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Commander of Iran’s Quds Force Is ‘In Good Health’, Force’s Deputy Commander Says

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of senior Iranian military commander Mohammad Hejazi, in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of senior Iranian military commander Mohammad Hejazi, in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Commander of Iran’s Quds Force Is ‘In Good Health’, Force’s Deputy Commander Says

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of senior Iranian military commander Mohammad Hejazi, in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of senior Iranian military commander Mohammad Hejazi, in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

The top commander of Iran's Quds Force Esmail Qaani is in "good health", the force's deputy commander Iraj Masjedi said on Monday, after Iranian security sources told Reuters he had been out of contact since strikes on Beirut last week.

"He is in good health and is carrying out his activities. Some ask us to issue a statement... there is no need for this", Masjedi was quoted as saying by state media in reference to Qaani.

One of the officials speaking to Reuters said Qaani was in Beirut's southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, during a strike last week that was reported to have targeted senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine. The official said he was not meeting Safieddine.

Israel has been hitting multiple targets in Dahiyeh as it pursues a campaign against Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Tehran named Qaani the head of the Revolutionary Guards Corps' overseas military-intelligence service after the United States assassinated his powerful predecessor Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

The Quds Force heavily influences its allied armed groups across the Middle East.

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World

Sweden Summons Iran Envoy after Reports of Citizen's Death Sentence

A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
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Sweden Summons Iran Envoy after Reports of Citizen's Death Sentence

A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER

Sweden summoned the Iranian ambassador this week following reports that a Swedish citizen had been sentenced to death in Iran, the country's foreign minister said on Friday.

"Sweden and the EU's position on the death penalty is very clear. We always oppose it. Everywhere and regardless of circumstances, this is well known. On Wednesday, the foreign ministry therefore summoned Iran's ambassador to convey our protests against the sentence," Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told a press conference, while noting that the reports were still unconfirmed.

World

Putin Tells His Annual News Conference that the Kremlin's Military Goals Will Be Achieved in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)
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Putin Tells His Annual News Conference that the Kremlin's Military Goals Will Be Achieved in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow’s troops were advancing across the battlefield in Ukraine, voicing confidence that the Kremlin's military goals would be achieved.

Speaking at his highly orchestrated year-end news conference, Putin declared that Russian forces have “fully seized strategic initiative” and would make more gains by the year's end, The Associated Press said.

Russia's larger, better-equipped army has made slow but steady progress in Ukraine in recent months.

The annual live news conference is combined with a nationwide call-in show that offers Russians across the country the opportunity to ask questions of Putin, who has led the country for 25 years. Putin has used it to cement his power and air his views on domestic and global affairs.

This year, observers are watching for Putin’s remarks on Ukraine and the US-backed peace plan there.

US President Donald Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end nearly four years of fighting after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, but Washington’s efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

Putin reaffirmed that Moscow was ready for a peaceful settlement that would address the “root causes” of the conflict, a reference to the Kremlin’s tough conditions for a deal.

Earlier this week, Putin warned this week that Moscow would seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin’s demands.

The Russian leader wants all the areas in four key regions captured by his forces, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He also has insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces haven’t captured yet — demands Kyiv has rejected.

World

Hundreds of Migrants Land in Greece after Search Operation at Sea

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020 file photo, a Turkish coast guard vessel approaches a life raft with migrants in the Aegean Sea, between Türkiye and Greece. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020 file photo, a Turkish coast guard vessel approaches a life raft with migrants in the Aegean Sea, between Türkiye and Greece. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
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Hundreds of Migrants Land in Greece after Search Operation at Sea

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020 file photo, a Turkish coast guard vessel approaches a life raft with migrants in the Aegean Sea, between Türkiye and Greece. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020 file photo, a Turkish coast guard vessel approaches a life raft with migrants in the Aegean Sea, between Türkiye and Greece. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)

Greece's Coast Guard rescued about 545 migrants from a fishing boat off Europe's southernmost island of Gavdos on Friday, one of the biggest groups to reach the country in recent months.

The migrants were found during a Greek search operation some 16 nautical miles (29.6 km) off Gavdos, Reuters quoted a Coast Guard statement as saying. ‌They are all ‌well and are ‌being ⁠taken to ‌the port of Agia Galini on the nearby island of Crete, it added.

Greece was on the front line of a 2015-16 migration crisis when more than a million people from the ⁠Middle East and Africa landed on its shores ‌before moving on to ‍other European countries, mainly ‍Germany.

Flows have ebbed since then, ‍but both Crete and Gavdos - the two Mediterranean islands nearest to the African coast - have seen a steep rise in migrant boats, mainly from Libya, reaching their shores over the past year and ⁠deadly accidents remain common along that route.

Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy will be eligible for help in dealing with migratory pressures under a new EU mechanism when the bloc's pact on migration and asylum enters into force in mid-2026.

The center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said deportation of rejected ‌asylum seekers