Five Members of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Killed in Baluchistan Attack

An Iranian guard tower along the Afghan border. (AFP)
An Iranian guard tower along the Afghan border. (AFP)
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Five Members of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Killed in Baluchistan Attack

An Iranian guard tower along the Afghan border. (AFP)
An Iranian guard tower along the Afghan border. (AFP)

A militant attack near the Pakistani border with Iran left five Iranian forces dead, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Sunday.

The report said the dead were ethnic Baluch members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer Basij force and were killed in Saravan city in Sistan and Baluchistan province. Saravan is some 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Earlier in the day, state TV reported that Revolutionary Guard forces killed three terrorists and arrested nine others in a military operation. The report did not specify which group the suspects belonged to.

Last month, unknown gunmen killed four people, including the chief of the Revolutionary Guard in the province.

In September, gunmen killed four border guards in Sistan and Baluchistan province in two separate attacks. The militant group Jaish al-Adl, which seeks greater rights for the ethnic Baluch minority, claimed responsibility for one attack in which one officer and two soldiers were killed.

The province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been the site of occasional deadly clashes involving militant groups, armed drug smugglers and Iranian security forces. It is one of the least developed parts of Iran. Relations between the residents of the region and Iran’s Shiite theocracy have long been strained.



Indonesian President Meets Biden and Speaks with Trump, Pledges Cooperation

 President Joe Biden shakes hands with Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto, left, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
President Joe Biden shakes hands with Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto, left, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
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Indonesian President Meets Biden and Speaks with Trump, Pledges Cooperation

 President Joe Biden shakes hands with Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto, left, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
President Joe Biden shakes hands with Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto, left, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)

Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto met with US President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday and offered his congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump by phone during an official visit to Washington.

"I will work very hard to strengthen Indonesian-United States relationship, and I would like to work towards this end that we have a strong cooperation," said Prabowo.

Prabowo, who has said he will pursue a non-aligned foreign policy, met with Biden in the Oval Office after posting a video of his call to Trump.

He arrived in Washington straight from China, where he had met with President Xi Jinping on his first overseas trip since taking office last month.

Washington sees Indonesia, the most populous country in Southeast Asia, as an important partner in a region where its rival Beijing has deep trade and investment ties. Indonesia is also the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.

While China is a key economic partner for Indonesia, Jakarta has also become a big buyer of US arms, and it wants to sell the West more metals from its mines.

At the White House, Biden said the two leaders were discussing climate, conflict in the Middle East and the South China Sea.

Indonesia said on Monday it does not recognize China's claims over the vast majority of the South China Sea, despite signing a maritime development deal with Beijing.

"We continue to encourage Indonesia to work with their legal experts to make sure any agreement they make with (the People's Republic of China) is in accordance with international law, especially the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea," said White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre at a press briefing.

After the meeting, Biden and Prabowo pledged in a joint statement to expedite ongoing talks on critical minerals between the two countries.

Last year, resource-rich Indonesia, who wants to become a major player in the manufacturing of electric vehicles and their batteries, asked the US to begin talks on a trade deal for critical minerals so that exports from the Southeast Asian country can be covered under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.

Prabowo and Biden also called for all parties in the conflict in army-ruled Myanmar to create conditions for dialogue as the country remains besieged by a conflict set off by a 2021 military coup.

Both leaders expressed support for the development of a code of conduct between Southeast Asian countries and China in the tension-filled South China Sea.

TRUMP CALL

Prabowo's office said he made the call to Trump on Monday after arriving in Washington. It did not immediately respond when asked if he is scheduled to meet Trump in person.

"Wherever you are, I'm willing to fly to congratulate you personally, sir," Prabowo said in the video of the call posted on his social media accounts.

"We'll do that, anytime you want," Trump replied.

Trump described his own election victory as amazing, and said it gave him a big mandate.

He also said the Indonesian president was "very respected," and praised his English, to which Prabowo, a former special forces commander, replied: "All my training is American, sir."

Prabowo also met with several US company representatives in Washington, his office said, including from Freeport McMoRan and energy company Chevron, and urged the companies to invest in Indonesia.