5 Iran Border Guards Released from Captivity

A Pakistani border security official (R) and an Iranian border official meet at Zero Point in the Pakistan-Iran border town of Taftan. (AFP)
A Pakistani border security official (R) and an Iranian border official meet at Zero Point in the Pakistan-Iran border town of Taftan. (AFP)
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5 Iran Border Guards Released from Captivity

A Pakistani border security official (R) and an Iranian border official meet at Zero Point in the Pakistan-Iran border town of Taftan. (AFP)
A Pakistani border security official (R) and an Iranian border official meet at Zero Point in the Pakistan-Iran border town of Taftan. (AFP)

Five out of 12 members of the Iranian border guards were released following their abduction in October by militants near the Pakistani border, announced the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

"The five ... who were kidnapped in the Mirjaveh border post by the Jaish al-Zolm (Jaish al-Adl) returned home on Wednesday night. They were released after joint efforts made with the Pakistani side," the Guards said in a statement, Tasnim reported.

The fate of the others remains unknown, but an Interior Ministry official told Iran's ILNA news agency that the others will be freed soon.

The Iranian separatist group Jaish al-Adl said last month it had abducted 12 border guards, which included members of the Guards, on the border with Pakistan in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province.

The area has seen occasional clashes with Baluch separatists and also drug traffickers.

Details were sketchy and Iran has since twice revised the number of the abducted border force, including some from the vaunted Revolutionary Guard.

Pakistan has promised to help free the Iranian guards.

Jaish al-Adl kidnapped five Iranian border guards in 2014, releasing four of them two months later after mediation by local Sunni clerics.

Iran had threatened to hit militant bases in Pakistan unless Islamabad took action to secure its border area, which Tehran says has become a safe haven for anti-Iran groups to operate.



Trump Criticizes Putin After Approving More Weapons for Ukraine

 President Donald Trump, left, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump, left, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
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Trump Criticizes Putin After Approving More Weapons for Ukraine

 President Donald Trump, left, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump, left, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had approved sending US defensive weapons to Ukraine and was considering additional sanctions on Moscow, underscoring his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the growing death toll in Russia's war with Ukraine.

Trump, who pledged as a presidential candidate to end the war within a day, has not been able to follow through on that promise and efforts by his administration to broker peace have come up short.

Trump directed his ire at Putin on Tuesday during a meeting with cabinet officials at the White House.

"I'm not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now," Trump said, noting that Russian and Ukrainian soldiers were dying in the thousands.

"We get a lot of [expletive] thrown at us by Putin ... He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless," Trump said.

Trump said he was considering whether to support a bill in the Senate that would impose steep sanctions on Russia over the war. "I'm looking at it very strongly," he said.

The bill, whose lead sponsors are Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, would also punish other countries that trade with Moscow, imposing 500% tariffs on nations that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports.

DEFENSIVE WEAPONS AGAINST RUSSIAN ADVANCES

Trump said on Monday that the United States would send more weapons to Ukraine, primarily defensive ones, to help it defend itself against Russian advances.

On Tuesday he said he had approved such a move. "We're sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and I've approved that," he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he had ordered an expansion of contacts with the United States to ensure critical deliveries of military supplies, primarily air defense.

"We currently have all the necessary political statements and decisions and we must implement them as quickly as possible to protect our people and positions," he said. "These are critical deliveries that mean saving lives and protecting Ukrainian cities and villages. I expect results from these contacts very soon. And this week, we are preparing formats for meetings of our military and political teams."

Zelenskiy has repeatedly urged Ukraine's Western allies to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow to force the Kremlin to agree to a ceasefire as a step towards reaching an end to the war, now 40 months old.

A decision by the Pentagon to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv last week that the move would weaken its ability to defend against Russia's intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances.

Trump, who was seated next to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was asked on Tuesday who had ordered that pause. "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Trump responded.