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Italy Says to Re-Open Tehran Embassy on Friday

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani ahead of the European Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, 15 June 2026. (EPA)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani ahead of the European Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, 15 June 2026. (EPA)
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Italy Says to Re-Open Tehran Embassy on Friday

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani ahead of the European Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, 15 June 2026. (EPA)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani ahead of the European Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, 15 June 2026. (EPA)

Italy's embassy to Tehran will re-open on Friday after more than three months of closure because of the Middle East war, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

"Our embassy in Tehran will re-open its doors on Friday," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told Italy's parliament.

After the US and Israel began the war with air strikes on Iran, Italy in early March decided to temporarily close its embassy and move its staff to neighboring Azerbaijan for security reasons.

"Our ambassador will return to the Iranian capital with all our diplomats and foreign ministry officials," Tajani said.

"In a complex region like the Middle East, caution is essential. But, for the first time, after weeks of war and faltering negotiations, a tangible glimmer of peace is emerging," he said.

The US and Iran this week agreed a framework deal to end the Middle East war.

The agreement is due to be formally signed on Friday in Switzerland.

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World

Ukraine's Zelensky Visits Troops at Frontline

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses media during a joint press conference with Estonia's President following their talks in Kyiv on August 25, 2026, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses media during a joint press conference with Estonia's President following their talks in Kyiv on August 25, 2026, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)
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Ukraine's Zelensky Visits Troops at Frontline

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses media during a joint press conference with Estonia's President following their talks in Kyiv on August 25, 2026, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses media during a joint press conference with Estonia's President following their talks in Kyiv on August 25, 2026, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday he had visited troops at the southeastern frontline where Kyiv has made recent gains against Russian forces.

"Today, together with Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykhailo Drapatyi, we are working on the front line in the Oleksandrivskyi sector," Zelensky said on social media.

Earlier, Zelenskyy on Wednesday awarded Elon Musk the Order of Freedom, one of Ukraine’s highest state honors, for his “outstanding personal merits” in protecting human life and freedom and strengthening ties between Ukraine and the United States.
Musk, the founder of SpaceX, has become one of the most influential, and contentious, private sector figures in Ukraine’s war effort. His decision to provide Ukraine with access to Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet network, was critical. It remains a communications lifeline for Ukrainian forces and civilians after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Starlink has become deeply embedded in Ukraine’s military operations, with commanders and soldiers relying on satellite connectivity to communicate and coordinate operations.
Musk’s decision-making could shape Ukraine’s future military capabilities. Starlink doesn't currently operate over Russian territory, but Zelenskyy wants Musk to reconsider the policy. That would allow Ukrainian forces to maintain satellite connectivity for longer-range drone attacks targeting Russia's military and economic infrastructure.
Musk made no immediate comment on the award, which was announced by presidential decree.
Musk has restricted Starlink use in Russia The technology has been integrated into Ukraine’s drone operations, helping operators maintain links with drones and navigate them over longer distances. Ukraine's access to Starlink is the main reason for the early successes of its middle-strike drone campaign, which caught Russian forces off guard and undermined their logistics lines earlier this year.
Musk has allowed the Ukrainians to use Starlink inside their own territory, including in Ukrainian regions occupied by the Russians, but has restricted use of the satellite system inside Russia.

World

Ukraine Awards Musk High State Honor as It Seeks to Use Starlink More

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. (Reuters)
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. (Reuters)
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Ukraine Awards Musk High State Honor as It Seeks to Use Starlink More

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. (Reuters)
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. (Reuters)

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ‌has bestowed one of Ukraine's top state honors on SpaceX owner Elon Musk as Kyiv seeks to expand use of the company's Starlink terminals, which provide battlefield communications for Ukrainian forces.

Under a presidential decree published on the presidential website on Wednesday, Musk was awarded the Order of Freedom.

The decree praised Musk "for outstanding personal contributions ‌to protecting ‌human life and freedom, ‌and ⁠for developing relations between the ⁠peoples of Ukraine and the United States of America."

Musk switched on the Starlink satellite internet service over Ukraine shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. It has become the lifeblood of ⁠Ukraine's battlefield communications and a tool ‌for piloting drones.

Musk ‌agreed to turn off thousands of Russian "grey-market" Starlinks ‌in Ukraine this year, causing problems ‌for Russian forces, at the behest of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov before he was dismissed in July.

Ukraine has now asked to ‌use Starlink over Russian territory as it seeks to attack targets ⁠including ⁠launchers for ballistic missiles that are wreaking destruction on Ukrainian cities.

Zelenskiy has said he was told that Musk opposed the move as a "major escalation" of the war, but that Ukraine had "started to receive a different, more encouraging feedback."

Using Starlink over Russian territory could reduce capabilities that Russia is relying on to drag out the war, Zelenskiy said.

World

Netanyahu Says No Diplomatic Deal Possible with Iran ‘Savages’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, votes in Likud party primary elections ahead of Israel’s general election in October, in Jerusalem, Monday, August. 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, votes in Likud party primary elections ahead of Israel’s general election in October, in Jerusalem, Monday, August. 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Netanyahu Says No Diplomatic Deal Possible with Iran ‘Savages’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, votes in Likud party primary elections ahead of Israel’s general election in October, in Jerusalem, Monday, August. 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, votes in Likud party primary elections ahead of Israel’s general election in October, in Jerusalem, Monday, August. 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a diplomatic deal was not possible with the "savages" who rule Iran as he hailed US President Donald Trump's new campaign of economic pressure.

Recounting a recent meeting with Trump, Netanyahu said they had discussed the possibility of diplomacy with the Islamic republic and added: "I doubt, however, that an agreement can be reached with that group there, with those savages.

"I tell you -- an agreement cannot be reached," Netanyahu told an event late Tuesday at an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu has long been skeptical of diplomacy with Iran, openly campaigning against a 2015 nuclear deal brokered by then US president Barack Obama, but he has been publicly careful not to criticize Trump while he sought a negotiated settlement.

Trump joined Netanyahu in a US-Israeli joint attack on Iran in late February, but agreed to a ceasefire in April in the face of widespread US public opposition to the war, which had sent oil prices spiraling.

Trump on Monday declared "economic D-Day" aimed at destroying Iran's economy, which has already endured years of sanctions, but he has shown reluctance to resume a full-scale war even as he grows frustrated that Tehran will not accept his demands.

Netanyahu voiced support for Trump's economic pressure campaign and said he had told Trump of this "third option", while praising the US president for pursuing it in "a very, very, very strong way".

Trump had chosen to target not just Iran itself but decided on "tightening the siege on those who assist this regime, this terrible dictatorship. This is very important," Netanyahu said.

The Israeli leader had pushed for years for a US attack on Iran, whose cleric-run state supports anti-Israel armed groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, which led the devastating October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.