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Qaani on Anniversary of Soleimani’s Killing: Diplomacy Must Connect to the Field

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani in this undated picture obtained January 3, 2020. Tasnim News Agency/Handout via Reuters
Brigadier General Esmail Qaani in this undated picture obtained January 3, 2020. Tasnim News Agency/Handout via Reuters
    London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Qaani on Anniversary of Soleimani’s Killing: Diplomacy Must Connect to the Field

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani in this undated picture obtained January 3, 2020. Tasnim News Agency/Handout via Reuters
Brigadier General Esmail Qaani in this undated picture obtained January 3, 2020. Tasnim News Agency/Handout via Reuters

A day ahead of Iran marking the second anniversary of the killing of the revered Iranian commander of the Quds Force, General Qassem Soleimani, his successor, Esmail Qaani gave a speech at the headquarters of the Iranian foreign ministry.

Qaani shed light on the links joining his forces to the cleric-led country’s diplomatic institution.

Soleimani, who headed the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign arm, was killed by a US drone strike on January 3, 2020, alongside Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces.

“Soleimani was proactive in establishing contacts between the battlefield and diplomacy,” said Qaani in his Sunday speech.

Qaani’s remark came as a hint against what was said in a leaked voice recording by ex-foreign minister Javad Zarif that emerged last April. In the recording, Zarif criticizes the Revolutionary Guard for overruling his diplomacy efforts with their military activity in the region.

Moreover, the former minister leveled criticism against Soleimani for visiting Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin a few days into the signing of the Iran nuclear deal in July 2015. Before the deal went into implementation, Putin also met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and agreed to expand military cooperation in Syria.

Condemnation against Zarif’s remarks had kept him from running in the country’s presidential elections despite some reformers urging him to do so. Zarif did not run, and ultra-hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi won the election, which recorded the lowest turnout in the past four decades.

Qaani defended the relationship between the foreign ministry and the Quds Force.

“One of the important issues is that the people who work in the diplomatic and political field have consistency and cooperation with the people who work in the battlefield,” he added.

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World

Netanyahu Warns Iran May Try to Disrupt Election, Says ‘Don’t Test Us’

Rappelling workers hang a large-scale Likud Party election billboard reading "We have one chance to win!" and featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) with US President Donald Trump and fighter jets, in Tel Aviv, Israel, 25 October 2026. (EPA)
Rappelling workers hang a large-scale Likud Party election billboard reading "We have one chance to win!" and featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) with US President Donald Trump and fighter jets, in Tel Aviv, Israel, 25 October 2026. (EPA)
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Netanyahu Warns Iran May Try to Disrupt Election, Says ‘Don’t Test Us’

Rappelling workers hang a large-scale Likud Party election billboard reading "We have one chance to win!" and featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) with US President Donald Trump and fighter jets, in Tel Aviv, Israel, 25 October 2026. (EPA)
Rappelling workers hang a large-scale Likud Party election billboard reading "We have one chance to win!" and featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) with US President Donald Trump and fighter jets, in Tel Aviv, Israel, 25 October 2026. (EPA)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran and its allies might try to disrupt Tuesday's Israeli elections, warning the Islamic republic against any hostile acts.

The premier has campaigned heavily on his security credentials, touting the war he launched against Iran in February alongside the United States and suggesting that he alone can see it through.

"We have intelligence signs that our enemies, Iran and its proxies, could challenge us with attacks in order to disrupt the elections," Netanyahu said in a video released by his office on Sunday.

"Don't test us. You will suffer disproportionate blows," he added, noting the military was ready for both defensive and offensive operations.

Earlier in the day, the premier posted an AI-generated image of a mushroom cloud engulfing Tel Aviv, alongside text attributed to a right-wing political commentator calling Iran an existential threat and arguing that all the other issues discussed this election season were trivial in comparison.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, has focused heavily on hawkish national security statements in the final days of the campaign.

On Wednesday, he said he had sent a directive to Israel's security forces to topple Iran's clerical state. A day earlier, he posted a video of himself in front of a fighter jet speaking to US President Donald Trump by phone saying they would "finish the job" together.

World

Police Made 1,314 Arrests in France’s Protests, Says Govt

A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)
A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)
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Police Made 1,314 Arrests in France’s Protests, Says Govt

A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)
A pedestrian walks past a broken window, a day after a demonstration in favor of purchasing power, the protection of public services, and fiscal and social justice, in Paris on October 25, 2026 as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together former members of the Yellow Vest movement, labor unions, high school and university students. (AFP)

Police arrested 1,314 people in weekend protests across France, the interior ministry said Sunday, adding that 53 officers were hurt in clashes.

The arrests occurred as violence broke out on the margins of mass demonstrations in major cities on Saturday over the high cost of living.

It was the second consecutive weekend of unrest in France, which is heading to presidential elections in April and May to choose a successor to Emmanuel Macron, who is reaching his two-term limit.

The interior ministry said police responded to 75 fires during Saturday's protests, adding that 24 shops were looted.

"Several investigations have been opened," it said in a statement, without giving details. It said that the rest of Saturday night, after the clashes had died down, was "calm".

The ministry statement on Sunday did not say how many protesters were hurt.

Late Saturday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez spoke of two serious injuries among protesters: one in Toulouse and one in Clermont-Ferrand.

- Protesters hurt -

The Toulouse prefecture, which reports to the interior ministry, told AFP that a 20-year-old man was seriously hurt with a wound to his hand.

A street medic who tended demonstrators told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the man had "several fingers" blown off his right hand.

The prefecture covering Clermont-Ferrand said a man there also had a hand hurt, but did not suffer the loss of any fingers.

A French regional daily, La Nouvelle Republique, reported that a man in Poitiers was hurt in his left eye, showing a photo of a man holding his face.

The newspaper's photographer told AFP he was a 19-year-old who was wounded during a charge by riot police firing stun grenades and tear gas.

There have been several instances in recent weeks, during student protests in France, of people being maimed by police stun grenades or tear gas grenades.

It was not known if the injuries reported from Saturday were from those police weapons. Officials said investigations had been opened in at least some of the cases.

World

France’s Le Pen Launches Presidential Bid as Protests Rattle the Nation

Far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) candidate in France's 2027 presidential election Marine Le Pen (L), flanked by RN president Jordan Bardella (R), acknowledges the audience after her speech at the end of her campaign kickoff rally as part of the party congress in Orleans, central France, on October 25, 2026. (AFP)
Far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) candidate in France's 2027 presidential election Marine Le Pen (L), flanked by RN president Jordan Bardella (R), acknowledges the audience after her speech at the end of her campaign kickoff rally as part of the party congress in Orleans, central France, on October 25, 2026. (AFP)
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France’s Le Pen Launches Presidential Bid as Protests Rattle the Nation

Far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) candidate in France's 2027 presidential election Marine Le Pen (L), flanked by RN president Jordan Bardella (R), acknowledges the audience after her speech at the end of her campaign kickoff rally as part of the party congress in Orleans, central France, on October 25, 2026. (AFP)
Far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) candidate in France's 2027 presidential election Marine Le Pen (L), flanked by RN president Jordan Bardella (R), acknowledges the audience after her speech at the end of her campaign kickoff rally as part of the party congress in Orleans, central France, on October 25, 2026. (AFP)

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, the frontrunner in next year's French presidential election, formally launched her campaign on Sunday with a promise to restore order and national confidence. 

As France faces one of its most turbulent periods in years, Le Pen cast herself as the best placed to navigate what she described as mounting economic, social and security crises. 

"We are not living through the end of the world but the end of a world, their world," she said of her political opponents. 

Le Pen chose to make her first campaign address in Orleans, home to Joan of Arc, the 15th-century warrior heroine revered ‌by nationalists as a ‌symbol of patriotism and sovereignty. 

Addressing a crowd of cheering supporters, ‌she ⁠promised "zero tolerance" policing ⁠and said restoring security was the state's first duty. 

Mass protests over living costs and inequality last weekend descended into looting and vandalism. 

OPINION POLL PUTS LE PEN IN THE LEAD 

The street turmoil has given Le Pen a boost and an opinion poll published on Sunday put her on 32% to 33.5%, well ahead of her nearest rival, hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon on 17%, as voters desert mainstream parties for the political extremes. 

Surveys suggest she would easily defeat Melenchon in ⁠a run-off ballot, expected to be held in early May. 

Seeking to ‌project optimism, Le Pen built her speech around the theme ‌of a national "Renaissance". She said France was living through a period of upheaval but would emerge ‌stronger if it embraced her vision of security, prosperity and renewal. 

"We say: 'Things were good before, ‌they will be better tomorrow!'," she said. 

Le Pen promised a hard line on immigration, pledging to restore border controls, automatically expel foreign criminals and crack down on gangs and drug traffickers. 

Le Pen herself could have to campaign wearing an ankle tag after she was convicted of embezzling European Parliament funds. She ‌is appealing the court verdict. 

On the economy, Le Pen pledged spending restraint, lower business taxes, reduced bureaucracy and support for industry, innovation and ⁠artificial intelligence. She ⁠rejected further increases in the retirement age. 

The congress was designed to showcase unity at the top of the National Rally party, with Jordan Bardella re-elected party president and presented as Le Pen's choice for prime minister. 

Bardella's speech was interrupted by activists from a Jewish student union, drawing attention to recent accusations he made antisemitic comments in his youth, which he denies. 

Le Pen has spent more than a decade trying to transform the party she inherited from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011, softening its image and broadening its appeal beyond its traditional anti-immigration base. 

On Europe, Le Pen stopped short of advocating a French exit from the European Union, but said she would roll back Brussels' influence, restore national control over borders and laws, and put French interests first, including avoiding foreign wars. 

"The future belongs to us," she said, before leading the flag-waving crowd in singing the national anthem.