Middle East

16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim is recovering after spending 9 months in an Israeli prison, for allegedly throwing rocks. The Palestinian American boy’s plight sparked widespread outrage and condemnation at Israel’s abuses in the occupied West Bank.

First American pope urges Catholic Church in Turkiye to serve the most vulnerable, including migrants and refugees.

Pope Leo XIV is set to join the leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians to celebrate the historic 1,700-year milestone since one of the early Church’s most important gatherings, on the second day of his visit to Turkiye.

The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics began his day on Friday by joining a prayer service at Istanbul’s Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

The first American pope has chosen the Muslim-majority Turkiye as his first overseas destination, to be followed by Lebanon in the coming days, as he seeks to be a bridge-builder and a messenger of peace amid raging global conflict.

In Istanbul, police shut down a main artery of the country’s largest city to allow Leo’s entourage to pass. After the church service, he was scheduled to visit a nursing home and meet with Turkiye’s chief rabbi.

Pilgrims packed into Holy Spirit church while dozens more waited excitedly in the courtyard outside in the hope of getting a glimpse of the pontiff, getting up before dawn to be in the front line.

“It’s a blessing for us, it’s so important that the first visit of the pope is to our country,” a 35-year-old Turkish Catholic, Ali Gunuru, told AFP news agency.

Catherine Bermudez, a Filipino migrant worker in Istanbul, told Al Jazeera that she was “very excited” to be chosen as one of the parishioners to greet the pope inside the church.

Visibly moved by his reception at the church, Leo could be seen smiling and looking much more at ease than on Thursday, encouraging his flock not to be discouraged, saying “the logic of littleness is the church’s true strength”.

“The church in Turkiye is a small community, yet fruitful,” he said in his address, urging them to give “special attention” to helping migrants and refugees staying in Turkiye who number nearly three million, most of them Syrians.

Next papal stop in Iznik

Later on Friday, the 70-year-old pontiff will head to Iznik to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, a gathering of bishops who drew up a foundational statement of faith still central to Christianity today despite the separation of the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Leo will be flown by helicopter to Iznik where he has been invited by the Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, to join an ecumenical prayer service by the ruins of a fourth-century basilica.

“When the world is troubled and divided by conflict and antagonism, our meeting with Pope Leo XIV is especially significant,” Patriarch Bartholomew told AFP news agency in an interview.

Reports said that Turkish police removed Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who shot and seriously wounded Pope John Paul II in Rome in 1981, from Iznik on Thursday.

Agca – who was released from prison in 2010 – said he had hoped to meet the pope, telling reporters that “I hope we can sit down and talk in Iznik, or in Istanbul, for two or three minutes.”

Pope Leo is the fifth pontiff to visit Turkiye, after Paul VI in 1967, John Paul II in 1979, Benedict XVI in 2006 and Francis in 2014.

Sudan Doctors Network says military use of hospital is ‘a blatant violation of sanctity of medical institutions’.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have converted a large part of Al-Nuhud Hospital in West Kordofan in wartorn Sudan’s south into a military command centre and barracks since their takeover of the city more than five months ago, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.

The nongovernmental organisation said on Friday that the RSF, the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces’ (SAF) bitter rival in the brutal three-year civil war, has been preventing the hospital from fulfilling its essential role in providing healthcare for the population.

“This military use of the health facility constitutes a blatant violation of the sanctity of medical institutions and undermines civilians’ right to access treatment,” the statement on Facebook said, adding that some of the medical personnel in the city have been accused of cooperating with the military before fleeing the city.

“As a result, the hospital is suffering from a severe shortage of healthcare workers, leaving the remaining medical services extremely limited and unable to meet patients’ needs,” it added.

Since April 2023, the SAF and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediation has failed to end.

The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others, causing what the United Nations calls the world’s largest humanitarian disaster.

Fleeing the horrors of el-Fasher

Hundreds of Sudanese children have arrived in the town of Tawila in Sudan’s western Darfur region without their parents since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of the city of el-Fasher last month, a humanitarian group says.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Thursday that at least 400 unaccompanied children had arrived in Tawila but that the real number was likely much higher.

The RSF seized control of el-Fasher – the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state – on October 26 after an 18-month siege that cut residents off from food, medicine and other critical supplies.

The paramilitary group has been accused of committing mass killings, kidnappings and widespread acts of sexual violence in its takeover of the city. The Sudanese army has also been accused of committing atrocities during the war.

Washington’s truce proposal

The United States has recently presented Sudan’s warring parties with a proposal for a ceasefire, but neither side has formally accepted it.

The RSF unilaterally declared a cessation of hostilities on Monday in line with US wishes.

But on Tuesday, the SAF said it had repelled an attack on a base in Babnusa in West Kordofan state, the newest front line in the war.

Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan called on US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to bring peace to the country.

“The Sudanese people now look to Washington to take the next step: to build on the US president’s honesty and work with us – and those in the region who genuinely seek peace – to end this war,” Sudan’s de facto leader wrote in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal.

Attempts to broker peace between Burhan and his one-time deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, have repeatedly failed over the course of the war that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.

Trump took a public interest in the war for the first time last week, promising he would end it after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman urged him to get involved.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is being staged in United States, Canada and Mexico, with Washington, DC hosting December’s draw.

Iran is to boycott next week’s World Cup finals draw in Washington because the United States refused to grant visas to several members of the delegation, the Iranian football federation announced on Friday.

“We have informed FIFA that the decisions taken have nothing to do with sports, and the members of the Iranian delegation will not participate in the World Cup draw,” the federation’s spokesperson told state television.

Iranian sports website Varzesh 3 had claimed on Tuesday that the US had declined to issue visas to several members of the delegation, including the president of the federation, Mehdi Taj.

On Thursday, Taj had denounced the decision as being a political one.

“We have told the head of FIFA, Mr [Gianni] Infantino, that it is purely a political position and that FIFA must tell them [US] to desist from this behaviour,” added Taj.

According to Varzesh 3, four members of the delegation, including Amir Ghalenoei, the coach, had been granted visas for the draw on December 5.

Iran qualified for the sport’s quadrennial showpiece in March, guaranteeing them a fourth successive appearance and seventh in all.

They have yet to progress to the knockout stages, but there was unconfined joy when in the 1998 finals in France, Iran beat the USA 2-1 in their group match.

The US avenged that by beating Iran 1-0 in the 2022 edition.

The US – which is co-hosting the World Cup with Canada and Mexico – and Iran have been at loggerheads for more than four decades.

They had, though, been holding high-level nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington that had begun in April, during which the two sides were at odds over Iran’s right to enrich uranium – which Tehran defends as “inalienable”.

However, they ended when, in mid-June, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, triggering a 12-day war that the US briefly joined, with strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities.

At least 12 Syrians killed in Israeli attacks after two unarmed Palestinians murdered in occupied West Bank’s Jenin.

Aman says it will take ‘all available measures’ to stop Russian authorities from recruiting its citizens to fight in war.

Jordan has demanded that Russian authorities stop illegally recruiting its citizens after two Jordanians were killed fighting in the Russian military.

Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the warning on Thursday against Moscow and external “entities” working online to recruit people on Moscow’s behalf.

The ministry did not mention Russia’s almost four-year-long war on Ukraine, where thousands of paid foreign fighters have joined Moscow’s side.

In a statement shared on X, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said it would “take all available measures” to end the further recruitment of Jordanians and called for Moscow to terminate the contracts of its currently enlisted citizens.

The recruitment is a violation of both Jordanian domestic and international law, the ministry said, and “endangers the lives of [its] citizens”.

The statement did not provide any further identifying information or say where or when the two citizens were killed, though Russia has a track record of recruiting foreigners to fight in Ukraine.

Ukraine says Moscow has recruited at least 18,000 foreign fighters from 128 countries, according to figures shared by Brigadier General Dmytro Usov. In a post on the Telegram messaging app, he said another 3,388 foreigners have died fighting for Russia.

Usov did not provide a breakdown of the foreign soldiers fighting in Ukraine for Russia, but the vast majority were likely from North Korea.

The New York-based Council on Foreign Relations said Pyongyang sent between 14,000 and 15,000 soldiers to fight for Russia in 2024, citing Western officials.

Moscow has also recruited at least 1,400 Africans from more than 30 countries, using methods ranging from deception to duress, according to Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha.

Sybiha said previously that signing a contract with the Russian military was “equivalent to signing a death sentence” for foreign recruits.

“Foreign citizens in the Russian army have a sad fate. Most of them are immediately sent to the so-called ‘meat assaults,’ where they are quickly killed,” Sybiha said in a November 9 post on X.

“The Russian command understands that there will be no accountability for the killed foreigner, so they are treated as second-rate, expendable human material,” he said.

Israeli soldiers have been filmed shooting two Palestinians who were seen on their knees with their hands in the air. The men were shot dead during Israeli raids in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army says it’s investigating the incident. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh explains.

Pope Leo XIV hailed Turkiye as a bridge between cultures and religions, as he began his first foreign visit since becoming pontiff. He warned the future of humanity was at stake as a result of escalating conflicts. The Pope will also visit Lebanon during his tour.

Humanitarian group says at least 400 children reached Tawila without their parents after Rapid Support Forces’ advance.

Hundreds of Sudanese children have arrived in the town of Tawila in Sudan’s western Darfur region without their parents since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of the city of el-Fasher last month, a humanitarian group says.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Thursday that at least 400 unaccompanied children had arrived in Tawila but that the real number was likely much higher.

“Children are reaching Tawila exhausted and deeply distressed, often after days of walking through the desert,” the group said.

“Many arrive terrified of the armed groups they fled from or might have encountered on the road. Many became separated from their parents during the chaos of flight, while others’ parents are believed to have gone missing, been detained or killed.”

The RSF seized control of el-Fasher – the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state – on October 26 after an 18-month siege that cut residents off from food, medicine and other critical supplies.

The paramilitary group, which has been battling the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for control of Sudan since April 2023, has been accused of committing mass killings, kidnappings and widespread acts of sexual violence in its takeover of the city.

The RSF has denied targeting civilians or blocking aid, saying such activities are due to rogue actors.

But United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said in mid-November that the “atrocities” that have unfolded in el-Fasher “constitute the gravest of crimes”.

More than 100,000 people have fled el-Fasher since the RSF’s takeover last month, according to the latest figures from the UN, with many seeking refuge in nearby Chad.

Meanwhile, the NRC said on Thursday that it had registered at least 15,000 new arrivals in Tawila, about 60km (37 miles) from el-Fasher, since October 26. More than 200 children are being registered each day on average, it added.

Nidaa, a teacher with the humanitarian group’s education programme in Tawila, said children arrive showing “signs of acute trauma”.

“When we first started our classes, some of the children could not speak at all when they arrived. Others were waking up with nightmares,” she said. “They describe hiding for hours, travelling at night to avoid attacks, and becoming separated from family in the chaos.”

Fears of human trafficking

Humanitarian groups have said the already heavily populated displacement camps in Tawila are becoming overwhelmed with the influx of new arrivals from el-Fasher and its surrounding villages.

The Sudanese American Physicians Association estimated in early November that more than 650,000 internally displaced people from el-Fasher and other parts of Darfur had sought refuge in Tawila amid months of fighting in the region.

Nearly three-quarters of displaced residents – 74 percent – lived in informal sites without adequate infrastructure, the group said in a November 5 report, while less than 10 percent of displaced households had reliable access to water or latrines.

“These conditions mean Tawila has effectively become a stand-alone crisis epicentre, not merely an overflow from el-Fasher,” the report said.

At the same time, a group of UN experts warned on Thursday that the deteriorating situation in the region has opened Sudanese women and girls up to a heightened risk of sexual exploitation and trafficking.

Displaced children are also increasingly vulnerable to being recruited to fight in the escalating conflict, the experts said.

“We are deeply concerned at the alarming reports of human trafficking since the takeover of el-Fasher and surrounding areas by the [RSF],” they said in a statement.

“Women and girls have been abducted in RSF-controlled areas, and women, unaccompanied and separated children are at elevated risk of sexual violence and sexual exploitation.”

Noting that families have been left without shelter, humanitarian aid, and access to basic services, including healthcare and education, the experts called for “urgent action to end the human rights violations driving this suffering”.

Photographer Yasin Akgul says he will continue on his path ‘with even more reporting’ following his acquittal.

A Turkish court has acquitted four journalists accused of taking part in an allegedly unlawful demonstration they were covering in Istanbul earlier this year.

The ruling was issued on Thursday morning after the court found no evidence that the media workers – a photographer with the AFP news agency and three local journalists – had committed any offence, according to AFP and local media reports.

Those cleared are AFP’s Yasin Akgul, Ali Onur Tosun of Turkish broadcaster NOW Haber and freelancers Bulent Kilic and Zeynep Kuray.

Turkiye’s Hurriyet Daily News reported three other journalists had also been acquitted.

The reporters were arrested in March amid a mass protest movement triggered by the arrest of Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is a critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish government has rejected accusations of political interference, insisting the judiciary acts independently.

They, along with thousands of protesters, had been accused of violating Turkiye’s Law 2911 on meetings and demonstrations – a measure rights groups say is used to curb peaceful assembly.

Supporters of Law 2911 say that it is necessary for public order to regulate all protests and assemblies. They cite its legal basis for dispersing gatherings that impede public movement or violate security instructions.

‘Journalists must be allowed to work unhindered’

AFP, which had repeatedly called for Akgul’s acquittal, hailed the court decision.

“AFP welcomes the acquittal of Yasin Akgul and his colleagues. This case against photographers doing their job on the streets of Istanbul should never have been brought,” Phil Chetwynd, AFP’s global news director, said.

“Journalists must be allowed to cover demonstrations and protests unhindered,” he added.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also welcomed the decision in a case it has described as “unlawful”.

AFP’s Akgul said the decision was expected even though it came late. “Now that the psychological strain of the trial process and my difficulty in focusing are gone, I will continue on my path with even more reporting,” he told AFP after the verdict. “The right decision has been made. I hope that other journalists who are still inside will also be freed as soon as possible.”

Judges are reviewing the UK government’s decision to ban the activist group Palestine Action under counter-terror laws. Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego was at the court where police were arresting people for displaying pro-PA signs.

Palestinians had to bury their loved ones wherever they could during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Now, they’re turning to Gaza’s Civil Defence to move them to cemeteries.

The controversial US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is closing operations, after five months of massacres, stampedes and chaos. Despite that, the GHF says it did its job “successfully.” Soraya Lennie explains the group’s chaotic legacy.

The UN has documented nearly 3,000 settler attacks across the occupied West Bank since October 2023, driving communities from their land in what Palestinians say is a deliberate, violent campaign to displace them.

Search ongoing for fourth suspect as prosecutor’s office says the accused hold positions in critical defence companies operating inside Turkiye.

Three executives of defence companies have been arrested by Turkish authorities on suspicion of spying for foreign powers, prosecutors say.

“An operation was carried out on November 25, 2025, to apprehend four individuals identified in connection with the conspiracy,” the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.

“As a result of the operation, three individuals were apprehended, and an arrest warrant was issued for one individual due to being abroad.”

It said the suspects “hold executive positions within critical defence companies operating in our country”.

They are accused of trying to provide “biographical” information about employees to foreign countries.

According to the AFP news agency, the prosecutor’s office initially said the suspects worked for the intelligence services of the United Arab Emirates before deleting that statement and publishing a significantly revised version on X that did not mention the UAE.

Turkey’s defence exports swelled by 29 percent ($7.15bn) in 2024, according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, driven notably by the success of its military drones.

At a UN Security Council meeting, members urged Israel to abide by the ceasefire and open more border crossings to ease Gaza’s deep humanitarian crisis. Palestinians say they are still struggling to access food, water and shelter as aid flows remain far below what is needed.

Israeli forces have killed at least four Palestinians and wounded several others across Gaza despite a six-week ceasefire, as a Palestinian armed group announced recovering the body of another captive in the war-torn territory.

The victims on Monday included a Palestinian man who was killed in a drone attack in the southern town of Bani Suheila, in an area controlled by Israeli forces beyond the so-called “yellow line”.

Separately, a Palestinian child was also killed in northern Gaza City when ordnances left behind by Israeli forces exploded, according to the territory’s civil defence.

The group said several more children were wounded, with some in critical condition.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Gaza City, said Israeli attacks also continued throughout the day, with artillery, air raids and helicopter strikes reported in both northern and southern parts of the enclave.

In Beit Lahiya, Israeli fire hit areas outside the yellow line. In the south, tanks and helicopters targeted territory northeast of Rafah and the outskirts of Khan Younis.

“There are extensive Israeli attacks beyond the yellow line that have led to the systematic destruction of Gaza’s eastern neighbourhoods,” Abu Azzoum said.

Testimonies gathered by families, he added, point to a “systematic attempt to destroy Gaza’s neighbourhoods and create buffer zones, making these areas completely uninhabitable, which complicates a return for families”.

In central Gaza, civil defence teams, operating with police and Red Cross support, recovered the bodies of eight members of a single family from the rubble of their home in the Maghazi camp, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported, which was struck in an earlier Israeli attack.

The Gaza Government Media Office said the number of bodies retrieved since the ceasefire began has now reached 582, while more than 9,500 Palestinians remain missing beneath the ruins of bombed-out districts.

Captive’s body recovered

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an armed group allied with Hamas, meanwhile, announced it had recovered the body of an Israeli captive in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

If the body is identified, two more will have to be recovered under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Israel is supposed to return the bodies of 15 Palestinians in exchange for each captive’s body.

Hamas has previously said the widespread destruction has hampered efforts to locate the remaining bodies.

Also on Monday, the GHF, a US-backed entity that operated parallel to United Nations aid structures, announced the end of its activities in Gaza.

The organisation cited provisions in the October ceasefire as the reason for its withdrawal.

UN experts say at least 859 Palestinians were killed around GHF distribution points since May 2025, with Israeli forces and foreign contractors regularly opening fire on crowds desperately seeking food.

The scheme drew widespread condemnation for bypassing established humanitarian channels.

Israeli attacks on the West Bank

Across the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces stepped up raids overnight, arresting at least 16 Palestinians, according to Wafa. Arrests were reported in Iktaba near Tulkarem, in Tuqu southeast of Bethlehem, in Kobar near Ramallah, and in Silat al-Harithiya west of Jenin.

Israeli troops also detained residents in Tubas and the surrounding areas.

Violence escalated further on Sunday night when Israeli forces killed a 20-year-old law student, Baraa Khairi Ali Maali, in Deir Jarir, north of Ramallah.

Wafa reported that clashes erupted after Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes on the village’s outskirts. Fathi Hamdan, head of the local council, said troops entered the village to protect the settlers, then opened fire on Palestinians confronting them.

Maali suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and died shortly after arrival at hospital. His killing follows the fatal shooting of another young man by settlers in Deir Jarir last month.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers injured two Palestinian women and detained two brothers during a raid in Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya.

Settler attacks also continued. Fires were set on agricultural land between Atara and Birzeit, north of Ramallah, destroying farmland belonging to residents.

In a separate incident in Atara, settlers from a newly established outpost torched olive trees and stole farming equipment.

Israeli settler violence has surged over the past two years; since October 7, 2023, at least 1,081 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers, including 223 children, with more than 10,614 wounded and more than 20,500 arrested.

Israeli ceasefire violations in Lebanon

In Lebanon, Hezbollah held a funeral for senior commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai, assassinated by Israel on Sunday.

Images from Beirut’s southern suburbs showed mourners carrying his coffin, wrapped in yellow and green, as Hezbollah flags lined the streets. The group has not yet announced how it will respond.

Mahmoud Qmati, vice president of Hezbollah’s Political Council, called the killing “yet another ceasefire violation”, accusing Israel of escalating the conflict “with the green light given by the United States”.

Security analyst Ali Rizk said Hezbollah is weighing its options carefully, warning that the group is unlikely to “give Netanyahu an excuse to launch an all-out war against Lebanon”, which he said could be more devastating than the current limited exchanges.

Geopolitical analyst Joe Macaron said the US is “no longer restraining Israel” and is instead supporting Israeli operations in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon.

Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said that Hezbollah, in turn, faces a strategic dilemma: retaliation could risk a massive Israeli assault, yet inaction could erode its deterrence.

Imad Salamey of the Lebanese American University said any Hezbollah response could be met with a “severe” Israeli reaction.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, he added that Israel’s right-wing government “is eager to escalate because escalation will serve that government staying in power”.

Salamey argued that Hezbollah’s deterrence capacity has been “severely damaged” and that the group “no longer has the support it used to have or the logistical routes it used to utilise via Syria”.

White House cites groups’ alleged support for Hamas, accusing them of waging campaign against US interests and allies.

Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has ordered his aides to start a process to label the branches of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan as “terrorist” organisations, citing their alleged support for the Palestinian group Hamas.

Trump issued the decree on Monday as Washington intensified its crackdown on Israel’s foes in the region.

The decree accused Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Jordan of providing “material support” to Hamas and the Lebanese branch of the group – known as al-Jamaa al-Islamiya – of siding with Hamas and Hezbollah in their war with Israel.

It also claimed that an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader “called for violent attacks against United States partners and interests” during Israel’s war on Gaza. But it was not clear what the White House was referring to. The Muslim Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt and mostly driven underground.

“President Trump is confronting the Muslim Brotherhood’s transnational network, which fuels terrorism and destabilization campaigns against US interests and allies in the Middle East,” the White House said.

Trump’s order directs the secretary of state and the treasury secretary to consult with the US intelligence chief and produce a report on the designation within 30 days.

A formal “foreign terrorist organisation” label would then officially apply to the Muslim Brotherhood branches within 45 days after the report.

The process is usually a formality, and the designation may come sooner. The decree also opens the door to blacklisting other Muslim Brotherhood branches.

The White House is also pushing to label the groups as “designated global terrorists”.

The designations would make it illegal to provide material support to the group. It would also mostly ban their current and former members from entering the US, and enable economic sanctions to choke their revenue streams.

Longstanding demand of right-wing activists

Established in 1928 by Egyptian Muslim scholar Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood has offshoots and branches across the Middle East in the shape of political parties and social organisations.

Across the Middle East, Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated parties take part in elections and say they are committed to peaceful political participation.

But the group has been outlawed by several countries across the region.

Blacklisting the Muslim Brotherhood has been a longstanding demand for right-wing activists in the US.

But critics say that the move could further enable authoritarianism and the crackdown on free political expression in the Middle East.

The decree could also be used to target Muslim American activists on allegations of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood or contributions to charities affiliated with the group.

Right-wing groups have long pushed to outlaw Muslim American groups with unfounded accusations of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the designation should not have an impact on Muslim American advocacy groups and charities.

“The American Muslim organisations are solid,” Awad told Al Jazeera. “They are based in the US. The relief organisations serve millions of people abroad. I hope that this will not impact their work.”

But he noted that anti-Muslim activists have been trying to promote “the conspiracy theory that every Muslim organisation in the US is a front to the Muslim Brotherhood”.

Recently, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott designated both the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as “foreign terrorist organisations and transnational criminal organisations”.

CAIR has sued the governor’s office in response.

France prepares to host Iran’s foreign minister in Paris for high-stakes talks on nuclear and regional tensions.

France will host Iran’s foreign minister in Paris this week for talks that are set to include stalled nuclear negotiations.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed on Monday that his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi will arrive on Wednesday for discussions that Paris hopes will nudge Iran back into full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as part of a defunct nuclear deal.

“This will be an opportunity for us to call on Iran to comply with its obligations towards the IAEA and for a swift resumption of cooperation with the agency,” Barrot said ahead of the meeting.

French officials also plan to raise the status of two French nationals who were released from detention in Iran but remain unable to leave the country. Both are currently staying inside the French embassy in Tehran, and Paris has repeatedly pressed for their return.

The Paris meeting comes as Tehran has signalled it sees little urgency in resuming indirect talks with the United States over the future of its nuclear programme.

Earlier this month, Iran declared it was “not in a hurry” to restart negotiations, despite mounting pressure following the return of United Nations sanctions and growing economic strain.

Araghchi reiterated that position in an interview with Al Jazeera, saying Tehran remained open to dialogue if Washington approaches talks “from an equal position based on mutual interest”.

He dismissed reported US conditions – including demands for direct talks, zero enrichment, restrictions on missile capabilities, and curbs on support for regional allies – as “illogical and unfair”.

“It appears they are not in a hurry,” he said. “We are not in a hurry, either.”

Tehran’s top diplomat also argued that regional politics are shifting in Iran’s favour.

Referring to the Israeli prime minister, he said: “I sometimes tell my friends that Mr [Benjamin] Netanyahu is a war criminal who has committed every atrocity, but did something positive in proving to the entire region that Israel is the main enemy, not Iran, and not any other country.”

A planned sixth round of indirect US–Iran nuclear talks collapsed in June after Israel attacked Iranian nuclear sites, triggering a 12-day war that killed more than 1,000 people in Iran and caused billions of dollars in damage.

The two sides reached a ceasefire after the US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.

US President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a deal between the US, Iran, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, China and the European Union that saw Tehran curtail its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iran has since continued to violate provisions of the agreement, arguing that the US withdrawal has nullified the deal. Iranian officials maintain that the country is only developing its nuclear programme for civilian purposes.

UN sanctions against Iran were reimposed in September as part of the 2015 agreement’s “snapback” mechanism.