Khamenei Urges Belarusian President to Confront US Sanctions

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (AP)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (AP)
TT

Khamenei Urges Belarusian President to Confront US Sanctions

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (AP)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (AP)

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to confront US sanctions, noting that countries subject to Western sanctions must counter the scheme through cooperation and by setting up a joint assembly.

The two countries signed a roadmap to boost political, economic, and cultural cooperation.

Lukashenko arrived in Tehran on Sunday for a two-day visit and was officially received by President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday. The visit comes as the two countries mark 30 years of official diplomatic relations.

Khamenei called for employing the two countries' will to implement cooperation agreements and promote their level of relations.

Raisi hailed three decades of close ties with Belarus after talks with his counterpart.

"Thirty years after the start of relations... the two countries have the will to strengthen cooperation," Raisi said, praising their "common strategic vision."

For his part, Lukashenko praised "with great respect the perseverance with which the (Iranian) people resist external pressures, attempts to impose the will of others on them."

"And I see that, despite everything, you are developing modern technologies and nuclear energy," he added about Iran's contested nuclear program, which has sparked tough international sanctions against the country.

"We could be very helpful to each other if we put our efforts together," added Lukashenko.

The two presidents did not mention the Ukraine war in their statements.

Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Tehran maintains close ties with Russia while at the same time asserting it maintains a neutral diplomatic stance in the Ukraine war.

However, Washington recently warned of the "dangerous" increase in military cooperation between Russia and Iran, accusing Tehran of providing Moscow with drones to use in Ukraine, which Tehran denies.

Iran recently announced that it finalized a contract with Russia to purchase Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets.

Lukashenko recently paid a three-day visit to China, during which he said he fully supports Beijing's proposals to stop the war.

Belarus, neighboring Ukraine, did not send soldiers to fight alongside the Russian army, but its territory served as a rear base for Moscow's troops.



Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

 In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
TT

Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

 In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)

Tropical storm Gaemi brought rain to central China on Saturday as it moved inland after making landfall at typhoon strength on the country's east coast Thursday night.

The storm felled trees, flooded streets and damaged crops in China but there were no reports of casualties or major damage. Eight people died in Taiwan, which Gaemi crossed at typhoon strength before heading over open waters to China.

The worst loss of life, however, was in a country that Gaemi earlier passed by but didn't strike directly: the Philippines. A steadily climbing death toll has reached 34, authorities there said Friday. The typhoon exacerbated seasonal monsoon rains in the Southeast Asian country, causing landslides and severe flooding that stranded people on rooftops as waters rose around them.

China Gaemi weakened to a tropical storm since coming ashore Thursday evening in coastal Fujian province, but it is still expected to bring heavy rains in the coming days as it moves northwest to Jiangxi, Hubei and Henan provinces.

About 85 hectares (210 acres) of crops were damaged in Fujian province and economic losses were estimated at 11.5 million yuan ($1.6 million), according to Chinese media reports. More than 290,000 people were relocated because of the storm.

Elsewhere in China, several days of heavy rains this week in Gansu province left one dead and three missing in the country's northwest, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Taiwan Residents and business owners swept out mud and mopped up water Friday after serious flooding that sent cars and scooters floating down streets in parts of southern and central Taiwan. Some towns remained inundated with waist-deep water.

Eight people died, several of them struck by falling trees and one by a landslide hitting their house. More than 850 people were injured and one person was missing, the emergency operations center said.

Visiting hard-hit Kaohsiung in the south Friday, President Lai Ching-te commended the city's efforts to improve flood control since a 2009 typhoon that brought a similar amount of rain and killed 681 people, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

Lai announced that cash payments of $20,000 New Taiwan Dollars ($610) would be given to households in severely flooded areas.

A cargo ship sank off the coast near Kaohsiung Harbor during the typhoon, and the captain's body was later pulled from the water, the Central News Agency said. A handful of other ships were beached by the storm.

Philippines At least 34 people died in the Philippines, mostly because of flooding and landslides triggered by days of monsoon rains that intensified when the typhoon — called Carina in the Philippines — passed by the archipelago’s east coast.

The victims included 11 people in the Manila metro area, where widespread flooding trapped people on the roofs and upper floors of their houses, police said. Some drowned or were electrocuted in their flooded communities.

Earlier in the week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered authorities to speed up efforts in delivering food and other aid to isolated rural villages, saying people may not have eaten for days.

The bodies of a pregnant woman and three children were dug out Wednesday after a landslide buried a shanty in the rural mountainside town of Agoncillo in Batangas province.