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Iran Discusses Islamic Jihad's Comprehensive Plan for a Strong Response

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met with the Secretary-General of the Palestinian movement of Islamic Jihad Ziad Nakhaleh (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met with the Secretary-General of the Palestinian movement of Islamic Jihad Ziad Nakhaleh (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
    London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Iran Discusses Islamic Jihad's Comprehensive Plan for a Strong Response

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met with the Secretary-General of the Palestinian movement of Islamic Jihad Ziad Nakhaleh (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met with the Secretary-General of the Palestinian movement of Islamic Jihad Ziad Nakhaleh (Iranian Foreign Ministry)

Iran said the Islamic Jihad movement has a comprehensive plan to direct a solid and effective response against Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian held a telephone conversation with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani on the latest developments in Gaza and the situation in the region.

"The Palestinian resistance has prepared a comprehensive plan to deliver a strong and effective response to the latest crimes by the Zionist regime," said Amirabdollahian.

The Iranian foreign minister also pointed to his contact with the secretary general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, Ziad Nakhalah.

Nakhaleh visited Tehran last Tuesday and met Amirabdollahian, among other Iranian officials. The Foreign Minister underlined Iran's determination to stick to its principled and unchangeable policy to support the Palestinian cause and the resistance of the Palestinian people against Israel's aggression and expansionist policies.

Nakhaleh praised Iran's powerful, effective, and constructive role in regional issues, expressing regret over efforts by some countries to pressure Iran.

The Islamic Jihad's secretary-general also presented a report on the latest developments in Palestine and said Palestinian groups must preserve their unity and solidarity to bolster the Islamic resistance of the Palestinian people.

IRGC-affiliated media quoted the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Salami, as saying during his meeting with Nakhaleh: "We are with you on this path until the end – and let Palestine and the Palestinians know that they are not alone."

"The Israelis will pay yet another heavy price for their recent crime," he added, according to Tasnim agency. The commander of the IRGC's al-Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, said on Friday that at least 15 operations "are carried out against the positions of the al-Quds occupying regime (Israel) every day, as they (Zionists) have built fences even inside the settlements for fear of their lives."

Qaani asserted that Iran would by no means ignore the vicious and criminal acts of the enemies anywhere in the region.

He pointed out the constant decline of the Israeli regime. Nakhaleh also met with Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Wednesday.

The Palestinian official said Iran has a remarkable presence in the region and that the resistance forces in Gaza maintain their strength and capabilities. Iran's Supreme Leader's adviser Ali Akbar Velayati described the relations between Tehran and Islamic Jihad as "close and serious."

The state-run ISNA news agency reported that Velayati and Nakhaleh discussed the situations in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Turkey.

Nakhaleh reiterated that the enemies and the US had adopted a "very weak" policy in the face of Iran's influence, claiming that Tehran plays a very influential role in the region.

The Iranian media did not mention the objectives of Nakhaleh's visit to Iran. However, some reports indicated an increase in tension between Tehran and Tel Aviv and the possibility of Iranian nuclear facilities being subjected to an Israeli strike.

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World

UK's Starmer Expresses Regret over Mandelson Appointment as Ambassador to Washington

 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (EPA) 
 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (EPA) 
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UK's Starmer Expresses Regret over Mandelson Appointment as Ambassador to Washington

 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (EPA) 
 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (EPA) 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday he regretted appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States, saying the Labor veteran “repeatedly” lied and misrepresented his ties to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mandelson, who was sacked in September after seven months in the job, is accused of passing on market-sensitive information that was of clear financial interest to Epstein while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown government between 2008 and 2010.

In Parliament on Wednesday, Starmer said the latest revelations about Mandelson were “beyond infuriating,” and that the former ambassador had “lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein.”

He added, “I regret appointing him. If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government.”

“Mandelson betrayed our country, our Parliament and my party,” said Starmer, leader of the Labor Party.

The British PM ceded to pressure from the opposition Conservative Party to release documents on how Mandelson was appointed, and was forced to water down an attempt to limit the scope of that disclosure after facing a revolt in his own Labor Party.

In a 2003 message for his 50th birthday, Mandelson had described Epstein as his “best pal.”

British police said on Tuesday they have launched an investigation into Mandelson over alleged misconduct in public office following the release of millions of documents related to Epstein.

Asked in parliament whether vetting carried out before Mandelson's appointment had mentioned that the Labor veteran and Epstein had had an ongoing relationship, Starmer replied: “Yes, it did. As a result, various questions were put to him.”

He then said Mandelson had lied throughout the process and that related documents would show this.

World

Trump Declines to Take Sides Between Vance, Rubio in 2028 Successor Debate

US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (AP)
US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (AP)
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Trump Declines to Take Sides Between Vance, Rubio in 2028 Successor Debate

US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (AP)
US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (AP)

President Donald Trump on Wednesday declined to take sides in the debate over whether his vice president, JD Vance, or his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, would most likely be his successor in the 2028 Republican presidential campaign.

Vance, a former Republican senator from Ohio, has said he will talk to Trump about the possibility of running after the November midterm elections, reported Reuters.

There is also speculation among Republican insiders that Rubio, a former senator from Florida who ran for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2016 and lost to Trump, could seek the presidency.

Rubio has ‌not closed the ‌door to running in 2028, but ‌has praised ⁠Vance as ‌a strong potential candidate.

Trump said he would "be inclined" to endorse a successor when asked about Vance and Rubio during an interview with NBC News, but added that he did not want to get into the subject now. “We have three years to go. I don’t want to, you know, I have two people that are doing a great ⁠job. I don’t want to have an argument with, or I don’t want to ‌use the word ‘fight’ — it wouldn’t be a ‍fight. But look, JD is ‍fantastic, and Marco is fantastic," Trump said.

Trump has often said the ‍two men should run together on the same ticket. The 2028 election will feature a wide-open race on both the Republican and Democratic sides and crowded fields are expected.

In a possible nod to Rubio, the country's chief diplomat, Trump said of the pair: “I would say one is slightly more diplomatic than the other."

He called them ⁠both men of very high intelligence.

"I think there’s a difference in style," Trump said. “You know, you can see the style yourself. But they’re both very capable. I do think this: The combination of JD and Marco would be very hard to be beaten, I think. But you never know in politics, right?”

Trump in the interview also again appeared to toy with the possibility of seeking an unconstitutional third term. He had flirted with the idea last year, later abandoning the concept.

Asked if he saw “any scenario” in which he would ‌still be president when the next president's term begins in January 2029, Trump said: “I don’t know. It would be interesting.”

World

Ukraine, Russia, US to Start Second Day of War Talks

Employees repair sections of the Darnytska combined heat and power plant damaged by Russian air strikes in Kyiv, on February 4, 2026, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Roman PILIPEY / AFP
Employees repair sections of the Darnytska combined heat and power plant damaged by Russian air strikes in Kyiv, on February 4, 2026, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Roman PILIPEY / AFP
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Ukraine, Russia, US to Start Second Day of War Talks

Employees repair sections of the Darnytska combined heat and power plant damaged by Russian air strikes in Kyiv, on February 4, 2026, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Roman PILIPEY / AFP
Employees repair sections of the Darnytska combined heat and power plant damaged by Russian air strikes in Kyiv, on February 4, 2026, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Roman PILIPEY / AFP

Ukraine, Russia and the United States will start a second day of talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, seeking to end Moscow's nearly four-year invasion.

The US-mediated talks are the latest chapter in the so far unsuccessful diplomatic effort to halt the war triggered by Russia's full-scale offensive in February 2022.

A first day of trilateral talks in the Emirati capital on Wednesday concluded with Kyiv describing the negotiations as "substantive and productive", though there was no apparent breakthrough.

The conflict is Europe's deadliest since World War II, with hundreds of thousands killed, millions forced to flee their homes and much of eastern and southern Ukraine left decimated.

Underscoring the human toll, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that 55,000 of his country's troops had been killed, a rare assessment of battlefield losses by either side.

Russia has also stepped up strikes on Ukraine's power infrastructure, leaving many people, including residents of the capital Kyiv, without power and shivering through temperatures as low as minus 20C in recent days.

Ukraine's top negotiator Rustem Umerov said "concrete steps and practical solutions" had been discussed during the first day of the talks.

But the Kremlin repeated its hardline demand that Kyiv must give in, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters the fighting would persist "until the Kyiv regime makes the appropriate decisions".

The main sticking point in the negotiations is the long-term fate of territory in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow is demanding that Kyiv pull its troops out of swathes of the Donbas, including heavily fortified cities atop vast natural resources, as a precondition of any deal.

It also wants international recognition that land seized in the invasion belongs to Russia.

Kyiv has said the conflict should be frozen along the current front line and has rejected a pull-back of forces.

Trilateral negotiations, which were first held January 23 and 24 in Abu Dhabi, are the most public sign of progress so far in US President Donald Trump's push to negotiate an end to the war.

His envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner have been sent to try to corral the sides into an agreement.

In Ukraine, foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said of the second round of talks that Kyiv was "interested in finding out what the Russians and Americans really want".

Putin 'only scared of Trump'

Zelensky said the US president's role would be crucial, telling French television in an interview broadcast Wednesday that "Putin is only scared of Trump".

Trump could use economic sanctions against Russia or transfer weapons to Ukraine to "maintain this pressure on Putin", Zelensky said, but added that Kyiv would not compromise on sovereignty.

Russia occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine. It claims the Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as its own, and holds pockets of territory in at least three other Ukrainian regions in the east.

Kyiv still controls around one-fifth of the Donetsk region. It has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow, and that it will not sign a deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.