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How would a potential US-Iran war play out?

Looks like its playing out now, will get dirty.

Iran seems to have taken it emotionally instead of strategically and will get battered in a missile war.
 
Woaaaah, Iran has begun lobbing missiles at American bases.
 
Looks like Iran just attacked two US bases. Not sure if anyone has died. This may not end well.

Uncertain times are likely.
 
nope no one has died, seems like they missed on purpose to show retaliation to the iranian people.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1252932181447630848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Iran's Revolutionary Guards ‘successfully launch military satellite’

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) claims it has successfully launched a military satellite into orbit for the first time.

The satellite, named Nur ("Light"), reached an orbit of 425km (264 miles) after being carried by a three-stage Qased launcher, a statement said.

Iran has attempted several launches in the past year that have failed.

If the success of Wednesday's launch is verified, it seems likely to add to the tensions between Iran and the US.

The US has asserted that such satellites go against a UN Security Council resolution, which calls upon on Iran not to "undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons".

Iran has denied violating the resolution and insisted that its space programme is entirely peaceful and that it has no intention to develop nuclear weapons.

The same resolution endorsed a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that US President Donald Trump abandoned two years ago, saying it was flawed.

Tensions between the US and Iran rose in January, when the US killed a top IRGC general in a drone strike in Iraq.

Iran responded by launching missiles at Iraqi military bases hosting US forces.

The IRGC said Wednesday's satellite launch from the remote Central Desert would "be a great success and a new development in the field of space for Islamic Iran".

Footage broadcast by state TV showed the Qased carrier inscribed with a verse from the Koran that Muslims often recite when going on a journey: "Glory be to Him, who has subjected this to us, and we ourselves were not equal to it."

IRGC Aerospace Force commander Brig-Gen Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said the Qased "used a compound of liquid and solid propellants". He added: "Only superpowers have such capability and the rest are just users of such technology."

Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi congratulated the IRGC on the "great national achievement" and stressed that the Aerospace Force's space programme was defensive.

"Part of Iran's peaceful [space] programme is civilian which is pursued by the government, while another part is for peaceful defence purposes and naturally carried out by the armed forces," he tweeted.

A Pentagon spokesman told the Associated Press that US officials would continue to "closely monitor Iran's pursuit of viable space launch technology".

"While Tehran does not currently have intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), its desire to have a strategic counter to the United States could drive it to develop an ICBM," Maj Rob Lodewick said.

In February, Iran failed to put into orbit the Zafar communications satellite.

There were two other failed satellite launches last year, as well as a mysterious explosion that destroyed a satellite launch vehicle.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52380507
 
Iran hits back after Trump says US will shoot Iranian gunboats 'out of the water'

Iran has hit back after Donald Trump said he had instructed the US Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that harass it at sea.

Tehran responded by saying it will destroy "any American terrorist force" if its security is threatened in the Gulf.

It comes as tensions escalate between the two countries again, with Iran's Republican Guard announcing the launch of the country's first military satellite.

Mr Trump said on Twitter: "I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea."

At a briefing later, he said that he was not changing the military's rules of engagement, adding: "We're covered - we're covered 100%".

He said: "We don't want their gunboats surrounding our boats and travelling around our boats and having a good time.

"We're not going to stand for it...they'll shoot them out of the water."

Responding on state TV, the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said: "I have ordered our naval forces to destroy any American terrorist force in the Persian Gulf that threatens security of Iran's military or non-military ships.

"Security of the Persian Gulf is part of Iran's strategic priorities."

He added: "I am telling the Americans that we are absolutely determined and serious in defending our national security, our water borders, our shipping safety, and our security forces, and we will respond decisively to any sabotage.

"Americans have experienced our power in the past and must learn from it."

Last week, the US Navy said 11 Iranian gunboats had behaved in a "dangerous and harassing" way towards US vessels in the Persian Gulf. But Iran blamed the US.

Deputy Secretary of Defence David Norquist told reporters: "The president issued an important warning to the Iranians, what he was emphasising is all of our ships retain the right of self-defence."

General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for Iran's armed forces, accused Mr Trump of "bullying" and said he should focus on his country's coronavirus problem.

The US has more than 840,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3,500 cases within the US military.

Meanwhile, there are fears that Iran's satellite launch will allow it to develop ballistic missiles capable of threatening the US, although Tehran denies this.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the launch could be a breach of a United Nations resolution which "called upon" Iran to stop working on missiles designed to carry nuclear weapons.

He said Iran needed to be "held accountable for what they have done", although some states argued that the language of the resolution did not make Iran's compliance obligatory.

It comes after a number of recent events have tested relations between the two countries.

On 3 January, the US killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, in a drone strike in Iraq.

Iran retaliated five days later with a rocket attack on an Iraqi base housing US troops.

In 2018, Mr Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal between Iran and other world powers, reimposing sanctions on Iran.

https://news.sky.com/story/iran-hit...ot-iranian-gunboats-out-of-the-water-11977339
 
Iran's president says Tehran watches U.S. closely, but won't start conflict

(Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that Tehran was closely following U.S. activities, but would never initiate a conflict in the region.

Rouhani's comments, which come at a time of rising tension between Washington and Tehran, were made during a telephone call to Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Iranian state media reported.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran follows America's activities and movements closely, but it will never be the one that starts conflict and tension in the region," Rouhani was quoted as saying during the call, held due to the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had instructed the U.S. Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that harass it at sea.

Earlier this month, the U.S. military said 11 Revolutionary Guards naval vessels came close to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Gulf, calling the moves "dangerous and provocative".

Tehran blamed its long-time adversary for the incident.

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/...&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true
 
The race to dominate space continues despite the coronavirus

The coronavirus might be bringing entire sections of the global economy and society as we know it to a halt, but it has not slowed the militarisation of space.

"I'm not sure whether Russia, China and Iran are taking advantage of COVID-19, or not, to move forward with the testing and deployment of their ballistic missile and anti-satellite capabilities," Frank Rose, a former United States assistant secretary of state for arms control and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Al Jazeera.

"However, one thing is very clear to me: these countries see ballistic missiles and anti-satellite weapons as central to their strategies to counter key US military advantages."

At the beginning of March, the US Space Force announced it had acquired its first offensive weapons system, a satellite signal jammer called the Counter Communications System.

Two weeks later, China launched three classified military satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO), which the state-run news agency, Xinhua, said would operate as a group to test remote sensing technologies. Earlier this month, Russia tested a rocket designed for that nation's anti-satellite (ASAT) missile system.

The latest event comes from Iran
The latest significant event occurred on Wednesday last week when Iran successfully launched what it described as a four-kilogramme (8.8-pound) "reconnaissance" satellite into orbit, provoking a blast of accusations about ballistic missile development from a handful of nations, and a sarcastic tweet from US Space Force Commander General Jay Raymond, who called Iran's satellite "a tumbling webcam in space".

While space is not a new domain of operations for the Russian, Chinese, American and other militaries, it is for Iran, sort of. For years, Iran has used spoofing - transmitting a signal that imitates the Global Positioning System (GPS) - and satellite-jamming technologies to target US ships and foreign broadcasters, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

While many have focused on the Nour-1 satellite launch itself, the fact that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was behind it has some experts saying the event has officially revealed what they have known for a while, that Iran has a "space force" of its own.

Since 2017, Iran's space agency has racked up four failed attempts to launch a satellite, and a mysterious rocket explosion on the launchpad. There has been speculation that foreign sabotage may have caused any one or all of the failures and the blast and perhaps an unconnected fire at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in February 2019, which killed three people.

Kaitlyn Johnson, associate director of the Aerospace Security Project at CSIS, told Al Jazeera that, not only was Wednesday's successful launch a surprise to her, but who was in charge of it was too.

"What could be the difference is that the string of failures was conducted by the Iranian Space Agency, from a very well known spaceport that we track and the US government has eyes on. But this successful launch was actually carried out by the military and from a different location as well," Johnson said.

To conduct last week's launch, the IRGC is thought to have taken the cube satellite and a three-stage Qased rocket some 330km (205 miles) outside of Tehran into the Central Desert to a mobile launch platform in Shahroud. North Korea uses similar launch platforms as they are more difficult for intelligence agencies and their imaging satellites to monitor.

Business as usual?
These provocative events have transpired while most of the planet has been focused on battling the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Russia, China, Iran and the US have all been criticised for their handling of the pandemic.

The timing may feel like a coincidence, but Namrata Goswami, an independent analyst and author specialising in space policy, told Al Jazeera that the pandemic is not driving the schedule.

"This has been long in the making. The pandemic situation creates a window of strategic opportunity," she said. But while "these space launches are usually scheduled in advance, it clearly showcases that both China and Russia's actions are aimed at creating strategic vulnerability vis-a-vis the US".

Goswami said she believes that, for Iran, the US assassination of the IRGC's top commander, General Qassem Soleimani, in a drone strike in January, and the recent spate of the IRGC's speedboats harassing US Navy warships in the Gulf comprise the calculus at work.

"The successful launch of the Nour satellite to low Earth orbit, a first by Iran on a new Qased rocket, is to showcase Iranian technological prowess in the context of that assassination that left Iran's top leadership shaken and ashamed," she said.

"These space launches, in general, are meant to demonstrate that leadership in the final frontier is contested."
https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/race-dominate-space-continues-coronavirus-200428084725712.html
 
U.S. 'hopeful' U.N. will extend Iran arms embargo, Russia 'negative'

The United States is “hopeful” the U.N. Security Council will extend an arms embargo on Iran before it expires in October, a top U.S. State Department envoy said on Thursday, despite a key Russian official signaling that Moscow opposed such a move.

Brian Hook, the U.S. Special Representative for Iran, said the United States had drafted a Security Council resolution on the issue, which would need nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to pass.

Some diplomats say the United States would likely struggle to get Iranian allies Russia and China to allow an arms embargo extension. But Hook repeatedly disagreed during a news conference, saying: “We are hopeful.”

“Russia and China have great equities in a peaceful and stable Middle East, and Iran’s sectarian violence and its export of weapons is the principal driver of instability in the Middle East today,” Hook said.

He also suggested that Washington did not plan to move ahead quickly with its push for the arms embargo extension.

“Our focus is on engaging in thoughtful and measured diplomacy with all the relevant parties to successfully negotiate a renewal of the U.N. arms embargo,” he said. “We’re going to focus on that in the months ahead.”

Russia’s Ambassador to International Organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, told Russia’s Kommersant newspaper on Tuesday that Moscow was opposed to such a move.

“They are well aware of our negative attitude towards this step and allegedly are working on a fall-back option,” said Ulyanov, whose previous job was head of the nonproliferation and arms controls department at Russia’s foreign ministry.

The fall-back option is for Washington to trigger a return of all U.N. sanctions on Iran if it fails to get the Security Council to extend the arms embargo - a strategy confirmed by a U.S. official on Monday. Diplomats said Washington faces a messy battle if it carries out that threat.

Washington has shared the strategy and an arms embargo draft with Britain, France and Germany, the U.S. official confirmed. Diplomats said the draft resolution has not been shared with the remaining 11 council members, including Russia and China.

The United States believes it could trigger a so-called snapback of all U.N. sanctions on Iran, including the arms embargo, using a process outlined in a the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that prevents Tehran from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief.

“Their reasoning is ludicrous,” said Ulyanov.

It is a move likely to be challenged, diplomats said, because U.S. President Donald Trump quit the nuclear agreement in 2018 and described the accord from Barack Obama’s presidency as “the worst deal ever.”

Hook declined to elaborate on what other efforts Washington would deploy if the United States failed in its bid to get the arms embargo extended by the Security Council.

“The arms embargo must be renewed and we will exercise all diplomatic options to accomplish that,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...an-arms-embargo-russia-negative-idUSKBN22C3RE
 
Iran's Rouhani pledges "crushing response" if U.S. extends arms embargo

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened a "crushing response" on Wednesday if the United States goes ahead with plans to extend an embargo on Iranian trade of conventional arms, which the United Nations is set to lift later this year.
 
Trump vetoes Iran war powers resolution

President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed legislation passed by both houses of Congress to limit a president’s ability to wage war against Iran, as Trump wages a campaign of maximum pressure against the Islamic Republic.

“This was a very insulting resolution, introduced by Democrats as part of a strategy to win an election on November 3 by dividing the Republican Party,” Trump said in a statement released by the White House. “The few Republicans who voted for it played right into their hands.”

The Senate, where Trump’s fellow Republicans hold a 53-to 47-seat majority, is expected to hold a veto-override vote as soon as Thursday.

The resolution, which passed the House of Representatives in March and the Senate in April, was the latest effort by Congress to wrest back from the White House its constitutionally guaranteed authority to declare war.

A handful of Republicans in both houses supported the measure when it passed, but not enough to muster the two-thirds majority necessary in both houses to override a veto.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...toes-iran-war-powers-resolution-idUSKBN22I36O
 
U.S. Senate upholds Trump veto of 'insulting' Iran war powers resolution

The U.S. Senate failed on Thursday to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a resolution that would have reined in his ability to wage war against Iran by requiring him to obtain congressional authorization for military action.

The vote was 49-44 in favor of the resolution, but that fell short of the two-thirds majority, or 67 votes, needed to override a veto in the 100-member Senate.

The resolution, led by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, had passed the Republican-led Senate and Democratic-led House of Representatives earlier this year with support from Democrats and Republicans despite Trump’s opposition.

Trump vetoed it on Wednesday, calling it “very insulting” and accusing Democrats of pursuing the matter for political reasons, although the measure was introduced by some of Trump’s fellow Republicans, as well as Democrats.

Kaine responded by saying that Congress is doing its job by trying to assert its authority to weigh in on the use of military force.

“It is not a partisan effort. It was bipartisan from the very beginning,” Kaine told reporters on a conference call before the vote.

“It was introduced to stop a rush to an unnecessary war,” he said.

Trump also contended that, as commander in chief he needed to retain broad authority for military action against Iran. Trump withdrew the United States in 2018 from the international nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic reached under his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, and has been waging a “maximum pressure” campaign against the Tehran government.

The war powers resolution was introduced weeks after Trump ordered a strike in January that killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad’s airport. The strike in Iraq raised fears of renewed conflict in the Middle East and frustrated members of Congress from both parties who said they were not sufficiently briefed on the decision.

It was the seventh veto of Trump’s three-year-long presidency. None has been overridden. Trump’s fellow Republicans, who hold a 53 to 47-seat majority in the Senate, rarely break with the president.

The measure would require Trump to remove U.S. troops engaged in hostilities against Iran unless Congress declares war or passes a specific authorization for the use of military force.

It was the latest in a series of recent efforts by lawmakers from both parties - during Obama’s presidency as well as under Trump - to wrest back Congress’ constitutional right to declare war.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ting-iran-war-powers-resolution-idUSKBN22J30A
 
Iran is ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei was quoted as saying by Khabaronline news website on Sunday, adding that Washington has yet to respond to Iran's call on a prisoner swap.
 
An Iranian navy "friendly fire" incident in which a ship was sunk has killed dozens of sailors, unofficial reports say.

Local journalists said the frigate Jamaran was testing a new anti-ship missile which locked onto and hit Konarak, a logistical ship.

Semi-official Iranian news agency Fars said one sailor was killed and several others injured in a "naval exercise".

It described the incident on Sunday near the Strait of Hormuz as a "crash".

Who are Iran's Revolutionary Guards?

According to the unofficial reports, Jamaran - operated by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) - fired the missile prematurely before Konarak had time to sail away from a floating target it had towed to a designated position.

Videos posted on social media show what are said to be injured sailors being transferred to ambulances.

In January, the IRGC mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane near the Iranian capital, Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.

The incident came at a time of heightened tension with the US. Shortly before, Iran had launched a missile strike on an Iraqi base hosting US forces after an American drone strike killed IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

These tensions have continued to rise in recent months. The US has accused Iran of "harassing" its naval ships in the Persian Gulf.

Iran said said it had increased patrols in the Gulf after the US Navy blocked the path of an Iranian vessel.
 
Well, USA could obliterate Iran’s defence capability very quickly.

But Russia would get involved and then WW3 would loom.

So USA will not attack Iran.
 
Iran calls for solidarity against pandemic, condemns U.S. sanctions

Iran called for global solidarity against the pandemic, but said that unilateral sanctions are "inhumane" and causing "unnecessary suffering and pain" for its population.

"The US must be held to account for its intensifying unilateral sanctions against Iran and other affected nations," Saeed Namaki, Iran's health minster, said in an address to the World Health Organization's annual assembly being held online.

Alex Azar, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, addressed the two-day forum but did not respond to Iran's allegations.
 
Iran's navy will continue its "regular missions" in the Gulf, an Iranian military official was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency on Wednesday, a day after the U.S. Navy issued a warning to mariners there to stay away from U.S. warships.
 
Iran dismissed on Thursday new U.S. sanctions on several Iranian officials, saying they were a sign of the complete inefficiency of Washington's previous sanctions on the Islamic Republic, state television reported.
 
Trump hopeful for Iran after American freed in prisoner swap

President Donald Trump voiced hope for progress with arch-rival Iran on Thursday after the clerical regime released a US Navy veteran and the United States freed two Iranians.

Michael White, who had contracted the coronavirus while in Iran, flew out on a Swiss military jet to Zurich where he was welcomed by a senior US official.

"I am blessed to announce that the nightmare is over, and my son is safely on his way home," his mother, Joanne White, said in a statement.

Trump said he spoke to White by telephone and voiced rare appreciation to Iran, with which the United States was close to all-out war several months ago.

"Thank you to Iran, it shows a deal is possible!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

As White was flying home, a federal judge issued an order to free an Iranian-American doctor, Majid Taheri, allowing him to go see family in Iran.

A day earlier, a more prominent Iranian — Cyrus Asgari, a scientist arrested in 2016 while on an academic visit — returned to Iran.

"This can happen for all prisoners. No need for cherry picking," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter.

"Iranian hostages held in — and on behalf of — the US should come home," he said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has championed a hawkish line against the clerical regime, said Iranian authorities had been "constructive" on freeing White but urged the release of three other US citizens, all of Iranian descent, who remain detained.

White, who had served 13 years in the US Navy, was arrested in July 2018 in the northeastern city of Mashhad after visiting a woman whom he had reportedly met online.

He was sentenced the following year to at least 10 years in prison on charges that he insulted Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and posted anti-regime remarks on social media under a pseudonym.

In March, as Iran was being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, White was handed over to the custody of Switzerland, which handles US interests in the country in the absence of diplomatic relations.

Iranians allowed to leave
Asgari, a scientist at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology, had been detained four years ago on an academic visit to Ohio and accused of stealing trade secrets.

He was acquitted last year but handed over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which Asgari said refused to let him leave and held him in a lockup in Louisiana without basic sanitation.

Denying a connection with White, senior US immigration official Ken Cuccinelli alleged that the Iranians had held up his release, tweeting: "A swap can't exactly work when we want Asgari less than the Iranians do."

But the timing was even more clearly linked with Taheri, a doctor in Tampa, Florida, with a judge releasing him Thursday on time served.

Asgari, a scientist at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology, had been detained four years ago on an academic visit to Ohio and accused of stealing trade secrets.

He was acquitted last year but handed over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which Asgari said refused to let him leave and held him in a lockup in Louisiana without basic sanitation.

Denying a connection with White, senior US immigration official Ken Cuccinelli alleged that the Iranians had held up his release, tweeting: "A swap can't exactly work when we want Asgari less than the Iranians do."

But the timing was even more clearly linked with Taheri, a doctor in Tampa, Florida, with a judge releasing him Thursday on time served.

He was accused of violating US sanctions by sending a technical item to Iran and in December pleaded guilty to charges he violated financial reporting requirements by deposing $277,344 at a bank, repeatedly showing up with loose cash, according to court documents.

Taheri was working for a Tampa clinic, since shut down, whose owner was earlier indicted on charges of prescribing painkillers without medical purposes.

Soaring tensions
Tensions have soared in recent months as Trump pursued a "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran, imposing sweeping sanctions and in January ordering a drone strike that killed a top Iranian general.

Observers have seen prisoner releases as a rare way of starting dialogue between the two countries, although few expect any serious headway before the US election in November.

White's mother thanked both the US and Swiss governments for the release as well as Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador and governor from the Democratic Party.

Richardson, whose efforts have been resented by the Trump administration, said he met senior Iranian officials including Zarif to arrange White's release.

Richardson in a statement said that his approach relies on "personal relations and respect."

"The negotiations were complicated, especially given the high tensions and exchange of violence between the US and Iran in recent months," said Richardson, who added that Qatar — a US ally that maintains stable relations with Iran — also provided assistance.

Richardson said White, who is in his 40s and had pre-existing medical conditions, was admitted to a hospital for coronavirus treatment but otherwise stayed at a hotel in Tehran.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1561483/trump-hopeful-for-iran-after-american-freed-in-prisoner-swap
 
Panic as US jets fly near Iran passenger plane over Syria

TEHRAN: Two US jets flew dangerously close to an Iranian passenger plane over war-torn Syria, forcing the pilot to take emergency action and sparking panic on board, Iranian authorities said Friday.

The US military said of Thursday's incident that an "F-15 on a routine air mission conducted a standard visual inspection of a Mahan Air passenger airliner at a safe distance of approximately 1,000 metres (yards)".

US Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement after Iranian state television aired amateur footage of passengers on board screaming as the Mahan Air jetliner appeared to change course suddenly.

Another video apparently shot on a phone appeared to show at least two fighter jets flying beside the plane.

In an initial report accompanying the footage, the state broadcaster said the military aircraft were believed to be Israeli.

"After this dangerous action by the Israeli fighter, the pilot of the commercial plane quickly reduced the altitude of the flight to avoid colliding with the Israeli fighter, injuring several passengers on board," it said.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said the Mahan Air pilot made contact on the radio with two US fighter planes, and that the aircraft later landed safely in the Lebanese capital.

CENTCOM, which covers the whole of the wider Middle East, insisted it was a "professional intercept... conducted in accordance with international standards".

"Once the F-15 pilot identified the aircraft as a Mahan Air passenger plane, the F-15 safely opened distance from the aircraft," it said.

Iranian television called the incident "provocative and dangerous."

Foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said that Iran had been in touch with both the United Nations and the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which has handled US interests in Iran since relations were severed in the aftermath of the Islamic revolution of 1979.

"If anything happens to the aircraft on its return flight, Iran will hold the United States responsible," Mousavi told IRNA.

Syrian state media said that "planes believed to belong to the US-led coalition intercepted" the Iranian airliner over the Al-Tanf district on the border with Jordan and Iraq, forcing the captain to make "a sharp drop".
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40007554/panic-as-us-jets-fly-near-iran-passenger-plane-over-syria
 
Iran has protested the "flagrant violation" of international law to the United Nations after it said United States fighter jets sparked panic on an Iranian passenger plane over Syria.

Iran's state-run television broadcast footage of Thursday's incident with passengers screaming as the pilot of a Mahan Air plane on a flight from Tehran to Beirut changed altitude to avoid collision with a US fighter jet.

A passenger with blood running down his forehead and another who had fallen to the floor were seen in the video, and one jet could be seen through the window in the video.

Iran's official news agency IRNA said a protest letter would be submitted to the UN Security Council (UNSC) and secretary-general over "the threat posed to the Mahan Air passenger plane".

On Friday, Iran's foreign ministry said protest had been lodged with the International Civil Aviation Organization - a UN agency - and the Swiss embassy in Tehran that handles US interests in Iran since ties were cut in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"If anything happens to the aircraft on its return flight, Iran will hold the United States responsible," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told IRNA.

The US military said an "F-15 on a routine air mission ... conducted a standard visual inspection of a Mahan Air passenger airliner at a safe distance of approximately 1,000 metres (yards)".

Captain Bill Urban, the senior Central Command spokesman, said the "visual inspection occurred to ensure the safety of coalition personnel at Tanf garrison".

"Once the F-15 pilot identified the aircraft as a Mahan Air passenger plane, the F-15 safely opened distance from the aircraft," Urban added.

US CENTCOM, which covers the whole of the wider Middle East, insisted it was a "professional intercept ... conducted in accordance with international standards".

The IRNA said the Mahan Air pilot made contact on the radio with two US fighter planes, before the aircraft landed safely in the Lebanese capital.

Iranian television called the incident "provocative and dangerous".

Data from the flight recorded by website FlightRadar24.com showed the airliner climbed from 34,000 feet to 34,600 feet in under two minutes around the time of the incident, then dropped back down to 34,000 feet within a minute.

The incident comes amid tensions between Tehran and Washington, with ties deteriorating since 2018 when US President Donald Trump exited Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers and reimposed sanctions that have battered Iran's economy.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/violation-iran-protests-jet-approach-200724160508360.html
 
Iran says Mahan Air passengers can sue US army in its courts

Iran's judiciary has said passengers of the country's Mahan Air plane "harassed" by a US fighter jet over Syria can sue the "terrorist" United States military for damages in the Iranian courts.

Iranian media on Friday said several passengers on the flight heading from Tehran to Beirut were injured on Thursday after the pilot rapidly changed altitude to avoid collision with the US jet.

"All passengers on Mahan Air Flight 1152, Iranians and non-Iranian, can sue the terrorist US military - commanders, perpetrators, supervisors and deputies - in Iranian courts for moral and physical damages," Ali Bagheri-Kani, head of the judiciary's human rights office, was quoted as saying by the semi-official ILNA news agency.

He said complainants could also take an international legal route through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations agency that oversees international civil aviation agreements.

The US military said its F-15 was at a safe distance and the fighter was conducting a visual inspection of the airliner as it passed near the Tanf garrison in Syria, home to US forces.

The judiciary official said Iranian courts follow laws that deal with human rights violations and "adventurist and terrorist acts of the United States in the region".

It was not clear if any passenger would sue the US military. Iran said on Friday it had lodged a complaint with the ICAO, calling the incident a "flagrant violation" of the international law.

The incident was the latest in tensions between Tehran and Washington since President Donald Trump withdrew the US in 2018 from Iran's nuclear deal with six powers and reimposed sanctions that have battered Iran's economy.

Footage of the inside of the airliner broadcast by Iranian state television on Friday showed a passenger lying immobile on the floor and another with a wounded nose and forehead.

A passenger with blood running down his forehead and another who had fallen to the floor were seen in the video, which also showed a jet passing through the window.

Data from the flight recorded by website FlightRadar24.com showed the Mahan Air plane climbing from 34,000 feet to 34,600 feet in less than two minutes around the time of the incident, and then dropping back to 34,000 feet within a minute.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...ssengers-sue-army-courts-200725100843953.html
 
Iran has launched missiles at a mock-up of a US aircraft carrier in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The drill included fire so heavy that the US military temporarily put two regional bases on alert.

The US navy condemned the "irresponsible and reckless behaviour by Iran", labelling it an attempt "to intimidate and coerce".

The exercise comes at a time of increased tension between Tehran and Washington in the Gulf waters.

The drills - named Prophet Mohammed 14th - were broadcast on state television.

The mock-up - which resembles a carrier the US routinely sails into the Gulf - is shown with dummy fighter jets on either side of its landing strip. Missiles are then launched from a variety of angles, including some aimed at the carrier.

Another missile fired from a helicopter appears to hit the side of the fake warship.

"What was shown today in these exercises, at the level of aerospace and naval forces, was all offensive," Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander Major General Hossein Salami told state television.

Ballistic missile fire was detected and led to American troops being put on alert in the UAE and Qatar, the US military said.

"The US Navy conducts defensive exercises with our partners promoting maritime security in support of freedom of navigation; whereas, Iran conducts offensive exercises, attempting to intimidate and coerce," said Commander Rebecca Rebarich, spokeswoman for the US Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53575874
 
Iran's Khamenei rejects talks with U.S. over missile, nuclear programmes

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ruled out negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programmes on Friday and urged Iranians to resist U.S. pressure.

“America’s brutal sanctions on Iran are aimed at collapsing our economy ... Their aim is to limit our influence in the region and to halt our missile and nuclear capabilities,” Khamenei said in a speech broadcast live on television.

“Relying on national capabilities and cutting our dependence on oil exports will help us to resist America’s pressure.”

Relations between Tehran and Washington have deteriorated since U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 abandoned a pact between Iran and six world powers under which Iran accepted curbs on its nuclear program in return for lifting sanctions.

The United States has reimposed sanctions that have sharply lowered Tehran’s oil exports. Washington says it wants Tehran to negotiate a wider deal to further curb Iran’s nuclear work, halt its missile programme and limit the Islamic Republic’s regional influence.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...over-missile-nuclear-programmes-idUSKCN24W10R
 
Iran has urged the United Nations to hold the United States accountable for the interception of an Iranian passenger plane by two US fighter jets in the skies over Syria last month, calling it "unlawful" and an "adventuristic act".

Iran's UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi said in identical letters to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council circulated on Friday that Iran "expresses its strongest objections against this violation of international law and will pursue the issue through relevant international bodies".

Ravanchi said a Mahan Airlines Airbus A310 en route from Tehran to Beirut on July 23 "was aggressively and unexpectedly intercepted" by two US F-15 fighter jets while travelling through internationally specified air corridors in Syria's airspace.

"In reaction to the offensive and hazardous manoeuvrings of the United States fighter jets and in order to save the civil aircraft and passengers' lives, the airliner had to change altitude abruptly, causing injuries to the passengers on board," the ambassador said.

'Standard visual inspection'
US Navy Captain Bill Urban, a Central Command spokesman, told The Associated Press news agency at the time of the incident that a US F-15 "conducted a standard visual inspection" of the Iranian plane "at a safe distance of approximately 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) from the airliner".

He said the inspection was meant to ensure the safety of US-led coalition troops in al-Tanf in Syria as the plane was flying over that area. Urban said once the aircraft was identified as a passenger plane "the F-15 safely opened distance from the aircraft".


The Iranian ambassador said in line with provisions of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, Iran's civil aviation organisation contacted Syrian authorities and called for "a prompt and accurate investigation of the incident".

He said Iranian authorities also launched a probe after the plane returned from Beirut, Lebanon.

The results of both investigations will be released "after the revision and finalisation of the collected data and information" by both teams, Ravanchi said.

"It is obvious that the act by the United States fighter jets is a flagrant violation of the aviation security and freedom of civil aviation reflected in the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and its relevant annexes, as well as an infringement of the 1971 Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation," he said.

"It is incumbent upon the United Nations to reject such an unlawful and yet adventuristic act and hold the United States accountable for this irresponsible behaviour."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...table-plane-interception-200808063752988.html
 
Iran cries victory after US bid to extend arms embargo flops at UN

TEHRAN: Iran on Saturday hailed a UN Security Council vote rejecting a US bid to extend an arms embargo on the Islamic republic, saying its foe has “never been so isolated”.

President Hassan Rouhani said the US had failed to kill off what he called the “half alive” 2015 deal with major powers that gave Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.

“The United States failed in this conspiracy with humiliation,” said Rouhani.

“This day will go down in the history of our Iran and in the history of fighting global arrogance.”

Only two of the Council’s 15 members voted in favour of the US resolution seeking to extend the embargo, highlighting the division between Washington and its European allies since President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear accord in 2018.

Washington’s European allies all abstained, and Iran mocked the Trump administration for winning the support of just one other country, the Dominican Republic.

“In the 75 years of United Nations history, America has never been so isolated,” foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi tweeted.

“Despite all the trips, pressure and the hawking, the United States could only mobilise a small country (to vote) with them.”

People on the streets of Tehran had mixed reactions.

“This is an American political game. One day they give a resolution to the Security Council, the next they say they have taken” Iranian fuel, said a worker at the city’s Grand Bazaar who gave his name only as Ahmadi.

A drugstore employee named Abdoli told AFP she was happy Iran won, but added that it “should interact with the United States and establish relations”.

The result increases the likelihood the US will try to unilaterally force a return of UN sanctions, which experts say threatens to plunge the Council into one of its worst-ever diplomatic crises.

‘Inexcusable’

“The Security Council’s failure to act decisively in defence of international peace and security is inexcusable,” said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Israel’s UN ambassador called the UN vote a “disgrace”.

The embargo on conventional arms is due to expire on October 18 under the terms of a resolution that blessed the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Since Trump pulled out of the JCPOA and slapped unilateral sanctions on Iran, Tehran has taken small but escalatory steps away from compliance with the accord as it presses for sanctions relief.

European allies of the United States – who, along with Russia and China, signed the deal with Iran – have voiced support for extending the 13-year-long conventional arms embargo, saying an expiry threatens stability in the Middle East.

However, their priority is to preserve the JCPOA.

The US text, seen by AFP, effectively called for an indefinite extension of the embargo on Iran, which diplomats said would threaten the nuclear deal.

Iran says it has the right to self-defence and that a continuation of the ban would mean an end to the agreement.

Pompeo said members had failed to back the proposal about 30 minutes before Indonesia, the current president of the Security Council, announced the official results included two votes against and 11 abstentions.

Russia and China opposed the resolution.

“The result shows again that unilateralism enjoys no support, and bullying will fail,” China’s UN mission tweeted.

‘Snapback’

Ambassador Gunter Sautter of Germany, which abstained, said “more consultations are needed” to find a solution acceptable to all Council members.

During a call between Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, the leaders “discussed the urgent need for UN action to extend the arms embargo on Iran”.

Hours earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed to China, France, Russia, Britain, the US, Germany and Iran to convene an emergency video summit to avoid an escalation of tensions in the Gulf.

Washington has threatened to try to force a return of UN sanctions if it is not extended by using a controversial technique called “snapback”.

Pompeo has offered the contested argument that the US remains a “participant” in the JCPOA as it was listed in the 2015 resolution – and therefore can force a return to sanctions if it sees Iran as being in violation of its terms.

European allies have been sceptical on whether Washington can force sanctions and warn the attempt may delegitimise the Security Council.

Nevertheless, the US is expected to deliver the snapback letter next week, AFP understands.

Analysts suspect Washington purposely put forward a hardline draft that it knew Council members would not be able to accept.
https://www.brecorder.com/news/4001...ter-us-bid-to-extend-arms-embargo-flops-at-un
 
Iran warned the United States against making a "strategic mistake" after President Donald Trump threatened Tehran over reports it planned to avenge the killing of top general Qassem Soleimani.

"We hope that they do not make a new strategic mistake and certainly in the case of any strategic mistake, they will witness Iran's decisive response," government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a televised news conference on Tuesday.

Trump on Monday promised any attack by Iran would be met with a response "1,000 times greater in magnitude," after reports said Tehran planned to avenge Soleimani's killing in a US drone attack in January near Baghdad's airport.

A US media report, quoting unnamed officials, said an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the US ambassador to South Africa was planned before the presidential election in November.

"According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani," Trump tweeted.

"Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!"

'Keep the world safe'
Relations between Washington and Tehran have worsened since Trump unilaterally pulled out of a landmark international nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018.

Washington is pushing to extend an arms embargo on Iran that starts to progressively expire in October as well as reimposing UN sanctions on Tehran.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Tuesday that Washington would prevent Iran from purchasing "Chinese tanks and Russian air defence systems" as the end of the UN arms embargo against Tehran approaches.

While the European Union and United Nations disagreed with the US decision to withdraw from an international nuclear deal in 2018 and reimpose unilateral sanctions on Iran, Washington was acting to "keep the world safe," he told France Inter radio.

"We are going to act in a way - and we have acted in a way - that will prevent Iran from being able to purchase Chinese tanks and Russian air defence systems and resell weapons to Hezbollah," Pompeo said.


Hezbollah, an Iran-backed movement, has long been targeted by US sanctions and is blacklisted as a "terrorist" organisation. But it is also a powerful political player with seats in parliament in Lebanon, where the French president is seeking to foster political reform.

The United States faces widespread opposition in a new bid to reimpose international sanctions on Iran, which has been progressively stepping up its nuclear activities since Washington pulled out of the deal in 2018.

It also wants to extend the UN arms embargo on the country expiring on October 18.

"While the EU has made a different decision about that [nuclear] agreement, they share our concern about the extension of that arms embargo," Pompeo said.

The United States, he insisted, would "continue to defend the international order to prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran from returning to its malign activity" in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.

The Iranian navy last week said it drove off a US aircraft that flew close to an area where military exercises were under way near the Strait of Hormuz.

The military said three US aircraft were detected by Iran's air force radars after they entered the country's air defence identification zone.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/qatar-rules-normalising-relations-israel-200915113549077.html
 
US defies world to say Iran UN sanctions back in force

The United States unilaterally proclaimed on Saturday that United Nations sanctions against Iran were back in force and promised to punish those who violate them, in a move other major countries — including its allies — said lacked legal basis.

The so-called snapback — announced last month — also drew a sharp rebuke from Tehran, which called on the rest of the world to unite against US “reckless actions”.

“Today, the United States welcomes the return of virtually all previously terminated UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

He said the measures were back in effect from 8pm Washington time (0000 GMT Sunday).

The Trump administration also promised to “impose consequences” on any UN member state which does not comply with the measures.

The sanctions in question were lifted in 2015 when Iran signed on to an international agreement not to seek to build nuclear weapons.

But President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the landmark accord in 2018, saying the deal — negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama — was insufficient. He then renewed and even strengthened Washington’s own sanctions.

At the moment, the US is insisting it is still a participant in the agreement that it stormed out of, but only so it can activate the snapback option, which it announced on August 20.

Virtually every other member of the Security Council disputes Washington’s ability to execute this legal pirouette, and the council has not taken the measure any further.

On Sunday, two permanent council members — France and Britain — issued a joint statement along with non-permanent member Germany saying Pompeo’s “purported notification” was “incapable of having any legal effect”.

Russia’s foreign ministry also said in a statement that Washington’s statements lacked legal authority.

“The illegitimate initiatives and actions of the United States by definition cannot have international legal consequences for other countries,” it said.

‘Reckless actions’
Meanwhile, Iran on Sunday called on the rest of the world to unite against the “reckless actions” of the US.

“We expect the international community and all the countries in the world to stand against these reckless actions by the regime in the White House and speak in one voice,” foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news conference in Tehran.

“The whole world is saying nothing has changed,” Khatibzadeh said, adding sanctions were in place only in the “imaginary world” of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

“This is much ado about nothing, and I believe these are the most bitter days and hours for the United States,” he added.

Calling Washington “isolated” and “on the wrong side of history”, Khatibzadeh said Tehran’s message for it was to “return to the international community, to your commitments, stop rebelling and the world will accept you.”

‘Consequences’
Pompeo had promised in his announcement that measures would be announced in the coming days against “violators” of the sanctions.

“If UN member states fail to fulfill their obligations to implement these sanctions, the United States is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences for those failures and ensure that Iran does not reap the benefits of UN-prohibited activity,” he stated.

With 45 days to go until the November 3 election, Trump could unveil those measures in his speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

In mid-August, US suffered a resounding defeat at the UN Security Council when it tried to extend the embargo on conventional weapons being sent to Tehran, which was due to expire in October.

Pompeo made an unusually vehement attack on France, Britain and Germany, accusing them of “siding with Iran’s ayatollahs,” and on August 20 announced the snapback.

The Trump administration, however, is acting as if the international sanctions are in place, while the rest of the international community continues to act as if nothing has changed.

Washington is hammering home that the arms embargo has been extended “indefinitely” and that many activities related to Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs are now subject to international sanctions.

Some observers said Washington’s latest announcement was counterproductive.

“I don’t see anything happening,” said one UN diplomat. “It would be just a statement. It’s like pulling a trigger and no bullet coming out.”

Another diplomat deplored the “unilateral” US act, saying that “Russia and China are sitting, happy, eating popcorn, watching” the “huge destabilising fallout” between Washington and its European partners.

Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, lamented the decision.

“It’s very painful to see how a great country humiliates itself like this, opposes in its obstinate delirium other members of UN Security Council,” he tweeted.

“We all clearly said in August that US claims to trigger #snapback are illegitimate. Is Washington deaf?” But if the US were to carry out the threat of secondary sanctions, tensions could continue to spiral.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1580691/us-defies-world-to-say-iran-un-sanctions-back-in-force
 
US President Donald Trump asked for options on attacking Iranian nuclear sites last week, according to an official, before ultimately deciding against it.

Mr Trump, who has yet refused to concede that he lost the presidential election, apparently made the request during an Oval Office meeting last week, which included Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Acting Defence Secretary Christopher Miller, according to the source.

Speaking to the New York Times, the official said Mr Trump was advised against taking military action in Iran, over fears of a wider conflict.
 
Iran says U.S. move against it would face 'crushing' response

DUBAI/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Any U.S. attack on Iran would face a “crushing” response, an Iranian government spokesman said on Tuesday, following reports U.S. President Donald Trump asked for options for a strike on Iran’s main nuclear site last week but decided against doing so.

“Any action against the Iranian nation would certainly face a crushing response,” spokesman Ali Rabiei said, in remarks streamed on an official government website.

Citing a U.S. official, Reuters reported on Monday that Trump, with two months left in office, conferred with top advisers about the possibility of attacking the Natanz uranium enrichment plant - but was dissuaded by them from that option.

One of the advisers named in the report, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is on Wednesday due to visit Israel, which has long hinted at possible military action against its arch-enemy Iran.

“If I were the Iranians, I would not feel at ease” after the report, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said, adding that he was not aware of the Oval Office deliberations last Thursday.

“It is very important that the Iranians know that if, indeed, they suddenly dash toward high levels of enrichment, in the direction of nuclear weaponry, they are liable to encounter the military might of the United States - and also, perhaps, of other countries,” Steinitz told Israel’s Army Radio.

Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful needs. Rabiei accused Israel of “psychological warfare” against Iran.

“I personally don’t foresee that it’s probable that they (the United States) would want to cause insecurity in the world and the region,” Rabiei said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...it-would-face-crushing-response-idUSKBN27X162
 
Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has fired 16 surface-to-surface ballistic missiles at the close of five days of military drills that generals said were a warning to archenemy Israel.

The official IRNA news agency on Friday reported that the names of the missiles fired during the military exercise across the country’s south were Emad, Ghadr, Sejjil, Zalzal, Dezful and Zolfaghar and that their ranges vary between 350km and 2,000km (220-1,250 miles).

It said the missiles successfully hit one target at the same time as 10 drones simultaneously hit their targets. State TV showed missiles launching in the desert.

“These exercises were designed to respond to threats made in recent days by the Zionist regime,” Iran’s armed forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri told the state television.

“Sixteen missiles aimed and annihilated the chosen target. In this exercise, part of the hundreds of Iranian missiles capable of destroying a country that dared to attack Iran were deployed,” he added.

Head of IRGC Hossein Salami, centre, attending the military exercises [Iran’s Revolutionary Guard handout via Sepah News/AFP]
The military drills dubbed Payambar-e-Azam, or “Great Prophet”, began on Monday in Bushehr, Hormozgan and Khuzestan provinces, each of which touch the Gulf.

“The military exercise … is a serious warning to Zionist regime officials,” said IRGC chief Major General Hossein Salami. “Make the slightest mistake, we will cut off their hand.”

The drills come after US national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday amid Israel’s opposition to efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

This handout photo shows missiles being fired as part of five-day military exercises in Iran [IRGC handout via Sepah News/AFP]
Bennett has accused Iran of “nuclear blackmail” and charged that revenue it gained from sanctions relief would be used to acquire weapons to harm Israelis.

Israeli leaders have also hinted at striking Iran.

Iran says it only wants to develop a civil nuclear programme, but Western powers say its stocks of enriched uranium could be used to develop a nuclear weapon.

Former President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the nuclear deal and reimposed crushing sanctions on Iran in 2018.

Tehran has since started enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity – a short technical step from the 90 percent needed to make an atomic bomb.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...tary-drills-warning-israel-irgc?sf157238523=1
 
Iran's Revolutionary Guards force says it targeted an Israeli "strategic centre" with missiles that struck the Iraqi Kurdish city of Irbil overnight.

Twelve missiles hit areas around the US consulate overnight, causing material damage and wounding one civilian, the Kurdistan Regional Government said.

The US said no Americans were hurt and that its facilities were not damaged in what it called the "outrageous attack".

Israel's military and government declined to comment on Iran's claim.

But Kurdish officials accused the Revolutionary Guards of seeking to use "baseless" propaganda to justify targeting civilian locations.

Taxi driver Ziryan Wazir said he was in his car near the US consulate when the missiles struck at around 01:00 on Sunday (23:00 GMT on Saturday).

"I saw a lot of dust, then I heard a very loud noise. The windows of my car exploded and I was injured in the face," he told AFP news agency.

A local television channel, Kurdistan24, posted images of damage to its offices cause by the blasts.

Iranian state media cited a Revolutionary Guards statement as saying the force had targeted "the Zionists' strategic centre of plotting and evil" in Irbil with precision-guided missiles in response to "recent crimes".

The Revolutionary Guards had vowed to make Israel "pay" for an air strike near the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday that killed two senior Iranian officers.

The Kurdistan Region's Council of Ministers said: "This cowardly attack on Irbil... allegedly under the pretext of hitting an Israeli base near the US Consulate in Irbil, targeted civilian locations and its justification is only to hide the disgracefulness of such offence."

"We reiterate that the propaganda of the perpetrators of this attack is far from true."

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi also condemned the attack.

"The aggression which targeted the dear city of Irbil and spread fear amongst its inhabitants is an attack on the security of our people," he tweeted.

"Our security forces will investigate and stand firm against any threats towards our people."

The US ambassador to Iraq, Matthew Tueller, said that Iran "must be held accountable for this flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and for terrorist attacks on innocent civilian properties".

BBC
 
Navy warship deployed to Gulf to counter Iran threat

HMS Diamond will protect against drone threats and conduct operations to ensure freedom of navigation in the region and safe flow of trade.

Grant Shapps has ordered a warship to the Gulf region amid fears of missile escalation from Iran.

HMS Diamond, a Type-45 Destroyer, will bolster other Royal Navy assets in the area as concerns grow over Iranian-backed proxy attacks from groups like the Houthis.

Last week the USS Thomas Hudner, an American Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, shot down multiple drones over the Red Sea that had been fired towards Israel by Houthi rebels.

Another attack in the area on Nov 19 saw a commercial vessel, the MV Galaxy Leader, hijacked by fighters from the Yemen-based group.

The Defence Secretary said the deployment would “send a very clear message to Iran in particular and their proxies not to get involved” in the Gaza conflict.

“With the activity in the Red Sea [and] the Houthis from Yemen, not just firing missiles, but also now intervening with vessels, we think it’s the right time to step up that force presence… to really assure our many partners there.

“They [our partners] have been asking for it. They want us to be there. They want us to provide that level of reassurance.”

HMS Diamond, one of six Royal Navy destroyers that specialises in combating aerial threats, will join HMS Lancaster, a frigate which deployed to the region last year, as well as three mine hunters and a Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship.

Each Type 45 destroyer is equipped with the Sea Viper air-defence system which can track over 2,000 targets and simultaneously control multiple Aster missiles in the air at once.

Western leaders fear Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza could spill into a regional conflict if actions by groups backed by Iran, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis, are not countered effectively.

They fear missile or drone strikes in Saudi Arabia or other Gulf states from groups funded by Iran could rapidly escalate the crisis.

The Government has also acted in response to increasing concerns over security of strategic maritime chokepoints, such as the Strait of Hormuz, through which over 100 major merchant ships pass daily, and the Bab-el-Mandeb, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, with a daily transit of around 50 similar vessels.

Warship will conduct operations
As well as protecting against missile and drone threats, the Type 45 destroyer will conduct operations to ensure freedom of navigation in the region and ensure the safe flow of trade.

The accidental blockage of the Suez Canal in 2021, caused by the merchant vessel Ever Given, cost global trade more than £280 million per hour, or £6 billion per day.

Grant Shapps said: “Recent events have proven how critical the Middle East remains to global security and stability.

“From joint efforts to deter escalation, following the onset of the renewed conflict in Israel and Gaza, to now the unlawful and brazen seizure of MV Galaxy Leader by the Houthis in the Red Sea, it is critical that the UK bolsters our presence in the region to keep Britain and our interests safe from a more volatile and contested world.

“Today’s deployment will strengthen the Royal Navy’s patrols, help to keep critical trade routes open and prove that our commitment to regional security not only endures but enhances.”

Tom Sharpe, a former Royal Navy commanding officer, said HMS Diamond was “an ideal platform to deploy to the Red Sea as a missile picket or onto the Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy duties”.

“It shows genuine commitment to the task and will provide welcome relief to the US navy.”

Royal Navy vessels have been permanently deployed to the region since 1980 and have fallen under Operation Kipion since 2011, commanded from Bahrain.

However, Britain always used to have two ships allocated to Op Kipion, usually one destroyer and one frigate.

A defence source told The Telegraph: “Our strategy then was right. Now we’re being forced back to it.”

Source: The Telegraph

www.telegraph.co.uk

Navy warship deployed to Gulf to counter Iran threat

HMS Diamond will protect against drone threats and conduct operations to ensure freedom of navigation in the region and safe flow of trade
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk
 
US imposes sanctions on Iran-backed network funding Yemen’s Houthis

The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on 13 individuals and entities for allegedly funneling tens of millions of dollars in foreign currency to Yemen’s Houthi group from the sale and shipment of Iranian commodities.

The US Treasury said in a statement that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s paramilitary and espionage force, backed the scheme involving a complex web of exchange houses and firms in multiple countries, including Yemen, Turkey, and St. Kitts and Nevis.

Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said funds provided by Iran have enabled recent attacks by the Houthis on commercial shipping in the Red Sea that endanger international trade.

“The Houthis continue to receive funding and support from Iran, and the result is unsurprising: unprovoked attacks on civilian infrastructure and commercial shipping, disrupting maritime security and threatening international commercial trade,” the Treasury statement quoted Nelson as saying.’

The sanctions freeze all properties and interests in the United States of those targeted and generally prohibit Americans from conducting transactions with them.

The Treasury said that the targeted network involved Said al-Jamal, a key “Iran-based Houthi financial facilitator,” and Bilal Hudroj, who runs a Lebanon-based exchange house, both of whom already are under US sanctions.

Jamal has for years used a web of exchange houses in Yemen and abroad to funnel the proceeds of Iranian commodity sales to the Houthis and the IRGC, the Treasury said, adding that Hudroj has assisted in the remittances to the Houthis.

The 13 entities and individuals hit in the latest sanctions include a jewelry shop and exchange house in Turkey, the Treasury said, as well as exchange houses, shipping agents and individuals in St. Kitts and Nevis, Britain and Russia.



www.brecorder.com

US imposes sanctions on Iran-backed network funding Yemen’s Houthis

WASHINGTON: The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on 13 individuals and entities for allegedly funneling...
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Iran warns against proposed US-backed Red Sea force - ISNA

Iran's Defence Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned that a proposed US-backed multinational task force to protect shipping in the Red Sea would face "extraordinary problems", official Iranian media reported on Thursday.

Ashtiani's comments came after the United States said last week it was in talks with other countries to set up a task force following a spate of attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen on ships in the Red Sea.

"If they make such an irrational move, they will be faced with extraordinary problems," Ashtiani told the official Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) in comments it published on Thursday.

"Nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance," he said, referring to the Red Sea.

Ashtiani did not specify what measures Iran was prepared to take in response to the setting up of a US-backed Red Sea task force.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters last week that Washington was in talks with "other countries" over forming a "maritime task force ... to ensure safe passage of ships in the Red Sea," but did not give further details.

Yemen's Houthis, which are aligned with Iran, have waded into the Israel-Hamas conflict by attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

American and French navies have strengthened their presence in the Red Sea to protect vessels from the risk of seizure or attack by the Houthis.




tribune.com.pk

Iran warns against proposed US-backed Red Sea force - ISNA | The Express Tribune

'If they make such an irrational move, they will be faced with extraordinary problems,' says Iran's Defence Minister
tribune.com.pk tribune.com.pk
 
US imposes fresh sanctions on Iran-related drone production network

The United States has issued fresh sanctions on 10 entities and four individuals based in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia that it accuses of supporting the production of Iranian drones, the Treasury Department said on Tuesday.

The network has facilitated the procurement of components worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Organization and its drone program, the department said.

“Iran’s illicit production and proliferation of its deadly UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to its terrorist proxies in the Middle East and to Russia continues to exacerbate tensions and prolong conflicts, undermining stability,” Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

Washington has long accused Tehran of supplying such weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine. Iran denies providing Russia with drones for use in the country.




www.brecorder.com

US imposes fresh sanctions on Iran-related drone production network

WASHINGTON: The United States has issued fresh sanctions on 10 entities and four individuals based in Iran,...
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Three US troops have been killed and 25 injured in a drone attack on a US base in Jordan, near the Syria border.

US President Joe Biden says while facts are still being gathered, the attack was carried out by Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.


BBC
 
Jordan base attack: What options does US have to respond?

President Joe Biden has promised a strong response to Sunday's deadly attack on a US military base in Jordan. But the challenge for the US is to find the right balance between deterrence and escalation.

Fail to act decisively and it risks sending a message of weakness that will only encourage more attacks. Act too forcefully and it could trigger an escalatory response from Iran and its allies.

So what are the options? And how does this work?

Option 1: Strike Iran-allied bases and commanders

This is the most obvious choice and one that has been used in the past.

There are a large number of bases, weapons stores and training depots across Iraq and Syria belonging to the myriad of Iran-backed militias. These militias are trained, equipped and funded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, but not necessarily directed by them.

Option 2: Strike Iran

This would be a massive escalation and not something the US would consider lightly.

It is highly unlikely, although not inconceivable, that the US retaliation would include hitting targets on Iranian sovereign territory.

Option 3: Don't respond

There are those in the US establishment who argue that, given the current tensions in the Middle East, it would be irresponsible for Washington to hit Iranian interests now, especially in an election year.



www.bbc.com

Jordan base attack: What options does US have to respond?

Failure to act decisively risks sending a message of weakness - act too forcefully and things could escalate.
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President Biden who is claimed to be the most powerful ruler on the planet, cannnot remember his wife's name or go to the toilet by himself. This is important to remember, who is in charge of the west.

Highly unlikely they will attack Iran unless some other huge incident happens, possibly a false flag. We know the Zionists would love a huge world war, nuclear is also fine for them as these nutjobs think their Messiah is about to arrive and save the world. But any attack on Iran would see a brutal response leading to the world economy in tatters.

The biggest weapon against the west is the people in the west cannot handle huge bills, no money and hunger. Bring down their economy, the people themselves will attack their own governments.
 
US doesn’t want wider war with Iran, says White House

The United States does not want a wider war with Iran or the region, the White House said on Monday, adding that the administration believes a single drone was responsible for targeting US service members in Jordan over the weekend.

National security spokesman John Kirby also told MSNBC in an interview that talks to release prisoners in Gaza have been constructive and that then US sees a framework for another deal.

Gazans said the renewed violence made a mockery of a ruling by the World Court calling on Israel to do more to help civilians. Health officials say 26,637 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict with thousands more bodies likely under the rubble of destroyed buildings across the coastal territory.

On the other hand, Israel relaunched an assault overnight on Gaza’s main northern city, weeks after retreat, residents said, while Washington considered its response to the first deadly strike on its forces in the Middle East since the Gaza war began.

Talks to release prisoners in Gaza have been constructive, says John Kirby

Three US servicemen were killed and at least 34 wounded in a drone attack in Jordan near the Syrian border for which US Central Command immediately blamed Iran. US President Joe Biden said the attacks were carried out by Iran-backed groups operating in Syria and Iraq.

While Iran has denied any involvement, Biden ordered “retaliatory” attacks on Iranian-backed groups.

At the same time, the US president stopped short of hitting Iran directly for fear of igniting a broader war amid violence that has already hampered global trade through attacks on ships in the Red Sea. “Have no doubt, we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing,” Biden said.

Two more journalists killed

Inside Gaza, residents said Israeli air strikes on neighbourhoods across Gaza City killed and wounded many people. While tanks shelled the eastern areas of the city, naval boats fired shells and gun rounds at the beachfront areas in the west, they said.

Among those killed were two Palestinian journalists, Essam El-lulu and Hussein Attalah, along with several members of their families, health officials and the journalist union said.

“The war continues in a dirtier manner,” said Gaza resident Mustafa Ibrahim, a Palestinian human rights activist now displaced with his family in Rafah near the southern border with Egypt, along with more than a million other Gazans.

People in the north have been grinding animal feed to make flour after flour, rice and sugar ran out, part of an aid crisis now exacerbated by a withdrawal of support for the UN’s aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. The US, the UK, Canada and Germany have suspended aid to UNRWA, which says it would have to end relief work if funding was not restored.

Temporary ceasefire

Mindful of the growing risks of a wider conflagration, Biden and other leaders have been pushing for a new temporary ceasefire to allow for the release of prisoners held by Hamas.

Talks on Sunday initiated by Qatar and involving US, Israeli and Eygptian intelligence chiefs were “constructive”, Israel said, while adding that “significant gaps” remain.

Hamas has demanded a guaranteed end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza and full withdrawal before it frees the more than 100 people still held in Gaza, out of 253 seized when militants attacked Israeli bases and towns on Oct. 7.

SOURCE: AGENCIES
 
Biden says he has decided US response to Jordan attack

President Joe Biden says he has decided how the US will respond to a drone strike that killed three American troops in Jordan at the weekend.

Mr Biden did not elaborate in his remarks at the White House, but added: "I don't think we need a wider war in the Middle East."

An Iran-backed militia group has claimed responsibility for the attack at a US military base.

Dozens more were injured in Sunday's strike near the Syrian border.

The overnight drone attack was the first time US soldiers were killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the Israel Gaza war erupted on 7 October.

Asked by reporters on Tuesday morning if he had decided how to respond to the attack, Mr Biden said: "Yes."

He was also asked if Iran should be blamed. "I do hold them [Iran] responsible in the sense that they're supplying the weapons to the people who did it," he said.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the US might take a "tiered approach" in its response.

"Not just a single action, but potentially multiple actions... over a period of time," he told reporters on board Air Force One for Mr Biden's trip to attend election fundraisers in Florida.

"The guiding principle is making sure that we continue to degrade the kinds of capabilities that these groups have at their disposal to use against our troops and our facilities," he said.

Mr Kirby added: "The president will do what he has to do to protect our troops and our facilities and to look after our national security."

The president has a number of options, including retaliatory strikes on Iran-allied bases and commanders.

The US could also target senior commanders of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps in Iraq or Syria.

In recent months, several US bases in the Middle East have been attacked by militias trained, funded and equipped by Iran.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq - which is made up of several Iran-affiliated militias operating - has claimed responsibility for Sunday's strike.

It has also said it mounted other attacks against US forces in recent weeks.

Kataib Hezbollah, an armed faction of the Islamic Resistance, said on Tuesday it would suspend all its military operations against US troops in the region to avoid "embarrassment" for the Iraqi government.

The weekend's deadly strike in north-eastern Jordan hit an American military base known as Tower 22.

About 350 US forces are stationed at the facility, which US Central Command says is focused on defeating the Islamic State group.

The strike killed Sgt William Jerome Rivers, 46, Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, and Specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23.

More than 40 others were wounded, including 34 people who officials say were evaluated for possible traumatic brain injuries.

The White House said on Tuesday Mr Biden had spoken with the family members of the three troops.

The president will attend the "dignified transfer" of their bodies at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Friday, the national security spokesman told reporters.

Mr Biden told the families "how proud we all are of their service, how we mourn and feel sorrow over their loss", Mr Kirby said.

The enemy drone struck while an American drone was returning to the base from a mission.

Officials say the base's air defence auto-response features were turned off to avoid shooting down the US drone.

But because of that, there was no warning for troops who were reportedly still in their sleeping quarters.

A supplementary air defence system, called the Coyote, is being sent to Tower 22 to help intercept drones, the BBC's US partner, CBS News, reported.

Tower 22's air defences were not as robust as those of other bases in the region, an unnamed official said.
​
BBC
 
US threats against Iran will not be left unanswered, the chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday, adding that Tehran is not afraid of direct military confrontation with Washington.

“These days, we hear some threats from American officials, to whom we say … we do not leave any threat unanswered and we do not seek war but we are not afraid of war,” state media quoted IRGC head Hossein Salami as saying.

Salami’s remarks follow comments from President Joe Biden, made a day earlier, in which he, without providing details, said that he had decided on a response to a drone attack that killed three US troops in Jordan.

Biden added that he held Iran responsible for supplying weapons to those who carried out the attack. He had previously said that the attack was carried out by “radical Iran-backed militant groups.”

Tehran has denied any involvement in the drone strike in Jordan.

Tensions have soared in the Middle East since the war been US ally Israel and the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas broke out last October. Since then, US forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked more than 165 times by Iran-backed militias.

Source: Al Arabiya

 
US approves plan to strike Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq, officials say

The US has approved plans for a series of strikes on Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq, officials have told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

The strikes will take place over a number of days, officials said, and weather conditions will likely dictate when they are launched.

It comes after a drone attack killed three US soldiers in Jordan, close to the Syrian border, on Sunday.

The US blamed an Iranian-backed militia group for that attack.

That group, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, is believed to contain multiple militias that have been armed, funded and trained by Iran's Revolutionary Guards force. It has said it was responsible for Sunday's strike.

Iran, meanwhile, has denied any role in the attack which injured 41 other US troops at the military base, known as Tower 22.

At a news conference on Thursday, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US would "not tolerate attacks on American troops".

"We will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people," he said. "We will respond where we choose, when we choose and how we choose."

The officials who spoke to CBS News did not give an exact timeline on the potential strikes. They said the US military could launch them in bad weather, but prefers to have better visibility to reduce the risk of inadvertently hitting civilians.

While the US has repeatedly pledged to respond to the drone attack, President Joe Biden and other defence officials have said Washington is not seeking a wider war with Iran or an escalation of tensions in the region.

"That's not what I'm looking for," Mr Biden told reporters at the White House earlier this week.


www.bbc.com

US approves plan to strike Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq, officials say

The strikes in Syria and Iraq will take place over a number of days, American officials tell CBS News.
www.bbc.com
 
'Several killed' as US airstrikes hit 85 targets in Iraq and Syria

The US military has launched an air assault on at least 85 targets in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias on Friday.

Numerous aircraft were used - including long-range bombers flown from the US - and 125 precision munitions were fired.

A statement from US Central Command said: "US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups.

"US military forces struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from United States.

"The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions.

"The facilities that were struck included command and control operations, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against US and Coalition forces."



news.sky.com

'Several killed' as US airstrikes hit 85 targets in Iraq and Syria

The strikes come just hours after President Joe Biden and top defence leaders joined grieving families as the remains of the three Army Reserve soldiers were returned to the US.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 
Usual cowardly bombing by the Yanks. These people love to kill from the air, which is the most cowardly form of modern warfare if against an enemy with no air power.

The talk of attacking Iran was always hype, any such attack will see the world fall on its knees, with Americans rioting over an economic disaster.

The Question no MSM western media are asking is what the hell are Yank soldiers doing in Syria and Iraq, illegally?
 
US plans more strikes in Middle East against Iran-backed groups

The United States plans to undertake further strikes after the killing of three US troops by Iranian-backed fighters last weekend, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.

“We intend to take additional strikes, and additional action, to continue to send a clear message that the United States will respond when our forces are attacked, when our people are killed,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.

The United States and Britain launched strikes against 36 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday, in the second day of major US operations against Iran-linked groups following a deadly attack that killed three American troops in Jordan last weekend.


www.brecorder.com

US plans more strikes in Middle East against Iran-backed groups

WASHINGTON: The United States plans to undertake further strikes after the killing of three US troops by...
www.brecorder.com
 
KingKhanWC said:
Usual cowardly bombing by the Yanks. These people love to kill from the air, which is the most cowardly form of modern warfare if against an enemy with no air power.

The talk of attacking Iran was always hype, any such attack will see the world fall on its knees, with Americans rioting over an economic disaster.

The Question no MSM western media are asking is what the hell are Yank soldiers doing in Syria and Iraq, illegally?
Click to expand...
Do you want US soldiers duel with Iranian Soldiers in Kushthi?
 
US drone strike kills Iran-backed militia leader in Baghdad

A senior commander of an Iran-backed militia has been killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad.

A leader of Kataib Hezbollah and two of his guards were in a vehicle when it was targeted in the east of the Iraqi capital. All three of them died.

The Pentagon said the commander was responsible for directing attacks on American forces in the region.

The US has linked the militia to a drone attack in Jordan that killed three US troops last month.

In the wake of that attack, Kataib Hezbollah said it was suspending attacks on American troops to prevent "embarrassment" to the Iraqi government.

Wednesday night's drone raid happened in Baghdad's Mashtal neighbourhood, sparking several loud explosions.

It was a precise strike on a moving vehicle in a busy street and the car was reduced to a fiery wreck.

One of the victims has been identified as Abu Baqir al-Saadi, a senior commander in Kataib Hezbollah.

US Central Command (Centcom) said the attack at 21:30 local time (18:30 GMT) had killed the "commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region".

"There are no indications of collateral damage or civilian casualties at this time," the Centcom statement said.

When a BBC team reached the scene, crowds of protesters gathered chanting: "America is the biggest devil."

There was a heavy police presence, joined by Swat teams from Iraq's interior ministry.

The BBC team tried to get close to the burnt-out vehicle, but was driven back by onlookers who said journalists were not welcome.

"You are foreigners," one man shouted, adding "and foreigners are to blame for this".

The raid comes days after the US launched 85 strikes in the Iraq-Syria border area in retaliation for the fatal 28 January drone attack on American troops at a base in Jordan.

President Joe Biden described last Friday's wave of attacks as just the beginning of the US response.

The drone raid in the Iraqi capital will be seen as a major escalation.

But it was perhaps inevitable that the American strategy would include targeting not only infrastructure used by the groups, but also their senior leaders.

Shortly after Wednesday's attack, militias in the country called for retaliation against the US.

Harakat al Nujaba - another group blamed for attacks against American troops - released a statement promising a "targeted retaliation", adding that "these crimes will not go unpunished," according to AFP.

On 4 January, the US launched an airstrike in Baghdad that killed a senior leader of Harakat al Nujaba.

American forces have been hit with more than 165 rocket and drone strikes since the Israel Gaza war began on 7 October.

The US has some 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighbouring Syria in a mission to combat the Islamic State terror group, says the Pentagon.

The American military has also recently launched attacks against the Iran-aligned Houthi group in Yemen, in response to attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea.

SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68235311
 
US hits Iran with new sanctions targeting commanders, shipping

he United States targeted Iranian and Houthi commanders and a vessel that shipped more than $100 million in Iranian commodities to businesses in China in sanctions announced on Tuesday.

Mohammad Reza Falahzadeh, deputy commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), and Ibrahim al-Nashiri, a member of Yemen's Houthi militia, were designated under the sanctions, the Treasury Department said.

The Iranian military has provided weapons and intelligence support to the Houthis that support the group's attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea, the department said in a statement.

The department designated Cap Tees Shipping Co., Ltd, which owns and operates a vessel used to ship Iranian commodities that were sold to support both the Houthis and the IRGC-QF, it said.

Shipping risks have escalated due to repeated Houthi drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait since November in support of Palestinians in Gaza. US and British forces have responded with several strikes on Houthi facilities but have so far failed to halt the attacks.

On Tuesday, the US also imposed sanctions against two companies that run a vessel that shipped more than $100 million in Iranian commodities to businesses in China on behalf of Iran's defence ministry, the Treasury Department said.

Tehran's defence ministry orchestrated the shipment in January aboard the Panamanian-flagged vessel Kohana, which is owned by Hong Kong-registered Kohana Company Limited and operated by the Marshall Islands-registered Iridescent Co Ltd, the department said in a statement.

Britain also added five new designations under its Iran sanctions regime and one under its Yemen sanctions regime, a government notice showed on Tuesday.


Tribune
 
Iran on Sunday sealed contracts worth billions of dollars with domestic companies to boost its oil production in the face of Western sanctions

In a ceremony broadcast on state TV, the oil ministry and Iranian businesses signed deals worth $13 billion to increase daily oil production in six major fields.

SHANA, the official news agency for the oil industry, labelled the deals as Iran’s “biggest oil contracts in the past decade” and said they aimed to add 350,000 barrels per day to the country’s daily production.

In October, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji promised the country’s oil production would reach 3.6 million barrels per day by the end of the Iranian year on March 19.

In the new year under the Iranian calendar, “production will reach four million barrels per day,” he added.

Iran’s oil sector suffered a blow in 2018 when Western sanctions were reimposed, forcing foreign companies to leave the country, after the United States withdrew from a landmark deal designed to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.

According to the oil ministry, Iran will be “relying on domestic expertise” to help boost the production in its western and southwestern fields, including Azadegan in Khuzestan province, on the border with Iraq.

Development contracts for Iran’s oldest oil field, Masjed Soleyman in Khuzestan, were also signed.

First drilled in 1908, well No 1 in Masjed Soleyman is the oldest in the Middle East.

The oil ministry signed the contracts two days before the 73rd anniversary of the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, then run by the British-controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.

Last week, Iran said it has given $20 billion in contracts to domestic firms to ramp up production from the offshore South Pars gas field in the Gulf, which is shared with Qatar.

According to United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), Iran was the world’s seventh-largest crude oil producer in 2022.

It also holds the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves, according to the EIA.

 

US issues fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting vessel owner​


The United States on Thursday imposed new Iran-related counterterrorism sanctions against Oceanlink Maritime DMCC and its vessels, citing its role in shipping commodities on behalf of the Iranian military.

The United States is using financial sanctions to isolate Iran and disrupt its ability to fund its proxy groups and support Russia's war in Ukraine, the Treasury Department said. The United Arab Emirates-based Oceanlink operates a fleet of more than a dozen vessels deeply involved in shipping Iranian commodities, Treasury said.

The U.S. Treasury Department said the Oceanlink Maritime DMCC-managed vessel HECATE recently loaded Iranian commodities valued at over $100 million dollars via a ship-to-ship transfer from another sanctioned tanker.

A series of U.S. and Western sanctions have targeted Iran's "destabilizing activities in the region and around the world," Treasury said in a statement. Iran has a network of proxies in the Middle East including in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

 
US on high alert over threat of Iranian retaliation after top commanders killed in Syria, officials say

The US is on high alert over the possibility of significant retaliation from Iran following a deadly airstrike in Syria, according to American officials.

It comes after the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard vowed "our brave men will punish the Zionist regime" after an airstrike on a building next to Iran's embassy in Damascus killed seven members of the group on Monday.

Tehran has blamed Israel for the strike, though the Israeli military has refused to comment either to confirm or deny involvement.

US officials have said they are now concerned that Iran may be planning to hit targets inside Israel in retaliation, sparking another expansion of hostilities in the Middle East.

Speaking to NBC News - the US partner of Sky News - on condition of anonymity, two officials said any retaliation inside Israel was likely to focus on military or intelligence targets rather than civilians.

One official said that Washington received a message from Iran following the strike, and "made clear" to Tehran in response that "we were not behind the strike".

"We also warned Iran to not use the strike as a pretext to further escalate in the region or attack US facilities or personnel," they added.

The two officials also told NBC News that Iran could carry out an attack using a swarm of drones or land-attack cruise missiles against an Israeli diplomatic or consular facility.

Another official separately told CNN that "we're definitely at a high state of vigilance" over the threat of retaliation.

Iran said Monday's strike targeted a consular building and therefore was considered an attack on Iran itself.

It said seven Iranian military advisers died in the attack, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in its Quds Force, which is an elite foreign espionage and paramilitary arm.

SKY NEWS
 

Malaysia to assess response to sanctions amid US concern over Iran oil shipments​


Malaysia said on Wednesday it would need to assess its response to unilaterally applied sanctions, following concerns raised by the United States over the role of Malaysia-based service providers in shipments of sanctioned Iranian oil.

A senior US treasury official said this week the United States saw Iran's capacity to move its oil as being reliant on service providers based in Malaysia.

The official also said the United States was trying to prevent Malaysia from becoming a jurisdiction where the Palestinian militant group Hamas could both fundraise and then move money.

Malaysia government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil said the country was prepared to engage with its US counterparts to better understand its concerns and stressed that it would comply with United Nations sanctions.

“We want to assert that Malaysia, as a sovereign nation, we comply with UN sanctions,” he told reporters.

“But when it comes to unilaterally applied sanctions, then I think we have to assess this situation.”

Brian Nelson, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and Neil MacBride, Treasury General Counsel, are expected to visit Malaysia this week as part of efforts to clamp down on financing for militant groups routed through Southeast Asia.

 
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