Protesters storm Saudi TV channel in Iraq over labelling Hamas, fighters in region ‘terrorists’
Protests have stormed and ransacked the offices of a Saudi television channel in Baghdad after the broadcaster reportedly aired a segment that referred to fighters in the region, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iraqi Mobilisation Forces, as “terrorists”.
French news agency AFP reports that between 400 and 500 people attacked the studios of Saudi broadcaster MBC in the early hours of this morning.
“They wrecked the electronic equipment, the computers, and set fire to a part of the building,” an Iraqi interior ministry source told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding the fire had been extinguished and the crowd dispersed by police.
Iran’s FM says anyone who knows ‘how and when Israel will attack Iran’ is accountable
Iran’s foreign minister made the remarks responding to comments by President Biden who said on Friday that he had an understanding of how and when Israel was going to retaliate against missile attacks by Iran.
“Anybody with knowledge or understanding of ‘how and when Israel was going to attack Iran’, and/or providing the means and backing for such folly, should logically be held accountable for any possible causality,” Araghchi said on X.
Iran hosts joint naval drills with Russia and Oman
Naval drills hosted by Iran with the participation of Russia and Oman and observed by nine other countries have begun in the Indian Ocean, according to Iran’s state TV.
The report said that the exercises, dubbed “IMEX 2024”, are aimed at boosting “collective security in the region, expand multilateral cooperation, and display the goodwill and capabilities to safeguard peace, friendship and maritime security”.
The exercises coincide with heightened tensions in the region as Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon rages and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group retaliates by launching attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
Iran sending message that ‘they don’t want war’
Hassan Barari, professor of international affairs at Qatar University, says there are several goals Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is trying to accomplish during his regional tour.
“One thing that he’s trying to maybe send messages to the Americans, because he had been in Qatar, in Saudi Arabia, in Jordan, in Egypt, and in Turkey,” he told Al Jazeera. “The Iranians want to send a message that, hey, they don’t want to have a war, they don’t want to widen the conflict, but at the same time, they will defend themselves.”
Barari said during his visits to Jordan and Iraq, Araghchi would have likely discussed airspace. “Will Israel use the airspace of Jordan, for instance, to attack Iran? Jordanians are saying they will prevent that. So the Iranians want to make sure that Jordan is not on board,” he said.
Araghchi would also have discussed Israel during his trip to Saudi Arabia, Barari said. “They want to make sure that the Saudis will not join Israeli effort,” he added. “What the Iranians are trying to say … is that you have to be careful that widening the conflict is not in the interest of everyone in the region – not only Iran, but also Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, and the Gulf.”
