عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Israeli Minister Expects War With Iran If Biden Wins US Elections

Israeli soldiers take part in military exercises near the northern Elyakim area on Oct. 14, 2020, during a simulation to protect the country's northern border. Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP
Israeli soldiers take part in military exercises near the northern Elyakim area on Oct. 14, 2020, during a simulation to protect the country's northern border. Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP
    Tel Aviv - Nazir Magali
TT
TT

Israeli Minister Expects War With Iran If Biden Wins US Elections

Israeli soldiers take part in military exercises near the northern Elyakim area on Oct. 14, 2020, during a simulation to protect the country's northern border. Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP
Israeli soldiers take part in military exercises near the northern Elyakim area on Oct. 14, 2020, during a simulation to protect the country's northern border. Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP

Israeli Settlements Minister Tzachi Hanegbi expressed fears that an election win for US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden could lead to war between Tel Aviv and Tehran.

In an interview with the Israeli Channel 13, he warned that Biden's stance on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) could reignite tensions between the two rivals.

"Trump's policy towards Iran has succeeded, if it changes and the nuclear agreement returns - we will eventually reach an Israeli confrontation with Iran,” said Hanegbi, who is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He noted that Biden has said openly for a long time that he will go back to the nuclear agreement. “I see that as something that will lead to a confrontation between Israel and Iran.”

US presidential candidate Joe Biden had announced that his administration would attempt to renegotiate the JCPOA if he wins the elections.

However, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed Tuesday the idea of any new negotiations on the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal during the tenure of the next US president.

Also this week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that for Tehran, the next US administration's policies are important and not who wins the US elections.

On Thursday, Netanyahu instructed his ministers not to comment on the US elections. However, Mikael Oren, who is close to the Israeli PM and a former Israeli ambassador to Washington, wrote this week that the US presidential election is replete with what may be fateful repercussions for the State of Israel.

“Former Vice President Joe Biden, whom I knew well, is clearly a pro-Israel man committed to the strategic alliance between Jerusalem and Washington. Likewise, California Senator Kamala Harris, with whom l have also worked in the past, is also pro-Israel. She and Biden were among the lone Democratic candidates to oppose efforts to pressure Israel by withholding aid,” he noted.

However, Oren noted that a Biden administration would challenge Israel on two core issues: The first is a diplomatic process that would see the government shirk Trump's "deal of the century" and return to the framework adopted by former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, meaning a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders with a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem.

“We Israelis will need to do more to stand on our own two feet and defend our vital interests. As a strong and sovereign state, as we can,” Oren explained.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Putin to Confront Weak Economy at 'Russian Davos', under Threat of Ukrainian Drones

Russia's economy is in its trickiest spot since the start of the war in 2022. Ramil Sitdikov / POOL/AFP
Russia's economy is in its trickiest spot since the start of the war in 2022. Ramil Sitdikov / POOL/AFP
TT
TT

Putin to Confront Weak Economy at 'Russian Davos', under Threat of Ukrainian Drones

Russia's economy is in its trickiest spot since the start of the war in 2022. Ramil Sitdikov / POOL/AFP
Russia's economy is in its trickiest spot since the start of the war in 2022. Ramil Sitdikov / POOL/AFP

Russia's Vladimir Putin will address a flagship investment forum in Saint Petersburg on Friday, as the war in Ukraine drags the economy into stagnation and days after brazen Ukrainian drone strikes rocked his home city.

Russia's offensive has led to rising prices, tax hikes, two-decade-high borrowing costs, business shutdowns and labour shortages, putting the economy in its trickiest spot since the start of the war in 2022.

Meanwhile, intensifying Ukrainian attacks on Russia's vital energy infrastructure -- oil depots, refineries, exporting hubs -- are threatening to dent Moscow's most important income stream.

In a highly symbolic strike, one attack hit a facility in Saint Petersburg as the conference opened on Wednesday, with arriving dignitaries greeted by a plume of back smoke in the background.

"The Russian economy is entering a stagnation, with high interest rates and high inflationary pressure," Alexander Kolyandr, a London-based Russian economy expert, told AFP on the eve of Putin's speech.

"I don't see the Russian economy entering the 1990s or something similar, it's just a slow degradation of everything," he added.

Russia's GDP contracted by 0.2 percent in the first three months of the year, according to official statistics -- the first quarterly slump in three years.

And the government posted an $80 billion budget deficit in the first four months of 2026 -- equivalent to 2.5 percent of annual GDP and more than was planned for the entire year.

- 'Russian Davos' -

The Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) was once dubbed "Russia's Davos".

Western investors keen to make a buck in Russia's chaotic and fast-growing economy would gather to strike deals and hobnob with the Russian elite in the early years of Putin's rule.

But since the assault on Ukraine, it has become a marker of the ex-KGB spy's new place in the world.

Drones and machine guns are put on exhibition display.

Guests from China are now the top attendees. Americans and Europeans are few and far between.

Their slimmed-down ranks led by figures such as former Hollywood actor turned Putin-backer Steven Seagal, American conspiracy theorist Candace Owens, and MPs from the right-wing Alternative for Germany party.

Putin has previously used the event to insist the state can handle the billions being pumped into the military campaign, bash Western sanctions as a form of self-harm and insist that life at home will remain stable.

But in recent months, many Russians say life has become more expensive, as the economic costs of the war spread.

Asked by AFP about Russia's economic woes, the Russian leader on Thursday channeled Mark Twain.

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated," he said, rejecting the idea Russia was on the brink of a full-blown crisis.

- 'Shut down' -

Far away from where Putin will take to the stage on Friday, some small and medium businesses told AFP they were facing closure.

"Basically, we're planning to shut down," Svetlana, the owner of a maternity and kids brand in the Far East city of Khabarovsk, said.

"People are having less kids, tightening their belts, the costs are rising," the 40-year-old told AFP by phone.

Internet blackouts -- imposed by authorities as a means of thwarting Ukrainian retaliatory drone strikes -- mean her card payment terminal is often out of service.

"We are going back to life 18 years ago, when there was no internet or social media," she said.

"I'm tired of worrying about fines because of the new laws and the endless stream of new requirements that keep popping up," she said.

Vera, a 42-year-old owner of a beauty salon in the Moscow region, said her supplies have "doubled in price" this year.

But having survived "near collapse" in 2022, she is confident she can pull through.

"These difficulties are just unpleasantries," she told AFP.

- 'No good solution' -

The "slow degradation" of the economy would be irreversible unless the Kremlin made "political decisions" such as ending the war and restructuring the economy, expert Kolyandr said.

Russia has run a "two-tier" economy since the start of the war, prioritizing the state-dominated defense industry above everything else, he said.

While higher oil prices off the back of the Iran war have increased Russia's revenues, it has not been to the extent needed to refill the state budget, he added.

Labor shortages are also biting, with some 30,000 men a month being recruited for the war.

"There is no good solution," Kolyandr said.

"They will continue to kick the can for as long as possible."

World

Russian Strikes Kill 3 in Ukraine

31 May 2026, Russia, Kherson: Blocks of flats in Bratyev Kovalenko Street in Genichesk are damaged in a drone attack. (dpa)
31 May 2026, Russia, Kherson: Blocks of flats in Bratyev Kovalenko Street in Genichesk are damaged in a drone attack. (dpa)
TT
TT

Russian Strikes Kill 3 in Ukraine

31 May 2026, Russia, Kherson: Blocks of flats in Bratyev Kovalenko Street in Genichesk are damaged in a drone attack. (dpa)
31 May 2026, Russia, Kherson: Blocks of flats in Bratyev Kovalenko Street in Genichesk are damaged in a drone attack. (dpa)

Russian strikes killed three people in several regions of Ukraine, regional authorities said on Friday.

Moscow and Kyiv have been targeting each other with intensifying aerial attacks in recent months as US-led diplomatic efforts to end their war, now in its fifth year, remain stalled.

Russian drone strikes on Thursday evening killed a 75-year-old man in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, according to the head of the city's military administration Yaroslav Shanko.

A woman was also killed in a drone strike in Zaporizhzhia that wounded 16 others, emergency services said.

And Russian drone and artillery attacks killed a woman in the Pavlograd district in Dnipropetrovsk, regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha said on Telegram on Friday.

Russia has hit Ukraine with barrages of drones and missiles since 2022 and has occupied swathes of the south and east of the country.

In Konotop city in northeastern Ukraine, three children were wounded in Russian strikes, Mayor Artem Semenikhin wrote on Telegram.

Russia's defense ministry said on Friday morning that it had intercepted and destroyed 123 Ukrainian drones in the preceding night over various regions.

Ukraine's air force said it shot down 198 Russian drones overnight.

World

China's Xi to Visit North Korea in Push for Deeper Ties

(FILES) This picture taken on September 4, 2025 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 5, 2025 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) shaking hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
(FILES) This picture taken on September 4, 2025 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 5, 2025 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) shaking hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
TT
TT

China's Xi to Visit North Korea in Push for Deeper Ties

(FILES) This picture taken on September 4, 2025 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 5, 2025 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) shaking hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
(FILES) This picture taken on September 4, 2025 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 5, 2025 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) shaking hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP

China said on Friday President Xi Jinping would visit North Korea on a two-day trip from June 8, his first in nearly seven years as Beijing looks to reassert ties with Pyongyang, its only formal treaty ally.

Beijing has worked to draw Pyongyang back into its fold after the COVID-19 pandemic froze exchanges and its leader, Kim Jong Un, deepened ties with Moscow by sending troops and weapons to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters said.

"The message implicit from the Chinese side is ... ‌we are still the ‌principal actor when it comes to North Korea," said John ‌Delury, ⁠a senior fellow ⁠of the Asia Society. "One of the audiences is Russia."

Friday's announcement by the international department of the ruling Chinese Communist Party follows Xi's summits in Beijing last month with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Xi is visiting North Korea at the invitation of Kim, state news agency KCNA said.

Kim was a guest at a massive military parade in Beijing last September, travelling to the Chinese capital on his signature green ⁠armored train.

Passenger train services between the capitals resumed in March, after ‌a six-year suspension ushered in by the ‌pandemic, while Air China later restarted flights between them.

Bookings, however, have been limited to some ‌business travelers and exchange students, with Chinese tourists still excluded.

FIRST OVERSEAS TRIP THIS YEAR

Xi's ‌visit to Pyongyang will be his first overseas this year. The 72-year-old, who makes fewer trips abroad, last travelled internationally in late October to South Korea, where he also met Trump.

"At the symbolic level it is important for Xi to keep tabs on what's going on ‌in Pyongyang," said Delury, who said Xi visiting both Koreas within a year would be a "big win" for the peninsula.

"There's a ⁠kind of symmetry ⁠that the Chinese like to keep up" regarding the two Koreas, he added.

Trump, who met Kim three times in his first term, has previously said he would be open to meeting the North Korean leader again.

Since Xi became China's top leader in 2012, he has visited North Korea once, and its southern neighbor twice. He also visited Pyongyang in 2008 as vice president, meeting its then leader Kim Jong Il, the father of the current leader.

Kim called for an "exponential" expansion of Pyongyang's atomic arsenal this week when he visited a new factory to make nuclear material, KCNA said.

Experts have linked Kim's site visit to the impending meeting with Xi. Before his September visit to Beijing, Kim inspected plans for a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the "Hwasong-20".