����ֱ��

TEHRAN: Security chief Ali Larijani said on Tuesday that Iran was open to nuclear talks with the US but ruled out any restrictions on its missile program.
“The path for negotiations with the US is not closed; yet these are the Americans who only pay lip service to talks and do not come to the table; and they wrongly blame Iran for it,” said Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
“By raising unrealizable issues such as missile restrictions, they set a path which negates any talks,” Larijani wrote on X.
The remarks came days after the US welcomed a move by European powers to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran but said it remained “available for direct engagement with Iran.”
On Thursday, Britain, France and Germany triggered a “snapback” clause in the deal between Iran and major powers that allows for UN sanctions to be reimposed in the event of non-compliance with its provisions.

RAMALLAH: Thousands of students and teachers have been killed or wounded in Gaza and the West Bank since the start of the Israeli military offensive in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, amid the widespread destruction of schools and universities.

Figures released on Tuesday by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education reveal the sheer scale of devastation to the education sector in the territories: 18,651 students have been killed and 29,114 injured, the vast majority of them in Gaza, where more than 18,508 died and 28,142 were wounded. In the West Bank, the death toll among students stands at 143, 972 have been injured, and 792 were detained.

The ministry also recorded the deaths of 972 teachers and administrators, and injuries to 4,538. In addition, 199 were detained in the West Bank.

The damage to infrastructure in Gaza has been severe, with 172 government schools and 63 university buildings completely destroyed, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported. A further 118 government schools and more than 100 run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East have been bombed or vandalized, and 25 schools were removed entirely from the education registry. In the West Bank, 152 schools have been vandalized, and eight universities and colleges repeatedly raided.

About 46,000 Palestinian refugee children returned to UNRWA schools in the West Bank this week, though about 800 pupils from schools in Jerusalem that remain closed had to transfer to alternative institutions, it was reported on Monday. UNRWA schools also welcomed 5,000 first-year pupils on Monday.

Meanwhile, 10 UNRWA schools in the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps remain closed as a result of Israeli military operations, affecting more than 4,000 children who are now learning remotely or in temporary spaces, Wafa reported.

The displacement of at least 30,000 people in the northern West Bank since January, a third of them children, has compounded the disruptions to education.

UNRWA has warned of unprecedented challenges to the right of Palestinian children to education, citing in particular repeated raids, vandalism and the psychological toll of displacement and violence.

The agency reaffirmed its commitment to the protection of access to schooling, stressing that all children, including those in East Jerusalem, have the right to continue their education in a safe and dignified environment.