Netanyahu Offers Iran Solutions for Water Crisis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the Iranians about the water crisis in a video on YouTube | Asharq Al-Awsat
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the Iranians about the water crisis in a video on YouTube | Asharq Al-Awsat
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Netanyahu Offers Iran Solutions for Water Crisis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the Iranians about the water crisis in a video on YouTube | Asharq Al-Awsat
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the Iranians about the water crisis in a video on YouTube | Asharq Al-Awsat

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video Sunday personally addressing the Iranian people by announcing the launch of a Persian-language website to address "the severe water shortage that threatens millions of lives."

Netanyahu said he was ready to personally be responsible for marketing a new Israeli initiative called "Life for the Iranian People," aimed at helping Iranians in the water field.

He appeared in a video filmed in his office in West Jerusalem for this purpose, and he began with a scene in which he poured a glass of water for himself from a glass container he said was produced by desalination plants. He then spoke about the severe crisis faced by Iranians as a result of water shortages.

“Millions of Iranian children are suffering from mismanagement and incompetence,” he stated.

He noted that "Iran's meteorological organization says that nearly 96 percent of Iran suffers from some level of drought," and that Iran’s Environmental Minister had warned that "50 million Iranians could be forced to leave their homes due to environmental problems."

Israel’s prime minister openly boasted that his country developed “cutting-edge technologies” in the field, and it “recycles nearly 90 percent of its wastewater.”

The promoted website is actually a section at the official site of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which indeed features some articles on water management and agriculture in Farsi.

Notably, the web page eagerly encourages Iranians to read about the new Israeli water management and follow the news about it on Telegram – an instant messaging service that was actually banned in Iran as early as a month ago.

The video was posted on a special site set up by the Israeli government in Persian-language as part of a photo-management report showing how Israel can help Iranians in water reuse.

Notably, Iran has been experiencing tension in several areas because of a sharp drop in water supply following a drought that has been hitting the country for 10 years now.

Experts also point fingers at poor water management in the country and the widening of the environmental crisis.

In response to Netanyahu’s video, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said that Netanyahu's comments do not deserve even an answer.

“I don't know why we should answer the claims made by this showman,' Qasemi said.

“Of course, I think since he has not managed to change the Europeans' views on the Iran Deal during his tour of the Continent, now he is embarking on such a deceitful measure against Iran,” he said.

“Netanyahu should better stop going on with his crimes and child killings. He does not need to be concerned about drought in Iran,” Qasemi stressed.



US Military Strikes Another Alleged Drug Boat in Eastern Pacific, Killing 3

A shot of a boat targeted by a US raid in the Caribbean (archive - Reuters)
A shot of a boat targeted by a US raid in the Caribbean (archive - Reuters)
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US Military Strikes Another Alleged Drug Boat in Eastern Pacific, Killing 3

A shot of a boat targeted by a US raid in the Caribbean (archive - Reuters)
A shot of a boat targeted by a US raid in the Caribbean (archive - Reuters)

The US military said Friday that it has carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

US Southern Command said on social media that the boat “was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” It said the strike killed three people. A video linked to the post shows a boat floating in the water before bursting into flames.

Friday’s attack raises the death toll from the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats to at least 148 people in at least 43 attacks carried out since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

President Donald Trump has said the US is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”

Critics have questioned the overall legality of the strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the US over land from Mexico.


Afghanistan Quake Causes No ‘Serious’ Damage, Injuries, Says Official

Afghan men prepare meals during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kabul, Afghanistan, 19 February 2026. (EPA)
Afghan men prepare meals during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kabul, Afghanistan, 19 February 2026. (EPA)
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Afghanistan Quake Causes No ‘Serious’ Damage, Injuries, Says Official

Afghan men prepare meals during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kabul, Afghanistan, 19 February 2026. (EPA)
Afghan men prepare meals during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kabul, Afghanistan, 19 February 2026. (EPA)

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked eastern Afghanistan including the capital Kabul has resulted in only minor damage and one reported injury, a disaster official told AFP on Saturday.

The quake hit on Friday just as people in the Muslim-majority country were sitting down to break their Ramadan fast.

The epicenter was near several remote villages around 130 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of Kabul, the United States Geological Survey said.

"There aren't any serious casualties or damages after yesterday's earthquake," said Mohammad Yousuf Hamad, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority.

He added that one person had sustained "a minor injury in Takhar", in Afghanistan's north, "and three houses had minor damage in Laghman" province.

Zilgay Talabi, a resident of Khenj district near the epicenter, said the tremor was "very strong, it went on for almost 30 seconds".

Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

In August last year, a shallow 6.0-magnitude quake in the country's east wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people.

Weeks later, a 6.3-magnitude quake in northern Afghanistan killed 27 people.

Large tremors in western Herat, near the Iranian border, in 2023, and in Nangarhar province in 2022, killed hundreds and destroyed thousands of homes.

Many homes in the predominantly rural country, which has been devastated by decades of war, are shoddily built.

Poor communication networks and infrastructure in mountainous Afghanistan have hampered disaster responses in the past, preventing authorities from reaching far-flung villages for hours or even days before they could assess the extent of the damage.


Serbia Urges Citizens to Quit Iran ‘As Soon as Possible’

People walk past an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, January 26, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People walk past an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, January 26, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Serbia Urges Citizens to Quit Iran ‘As Soon as Possible’

People walk past an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, January 26, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People walk past an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, January 26, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Serbia has urged its citizens in Iran to leave the country "as soon as possible", after US President Donald Trump threatened military action over the country's nuclear program.

The Balkan nation had already invited Serbian nationals in mid-January to leave Iran and not to travel there, as the country's clerical authorities launched a bloody crackdown on a mass protest movement.

"Due to the deteriorating security situation, citizens of the Republic of Serbia are not recommended to travel to Iran in the coming period," the foreign ministry said in a statement on its website published overnight Friday to Saturday.

"All those who are in Iran are recommended to leave the country as soon as possible."

Iran said on Friday that it was hoping for a quick deal with the United States on Tehran's nuclear program, long a source of discord between the two foes.

But Trump, after ordering a major naval build-up in the Middle East aimed at heaping pressure on Tehran, said on Friday that he was "considering" a limited military strike if the negotiations proved unfruitful.