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As Iran’s Nuclear Program Is Attacked, the Palestinian Authority Is Turning Against It
Smoke rises following an Israeli attack in Tehran, Iran, June 18, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
In a rare open stance against Iran, a senior Palestinian Authority (PA) leader posted the following statement, ridiculing “foolish” Palestinians who support Iran:
“You must be in favor of Iran, otherwise you are in favor of the Zionists.” The logic of foolish people from the era of the Muslim Brotherhood that has passed from the world.”
[Former PLO official Adnan Al-Damiri, Facebook page, June 17, 2025]
The mention of the Muslim Brotherhood by the former official spokesman of the PA Security Forces, Adnan Al-Damiri, is a reference to Hamas, which is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood founded in Egypt, as well as a terror proxy of Iran.
Al-Damiri’s statement is mocking both Hamas’ continued support for its patron, and Iran itself.
The Palestinian Authority and its officials have been silent regarding Israel’s war on Iran’s nuclear program since June 13. However, in an apparent declaration of taking sides against Iran and calling for regime change, the official PA daily reprinted on its front page the following call by the son of Iran’s late shah, Reza Pahlavi (who lives in the US), to Iran’s security forces to “abandon” the Iranian regime and “join the people.”
This report was published first by AFP:
Headline: “The son of Iran’s shah calls on the security forces to break away from the state”
“Washington (AFP) – The son of Iran’s late shah appealed Friday to the country’s security forces to abandon the cleric-run state, voicing hope for toppling the Islamic republic after Israel launched military strikes.
…
‘I have told the military, police, and security forces: break from the regime. Honor the oath of any honorable serviceman. Join the people.’
‘To the international community: do not throw yet another lifeline to this dying, terrorist regime,’ he said.
Pahlavi was crown prince in Iran’s pro-Western monarchy, which collapsed in 1979 in a mass revolution that quickly brought to power the clerical establishment that declared an Islamic republic.
Pahlavi, who lives in exile near Washington, says he is not necessarily looking for the restoration of the monarchy and wants to use his name to support the movement for secular democracy.
Reza Pahlavi has also enjoyed warm relations with Israel, which he toured two years ago.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 15, 2025]
While the PA has not published any explicit position on Israel’s war against Iran’s nuclear program, the front-page article in the official PA daily containing an open call to side with the Iranian people and stop supporting the regime is a clear indication that while the PA will never publicly support Israel’s bombing to crush the Iranian regime, they will be ecstatic to see the backer of their political nemesis, Hamas, removed.
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has exposed the PA’s indirect criticism of Iran via its accusations against Hamas for “bringing hell on the Palestinian people” just to serve its Iranian “masters,” when it launched its terror war against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The PA has also mocked Iran for its ineffective missiles. When Iran launched hundreds of missiles against Israel in October 2024, the PA bragged that Palestinians kill Israelis more effectively than Iranian missiles do.
On the other hand, PMW reported last week that PA leader Abbas’ Fatah Party cheered the missiles falling on Israel, indicating that the PA’s signs of antagonism against Iran should not be interpreted as indicating any softening of its hatred of Israel.
The author is the founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post As Iran’s Nuclear Program Is Attacked, the Palestinian Authority Is Turning Against It first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Kurdish-led SDF Say Five Members Killed During Attack by Islamic State in Syria
Islamic State slogans painted along the walls of the tunnel was used by Islamic State militants as an underground training camp in the hillside overlooking Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017. Photo: via Reuters Connect.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Sunday that five of its members had been killed during an attack by Islamic State militants on a checkpoint in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zor on July 31.
The SDF was the main fighting force allied to the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated Islamic State in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The Islamic State has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia. Deir el-Zor city was captured by Islamic State in 2014, but the Syrian army retook it in 2017.
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Armed Groups Attack Security Force Personnel in Syria’s Sweida, Killing One, State TV Reports
People ride a motorcycle past a burned-out military vehicle, following deadly clashes between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes, and government forces, in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Armed groups attacked personnel from Syria’s internal security forces in Sweida, killing one member and wounding others, and fired shells at several villages in the violence-hit southern province, state-run Ekhbariya TV reported on Sunday.
The report cited a security source as saying the armed groups had violated the ceasefire agreed in the predominantly Druze region, where factional bloodshed killed hundreds of people last month.
Violence in Sweida erupted on July 13 between tribal fighters and Druze factions. Government forces were sent to quell the fighting, but the bloodshed worsened, and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops in the name of the Druze.
The Druze are a minority offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Sweida province is predominantly Druze but is also home to Sunni tribes, and the communities have had long-standing tensions over land and other resources.
A US-brokered truce ended the fighting, which had raged in Sweida city and surrounding towns for nearly a week. Syria said it would investigate the clashes, setting up a committee to investigate the attacks.
The Sweida bloodshed last month was a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, after a wave of sectarian violence in March that killed hundreds of Alawite citizens in the coastal region.
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Netanyahu Urges Red Cross to Aid Gaza Hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke with the International Red Cross’s regional head, Julien Lerisson, and requested his involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza.