Headline

UK Slams Fresh Sanctions On Iran After Israel Attack

Published

1 year ago

April 25, 2024

The UK on Thursday joined the United States and Canada in announcing a fresh set of sanctions against Iran’s drone and missile industries after its recent attack on Israel.

Tehran launched its first direct military assault on Israeli territory in retaliation for an April 1 air strike — widely blamed on Israel — that killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Damascus.

Iran’s large-scale attack involved more than 300 drones and missiles, most of which were shot down by Israel and its allies including Washington and London, causing little damage.

The United States and Britain announced widespread sanctions on Iran last week, targeting individuals and companies involved in the Iranian drone industry.

The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office said the latest sanctions would target two individuals and four companies closely involved in Iran’s network of drone production.

Trade sanctions against Iran would also be expanded by introducing new bans on the export of components used in its produce of drones and missiles, it added.

“The Iranian regime’s dangerous attack on Israel risked thousands of civilian casualties and wider escalation in the region,” Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a statement.

“Alongside our partners, we will continue to tighten the net on Iran’s ability to develop and export these deadly weapons.”

The UK already has over 400 sanctions imposed on Iran, including designations against the  Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety and many of those responsible for the attack on Israel.

– ‘Facilitating and financing’ –

The US Treasury Department also targeted Iran’s military drone program on Thursday, sanctioning more than a dozen individuals, companies and ships it said played a key role in “facilitating and financing” clandestine sales of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the country’s defence ministry.

“Iran’s Ministry of Defence continues to destabilise the region and world with its support to Russia’s war in Ukraine, unprecedented attack on Israel, and proliferation of UAVs and other dangerous military hardware to terrorist proxies,” US Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

“The United States, in close coordination with our British and Canadian partners, will continue to use all means available to combat those who would finance Iran’s destabilising activities,” he added.

Thursday’s joint sanctions come a week after Washington targeted 16 people and two companies involved in Iran’s UAV programme, as well as components for the drones used in the attack against Israel.

The UK government separately targeted seven individuals and six companies for enabling Iran to continue its “destabilising regional activity, including its direct attack on Israel.”

Alongside its sanctions against Iran’s UAV program, the US also targeted five companies providing parts for Iran’s steel industry, and an automaker involved in providing “material support” to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The European Union imposed its own set of sanctions on Iran on Wednesday during a summit in Brussels.

Headline

Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

AFP

Headline

20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Headline

South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP