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Iran warns US, Israel against attacking nuclear facilities

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Abbas Araghchi

This statement was made by Iran’s Foreign Minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, in his first interview since Donald Trump’s inauguration, during an exclusive discussion with Sky News in Tehran.

He said, “We have made it clear that any attack on our nuclear facilities would be faced with an immediate and decisive response. But I don’t think they will do that crazy thing. This is really crazy. And this would turn the whole region into a very bad disaster.”

Referring to the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), which Trump abandoned in 2018, Araghchi expressed doubt about negotiating a new agreement with the US, citing the need for substantial actions to rebuild trust.

“The situation is different and much more difficult than the previous time,” he said.

He reiterated that Iran’s nuclear program is for civilian and peaceful purposes, despite Western governments’ concerns about uranium enrichment.

Araghchi criticized Trump’s proposal to “clean out” Palestinians from Gaza, suggesting instead of that Israelis be relocated to Greenland.

Addressing the state of Iran’s allies, Hamas and Hezbollah, Araghchi noted their efforts to rebuild despite the recent setbacks.

Officials say over 300k displaced Palestinians return north of Gaza

By
IFP Media Wire
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“Today, more than 300,000 displaced Palestinians from the southern and central governorates returned to the Gaza and northern governorates via al-Rashid and Salah al-Din streets,” the Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip said on Monday.

“This comes after 470 days of the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation army,” it reminded, referring to the war that began in October 2023 and claimed the lives of at least 47,000 Palestinians and destroy the biggest part of the Palestinian territory.

The office stressed that the returnees as well as those, who were already in Gaza, “urgently” required 135,000 tents and caravans, “as the destruction inflicted by the Israeli occupation army in these areas has exceeded 90%.”

“We call on the international community, international and United Nations organizations, and Arab states to open the crossings and bring in essential supplies to shelter our dignified Palestinian people,” the body noted.

Despite the massive toll that the brutal Israeli military onslaught has taken on Gazans, the ceasefire agreement has been hailed as a victory by Palestinians and their supporters.

Those in favor of the deal stress that it came by amid the regime’s desperation in the face of interminable and successful anti-Israeli operations by the region’s resistance movements.

They also assert that the agreement was brought about, despite the regime’s falling short of realizing its wartime objectives, including “elimination” of Gaza’s resistance groups, enabling the return of the Zionists, who have been captured by the movements, and prompting forced exodus of Gaza’s entire population to neighboring Egypt.

2 Israeli reservists captured on suspicion of ‘espionage for Iran’

By
IFP Media Wire
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Iron Dome

An Israeli police spokesman said in a statement on Monday that the primary suspect, Yuri Eliasfov, served in the Israeli army’s Iron Dome anti-air missile unit and passed along classified material obtained during his military service to Iranians.

Contact between Eliasfov and the Iranian agent started in September 2024, the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz claimed.

Months later, Eliasfov purportedly recruited his friend, Georgi Andreyev, and put him in contact with the same Iranian handler.

Andreyev supposedly served in the Israeli military’s Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

The pair allegedly spray-painted graffiti and hung pro-Iranian banners in Tel Aviv.

Police accuse the two 21-year-old suspects, both from the northern side of the occupied territories, of security offenses — transferring classified information and aiding Iran during wartime.

Prosecutors are expected to bring an indictment against them within the coming days.

Back on October 14 last year, Shin Bet and the Israeli police said they had arrested two settlers east of Tel Aviv on charges of espionage for Iran.

They claimed in a joint statement that 30-year-old Vladislav Viktorson, a resident of Ramat Gan, his 18-year-old partner Anna Bernstein and another unnamed Ramat Gan resident.

The trio purportedly carried out various acts of sabotage and vandalism, including spraying provocative graffiti and putting up posters, setting fire to cars near Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park, and acts of arson in local forests, at the behest of an individual identified as “Mari Hossi”, who gave them instructions in Hebrew.

Later, Viktorson was allegedly asked to sabotage communication networks and ATMs and to set fire to forests. He was even tasked with locating homeless individuals for recruitment and photographing protesters during demonstrations.

Viktorson and Bernstein filmed some of the sabotage they engaged in and were paid $5,000.

The statement said Hossi then asked Viktorson to kill a high-profile Israeli figure, whose identity remains unknown, by throwing a hand grenade into his house.

Viktorson agreed to do so and tried to purchase weapons, including sniper rifles, pistols, and grenades. Viktorson and Bernstein were indicted on security offenses.

Israel says 8 of 33 hostages on Hamas’s list to be freed are already dead

By
IFP Media Wire
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Israel Hostages

Government spokesman David Mencer told journalists on Monday that Hamas said the other 25 are alive. Israel overnight announced it had received a list of information on the status of the captives from Hamas.

“The families have been informed of the situation of their relatives,” Mencer stated, without providing the names of the deceased.

Israel has noted the next release of captives will take place on Thursday, followed by another on Saturday.

Approximately 90 captives are still being held. Prior to this announcement, Israel believed at least 35 of them were dead.

The truce deal in the Israel-Hamas conflict, announced earlier in January after months of fruitless negotiations, took effect on January 19, bringing to a halt more than 15 months of devastating war on Gaza sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks.

Under the first phase of the agreement, 33 captives held in Gaza are to be released in exchange for more than 1,900 Palestinians held by Israel.

Seven Israeli women have been released since the start of the truce, as have 290 Palestinian prisoners.

Two Israeli women, Arbel Yehud and Agam Berger, are to be released on Thursday along with a third unidentified captive, following negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

Their upcoming release was announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night as part of the truce agreement with Hamas.

According to Israel, Arbel Yehud, as a woman and a civilian, should have been released last Saturday in the second prisoner exchange of the ceasefire deal.

When she did not appear, the Israeli government accused Hamas of violating the agreement and in retaliation prevented displaced Palestinians from returning to the north of Gaza.

Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire and stressed it had informed mediators that Yehud was alive and gave guarantees for her release.

On Monday, following Hamas’s pledge to release Yehud and other captives this week, the blockage was lifted.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza began to make the journey back to destroyed homes in the north of the Gaza Strip later on Monday for the first time since the devastating war began.

The United Nations said more than 200,000 people were observed moving north in Gaza on Monday morning alone.

According to UN data, about two-thirds of all buildings in Gaza were destroyed or severely damaged during the conflict, and approximately 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents were displaced.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reproted on Monday that the death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza had reached 47,317, with numbers rising in spite of the ceasefire as new bodies are being found under the rubble.

The ministry added hospitals in the Gaza Strip had received 11 bodies in the past 24 hours – nine bodies recovered after the truce, and two new fatalities. It did not specify how the new deaths occurred.

The ministry noted Israeli attacks also wounded at least 111,494 people.

At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023 and 250 taken captive.

IRIB Chief: Iranian State TV Reporter Captured by Zionists in Gaza

By
IFP Media Wire
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Peyman Jebelli, speaking to reporters about the situation of the detained IRIB reporter in Gaza, stated that based on the follow-ups conducted, this reporter has been captured by the Zionist regime and is still imprisoned within the occupied territories, and is not in Gaza now.

Jebelli added that the family of this reporter initially did not wish for the matter to be publicized.

He also pointed to the launch of the Press TV network in Turkish, stating that the opening of this network is a response to the widespread interest of the Muslim people of Turkey in the programs of Iran’s overseas broadcasting networks, especially the English-language Press TV and the Azerbaijani-language networks.

He added that recently Press TV issued a call for collaboration from Turkey, which received a very positive and widespread reception, and in response to this interest, efforts were made to initiate new activities in Turkish.

Dozens of Iranian MPs file complaint against VP Zarif over Davos comments

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Seraj stated that Zarif’s participation in the summit was “illegal” and that his comments during the speech and interview with CNN host Fareed Zakaria “insulted the revolution forces.”

The complaint, cites four articles of the Islamic Penal Code and demands swift action.

Zarif suggested in the interview that if principlist politician Saeed Jalili had been elected president instead of Masoud Pezeshkian last July, a major war might have been underway in the region.

According to Seraj, Zarif claimed that if President Pezeshkian had not won the election, he would not be able to walk freely in Tehran today, which Seraj considers an insult to the revolution forces.

He added, “Discussing internal matters abroad and portraying the revolution forces as violent only pleases the enemies.”

The letter accuses Zarif of undermining the position of the Islamic Republic and its revolution forces, and calls for legal action based on the cited articles of the Islamic Penal Code.

The MPs argue that Zarif’s actions have damaged the international reputation of the Islamic Republic and demand a decisive and urgent response.

Crew members from a burning cargo dhow in southern Iran rescued

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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The exact time of the fire is unknown, but the cargo dhow, which was traveling from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, to Abadan, in southern Iran, caught fire 50 miles off the coast of Bushehr.

The captain and sailors didn’t even have time to launch the lifeboat and had to jump into the water, using a piece of the refrigerator to stay afloat.

Several crew members who jumped into the water suffered burns to their hands, feet, and neck.

Lebanon says 24 killed, over 130 injured by Israeli fire as withdrawal deadline extended

By
IFP Media Wire
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Lebanon War

A ministry statement added that six women were among the victims, while 134 other people were injured, including 14 women and 12 children.

Tension escalated as the Israeli army remained in the Lebanese territory after a 60-day deadline for its withdrawal from southern Lebanon passed on Sunday under a ceasefire agreement.

The White House announced on Sunday that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to an extension of the deadline for the Israeli withdrawal until Feb. 18.

A fragile cease-fire has been in place since Nov. 27, ending a period of mutual shelling between Israel and the Hezbollah group that began on Oct. 8, 2023, and escalated into a full-scale conflict on Sept. 23 last year.

Lebanese authorities have reported at least 660 Israeli breaches of the ceasefire deal ever since.

Under the ceasefire terms, Israel was required to withdraw its forces south of the Blue Line – a de facto border – in phases, while the Lebanese army was to deploy in southern Lebanon within 60 days.

Data from the Lebanese Health Ministry indicates that since Israel’s onslaught against Lebanon began on Oct. 8, 2023, at least 4,080 people have been killed, including women, children and health workers, while 16,753 have been injured.

UK, Germany reject Trump’s proposal of relocating Gazans in neighboring countries

By
IFP Media Wire
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The UK on Monday rebuffed US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries.

Trump made his controversial proposal on Saturday, suggesting it was time to “clean out” the besieged Gaza Strip and relocate Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt.

“Palestinian civilians should be able to return to and rebuild their homes and their lives,”British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said in a lobby briefing, dismissing Trump’s stance.

“As the foreign secretary said, for the people of Gaza, so many of whom have lost their lives, homes or loved ones, the last 14 months of conflict have been a living nightmare. That’s why the UK is continually pressed for a resolution to the conflict in Gaza,” she added.

Israel’s genocidal war on the territory since October 2023 has resulted in more than 47,000 Palestinian deaths and left the blockaded enclave devastated.

Germany has also rejected Trump’s proposal to move Palestinians from Gaza to nearby countries.

Speaking at a press briefing in Berlin, Foreign Ministry spokesman Christian Wagner said that Germany maintains its commitment to the international consensus regarding Gaza’s status.

“There is a common position shared by the EU, our Arab partners and the United Nations, which is very clear: The Palestinian population cannot be expelled from Gaza, and Gaza must not be permanently occupied or resettled by Israel,” he stated.

Wagner added that the G7 group of the world’s leading economies, which includes the US, has so far consistently supported this position in multiple joint statements.

“Expulsions from Gaza, and establishing new settlements here is not possible. This is also something that we made very clear during the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Tokyo in 2023. In this respect, I think our position is more than clear.”

EU FMs agree to prolong sanctions on Russia

By
IFP Media Wire
-
The European Union

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced the extension on Monday, claiming that the move will “continue to deprive Moscow of revenues to finance its war.”

The EU has imposed 15 rounds of economic penalties on Russia since the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, freezing Moscow’s sovereign assets and severing almost all trade and energy links between the bloc and Russia. These sanctions must be renewed every six months with the unanimous consent of all 27 EU member states.

Last week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban threatened to “pull the handbrake” on this renewal if Kiev does not restart a transit deal with Russian energy firm Gazprom to allow Russian gas to flow into the EU via Ukraine. Hungary relies on Russia for around three-quarters of its natural gas imports, a small percentage of which flowed through the trans-Ukraine pipeline.

Budapest dropped the threat after receiving “the guarantees it has requested concerning the energy security of our country,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto wrote in a post on X.

In a statement seen by Reuters, the European Commission said it would “continue discussions with Ukraine on the supply to Europe through the gas pipeline system in Ukraine.”

“The Commission is ready to associate Hungary in the process along with Slovakia,” it added.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced earlier this month that he would veto any future EU aid to Kiev over the gas cutoff, warning that he could also halt the supply of electricity to Ukraine and cut humanitarian aid deliveries. Slovakia depends on Russian gas to meet about 60% of its demand.

Orban and Fico have repeatedly argued that Ukraine cannot defeat Russia on the battlefield, and that Western military aid to Kiev will only prolong the bloodshed. Both leaders have also insisted that the EU’s sanctions hurt European economies more than they hurt Russia’s, and Orban has repeatedly threatened to block the implementation of these sanctions in exchange for significant carve-outs from Brussels, including a partial exemption from the EU’s bloc-wide oil embargo and a guarantee that its nuclear sector won’t be affected by future sanctions.

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