Global Pulse

分类： politics

  • Penny Wong dodges questions about Aussie refusal of ISIS brides

    Penny Wong dodges questions about Aussie refusal of ISIS brides

    A growing diplomatic and political controversy has emerged over the fate of 13 Australian citizens – nine children and four women – linked to former Islamic State fighters, after the group was released last month from the Al-Roj detention camp in northeastern Syria and blocked from traveling to Damascus to arrange their return home. The Syrian government publicly confirmed last week to the Associated Press that it halted the group’s travel to the capital’s airport, stating that Australian federal authorities had explicitly refused to accept the group back into the country. The case has put the Albanese government under intense scrutiny from opposition lawmakers, who accuse the cabinet of lacking transparency around its handling of the high-stakes national security issue.

    During an interview with the morning current affairs program *Sunrise* on Monday, Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong repeatedly dodged direct questions about whether the Syrian government’s claims of an Australian refusal were accurate. When pressed to confirm if Canberra had rejected the group’s repatriation request, Wong declined to endorse the Syrian government’s statement, instead stating, “I can’t speak for the Syrian government. I can only speak for the Australian government, and what I am saying is we are not acting to repatriate them.” She further implied that the Syrian account aligns with the Australian government’s longstanding position of refusing to facilitate the group’s return, a policy that was maintained after a previous attempt by the group to reach Damascus was turned back by Syrian authorities in February.

    Notably, Wong did acknowledge that as registered Australian citizens, the group holds an inherent legal right to enter and return to Australian territory, a fundamental entitlement under national immigration law. The federal government has not outlined how it intends to reconcile this legal right with its stated policy of refusing to actively repatriate the group.

    In terms of national security preparations, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has already issued a temporary exclusion order for one adult member of the group, following an official security assessment from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). When asked last week whether authorities would immediately arrest the group upon arrival, Burke emphasized he would not interfere in operational law enforcement matters, leaving all public announcements to the Australian Federal Police’s discretion. “There is no way I’ll interfere with anything operationally,” Burke stated.

    Reports confirm that the group received new Australian passports with the support of Jamal Rifi, a well-respected Sydney-based community doctor who has long advocated for the repatriation of stranded children from Syrian detention camps.

    The center-right Coalition opposition has ramped up criticism of the Albanese government’s handling of the case, accusing cabinet of both a lack of transparency and failure to fully utilize existing legal powers to block the group’s entry. Opposition Home Affairs Spokesman Jonno Duniam argued over the weekend that the government’s ambiguous stance poses an unacceptable risk to national security. “There seems to be equivocation and a lack of certainty, a lack of clarity, when it comes to something so important as national security and protecting us from a risk that I believe, and many Australians believe, ISIS brides would pose to the Australian community,” Duniam said.

    The case comes amid shifting global dynamics around the detention of ISIS affiliates: since the collapse of ISIS’s self-declared caliphate in 2019, tens of thousands of foreign citizens, including many women and children, have been held in Kurdish-run detention camps across northeastern Syria, where most have been held in poor conditions. In recent months, as relations between Western powers and Syria’s new transitional government have begun to thaw, U.S. officials have actively pressured foreign governments to repatriate their citizens held in these camps, rather than leaving them stranded in Syrian territory.

  • Rudy Giuliani in critical condition in hospital

    Rudy Giuliani in critical condition in hospital

    Longtime Donald Trump ally and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been admitted to hospital in stable but critical condition, his spokesperson has confirmed. In a social media statement released Sunday, Ted Goodman, Giuliani’s communications representative, announced the news, calling for public prayers for the one-time mayor who has long been a polarizing figure in American political life.

    Shortly after Goodman’s announcement went public, former President Donald Trump shared his own reaction on social media. Trump hailed Giuliani as a “true warrior” and described him as the greatest mayor in New York City’s history, echoing the praise that has long come from his closest political allies. Trump also echoed a familiar grievance, claiming that Giuliani had been unfairly targeted by what he called “Radical Left Lunatics” for his work challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election.

    Goodman did not disclose specific details about the cause of Giuliani’s current hospitalization. The 81-year-old, who will turn 82 later this month, has already dealt with serious health complications stemming from a car crash last September. The accident took place in New Hampshire, when a vehicle struck the Ford Bronco Giuliani was riding in from behind. At the time of the crash, his security team confirmed he suffered a fractured thoracic vertebra, multiple cuts and bruises, and additional injuries to his left arm and lower leg.

    Giuliani has remained one of Donald Trump’s most loyal and high-profile surrogates since the 2020 election, leading the former president’s failed legal efforts to overturn the election result that saw Joe Biden defeat Trump. Across dozens of public appearances and court filings, Giuliani spread baseless false claims that Biden and his allies engaged in widespread ballot fraud to steal the election. These unsubstantiated claims led to significant legal consequences for the former mayor: a civil jury ordered him to pay $148 million in defamation damages to two Georgia election workers who he falsely accused of participating in fraudulent voting activity.

    In his statement, Goodman emphasized Giuliani’s long reputation as a political fighter, noting that the former mayor has faced every personal and professional challenge in his life with unshakable resolve. “He’s fighting with that same level of strength as we speak,” Goodman said, before asking supporters to join the former mayor’s team in praying for his recovery.

  • Anti-Semitism royal commission begins hearings months after 15 killed in alleged Bondi terror attack

    Anti-Semitism royal commission begins hearings months after 15 killed in alleged Bondi terror attack

    Sydney, Australia – The first round of public hearings for Australia’s Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion is set to get underway Monday in Sydney’s central business district, launching a historic national inquiry that will center Jewish Australian voices and their firsthand accounts of rising anti-Jewish hatred across the country. The inquiry was called in the wake of a devastating December 2025 terror attack at a Bondi Beach Chanukah celebration that left 15 people dead, and a sharp nationwide uptick in anti-Semitic incidents following the October 7 2024 Hamas attacks in Israel.

    The attack, which targeted the annual Chanukah By The Sea gathering, unfolded when Naveed Akram and his father Sajid allegedly opened fire on attendees, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more. Sajid Akram was fatally shot by responding police, while Naveed Akram has not yet entered pleas to 59 criminal charges, including 40 counts of attempted murder. Australian authorities allege the pair were radicalized and inspired by the extremist group ISIS, marking one of the deadliest anti-Semitic attacks in the nation’s modern history.

    Pressure on the federal Albanese government to launch a sweeping public inquiry built steadily in the weeks following the attack, after the government initially commissioned a classified internal review of security agency performance led by former Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director Dennis Richardson. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the royal commission on January 8, 25 days after the attack, reversing the government’s earlier position to meet demands from the Australian Jewish community for a transparent, public examination of systemic gaps in addressing anti-Semitism.

    “I’ve listened, and in a democracy, that’s a good thing to listen to what people are saying,” Albanese told reporters at the time of the announcement. “I’ve taken the time to reflect, to meet with leaders in the Jewish community, and most importantly, I’ve met with many of the families of victims and survivors of that horrific attack. It’s clear to me that a royal commission is essential to achieving this.”

    Presided over by royal commissioner Virginia Bell, the opening two-week block of hearings will focus on core foundational questions: how anti-Semitism is defined in the Australian context, its current prevalence across Australian society and public institutions, and how best to measure the scope of the problem. Over the course of the hearings, dozens of witnesses will testify, including community leaders and everyday Jewish Australians who will share their lived experiences of anti-Semitic harassment, discrimination, and violence.

    Peter Wertheim, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, described the inquiry as the most significant national examination of anti-Semitism in Australia’s history. “Over the next fortnight, the country will hear from the people who lead our community alongside ordinary Australians who have lived through what happens when words of hatred go unchallenged long enough that they stop being only words,” Wertheim said in a statement. “The Jewish community is approaching this as Australians asking Australian institutions to look honestly at what has happened in this country and what needs to change.”

    Due to limited capacity at the Sydney CBD hearing venue, public attendance will be restricted, and the proceedings will be streamed live for audiences around the country to access remotely.

    The opening of public hearings comes just days after Bell released an interim report containing 14 urgent recommendations to address immediate gaps in anti-Semitism protection and counter-terrorism preparedness, all of which Albanese has pledged to fully implement. Five of the recommendations remain classified for national security reasons, but public measures include boosting security resourcing for Jewish High Holy Days and major Jewish festivals, strengthening cross-agency counter-terrorism information sharing between federal and state governments, upgrading national gun control regulations, and prioritizing a national gun buyback program to update the outdated national firearms agreement. Bell also called for the commonwealth counter-terrorism coordinator role to be converted to a full-time position, and mandated that the prime minister and all National Security Committee ministers participate in counter-terrorism exercises within nine months of every federal election.

    Albanese has committed to responding swiftly to the interim recommendations. The royal commission will ultimately examine four core mandate areas over the course of its inquiry: mapping the nature, prevalence, and root drivers of anti-Semitism across Australian society and institutions, including ideologically and religiously motivated extremism; advising law enforcement, border control, and security agencies on policy and operational changes to counter anti-Semitic violence and hatred; investigating the full circumstances of the December 14 2025 Bondi Beach attack; and proposing broader reforms to strengthen national social cohesion and counter the spread of violent extremist ideology across the country.

    “A Royal Commission is not the beginning or the end of what Australia must do to eradicate anti-Semitism, protect ourselves from terrorism or strengthen our social cohesion,” Albanese said when announcing the inquiry. “That is an ongoing national effort, for all of us. Because an attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on all Australians.”

    The royal commission’s final report, including full findings and long-term policy recommendations, is scheduled to be delivered to the government on December 14 2026, marking the one-year anniversary of the Bondi Beach atrocity.

  • Green Party leader Zack Polanski condemns ‘vile antisemitic caricature’ in The Times

    Green Party leader Zack Polanski condemns ‘vile antisemitic caricature’ in The Times

    A major political and media controversy has swept the United Kingdom this week, centered on a deeply divisive cartoon published by The Times of London depicting Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who is openly Jewish. Polanski and his party have lambasted the national newspaper for running what they describe as a blatantly antisemitic caricature, echoing harmful age-old tropes about Jewish people.

    The cartoon depicts Polanski with an exaggerated hooked nose — a visual trope long used to dehumanize Jewish people in antisemitic propaganda — kicking police officers who were in the process of arresting Essa Suleiman, the 45-year-old Somali-born British suspect in a recent stabbing attack in Golders Green, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in northwest London. Suleiman stands accused of stabbing two Jewish men in the attack, alongside a separate charge of attempted murder for a separate incident earlier the same day where he allegedly targeted a Muslim acquaintance of 20 years, Ishmail Hussein.

    The illustration references circulating cell phone footage that appears to show arresting officers repeatedly kicking Suleiman in the head during his apprehension. After the attack, Polanski publicly condemned the stabbings, but later retweeted a post on the social platform X that raised questions about the officers’ use of force during the arrest. That retweet sparked immediate backlash from senior political and law enforcement figures across the UK.

    Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley released an open public letter to Polanski expressing his disappointment with the Green leader’s response, a move that prompted its own criticism from observers who questioned the police’s commitment to political impartiality and called for the letter to be withdrawn.

    Top politicians have levied harsh criticism at Polanski in the wake of the incident. Former Conservative minister and current Reform UK figure Robert Jenrick went so far as to accuse Polanski of being “on the side of terrorists”, while UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer labeled Polanski’s criticism of officer conduct “disgraceful” and claimed he was “not fit to lead any political party”.

    Polanski has hit back at these attacks, noting that he is the only Jewish leader of a national political party in the UK, and accusing Starmer of weaponizing antisemitism to score cheap political points. He added that he already faces persistent antisemitic abuse on a daily basis, revealing that two separate people have been arrested for antisemitic actions targeting him in just the last six weeks. He also shared that he was targeted with a Nazi salute by a Reform UK supporter at a recent rally in Hastings.

    The Green Party has confirmed it filed an official complaint with The Times editor Tony Gallagher over the cartoon, saying it is “astonishing” that a major national outlet would choose to publish such imagery at a time when antisemitic sentiment and violence are rising across the UK. In a statement, the party condemned what it called the “deeply irresponsible” rhetoric from both senior politicians and media outlets, arguing that their attacks open Polanski up to further targeted harm in the aftermath of a violent attack on the Jewish community he is part of.

    Speaking in an interview with BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, Polanski confirmed that The Times has yet to issue an apology or withdraw the offensive caricature. He later issued an apology for sharing the retweet questioning officer conduct, acknowledging that X was not an appropriate forum to raise concerns about police behavior. He did, however, stand by his view that all public servants, including police officers, should be open to scrutiny, and noted he has requested a meeting with Rowley to resolve the tensions between him and the Met.

    In further developments related to the case, the Metropolitan Police confirmed last Friday that Suleiman — who had only been released from a psychiatric hospital days before the attacks — would not face terrorism charges. He has instead been charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of illegal possession of a bladed weapon in public.

    The Golders Green attack has already become a flashpoint in ongoing national debates about pro-Palestine protests, which have been held across the UK since the outbreak of the 2023 Israel-Gaza war. Starmer and other senior politicians have seized on the attack to call for greater restrictions on pro-Palestine marches, even suggesting that some demonstrations could be banned entirely, and that offensive language used during protests should be policed.

    When Kuenssberg asked Polanski whether he agreed with Starmer’s labeling of the common protest chant “globalise the intifada” as racist, Polanski rejected the prime minister’s framing. He reaffirmed his support for freedom of speech and freedom of protest in the UK, arguing that policing protest language would do nothing to improve safety for Jewish communities. Noting that the term intifada originally refers to uprisings against Israeli occupation in the 1980s, Polanski pointed out that the occupation remains ongoing, making public discussion of the issue a legitimate and necessary part of public discourse. He added that he opposed creating new laws to restrict protest, and instead called for protections for peaceful protest activity.

    On the question of whether the Green Party takes the threat of antisemitism seriously, Polanski noted that Jewish safety is not an abstract issue for him as a Jewish community member. He acknowledged that no political party has fully eliminated antisemitism within its ranks, and agreed that all parties need to expand anti-racism training and improve candidate vetting to address antisemitism, Islamophobia and all other forms of racism across the political spectrum.

  • Iran says US has responded to its latest peace proposal

    Iran says US has responded to its latest peace proposal

    Tensions between the United States and Iran remain at a fragile standstill this weekend, as President Donald Trump confirmed that renewed military action against Iranian targets remains on the table, even as Tehran has tabled a new 14-point peace proposal to de-escalate the ongoing conflict.

    According to Iranian state-linked media, Washington has delivered its formal response to Tehran’s overture through diplomatic channels in Pakistan, and Iranian officials are currently reviewing the document. The U.S. government has not yet officially confirmed that it issued a response to the Iranian proposal.

    Trump, speaking to reporters in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday, noted that he had only received a broad overview of the plan and was waiting to review its full text. He added that he already expects the proposal to fall short of Washington’s requirements. In a subsequent post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump doubled down on his long-standing criticism of the Iranian government, writing that Tehran “has not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years.”

    Tehran’s 14-point framework puts forward three core demands for a lasting deal: the full withdrawal of U.S. military forces from regions bordering Iran, an end to the ongoing U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, and a complete ceasefire to all hostilities across the region, including Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon. The proposal also calls for a final bilateral agreement to be finalized within 30 days, and prioritizes ending the full conflict rather than just extending the temporary ceasefire that has been in place since early April.

    Iran’s latest proposal was drafted in response to an earlier nine-point U.S. plan that called for a two-month temporary ceasefire, according to Iranian state sources.

    When asked directly by a BBC reporter whether new U.S. military strikes inside Iran remained a possibility, Trump did not rule out the action, saying “it’s a possibility. If they misbehave. If they do something bad. But right now we’ll see.” The president also made clear he has no intention of a full U.S. withdrawal from the conflict in the near term, arguing that a sustained U.S. presence is needed to prevent the need for future military intervention years down the line. “We’re not leaving,” he said. “We’re going to do it, so nobody has to go back in two years or five years.”

    The ongoing standoff has already had tangible global economic impacts: in response to earlier U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets, Tehran has imposed sweeping new restrictions on commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical chokepoints for global oil supplies.

    The developments come as Trump faces growing cross-partisan pressure from Congress over his handling of the conflict, which entered its 60th day on Friday following the formal notification of U.S. military action on March 2. Under U.S. law, the president is required to secure congressional approval for ongoing military action within 60 days of notification, or end hostilities. In a letter to congressional leaders sent Friday, Trump argued that the April 8 ceasefire had “terminated” active conflict, pausing the legal clock on the approval requirement. He also dismissed concerns over the ongoing naval blockade, calling it “a very friendly blockade” that “nobody is even challenging.” The president repeated his long-standing red line on Iranian nuclear policy Friday, reaffirming that “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon” — a position Tehran has rejected, saying its nuclear program is entirely for peaceful civilian uses, despite international reports that Iran has enriched uranium to near-weapons grade levels.

    Growing numbers of congressional Republicans have joined Democrats in publicly expressing frustration with the conflict, criticizing it as costly, open-ended, and lacking clear strategic goals. Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley called on the administration to begin withdrawing U.S. forces and said any continuation of the war would require congressional authorization — a step he says he opposes. “I don’t really want to do that,” Hawley said. “I want to wind it down.”

    Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, a frequent critic of Trump, struck a more nuanced tone, saying she doubts the success of ongoing negotiations and that an abrupt U.S. withdrawal would leave critical Iranian military capabilities intact. But she added that she also opposes granting the administration unlimited authority to continue the conflict. “While the administration may point to ongoing negotiations, events on the ground and the rhetoric coming out of Tehran tell a different story,” she said. “But if the U.S. steps back abruptly and prematurely, we almost certainly leave their critical capabilities intact. And those are not risks that I’m willing to take. But the answer is not a blank check for another endless war.”

  • Japanese PM reaffirms intention to revise Constitution

    Japanese PM reaffirms intention to revise Constitution

    On Japan’s Constitution Memorial Day, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi publicly reaffirmed her long-stated goal to amend the nation’s 1947 pacifist Constitution, a step that would mark the first change to the country’s founding legal framework since it took effect more than 70 years ago, according to reports from local Japanese media.

    Takaichi delivered her remarks via pre-recorded video at a rally organized by supporters of constitutional revision, framing the push for change as a necessary update for modern Japan. She argued that the post-World War II supreme law, which has anchored the nation’s governance for decades, needs periodic adjustments to align with shifting contemporary societal and geopolitical demands, Kyodo News reported.

    As leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Takaichi noted her administration will push forward with substantive deliberations in the Diet, Japan’s national parliament, and work to secure cross-party buy-in to advance the amendment process toward a final vote. The LDP has prioritized constitutional reform for years, with the most contentious proposed change centered on Article 9, the iconic clause that formally renounces war as a tool of state policy and prohibits Japan from maintaining formal offensive military capabilities.

    This clause has been the cornerstone of Japan’s pacifist foreign and defense policy since the end of World War II, and any alteration to its text would represent a seismic shift in the nation’s global security posture. Takaichi first ramped up public pressure for reform at an LDP party convention held on April 12, where she declared that the moment for constitutional change has arrived. She told attendees at that event that the party aims to have a concrete constitutional amendment proposal ready for presentation at the 2027 LDP annual convention. That announcement has already triggered widespread public pushback, with large-scale protests drawing crowds of opponents to the Japanese parliament building in Tokyo as recently as mid-April, where demonstrators called for the preservation of Article 9 in its original form.

  • Rubio to visit Rome, meet Pope Leo after Trump row

    Rubio to visit Rome, meet Pope Leo after Trump row

    Weeks after a high-profile public clash between U.S. President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV exposed deep rifts in U.S.-Vatican relations and strained transatlantic alliances, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to travel to Rome this week for a planned meeting with the pontiff, a senior Vatican source confirmed to AFP on Sunday.

    The planned gathering, first reported by Italian media outlets, is set to take place Thursday with the explicit goal of de-escalating tensions between the White House and the Holy See, according to local newspaper coverage. The meeting comes just ahead of a key milestone for Pope Leo, who will mark one year in office as the head of the global Catholic Church this Friday. Elected by the College of Cardinals on May 8, 2025 following the passing of Pope Francis, the 70-year-old Leo made history as the first American-born pope in the Church’s 2,000-year history.

    His unique origin has positioned his statements to carry unusual weight in U.S. political discourse, a platform he has not shied away from using: he has previously criticized the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies, but it was his sharp anti-war rhetoric in the wake of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered Trump’s fierce public backlash. Leo drew Trump’s wrath after calling the president’s open threat to destroy Iran “unacceptable” and urging U.S. citizens to pressure their elected representatives to prioritize diplomatic peace efforts.

    Trump responded with a blistering social media post attacking the pope as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy”, adding that he was “not a big fan of Pope Leo” and falsely claiming the pontiff supported Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. Leo countered that he held a “moral duty to speak out” against war, and later made headlines with a speech in Cameroon that condemned “tyrants” for destabilizing the global order. The pope later clarified the speech had been written months before the public row, and he had no intention of reigniting conflict with Trump.

    Global Christian communities quickly voiced solidarity with Pope Leo, and the backlash extended to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of Trump’s closest European allies. When Meloni called Trump’s criticism of the pope “unacceptable”, the U.S. president turned his ire on her, attacking her in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera. Trump said he was “shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong”, and accused the far-right Italian leader, who has long positioned herself as a bridge between competing U.S. and European interests, of failing to support the U.S. within NATO.

    Trump has gone even further, threatening to withdraw all U.S. troops from Italy, claiming Rome has “not been of any help to us” in the Iran conflict. He has issued identical threats against Spain, and the Pentagon has already formally announced it will withdraw 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany. As of the end of 2025, the U.S. maintains 12,662 active-duty troops in Italy, 3,814 in Spain, and 36,436 in Germany, according to official data.

    Alongside his planned meeting with Pope Leo, Rubio is scheduled to hold talks with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. The U.S. secretary of state had previously requested a meeting with Meloni, but that gathering will not go forward following Trump’s break with the Italian prime minister, the source confirmed. Additional media reports also indicate Rubio will meet Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, as divisions over the Middle East war continue to deepen long-running frictions across transatlantic ties.

  • Iran says US military operation ‘impossible’ as Trump mulls peace proposal

    Iran says US military operation ‘impossible’ as Trump mulls peace proposal

    Tensions between the United States and Iran have reached a new stalemate, with Tehran’s most powerful military force dismissing any large-scale US military operation as unfeasible, even as US President Donald Trump openly weighs military action against accepting Tehran’s new peace initiative.

    After weeks of frozen diplomatic progress following an April 8 ceasefire that has only produced one round of direct talks, Iran submitted a 14-point peace framework to mediator Pakistan earlier this month. The proposal, according to anonymous sources briefed on the text who spoke to US news outlet Axios, lays out a 30-day timeline for negotiations aimed at three core outcomes: reopening the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, lifting the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, and bringing a permanent end to ongoing conflict across Iran and Lebanon.

    Trump, however, quickly cast doubt on the proposal in a post to his Truth Social platform, arguing the plan would almost certainly be unacceptable because he believes Iran has not paid sufficient accountability for what he framed as 47 years of harmful actions against the global community. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable,” Trump wrote. He has publicly framed his policy options as binary: either launch devastating military strikes against Iran, or pursue a negotiated settlement.

    In a formal statement released Sunday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards pushed back, shifting the decision-making burden back to the White House. They argued Trump now faces only two options: an impossible large-scale military campaign, or accept what they called a bad deal with the Islamic Republic. “The room for US decision-making has narrowed,” the statement read.

    Iran’s senior diplomatic leadership echoed this framing a day earlier. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told international diplomats in Tehran that the US now holds the responsibility to choose between diplomatic dialogue or sustained confrontation, adding that Tehran is fully prepared for either outcome.

    Trump, speaking to reporters during a stop in West Palm Beach, Florida Saturday, declined to outline specific triggers for new US military action, but did not rule it out. “If they misbehave, if they do something bad, but right now, we’ll see,” he said. “But it’s a possibility that could happen, certainly.”

    Hardline Iranian military figures have responded with aggressive rhetoric of their own. Mohsen Rezaei, a top military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, warned in a post to X that Iranian forces are fully capable of sinking US warships if attacked. “The US is the only pirate in the world that possesses aircraft carriers,” Rezaei wrote. “Our ability to confront pirates is no less than our ability to sink warships. Prepare to face a graveyard of your carriers and forces.” No US military vessels have been sunk by Iran during the current conflict, and no evidence supports a threat of such action to date.

    Diplomatic frictions have also flared over the issue of Iran’s nuclear program. Earlier this week, Axios reported that Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has pushed to reinsert discussions of Iran’s nuclear activities into any new negotiation round. Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations hit back Saturday, accusing Washington of blatant hypocrisy, pointing to the US’s own massive nuclear arsenal to criticize its restrictions on Tehran’s atomic program.

    The conflict has already reshaped global energy markets and inflicted severe economic pain on the Iranian people. Since the outbreak of war, Iran has controlled access to the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which roughly 20% of the world’s daily oil supplies pass, cutting off key global shipments of oil, natural gas, and agricultural fertilizer. The US has responded with a naval blockade of Iranian ports, and global crude oil prices have surged roughly 50% above pre-war levels.

    Iranian lawmakers are currently drafting legislation to formalize toll collection for vessels passing through the strait. Deputy parliamentary speaker Ali Nikzad announced that 30% of all collected tolls would be allocated to expanding military infrastructure, while the remaining 70% would go toward domestic economic development. “Managing the Strait of Hormuz is more important than acquiring nuclear weapons,” Nikzad said.

    For ordinary Iranians, the economic strain is growing steadily. US sanctions and the blockade have cut Iran’s oil exports dramatically, pushing national inflation past 50%. Amir, a 40-year-old resident of Tehran, spoke to AFP from outside the country, describing a population draining emergency savings to cope with the crisis. “Everyone is trying to endure it, but… they are falling apart,” he said. “We still have not seen much of the worst economic effects because everyone had a bit of savings. They had some gold and dollars for a rainy day. When they run out, things will change.”

  • China says renewing backdrop, conclusion, principles of Tokyo Trials all the more relevant

    China says renewing backdrop, conclusion, principles of Tokyo Trials all the more relevant

    As the world marks 80 years since the opening of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, more widely known as the Tokyo Trials, China has emphasized that reaffirming the context, findings, and core principles of the landmark post-World War II judicial process has grown increasingly urgent in the face of resurgent neo-militarism in Japan. Sunday, May 3, 2026, marks eight full decades since the tribunal convened its first session in Tokyo, and commemorative activities have been held across China, Japan, and the broader international community to revisit the trials’ enduring historic importance.

    On May 3, 1946, acting in line with the terms of Japan’s unconditional surrender and the IMTFE charter issued by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, the international tribunal launched its prosecution of Japanese war leaders. Drawing on the combined judicial authority of 11 allied nations, and supported by overwhelming concrete evidence and solid legal grounding, the historic trial confirmed the guilt of Japanese militarists for launching a war of aggression and committing gross violations of international law. It also exposed the countless atrocities carried out by Japanese occupying forces across Asian nations. Twenty-five Class-A war criminals, including former Japanese prime minister and top war leader Hideki Tojo, were ultimately sentenced to death by hanging or lengthy prison terms. The tribunal also decisively debunked long-circulated false narratives including claims that the proceedings amounted to “victor’s justice”, that Japan waged a war of self-defense, and that the tribunal applied ex post facto law.

    A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson noted in a statement released Sunday that the Tokyo Trials were carried out to give legal effect to the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation, two foundational post-war agreements that shaped the post-WWII global order. The trials, the spokesperson added, embodied the collective will of both the Allied powers that defeated fascism and the Asian peoples that suffered under Japanese occupation. By holding war criminals to account, the trials upheld the core purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and preserved the legitimacy of the Allied victory in World War II.

    The spokesperson stressed that acceptance of the Tokyo Trials’ rulings was a non-negotiable prerequisite for Japan’s re-entry into the international community after the end of World War II. Eight decades later, however, the troubling legacy of Japanese militarism persists and continues to gain traction, sparking widespread global concern. Japan’s powerful right-wing political factions have repeatedly deployed tactics to deny and distort the trials’ findings and the irrefutable historical record of Japanese aggression, going so far as to whitewash wartime atrocities through measures such as revising national school history textbooks and spreading a false narrative of history to successive generations of Japanese citizens. This ideological shift has paved the way for repeated controversial acts: current and former Japanese officials have repeatedly honored convicted war criminals as national heroes and made formal visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, where Class-A war criminals are enshrined alongside Japan’s war dead.

    Beyond historical revisionism, Japanese right-wing forces are accelerating the country’s remilitarization, pushing forward plans to deploy offensive military capabilities, rebuild an independent war machine, and revise Japan’s post-war pacifist constitution. These moves, the spokesperson noted, stand in direct contradiction to Japan’s self-portrayal as a peaceful nation.

    The Tokyo Trials, the spokesperson emphasized, serve as a critical litmus test for global human conscience, and delivered long-overdue historical justice. Alongside the Nuremberg Trials that convicted Nazi German war criminals, the Tokyo Trials cemented the status of fascist aggression and war crimes as universally condemned acts that will forever be marked as shameful in human history. The three non-negotiable principles the spokesperson outlined are: the historical justice established by the trials cannot be denied, their legal authority cannot be challenged, and the foundation of the post-war international order laid by the two post-war trials cannot be shaken.

    Quoting a famous line from Mei Ru’ao, the Chinese judge who served on the Tokyo Trials, the spokesperson recalled: “Amnesia of past sufferings may lead to future disasters.” Should any actor attempt to reverse the guilty verdict on Japanese aggression, the statement concluded, they will face unified opposition from all peace-loving people across the globe, and will ultimately be held accountable before the eternal tribunal of history.

  • China blasts rise of Japan’s neo-militarism when marking Tokyo Trials anniversary

    China blasts rise of Japan’s neo-militarism when marking Tokyo Trials anniversary

    Eighty years after the opening of the landmark International Military Tribunal for the Far East, widely known as the Tokyo Trials, China has issued a stark rebuke of accelerating neo-militarization in Japan, warning that the rising trend has begun to pose a tangible threat to regional and global order.

    Sunday, May 3, 2026 marks eight decades since the historic tribunal convened on May 3, 1946, to hold Japanese imperial leaders accountable for crimes committed during World War II. In a written statement published on the Foreign Ministry’s official website on Sunday, a spokesperson noted that revisiting the background, rulings, and core principles of the Tokyo Trials carries urgent, renewed relevance amid today’s shifting security landscape.

    The Tokyo Trials brought together judicial representatives from 11 allied nations, working with exhaustive, irrefutable evidence and strict adherence to international legal standards. The tribunal formally convicted Japanese militarists of crimes of aggression and massive violations of international law, laying bare the full scale of atrocities committed by Japanese occupying forces across Asian nations. Convened to implement the terms of the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation, the trials embodied the collective will of both WWII’s victorious powers and the peoples victimized by Japanese expansion. The process upheld the founding purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, and cemented the legitimacy of the hard-won victory of the anti-fascist alliance.

    Against this historic backdrop, the spokesperson drew sharp attention to current actions by Japan’s right-wing political forces, which are pushing rapid remilitarization, pursuing advanced offensive military capabilities to rebuild a national war machine, and lobbying aggressively to revise Japan’s post-war pacifist constitution. These moves, the spokesperson emphasized, stand in direct contradiction to Japan’s self-proclaimed identity as a “peace-loving nation.”

    “Alongside the Nuremberg Trials, the Tokyo Trials stand as a litmus test for humanity’s collective conscience, delivered irreversible historical justice, and nailed fascist war criminals to the eternal pillar of shame,” the statement read. “The historical justice forged by these two landmark trials must never be denied, their legal authority must never be challenged, and the foundation of the post-WWII international order they laid must never be shaken.”

    Commemorations marking the 80th anniversary have been held across China, Japan, and the broader international community, designed to reaffirm the trials’ enduring historic significance. The spokesperson noted that acceptance of the Tokyo Trials’ ruling was the core prerequisite for Japan’s post-war reintegration into the international community. Yet eight decades on, the specter of Japanese militarism persists and continues to gain traction, a reality that has sparked widespread outrage.

    Right-wing forces in Japan continue to employ every available tactic to deny and distort the Tokyo Trials’ rulings and the irrefutable historical record, going so far as to whitewash the empire’s wartime crimes through measures such as revised school textbooks that spread a false narrative of history to younger generations of Japanese people. This historical revisionism has created space for the ongoing normalization of war criminal veneration: sitting Japanese officials and politicians still regularly honor convicted war criminals with visits to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 convicted Class-A WWII war criminals are enshrined alongside Japan’s war dead.

    During the original 1946 trials, Japanese revisionist fallacies — including claims that the proceedings represented “victor’s justice”, that Japan’s 1930s and 1940s invasions were acts of “self-defense”, and that the trials relied on ex post facto law — were thoroughly and definitively refuted. In total, the tribunal sentenced 25 Class-A war criminals, including wartime prime minister Hideki Tojo, to death by hanging or lengthy imprisonment.

    In closing, the spokesperson cited the words of Mei Ru’ao, the Chinese judge who served at the Tokyo Trials: “Amnesia of past sufferings may lead to future disasters.” The statement warned that any individual or movement that attempts to reverse the ruling on Japan’s history of aggression will face universal condemnation from all peace-loving people across the globe, and will ultimately answer for their actions before the unforgiving tribunal of history.