Region

TEHRAN — Candidates running for seats in Iran's legislature launched Thursday their election campaigns, one week ahead of polls expected to tighten conservatives' grip on power.

Voters are due to cast their ballots on March 1 to pick new members of Iran's parliament, as well as the Assembly of Experts, a key body in charge of appointing the country's supreme leader.

The upcoming election will be the first since months-long nationwide protests rocked Iran following the September 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd.

She had been arrested earlier for allegedly violating the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.

Large billboards and election posters have sprung up in Tehran and other cities to announce the start of campaigning, urging people to take part.

But the first official day of campaigning on Thursday did not see a large number of banners erected in favour of individual candidates or their coalitions.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged people to head to the polling stations.

"Everyone should participate in elections," he said on Sunday. "It is important to choose the best person, but the priority is for people to participate."

Some 15,200 candidates have been approved by jurists in charge of the vetting process to compete for the legislature's 290 seats, according to the official IRNA news agency, a record figure since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Calls for participation

"Most of the candidates, particularly in small constituencies, are doctors, engineers, civil servants, and teachers who are not affiliated with any political group," journalist Maziar Khosravi told AFP.

By allowing such a large pool of candidates to run, the government "wants to create local competition and increase participation" to help attract voters, he added.

Only between 20 and 30 of the reformist candidates who submitted applications have been approved to run in the upcoming election, reformist politicians said.

Iran’s current parliament, elected in 2020, has been dominated by conservatives and ultra-conservatives after many reformists and moderates were disqualified.

The country at the time saw a voter turnout of 42.57 per cent — the lowest since the Islamic revolution.

President Ebrahim Raisi has similarly urged people to cast their ballots on March 1.

A recent poll conducted by Iran’s state television found that more than half of the respondents were indifferent to the elections.

On Monday, former reformist president Mohammad Khatami said Iran was “very far from free, participatory, and competitive elections”.

He pointed to growing popular “discontent” among Iranians.

Iran has been reeling under crippling US sanctions since Washington’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 from a landmark nuclear deal.

Inflation in the country has in recent years hovered near 50 per cent while the local currency has plummeted against the dollar.

‘Meaningless elections’

Former moderate president Hassan Rouhani has called on the people to vote “to protest against the ruling minority”.

Rouhani recently announced that he was barred from seeking re-election to the Assembly of Experts after 24 years of membership.

The 88-member Assembly is tasked with electing, supervising and, if necessary, dismissing the supreme leader, who has the final say in all matters of state in Iran.

The Reform Front, a key coalition of reformist parties, has meanwhile said it will not take part in “meaningless, non-competitive, and ineffective elections”.

Some opposition figures in Iran and members of the diaspora have in recent weeks called for a total boycott of the polls.

In the absence of serious competition from reformists and moderates, the journalist Khosravi expected the new parliament would likely continue to be controlled by conservatives.

He nonetheless predicted that current MPs would not be re-elected for a new term, especially as “economic conditions have made people unhappy with the current representatives”.

Despite the absence of challengers to the conservatives, “the battle is expected to be serious and bloody”, said Khosravi.

THE HAGUE — The United States told the UN's top court on Wednesday that Israel should not be legally forced to withdraw from occupied Palestinian territory without security guarantees.

The International Court of Justice is holding a week of hearings after a request from the United Nations, with an unprecedented 52 countries giving their views on Israel's occupation.

Most speakers have demanded that Israel end its occupation, which came after June War of 1967, but Washington came to its ally's defence at the court.

"The court should not find that Israel is legally obligated to immediately and unconditionally withdraw from occupied territory," said Richard Visek, legal adviser at the US State Department.

"Any movement towards Israel withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza requires consideration of Israel's very real security needs," he argued.

"We were all reminded of those security needs on October 7," he said, referring to the Hamas attacks that sparked the current conflict.

The UN has asked the ICJ to hand down an "advisory opinion" on the "legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem".

The court will probably deliver its opinion before the end of the year, but it is not binding on anyone.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki told reporters after the US statement: "I expected much more. I didn't hear anything new."

Washington has been insisting that the Palestinian-Israel conflict be addressed in "other fora and not here", Al Maliki said.

"Well, we tried other fora for the last 75 years and we confronted the US veto and the US hegemony over decision-making processes within the UN system," he said.

"And that's why we came to the ICJ."

Israel is not taking part in the oral hearings, but submitted a written contribution in which it described the questions the court had been asked as “prejudicial” and “tendentious”.

The October 7 surprise attacks and the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip “reinforce the United States’ resolve to urgently achieve a final peace”, Visek said.

Also speaking Wednesday, the representative from Egypt, which has played a key role in talks between Israel and the Palestinians, said the occupation was “a continued violation of international law”.

“The consequences of Israel’s prolonged occupation are clear and there can be no peace, no stability, no prosperity without upholding the rule of law,” Foreign Ministry Legal Adviser Jasmine Moussa said.

The hearings began Monday with three hours of testimony from Palestinian officials, who accused the Israeli occupiers of running a system of “colonialism and apartheid”.

Al Maliki had urged the judges to call for an end to the occupation “immediately, totally and unconditionally”.

South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands told the court that Israel’s policies were “more extreme” than the apartheid black South Africans suffered before 1994.

The case is separate from a high-profile case brought by Pretoria against Israel for alleged genocide during its current offensive in Gaza.

In that case, the ICJ ruled that Israel should do everything in its power to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and allow in humanitarian aid.

UNITED NATIONS, United States — The United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Tuesday that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, drawing stern criticism from allies as President Joe Biden faces mounting pressure to temper support for Israel.

Washington had circulated its own, alternative draft resolution ahead of the vote. Unlike past US efforts, that version does feature the word "ceasefire" — but with no call for it to be enacted immediately.

Tuesday's resolution, which Algeria had been working on for three weeks, had demanded "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that must be respected by all parties".

Washington's veto was "absolutely reckless and dangerous". said Palestinian representative to the UN Riyad Mansour.

But Washington's ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that proceeding with the vote Tuesday was "wishful and irresponsible".

"We cannot support a resolution that would put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy," she said, referring to talks to free hostages in Gaza.

The veto provoked a chorus of criticism of Washington — not just from China and Russia, which have rejected the resolute US backing for Israel, but also from US allies including France, Malta and Slovenia.

“We voted for the resolution because the killing of civilians in Gaza must stop. The suffering that Palestinians are enduring is beyond anything a human being should be subjected to,” said Slovenia’s Representative to the UN Security Council Samuel Zbogar.

“The human toll and the humanitarian situation is intolerable and Israeli operations must stop,” said the French Ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Riviere.

Algeria’s Envoy Amar Bendjama said “the draft resolution would have sent a strong message to Palestinians... unfortunately the Security Council failed once again.”

“Examine your conscience, how will history judge you,” Bendjama said.

The vote came as Israel prepares to move into the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, where some 1.4 million people have fled, as part of its mission to destroy the Palestinian fighter group Hamas.

However as the death toll in Gaza soars, Israel is facing increased pressure to hold off, including from its closest ally the United States.

“This is not, as some members have claimed, an American effort to cover for an imminent ground incursion,” said Thomas-Greenfield ahead of the vote.

The draft resolution had opposed the “forced displacement of the Palestinian civilian population”.

It additionally demanded the release of all hostages taken by Hamas in an attack on October 7.

 ‘Make Israel nervous’ 

But the text did not condemn that assault by Hamas, which left about 1,160 people dead in southern Israel, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 29,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the latest count by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Russia’s Envoy to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said Washington’s draft text was intended to “detract attention from the latest shameful veto exercise by the US”.

The United States had warned over the weekend that Algeria’s text was not acceptable, arguing that it would endanger ongoing delicate negotiations to free the hostages in Gaza.

Instead, the alternate version offered by the US echoes recent comments by Biden, who has come under increasing pressure from his supporters ahead of November presidential elections.

It supports a “temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable, based on the formula of all hostages being released”.

It also mentions concern for Rafah, stating that “a major ground offensive should not proceed under current circumstances”.

The US text “as it is... cannot pass”, one diplomatic source said, pointing to several issues around the phrasing of “ceasefire”.

Eyebrows were raised among some diplomats who questioned Washington’s true intent.

“Do they really want this resolution or do they want to push the other side to veto?” asked one, pointing to the likelihood of a Russian veto of any text produced by the United States.

The mere fact the United States has introduced a counter-resolution is likely to “make Israel nervous”, Richard Gowan, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, told AFP.

SANAA — Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Monday they struck a British ship in the Gulf of Aden, after a maritime security firm reported overnight an attack on a UK-registered ship.

The group targeted "a British ship in the Gulf of Aden, "RUBYMAR", with a number of appropriate naval missiles," the Huthis' military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement.

He added that the vessel is "now at risk of potential sinking in the Gulf of Aden" after receiving "extensive damage" during the attack.

Maritime security firm Ambrey meanwhile reported an attack on a "Belize-flagged, UK-registered and Lebanese-operated open hatch general cargo ship" in the Bab Al Mandeb strait, a waterway connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

It said the vessel was headed north from the United Arab Emirates heading to a final destination in the Bulgarian port city of Varna.

A British maritime security agency said a ship 35 nautical miles from Yemen's port of Mokha reported "an explosion in close proximity to the vessel resulting in damage".

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations confirmed later that the crew were safe after evacuating the vessel.

The Houthis said they "made sure that the ship's crew exited safely".

The rebels, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have been targeting Red Sea shipping for months in protest against the Hamas-Israel war.

Their attacks have triggered reprisals by US and British forces, the latest of which was on Sunday.

Ambrey also said they had seen reports that the ship's crew "were rescued by another merchant vessel", adding that the movement of a Singaporean-flagged container ship was consistent with this.

It also noted a drift pattern in recent days "consistent with engine failure".

"It was unconfirmed at the time of writing what halted the vessel," it added.

The Houthis also said they shot down a US MQ9 aircraft, a claim Washington has yet to address.

BEIRUT — At least two Israeli air strikes hit southern Lebanon on Monday near the coastal city of Sidon, state media and an AFP photographer said.

Hamas ally Hizbollah and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Hamas-Israel war broke out on October 7.

"Israeli warplanes carried out... strikes on the town of Ghaziyeh," the state-run National News Agency (NNA) said on Monday, adding that a vehicle was targeted and ambulances rushed to the scene, without providing further details.

While most the exchanges in recent months have been limited to areas near the frontier, Ghaziyeh is some 30 kilometres from the nearest Israeli frontier and less than 5 kilometres from the city of Sidon.

The AFP photographer reported the sound of at least two successive strikes in Ghaziyeh, with dark smoke billowing across the area.

One of the strikes appeared to have targeted a hangar close to the main coastal highway, the photographer added.

The NNA had earlier in the afternoon reported an “enemy drone” at low altitude over the Sidon area.

Video circulating on social media showed large plumes of smoke arising from at least two strikes.

The Israeli military last week said it killed a Hizbollah commander, his deputy and another fighter in a strike in the south Lebanon city of Nabatiyeh.

The strike on a residential building also killed seven members of the same family, according to a security source, while another strike elsewhere killed a woman, her child and stepchild.

On Friday, Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed that Israel would pay “with blood” for civilians it killed in Lebanon in recent days, warning the group had missiles that could reach anywhere in Israel.

He warned that his Iran-backed movement has “precision-guided missiles that can reach... Eilat”, on Israel’s Red Sea coast, well beyond the northern towns it usually targets.

The latest uptick in violence has caused international alarm, with fears growing of another full-blown war between Israel and Hizbollah like that of 2006.

Since October, cross-border exchanges have killed at least 269 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hizbollah fighters but also including 40 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli forces.

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — Israel has threatened to invade Gaza's Rafah by the start of Ramadan if Hamas does not return the remaining hostages by then, despite international pressure to protect Palestinian civilians sheltering in the southern city.

With prospects for truce talks dimmed, the United States and other governments, as well as the United Nations, have issued increasingly urgent appeals to Israel to call off its planned offensive on Rafah.

The Israeli government says the city on the Egypt border is the last remaining stronghold in Gaza of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

But it is also where three-quarters of the displaced Palestinian population has fled, taking shelter in sprawling tent encampments without access to adequate food, water or medicine.

"The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know, if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, including the Rafah area," Benny Gantz, a retired military chief of staff, told a conference of American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem on Sunday.

"Hamas has a choice. They can surrender, release the hostages and the civilians of Gaza can celebrate the feast of Ramadan," added Gantz, a member of the three-person war cabinet.

Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, is expected to begin around March 10.

Gantz said the offensive will be carried out in coordination with American and Egyptian partners to “minimise the civilian casualties as much as possible”.

But where Palestinians can go after four months of war have flattened vast swathes of the Strip remains unclear.

“There’s no safe place. Even the hospital is not safe,” Ahmad Mohammed Aburizq told AFP from the morgue of a Rafah hospital where mourners gathered around a loved one wrapped in a white body bag.

“That’s my cousin — he was martyred in Al Mawasi, in the ‘safe area’. And my mother was martyred the day before.”

‘Total victory’ 

For weeks, international mediators have sought to broker a truce-for-hostages deal that would pause fighting for six weeks.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has played down the possibility of an impending breakthrough, calling Hamas’s demands “delusional”.

Even if a deal is struck, he insists the campaign to eliminate Hamas from Gaza will not be completed until clearing Rafah.

“Deal or no deal, we have to finish the job to get total victory,” he said at the Jerusalem conference on Sunday.

At the UN’s Security Council, the United States signalled it would veto the latest UN draft resolution seeking an immediate ceasefire should it come to a vote this week.

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the resolution would jeopardise the ongoing truce talks, as well as the broader aim of “an enduring resolution of hostilities”.

Western governments have increasingly pushed for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state to be part of that wider peace process, but Israel’s government on Sunday unanimously adopted a declaration rejecting such recognition.

“After the terrible massacre of October 7, there can be no greater reward for terrorism than that and it will prevent any future peace settlement,” Netanyahu said.

Hamas has meanwhile threatened to suspend its involvement in any ceasefire negotiations unless relief supplies reach Gaza’s north, where aid agencies have warned of looming famine.

 ‘Crying from hunger’ 

On Sunday morning, dozens of Israelis blocked Gaza-bound aid trucks from entering through the Nitzana crossing with Egypt, AFP reporters and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

Gazans say they are going so hungry they are grinding animal feed into flour.

“My children are starving, they wake up crying from hunger. Where do I get food for them?” a northern Gazan woman told AFP.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said nearly three in four people are drinking contaminated water.

“The speed of deterioration in Gaza is unprecedented,” it said.

After a week-long siege, the largest hospital still functional in Gaza is no longer operational, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

At least 20 of the 200 patients still at the Nasser Hospital urgently require relocation to other facilities, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, adding that his organisation “was not permitted to enter” the site.

Seven patients, including a child, have died there since Friday due to power cuts, and “70 medical staff including intensive care doctors” have been arrested, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.