The black-clad mourners, who hail from the Iraqi city of Najaf, gather at Imam Reza Mosque and the mourning procession moves towards the shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh (AS), the sister of Imam Reza, the 8th Shia Imam, to offer their condolences.
They carry the traditional torches that symbolize the fire that burned the tents of Imam Hussein’s loved ones and companions on Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram in Karbala, Iraq, around 1400 years ago by the tyrant and ruler of the time Yazid I.
Zarif, who has been appointed by Pezeshkian as the head of the Strategic Council for Transition Period, posed a clip on his page in X social media platform, assuring the council is pursuing a strategy for political representation of all civil society groups and factions in the new cabinet.
He renewed his call on civil society, scientific associations, academic and trade associations to have active participation in the process of picking the members of the new administration.
Explaining the criteria on selecting the cabinet members, Zarif noted, 60 percent of the final list of the proposed candidates is supposed to comprise of cabinet members younger than 50 who hold the position for the first time.
Zarif added the ministers should be able to provide solutions to problems and be innovative.
Abiding by the Constitution, honesty, courage, avoiding factional or ethnic affiliations are among the general requirements for the posts, he clarified.
Based on the established protocols, the power plant had to cool down for two days amid the sizzling hot summer days before the technicians could start the operation to bring the Ramin power plant back online.
However, the technicians went above and beyond and decided to repair the condenser while the power plant was operating under an immense heat of 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit) and 90 percent humidity.
According to the Tasnim News Agency, the team of technicians and engineers successfully accomplished the 18-hour mission, which could otherwise trigger a nationwide blackout.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani condemned the unsubstantiated comments made by the justice minister of Argentina and the statement of the office of the country’s president that have accused Iranian nationals of involvement in the AMIA bombing.
Extending sympathies to the bereaved families on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the incident, Kanaani said discovering the truth and finding a definitive solution to this case is only possible by keeping the relevant parties of Argentina away from political purposes and refusing to be influenced by third parties’ interference.
He called on the Argentine authorities to avoid hostile statements and actions against Iran, urging them not to compromise Argentina’s national interests and bilateral relations for the sake of anti-Iran scenarios of the Israeli-US axis of evil.
In 2013, Argentina’s Senate voted to approve an agreement with Iran on the establishment of a fact-finding committee to investigate the bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in 1994, which left 85 people dead.
The sources, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said that the behaviour of the Israeli mediators revealed “internal discord”.
According to the sources, the Israeli delegation would give approvals on several conditions under discussion, but then come back with amendments or introduce new conditions that risked sinking the negotiations.
The sources added the mediators viewed the “contradictions, delays in responses, and the introduction of new terms contrary to what was previously agreed” as signs the Israeli side viewed the talks as a formality aimed at influencing public opinion.
Earlier, Deputy Head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip Khalil Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera the Palestinian movement has been flexible in seeking a deal to end the war in Gaza, adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not looking for an agreement or the release of Israeli captives.
Israel and Hamas have been engaged in indirect talks since January to reach an agreement that ends the war on Gaza and swaps prisoners.
Israel’s war on Gaza, now nearing its tenth month, has destroyed large swaths of the besieged territory.
More than 38,400 people have been killed, the great majority of them women and children. Thousands more are missing or presumed to be dead under the rubble.
Khalil al-Hayya, deputy chief of Hamas’ Political Bureau, made the remarks to Qatar’s Al Jazeera television network on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, the regime targeted the al-Mawasi camp near the Gaza city of Khan Younis under the pretext of targeting Hamas’ leaders Mohammed Deif and Rafi’ Salameh.
The strikes claimed the lives of at least 90 Palestinians, including women and children, and wounded more than 300 others.
“We affirm that the claims of the occupation and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu are false,” Hayya said, adding, “We say to Netanyahu that Mohammed Deif is listening to you now and mocking your false and empty statements.”
“The claim of targeting [our] leaders here and there is a ridiculous justification for killing women and children, and every Palestinian, whether in Gaza, the West Bank, or anywhere else,” he noted.
“This is an attempt by the criminal army to market its crimes against our people.”
Ever since October, when the regime began waging a genocidal war against Gaza, it has been using similar claims on numerous occasions to stage brutal attacks against civilian targets across the coastal sliver.
Hayya described the so-called assassination attempt as a bid by the Israeli army “to restore its dignity” after its defeats in the face of the resistance, and a bid by Netanyahu “to shuffle the cards and embarrass the mediators and guarantors,” who have been trying to moderate negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the Israeli war.
He asserted, however, that the resistance “will not give Netanyahu what he wants,” and reiterated its cast-iron resolve to continue defending Gaza.
“The resistance and our people have proven their steadfastness in Gaza, demonstrating the army as a puppet and targeting it everywhere, turning its tanks into rubble.”
Another Hamas official also stated the group’s military leader, Deif, is “fine” despite an apparent Israeli attempt to kill him in an attack.
“Commander Mohammed Deif is well and directly overseeing” military operations against Israeli forces, the unnamed Hamas official told AFP.
Writing on X on Saturday, Kanaani stated that the firing of rockets at the refugee camps in Al-Mawasi and the western areas of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, despite being declared safe zones, is the latest in a series of crimes committed by the Zionist regime.
He criticized the international community’s silence, the military support of the American regime for the Zionist regime, and the double standards of some governments, as well as European duplicity and deception, all occurring amid the inaction and underutilization of the capacities of Islamic countries.
The Zionists have once again brutally shown that they do not recognize any human and moral red line towards the defenseless residents of the Gaza Strip to compensate for the defeats suffered on the battlefield against the resistance, he said, highlighting that the Zionists must know that insisting on continuing this path will not yield any result, but wider global hatred towards the Zionist apartheid regime and the acceleration of their destruction
Kanaani urged the international community, particularly Islamic governments and organizations responsible for legal and human rights, to take decisive and effective action, emphasizing the need to fulfill their intrinsic, legal, and humanitarian duties to stop the criminal acts of the Israeli regime against the defenseless people of Palestine in the Gaza Strip.
The recent deliberate attacks on schools, hospitals, and refugee camps by the Zionist regime, aimed at targeted killing and ethnic cleansing, highlight the regime’s helplessness against the steadfast resistance of the Palestinian people and resistance groups, he added, noting that such atrocities stress the crucial responsibilities of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court to pursue legal proceedings and hold the perpetrators accountable.
Kanaani called on all Islamic countries, nations, and free governments that value moral and human principles to bring the criminal leaders of the Israeli regime to justice as soon as possible by imposing comprehensive sanctions and pursuing international judicial proceedings.
Israeli air strikes on the al-Mawasi camp in southern Gaza have killed at least 90 people and wounded 300 others, according to Palestinian health officials.
The raid on Saturday on the Israeli-designated “safe zone”, located west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, involved fighter jets and drones, according to witnesses.
Trump was in the middle of delivering his rally speech – turned toward the right with his hands on his lectern – when the sound of multiple gunshots suddenly rang out at approximately 6:15 p.m. ET.
Trump grabbed his right ear and dropped to the ground as Secret Service agents told him to get down and rushed to the stage, protecting the former president while several more gunshots could be heard.
While Trump remained on the ground, there was one last round of shots and loud screams from the crowd. About 45 seconds after the former president was shot, agents were heard on the rally microphone saying, “Shooter’s down”.
“Are we good to move?” one agent asked.
“Are we clear?” asked another.
“We’re clear!” a Secret Service agent said as Trump was lifted to his feet, his face and ear bloodied.
The agents prepared to move Trump offstage into his nearby SUV, but he told them to wait. Trump lifted his fist in the air, prompting a loud cheer from the crowd at the rally, and he mouthed the word “fight” three times while pumping his fist. The crowd then chanted “USA!” as the former president was taken down the stairs by several agents and into his vehicle.
One of the rally attendees was killed in the shooting, and and two rally-goers were critically injured, according to the Secret Service. All of the victims were male, according to the FBI.
The shocking episode that threatened Trump’s life raises grave questions about security and how the former president was shot at, with lawmakers already calling for an investigation into the Secret Service’s handling of Saturday’s rally. The shooting comes right before Trump is set to accept the 2024 presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention this coming week.
Trump wrote on social media that he was shot and hit by a bullet in the “upper part of my right ear”.
The Secret Service has confirmed that the shooter fired multiple shots from an “elevated position” outside of the rally before he was killed by agents.
At a press conference just before midnight, the FBI stressed it considered the incident to be an assassination attempt. It also named Thomas Matthew Crooks as the gunman involved in the assassination attempt against Trump.
President Joe Biden also condemned the shooting, stressing it was “sick”, in remarks from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Saturday evening. Biden stated in a statement that he’s “grateful” Trump is safe. The president also spoke with Trump after the shooting.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed that at least 90 people were killed and 300 others were injured, including some critically wounded.
The Israeli military claimed in a statement that it acted based on “precise intelligence” to hit an area where “two senior Hamas terrorists” and additional fighters hid among civilians. It described the location of the strike as “an open area surrounded by trees, several buildings, and sheds”.
In a subsequent news conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated the two Hamas officials targeted were the group’s military chief, Mohammed Deif, and senior Hamas commander, Rafa Salama. He added it was not immediately clear if either were killed.
“Either way, we will get to the whole of the leadership of Hamas,” the Israeli leader noted.
Hamas has said Deif and Salama were not killed in the attack and has called the premise of Israel’s assault “false”. It added it was not the first time the Israeli military has made such claims that were later proven false.
“The al-Mawasi massacre in Khan Younis has been committed against an area that is crowded with more than 80,000 displaced people. This is an obvious and clear confirmation from the Zionist government that it will continuing its war of extermination against our Palestinian people, through repeatedly and systematically targeting the defenceless displaced civilians in tents, shelters and residential neighbourhoods,” Hamas announced in a statement.
Last month, Israeli forces killed at least 274 Palestinians in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp during a daylight operation to free four Israeli captives.
Gaza’s health ministry announced on Saturday that at least 38,443 Palestinians have been killed and 88,481 people have been injured in Israel’s war on the besieged enclave.
Gaza’s health ministry announced that at least 71 Palestinians were killed in the attack, adding that 289 others were injured.
Hamas said the bombardment hit tents housing displaced people in Masawi district of Khan Younis, an area that Israel had reportedly designated a safe zone.
“The Israeli occupation army conducted a big massacre by bombarding the tent camps of the displaced in Khan Younis,” the statement issued by the Hamas-run Gaza government media office added.
Israeli army radio cited defence sources as saying the target of the strikes was Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s military wing, something the Israeli army later confirmed.
However, a Hamas official told Reuters this was “nonsense”.
“All the martyrs are civilians and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence,” Abu Zuhri said, adding that the attack proved Israel was not interested in a ceasefire.
An official at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis has said that they were overwhelmed with bodies and injured people following the Israel attack on Mawasi, Al Jazeera reported.
Civil defence teams are also working to recover bodies from the rubble.
More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, medical authorities in Gaza say.
Israel’s assault on Gaza came in the wake of a Hamas attack on southern Israel that saw 1,200 people killed and hundreds taken captive. Israel has pointed to Deif as one of the masterminds behind the operation.
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