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Khamenei Officially Endorses Alleged Moderate as Iran’s President
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gives a Presidential decree to Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, during an endorsement ceremony in Tehran, Iran, July 28, 2024. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iran’s supreme leader formally endorsed Masoud Pezeshkian as the country’s president on Sunday, after he won an election this month by pledging a pragmatic foreign policy and easing repression at home.
Pezeshkian, an alleged moderate who will be sworn in on Tuesday, is taking office at a time of escalating Middle East tensions over the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran warned its arch foe Israel on Sunday against what it called any new adventure in Lebanon, after Israeli authorities blamed Hezbollah for a rocket attack on Saturday that hit a football ground in the Golan Heights killing 12 people, and vowed to inflict a heavy response.
Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the strike.
In a ceremony broadcast live on state television, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave his approval for Pezeshkian, and in a speech afterwards, the supreme leader reiterated Iran’s longstanding anti-Israel stance.
“The Zionist regime (Israel) is not a state, it is a criminal gang, a bank of killers, and a terrorist band,” Khamenei said in his speech, while praising the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas for its resistance against Israel in Gaza.
With the supreme leader calling the shots on all state matters, Pezeshkian is not expected to usher in major shifts on Iran’s policies like Tehran’s support for terrorist groups across the region.
The top authority in regional policy is not the president, but the powerful Revolutionary Guards, who answer only to Khamenei.
Pezeshkian’s victory lifted hopes of a thaw in Iran’s antagonistic relations with the West that might create openings for defusing its nuclear dispute with world powers.
But as the ultimate authority in Iran, Khamenei has the final say in all state matters like the country’s foreign and nuclear policy as well as Pezeshkian’s upcoming selections for key cabinet posts, such as the foreign, oil and intelligence ministers.
As the clerical establishment faces growing public discontent over economic hardships, Pezeshkian’s top economic goal will be breaking free of the crippling U.S. sanctions, reimposed after Washington ditched Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.
“In response to global issues, we should act proactively and effectively … priorities must be observed, today (on domestic front) the priority is economic issues,” said Khamenei.
Pezeshkian is replacing hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in May.
The post Khamenei Officially Endorses Alleged Moderate as Iran’s President first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Readies for a Nationwide Strike on Sunday
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are calling on for a general strike to be held on Sunday in an effort to compel the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal with Hamas for the release of their loved ones and a ceasefire. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
The October 7 Council and other groups representing bereaved families of hostages and soldiers who fell since the start of the war declared they were “shutting down the country to save the soldiers and the hostages.”
While many businesses said they would join the strike, Israel’s largest labor federation, the Histadrut, has declined to participate.
Some of the country’s top educational institutions, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, declared their support for the strike.
“We, the members of the university’s leadership, deans, and department heads, hereby announce that on Sunday, each and every one of us will participate in a personal strike as a profound expression of solidarity with the hostage families,” the Hebrew University’s deal wrote to students.
The day will begin at 6:29 AM, to commemorate the start of the October 7 attack, with the first installation at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Further demonstrations are planned at dozens of traffic intersections.
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Netanyahu ‘Has Become a Problem,’Says Danish PM as She Calls for Russia-Style Sanctions Against Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem,” his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said Saturday, adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war.
“Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen told Danish media, adding that the Israeli government is going “too far” and lashing out at the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and announced new homes in the West Bank.
“We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained the support of EU members,” she said, specifying she referred to “political pressure, sanctions, whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole.”
“We are not ruling anything out in advance. Just as with Russia, we are designing the sanctions to target where we believe they will have the greatest effect.”
The devastating war in Gaza began almost two years ago, with an incursion into Israel of thousands of Palestinian armed jihadists, who perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
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As Alaska Summit Ends With No Apparent Progress, Zelensky to Meet Trump on Monday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the press conference after the opening session of Crimea Platform conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 August 2023. The Crimea Platform – is an international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine. OLEG PETRASYUK/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – After US President Donald Trump hailed the “great progress” made during a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he was set to meet Trump on Monday at the White House.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump told reporters during a joint press conference after the meeting.
Many observers noted, however, that the subsequent press conference was a relatively muted affair compared to the pomp and circumstance of the red carpet welcome, and the summit produced no tangible progress.
Trump and Putin spoke briefly, with neither taking questions, and offered general statements about an “understanding” and “progress.”
Putin, who spoke first, agreed with Trump’s long-repeated assertion that Russia never would have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Trump been president instead of Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump said “many points were agreed to” and that “just a very few” issues were left to resolve, offering no specifics and making no reference to the ceasefire he’s been seeking.