World Echo

United States political commentator and journalist Tucker Carlson claimed on Monday that Saudi Arabia and Qatar had apprehended and “arrested Israeli Mossad agents planning bombings in those countries.” “Why would the Israelis be committing bombings in Gulf countries, which are also being attacked by Iran?” Carlson said on his show. “Aren’t they on the same side?” “Israel wants to hurt Iran — and Qatar, and the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, and Oman and Kuwait,” he added. Carlson also claimed that Israel intentionally foments instability among the US Arab allies. The recent comments come as the US and Israel continue their military strikes on Iran, following a joint operation on Saturday that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking officials. Iran said schools and hospitals have also been targeted, killing hundreds of civilians. In the opening wave of attacks, about 163 girls were killed when a school in southern Iran was struck. Tehran responded by t...

World War III will break out if United States President Donald Trump "continues his insane course of criminally changing political regimes", the deputy chairman of Russia's powerful Security Council said on Monday. Speaking in an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS, Dmitry Medvedev described Washington's actions as "a war by the US and its allies to preserve global dominance". "If Trump continues his insane course of criminally changing political regimes, it will undoubtedly begin. And any event could be the trigger. Any event," he warned. According to Medvedev's assessment, the vulnerability of US and Israeli officials "has significantly increased" since Iran declared a holy war. "The fact that the Iranians haven't responded too seriously yet means they don't have many opportunities. But they know how to wait; they are an ancient civilisation," he said. Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 20...

United States President Donald Trump said it was "sad to see" the relationship with Britain was "not what it was" after Prime Minister Keir Starmer initially held off giving military support to the strikes against Iran. Trump said the likes of France had been more supportive and said he had never expected to see the once "most solid of all" relationships change in this way. "It's very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was," Trump told the Sun newspaper on Tuesday, his second interview to a British newspaper in as many days where he criticised the British leader. Starmer said late on Sunday that he would allow the US to use British military bases for defensive strikes after they were not used in the initial attack on Iran. Trump said the US did not need Britain to wage war in the Middle East but added: "It's not going to matter, but (Starmer) should have helped… he should have.” "I mean, France has been gr...

A whopping 93% of netizens have condemned the joint US-Israeli military action in Iran, shows an online poll released by China Global Television Network (CGTN), calling it a violation of Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. Respondents urged an immediate halt to military operations to prevent further escalation. The US-Israeli strike occurred amid ongoing diplomatic negotiations between Washington and Tehran. According to the survey, 86.8 per cent of respondents criticised the US for intensifying military deterrence during talks, describing it as an example of “American hegemony.” They argued that such actions undermine international law and diminish the prospects for resolving disputes through diplomacy. A total of 79.8 per cent of respondents agreed that force is not an effective means of settling international disputes, warning that military pressure often deepens hostility and narrows space for negotiation rather than resolving core differences. Also Read: Gu...

Saudi Arabia has denied allegations that it lobbied US President Donald Trump to carry out military strikes against Iran, dismissing recent media reports as false, the Saudi Gazette reported on Monday. Fahad Nazer, spokesperson for the Saudi Embassy in Washington, said the kingdom has consistently backed diplomatic efforts aimed at securing a credible agreement with Tehran. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been consistent in supporting diplomatic efforts to reach a credible deal with Iran,” Nazer said in a statement posted on social media. “At no point in all our communication with the Trump administration did we lobby the president to adopt a different policy.” Read: Pakistan stands in full solidarity with Saudi Arabia, Gulf countries: PM Nazer’s comments came in response to a report by The Washington Post, which cited four people familiar with the matter as saying President Trump authorised strikes on Iran following weeks of lobbying by Israel and Saudi Arabia. The report added that ...

US and Israeli military strikes on Iran will reinforce the nuclear ambitions of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, say experts and former officials, as attention focuses on whether he might return to negotiations with President Donald Trump. Talks to tackle Pyongyang's arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, subject to heavy international sanctions, broke down despite summits between Kim and Trump in 2018 and 2019, but the attacks on Iran could spur it to reconsider. The Iran strikes, which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, came two months after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, another leader without a nuclear deterrent, was captured in a raid by US special forces ordered by Trump. "Kim must have thought Iran was attacked like that because it didn't have nuclear weapons," said Song Seong-jong, a professor at Daejeon University and a former official of South Korea's Defence Ministry. The military operation was inevitable, given the "he...