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Iran: National Security Council Investigates Death of Hashemi Rafsanjani

Late President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (File Photo: AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)
Late President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (File Photo: AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)
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Iran: National Security Council Investigates Death of Hashemi Rafsanjani

Late President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (File Photo: AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)
Late President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (File Photo: AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)

The cause of death of Iran's former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is once again stirring controversy after his son Yasser announced that President Hassan Rouhani rejected a report by the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic (SNSCI) concerning the details of Rafsanjani’s death.

SNSCI sent a letter to Rouhani demanding to shelve the case, however the president rejected the demand, ordering the council to re-investigate the whole case.

In an interview with Pana news agency on Monday, Yasser Rafsanjani revealed that his brother Mohsen was supposed to have the permission to study the report compiled on his father’s death and will soon head to the SNSCI to be briefed about the investigation.

In this regard, Rafsanjani's brother, Mohammad, repeated earlier statements about concerns regarding his brother's death due to a heart attack.

"Since the cause of the heart attack was not mentioned, there are doubts. This is the reason behind some speculation," Hashemi said in an interview with ISNA.

Hashemi pointed that there are bruises on the chest area of his brother as a result of doctors' attempts to resuscitate him.

In her interview with Etemed reformist newspaper, Hashemi's daughter, Faezeh, said that her family had been informed about the issue of radioactivity during a meeting with several members of SNSCI. She did not mention when the meeting was held and who were the officials who attended it.

Hashemi was found dead on January 7, 2017 in a pool in his house that he frequently used after having a sudden heart attack. He was buried in north Tehran next to Khomeini.

The same month, Faezeh Hashemi denied news reports about asking for autopsy, describing them as "rumors".

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Ex-Aide Says Netanyahu Tasked Him with Making a Plan to Evade Responsibility for Oct. 7 Attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not pictured) after a trilateral meeting at the Citadel of David Hotel, in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not pictured) after a trilateral meeting at the Citadel of David Hotel, in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)
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Ex-Aide Says Netanyahu Tasked Him with Making a Plan to Evade Responsibility for Oct. 7 Attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not pictured) after a trilateral meeting at the Citadel of David Hotel, in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not pictured) after a trilateral meeting at the Citadel of David Hotel, in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)

A former close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that immediately following the October 2023 Hamas attack that triggered Israel’s two-year war in Gaza, the Israeli leader instructed him to figure out how the premier could evade responsibility for the security breach.

Former Netanyahu spokesperson Eli Feldstein, who faces trial for allegedly leaking classified information to the press, made the explosive accusation during an extensive interview with Israel’s Kan news channel Monday night.

Critics have repeatedly accused Netanyahu of refusing to accept blame for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. But little is known about Netanyahu’s behavior in the days immediately following the attack, while the premier has consistently resisted an independent state inquiry.

Speaking to Kan, Feldstein said “the first task” he received from Netanyahu after Oct. 7, 2023, was to stifle calls for accountability.

“He asked me, ‘What are they talking about in the news? Are they still talking about responsibility?’” Feldstein said. “He wanted me to think of something that could be said that would offset the media storm surrounding the question of whether the prime minister had taken responsibility or not.”

He added that Netanyahu looked “panicked” when he made the request. Feldstein said he was later told by people in Netanyahu's close circle to omit the word “responsibility” from all statements.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 hostages back to Gaza. Israel then launched a devastating war in Gaza that has killed nearly 71,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children.

Netanyahu’s office called the interview a “long series of mendacious and recycled allegations made by a man with clear personal interests who is trying to deflect responsibility from himself,” Hebrew media reported.

Feldstein’s statements come after his indictment in a case where he is accused of leaking classified military information to a German tabloid to improve public perception of the prime minister following the killing of six hostages in Gaza in August of last year.

World

Ukraine Says Withdrawn Troops from Eastern Town of Siversk

Ukrainian communal workers clean debris at the site of a Russian drone strike on a five-story residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 December 2025. (EPA)
Ukrainian communal workers clean debris at the site of a Russian drone strike on a five-story residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 December 2025. (EPA)
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Ukraine Says Withdrawn Troops from Eastern Town of Siversk

Ukrainian communal workers clean debris at the site of a Russian drone strike on a five-story residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 December 2025. (EPA)
Ukrainian communal workers clean debris at the site of a Russian drone strike on a five-story residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 December 2025. (EPA)

Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the eastern town of Siversk, the General Staff said Tuesday, as Russia doubled down on its recent advances across the lengthy front line.

Russia announced the capture of the city in the heavily embattled Donetsk region almost two weeks ago, when Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov reported the gain to President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

The Ukrainian army said that "to preserve the lives of our soldiers and the combat capability of our units, Ukrainian defenders have withdrawn from the settlement".

The Russians were helped by "a significant advantage in manpower and equipment" and weather conditions, it added.

The Ukrainian army was still fighting in Siversk's surroundings, and the city remains within the reach of Ukraine's fire, according to Kyiv's General Staff.

The Russian army has been slowly but steadily grinding through eastern Ukraine and taking ground from outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces, with some of the fiercest battles taking place in Donetsk.

Putin, emboldened by recent gains, threatened at his year-end press conference last week to take more territory.

The Donetsk region is the key stumbling block in the US-led settlement talks and Ukraine says it is under pressure to cede the remaining part of the region to Russia.

Siversk is located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) east of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the last two major cities still under Ukrainian control in Donetsk -- an industrial and mining region in Moscow's sights.

The town was home to around 11,000 people before the war.

Eastern Ukraine has been ravaged since Russia launched its assault in February 2022, with tens of thousands of people killed and millions forced to flee their homes.

World

Greta Thunberg Arrested at Pro-Palestinian Protest in London

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg walks out of City of London Police station after being arrested by police this morning at a pro‑Palestinian protest, in London, Britain, December 23, 2025. (Reuters)
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg walks out of City of London Police station after being arrested by police this morning at a pro‑Palestinian protest, in London, Britain, December 23, 2025. (Reuters)
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Greta Thunberg Arrested at Pro-Palestinian Protest in London

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg walks out of City of London Police station after being arrested by police this morning at a pro‑Palestinian protest, in London, Britain, December 23, 2025. (Reuters)
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg walks out of City of London Police station after being arrested by police this morning at a pro‑Palestinian protest, in London, Britain, December 23, 2025. (Reuters)

London police on Tuesday arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a demonstration in support of pro-Palestinian hunger strikers, Palestinian campaign groups said.

Thunberg's arrest makes her the highest profile person to be detained by police since the government banned the Palestine Action group under anti-terror laws.

Prisoners for Palestine, which organized the protest, said in a statement that Thunberg was arrested under the UK Terrorism Act.

Thunberg, 22, was holding a sign reading: "I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide."

City of London Police said several people were arrested.

They did not directly name Thunberg, but said "a 22-year-old woman... has been arrested for displaying an item (in this case a placard) in support of a proscribed organization (in this case Palestine Action) contrary to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000".

Police said another three people were arrested at the protest, at a building in London's financial quarter, on suspicion of criminal damage.

The three were detained after "hammers and red paint were used to damage a building" and they glued themselves to fixtures nearby, police said.

Prisoners for Palestine said its protest had targeted the offices of Aspen Insurance because the company provided services to Israeli-linked defense firm Elbit Systems UK.

- 'Political prisoners' -

Thunberg on Monday described the detained hunger strikers as "political prisoners" in a video posted on Instagram.

The British government in July outlawed Palestine Action after activists broke into an air force base and caused an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) of damage.

Some of the eight detainees who went on hunger strike had been charged over that incident.

The group, aged between 20 and 31, are facing trials relating to break-ins or criminal damage by Palestine Action.

Their hunger strike is to protest their treatment and call for their release on bail.

The first two prisoners going on the hunger strike were on their 52nd day, Prisoners for Palestine said on Tuesday. The Guardian newspaper reported that three of the eight had ended their hunger strike.

Asked about it in parliament last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said "rules and procedures" were being followed.

The government's ban on Palestine Action -- which makes being a member of the group or supporting it a serious criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison -- has resulted in at least 2,300 arrests of demonstrators, according to protest organizers Defend Our Juries.

According to London's Met Police in late November, so far 254 out of the more than 2,000 arrested have been charged with a lesser offence which carries a sentence of up to six months.

Thunberg has maintained a high profile in protests supporting Palestinians.

In October, she was among hundreds of people who boarded a flotilla that tried to break through the Israeli blockade of Gaza.