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UNHCR chief pledges support for IDPs during Kandahar visit

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The United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees, during a visit to Kandahar this week, said that UNHCR will assist Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the southern Afghan province to return to their homes.

Filippo Grandi said this after meeting with local officials in Kandahar.

“We agreed that the main priority is to try to help everybody who is displaced to go back to their homes. I know that in Kandahar province and in the south of Afghanistan there are many people still displaced, I know that many are going home, so we are here to help you achieve that,” Grandi said.

The UN high commissioner also welcomed the opening of schools for Afghan girls and boys.

“Your message on education is very important and I heard the same message yesterday in Kabul. I understand that the schools will reopen after the winter break, and this universal education will be a great message,” Grandi said.

Local officials in Kandahar meanwhile demanded execution of development projects in remote areas of the province.

“Such work should be continued especially for people in the districts. Most of the population are living in districts and they face enormous problems. There is no clinic in Registan district,” said Mohammad Yousuf Wafa, the governor of Kandahar province.

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Iran’s Khamenei cites need to further develop Iran’s military after Trump threats

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday questioned U.S. sincerity in seeking talks with Tehran while imposing tougher sanctions echoing those Trump implemented during his first, 2017-21 term in office.

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Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday Iran should further develop its military, including its missiles, after U.S. President Donald Trump made threats of force against Tehran if it refused to negotiate over its nuclear programme, Reuters reported.

Khamenei spoke a day after Iran’s U.N. ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, condemned what he called “reckless and inflammatory statements” by Trump in interviews with the New York Post and Fox News in which he said he preferred doing a deal to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear weapon to bombing the country.

“Progress should not be stopped, we cannot be satisfied (with our current level). Say that we previously set a limit for the accuracy of our missiles, but we now feel this limit is no longer enough. We have to go forward,” Khamenei said, citing a need to focus on innovation in the Iranian military.

“Today, our defensive power is well-known, our enemies are afraid of this. This is very important for our country,” he added after visiting a Tehran exhibition showcasing the latest developments in Iran’s defence sector.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said that during the exhibition a jet-powered “suicide drone” – loitering munitions that hover over targets – was unveiled with imagery of a submarine-launched kamikaze drone displayed for the first time, read the report.

Tehran insists its ballistic missile programme is purely defensive but it is seen in the West as a destabilising factor in a volatile, conflict-ridden region.

Khamenei, who said on Friday that talks with the United States were “not smart, wise or honourable”, made no mention of Trump in his remarks on Wednesday

Trump last week restored his “maximum pressure”, policy towards Iran that includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero to push the Islamic Republic into a deal that would severely constrain its disputed nuclear programme.

Western powers have long suspected that Iran’s uranium enrichment programme is a disguised project to develop nuclear bomb material. Iran denies this, saying it seeks nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday questioned U.S. sincerity in seeking talks with Tehran while imposing tougher sanctions echoing those Trump implemented during his first, 2017-21 term in office.

Iravani, Tehran’s United Nations ambassador, wrote in a letter to the U.N. Security Council that the Trump administration’s policy “reinforces unlawful, unilateral coercive measures and escalates hostility against Iran.”

Though Iran has long denied nuclear weapon ambitions, it is “dramatically” accelerating its enrichment of uranium to 60% fissile purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief told Reuters in December, Reuters reported.

Tehran has in recent months announced new additions to its conventional weaponry, such as its first drone carrier and an underground naval base amid rising tensions with the U.S. and its regional arch-enemy Israel.

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Iran alerts UN to Trump threat of force, says it will defend itself

Iravani urged the U.N. Security Council to condemn Trump’s brazen rhetoric.

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Iran alerted the United Nations on Tuesday to what it described as “reckless and inflammatory statements” by U.S. President Donald Trump threatening the use of force, and warned that “any act of aggression will have severe consequences.”

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, seen by Reuters, Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani referenced remarks made by Trump in interviews with the New York Post and Fox News, in which he spoke of a preference to do a deal to stop Tehran getting a nuclear weapon over bombing the country, Reuters reported.

“These reckless and inflammatory statements flagrantly violate international law and the U.N. Charter,” Iravani wrote to the 15-member council.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran warns that any act of aggression will have severe consequences, for which the U.S. will bear full responsibility,” he said. “Iran will resolutely defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national interests against any hostile action.”

Trump last week restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in order to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He also said he was open to a deal and expressed a willingness to talk to Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, read the report.

Pezeshkian on Monday questioned the United States’ sincerity, while Iravani wrote in his letter that the U.S. policy “reinforces unlawful, unilateral coercive measures and escalates hostility against Iran.”

Iravani urged the U.N. Security Council to condemn Trump’s “brazen rhetoric.”

Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, it is “dramatically” accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief told Reuters in December.

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Egypt to host emergency Arab summit to discuss ‘serious’ Palestinian developments

Trump’s suggestion, made at a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week.

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Egypt will host an emergency Arab summit on 27 February to discuss what it described as “serious” developments for Palestinians, according to a statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry on Sunday.

The summit comes amid regional and global condemnation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion to “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.

Trump’s suggestion, made at a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, infuriated the Arab world, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — key allies of Washington.

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