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Iran Sending Drones To Russia May Be War Crimes – US

Jan 9, 2023, 21:08 GMT+0Updated: 22:23 GMT+0
US White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, US.
US White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, US.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says the Islamic Republic could be contributing to “war crimes” in Ukraine by providing drones to Russia.

"Their weapons are being used to kill civilians in Ukraine and to try to plunge cities into cold and darkness which, from our point of view, puts Iran in a place where it could potentially be contributing to widespread war crimes," Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday.

Sullivan pointed to European and US sanctions on Iran put in place after the US exposed Islamic Republic's arms sales to Russia last year as examples of how they are trying to “make these transactions more difficult,” acknowledging that “the way that they are actually carrying them out physically makes physical interdiction a challenge. ”The US and European partners are looking to further isolate both nations in the court of public opinion, as they face challenges with physically stopping the transfers of weapons."

The United States has imposed a series of sanctions on companies and people it accused of producing or transferring Iranian drones that Russia has used to attack civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

The White House said last week that the United States is also mulling over ways to target the Islamic Republic’s production of the unmanned weaponized aircraft through sanctions and export controls.

Since negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal or JCPOA broke down in September, the Biden administration and its European allies have put the talks on the backburner and even President Joe Biden said in early November that the “JCPOA is dead.”

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Iranian Arrested In Germany On Suspicion Of Planning Terrorist Attack

Jan 8, 2023, 13:20 GMT+0

Anti-terrorist agents in Germany have detained a 32-year-old Iranian man who is accused of planning an Islamist-motivated attack using chemicals.

The DPA news agency reported Sunday that the man along with another one has been arrested in Castrop-Rauxel in Germany's north-western Ruhr area.

Police say he is suspected of having obtained the toxins cyanide and ricin which are highly toxic and listed as biological weapons by Germany.

"The accused is suspected of having prepared a serious act of violence that is dangerous to the state," investigators said.

"Evidence has been secured and is being evaluated," added DPA.

It has not yet been decided whether the 32-year-old will be brought before a court, but police said, it may carry a prison sentence of between six months to 10 years.

Tabloid newspaper Bild reported that German authorities had been watching the men for days, after receiving a warning from a "friendly intelligence agency."

According to local media, the raids were carried out by agents wearing protective suits, due to the chemical hazard.

Germany has been targeted in recent years by several Islamist attacks. In 2016 a truck attack on a Christmas market killed and injured dozens.

German domestic intelligence services say the number of supporters of Islamist causes has decreased by 1.5 percent in 2021, citing the "military breakup" of the ISIS group.

IRGC Commander Repeats Threat To Avenge Soleimani’s Death

Jan 8, 2023, 09:38 GMT+0

Iran’s hardliner commander of Revolutionary Guard has once again threatened the West to take revenge for the killing of former IRGC General Qassem Soleimani.

Major General Hossein Salami said Sunday during an event to commemorate Soleimani’s death that “sooner or later we will avenge his assassination.”

He claimed that no one can create problems for the Islamic Republic establishment, and addressing the West he said, “stop your miscalculations.”

Soleimani was in charge of supporting and organizing militant proxy forces, including the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraq Shiite militia groups that were repeatedly attacking US forces in Iraq and eslewhere.

On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said retaliatory military attacks against US targets for the killing of Qassem Soleimani in 2020 are still viable options.

IRGC spokesman Ramazan Sharif was quoted by Iranian media as saying that “moves such as [the attack on] Ain al-Assad base [in Iraq] are still being considered and “will become operational in due time.”

Five days after Soleimani was killed by a US air strike on January 3, 2020, Iran fired ballistic missiles at the Iraqi base hosting US troops. No Americans were killed but reports at the time spoke of dozens of servicemen receiving concussion because of the strong explosions.

At the time, President Donald trump who ordered the killing said that Soleimani presented an imminent danger to US personnel and interests in the region.

Since then, the Islamic Republic has continued threatening revenge for Soleimani, and these threats were repeated during the third anniversary of his killing this week.

IRGC Spokesman Talks Of Khamenei’s Role In Aiding Regional Proxies

Jan 7, 2023, 10:29 GMT+0

Iran's Revolutionary Guard spokesman Ramazan Sharif says Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sought to support Palestinian militias against Israel through Quds Force. 

He said that Ali Khamenei had asked former commander of Qods (Quds) force Ghasem Soleimani to empower the resistant front, a term the Islamic Republic uses for its proxy groups across the region.

Sharif said in remarks this week that a wave of anti-Israeli sentiments in the third and fourth generation of Palestinians, not only in the Gaza Strip but also in the West Bank, was achieved "thanks to Soleimani," without elaborating on how.

However, many documented reports and statements by Iranian officials in the past show that Tehran is the main financial and military backer of Hezbollah and has also provided substantial support to Palestinian militant groups and the Houthis in Yemen.

He added that the Supreme Leader had also assigned Soleimani to supporting the Lebanese Hezbollah, which led to the “victories” of the group.

On January 3, 2020, the US military, on the order of former President Donald Trump, killed Soleimani in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport, saying that he had been "actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."

In a tweet on the occasion of the third anniversary of the targeted killing of Soleimani by the US, the Iranian Foreign Ministry renewed the regime’s pledges to avenge his death, saying the US killing of the former IRGC's Quds Force commander in 2020 failed in bringing Washington its desired outcome.

Iran's Guards Threaten Further Revenge Attacks Against US

Jan 6, 2023, 08:59 GMT+0

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) says that retaliatory military attacks against US targets for the killing of Qassem Soleimani in 2020 are still viable options.

IRGC spokesman Ramazan Sharif was quoted by Iranian media as saying that “moves such as [the attack on] Ain al-Assad base [in Iraq] are still being considered and “will become operational in due time.”

Five days after Soleimani was killed by a US air strike on January 3, 2020, Iran fired ballistic missiles at the Iraqi base hosting US troops. No Americans were killed but reports at the time spoke of dozens of servicemen receiving concussion because of the strong explosions.

At the time, President Donald trump who ordered the killing said that Soleimani presented an imminent danger to US personnel and interests in the region. He was the commander of Quds Force and Iran's top military and intelligence operative in the Middle East.

Since then, the Islamic Republic has continued threatening revenge for Soleimani, and these threats were repeated during the third anniversary of his killing this week.

Plots were discovered in the United States aimed at assassinating former US National Security Advisor John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Iran International reported in December that based on documents a hactivist group provided, an IRGC envoy went to Washington January 16, 2022, to carry out the plan, but the IRGC was unaware that an individual hired to kill Bolton in exchange for $300,000 was actually an FBI informant.

In August 2022, the US Justice Department charged a member of the IRGC in absentia with planning to assassinate Bolton.

Erdogan Says Leaders Of Turkey, Syria Could Meet For Peace

Jan 5, 2023, 13:44 GMT+0

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday he may meet Syria's Bashar al-Assad, after their defense ministers met last week in Moscow with Iran absent.

In a speech in Ankara, Erdogan said the next step, following the landmark talks between defense ministers in Moscow, would be a trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers from Turkey, Russia and Syria, to further develop contacts.

"We have launched a process as Russia-Turkey-Syria," Erdogan said. "We will bring our foreign ministers together and then, depending on developments, we will come together as leaders."

Turkey has been the primary backer of Syria's opposition for more than a decade of war, while Russia has backed the Syrian government.

Iran, a major player in the Syrian war since 2011 and a participant in previous diplomatic efforts, was not invited to the meeting in Moscow.

The conflict continues into a second decade, although fighting is at a lower intensity than in earlier years.

With backing from Russia and Iran, Assad's government has recovered most Syrian territory. Turkish-backed opposition fighters still control a pocket in the northwest, and Kurdish fighters backed by the United States also control territory near the Turkish border.

A Turkish official said the Turkish and Syrian defense ministers met in Moscow on December 28., with the topics of migration and Kurdish militants on the agenda.

Turkish-Syrian rapprochement seemed unthinkable earlier in the conflict, and Syria's oppositions has urged Turkey to reaffirm its support.

With reporting by Reuters