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Zarif Calls for Saving the ‘Nuclear Agreement’

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu (not pictured) in Istanbul January 4, 2014. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu (not pictured) in Istanbul January 4, 2014. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
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Zarif Calls for Saving the ‘Nuclear Agreement’

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu (not pictured) in Istanbul January 4, 2014. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu (not pictured) in Istanbul January 4, 2014. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged Europe to take the lead for the sake of rescuing the international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program signed in 2015, threatening that Iran may abandon the nuclear deal if the United States decides to withdraw from it.

“Europe should lead,” Zarif said in an interview published Saturday by Britain's Guardian newspaper, considering that Trump is not reliable.

The Iranian foreign minister said he expected Trump to carry through his threat not to certify Iranian compliance in a state department report to Congress on 15 October. Congress would then have 60 days to re-impose sanctions suspended under the deal.

“The deal allowed Iran to continue its research and development. So we have improved our technological base. If we decide to walk away from the deal we would be walking away with better technology,” he stated.

Zarif continued, “If Europe, Japan, Russia and China decided to go along with the US, then I think that will be the end of the deal.” The deal aims at guaranteeing the peacefulness of the nuclear program and in return it stipulates a gradual lift of sanctions imposed on Iran since 2005.

Last Thursday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Russia for its attempt to shield Iran from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. “If the Iran nuclear deal is to have any meaning, the parties must have a common understanding of its terms,” Haley said. “Without inspections, the Iran deal is an empty promise,” she added.

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Dutch Appeals Court Rejects Bid to Stop Arms Exports to Israel

An Israeli tank stands on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, in Israel, October 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
An Israeli tank stands on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, in Israel, October 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
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Dutch Appeals Court Rejects Bid to Stop Arms Exports to Israel

An Israeli tank stands on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, in Israel, October 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
An Israeli tank stands on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, in Israel, October 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

A Dutch appeals court on Thursday confirmed a decision to throw out a case brought by pro-Palestinian groups to stop the Netherlands exporting weapons to Israel and trading with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

The court said it was up to the state to decide what actions to take and not judges, Reuters reported.

In a written ruling, the court said it could not order a blanket ban because the pro-Palestinian groups had not shown that the government was routinely failing to consider whether exported arms or dual-use goods would be used to violate rights.

The court in The Hague added that the Dutch government already did enough to discourage companies from working in the occupied territories.

The plaintiffs, citing high civilian casualties in Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, had argued that the Dutch state, as a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention, has a duty to take all reasonable measures at its disposal to prevent genocide. Israel has repeatedly dismissed accusations of genocide and said its Gaza campaign was focused solely on fighting Hamas.

The court said the Netherlands did have that obligation under the Genocide Convention and that there was "a grave risk" that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

But it backed a decision by a lower court in December last year. In that case, the judges sided with the Dutch state which had said it continually assesses the risk around exported arms, and that it has refused some exports.

The pro-Palestinian NGOs had said the Netherlands had exported radar systems, parts for F-16 fighter jets and warships, police dogs and cameras and software for surveillance systems.

The Dutch government says that it has halted most arms exports to Israel and only allows parts for defence systems such as the Iron Dome.

World

Shooting at Start of Bangladesh Election Campaign Kills One

Bangladesh Awami League supporters during a general election campaign procession in Dhaka on Monday. (AFP)
Bangladesh Awami League supporters during a general election campaign procession in Dhaka on Monday. (AFP)
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Shooting at Start of Bangladesh Election Campaign Kills One

Bangladesh Awami League supporters during a general election campaign procession in Dhaka on Monday. (AFP)
Bangladesh Awami League supporters during a general election campaign procession in Dhaka on Monday. (AFP)

Gunmen on motorbikes attacked a Bangladesh political rally, killing one person and wounding two others, including a candidate, officials said on Thursday, after parties began campaigning for landmark elections.

Major parties opened their campaigns on Wednesday for the elections slated for February 2026, the first since a deadly uprising last year toppled the autocratic government of former ruler Sheikh Hasina.

Campaigning turned violent almost immediately, AFP said.

The shooting took place at a rally on Wednesday for the powerful Bangladesh National Party (BNP) attended by hundreds in the port city of Chattogram on Wednesday, police said.

Senior BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said "it was an attempt to destabilize politics and disrupt the election".

The BNP are widely seen as the frontrunner in the polls.

Police said the gunmen opened fire quickly on a crowd of hundreds at the rally but insisted that the BNP candidate was not the target.

"The miscreants... shot their target, and fled in a flash," senior police officer Hasib Aziz told reporters late on Wednesday.

Candidate Ershad Ullah was shot and wounded, along with a supporter. A third man was killed.

"We would urge candidates to inform the police station at least 24 hours prior to any election campaign, so that more police can be deployed," Aziz said.

The South Asian nation of about 170 million people has been in political turmoil since Hasina was overthrown by a student-led uprising in August 2024.

Campaigning is technically unofficial because the election commission is not expected to announce the voting day until December.

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner serving as chief adviser, has repeatedly promised the elections will be held in February.

Yunus has ordered an investigation into the shooting, his media team said in a statement.

The interim government "calls on all political actors and their supporters to uphold calm, show restraint, and ensure that the February general election takes place in an atmosphere of peace, dignity, and fairness", it said on Thursday.

Bangladesh police offered cash rewards on Wednesday for the surrender of more than 1,300 machine guns, rifles and pistols looted during last year's uprising.

World

Attackers Board Ship Off the Coast of Somalia after Firing Rocket-propelled Grenades

Piracy off the Somali coast peaked in 2011 but has resumed at a greater pace in the past year. Photo: AP PHOTO
Piracy off the Somali coast peaked in 2011 but has resumed at a greater pace in the past year. Photo: AP PHOTO
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Attackers Board Ship Off the Coast of Somalia after Firing Rocket-propelled Grenades

Piracy off the Somali coast peaked in 2011 but has resumed at a greater pace in the past year. Photo: AP PHOTO
Piracy off the Somali coast peaked in 2011 but has resumed at a greater pace in the past year. Photo: AP PHOTO

Attackers firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades boarded a ship off the coast of Somalia on Thursday, British officials said, likely the latest attack by resurgent Somali pirates operating in the area.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center issued an alert over the attack, warning ships in the area, The Associated Press said.

The private security firm Ambrey also reported that an attack was underway, saying it targeted a Malta-flagged tanker heading from Sikka, India, to Durban, South Africa. Ambrey added that it appeared to be an assault by Somali pirates, who have been reported as operating in the area in recent days and who reportedly seized an Iranian fishing boat to use as a base of operations.

Iran has not acknowledged the fishing boat's seizure.

Piracy off the Somali coast peaked in 2011, when 237 attacks were reported. Somali piracy in the region at the time cost the world’s economy some $7 billion, with $160 million paid out in ransoms, according to the Oceans Beyond Piracy monitoring group.

The threat was diminished by increased international naval patrols, a strengthening central government in Somalia, and other efforts.

However, Somali pirate attacks have resumed at a greater pace over the last year, in part due to the insecurity caused by Yemen’s Houthi launching attacks in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

In 2024, there were seven reported incidents off Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau. So far this year, multiple fishing boats have been seized by Somali pirates.