Iran’s president says U.S. memorandum is best path out of war

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday defended the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States in mid-June as the best way to move beyond a situation of “neither war nor peace.”

“There is not a single provision in this agreement that amounts to capitulation,” Pezeshkian said in a speech published by state-run IRNA early Sunday. “The supreme leader sets the policies, and we will follow that path.”

The memorandum of understanding opened a 60-day period for talks aimed at ending the war and reaching an accord on Iran’s nuclear program. That period ended last week with no signs of compromise, especially on the crucial issue of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, vital to global shipping. The strait had been an open, international waterway before the war.

Pezeshkian said his country can’t attract investment in this stalled phase. Nearly six months after the war began, Iran’s economy is suffering under sanctions and a U.S. naval blockade.

Pakistan’s army chief to visit Tehran

Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir will lead a delegation to Tehran on Monday, Iranian state television reported, citing Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei.

Two regional officials said the visit was part of Islamabad’s efforts to de-escalate tensions between the United States and Iran and urge them to return to the negotiating table. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Iranian protester executed

The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported the latest execution connected to nationwide antigovernment protests early this year, saying Majid Adineh was arrested Jan. 9 in Mohammadshahr, west of Tehran.

The judiciary said forensic examinations indicated the handgun found on him had been fired on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9. Mizan said Adineh had joined the protest following calls by groups opposed to Iran’s government and alleged that he had received training from groups outside the country.

A Revolutionary Court in Karaj convicted Adineh under Iran’s law imposing harsher penalties for espionage and cooperation with hostile states. Mizan said the verdict accused him of carrying out operations on behalf of Israel, the United States and groups Iran considers hostile.

Prior to the latest execution, Iran had executed at least 56 people on national security-related charges since mid-March, including 27 in cases linked to the pro-democracy protests, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a report issued early this month.

“I am alarmed by the rise in executions and death sentences issued in Iran since March and that capital punishment continues to be used to instill fear among the population and suppress dissent,” Turk said in the report.

Israeli teen settler arrested in beating of amputee

Elsewhere in the Middle East, police arrested a 16-year-old boy from the Israeli settlement of Avigayil in the beating of a 61-year-old Palestinian man. Saeed Muhammad Ibrahim Rabah was struck with a pipe outside his home in the occupied West Bank, a year after he lost a leg after being shot by a settler.

Rabah told the Associated Press that two settlers arrived at his home in Khirbet al-Rakeez on Saturday afternoon. One struck him on his back when he approached, Rabah said. He called the violence an effort to make families leave.

“We will remain, no matter what happens,” he said after filing a police report. “This is our land and this is our homeland, and we must protect it.”

Separately, the Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said a 14-year-old in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus was shot dead by Israeli forces, which did not immediately comment. Nehad Ajouri, uncle of the victim, Islam Maher Ajouri, called the shooting indiscriminate.

Also in the West Bank, Israel’s military said it had detained a suspect in a stabbing attack that wounded a 24-year-old Israeli man in the area of Al-Auja. Israel’s emergency services said the man was taken to a hospital and was in “moderate” condition.

Airstrike in Gaza kills a 4-year-old

Four-year-old Mohammed Taha died after an Israeli airstrike hit a house in central Gaza on Sunday, hospital authorities said. The strike in Zawaida also wounded at least five other people, including a child, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the casualties.

The military later said it struck and killed a Hamas commander in central Gaza. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital confirmed that the man named in the statement, Ismail Abu Ful, was killed.

An Israeli strike in southern Gaza wounded at least seven people, including three children, according to health officials at Nasser Hospital. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Also, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz in a statement said he instructed the military to “act immediately and forcefully” to prevent launches of balloons, kites or drones from Gaza toward nearby Israeli communities.

“We view every launch as an act of war in every respect,” he said.

Before the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led militants on Israel — when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage — burning kites and balloons were sent from Gaza into southern Israel, causing fires and other damage.

While the heaviest fighting has subsided since a fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war took hold in October, Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes, killing more than 1,280 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza.

The Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It doesn’t give a breakdown of civilians and militants.