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)
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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.”



At Least 51 Palestinians Killed While Waiting for Aid Trucks in Gaza, Health Officials Say 

Smoke billows amid reported building detonations by Israeli forces to the east and north of Jabalia city in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn on June 17, 2025. (AFP)
Smoke billows amid reported building detonations by Israeli forces to the east and north of Jabalia city in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn on June 17, 2025. (AFP)
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At Least 51 Palestinians Killed While Waiting for Aid Trucks in Gaza, Health Officials Say 

Smoke billows amid reported building detonations by Israeli forces to the east and north of Jabalia city in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn on June 17, 2025. (AFP)
Smoke billows amid reported building detonations by Israeli forces to the east and north of Jabalia city in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn on June 17, 2025. (AFP)

At least 51 Palestinians were killed and more than 200 wounded in the Gaza Strip while waiting for UN and commercial trucks to enter the territory with desperately needed food, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and a local hospital. 

Palestinian witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd in the southern city of Khan Younis. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

It did not appear to be related to a new Israeli- and US-supported aid delivery network that rolled out last month and has been marred by controversy and violence. 

‘Aren’t we human beings?’  

Youssef Nofal, an eyewitness, said he saw many people motionless and bleeding on the ground after Israeli forces opened fire. "It was a massacre," he said, adding that the soldiers continued firing on people as they fled from the area. 

Mohammed Abu Qeshfa said he heard a loud explosion followed by heavy gunfire and tank shelling. "I survived by a miracle," he said. 

The dead and wounded were taken to the city's Nasser Hospital, which confirmed the toll. 

Samaher Meqdad was at the hospital looking for her two brothers and a nephew who had been in the crowd. 

"We don’t want flour. We don’t want food. We don’t want anything," she said. "Why did they fire at the young people? Why? Aren’t we human beings?" 

Palestinians say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds trying to reach food distribution points run by a separate US and Israeli-backed aid group since the centers opened last month. Local health officials say scores have been killed and hundreds wounded. 

In those instances, the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots at people it said had approached its forces in a suspicious manner. 

Desperation grows 

Israel says the new system operated by a private contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is designed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid to fund its activities. 

UN agencies and major aid groups deny there is any major diversion of aid and have rejected the new system, saying it can't meet the mounting needs in Gaza and that it violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to control who has access to aid. 

Experts have warned of famine in the territory that is home to some 2 million Palestinians. 

The UN-run network has delivered aid across Gaza throughout the 20-month Israel-Hamas war, but has faced major obstacles since Israel loosened a total blockade it had imposed from early March until mid-May. 

UN officials say Israeli military restrictions, a breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it difficult to deliver the aid that Israel has allowed in. 

Israel’s military campaign since October 2023 has killed over 55,300 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

Israel launched its campaign aiming to destroy Hamas after the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage. The fighters still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.