Tuesday Briefing: What’s Subsequent for Iran

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Iran’s leaders transfer to mission stability after the president’s demise

The Iranian authorities have aimed to mission order and management after President Ebrahim Raisi and International Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian had been killed in a helicopter crash. The supreme chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, mentioned that the primary vice chairman, Mohammad Mokhber, would assume the position of appearing president and should arrange elections inside 50 days.

Right here is the most recent.

Raisi’s demise not solely units the stage for brand new presidential elections but additionally opens a brand new chapter of instability for the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s long-simmering shadow struggle with Israel burst out into the open after the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas, and the international locations traded direct assaults. Domestically, many Iranians are calling for an finish to clerical rule, and corruption and worldwide sanctions have ravaged the economic system. Khamenei is 85 and in declining well being. Raisi, a conservative who crushed dissent, had been seen as a doable successor.

Crash particulars: Iranian state media blamed a “technical failure.” Some recommended that a long time of worldwide sanctions performed a job by stopping Iran from shopping for new Western planes or spare elements.

Evaluation: Iran’s subsequent leaders — who’re virtually sure to be hard-liners — should select whether or not they may proceed to function with warning of their confrontations with the U.S.

Arrest warrants searched for Israeli and Hamas leaders

Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the Worldwide Prison Court docket, has requested arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s chief in Gaza. Khan desires to cost the 2 with crimes in opposition to humanity in reference to the struggle in Gaza and the Oct. 7 assault.

The prosecutor additionally utilized for warrants for Israel’s protection minister, Yoav Gallant, in addition to Muhammad Deif, Hamas’s army chief, and Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s Qatar-based political chief.

Judges should approve Khan’s request, however Israel isn’t a member of the court docket and doesn’t acknowledge its jurisdiction in Israel or Gaza, making this a largely symbolic gesture. If warrants are issued, these named may very well be arrested in any of the court docket’s 124 member nations, which embody most European international locations however not the U.S.

Response: President Biden condemned Khan’s determination to hunt warrants for Israeli and Hamas officers on the similar time. He mentioned that “no matter this prosecutor may indicate, there is no such thing as a equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.”

Particulars: Khan mentioned he believed that the members of Hamas named had been chargeable for homicide as a criminal offense in opposition to humanity, hostage taking, rape and torture for the Oct. 7 raid.

He additionally mentioned the Israeli leaders bore prison duty for struggle crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity, together with utilizing hunger as a weapon of struggle and “directing assaults in opposition to a civilian inhabitants.”

Prosecution rests in Trump’s trial

The marathon cross-examination of Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer and the important thing witness in his trial, ended yesterday. With that, the prosecution’s case concluded.

Cohen admitted to all method of unhealthy conduct, together with mendacity, bullying and theft from the Trump Group. Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche — who has elicited testimony from Cohen about mendacity underneath oath in previous circumstances — additionally sought to forged him as profiting off his affiliation with Trump.

What’s subsequent: Closing arguments will almost certainly not happen till subsequent Tuesday, in response to the decide.

Blanche recommended to the decide that the protection may name three witnesses. He didn’t point out Trump; the previous president may take the stand in his personal protection, however individuals near the case are skeptical that he’ll. Right here’s how the remainder of the trial may play out.

Muslims in India are struggling to stay and lift their youngsters in what’s now a largely Hindu-first nation. They know India’s leaders don’t need them. They battle to lease properties and really feel expensive buddies pulling away. Their neighbors are chilly. They surprise if they need to go away for good.

“It’s a lifeless life,” mentioned Ziya Us Salam, a author who lives on the outskirts of Delhi together with his household.

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