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00:00:22Headlines. The
00:00:25number of attacks by Houthi ships on Riyadh airport yesterday increased to 13.
00:00:28Riyadh and Dammam airports were targeted again today.
00:00:32US army fires at a commercial ship
00:00:35in the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM says it violated Iran's naval blockade
00:00:39despite warnings. Trump's claim about an agreement between Kyiv and
00:00:43Moscow on stopping reciprocal attacks on energy
00:00:46infrastructure. The Ukrainian president said he had no
00:00:50information. Russia attacked
00:00:53again.
00:01:25Hello and welcome to this news program. Saudi officials say
00:01:29that today, Riyadh and Dammam airports were again
00:01:33targeted, and a number of people were injured. This is while
00:01:36the number of Houthi attacks on Riyadh airport yesterday has
00:01:40reached 13, and more than 300 people have been
00:01:43injured. In these attacks, Riyadh airport's operations have been disrupted
00:01:47and it remains closed. Yemen's Ansar Allah movement,
00:01:50known as the Houthis, while claiming responsibility for yesterday's
00:01:54attacks, said that their attacks were a response to Saudi Arabia's military
00:01:57aggression. They had previously warned airlines and passengers
00:02:01not to use Saudi airports. More
00:02:05details in a report by Kasra
00:02:06Naji.
00:02:10Shortly after yesterday's attack on Riyadh International Airport in
00:02:14Saudi Arabia.
00:02:16At least 12 people were killed here. More than 300
00:02:20people were injured, and the condition of some of them has been reported
00:02:23as critical. An attack in broad daylight on the heart of the Saudi
00:02:27capital. These CCTV camera
00:02:30images show the moment of the explosion. It has been reported that the
00:02:33domestic flight terminal was targeted by at least
00:02:37one drone. This is the third drone and missile attack on
00:02:41this airport in the past 8 days, and the bloodiest
00:02:44on Saudi soil since a suicide terrorist attack
00:02:4711 years ago, an attack that was
00:02:51attributed to ISIS. The Houthis have now claimed responsibility for this
00:02:54attack and say it was in retaliation for the renewed Saudi air
00:02:57strikes
00:03:00on Yemen. The Houthis have warned airlines not to
00:03:04enter Saudi airspace, with the
00:03:07exception of Mecca and Medina. King
00:03:11Khalid Airport will now be closed until 9 PM GMT
00:03:14tonight. It has been reported that some of the airport's equipment
00:03:18and facilities were hit. Flights to
00:03:22Riyadh were diverted to other parts of the country.
00:03:24The Saudi Health Minister
00:03:28visited the injured from the attack today.
00:03:54Many countries around the world condemned the Houthi attacks on the civilian
00:03:58airport.
00:04:40Yemen's third largest city, which has been under Houthi siege for two weeks, a city that is
00:04:43under the control of government forces supported by Saudi
00:04:47Arabia.
00:04:50Developments in and around the Strait of Hormuz are also
00:04:54worrying. Iran says that one of its supertankers
00:04:57in the east of the Strait of Hormuz was
00:05:06If Iran's report of it hitting a mine is true, it seems that
00:05:10the mines
00:05:43With the increase in tension between the Houthis of Yemen and
00:05:46Saudi Arabia, in which direction is the situation
00:05:49heading? I extend my greetings and respect to
00:05:52you and the viewers and listeners of BBC Persian. In
00:05:56my opinion, this should be seen within the larger picture. A larger picture
00:06:00in which the Islamic Republic,
00:06:02simultaneously with rejecting its own proposal for
00:06:06a seven-day and rapid reopening of the Strait
00:06:09of Hormuz, the passage of large quantities of oil through
00:06:13the Strait of Hormuz by the United States, the non-realization
00:06:16of the Islamic Republic's prediction of $150
00:06:20or $200 oil, all of these factors have combined
00:06:24to form a will in the Islamic Republic to go to war
00:06:27before the US midterm elections,
00:06:30without wanting to accept the legal
00:06:33and practical consequences of this issue.
00:06:36That is, because the cost of this would be high if the Islamic Republic
00:06:40were to act unilaterally,
00:06:42in the public opinion inside Iran, and this protesting
00:06:46society would attribute this to the Islamic Republic
00:06:49having instigated war. They have tried to do this
00:06:53through their proxy forces, the Houthis.
00:06:56Well, against the Houthis, there was a coalition
00:07:00led by Saudi Arabia. There was a legitimate government in Yemen.
00:07:04The legitimate government of Yemen, which in response,
00:07:07began repelling Houthi attacks. And the Houthis,
00:07:11in retaliation for these battlefield failures, meaning the capture
00:07:14and clearing of Bab el-Mandeb that happened in recent days by the legitimate
00:07:18Yemeni army, and also to help
00:07:22keep oil prices high and keep Bab el-Mandeb
00:07:25insecure, that is, essentially to keep the region insecure
00:07:29for energy transfer, they took this
00:07:32action to force the United States. In my opinion, Mr.
00:07:36Trump's reaction showed yesterday
00:07:39that he initially said, "I just heard the news. I need
00:07:43to investigate." Then he said, "I will probably intervene." And then finally,
00:07:47his decision was that Saudi Arabia has the ability to defend
00:07:50itself. Therefore, the Islamic Republic should not
00:07:54fall into this trap. The Islamic Republic must now decide
00:07:57whether to frankly, openly, clearly, and
00:08:01explicitly have the courage to face its own decision
00:08:05and directly confront the United States
00:08:08in the region, or it must decide to do so. But
00:08:11America has currently shown that in response to these
00:08:15provocative actions by the Islamic Republic, at least until the midterm
00:08:19elections, it has no intention of doing such a thing. Our report yesterday also
00:08:23showed that the Americans will even try to act
00:08:26indirectly if they want to, such as the request they made
00:08:30to Israel. Of course, Israel has not accepted. Well, Mr. Daneshgah, there are
00:08:34a couple of points here. First, it's still unclear who controls
00:08:37Bab el-Mandeb. These are the latest news we are monitoring.
00:08:41This shows this. And among
00:08:45these, the recognized government of
00:08:49Yemen, we call it that because its
00:08:52legal meaning is not clear here by many
00:08:55jurists. In any case, you mentioned
00:08:59that perhaps a trap had been set
00:09:03by the Islamic Republic. Very briefly, the Islamic Republic says that
00:09:06these are people who have had problems with Saudi Arabia for years,
00:09:09and now it is Saudi Arabia
00:09:13that has entered the internal conflict of the Yemenis.
00:09:16We don't have more than one minute. No, I think it's ironic.
00:09:20If you look at the statements of the officials of the Islamic Republic, the state broadcaster, official platforms,
00:09:24Friday prayer platforms, the imams of Friday prayer of the Islamic Republic, the official position
00:09:27of the Islamic Republic is that these are our proxies, our pressure card
00:09:31and our leverage in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, so that now that
00:09:35the Strait of Hormuz does not have its former effectiveness, we can raise
00:09:39the price of oil to the threshold that targets America's resilience
00:09:42in the energy sector. Therefore,
00:09:45they are proud and cheer, just as they cheered over the October
00:09:497 terrorist operation. No, these are just statements to
00:09:52evade responsibility. The reformist faction of the Islamic Republic's
00:09:56government has always drawn this line that these are proxies, but the Islamic Republic
00:10:00itself believes that these are its proxies and is proud of it. Mr. Gholam Ali
00:10:04Rashid was proud of it, Qasem Soleimani was proud of it, the commanders
00:10:07of the IRGC and the Quds Force. Read the statement of the Quds Force the day before yesterday
00:10:11to see that this entire resistance front, all of this,
00:10:14this is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the official military force of the Islamic Republic.
00:10:18It introduces the entire resistance front as a unified axis.
00:10:22Regarding the legitimate government, I also mean international law. You recognize the security of this government
00:10:26as the legitimate government of Yemen. Now, whether BBC Persian recognizes it or not is
00:10:30its own media policy. Thank you very
00:10:33much, Mr. Daneshgar. We are not in a position
00:10:36to recognize or not recognize a government, but
00:10:39of course, we raise legal
00:10:42and lawful issues. Thank you for
00:10:45your company, and we will continue the program with some short
00:10:48news. The head of Iran's Environment Organization says
00:10:52that US and Israeli attacks on energy facilities.
00:10:58Shina Ansari announced at a conference in Iran that as a result of these attacks,
00:11:021.5 million tons of carbon dioxide have entered the Earth's atmosphere. She
00:11:06also said that more than 25 thousand tons of particulate matter, volatile
00:11:10organic compounds, and nitrogen oxides were also released
00:11:14into the air. Oil and gas facilities in the South Pars gas field
00:11:17and the Assaluyeh refinery were targeted on March
00:11:2017th of last year. The
00:11:22United Nations
00:11:25says the death toll from the capsizing of a boat
00:11:28carrying migrants in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has
00:11:31increased to 139. The boat was
00:11:34traveling from Djibouti to Yemen. It is estimated that dozens
00:11:38of people are also missing. The boat, with around
00:11:41350 passengers, capsized last night in waters near the city of Obock
00:11:45in northern Djibouti in the Red Sea. Search
00:11:49and rescue operations for survivors are ongoing. Some of the displaced people
00:11:52from the Houthi and government clashes have recently
00:11:56sought refuge in Djibouti.
00:11:59Islamabad suspended the local government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern
00:12:03Pakistan and declared a state of emergency in the province.
00:12:06Asif Ali Zardari, the President of Pakistan, accused
00:12:10the local government of the region of incompetence in confronting
00:12:13Islamist militants. The dissolved government of this region was
00:12:16formed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. The leader
00:12:20of this party, Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, has been
00:12:23imprisoned for two years. His supporters have protested
00:12:26in recent days, demanding his release.
00:12:29Ukraine
00:12:32says Russia has again attacked its energy infrastructure.
00:12:36Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a statement that the Kremlin carried out this attack
00:12:40precisely after US President Donald Trump claimed
00:12:43that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to stop attacks on each other's
00:12:47energy facilities. However, Volodymyr Zelensky told
00:12:50the American media Axios that he was unaware of such an agreement
00:12:54and asked the Trump administration to inform his country
00:12:58of its details. The Ukrainian President also announced that in case of a
00:13:02two-month ceasefire in Ukraine, presidential elections would be held.
00:13:05Khashayar Joneydi, my colleague from
00:13:08Washington, is with us. Khashayar, Mr.
00:13:11Trump has criticized Zelensky a lot, and he
00:13:15is also trying hard to bring down fuel prices.
00:13:19Is it really because of the limitations that the US
00:13:22is facing that Ukraine
00:13:26might be sacrificed or used as a bargaining chip in relation
00:13:29to Russia?
00:13:32Not only is Mr. Trump putting pressure on Ukraine and
00:13:36criticizing Mr. Zelensky, but Mr. Zelensky also said today in an interview with
00:13:40ABC that the reason is that they can't overpower Putin. Of course,
00:13:43Trump didn't mention Mr. Trump, but he said it this
00:13:46way. Rather, according to six Democratic and
00:13:50Republican senators who are members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
00:13:54in America, in a statement they just released
00:13:57a few moments ago, the agreement between Mr. Trump and Mr.
00:14:01Putin to supply Russian diesel
00:14:04to reduce its price is against
00:14:08the laws passed in America. They specifically refer to
00:14:11the 2002 law which
00:14:14prohibits the purchase of any oil
00:14:18derivatives and fuel from Russia,
00:14:21because they believe that when they passed
00:14:25the law, they believed that purchasing these products would
00:14:28help Russia's war against Ukraine. However, Mr.
00:14:32Trump had a phone call with Mr. Putin two days ago
00:14:36and agreed to release 300,000
00:14:39barrels of Ukrainian diesel, I mean Russian
00:14:42diesel, into the markets with the aim that Mr.
00:14:45Trump wants the price of diesel in global markets
00:14:49and especially in the US domestic market to come
00:14:52down. Part of the reason for the increase in diesel
00:14:56prices is the war in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, but another part
00:14:59is the attacks that Ukraine has carried out
00:15:03against Russian refineries, and Russia's refining capacity
00:15:07has decreased. In any case, Mr. Trump
00:15:10is looking to control the price of gasoline and diesel
00:15:14in some way before the congressional elections on November 3rd, because
00:15:18it's not just the high price of gasoline and diesel,
00:15:22but the negative impact of high diesel
00:15:25prices on the price of food
00:15:28and other essential goods that is
00:15:31worrying Republicans and Mr. Trump. However, these
00:15:35six senators who were mentioned
00:15:38said in their statement that the action taken was without consultation with Congress and
00:15:42is illegal. Well,
00:15:45can we say that the economic consequences of the war with Iran
00:15:48have led to this point? That's
00:15:52right. The consequences of the war,
00:15:56the concern about the continuation of the current situation in the Strait
00:15:59of Hormuz, is what ultimately led Mr. Trump
00:16:03to, despite his talks with
00:16:06Russia, ask Mr.
00:16:09Putin to
00:16:11release
00:16:14diesel into global markets, just as when
00:16:17the war started and Iran closed the Strait
00:16:20of Hormuz, the US issued a permit for
00:16:24Russia to sell some oil so that they could
00:16:27control oil prices, and
00:16:31this action, this event that is
00:16:34happening, has also
00:16:37drawn criticism from Democrats in Congress and has caused
00:16:40dissatisfaction in Ukraine, which eventually,
00:16:44with the pressure that Mr. Trump put on Mr. Zelensky, he
00:16:48also showed a positive signal.
00:16:51But today, after Mr. Trump initially wrote on
00:16:55Truth Social that an energy ceasefire
00:16:58would immediately be established between Ukraine and Russia, and expressed
00:17:02hope that both sides would adhere to this ceasefire,
00:17:06Mr. Zelensky said in an interview
00:17:08with Axios
00:17:11that this ceasefire issue was also news to him,
00:17:15meaning he was not aware of it. But he said that if
00:17:18Russia has agreed to a ceasefire, Ukraine will also welcome
00:17:22it. Of course, the ceasefire is in the area of attacks on energy
00:17:25infrastructure, but he said that he does not know when
00:17:29this ceasefire will be implemented and what
00:17:33its conditions are. In any case, it seems that Mr.
00:17:36Trump, based on the negotiations he had
00:17:40with Russia, and without consulting
00:17:43or informing the Ukrainians, announced this issue
00:17:47with the understanding that the Ukrainians will
00:17:50have to accept what is announced.
00:17:53Thank you, Khashayar Joneydi, our correspondent in
00:17:57Washington.
00:18:00A look back at the main headlines of this program.
00:18:04Following the deadly attack on Riyadh airport, the United Nations has
00:18:10condemned it, and the European
00:18:13Union has also called for an immediate halt to attacks by Iran's proxy forces. CENTCOM says it shot at a commercial ship for violating
00:18:17Iran's naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman.
00:18:20In the rest of this
00:18:34eyebrow transplants have become popular among citizens of
00:18:38Tajikistan, and dozens of private clinics offer
00:18:41such services. Advertisements for hair and eyebrow transplants on social
00:18:45media have also flourished. Sohrab Ziad in Dushanbe, the capital
00:18:48of Tajikistan, has examined the question of whether the flourishing
00:18:52of hair and eyebrow transplant clinics is a new cultural and
00:18:55social phenomenon in Tajikistan or the result of a beauty
00:18:59trend. I am
00:19:01young and want my hair to be
00:19:05good. This young Tajik has
00:19:07decided to get a hair transplant.
00:19:11He is ready to change his appearance and spends
00:19:14long hours on the clinic bed.
00:19:31However, only hair transplantation has gained
00:19:34popularity among young people. Recently,
00:19:38the interest of Tajik women and girls in eyebrow transplantation has also
00:19:41increased. I am happy that they did
00:19:45these eyebrows for us. It was
00:19:47important.
00:19:49With this.
00:19:55social, leading to an increase in demand for the beauty
00:19:58industry in Tajikistan, now
00:20:02in Dushanbe alone, around 20 private
00:20:05clinics offer such services.
00:20:09This sociologist believes that the new generation of Tajiks,
00:20:12improved and living in better conditions, consider
00:20:15it a valuable opportunity to pay attention to beauty and
00:20:19appearance. A cultural and social phenomenon
00:20:23that has no precedent in this former Soviet, but Muslim and
00:20:26traditional country. Decorating
00:20:29the
00:20:30face
00:21:02with high financial capabilities. No. Today, more
00:21:06people refer to private clinics for these services,
00:21:10but the increase in demand also raises
00:21:14another important question:
00:21:17to what extent are these services standardized?
00:21:24The Ministry of Health of Tajikistan grants licenses for hair and eyebrow
00:21:28transplantation to private clinics. Supervision over the
00:21:31activities of these clinics is carried out by
00:21:34the health services, a body affiliated with
00:21:37this ministry. According to this body, there are no
00:21:40centers in Tajikistan that operate illegally and without
00:21:43a license. Dr. Faridounov is
00:21:47one of the prominent Tajik surgeons who has been performing
00:21:51hair and eyebrow transplants for eight years.
00:21:54He gained experience in India and Iran, and mostly
00:21:58performs hair transplants for people who
00:22:01have congenital defects, or whose hair
00:22:04and eyebrows have been damaged due to burns or
00:22:08diseases. He does not
00:22:11recommend clinics that do not have a license for this.
00:22:14This Tajik specialist mentioned cases where patients
00:22:18in
00:22:54Tajikistan are mainly Iranian and Turkish
00:22:57specialists for planting. The common
00:23:01language, geographical distance, and history
00:23:04of activity in beauty
00:23:07and hair transplantation in Iran are among the factors
00:23:10for the presence of specialists from this country in
00:23:13private clinics in Tajikistan.
00:23:17It is said.
00:23:20There, we had different beauty seekers from other countries
00:23:24who were referring. After we saw that the demand of the people
00:23:27of Tajikistan for eyebrow transplantation was increasing, we decided to have
00:23:31an active branch here as well. The market
00:23:34for hair and eyebrow transplantation in Tajikistan is still
00:23:37young. Its growth shows
00:23:41that the demand for cosmetic and reconstructive services in this
00:23:44country is changing. For clients,
00:23:48the final result is important.
00:24:20He explicitly stated that Moscow played a role in that vote. He
00:24:23did not say who or what entity provided this assessment. Conservative governments
00:24:26in the past have always emphasized that there is no evidence of successful
00:24:30Russian interference in the referendum 10 years ago.
00:24:33In
00:24:35India, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, who opposes the government, described
00:24:39the prime minister as a shameful person. Ab
00:24:42Hij Debka, the leader of India's opposition movement, who has just been released
00:24:45from police custody, said there is no one more cowardly and at the
00:24:49same time more bullying than
00:28:00segment.
00:28:58it move from here. This is the
00:29:01actual size of this hand.
00:29:28They use fake names. Their phones are for
00:29:32one-time use and remain hidden from view, not to
00:29:36evade the law, but to expose lawbreakers.
00:29:40They are BBC World Service journalists,
00:29:43and this is Global
00:29:46Eye from BBC Persian.
00:30:28We just heard about this attack. We'll decide about it soon.
00:30:31We'll do it quickly.
00:30:34The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on Riyadh International Airport.
00:30:38Will the intensification of attacks on Saudi Arabia draw
00:30:41the US into the Yemen war? We ask a former British
00:30:45diplomat in the region what assessment he has of the current
00:30:49situation in the Arabian Peninsula. We ask a media
00:30:52activist close to the Houthis why they target
00:30:56civilian areas.