Category: 2. Middle East

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto confirmed that his country is willing to recognise Israel and establish diplomatic relations with it if it recognises a Palestinian state.

This statement was made during a press conference with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on Wednesday, according to Indonesian media reports.

Subianto stressed that the two-state solution and a free Palestine are the only path to achieving true peace, calling on Israel to…

China announced on Wednesday it would exempt nationals from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain from needing entry visas starting next month, expanding visa-free coverage to all states in the Gulf Cooperation Council following a similar move with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar back in 2018.

What happened: The new visa-free policy will be implemented from June 9, 2025, to June 8, 2026, on a trial basis for passport holders from these four Gulf countries, allowing them to stay in China…

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Wednesday that his country will work to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which is currently besieged by Israel.

The Japanese Prime Minister’s office said in a statement that Ishiba received the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, in Tokyo.

Ishiba stressed “Creating an environment in which aid is possible…

A report published by The New York Times on Wednesday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to hinder negotiations between Washington and Tehran on the Iranian nuclear issue, while his office denied the allegations.

The American newspaper said in its report that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wary of a diplomatic solution to curbing Iran’s nuclear program, continues to press for military action that would upend President Trump’s…

Israel is making intensive diplomatic efforts to convince the office of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the German Foreign Ministry not to impose or even suggest a potential ban on arms exports to Israel, according to the Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11 on Tuesday evening.

This move comes amid growing criticism from Berlin over Israel’s war on Gaza, with German officials signalling the possibility of taking undefined measures, including a review of arms…

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi backed week-long nationwide strikes by truckers Wednesday as a “loud call” to the authorities, after arriving home from his triumph at the Cannes film festival.

Truck drivers across Iran were striking for a seventh day on Wednesday in a stoppage rare in its length and magnitude, seeking better conditions in a sector crucial for the economy in the Islamic republic.

After starting last week in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, the strike action has spread…

Iran on Wednesday executed a man convicted of spying for Israel, in defiance of pleas from his family and activists for his life to be spared after what they described as an unfair trial.

Pedram Madani, 41, was hanged in Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj outside Tehran after earlier this week being transferred from Evin prison in the capital where he had been held following his arrest in 2019.

He is the second man to be executed by Iran on charges of spying for Israel within two months, amid a surge…

With reports of acute suffering in Gaza flooding the airwaves, EU leaders have toughened their tone on Israel — but the bloc will need to bridge deep divisions to move from rhetoric to a real-world impact on the conflict.

The shift has been most noticeable from key power Germany, one of Israel’s staunchest allies in the world, its loyalty rooted in the trauma of the Holocaust.

After an Israeli strike killed dozens, including many children, in a Gaza school-turned-shelter Monday, German…

Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday raided several currency exchange shops in the cities of Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, Qalqilya, and Tubas, Ramallah, Hebron, and Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. 

Witnesses indicated that Israeli forces carried out searches and vandalism inside these shops.

Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper claimed the Israeli army raids targeted funds intended to finance attacks against Israelis.

According to the newspaper, during the raids;…

More than 170 people died of cholera in war-torn Sudan in one week, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, Anadolu agency reported.

A ministry statement said that 2,700 people contracted the disease in just one week, of whom 172 died.

The ministry said 90 per cent of the cholera cases were recorded in Khartoum State, where energy and water supplies were disrupted in recent weeks amid fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

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News Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com