Category World News

Direct contact between senior officials from the United States and Iran has broken down, according to reports, as tension between the two countries rises.

Communications between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US special envoy Steve Wittkof have been suspended, a senior Iranian official told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.

The report came amid President Donald Trump’s threats to intervene as Iran clamps down on protests. Tehran has pledged to retaliate against US military bases in the region should it be attacked.

The US, alongside European allies, had been seeking over the past year to revive a diplomatic push regarding Iran’s nuclear programme. However, the Iranian official suggested that the raised tension has wiped out any possibility of progress.

The US threats undermine diplomatic efforts, he said, adding that any potential meetings between the two officials to find a diplomatic solution to the decades-long nuclear dispute have been cancelled.

He also said Tehran had asked US allies in the region to “prevent Washington from attacking”.

At least 25,000 students in occupied East Jerusalem are taking part in a strike after Israel prevented access to teachers from the occupied West Bank.

The strike was called by the General Secretariat of Christian Educational Institutions in Jerusalem and later joined by all private schools in East Jerusalem.

It follows Israel’s decision to limit the number of days on which work permits are granted to teachers from the West Bank. Under Israeli rules, Palestinians must obtain a permit from the Israeli military to cross checkpoints separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem.

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative party, said on Wednesday that 13 Christian schools were taking part in the strike and others were preparing to do the same.

“The reason goes deeper than just the issue of the teachers. It reflects dismay about the Israeli-imposed illegal rules,” he wrote on X without elaborating.

The Times of Israel quoted Richard Zananiri, director of the private St George’s School, as saying the restrictions affect more than half of the roughly 300 teachers employed across all private schools in the city.

“We are not happy that children are staying at home,” Zananiri said, adding that discussions were ongoing with Israeli authorities to ensure the resumption of all activities.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education slammed Israel’s move as a serious violation of the right to education. According to the report, the ministry charged that Israel’s actions were part of a systematic policy aimed at undermining Palestinian identity in East Jerusalem.

Israeli media also reported the closure of six schools in East Jerusalem run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which Israel has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, was complicit with Hamas in the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.

In October, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion saying Israel must support UN relief efforts in Gaza, including those conducted by UNRWA. The court found that Israel’s allegations against UNRWA were unsubstantiated.

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Some personnel have been advised to leave the United States military’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar by Wednesday evening, the Reuters news agency reported, quoting three unnamed diplomats.

The report comes amid warnings from the US that ​it could intervene in protests currently taking place in Iran.

“It’s a posture change and not an ordered evacuation,” one diplomat said, adding that they were not aware that a ‌specific reason had been given for the posture change.

There has been no comment from the US embassy in Doha. Al Jazeera has reached out to Qatar’s Foreign Ministry for comment.

Al Udeid is the Middle East’s largest US base, housing about 10,000 troops.

Last year, more than a week before the US launched air strikes on Iran, some personnel and ‌families were moved off US bases in the Middle East. After the US attacks in June, Iran launched ‍a missile attack on the base in Qatar.

Iran’s ‘warning’ to regional countries

Reuters quoted a senior Iranian official as saying that Tehran had warned regional countries it ‌would strike US military bases in case of an attack by ‌Washington.

“Tehran has told ​regional countries – ‌from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkiye – that US bases ‌in those countries ‌will be attacked ⁠if US targets Iran… asking these countries to prevent ‌Washington from attacking Iran,” the unnamed senior Iranian official said.

The comments follow US President Donald Trump’s threats to intervene militarily in Iran over the bloodshed during nationwide protests. Trump called on Iranians to take over state institution, promising that “help is on the way”.

The 24-hectare (59-acre) Al Udeid base, in the desert outside the capital Doha, is ⁠the forward headquarters for US Central Command, which directs US military operations in a huge swath of territory stretching from Egypt in the west to Kazakhstan ​in the east.

In January, US Central Command said it had opened a new coordination cell (MEAD-CDOC) at Al Udeid, in coordination with regional partners, to enhance integrated air and missile defence. The new cell would improve how regional forces coordinate and share air and missile responsibilities across the Middle East.

France is preparing to open a consulate in Greenland next month in a move that it says reflects the semiautonomous island’s desire to remain part of Denmark and the European Union.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the broadcaster RTL on Wednesday that the opening of the consulate in the self-governed Danish territory, scheduled for February 6, is a “political signal” amid the ongoing threats from United States President Donald Trump to take control of the island.

“It’s a political signal that’s associated with a desire to be more present in Greenland, including in the scientific field,” Barrot said.

“Greenland does not want to be owned, governed … or integrated into the United States. Greenland has made the choice of Denmark, NATO, [European] Union.”

The French foreign minister’s comments came as his Danish and Greenlandic counterparts, Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Vivian Motzfeldt, were due to meet US Vice President JD Vance in Washington, DC, to discuss the island.

Trump’s repeated statements that the Arctic territory will be brought under US control “one way or another” have created a crisis inside NATO.

European allies have warned that any takeover of the island would have serious repercussions for the relationship between the US and Europe.

Trump has said the US needs Greenland, where Washington has long maintained military bases, due to the threat of a takeover posed by Russia and China. He claims that Denmark has neglected the territory’s security.

It’s also noted that Greenland has significant mineral riches, including oil and gas as well as rare earths needed for technological products.

Denmark’s defence minister said on Wednesday that it plans to “strengthen” its military presence in Greenland and was in dialogue with its allies in NATO.

“We will continue to strengthen our military presence in Greenland, but we will also have an even greater focus within NATO on more exercises and an increased NATO presence in the Arctic,” Troels Lund Poulsen wrote in a statement to the AFP news agency.

‘Big problem’

Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Tuesday that the territory wanted to remain part of Denmark rather than join the US.

“We are now facing a geopolitical crisis, and if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” he said at a news conference in Copenhagen.

Asked about Nielsen’s comments, Trump responded: “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But that’s going to be a big problem for him.”

The US president’s aggressive rhetoric continues to provoke pledges of support for Denmark and Greenland from other NATO nations.