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Turkish Foreign Minister Hopes to Continue Positive Momentum Under Trump

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting of foreign Ministers on developments in Syria in Aqaba, Jordan, 14 December 2024. (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting of foreign Ministers on developments in Syria in Aqaba, Jordan, 14 December 2024. (EPA)
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Turkish Foreign Minister Hopes to Continue Positive Momentum Under Trump

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting of foreign Ministers on developments in Syria in Aqaba, Jordan, 14 December 2024. (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting of foreign Ministers on developments in Syria in Aqaba, Jordan, 14 December 2024. (EPA)

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday that Türkiye will continue constructive and open dialogue with the new US administration of President-elect Donald Trump, and hoped to continue the positive momentum between the two countries.
Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul, Fidan said Türkiye expected to work with the new administration on bilateral ties, Israel-Gaza, Ukraine and other issues, and hoped to see advances in those areas.

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World

Russia Says France’s Plan to Expand Its Nuclear Arsenal Is Destabilizing

Members of the French Navy stand on the topside of a submarine ahead of France's President's visit to the Nuclear Submarine Navy Base of Ile Longue in Crozon, northwestern France on March 2, 2026. (AFP)
Members of the French Navy stand on the topside of a submarine ahead of France's President's visit to the Nuclear Submarine Navy Base of Ile Longue in Crozon, northwestern France on March 2, 2026. (AFP)
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Russia Says France’s Plan to Expand Its Nuclear Arsenal Is Destabilizing

Members of the French Navy stand on the topside of a submarine ahead of France's President's visit to the Nuclear Submarine Navy Base of Ile Longue in Crozon, northwestern France on March 2, 2026. (AFP)
Members of the French Navy stand on the topside of a submarine ahead of France's President's visit to the Nuclear Submarine Navy Base of Ile Longue in Crozon, northwestern France on March 2, 2026. (AFP)

Russia ‌said on Wednesday that France's plan to expand its nuclear arsenal was a highly destabilizing move that posed a potential threat to Moscow.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the plan on Monday, saying other European countries would also be able to take part in French nuclear exercises. France and Germany said they ‌had set up ‌a nuclear steering group ‌to ⁠discuss deterrence issues.

Macron first ⁠said in March 2025 that he would launch a strategic dialogue on extending the protection of France's nuclear umbrella to European allies that have until now relied on the United States.

Russian ⁠Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova ‌told reporters that ‌Macron's announcement this week was "an extremely destabilizing development".

It ‌represented "a significant strengthening and expansion of NATO's ‌nuclear potential, which, in the event of a direct military conflict with Russia, could be used in a coordinated manner against ‌our country," she said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking separately to reporters, ⁠said ⁠the French move vindicated Moscow's position that French and British nuclear weapons should be part of any future negotiation on the global nuclear balance.

Russia says it is open to such talks following the expiry last month of New START, the last bilateral treaty that limited the numbers of Russian and US strategic nuclear warheads and missiles.

World

Children Must Not Be ‘Collateral Damage’ in Middle East War, Urge UN Experts

People and rescue forces work following a reported strike on a school in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026. Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People and rescue forces work following a reported strike on a school in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026. Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Children Must Not Be ‘Collateral Damage’ in Middle East War, Urge UN Experts

People and rescue forces work following a reported strike on a school in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026. Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People and rescue forces work following a reported strike on a school in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026. Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child insisted Wednesday that children must be protected during the war in the Middle East, highlighting an alleged air strike on an Iranian school.

Iran has blamed Israel and the United States for the strike on the school in the Iranian city of Minab on the first day of the war on Saturday, giving a toll of more than 150 dead.

Neither the United States nor Israel have confirmed the attack, and AFP has been unable to independently verify the toll or visit the site.

"The committee is alarmed by reports of strikes on civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, which have injured and traumatized children, and claimed many young lives," it said.

"This is a reminder that children are among the most vulnerable in armed conflicts, and must never be treated as collateral damage."

According to state media, Iran on Tuesday held funerals for at least 165 people, including students, killed in the alleged strike.

State television carried images showing a large crowd of mourners in Minab weeping over what appeared to be bodies wrapped in white shrouds.

The UN committee's 18 independent experts are tasked with monitoring how countries implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The convention came into force in 1990. Every United Nations member state is a party, except the United States.

The convention requires countries to safeguard the rights to life, survival and development of every child, and to take all measures to ensure children's rights are respected in armed conflicts.

"Children must be protected from direct and indirect effects of hostilities," the committee said.

It called for an immediate and sustained ceasefire by all parties to the Middle East war "so that children are no longer exposed to killing, maiming, displacement, psychological harm, or other violations of their rights".

It also urged the warring parties to take all necessary measures to protect children, including ensuring that schools and hospitals are not attacked and that humanitarians can safely reach children in need.

The committee's opinions are non-binding but carry reputational weight.

World

Mojtaba Khamenei, Seen as Possible Next Supreme Leader, Has Survived Attacks on Iran, Sources Say

Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah's office in Tehran, Iran, October 1, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters
Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah's office in Tehran, Iran, October 1, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters
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Mojtaba Khamenei, Seen as Possible Next Supreme Leader, Has Survived Attacks on Iran, Sources Say

Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah's office in Tehran, Iran, October 1, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters
Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, visits Hezbollah's office in Tehran, Iran, October 1, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters

Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran's late Supreme Leader, has survived the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran in which his father Ali Khamenei was killed, two Iranian sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Mojtaba is seen by the ‌establishment as ‌a possible successor to his ‌father, ⁠the sources said.

A ⁠mid-ranking cleric with close ties to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, hardliner Mojtaba is one of the most influential figures in the Iranian clerical establishment. He has for years ⁠been seen as one of ‌the top ‌candidates to succeed his father.

"He (Mojtaba) is alive ... ‌he was not in Tehran ‌when the Supreme Leader was killed," one of the sources said.

His father was killed on Saturday after the United ‌States and Israel attacked targets across Iran - one of a ⁠number ⁠of military and other influential figures killed.

Iranian state media announced Khamenei's death early on Sunday. A senior Israeli official told Reuters that the Iranian leader's body had been found, and US President Donald Trump said the United States had worked closely with Israel to target the man who led Iran since 1989.