Middle East

4 hours agoShareSaveSean Seddon & David GrittenBBC NewsShareSaveThe US and Iran will hold “direct talks” over a possible new nuclear deal on Saturday, says President Donald Trump.
Hours after the surprise announcement, Iran's foreign minister said the talks in Oman would be “indirect” but could be “as much an opportunity as… a test”.
Trump – who pulled the US out a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers during his first term – said discussions would be at “very high level” and that Iran would be in “great danger” if talks were not successful.
Last month, Iran said it was open to the possibility of indirect talks after Trump said he wanted a deal to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and avert possible US military action.
Trump disclosed the talks after a White House meeting with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has also threatened to strike Iranian nuclear sites.
Iran insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful, but it has increasin..

3 days agoShareSaveMalu CursinoBBC NewsShareSaveState media released a picture of Shahram Dabiri and his wife, superimposing a marker on the name of the ship to the South Pole, PlanciusIranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has fired one of his deputies for taking a “lavish” trip to Antarctica with his wife during Nowruz, the Persian new year.
The president's office described Shahram Dabiri's trip as “unjustifiable and unacceptable given the ongoing economic challenges” in Iran.
A picture of Dabiri and his wife posing in front of MV Plancius, which was bound for Antarctica, circulated widely on social media and caused outrage in Iran.
In a statement on Saturday, Pezeshkian said Dabari had been removed as vice president of parliamentary affairs for “indefensible” actions, regardless of whether they were financed from his own pocket.
“In a government that seeks to follow the values of the first Shia Imam (Imam Ali), and amid significant economic pressures on our people, the lavish..

22 hours agoShareSaveDavid GrittenBBC NewsShareSaveThe Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has called for an independent international inquiry into Israel's killing of 15 emergency workers in southern Gaza.
The organisation released the full video found on the phone of one of its eight paramedics who died when troops fired at a convoy of ambulances on 23 March, which it said constituted a “fully fledged war crime”.
It called on those responsible to be held to account.
Israel's military said on Monday that a preliminary inquiry indicated troops “opened fire due to a perceived threat following a previous encounter in the area, and that six of the individuals killed in the incident were identified as Hamas terrorists”, without giving evidence.
A Red Crescent paramedic who survived has denied his colleagues were linked with any armed groups.
The Israeli military initially said its troops fired on “suspicious vehicles” driving with their lights off.
On Saturday, it admitted tha..

The IDF’s killing of 15 emergency workers has drawn international condemnation. BBC Verify examines new footage of the incident.

1 day agoShareSaveDavid GrittenBBC NewsShareSaveA Palestinian-American teenager has been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials say.
Omar Mohammed Saada Rabea, 14, was shot on the outskirts of Turmus Ayya on Sunday evening along with two other 14-year-old boys, one of whom was seriously wounded. The other suffered minor wounds.
The Israeli military said its troops opened fire at three “terrorists” who were throwing stones towards a highway and endangering civilians driving on it.
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned what it called the latest in a “series of extrajudicial killings” by Israeli forces.
There was no immediate comment from the US, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet President Donald Trump on Monday to discuss the war in the Gaza Strip, Iran and US tariffs.
There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Hundreds of..

1 day agoShareSaveRaffi BergBBC NewsShareSaveIsraeli strikes hit Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, from where the military said rockets had been firedIsrael has carried out fresh air strikes on Gaza, with the Hamas-run health ministry saying on Monday morning that at least 56 Palestinians had been killed over the previous 24 hours.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered a “strong response” after Hamas fired 10 rockets into Israel on Sunday.
It's the heaviest barrage for several months and comes weeks after Israel resumed its military campaign in Gaza.
About half of the rockets landed inside Israel with the remainder being shot down, the Israeli military said. One person was wounded by falling debris, Israeli medics said.
In Gaza, a Palestinian journalist was killed and nine others wounded when an air strike hit a tent used by local media in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, the Hamas Government Media Office and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) said.
Reuters new..

Interviews with five men held in the months after the Hamas attacks reveal allegations of violence and abuse, adding to reports of misconduct by military and prison staff.

2 days agoShareSaveAleks Phillips & Ruth ComerfordBBC NewsShareSaveAbtisam Mohamed (left) and Yuan Yang have now left the countryTwo Labour MPs say they are “astounded” to have been denied entry to Israel while on a trip to visit the occupied West Bank.
Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang said it was “vital” parliamentarians were able to witness the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory first-hand.
They were refused entry because they intended to “spread hate speech” against Israel, the nation's population and immigration authority said.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy criticised Israeli authorities, describing the move as “unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning”.
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Israel had a right to “control its borders”, adding it was “significant” there were Labour MPs other countries did not want to let in.
Yang, the MP for Earley and Woodley, and Mohamed, the MP for Sheffield Central, flew to Israel from London Luton Airport with..

2 days agoShareSaveDan JohnsonBBC correspondentReporting fromJerusalemShareSaveIsrael's army has admitted its soldiers made mistakes over the killing of 15 emergency workers in southern Gaza on 23 March.
The convoy of Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulances, a UN car and a fire truck from Gaza's Civil Defence came under fire near Rafah.
Israel originally claimed troops opened fire because the convoy approached “suspiciously” in darkness without headlights or flashing lights. It said movement of the vehicles had not been previously co-ordinated or agreed with the army.
Mobile phone footage, filmed by one of the paramedics who was killed, showed the vehicles did have lights on as they answered a call to help wounded people.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) insists at least six of the medics were linked to Hamas – but has so far provided no evidence. It admits they were unarmed when the soldiers opened fire.
The mobile video, originally shared by the New York Times, sh..

The video was published by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), which said it was obtained from the phone of a paramedic who was killed.