Safadi in Tehran to Stress that Jordan’s Skies Are Off Limits

Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani receives Ayman Safadi in Tehran on Monday (AP)
Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani receives Ayman Safadi in Tehran on Monday (AP)
TT
20

Safadi in Tehran to Stress that Jordan’s Skies Are Off Limits

Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani receives Ayman Safadi in Tehran on Monday (AP)
Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani receives Ayman Safadi in Tehran on Monday (AP)

Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi arrived in Tehran on Sunday, carrying a message from King Abdullah II to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian about the situation in the region.

Local sources said the visit was “important in terms of timing,” adding that the Jordanian side underlined the “priority of reducing escalation in light of the developments in the region.”

Safadi held consultations with Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, according to photos published by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

The Jordanian minister confirmed that his visit to Tehran comes in the context of “consultation on the dangerous escalation taking place in the region,” adding that King Abdullah II “tasked me to answer the invitation to Tehran, so that we can enter into a clear and frank brotherly conversation about overcoming the differences between the two countries.”

He went on to say: “We have started an in-depth dialogue that we are continuing now, within the framework of consultations on how to make our position clear in condemning the crime committed, and in emphasizing the need to respect Iran’s sovereignty and international law, while at the same time protecting our region from catastrophic consequences.”

A Jordanian political source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Safadi’s visit to Tehran comes as “a clarification of the Jordanian position, an emphasis on the neutrality of the Jordanian airspace, and the refusal to allow the skies of the kingdom to be a theater for military operations and to expose its security and stability to the danger of mutual escalation.”

The source also stated that Safadi’s meetings will seek to explain the Jordanian position on the current developments in the region, and the necessity of reducing the military escalation to avoid wider confrontations.

Safadi is expected to meet a number of other officials in Tehran, to consult and exchange views on bilateral, regional and international issues, according to the state-run ISNA agency.

Bagheri Kani said that his country is determined to hold the Zionist entity accountable. He warned that the situation in the West Asia region is “very sensitive due to the continuing crimes and dangerous adventures of the ruling criminal gang in Tel Aviv,” according to the official IRNA news agency.

He added: “Islamic countries in the region must adopt a unified and firm stance and take coordinated measures to prevent the continuation of genocide in Gaza and the expansion of Israeli aggression in the region.”



Israel Says it is Cutting off its Electricity Supply to Gaza

Palestinians leave after attending the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Imam Shafi'i Mosque, damaged by Israeli army strikes, in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Friday March 7, 2025.(AP Photo/(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians leave after attending the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Imam Shafi'i Mosque, damaged by Israeli army strikes, in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Friday March 7, 2025.(AP Photo/(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
TT
20

Israel Says it is Cutting off its Electricity Supply to Gaza

Palestinians leave after attending the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Imam Shafi'i Mosque, damaged by Israeli army strikes, in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Friday March 7, 2025.(AP Photo/(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians leave after attending the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Imam Shafi'i Mosque, damaged by Israeli army strikes, in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Friday March 7, 2025.(AP Photo/(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel says it is cutting off its electricity supply to Gaza. The full effects of that are not immediately clear, but the territory's desalination plants receive power for producing drinking water.

Sunday’s announcement comes a week after Israel cut off all supplies of goods to the territory to over 2 million people. It has sought to press Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire. That phase ended last weekend. Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.

Hamas has pressed to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase instead. The militant group on Sunday said it wrapped up the latest round of ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators without changes to its position, calling for an immediate start of the ceasefire's second phase, The AP reported.

The new letter from Israel's energy minister to the Israel Electric Corporation tells it to stop selling power to Gaza.

Gaza has been largely devastated by the war, and generators and solar panels are used for some of the power supply.

The ceasefire has paused the deadliest and most destructive fighting ever between Israel and Hamas. The first phase allowed the return of 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli forces have withdrawn to buffer zones inside Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza for the first time since early in the war and hundreds of trucks of aid entered per day until Israel suspended supplies.