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Report: Khamenei Agrees to Postpone Attack on Israel; US Opens Hotline
Iran’s President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian attends a Muharram mourning ceremony in Tehran, Iran July 12, 2024. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian reportedly convinced Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to postpone the expected attack on Israel, according to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida on Sunday.
In addition, the US has reportedly opened a hotline with Iran, demanding Tehran delay its retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh by at least two weeks. Iran allegedly agreed, a result of the hotline opening over the weekend.
The US also proposed mechanisms to close security loopholes following the killing, Al-Jarida said, in exchange for the Tehran refraining from retaliating against Israel.
Israel has remained quiet on the targeted killing of the Hamas leader, even though it is widely blamed for his elimination.
Pezeshkian was successful in his pleas to delay the response by at least two weeks, as Khamenei reportedly is waiting for the new government to be approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Iran’s parliament. While the new government is scheduled to appear before the body on Tuesday, the representatives have two weeks to approve the ministers.
Citing an unnamed senior Iranian official, Al-Jarida claimed that Pezeshkian seeks to postpone Iran’s response while the US redoubles efforts to advance ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel. According to Iran and its proxies, they would also halt hostilities if Hamas agrees to a ceasefire.
The source added that Khamenei is against striking at Mossad elements in countries neighboring Iran, and clarified that the response must be within Israel. However, the source emphasized that no one in Iran, including Pezeshkian, can foresee what the Supreme Leader’s decision will be.
Iran also recently received a new message from the US, which was addressed to Khamenei, according to the same source. The US used the phrase “couple of weeks,” in a message clarifying that the US does not seek war with Iran. The intention of reinforced US military presence in the region is not to start a campaign, but to prevent one.
US President Joe Biden’s aims are said to focus on two main issues in the Middle East before the end of his term, first of all ending the war in the Gaza Strip, with the administration applying serious pressure on Israel to accept a ceasefire. Any military escalation in the region would be detrimental for the negotiations. The sources added that the second issue remains Iran’s nuclear development, calling on Tehran to immediately return to negotiations in Oman and continue discussing ways to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
The post Report: Khamenei Agrees to Postpone Attack on Israel; US Opens Hotline first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.