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Voice of America
Exclusive: UN Rights Commissioner Meets Officials in Iran, Despite Activists Warning Her of Propaganda Risk
WASHINGTON — The U.N. human rights office has issued its first statement about a U.N. rights official’s controversial visit to Iran, telling VOA it is aware of rights groups’ concerns that Tehran will exploit the visit for propaganda but is confident the world body’s work will not be undermined.
In the statement emailed to VOA on Monday, U.N. rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani confirmed that Nada Al-Nashif, deputy high commissioner for human rights, arrived in Iran on Friday and...
Categories: Iraq
US Strikes Stoking Tensions with Iraq
pentagon — The latest wave of U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, aimed at pounding targets associated with almost 170 attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. forces in the region, appears to be expanding the fissure between Washington and Baghdad.
Friday’s airstrikes targeted three locations in Iraq, as well as another four in Syria, and destroyed more than 80 individual targets, ranging from command-and-control centers and intelligence hubs to missile and drone storage facilities, according to...
Categories: Iraq
Iran Says Construction Started on New Nuclear Reactor
tehran, iran — Iran said Monday it had started building a new nuclear research reactor in Isfahan, days after it announced it was constructing a nuclear power plant complex in the south.
"Today, the process of pouring concrete for the foundation of the reactor started at the Isfahan site," said Mohammad Eslami, head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, according to state media IRNA.
The Isfahan nuclear research center in central Iran is already home to three reactors. The new...
Categories: Iraq
Iran Top Security Official in Baghdad Amid Regional Tensions
Baghdad, Iraq — Iraq is working for regional "de-escalation," Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani said Monday as he welcomed a senior Iranian security official to Baghdad, with tensions high over U.S. strikes in the country and the war in Gaza.
Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, also spoke with the Iraqi national security councilor Qassem al-Araji and discussed the "regional political and security" situation.
Tehran, one...
Categories: Iraq
UN Chief Appoints Panel to Review UNRWA
Categories: Iraq
Iran-Backed Militias Resume Attacks on US Positions
Pentagon — Iran-backed militias in Syria are again targeting the United States and its allies, launching at least three attacks on American positions following a U.S. bombardment aimed at disrupting the ability of the militias to pose a threat.
U.S. military officials told VOA the most recent attack came early Monday, when a single rocket was lobbed at U.S. and coalition forces at the Mission Support Site Euphrates base in eastern Syria.
The official said there were no injuries or...
Categories: Iraq
Turkey Earthquake Survivor: 'I Wish We Had Just Lost Our Homes'
A year after a massive earthquake killed more than 56,000 people and displaced 3 million in Turkey and northern Syria, hundreds of thousands of people still live in containers in Turkey, grieving, traumatized and not knowing whether or when they will have new homes. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Istanbul with videographers Umut Çolak in Istanbul and Orhan Erkılıç in Kahramanmaraş.
Categories: Iraq
Northwest Syria Reeling a Year After Earthquake
Most people in northwest Syria were already displaced when the magnitude seven-point-eight earthquake struck Feb. 6, 2023, killing thousands in the region and rendering 170,000 people homeless again. A year later, emergency aid has dried up, and some people are sheltering in condemned buildings. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Istanbul, with Moawia Atrash in the countryside of Idlib, Syria.
Categories: Iraq
US Combines Military Might, Diplomacy to Contain Middle East Tensions
With both a show of military might and a stronger push for a diplomatic solution, the United States is trying to contain a broader war in the Middle East. With the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas, Iran-backed forces in the region are committed to continuing their attacks against Western interests. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports.
Categories: Iraq
Iraq Bans 8 Local Banks From US Dollar Transactions
Baghdad, Iraq — Iraq has banned eight local commercial banks from engaging in U.S. dollar transactions, taking action to reduce fraud, money laundering and other illegal uses of U.S. currency days after a visit by a top U.S. Treasury official.
The banks are banned from accessing the Iraqi central bank's daily dollar auction, a main source of hard currency in the import-dependent country that has become a focal point of a U.S. crackdown on currency smuggling to neighboring Iran.
A rare...
Categories: Iraq
Iran Says Yemen Strikes 'Contradict' US, UK Policy
Tehran, Iran — Iran on Sunday denounced the latest U.S. and U.K. strikes on targets in Yemen saying they "contradict" their declared intention of avoiding a wider Middle East conflict.
These attacks are "in clear contradiction with the repeated claims of Washington and London that they do not want the expansion of war and conflict in the region," Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, said in a statement.
He accused the United States and Britain of...
Categories: Iraq
US Strikes Houthi Missiles in Yemen
Categories: Iraq
House Republicans Announce Bill With Military Aid for Israel, Not Ukraine
Washington — House Republicans will move forward with a $17.6 billion package that provides military aid to Israel and replenish U.S. weapons, but leaves out more help for Ukraine, underscoring the challenges facing supporters of a comprehensive national security package that would also include billions of dollars for immigration enforcement.
The move gives Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans the chance to show support for Israel even though there is little chance the Senate will go...
Categories: Iraq
Iran’s Civil Society Groups Say Suicide Rates at Crisis Levels Among Students, Doctors
Washington — Iranian civil society organizations and professionals say suicide rates have reached crisis levels among school students and recent medical school graduates in the past month, with no sign of solutions from the government.
Iranian state news agency IRNA acknowledged the worsening of the Islamic republic's suicide problem generally in a January 6 article. It cited Hamid Parvih, the vice president of Iran's Suicide Prevention Scientific Society, as saying about 120,000...
Categories: Iraq
Pope Calls for ‘Friendship, Solidarity and Cooperation Between Catholics, Jews
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Saturday reaffirmed Christians' special relationship with Jews amid rising antisemitism since the outbreak of the Gaza war in a letter to the Jews of Israel that he said was prompted by messages from Jewish organizations around the world.
The letter served as a belated fence-mending after Francis was criticized for his initial response to the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Francis said the Holy Land has been "cast into a spiral of unprecedented...
Categories: Iraq
Iraq, Syria, Along With Iran, Russia, Condemn US Strikes
Cairo — U.S. military retaliatory strikes on pro-Iranian militia forces inside both Syria and Iraq early Saturday have prompted condemnation from both the Syrian and Iraqi governments, as well as several countries that are allies of both Damascus and Baghdad.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad said in a statement the U.S. attacks "will seriously increase tensions in the region." Syrian state TV quoted the Syrian defense ministry, which claimed the U.S. "attacked Syrian...
Categories: Iraq
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