Iran FM Reiterates Israel Retaliation Warning

FILE PHOTO: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi looks on as he meets with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 4, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi looks on as he meets with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 4, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Iran FM Reiterates Israel Retaliation Warning

FILE PHOTO: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi looks on as he meets with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 4, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi looks on as he meets with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 4, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Tehran will not hesitate to take "stronger defensive actions" if Israel retaliates for last week's missile attack by Tehran, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday.
Iran is "fully prepared to take stronger defensive actions, if necessary, in response to any further aggression, and will not hesitate to do so," Araqchi said in a letter to other foreign ministers, according to a ministry post on X.
Israel has repeatedly said it will respond to Iran's missile attack on Oct. 1, launched in retaliation for Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Gaza and the killing of a Hamas leader in Iran.
Araqchi said in his letter that Iran’s missile attack on Israel had been in accordance with its right to self-defense under international law and followed much restraint as it sought a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said Israel will hit Iran in a way that will be "lethal, precise and surprising.”



Pakistan Military Court Jails 25 over 2023 Attacks

Supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan hold his posters during a gathering by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to observe Martyrs' Day to honor those who allegedly died during last month's protest, in Peshawar on December 15, 2024. (Photo by Abdul MAJEED / AFP)
Supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan hold his posters during a gathering by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to observe Martyrs' Day to honor those who allegedly died during last month's protest, in Peshawar on December 15, 2024. (Photo by Abdul MAJEED / AFP)
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Pakistan Military Court Jails 25 over 2023 Attacks

Supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan hold his posters during a gathering by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to observe Martyrs' Day to honor those who allegedly died during last month's protest, in Peshawar on December 15, 2024. (Photo by Abdul MAJEED / AFP)
Supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan hold his posters during a gathering by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to observe Martyrs' Day to honor those who allegedly died during last month's protest, in Peshawar on December 15, 2024. (Photo by Abdul MAJEED / AFP)

Twenty-five civilians were sentenced by a Pakistani military court to periods of two to 10 years of "rigorous imprisonment" in connection with attacks on military facilities in 2023, the armed forces' media wing said on Saturday.
The ruling underscores concerns among supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan that military courts are going to play a bigger role in cases involving the 72-year-old, who is facing multiple charges including allegedly inciting attacks against the armed forces.
Thousands of Khan supporters stormed military installations and torched a general's house on May 9, 2023 to protest against the former premier's arrest by paramilitary soldiers. At least eight people were killed in the violence.
The military's Inter-Services Public Relations office said the sentences handed down on Saturday were an "important milestone in dispensation of justice to the nation,” Reuters reported.
"It is also a stark reminder to all those who are exploited by the vested interests and fall prey to their political propaganda and intoxicating lies, to never take law in own hands," it added in a statement.
Others charged over the violence were being tried in anti-terrorism courts but justice would only be fully served "once the mastermind and planners ... are punished as per the Constitution and laws of the land," the military said.
The ruling comes days after Khan was indicted by an anti-terrorism court on charges of inciting attacks against the military. An army general who served under him as his spy chief, Faiz Hamid, is facing a military investigation on the same charges.
Pakistan's Supreme Court last week allowed military courts to announce verdicts in concluded trials of nearly 85 supporters of Khan on charges of attacking army installations, however it made such verdicts conditional on the outcome of appeals against the jurisdiction of military courts over civilians.
The court last year provisionally allowed military courts to try civilians.