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WORLD NEWS Thursday 12 sepTember 2024
IIran’s president slams the West over the war in Gaza and support

for Israel

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA told reporters during a
Associated Press joint news conference
BAGHDAD (AP) — Ira- with Pezeshkian that the
nian President Masoud two neighboring countries
Pezeshkian on Wednesday on Wednesday signed 14
slammed the West, saying memorandums of under-
that Israel is “committing standing to boost relations.
massacres” in the war in He also pledged that Iraq’s
Gaza and using European airspace will not be used
and American weapons to for attacks on the Islamic
do so. Republic an apparent ref-
Pezeshkian, who spoke in erence to Israel.
Baghdad at the start of his Pezeshkian, who was sworn
first visit abroad since taking in as Iran’s new president
office, is hoping to cement in July, is also to visit Shiite
Tehran’s ties to Baghdad as shrines in the Iraqi holy cit-
regional tensions increas- ies of Karbala and Najaf, a
ingly pull both majority Shi- railroad project to link the
ite countries into the widen- southern city of Basra to
ing Middle East fray. Iran and Irbil, the capital
Iran has been a staunch of Iraq’s semiautonomous
supporter of the Palestinian northern Kurdish region.
militant Hamas group since Still, there have been ten-
its Oct. 7 attack on south- sions between Iran and
ern Israel that sparked the ranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Iraq, particularly after Ira-
unseen, at the government palace in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024.
war in the Gaza Strip. More Associated Press nian missiles hit sites in Iraq
than 40,000 Palestinians in attacks over the past six
have been killed in Gaza added, without elaborat- cause of the explosion. It relationship with Tehran, years, targeting Kurdish mi-
since the war erupted, ac- ing. didn’t provide further de- which backs powerful Shi- litias, a base housing Amer-
cording to local health of- Ahead of Pezeshkian’s ar- tails. ite militias in the country, ican forces and also what
ficials. The war has also rival, an explosion struck a Pezeshkian’s visit is signifi- as well as with the United Tehran alleged were Israeli
caused vast destruction site near Baghdad Inter- cant for both countries. States, which maintains sites in Iraq.
and displaced around 90% national Airport used by For Iran, its relationship with a force of 2,500 troops in Iran also fired missiles and
of Gaza’s population of 2.3 the U.S. military on Tuesday Iraq remains crucial for Iraq that remain in battle flew drones over Iraq in its
million, often multiple times. night. There were no re- economic, political and with remnants of the once- unprecedented direct at-
“The Israeli entity is com- ported casualties and the religious reasons something dominant extremist Islamic tack on Israel in April. That
mitting massacres against circumstances of the ex- that has especially been State group. attack followed a suspect-
women, children, young plosion were unclear. true since the U.S.-led 2003 The American troops re- ed Israeli strike on an Irani-
men and elderly. They The U.S. Embassy later de- invasion of Iraq toppled main both a literal and an diplomatic compound
bomb hospitals and scribed it as an “attack” on dictator Saddam Hussein, rhetoric target for Iran, par- in Damascus, Syria, that
schools,” Pezeshkian said. the Baghdad Diplomatic who launched a bloody, ticularly as Israel’s nearly killed two Iranian generals
“All these crimes are being Services Compound, an yearslong war against Iran year-old war on Hamas in and five officers, as well as
committed by using Euro- American diplomatic facil- in the 1980s. Gaza grinds on. a member of the Lebanese
pean and American am- ity, and that it was “assess- Baghdad, meanwhile, has Iraq’s Prime Minister Mo- Shiite militia Hezbollah, an
munition and bombs,” he ing the damage” and the been trying to balance its hammed Shia al-Sudani Iranian ally.q

Albania’s former prime minister Sali Berisha is formally charged

with corruption

By LLAZAR SEMINI the opposition Democratic file of evidence, some 500
Associated Press Party, has been under pages long, that he called
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — For- house arrest since Decem- “lies.”
mer Albanian Prime Minis- ber after he violated a pre- Malltezi, who is also in-
ter Sali Berisha on Wednes- vious requirement to check volved in politics alongside
day said he was formally in with the authorities ev- his business interests, was
charged with corruption in ery two weeks. He was also called Wednesday to
connection with a property also barred from traveling be informed that he was
deal, describing the move abroad. formally charged with cor-
as politically motivated. Berisha went on Wednes- ruption. In December Par-
In October, prosecutors day to the special pros- liament stripped Berisha of
publicly put him under in- ecutors’ office, known his legal immunity.
vestigation for allegedly as the Special Structure The former prime minister
abusing his post to help Against and Organized has criticized the investiga-
his son-in-law, Jamarber Crime, where he was told tion and his arrest as politi-
Malltezi, privatize public the charges against him for cal repression ordered by
land to build 17 apartment about half an hour. He said Sali Berisha, the leader of the Albanian opposition center-right Prime Minister Edi Rama,
Democratic Party, speaks in Tirana, Albania , Tuesday, Dec. 6,
buildings in the capital, Ti- he was called as a defen- 2022. the leader of the governing
rana. Berisha, 79, who leads dant and was handed a Associated Press leftwing Socialist Party.q