Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi

March 18, 2026 6:28 PM

Israel steps up Beirut strikes, vows to hit bridges in south

Israel stepped up airstrikes on Beirut on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people and destroying a 10-storey building near the city centre in the third week of its war with Hezbollah, Lebanese authorities said. Indicating further escalation in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said it would target bridges across the Litani River to prevent Hezbollah transferring fighters and weapons, and reiterated a warning for residents to leave the south. The Hezbollah-Israel conflict has become the dead...

March 18, 2026 2:42 PM

Iran says nuclear doctrine unlikely to change, Hormuz Strait needs new protocol

Iran's stance against the development of nuclear weapons will not significantly change, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Al Jazeera in remarks relayed by Iranian media on Wednesday, cautioning that the new supreme leader is yet to publicly express his view on the matter. Former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed early in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, opposed the development of weapons of mass destruction in a fatwa, or religious edict, issued in the early 2000s. West...

October 8, 2024 3:50 PM

Israel begins ground operations in southwest Lebanon as Iran sends warning

Israel's military said on Tuesday it had begun ground operations in southwest Lebanon, expanding its incursions to a new zone a year after exchanges of fire began with armed group Hezbollah and amid pleas by the U.N. for a diplomatic solution. The regional tensions triggered a year ago by Palestinian armed group Hamas's attack on southern Israel have spiralled to a string of Israeli operations by land and air over Lebanon and direct attacks by Iran onto Israeli military installati...