IRGC Commander Sees 'War of Attrition' in Gaza

Iran Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salam during a march in Tehran (AFP)
Iran Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salam during a march in Tehran (AFP)
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IRGC Commander Sees 'War of Attrition' in Gaza

Iran Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salam during a march in Tehran (AFP)
Iran Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salam during a march in Tehran (AFP)

Thousands of Iranians took part in state-sponsored marches on Saturday to protest against the deaths of children and other civilians in the Gaza war.

Iran Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salam said Israel was going towards its doom in a war of attrition.

"Palestine stands on the path of a war of attrition...Israel will face a definitive defeat and end up in the dustbin of history," Salami told a rally in the capital, Tehran, which was aired live on state TV.

"The battle is not over. The Islamic world will do whatever it has to do. There are still great (unused) capacities left," Salami said, without referring to any possible moves by Iran to join the conflict, according to Reuters.

Salami stated that the al-Aqsa Flood operation demonstrated that foreign aid and governments such as the US cannot save Israel from collapse because before they arrive to the rescue, Muslims and Palestinians can end this entity, according to the official Iranian News Agency (IRNA).

State television showed some protesters carrying bundled white shrouds symbolizing the children killed in Gaza during the nationwide marches held ahead of World Children's Day on Monday.

Tensions in the region have flared since a deadly attack by Iran-backed Hamas militants who burst through the border from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 240 hostages, including children, according to Israeli tallies.

On Saturday, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs appealed to the international community to help stop the "killing machine and organized terrorism of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people and hold Zionist criminals accountable to justice and international law."



Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Detained by Police While Reporting in Iran

An Iranian woman walks past a mural painting depicting Iran's national flag on a street in Tehran, Iran, 23 December 2024.  (EPA)
An Iranian woman walks past a mural painting depicting Iran's national flag on a street in Tehran, Iran, 23 December 2024. (EPA)
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Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Detained by Police While Reporting in Iran

An Iranian woman walks past a mural painting depicting Iran's national flag on a street in Tehran, Iran, 23 December 2024.  (EPA)
An Iranian woman walks past a mural painting depicting Iran's national flag on a street in Tehran, Iran, 23 December 2024. (EPA)

An Italian journalist who was reporting in Tehran has been detained by the Iranian police, Italy’s foreign ministry said in a statement Friday.

Cecilia Sala was reporting in the Iranian capital when she was detained on Dec. 19, the ministry said, adding that it was working with Iranian authorities "to clarify the legal situation of Sala and to verify the conditions of her detention.”

Sala is a reporter for Italian daily Il Foglio, which said she is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison. Il Foglio said Sala was in Iran with a regular visa “to report on a country she knows and loves.”

The newspaper’s editor, Claudio Cerasa, wrote on Friday that “journalism is not a crime,” asking to “bring Cecilia Sala home.”

Sala had been allowed to make two phone calls to her relatives, the foreign ministry said. Italian Ambassador Paola Amadei visited Sala in prison Friday, and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the journalist was “in good health condition."

Iran has not acknowledged detaining Sala. However, it can take weeks before authorities announce such arrests.

Since the 1979 US Embassy crisis, which saw dozens of hostages released after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations with the world.

In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in US custody and for $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.

Western journalists have been held in the past as well. Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was detained by Iran in 2009 for some 100 days before being released.

Also detained by Iran was Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who was held for over 540 days before being released in 2016 in a prisoner swap between Iran and the US.

Both cases involved Iran making false espionage accusations in closed-door hearings.