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Iran Helps Nicaragua ‘Neutralize’ Effects of US Sanctions

An Iranian woman walks in a market in Tehran, Iran May 1, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
An Iranian woman walks in a market in Tehran, Iran May 1, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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Iran Helps Nicaragua ‘Neutralize’ Effects of US Sanctions

An Iranian woman walks in a market in Tehran, Iran May 1, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
An Iranian woman walks in a market in Tehran, Iran May 1, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran has pledged to supply Nicaragua with fuel, participate in oil exploration and consider investing in a refinery to “neutralize the effects of US and European sanctions and encroachments.”

These sanctions target dozens of public sector officials and figures close to Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega who face charges related to corruption and human rights violations.

This came at the end of a visit by an Iranian government delegation, led by Oil Minister Javad Owji.

“We will do everything in our power to ensure the delivery of fuel to Nicaragua,” AFP quoted a Spanish translation of Owji’s statements during a live-streamed ceremony.

Nicaragua imports fuel from its ally Venezuela, which is currently experiencing an economic and social crisis. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to the surge in global oil prices, has exacerbated the situation in the country, in light of US sanctions that make some of its transactions more difficult.

Ortega said discussions tackled key issues related to oil. “Petrochemical and oil projects were proposed, as well as improving and modernizing refineries and developing production in oil and gas fields.”

The two governments signed an agreement to develop oil exchanges and a contract to provide oil-derived products, without specifying its value.

Owji said the projects include the possibility of investing in a refinery in the “Bolivar’s Supreme Dream” industrial complex, which was launched by Ortega’s government in 2007 and includes a Venezuelan investment. The project’s implementation has stopped due to economic challenges in Caracas.

The minister expressed hope to continue the project’s implementation through an Iranian-Nicaraguan-Venezuelan joint investment.

Nicaragua’s government said the complex includes a fuel storage and distribution facility, which was completed with a $432 million-worth investment.

The project’s second phase requires an investment of more than $3.6 billion to construct a refinery.

Washington and Brussels have been calling for the release of more than 40 opposition figures, including seven former presidential candidates who were arrested before the November 2021 elections, in which Ortega won a fourth consecutive term.

Venezuela and Iran bolstered their ties after Washington imposed sanctions on their oil exports and against several government officials from both countries.

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World

US Democratic Congressional Candidate Lander Detained by Israeli Authorities in West Bank

Members of Israeli forces block a road, preventing Palestinians from harvesting olives in their groves in the West Bank village of Deir Jarir, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP)
Members of Israeli forces block a road, preventing Palestinians from harvesting olives in their groves in the West Bank village of Deir Jarir, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP)
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US Democratic Congressional Candidate Lander Detained by Israeli Authorities in West Bank

Members of Israeli forces block a road, preventing Palestinians from harvesting olives in their groves in the West Bank village of Deir Jarir, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP)
Members of Israeli forces block a road, preventing Palestinians from harvesting olives in their groves in the West Bank village of Deir Jarir, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP)

Brad Lander, a US Democratic Party candidate for Congress, was detained by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, along with other Americans, Israelis and Palestinians taking part in the annual olive harvest, rights groups said.

The incident took place in Nahalin, a village south of Bethlehem, as Palestinians were gathering olives accompanied by around 80 volunteers, according to Israeli organization Rabbis for Human Rights and Jewish North American organization T'ruah.

Lander, a Jewish American and former New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate, wrote on X that he had been detained along with a group of rabbis and volunteers.

"We were simply harvesting olives in a grove near Nahalin in the West Bank. The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn't a crime under any law I know."

Lander, who is an ally of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and has been critical of Israel's conduct in the war in Gaza, was later released, according to Rabbis for ‌Human Rights and T'ruah.

Lander, ‌who is running for New York's 10th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives ‌in ⁠the November 3 midterm ⁠elections, was not immediately available for comment.

Israeli police said it had detained Palestinian olive harvesters and dozens of Israeli and foreign activists gathering olives near the fence of an Israeli settlement, saying it was prohibited. One of the foreign nationals was later released once it became known he was a congressional candidate, police said.

The military said harvesting in that area required prior coordination, which had not happened, and that those present had been detained. It did not say harvesting there was prohibited.

Lander is the only one released so far, while the others are expected to be interrogated, according to Rabbis for Human Rights Acting Director Anton Goodman.

"I would suggest to all activists go out there and get yourself elected," he said.

HARVEST ⁠AREA DECLARED A CLOSED MILITARY ZONE

The volunteers were accompanying local farmers gathering olives who often ‌are faced with the threat of violence from Israeli settlers, as an act of ‌solidarity in what is known as protective presence.

Israeli settler violence against Palestinians is surging, while the Israeli military continues to curb Palestinian freedoms, including access to ‌farmland.

Olives are the backbone of Palestinian agriculture, a sector that accounts for around 8% of GDP and more than 60,000 jobs, according ‌to the Palestinian Authority's agriculture ministry.

Rabbis for Human Rights and T'ruah said Israeli military and police forces arrived around two hours after the Palestinians and volunteers began gathering olives and informed them that they were in a closed military zone and would be detained.

Goodman said they were not aware the area had been declared a closed military zone since it had only been issued that morning, but they told the Israeli forces they would respect ‌the order and leave.

"However, we were told that we cannot leave because we have been disturbing the public order," he said by phone, speaking from a police station in the Israeli Betar Illit ⁠settlement.

"If you would have come ⁠to our harvest earlier today, you would have found a place that was quiet and peaceful and respectful and definitely not harming any of the public order."

Among those detained were over 30 US citizens, as well as UK and Canadian citizens, according to Rabbi Jill Jacobs, chief executive of T'ruah, who is among those who have been detained.

"We were obviously not doing anything violent but just the very act of picking olives together with Palestinian farmers was apparently disturbing for some," Jacobs, a 51-year-old rabbi from Manhattan, told Reuters by phone.

A spokesperson for the US Embassy in Jerusalem said it was aware of reports that US citizens had been detained and was monitoring the situation but declined further comment, citing privacy and other considerations.

"The Trump administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans," he said.

Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians and other civilians in the West Bank over the weekend prompted a call by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to crack down on the violence.

An American photojournalist for the Washington Post covering a Palestinian olive harvest on Friday was beaten by Israeli settlers, while European diplomats and a French mayor were attacked at another Palestinian olive harvest by settlers on Saturday.

Palestinians were attacked by settlers in both incidents.

Israeli police announced on Monday it had made 10 arrests in connection with the weekend violence.

World

Greek Students, Teachers, Civil Servants Plan Protests

Protesters take part in a rally organized by teachers and students demanding improvements to education and measures to address the rising cost of living in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Protesters take part in a rally organized by teachers and students demanding improvements to education and measures to address the rising cost of living in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
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Greek Students, Teachers, Civil Servants Plan Protests

Protesters take part in a rally organized by teachers and students demanding improvements to education and measures to address the rising cost of living in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Protesters take part in a rally organized by teachers and students demanding improvements to education and measures to address the rising cost of living in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Students, teachers and civil servants will rally in Greece on Wednesday to protest against the high cost of living, saying they face the same problems that sparked violent demonstrations in France at the weekend.

Gatherings are expected around midday (0900 GMT) in Athens and Thessaloniki, the country's second-largest city.

"In Greece like in France, we are demanding public, free education," Katia Koubousidou, head of a student union at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, told AFP.

"This will not be a one-off protest. We have a plan to continue our demonstrations."

Dozens of students set up tents in Syntagma Square, facing Parliament, in Athens, and on a pedestrian street in Thessaloniki on Tuesday.

The civil servants' union has also called for a work stoppage and a gathering in Athens.

Secondary school pupils and teachers are protesting about a lack of infrastructure, a shortage of staff and increased public spending on education.

The conservative Greek government has sought in recent days to avoid any parallel with the protests and violence in France.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday that the country would "never return to the era of great social unrest" during the financial crisis over a decade ago, marked by unpopular austerity measures.

French cities were hit by some of the country's worst rioting in recent years on Saturday, with public buildings torched, hundreds of shops looted and more than 2,000 people arrested.

World

UKMTO: Ship Attacked Near Strait of Hormuz

FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, October 12, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, October 12, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
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UKMTO: Ship Attacked Near Strait of Hormuz

FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, October 12, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, October 12, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

A ship was struck on Wednesday by "an unknown projectile" off the coast of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz, sparking a fire, a British maritime security agency said.

The tanker, 11 nautical miles (around 20 kilometres) off the town of Bukha, is "now at anchor,” the UKMTO reported.

"All crew are reported as safe. There is no reported environmental impact at this time," it said.

The Strait of Hormuz carried 20 percent of the world's oil and gas prior to the Middle East war, which erupted with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

Since then, Tehran has placed a chokehold on the shipping route and regularly targets ships that pass without its authorisation.

Washington has responded by maintaining a blockade on Iranian ports, and negotiations between the two countries are deadlocked.

Attacks on vessels attempting to cross the waterway have increased in recent days, as Washington escorts more ships through the strait and Tehran seeks to maintain control over their passage.