Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has lauded German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for his outspoken condemnation of human rights violations against the Iranian people as the United States and Israel continue their aggression against the country.

Araghchi expressed his appreciation through a post on his X account on Wednesday, highlighting Steinmeier’s comments that described the US-Israeli war against Iran as not only aggressive but also a breach of international law.

The commendation comes at a time when many global leaders have opted for silence or inaction regarding the issue, marking Steinmeier’s stance as relatively unprecedented among Western figures.

Earlier, President Steinmeier, speaking at a ceremony in Berlin, described the US and Israeli war against Iran as “wrong” and “a violation of international law.”

Steinmeier, who previously served as Germany’s foreign minister, took a stance against the war, stating: “In my view, this war is a violation of international law.”

In his post, the Iranian foreign minister said, “International law is dead in practice—driven by Western double standards on Gaza vs. Ukraine and silence on Israel–US aggression on Iran.

“Still, credit to President Steinmeier for condemning the violations against Iranians. Those who value the rule of law should also speak up.”

Steinmeier also expressed skepticism about the claims of an “imminent threat” against American targets, saying the justification for starting the war of aggression against Iran was not convincing.

On February 28, the United States and the Israeli regime launched an unprovoked war on Iran, assassinating former Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as well as several top military commanders.

Iran immediately began to retaliate against the aggression by launching barrages of missiles and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on the US bases in regional countries.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced carrying out the 80th wave of its decisive retaliatory Operation True Promise 4, this time striking strategic points and military centers on the occupied territories’ northern side, besides pummeling American outposts across the region.

In a statement on Wednesday, the IRGC said the latest phase was staged by the Corps’ Aerospace Force in support of the “proud offensives,” carried out by Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement against Israeli targets, and the residents of southern Lebanon, who have been bearing the brunt of Israeli aggression.

“Strategic points and military centers located in the northern occupied territories were smashed under the heavy and sustained missile attacks of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force,” the statement read.

The IRGC said the military command of the Zionist army in the northern city of Safed, responsible for coordinating attacks and defenses along the territories’ northern borders, was among the primary targets.

The statement described the strikes as the opening of a series of pre-announced operations against the “child-killing Zionist regime.”

The Corps said northern assembly points of Zionist forces and the Gaza belt would be subjected to heavy missile and drone attacks, emphasizing that the IRGC would not relent the slightest while it carries out this bout of counterstrikes.

The IRGC further stated that targets in central occupied territories, including Tel Aviv, Kiryat Shmona, and Bnei Brak, alongside US military bases of Ali al-Salem and Arifjan in Kuwait, al-Azraq in Jordan, and Sheikh Isa in Bahrain, were struck with liquid- and solid-fuel precision missiles and attack drones.

“This wave continues…,” the statement concluded in a sign of unquenched resolve.

Operation True Promise 4 began on February 28, momentarily after the United States and the Israeli regime started their latest round of unprovoked aggression targeting the Islamic Republic.

The Corps has vowed to sustain the reprisal until “complete victory.”

• Crew includes three Americans, one Canadian member.
• First woman, non-American, person of colour onboard.
• Mission mirrors Apollo 8’s historic 1968 lunar flyby.
  

WASHINGTOM: More than half a century after the groundbreaking Apollo programme’s last crewed flight to the Moon, three men and one woman are preparing for a lunar journey set to turn a new page in American space exploration.

The long-delayed Nasa mission dubbed Artemis II is slated to lift off from Florida and venture to Earth’s natural satellite as early as April 1.

They won’t land but are instead on a mission to fly by, much as Apollo 8 did in 1968.

Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glober, and Christina Koch — along with Canadian Jeremy Hansen — will carry out the approximately 10-day trip.

The odyssey will mark a series of firsts: the first time a woman, a person of colour, and a non-American will venture on a Moon mission.

It’s also the inaugural crewed flight of Nasa’s new lunar rocket, dubbed SLS.

The mammoth orange-and-white rocket is designed to allow the United States to repeatedly return to the Moon in years to come, with the goal of establishing a permanent base that will offer a stepping stone for further exploration.

“We’re going back to the Moon because it’s the next step in our journey to Mars,” said Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, on a Nasa podcast.

Space Race 2.0?

The Artemis program — named in honour of Apollo’s goddess twin — aims to test technologies needed to one day send humans to Mars, a far more distant journey.

That ambition presents an immense challenge, which is compounded by pressure to achieve it before China does.

China is currently aiming to land humans on the Moon by 2030.

Beijing is also targeting the lunar South Pole, not least for its rich natural resource potential.

The competition recalls the 1960s-era Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union — but Harvard professor Matthew Hersch said that rivalry was “unique” and “will not be repeated anytime soon.”

He told AFP the Chinese are “not really competing with anyone but themselves.”

Washington’s lunar program investment is significantly lower now than during the Cold War era — but the technology has changed dramatically.

“The computer technology that supports the Artemis 2 crew would be almost unimaginable to the Apollo 8 crew, which went to the Moon in a spacecraft with the electronics of a modern high-end toaster oven,” Hersch said.

And yet the Artemis 2 mission will not be without risks, even by Nasa’s own admission.

The crew will board a spacecraft that has never once carried humans or travelled to the Moon, which is more than 384,000 kilometres (238,855 miles) from Earth — or roughly 1,000 times further away than the International Space Station.

“We don’t accept anything less than perfect, otherwise we’re accepting greater risk,” Nasa’s former chief astronaut Peggy Whitson told AFP.

“That is an important process that everyone has to embrace in order for us to be really successful, because we have to live with that knowledge, because of our space flight history, that when accidents happen, people will die,” she said.

Minimising risks and preventing disaster will involve the crew performing a series of checks and manoeuvres while still in Earth’s vicinity.

If all goes well, they’ll set forth for the Moon.

Ambitious timeline

The crew’s objective will be to verify that both the rocket and the spacecraft are in working order, in the hopes of paving the way for a return and Moon landing in 2028 — the final year of President Donald Trump’s term.

That deadline has raised eyebrows among experts, in part because Washington is relying on the private sector’s technological headway.

The astronauts will require a second vehicle to descend to the moon’s surface, a lunar lander that remains under development by rival space companies owned by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

The Artemis program has also been plagued by delays and massive cost overruns.

Still, Nasa hopes that Artemis 2 can succeed in recreating the rare moment of unity and hope that Apollo 8, when a crew flew by the Moon on Christmas Eve 1968, allowed for.

In the shadow of a tumultuous year, approximately one billion people worldwide tuned in to their flickering television sets to follow the monumental journey of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders.

The astronauts — who immortalised the famous “Earthrise” photograph taken from lunar orbit — were credited with having “saved 1968.”

Nearly 60 years later, the country is once again mired in deep division and uncertainty, and the crew of Artemis 2 will soon have their chance to inspire.