Iran dismisses US economic threats; mass funeral held in Gaza
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(AP) -- Iran on Thursday dismissed threats by U.S. President Donald Trump of economic pain and isolation for the country, while six European nations condemned Israel over a settlement project.
Doctors Without Borders criticized the decision by Israel’s military not to investigate two fatal attacks on the medical humanitarian organization’s staff, and in Gaza City, a mass funeral was held for 50 people killed in Israeli airstrikes nearly three years ago but whose remains were just recovered.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has rejected the economic threats made against his country, saying that such “failed policies” will stir more hostility among Iranians and “bring more failures.”
Araghchi’s comments came a few hours after Trump threatened “crushing economic measures” against Iran. The U.S. president promised “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” but provided few details.
In a social media post, Araghchi maintained that the threats aim to divert the attention of the U.S. public from domestic financial problems, saying that U.S. “economic terrorism threatens the global economy and the national sovereignty of countries around the world.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that Iran will face the “greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world.”
In a CNBC interview, Bessent threatened secondary sanctions on nations and companies that conduct business with Iran, saying it’s time for U.S. allies to make a decision on where they stand.
China’s government and India are major buyers of Iranian oil, though Bessent didn’t call them out by name.
Doctors Without Borders said that the decision by Israel’s military not to open a criminal investigation into two strikes that killed four people shows the country won’t take responsibility for attacking civilians.
The international aid group now wants an impartial investigation into the deaths, but didn’t specify who should lead the effort.
Doctors Without Borders asked Israel’s military to investigate an attack on a Gaza City convoy in November 2023 and a strike on the organization’s shelter in Khan Younis in February 2024. Israel’s announcement on Wednesday said that it wouldn’t launch criminal investigations into the two cases, in which troops killed the organization’s employees.
Meanwhile, European countries along with Canada condemned the latest development in a contentious Israeli settlement project near Jerusalem that would effectively cut the occupied West Bank in two.
Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing issued a tender for constructing several compounds with more than 1,200 homes in total in an open tract of land east of Jerusalem. It’s the latest step in a project under consideration for more than two decades, which critics say would prevent the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.
The joint statement from the leaders of the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Canada said international law is clear the settlement is illegal and noted “unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians.”
Egypt and Jordan also condemned Israel’s move.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded on Thursday by defending “the historic right of the Jewish people to reestablish their national home in the Land of Israel -- including in the area in question.” Saar criticized the U.K. government for “blaming only Israel while ignoring Palestinian extremism.”
A mass funeral Thursday in Gaza City remembered 50 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the opening months of the Israel-Hamas war, but whose remains were only recently recovered from under rubble.
Dozens of mourners carried the remains, draped in Palestinian flags, through debris-strewn streets before lowering them into graves. Some held portraits and posters with photos of the deceased.
The 50 bodies were from three families who were killed in airstrikes in November and December 2023.
The nearly three-year war has killed more than 73,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which was part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children make up around half of the toll.