Tehran, Aug 6: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said communication with Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is very “difficult at the moment,” but his presence is a “great strength” for the country to continue its path.

The United States and Israel killed Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28 out of “desperation,” expecting Iran to collapse after the “brutal” action, Pezeshkian said in an interview published on the website of his office on Wednesday (local time).

“However, the country continued, and our (new) beloved leader was selected,” he said. “Our new dear leader’s presence is a very great strength for us to be able to continue this path, although communication with him is very difficult at the moment.”

He said Iran is facing its “most difficult” circumstances, citing intensified banking sanctions, curbs on foreign transactions, a naval blockade, and an ongoing war, reports Xinhua news agency.

Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei, was selected as Iran’s new supreme leader by the country’s Assembly of Experts in early March.

This comes against the backdrop of Iran and Oman almost finalising an agreement on new arrangements for commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, under which the temporary northern and southern routes will be replaced by a new single route passing through Iran’s territorial waters for two to four months.

Meanwhile, an informed source close to the Iranian negotiating team told semi-official Fars news agency that the reopening of the strait hinges on tangible US implementation of its commitments, adding that the US Treasury Department’s removal of sanctions on an Iraqi airline on Wednesday was unrelated to the Iran-US MoU.

Iran tightened its control over the Strait of Hormuz on February 28, barring safe passage of vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States, following their joint strikes on Iranian territory.

The US military launched multiple waves of strikes against Iranian targets last month, saying they were in response to Iranian attacks on vessels in the strait and aimed at “degrading Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping.”

Iran responded with missile and drone attacks targeting US military bases and facilities in the region.

Quetta, Aug 5: The Baloch National Movement (BNM) alleged that as many as nine civilians have been killed and dozens forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces in Balochistan’s Nushki district over the past few days, as the region has remained under military siege for several months.

Expressing grave concern over the deteriorating situation in Nushki, the BNM said, “Pakistan Army has stripped civilians of their freedom of movement, effectively turning the entire region into an ‘open-air prison’. Nushki is among the districts that have been subjected to an intense military blockade for months. As a result, daily life has been severely disrupted, while the transportation system has come to a near standstill.”

“During the past week alone, the Pakistan Army has killed at least nine people and forcibly disappeared dozens of others,” it added.

The BNM said that the blockade has also resulted in acute shortages of medicines and essential food supplies, with children, the elderly, and the sick bearing the brunt of the humanitarian crisis.

The group further said that the Pakistani Army, taking advantage of the curfew, broke into shops in the local market, looted businesses, and damaged civilian property.

“Passenger and cargo vehicles have been barred from entering or leaving the region, while even ambulances transporting critically ill patients to hospitals have been prevented from passing,” it added.

According to BNM, “these measures constitute one of the harshest forms of collective punishment imposed by the Pakistani state in Balochistan.”

Asserting that the Pakistan Army is facing defeat in its confrontation with the “Baloch movement”, the group said, “The growing momentum of the Baloch struggle for independence has left the Pakistan Army demoralised and psychologically weakened. In an attempt to restore its declining morale, the Pakistan Army has resorted to false propaganda, portraying attacks on unarmed civilians as victories against the Baloch movement.”

The BNM stressed that the people of Balochistan must stand firm and demonstrate resilience amid the ongoing atrocities by Pakistani forces.

“Freedom is the destiny of the Baloch nation, and the Pakistan Army is approaching a decisive and humiliating defeat on the Balochistan front,” it noted.

Last week, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) criticised Pakistani authorities for the military siege and curfew in Nushki, terming it a “continuation of the state’s policy of collectively punishing the Baloch people”.

It urged the international community to take notice of the situation in Balochistan, especially Nushki, and play an effective role in ending the state’s unchecked power and grave human rights violations.

Jerusalem, Aug 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the country will not withdraw its forces from their current positions in Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed.

“We are instructing IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers to do whatever is necessary to protect themselves, our territory and our citizens,” Netanyahu said in a video released on social media.

Regarding the deal US President Donald Trump said Thursday the so-called “Board of Peace” had reached for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, Netanyahu said that the White House “sent us a draft,” but “we did not agree to it.”

“It is not our draft. We sent our comments,” he said.

A day after Trump’s announcement of the deal, Hamas said it had agreed to the “latest version of the roadmap” for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement after “fierce” negotiations, but conditioned weaponry arrangements on a complete halt to “aggression,” Israeli withdrawal from the enclave, and progress on reconstruction, Xinhua news agency reported.

Over the weekend, Israeli strikes reportedly killed dozens of people, including children and other civilians, across Gaza, prompting Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye, mediators in the Gaza ceasefire talks, to issue a joint condemnation on Monday.

Earlier, Hamas agreed to relinquish both its civilian and military role in governing Gaza under a new internationally backed roadmap that would hand control of the territory to a transitional Palestinian administration as part of a phased peace process, according to senior administration officials.

The proposal, announced by Trump as part of his Gaza peace initiative, goes beyond a ceasefire by outlining a detailed plan to dismantle Hamas’s governing structure. Instead a National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, an independent Palestinian body would oversee both civilian administration and internal security during a transitional period.

Senior administration officials said the roadmap represents the first time Hamas has agreed to accept an international framework that requires it to surrender its governing role while allowing a new Palestinian authority to assume responsibility for administering Gaza.

The document states that all civilian and security responsibilities would be transferred to the National Committee, which would become the sole authority responsible for running public institutions, maintaining essential services and enforcing law and order across the Gaza Strip. It also calls for the committee to conduct a comprehensive audit of Gaza’s financial and administrative affairs before beginning reconstruction.