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Slamming UN rights report

Iran’s envoy to the United Nations office in Geneva has slammed the UN’s latest report on the situation of human rights in the country as imbalanced and biased. Ali Bahreini said the report was prepared using anti-Iran individuals, sources, media outlets and movements. He was commenting on a report presented by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The report voiced concern over what it described as a worsening rights situation in Iran. Bahreini said the report turned a blind eye to unilateral sanctions in place against the Iranian nation, saying such coercive measures amounted to crimes against humanity. The Iranian envoy added that the report also ignored the country’s human rights achievements. He said despite all the accusations leveled against it, Iran will continue to cooperate with the UN to improve the rights situation.

Israeli crimes

An Israeli drone strike has killed at least three Palestinians in the West Bank amid simmering tensions in the occupied territory. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a vehicle carrying the Palestinians in the West Bank city of Jenin. The regime claimed that the Palestinians were responsible for an earlier anti-Israeli operation near the town of Jalamah. The drone attack was the first of its kind since the second Palestinian Intifada in 2005. Palestinian resistance movements have reacted to the attack. Hamas branded the assault as an assassination crime, saying it is a grave escalation that will not go unpunished. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also vowed to respond to the aggression. The drone strike came only hours after Israeli settlers went on a rampage in the northern West Bank. They attacked Palestinian towns, torching cars, buildings and fields under the protection from the Israeli army.

Russia-Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin has downplayed Ukraine’s claims to making advances in its counter-offensive, saying Kiev’s military operation has stopped. Speaking in a military graduation ceremony, Putin said Ukraine’s troops understand that they don’t stand a chance against the Russian Armed Forces. He added that there is now a lull in Ukraine’s counter-offensive, which began on June 4. Putin noted that Ukrainian forces have suffered serious casualties in terms of both personnel and vehicles. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky also admitted that progress in the counter-offensive has been slower than desired. He said the military push was difficult because some 200,000 square kilometers of Ukraine’s territory have been mined by Russian forces. Ukraine had earlier claimed to have reclaimed eight villages in its counter-offensive.

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