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South Africa Open to Nuclear Cooperation With Russia and Iran, Minister Says
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Chatsworth, South Africa, May 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Rogan Ward
South Africa would consider partnering with Russia or Iran for expanding its civilian nuclear power capacity, a move that could further strain relations with the US and delay the renewal of a strategic energy agreement.
“We can’t have a contract that says Iran or Russia must not bid, we can’t have that condition,” said Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe, a leading government advocate for expanding the country’s nuclear capacity.
“If they are the best offer on the table, we’ll take any [country],” he told Reuters.
South Africa is looking to add 2,500 megawatts of new nuclear capacity, building on its existing Koeberg plant, the only nuclear power plant in Africa, to address electricity outages that have hampered the economy.
The comments from a senior South African government minister came after US President Donald Trump earlier this month signed an executive order to “halt foreign aid or assistance” to South Africa partly in response to the country’s anti-Israel stance, including its case at the United Nations’ top court accusing the Jewish state of committing genocide in Gaza.
Trump’s order was also a response to South Africa’s new land expropriation law, which the US argues discriminates against Afrikaners, a minority South African ethnic group of European descent.
In response, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola vowed his country will continue pursuing its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
During an interview with the Financial Times published last week, he also denied Trump’s remarks about South Africa’s new land reform, stating that the White House’s statements were “misinformation.”
In his executive order, Trump also accused South Africa of working with Iran “to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.”
US intelligence agencies have for years described Iran as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, and Washington fears that Iran’s own nuclear program is ultimately designed to build nuclear weapons — a charge denied by Tehran.
“While we do have a good relationship with Iran, we don’t have any nuclear programs with them, nor any trade to speak of,” Lamola said in response to Trump’s executive order.
Since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which is armed and funded by Iran, invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the South African government has been one of the world’s fiercest critics of Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza.
In late 2023, for example, South Africa temporarily withdrew its diplomats from Israel and shut down its embassy in Tel Aviv, saying the government was “extremely concerned at the continued killing of children and innocent civilians” in Gaza.
Then in December of that year, South Africa hosted two Hamas officials who attended a government-sponsored conference in solidarity with the Palestinians. One of the officials had been sanctioned by the US government for his role with the terrorist organization.
Months later, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa led the crowd at an election rally in a chant of “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” — a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists that has been widely interpreted as a genocidal call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
South Africa’s latest comments on being open to cooperating with Iran on nuclear matters may further anger the US — and risk an energy deal currently in the works.
South Africa and the United States have been negotiating a new civilian nuclear pact, called a Section 123 agreement, which is necessary for the export of US-made nuclear fuel or equipment.
Implemented in 1997, the previous agreement expired in December 2022. It is still unclear whether Trump’s executive order will affect the new pact in any way or further delay negotiations.
“The allegations made in the executive order can significantly complicate getting the agreement renewed,” Isabel Bosman, a nuclear energy researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, told Reuters.
According to Zizamele Mbambo, a senior energy department official, the new agreement is almost ready, but it hasn’t been signed yet because legal processes are still ongoing.
“As far as we know, both sides remain firmly committed to concluding this new agreement,” Mbambo said.
The post South Africa Open to Nuclear Cooperation With Russia and Iran, Minister Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Supreme Court Demands Government Explain Insufficient Ultra-Orthodox Recruits
The Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – The Israeli Supreme Court issued a conditional order on Sunday requiring the government to explain why it is not issuing conscription orders for ultra-Orthodox Jews on a scale that meets the needs of the army.
The decision comes after three appeals filed by the Movement for Quality Government, the Protective Wall Forum for Democracy, Israel Hofsheet, and other organizations. Justices Noam Sohlberg, David Mintz, and Daphne Barak-Erez have given the government until June 24 to provide its response.
The court also asked the government to justify the absence of sanctions against those who, although summoned, did not report to the recruitment office. At the same time, discussions are underway to try to pass a law on the conscription of the ultra-Orthodox sector, which would regulate the status of yeshiva students, who study advanced Torah studies. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara insisted on setting a cap limiting the number of students exempt from military service, a requirement that the ultra-Orthodox parties members of the governing coalition refuse to accept.
The issue of enlisting the ultra-Orthodox, long deferred, remains a major source of political and social tension in Israel. While some ultra-Orthodox young people are sometimes arrested for insubordination, legislative initiatives struggle to succeed to stymie the exemption, which has been a de facto policy of Israel for decades. According to the requesting organizations, “equality in military service is a fundamental requirement of a democracy,” a position that the government will now have to confront before the highest jurisdiction in the country.
The post Israeli Supreme Court Demands Government Explain Insufficient Ultra-Orthodox Recruits first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Egypt Demands Hamas Clarify Status of Hostages in Gaza
Families and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas gather to demand a deal that will bring back all the hostages held in Gaza, outside a meeting between hostage representatives and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem, Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
i24 News – Egypt has demanded from Hamas information about the status of the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip, according to the Saudi channel Al-Hadath on Sunday.
“Hamas has informed the mediators that it is necessary to end the escalation to ensure the safety of the hostages,” the report said. Meanwhile, Israel has rejected any temporary ceasefire and demands resolving the issue of Hamas disarming.
Egyptian sources revealed to the London-based Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadid that Hamas’s proposal offers a release of all living hostages and the bodies of the slain, the announcement of a complete halt of hostilities, and a total withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian enclave.
The plan would come with “clear and precise guarantees” from the US government, Egyptian and Qatari mediators, as well as Turkey. It includes a five-year calm period during which all restrictions concerning the reconstruction of Gaza would be lifted. A significant element of this proposal concerns the “use of resistance weapons.” According to Egyptian sources, Hamas would accept supervision and guarantees ensuring that Gaza’s armed organizations “will not use their weapons and will not rebuild their military infrastructure near the Israeli border, including offensive tunnels,” as long as Israel respects the terms of the agreement.
Israel, however, has rejected any proposal that does not stipulate the complete disarmament of the group.
The proposal also provides for Hamas to completely withdraw from the administration of Gaza, including its police. The management of the territory would be entrusted to an interim committee formed by Egypt, which would also oversee the training of security forces under this body. Regarding humanitarian aid, the discussions have explored several options, including distribution by an American security company or by tribal groups in Gaza not affiliated with Hamas or other armed organizations. A source within the Hamas leadership stressed that the organization’s “red lines” concern “handing over weapons and partial agreements, considered non-serious as they lack real guarantees.”
The post Egypt Demands Hamas Clarify Status of Hostages in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Missle from Yemen Targets Dead Sea Area
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands in front of an F-35 stealth fighter at the IAF’s Nevatim base, July 9, 2019. Photo: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO.
i24 News – The Israel Defense Forces said that a Houthi missile was intercepted outside of Israeli territory, although sirens blared in the eastern Negev and Dead Sea area. The Yemen-based, Iran-backed terrorist group said that they had targeted the Nevatim airbase.
The post Missle from Yemen Targets Dead Sea Area first appeared on Algemeiner.com.