BIARRITZ, France: US President Donald Trump said he was prepared to meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in the next few weeks after talks over Tehran’s nuclear program at a G7 summit in France.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made a surprise appearance on the sidelines of the summit in Biarritz on Sunday at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron said that the “conditions for a meeting” between Trump and Rouhani to take place “in the next few weeks” had been created through intensive diplomacy and consultations.
“If the circumstances were correct, I would certainly agree to that,” Trump said at a joint press conference with Macron.

Macron also said that both he and Trump believed Iran should not have a nuclear weapon and should not destabilize the Gulf region.
Asked by reporters if he thought the timeline proposed by his French counterpart sounded realistic, Trump replied: “It does,” adding he thought Rouhani would also be in favor.
“I think he’s going to want to meet. I think Iran wants to get this situation straightened out,” Trump added.
Trump has put in place a policy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program via crippling sanctions that are seen as raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East.
The US president last year unilaterally pulled out of a landmark 2015 international deal that placed limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for trade, investment and sanctions relief.
Rouhani defended Zarif’s Biarritz visit in a speech aired live on state television on Monday.
“I believe that for our country’s national interests we must use any tool,” he said.
But hard-liners have criticized the initiative, with the ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper saying the trip was “improper” and sent “a message of weakness and desperation.”
Macron has urged the US administration to offer some sort of sanctions relief to Iran, such as lifting sanctions on oil sales to China and India, or a new credit line to enable exports.
In return, Iran would return to complying with the 2015 deal.
Commenting on the talks about Iran at the G7, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “It’s a big step forward. Now there is an atmosphere in which talks are welcomed.”

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s military said Monday it has launched an investigation into a purported Israeli strike that killed one paramilitary fighter and severely wounded another near the country’s western border with Syria.
The attack on Sunday hit a position near the border town of Al-Qaim held by Brigade 45, a unit belonging to the powerful Hashed Al-Shaabi paramilitary force.
“An investigation is ongoing now to determine what happened with the strike,” Iraq’s military spokesman Yehya Rasool told AFP.
The Hashed blamed Israel on Sunday, saying Israeli drones targeted the position with US air cover.
“As part of the string of Zionist attacks on Iraq, the evil Israeli crows have returned to target the Hashed Al-Shaabi, this time with two drones inside Iraqi territory,” the statement said.
The attack killed Kazem Mohsen, Brigade 45’s “logistical support chief” and a member of its rocket squad, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Ali Al-Dabi.
Hundreds mourned at a funeral procession for him in Baghdad on Monday morning, including Ahmad Assadi, a member of parliament and spokesman for the Hashed’s parliamentary bloc “Fatah.”
“We will work in the coming days to hold an emergency parliamentary meeting to discuss this issue and take the appropriate decisions,” he said in a video published by the Hashed.
The attack was the latest in a string of blasts and drone sightings at Hashed bases across Iraq, for which no one has claimed responsibility.
The Iraqi government has carried out investigations into some of those incidents, blaming an unidentified drone for at least one and saying another was a “premeditated” act without making specific accusations.
Meanwhile, a powerful bloc in Iraq’s parliament is calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq following the series of airstrikes.
The Fatah Coalition said on Monday it holds the United States fully responsible for this Israeli aggression, “which we consider to be a declaration of war on Iraq and its people.”
The coalition is a parliament bloc representing Iran-backed paramilitary militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.
The statement adds that US troops are no longer needed in Iraq.

(With AP and AFP)

ANKARA: Turkish ground troops will enter a planned safe zone in northern Syria “very soon,” President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, after a joint operation center with the United States opened at the weekend.
Turkey and the United States agreed earlier this month to set up the joint center for the planned safe zone along Syria’s northeastern border, but gave few details on the size of the zone or the command structure of the forces to operate there.
“We are slowly making progress in our efforts to establish a safe zone,” Erdogan said. “Just like many other issues some saw as untouchable, we are putting the east of the Euphrates issue on track,” Erdogan said.
Turkey has repeatedly said that it would not tolerate any delays to the agreement by US officials, warning that it will mount a cross-border offensive on its own to clear its borders from the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia if necessary.
On Monday, Erdogan said progress was being made on plans to establish the safe zone, but added that Turkey had made all preparations to carry out its own plans if its expectations are not met.
“Our priority is dialogue and cooperation. If we are pushed to a road that we don’t want or face stalling, our preparations are ready and we will implement our own plans,” he said. “Our UAVs and helicopters have entered the region. Very soon, our ground troops will also enter the region.”
The comments come two days after Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the joint US-Turkey center became fully operational. Akar also said some YPG positions in the region had been destroyed by US troops as part of the deal.
Speaking on Monday, Akar said that talks were underway for Turkish and US soldiers to begin joint patrols in the planned safe zone area “soon.”
Ankara and Washington have been at loggerheads over a host of issues including conflicting policies in Syria. US support for the YPG has enraged Turkey, which views the militia as a terrorist organization linked to Kurdish insurgents inside the country.

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri said Monday his government wants to avoid an escalation with Israel but the international community must reject Israel’s “blatant violation” of Lebanese sovereignty.
Two drones crashed Sunday in Beirut suburbs prompting the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement to warn Israeli soldiers at the border to await a response.
“The Lebanese government sees it best to avoid any sliding of the situation towards a dangerous escalation but this requires the international community affirming its rejection of this blatant violation,” Hariri told the ambassadors of the UN Security Council’s five permanent members, his office said.

Al-Hariri also met Lebanon’s interior and defense ministers and with the army chief on Monday to discuss security issues, his office said.

Meanwhile, President Michel Aoun discussed the “Israeli assault” with the country’s United Nations Special Coordinator Jan Kubis, the president’s office said on Twitter.

A pro-Syrian Palestinian group on Monday accused Israel of carrying out a drone attack on one of its positions in Lebanon, hours after Hezbollah claimed it was targeted by a similar Israeli strike.
A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), which has close ties with Hezbollah and Syria’s government, said the strike caused only limited material damage.
“It was an Israeli strike with a drone,” spokesman Anwar Raja said.
There were no casualties, he said, as “the position targeted had been evacuated” before the alleged strike.
Lebanon’s state National News Agency (NNA) said “three hostile strikes” after midnight hit near the eastern town of Qusaya “where the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — General Command has military posts.”
“They responded will a barrage of anti-aircraft fire,” it said.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Qusaya is only about five kilometers from the Syrian border.
The PFLP-GC has positions in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley as well as in Al-Naaemeh just south of Beirut.
An NNA correspondent also reported on Monday that warplanes belonging to Israel have violated the Lebanese airspace and are currently flying over Marjeioun district at a medium altitude. 
In July 2015, a security official said a blast at a PFLP-GC base in Qusaya wounded seven people, while the Palestinian group blamed it on an Israeli strike.
Raja said the latest attack was Israel “saying that it is able to strike the axis of the resistance wherever it wants” referring to anti-Israeli forces like Hezbollah and its ally Iran.
He also denounced the strikes as “provocation” after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday threatened Israel over what he described as a targeted “drone attack” on his group’s stronghold in the south of Beirut.
“The time when Israeli aircraft come and bombard parts of Lebanon is over,” Nasrallah said.
“I say to the Israeli army along the border, from tonight be ready and wait for us,” he added. “What happened yesterday will not pass.”
Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, is a major political actor in Lebanon and also a key backer of the government in war-torn Syria.
The latest incident also came after Israel on Saturday launched strikes in neighboring Syria to prevent what it said was an Iranian attack on the Jewish state.
Nasrallah said the strike in Syria killed two Hezbollah members.
Israel did not confirm the alleged “drone attack” on Hezbollah’s stronghold.
(With Reuters and AFP)

JERUSALEM: Israel said on Monday it was cutting by half the amount of fuel it supplies to Gaza’s only power plant, in response to rocket attacks from the Palestinian territory.
Three rockets were fired from the Hamas Islamist-run enclave at southern Israel on Sunday and two were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, the military said. There was no claim of responsibility.
After the attack, Israel launched an air strike against what the military described as a Hamas military compound. No casualties were reported on either side of the volatile border.
In a statement, COGAT, a unit in the Defense Ministry that coordinates civilian issues with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, said “cutting the amount of diesel in half will significantly reduce” the plant’s output.
It said the measure, “following the firing of rockets … and the continued violation of stability and security” will be in effect until further notice.
Gaza has long suffered from a shortage of electricity and chronic blackouts. A new power line from Israel has been proposed to alleviate the situation.
Mohammad Thabet, spokesman for the Gaza power company, described the Israeli decision as collective punishment.
“We already are in a crisis and now the Israeli decision will make it worse. It will have a grave impact on the lives of 2 million people and on vital services such as hospitals,” Thabet told Reuters.
Currently residents get six hours of electricity followed by 12 hours of blackout. Thabet said the fuel cuts would decrease power time to only four-hour periods.
In a series of border confrontations in recent weeks, Israel said it killed at least eight Palestinian militants who tried to infiltrate its territory.
Israeli and Egyptian blockades have brought the Gazan economy to the brink of collapse. Recent foreign aid cuts and sanctions by the Palestinian Authority, Hamas’s rival in the West Bank, have worsened the situation.