Iranian missile launches. Turkey has categorically denied radar data was used to help Israel but its presence has rattled Iran — with several Iranian military officials warning it could be “the first target” in case of a wider war, she said. Even so, Erdogan reportedly sought to set up US-Iran talks in Istanbul last week, which only failed because Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — in hiding due to assassination threats — couldn’t be reached to approve it, the Axios news site said. Unsettled by the long arm of Israel’s reach, Erdogan upped Turkey’s deterrence, ordering the defence industry to increase production of medium and long-range missiles. warning Ankara was “making preparations for every kind of scenario”. “Concerns about a possible Turkish-Israeli confrontation in the short term seem exaggerated… (but) both would be wise to reduce tensions,” said Gallia Lindenstrauss, senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).- Fears of Iran in chaos -For Turkey, the big fear would be seeing neighbouring Iran plunged into chaos as happened in Iraq and Syria, said Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute of Near East Policy. “Ankara absolutely does not want to see Iran descending into chaos, decentralisation or civil war which could create cross-border threats or fresh refugee flows,” he told AFP.In Iraq and Syria, destabilisation had created a power vacuum that was used by the Islamic State (IS) group and Kurdish PKK militants “to launch attacks into Turkey”, fuelling Ankara’s efforts to support both nations’ recentralisation, he said. But “the biggest risk” would be another flow of refugees: “If Iran collapses, there’s only one country the Iranians will flee to in large numbers: Turkey,” he said.On Friday, Erdogan warned Germany’s Friedrich Merz the conflict “could harm the region and Europe in terms of migration” although there was no sign of any influx at the Turkish border last week. – Risk to Turkey’s PKK move? -Turmoil in Iran could also harm Ankara’s efforts to draw a line under its decades-long conflict with the PKK, which last month said it would disarm, Tol said. Although most PKK-linked groups embraced the call to disarm, its Iranian affiliate, the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), did not, with Ankara concerned any unrest could embolden recalcitrant Kurdish separatists. “The worry is that this chaos may strengthen the PJAK. There are PKK fractions who are not happy with (founder Abdullah) Ocalan’s call who could think: why disarm now when there’s so much chaos we can capitalise on,” she told AFP. A more immediate concern for Turkey was the economic implications of the conflict, she said, with its crisis-hit economy already “struggling” with rising energy prices while fighting hard to bring down inflation. “But if Iran closed down (the Strait of) Hormuz, that would mean a bigger jump in energy prices and that’s something Turkey is deeply worried about,” she said.Oil prices spiked during the 11-day conflict as concerns grew that Iran might disrupt supplies passing through Hormuz, peaking on Monday after US warplanes hit Iran. With the ceasefire taking hold, Turkey was breathing easier Wednesday — although the Iran-Israel crisis remained high on the agenda at the NATO summit.