More than 60 rescue teams using search dogs and drones were sent to the mountainous protected forest area of Dizmar near the town of Varzaghan, the IRNA news agency reported.
International
Court orders US to pay $50bn for Soleimani assassination
Court orders US to pay $50bn for Soleimani assassination
An Iranian court looking into the killing of IRGC’s Quds commander Qassem Soleimani has awarded damages of almost $50bn against the US government and linked individuals and bodies.
Judicial officials also demanded an apology for the killing of the Soleimani in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport in January 2020.
Then US president Donald Trump justified the action by saying that Soleimani was actively planning attacks on American diplomats and service members in the region. Trump also claimed the veteran regime commander was already “directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of millions of people”.
Now the 55th Branch of the Legal Court of International Relations of the Tehran Justice Department has ruled against the US government and 41 other individuals and entities, ordering them to pay a sum of $49.77 billion in connection with the killing.
READ ALSO:
- Joshua warned over fight against Wilder
- Excitement as Jetour Steals the Show at Abuja Motor Fair
- Doctor nabbed for allegedly killing 20-yr-old lady, selling her baby
The court also ordered that the US government and the others held responsible for Soleimani’s death should issue a formal apology, with instructions to publish it in a widely circulated newspaper.
The sentence comes after judicial officials had ruled in favor of more than 3,000 plaintiffs who had filed complaints claiming that they had suffered damages as a result of Soleimani’s death.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian previously stated in January that nearly 60 US officials had been blacklisted by Tehran for their involvement in the assassination of Soleimani.
Both Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have repeatedly vowed revenge for the killing of Soleimani.
Since Soleimani’s death, a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has been charged with planning to assassinate John Bolton, the former US National Security Advisor, as retaliation for the military commander’s killing. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also identified as a potential target in the same plot.
Qassem Soleimani played a crucial role in Iran’s external military and intelligence operations, overseeing support and organization of militant proxy forces, including Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militia groups engaged in hostilities against US forces in the region.
Court orders US to pay $50bn for Soleimani assassination
International
Updated: Iran President Raisi confirmed dead in helicopter crash
Updated: Iran President Raisi confirmed dead in helicopter crash
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has been confirmed dead in a helicopter crash that occurred on Sunday.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also among those killed, along with seven others.
Iran’s Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand said rescue teams headed towards the site of the crash after locating the aircraft.
He said, “The helicopter has been found. Now, we are moving toward the helicopter,” said Koolivand. “We are seeing the helicopter. The situation is not good.”
“Upon finding the helicopter, there was no sign of the helicopter passengers being alive as of yet,” state TV reported about 15 hours after the aircraft went missing.
Iranian media including Fars news agency also shared drone images of what appeared to be the wreckage of the helicopter.
Raisi’s death comes at a moment in the Middle East, with war raging in Gaza.
The helicopter crashed weeks after Iran launched a drone-and-missile attack on Israel in response to a deadly strike on its diplomatic compound in Damascus.
Raisi became president in a historically uncompetitive election in 2021. Previously the chief justice, he oversaw a period of intensified repression of dissent in a nation convulsed by youth-led protests against clerical rule.
He was the second-most powerful person in the Islamic Republic’s political structure after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini.
The Iranian Constitution mandates that, in the case of the president’s death, the first vice president assumes office with the approval of the Supreme Leader.
Iran was thrown into uncertainty Sunday as search and rescue teams scoured a fog-shrouded mountain area after President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter went missing in what state media described as an “accident”.
Fears grew for the 63-year-old ultraconservative after contact was lost in East Azerbaijan province, reports said.
The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged Iranians to “not worry” about the leadership of the Islamic republic, saying “there will be no disruption in the country’s work”.
READ ALSO:
- Ronaldo shows off £1.4m diamond watch during Usyk, Fury fight
- Minimum Wage: Labour returns for negotiation with FG Tuesday, looks beyond N100,000
- Despite Arsenal win, Man City clinch 4th historic straight EPL victory (+other final results)
“We hope that Almighty God will bring our dear president and his companions back in full health into the arms of the nation,” he said in a nationally televised address as Muslim faithful prayed for Raisi’s safe return.
Expressions of concern and offers to help came from abroad, including Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia, and Turkey, as well as from the European Union which activated its rapid response mapping service to aid in the search effort.
International
JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands
JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands
A helicopter carrying Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, has been involved in an plane crash on Sunday.
The incident happened while he was visiting neighbouring Azerbaijan, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on X on Sunday according to CNN.
“Some of the president’s companions on this helicopter were able to communicate with Central Headquarters, raising hopes that the incident could have ended without casualties,” it added.
READ ALSO:
- Mother, 2 kids, motorbike rider crushed to death in Osun
- Tension in Akwa Ibom over abduction of monarch
- Army foils coup to topple DR Congo president
It is unclear what the exact status is of Raisi’s helicopter.
The helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters. Two of those helicopters were carrying ministers and officials who arrived at their destination safely, according to Tasnim.
“Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem, Tabriz’s Friday Prayer Imam, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were also reportedly on the helicopter with the president,” Tasnim said on X.
JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands
International
Biden may face pro-Palestine protests during address of US black voters
Biden may face pro-Palestine protests during address of US black voters
Joe Biden is likely to be greeted by protesters calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during his speech at the former university of Martin Luther King Jr in the United States president’s latest bid to attract Black voters.
Biden’s graduation speech on Sunday at Morehouse College in Atlanta in the election battleground state of Georgia is aimed at encouraging Black and young voters to help him win later this year against former President Donald Trump.
Those were two groups that helped him win the presidency in 2020, but have been increasingly dissatisfied with him due to the handling of the war on Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians so far, mostly women and children.
The protests at Morehouse, a historically Black college, come after students called on the school to cancel Biden’s speech over his support for Israel despite the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The White House last week sent a senior official to meet students and faculty members at Morehouse to discuss the objections to Biden’s speech, according to US broadcaster NBC News.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday said Biden sought to use the speech as “an opportunity to lift up and to give an important message to our future leaders”.
READ ALSO:
- I’ve never taken bribe since joining police in 2005 – Force PRO Adejobi
- Drake loses $565k after betting on Tyson Fury against Usyk
- Ronaldo tops Forbes, earning twice as much as Messi
Bernice King, the civil icon’s daughter, told Bloomberg in an interview last week that Black voters are “very disgruntled right now with the president” and that Biden risks losing a considerable share of their votes.
The civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) had said Biden should not speak at Morehouse.
“His team should have made the decision that this is not the right time to take the spotlight from Morehouse students to the president and his bad policy on Gaza,” CAIR’s Edward Ahmed Mitchell said.
The controversy over the Morehouse speech is coming after weeks of major protests at US universities, including the Atlanta college, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from Israel.
Biden said “order must prevail” on campuses, and police have made thousands of arrests across the US while attacking student encampments.
Protesters were arrested during a violent police crackdown in New York’s Brooklyn on Saturday, while hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Washington, DC to demand an end to bloodshed in Gaza and the arming of Israel by the US.
The protests, which have spread globally, are continuing amid the Israeli ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, along with a deadly incursion into Jabalia in the north.
Meanwhile, Israel is allowing very little aid into the enclave, and the US is proceeding with a much-criticised plan to deliver humanitarian assistance via a temporary floating pier.
Biden may face pro-Palestine protests during address of US black voters
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
-
metro3 days ago
Fire guts new NNPCL tank farm in Lagos
-
Sports24 hours ago
Flamingos thrash Burkinabe Girls 6-0 in U-17 World Cup qualifier
-
metro2 days ago
Updated: Many injured, shops destroyed in truck, BRT bus crash on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (PHOTOS)
-
metro2 days ago
Breaking: Women protest against return of armed Okuama youths (+ Photos)
-
News2 days ago
Nigeria will stop fuel importation by June – Dangote
-
Education1 day ago
Wigwe varsity becomes most expensive Nigerian university, unseats Nile, Baze
-
Africa18 hours ago
Army foils coup to topple DR Congo president
-
International17 hours ago
JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands