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The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
⭕️ Iran Foreign Minister: Future of West Asia must be shaped by its own people, not foreign powers
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote in an op-ed that the future of West Asia must be shaped by its own people, not foreign powers. He called for a regional order based on mutual respect, dialogue, and shared responsibility—rejecting externally imposed security models that ignore local realities and deepen conflict.
He reaffirmed Iran’s longstanding support for regional initiatives like HOPE, WAVE, and the recent GCC 2024 security vision, while warning that Israel remains a structural obstacle to collective security. Araqchi accused Israel of nuclear ambiguity, systematic violations of international law, and fostering regional instability from Gaza to Lebanon and Syria. He stressed that true stability cannot include a regime built on impunity, and that the future of West Asia must be written by its own peoples through frameworks reflecting their history, culture, and collective will.
⭕️ German Foreign Ministry: 12 German nationals evacuated from Gaza with Israeli coordination
A new group of 12 German citizens and their close family members has successfully left the Gaza Strip, according to a spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry. The evacuation was carried out with assistance from the ministry and in close coordination with Israeli authorities.
⭕️ According to a report by Erem News, tensions remain high around Russia’s Hmeimim military base in Syria following a deadly assault that killed 3 Russian soldiers and wounded 6 others. The attack was reportedly carried out by an Uzbek-led faction now mobilizing in the village of al-Sharashir, just 2 km from the base. The group’s presence has triggered mass displacement, as fighters seize civilian homes and conduct raids marked by intimidation. Russian forces have entered a state of high alert as they monitor the growing threat. The faction, previously based in the town of Qarfis, is also accused of multiple massacres, including the recent execution of four civilians, among them a child, in the nearby village of Zama.
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⭕️ UK maritime firm: Panama-flagged tanker possibly hijacked near Iranian coast
British maritime security firm Ambrey reported on Tuesday that a Panama-flagged tanker carrying UAE-linked products was intercepted approximately 51 nautical miles northwest of Iran’s Bandar Jask port. The firm said it received a signal indicating the vessel may have been hijacked.
❗️Israeli forces demolished the home of the late Palestinian freedom fighter Abdelqader al-Qawasmeh in Hebron, southern occupied West Bank. Locals gathered to survey the destruction, part of Israel’s ongoing punitive home demolition policy targeting families of fighters.
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⭕️ US mercenary firm overseeing Gaza aid for Israel launches LinkedIn hiring spree
Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), a US private military contractor led by former CIA paramilitary officer Phil Reilly, is actively hiring on LinkedIn to oversee aid distribution in Gaza on Israel’s behalf. SRS is a shell company of the Wyoming-based generational wealth management firm Two Ocean Trust, LLC.
The firm is recruiting for positions like “Humanitarian Liaison Officer” and “Team Deputy,” prioritizing US citizens with at least seven years of field experience in conflict zones, particularly the Middle East, and fluency in Arabic. Ironically, while SRS seeks applicants with UN backgrounds, its role is to supplant the UN in Gaza, despite the latter’s proven aid infrastructure. Over 100 people have already applied, with some LinkedIn users citing past coordination with US forces in Gaza. According to former US officials, SRS has gained the trust of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and business elites close to him.
(Middle East Eye)
❗️Israel bombed a vehicle in Ain Baal, southern Lebanon earlier this morning, killing one person.
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❗️A majority of EU foreign ministers have backed a Dutch-led proposal to review the EU-Israel Association Agreement over Israel’s actions in Gaza and its prolonged aid blockade, which the Netherlands now deems a violation of international humanitarian law.
The review, focused on potential breaches of Article 2, requiring respect for human rights, was supported by 17 of 27 member states, including traditional Israeli allies. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the little aid recently brought into Gaza a “drop in the ocean” and urged immediate, large-scale humanitarian access.
BREAKING | A new 'security incident' reported in Gaza by Israeli pages. It is currently under military censorship.
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WATCH | Speaking earlier this month at the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs, former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford openly touted his role in rebranding former Al-Qaeda leader and ISIS operative Ahmad al-Sharaa.
Ford himself was a major backer of the extremist opposition groups unleashed across Syria at the start of the war in 2011.
India–Pakistan war: The winners and the losers
Chinese military hardware stole the show, French ones lost their stock, India's clout took hits, and Pakistanis crowed. Yet, ultimately, the brief, hot India–Pakistan war was a victory only for the Global North's divide-and-rule project for the Global South.
By Pepe Escobar
❗️Israeli occupation forces continue raiding Palestinians' homes during their invasion of the town of Kafr ad-Dik, west of Salfit in the occupied West Bank.
A curfew has been imposed in the town for the seventh consecutive day.
⭕️ At the Qatar Economic Forum, US deputy envoy for the region Morgan Ortagus repeated the US call for the full disarmament of Hezbollah across all of Lebanon, not just in the south, and urged Lebanese politicians to take decisive action.
Ortagus said that the Lebanese authorities have done more in the past six months than in the previous 15 years but emphasized that “there’s a lot more to go.”
Israeli Foreign Ministry's response to the UK: 'The British Mandate ended 77 years ago.'
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"Following the UK’s announcement that it will suspend free trade agreement negotiations with Israel and impose sanctions on settlers: Even prior to today’s announcement, the free trade agreement negotiations were not being advanced at all by the current UK government. More than that, the agreement would serve the mutual benefit of both countries. If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy — that is its own prerogative.
The sanctions against residents of Judea and Samaria are unjustified, and regrettable, especially at a time when Israel is mourning yet another victim of Palestinian terror — Tzeela Gez, of blessed memory, who was murdered on her way to the delivery room.
Doctors continue fighting for her newborn’s life in hospital.
The British Mandate ended exactly 77 years ago. External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction."
UN warns 14,000 babies at risk of dying in Gaza, calls Israel's aid scheme 'potential war crime'
The UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs says the babies will die in the next 48 hours if aid does not reach them
❗️An Israeli drone strike targeted a car in the town of Ain Baal, in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon, on Wednesday, killing one person, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The attack marks a new violation of the ceasefire. Earlier, Lebanon’s state news agency reported that an “enemy drone” struck a vehicle on the al-Housh–Ain Baal road near the city of Tyre.
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❗️Iran parliament approves 20-year strategic pact with Russia
Iran’s parliament has ratified a 20-year strategic partnership agreement with Russia, state media reported on Wednesday. Signed by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian in January, the pact deepens bilateral ties, particularly in defense cooperation. While it stops short of a mutual defense clause, it commits both countries to joint action against shared military threats, enhanced military-technical collaboration, and joint exercises.
❗️Mass displacement from school near Gaza’s European Hospital amid Israeli artillery attack
A wave of displacement struck families sheltering in al-Fukhari School east of Khan Younis, after Israeli artillery targeted another school nearby. The attack coincided with a ground incursion by Israeli military vehicles into the area.
❗️Israel preparing to strike Iranian nuclear facilities
CNN reported on Tuesday, citing informed US officials, that newly obtained intelligence indicates Israel is preparing to strike nuclear facilities in Iran. The officials noted it remains unclear whether Israeli leadership has made a final decision on carrying out the attack.
❗️Gaza Health Ministry:
"42 martyrs in Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip since dawn today, 24 of them in Khan Yunis."
❗️Israeli settlers attempt to prevent humanitarian aid trucks from entering the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
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❗️Israel’s Foreign Ministry accuses Britain of making “grave mistake” alongside Europe, says UK has “said things we do not accept.”
(Yedioth Ahronoth)
❗️Hebrew media reports indicate the transfer of wounded soldiers from Gaza after a building collapsed on an Israeli force.
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Israeli soldiers are furious that they can’t cut water to Palestinians in Gaza during 'Operation Gideon’s Chariots.'
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❗️Hamas in a press statement: 'No real [ceasefire] negotiations have taken place since last Saturday'
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"We in the Hamas movement consider the continued presence of the Zionist delegation sent to Doha, despite its proven lack of authority to reach an agreement, as a blatant attempt by Netanyahu to mislead global public opinion and falsely present an image of engagement in the negotiation process. The delegation’s stay has been extended day by day without entering into any serious talks, and in fact, no real negotiations have taken place since last Saturday.
Netanyahu’s statements regarding the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip are merely an attempt to obscure the truth and deceive the international community. Not a single aid truck has entered the Strip to date, including the few trucks that reached the Kerem Abu Salem crossing but were not received by any international body."
UK sanctions West Bank violence network including 'settler grandmother' Daniella Weiss
Officials also announced the suspension of free trade deal negotiations with Israel over 19 months into the British-backed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza
❗️Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that a date has been proposed for the next round of Iran-US negotiations but said Tehran has not yet accepted the invitation.
In remarks at a memorial ceremony for the late President Ebrahim Raisi, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dismissed western opposition to Iran’s uranium enrichment as "nonsense," affirming that the Islamic Republic does not wait for permission to enrich uranium and follows its own independent path.
Khamenei added that he would explain at a later date why western powers are so insistent on halting Iran’s enrichment program.
(Tasnim News Agency)
❗️US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Syria could be weeks away from 'full-scale civil war.' (AFP)
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BREAKING | UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy announces the suspension of free trade deal negotiations with Israel and confirms that the Israeli ambassador has been summoned over Israel’s military expansion and ongoing blockade of Gaza.
Lammy warned that further action will be taken if Israel proceeds with Operation Gideon’s Chariots without allowing the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid.
❗️On Monday, Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations said that the United Arab Emirates launched air and drone strikes on Port Sudan on 4 May, using aircraft based at an Emirati facility on the Red Sea.
Ambassador Al-Harith Idriss stated that the attack occurred a day after a Sudanese military airstrike on the city of Nyala, which targeted an Emirati aircraft and resulted in the deaths of 13 foreign nationals, including “Emirati elements.”