Washington, May 14 (IANS) A few hours after India and Iran signed a 10-year agreement regarding the Chabahar port, the US has said there will be no exemptions for Indian firms dealing with Iran from sanctions already in force.

This signals a dramatic shift away from the previous exemption from sanctions granted by the Trump administration in 2018 when the then-president rescinded the Iran nuclear deal signed by his predecessor President Barack Obama.

Vedant Patel, the Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US State Department, told reporters on Monday that while the agreement was a bilateral matter between India and Iran and that India was free to run its foreign policy the way it wants, “any entity (or) anyone considering business deals with Iran … need to be aware of the potential risks that they’re opening themselves up to the term risk of sanctions”.

Asked if there will be no exemptions, the Spokesperson said, “No.”

He was responding to questions on the agreement signed by New Delhi and Tehran that allows India to operate the Chabahar port for 10 years.

The 2018 exemption was granted to allow India to construct and develop the port in south Iran to allow it to send shipments to Afghanistan and beyond because Pakistan did not allow the use of its territory.

–IANS

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Magdeburg, May 13 (IANS/DPA) The German organisation Institute for State Politics, which has been categorised as right-wing extremist by the domestic intelligence services, has been dissolved.

“The Institute for State Politics no longer exists,” wrote board member Götz Kubitschek in an article in the organisation’s own magazine Sezession.

“The association has been dissolved, all members have resigned, the accounts closed, the tasks completed or redistributed.”

The Institute for State Policy, based in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, was categorized as a confirmed right-wing extremist organisation by the domestic intelligence agency in April last year.

It mainly spread its ideas through events and publications.

Kubitschek wrote that such an organisation no longer serves any purpose once it has lost its non-profit status for good.

According to the register of associations at the Stendal district court, the dissolution of the association was already decided in February and March this year.

In his article, Kubitschek announced the founding of a new association, which will also run academies and organise conferences.

–IANS

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Berlin, May 13 (IANS/DPA) A former Kazakh minister has been handed a 24-year prison sentence for murdering his wife in an assault committed in a restaurant, according to media reports in the capital Astana on Monday.

The man, who served briefly as economy minister of the oil-rich Central Asian country some years ago, was found to have fatally beaten his wife in November last year. The court in Astana found him guilty of torture and murder.

The case provoked widespread debate on domestic violence in the country. Hastily enacted legislation increased punishments for causing physical harm, and centres are to be established in the former Soviet Republic to assist victims.

By contrast, Russia in 2017 reduced protections for the partners of violent men.

The man had previously been sentenced to a prison term for corruption, but had been released on parole.

–IANS

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Tel Aviv, May 13 (IANS/DPA) Almost 360,000 people have fled the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip since the Israeli army issued the first evacuation orders a week ago, according to UN figures.

“There’s nowhere to go. There’s NO safety without a #ceasefire,” the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) wrote on X on Monday

Rafah, which is already overcrowded with internally displaced persons, is seen as the militant Palestinian organization Hamas’ last stronghold.

Fierce fighting between Israel’s army and armed Palestinians continued on Monday at various locations in the north, south and centre of the coastal strip.

UNRWA’s statement added that in northern Gaza, bombardments and further evacuation orders have caused more displacement and “fear for thousands of families.”

The military arm of Hamas reported on Telegram about attacks on Israeli troops in various locations, including in Rafah in the south as well as in the refugee neighbourhood of Jabalia and in al-Saitun in northern Gaza.

There were fresh rocket alerts on Monday in Israeli border towns on the edge of the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant spoke by telephone with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the situation in the Gaza Strip, according to reports on Monday.

According to his office, Gallant discussed the “developments in Gaza, including [Israel Defense Forces] operations across the strip in the face of terror hotspots, and the precise operation in the Rafah area against remaining Hamas battalions, while securing the [Rafah border] crossing.”

Blinken reiterated that the United States remains opposed to a major Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, “where over 1 million people have taken shelter,” a US State Department spokesman said.

–IANS

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London, May 13 (IANS/DPA) British Prime Rishi Sunak warned giving opposition leader Keir Starmer the keys to Downing Street would leave the country less safe and embolden Russia’s Vladimir Putin, in an early indication of bitter general election battles to come.

Sunak claimed Labour’s refusal to adopt the government’s plan to spend 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence sent the wrong message at a time when the world was facing “one of the most dangerous periods we’ve ever known.”

The highly personal attack on Starmer came as Sunak attempted to revive Conservative hopes with his party more than 20 points behind in the opinion polls and licking its wounds after a local election mauling.

The next UK general election must be held no later than January 2025, but Sunak has indicated he could call an election this autumn.

Starmer rejected the attack, saying “I know first-hand the importance of national security” from his role as director of public prosecutions.

Sunak said that despite the dangers over the coming years, there was also opportunity and voters will have a choice between the Conservatives’ “optimistic” view of the future and Labour’s “doomsterism.”

In a speech to the Policy Exchange think tank, Sunak said he remained “confident” that his party could win the general election as it was “the only party really talking about the future” and offering “bold ideas and a clear plan” rather than “lofty platitudes.”

The prime minister’s wide-ranging address warned of threats over the next five years from an “axis of authoritarian powers” including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, extremists seeking to sow division at home, fears about new technologies such as artificial intelligence and global forces imperilling people’s financial security.

He said: “People want to know that they have got someone in charge who understands these dangers, because only if you understand what’s happening can you be trusted to keep us safe.”

Sunak has set out a plan to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030, with the money largely coming from slashing the size of the Civil Service.

Labour has said it wants to raise defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, but has not set a date for achieving that target and would carry out a defence review if it wins the election.

Sunak said: “I believe that we will keep this country safe and Keir Starmer’s actions demonstrate that he won’t be able to do that.”

He added: “The Labour Party and Keir Starmer not matching our investment on defence spending emboldens our adversaries.

“What do you think Putin thinks when he sees that? That he thinks the West isn’t prepared to make the tough choices to invest in their security?

“Because Russia’s economy has mobilised for war, he is continuing to be aggressive, we need to meet that aggression with strength.”

Sunak also accused the opposition of attempting to “depress their way to victory” with “talk of doom loops and gaslighting and scaremongering about pensions”.

He said: “They have just one thing: a calculation that they can make you feel so bad about your country, that you won’t have the energy to ask what they might do with the incredible power that they seek to yield.”

Sunak acknowledged that the public felt “anxious and uncertain,” but denied that this was all due to “14 years of Conservative government.”

But while he painted a picture of a difficult period ahead, the prime minister also pointed to significant opportunities presented by transformational technologies such as AI, adding it was “incumbent upon us to make this a period not just of great danger but of great progress too.”

–IANS

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