Category: The Citizen

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran had agreed to allow nuclear inspections ‘into infinity’ and that any Iranian assets unfrozen under a recent agreement would be used to purchase humanitarian supplies from the United States, claims swiftly rejected by Tehran.

Washington agreed to suspend sanctions on Iran for 60 days from Monday following the first round of talks held under a fragile peace deal reached last week to end more than three months of war.

US Vice President JD Vance said discussions with Iranian officials in the Swiss resort of Buergenstock had laid the groundwork for a final agreement and that Tehran had agreed to allow international nuclear inspectors back into the country.

However, Iran denied that nuclear issues had been discussed during the talks, which were mediated by Qatar and Pakistan, and insisted that no agreement had been reached to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to return.

Iran rejects US claims

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Tuesday that Iranian officials had not met IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in Switzerland and had no plans to permit inspections of the country’s damaged nuclear facilities.

Trump dismissed Tehran’s denials, accusing Iran of making ‘false statements’.

‘Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level nuclear inspections long into the future,’ he said in a post on Truth Social.

He also said any Iranian assets released under the agreement would be held in an escrow account and used to purchase food and medical supplies from the US, including corn, wheat and soybeans.

But Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, rejected the assertion, insisting that Tehran alone would determine how any unfrozen assets are used.

‘Iran is the only country to decide what to do with its assets,’ he told reporters, adding that no other country would have influence over those decisions.

Progress amid uncertainty

The contradictory statements underscored the uncertainty surrounding efforts to end a conflict that has destabilised the Middle East.

On Monday, the parties agreed on a mechanism aimed at ending hostilities between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. They also established a communications channel intended to ensure safe passage for commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil supplies that Iran blockaded during the war.

As part of initial economic relief measures, the US Treasury announced a sanctions waiver valid until August 21, allowing Iran to resume oil exports and receive payments.

Bahreini said ‘good progress’ had been made and announced that two working groups would soon be established to address sanctions relief and Iran’s nuclear programme.

He said five elements of the initial agreement must first be fully implemented before formal negotiations begin on the nuclear issue and any future role for the IAEA.

Iran has maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful and suspended cooperation with the IAEA after war broke out, following months of limited inspections after earlier US and Israeli air strikes.

Tensions persist in Lebanon

Bahreini said Lebanon formed an ‘unquestionable’ part of the interim agreement and that it included the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanese territory.

Although a ceasefire has largely held in southern Lebanon since Sunday, Lebanon’s Civil Defence and state media reported that Israeli gunfire killed two people on Tuesday. Hezbollah accused Israel of violating the ceasefire.

Israel has said it will maintain a security zone in southern Lebanon and continue acting against what it describes as threats to its security.

Israeli and Lebanese officials were due to begin a fresh round of talks in Washington on Tuesday. The conflict with Hezbollah has killed thousands of people and displaced millions.

Meanwhile, tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz began recovering on Monday. However, Iran and Oman indicated in a joint statement that charges could be introduced for vessels using the strategic waterway.

The two countries said a joint working group would discuss navigation management, services and related costs while respecting their sovereign rights.

Domestic pressure on Trump

Oil prices have eased since the interim agreement was reached, with crude prices falling further on Tuesday after dropping three percent on Monday.

The conflict with Iran, which began with joint US-Israeli strikes, has become a growing political challenge for Trump and fellow Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Rising fuel prices have fuelled public frustration, while some Republican lawmakers continue to press for the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear programme.

Despite the diplomatic progress, sharp differences over inspections and sanctions relief suggest that negotiations remain fragile and a comprehensive settlement is still far from certain.

Key institutions mandated to regulate noise pollution, including the National Environment Management Council (NEMC), local government authorities, and environmental committees at village, street, and ward levels, have not consistently enforced the law, leaving residents exposed to persistent disturbances from entertainment venues operating in residential areas, as revealed by an investigation by The Citizen.

Although these institutions have undertaken measures such as public awareness campaigns and the closure of some offending establishments, excessive noise remains a recurring problem across many neighbourhoods.

Debate continues over amendments to the Finance Act, 2026, that would allow the Government to borrow from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), with critics arguing that the new provision does not clearly explain how such loans would be repaid.

Others have questioned how the government can borrow its own reserves, noting that funds held by the central bank are national assets and that the government already has the authority to access them during emergencies.

Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting ?in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the occupied West Bank, an independent UN inquiry said Tuesday.

The report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel examined violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Around 30 percent of those killed in the Gaza war were children, the report found.

A previous report by the commission in September found that Israel had committed genocide ?in Gaza and that top Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu incited these acts – accusations that Israel called scandalous.

Israel’s mission in Geneva said Israel ?rejected what it called the Commission’s “second defamatory advocacy report”.

“Israel dismisses this libelous sham,” it said in a statement, adding that “every child ?deserves protection” and asserting that the report ignored “the brutal tactics of Hamas”.

The UN commission said that Palestinian children were deliberately targeted and killed during the war, including after ?a ceasefire came into effect in October 2025. It said this was a key element establishing genocidal intent by Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the Palestinian ?group, in whole or in part, in Gaza.

‘The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,’ said Srinivasan Muralidhar, the commission’s chair, in a statement accompanying the report.

Child deaths

The report found that the proportion of children killed was higher than in previous conflicts. Between October 7, 2023 and October 7, 2025, at least 20,179 children were ?killed, around 30 percent of the overall death toll.

By comparison, in hostilities in Gaza in 2008-2009 and 2014, children made up approximately 24 percent of conflict-related fatalities, the report said.

After initial talks under a fragile new peace deal aimed at easing tensions across the Middle East.

Israeli ?forces continued to use high-payload munitions and weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated residential areas despite mounting child casualties, the commission said.

‘This indicates that such attacks, which killed children in high ?numbers, were intentional,’ it said. It said it believed children were targeted collectively because the Israeli security forces considered the civilian population as a whole to be associated with Hamas and other armed groups.

A rebuttal shared by Israel’s mission in Geneva said Israel “consistently strives to minimize harm to children even in situations of conflict” and that Israel rejected the suggestion it deliberately targets children “in the strongest terms”.

Muralidhar said that by targeting children, Israel was undermining the capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine ?their future.

Conditions imposed by Israel in Gaza, ?including widespread attacks, repeated displacement and ?starvation caused by the blockade of aid, food and medicine, severely harmed children’s health and development, resulting in preventable deaths and trauma, the report said.

The inquiry also found that attacks on healthcare and reproductive facilities impacted the survival of newborns and reported ?increases in miscarriages, and that nearly all children in Gaza were reported to require psychological support.

Israel’s rebuttal said the report ?failed to mention Israel’s ?role in facilitating vaccinations and the entry of medical staff, and the establishment of field hospitals. It accused Hamas of systematically diverting humanitarian aid and fuel for hospitals. Hamas has rejected such accusations.

West Bank

In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Commission found a sharp increase in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian children and documented evidence of torture, including ?sexual and ?gender-based violence, during mass arrests and detention.

It said Palestinian children, particularly boys, were subjected to systematic mistreatment ?in detention, including forced stripping, beatings and food deprivation.

The commission concluded that the treatment constituted the crimes against humanity of torture and other inhumane acts causing great suffering or serious injury.

Israel’s rebuttal said the ?report’s findings on the West Bank omitted context on the “constant terrorist threat” that it said Israeli security forces were responding to.

Tanzania and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) have marked a major milestone in the localisation of climate finance, with the first allocation from a $12 million programme aimed at strengthening communities’ capacity to respond to and adapt to climate change impacts.

A symbolic handover of a performance-based grant worth $2.03 million was held here on Monday, June 22, 2026, where the government was represented by the Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), Prof Riziki Shemdoe.

Also present were the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, Shigeki Komatsubara and the Executive Secretary of UNCDF, Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, alongside senior government officials, development partners, diplomatic representatives, local government leaders and climate finance stakeholders.

Mr Kurukulasuriya said the initiative marked an important step in strengthening local resilience to climate change and building sustainable local economies.

‘This is an important milestone in building local resilience to the impacts of climate change and fostering sustainable local economies – not so that communities can live, but so they can thrive,’ he said. ‘UNCDF has a unique role in the development finance ecosystem, absorbing risk in early-stage and last-mile markets to advance development where it is most needed, such as here in Tanzania.’

The funds will be channelled to eight local government authorities through UNCDF’s Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL), which has supported thousands of investments across Africa, Asia and the Pacific since its global launch in 2014.

In Tanzania, the programme is expected to finance agricultural resilience initiatives, climate-proof infrastructure, and activities aimed at strengthening livelihoods and local economies.

LoCAL in Tanzania is supported by the European Union, the Royal Norwegian Embassy, the Embassy of Belgium, the Embassy of Ireland, and the United Nations Joint SDG Fund. A previous pilot phase, funded by the EU and Sweden, supported resilience-building projects and strengthened local government capacity in climate adaptation planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring, benefiting about 800,000 people in the Dodoma Region.

The latest allocation represents one of the largest decentralised climate finance disbursements currently being implemented through local government systems in Tanzania. The first tranche of funds was received by local authorities last week for the implementation of 42 climate-resilient investments over the course of the year.

Tanzania is currently implementing its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Climate Change Response Strategy, and Vision 2050 agenda, with partners noting that mechanisms such as LoCAL are critical in ensuring climate finance reaches communities most affected by climate change.

The High Court of Tanzania, Kigoma Sub-Registry, has ordered the government and members of a presidential commission probing criminal incidents during and after the 2025 General Election violence to appear without fail in a case challenging the legality of their appointment, which will be heard today, Tuesday, June 23, 2026.

The judicial review application was filed by activist Buberwa Kaiza and his colleague Joseph Mabugo against the Attorney General, commission chairperson, Court of Appeal Judge Shaban Ally Lila, and three other commissioners.

Private sector stakeholders have urged the government to establish strong mechanisms for participation, implementation, and monitoring of development plans to ensure effective contribution towards achieving the goals of the National Development Vision 2050 and the First Five-Year Development Plan IV.

They made the call yesterday, during a consultative meeting organised by the National Planning Commission (NPC), which brought together private sector associations and institutions to discuss strategies for the sector’s involvement in implementing the vision and development plans.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan is expected to inaugurate a new radiotherapy services building at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) Northern Zone Referral Hospital, a Sh17 billion facility aimed at improving cancer care in the region.

The facility, which will serve up to 1,500 patients annually, is set to be officially opened on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, during the President’s one-day visit to Kilimanjaro Region.

Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner Nurdin Babu told journalists on Monday, June 22, 2026, that the project will significantly ease the burden on cancer patients who previously travelled to Dar es Salaam for radiotherapy at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute.

‘The President is expected to make a one-day visit to our region on June 24, during which she will inaugurate the radiotherapy building at KCMC Northern Zone Referral Hospital,’ said Mr Babu.

He said the Sh17 billion project was financed through government funding under the Sixth Phase Government, which contributed Sh5.5 billion, alongside development partners.

‘This reflects continued collaboration between government, partners, and institutions in improving access to health services,’ he said.

KCMC executive director, Prof Geleard Masenga, said the facility marks a major milestone in cancer care in the Northern Zone, noting that patients previously faced long and costly referrals to Dar es Salaam.

‘This service is a major relief for patients. For many years, they had to be referred to Ocean Road for radiotherapy. Now that the burden has been significantly reduced,’ said Prof Masenga.

He said non-communicable diseases account for about eight in every 10 admissions at the hospital, with cancer patients forming a significant proportion requiring radiotherapy.

According to him, between 60 and 70 percent of cancer patients treated at KCMC require radiotherapy services.

He said the hospital began offering limited radiotherapy services on February 25 this year, during which 80 patients have already received treatment.

Prof Masenga added that the facility currently handles more than 30 patients daily and is expected to treat over 1,500 patients annually once fully operational.

The new unit is expected to improve access to specialised cancer treatment across the Northern Zone and reduce the need for long-distance referrals to Dar es Salaam.

Lionel Messi scored twice as Argentina defeated Austria 2-0 on Monday, with the captain becoming the outright leading scorer in men’s World Cup history with 18 goals.

The 38-year-old entered the Group J match level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose on 16 goals before opening the scoring in the first half to set a new record.

He later added a second goal to seal victory and take his tally to 18, extending his remarkable scoring streak to six consecutive World Cup matches.

Messi’s first goal came after he had missed an early penalty, but the Argentina captain made amends by finishing off a flowing move after combining with his teammates before converting Facundo Medina’s low cross.

The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner had already made history in Argentina’s opening 3-0 victory over Algeria, becoming the first player to appear at six World Cups and the oldest player to score a hat-trick in the tournament.

The victory moved the defending champions closer to the knockout stage and maintained their perfect start to the tournament after successive wins in Group J.

The Argentine, who turns 39 later this week, continues to add to a legacy that has already placed him among football’s greatest players.

The Mainland Premier League has reached its most decisive stage, with the standings now reflecting a tightly compressed competition at both the top and bottom of the table as the season enters its final three rounds.

With only Rounds 28, 29 and 30 remaining, the league picture remains remarkably open.

At the summit, defending champions Young Africans (Yanga), arch-rivals Simba and Azam FC are locked in a three-way contest that has refused to separate despite months of competition.

The narrow margins between the trio mean that the title race is expected to be decided only in the final moments of the campaign, with every remaining fixture carrying championship implications.

This level of uncertainty has not only intensified pressure on the title contenders but has also shaped the competitive structure of the closing phase.

The decision to have all matches played simultaneously underlines just how fine the margins have become, where even a single goal in one stadium could instantly shift pressure across the entire table.

Azam FC remain firmly in the mix, acting as both disruptors and contenders in a race traditionally dominated by the two giants. Their remaining fixtures against direct rivals and mid-table sides could prove decisive in shaping the final order, particularly in rounds where Yanga and Simba are also engaged in difficult assignments.

If the title race is finely balanced, the relegation battle is even more congested. A large cluster of teams remains mathematically unsafe, with KMC already confirmed as the first casualty of the season, leaving a wide group still fighting to avoid the remaining drop zone positions.

Clubs such as Tanzania Prisons, Mbeya City, Namungo, Mtibwa Sugar, Mashujaa, Coastal Union, Fountain Gate, Dodoma Jiji and Pamba Jiji are all separated by thin point margins, meaning that a single victory or defeat could drastically alter survival chances.

This congestion at the bottom has effectively turned nearly every remaining match into a ‘six-pointer’ scenario.

The introduction of simultaneous kick-offs is therefore not just a procedural adjustment but a structural safeguard for competitive fairness.

By removing the advantage of knowing other results, teams are forced into pure performance-based decision-making, eliminating late-game tactical manipulation based on live standings elsewhere.

From a sporting perspective, this final phase creates a unique competitive environment where psychological pressure is amplified.

Coaches will not be able to manage games based on unfolding outcomes in other venues, and players will berequired to sustain maximum intensity regardless of external developments.

Round 28 already presents defining fixtures across the table, including Mtibwa Sugar hosting Simba and Yanga facing Azam FC, matches that could directly influence the title trajectory. Round 29 maintains the pressure with Simba against Singida Black Stars and Yanga meeting TRA United, while Azam continue their push against Coastal Union.

Beyond tactics and form, logistical complexity also becomes a factor in the final stretch.

Stadium sharing arrangements and venue availability issues add another layer of uncertainty, particularly for clubs operating in shared infrastructure environments. This has required careful coordination to ensure the integrity of the synchronized schedule is maintained.

Ultimately, the final round on June 30 is shaping up as a potential decider, with both the championship and relegation battles likely to reach their conclusion under identical conditions.