Rejecting US claims
Tehran has rejected US allegations that Iran was trying to send a shipment of missile fuel to Yemen. Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations said the US claims that Tehran has violated a UN Security Council resolution on Yemen have never been proven. The mission said Tehran remains committed to the UNSC resolution 2216 with regard to a ban on transferring weapons to Yemen. It noted that the Islamic Republic has never violated the resolution and will never do so. On Tuesday, the US navy’s fifth fleet in the West Asian region claimed that it has seized 70 tons of missile fuel that was hidden below fertilizer bags aboard a ship bound to Yemen from Iran.
Israel West Bank settlements
The Palestinian Resistance Movement, Hamas, has denounced a pledge by Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu to legalize settlements and outposts in the occupied territories. In a statement, Hamas called the regime’s settlement expansion policy illegal. It stressed that Netanyahu's promise will not grant the regime and its settlers, legitimacy or security on Palestinian lands. During a meeting with a far-right Knesset member on Wednesday, Netanyahu said he would legalize dozens of settlements and outposts as well as establish bypass roads in the West Bank within two months. Hamas, however, has called on Palestinians to resist Israel’s expansionist plans by all means possible. Netanyahu is currently tasked with forming a new cabinet after his far-right coalition won recent elections. All Israeli settlements on the occupied Palestinians territories are illegal under international law.
Russia-Ukraine war
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky says over 10 million Ukrainians are without electricity, following a wave of Russian strikes targeting the country’s energy infrastructure. Speaking via videolink at an economy forum in Singapore, Zelensky slammed Russia’s fresh rocket and missile strikes as another terrorist attack. He said Moscow is waging a war on Ukraine's electricity by blowing up critical energy facilities. On Thursday, a barrage of Russian missiles hit several Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kiev. Damage to Ukraine's electricity infrastructure has been so extensive that authorities have been imposing power cuts to relieve the power grid. Russia has launched six massive air strikes on Ukraine’s major cities since early October, mainly targeting energy networks.