Iran

The Islamist regime in Iran reportedly shut down a mobile data network in its southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan this week in response to ongoing protests against the alleged killing of local fuel smugglers by Iranian armed forces.

Turkey summoned Iranian Ambassador Mohammed Farazmand in Ankara on Sunday to complain about Iran’s criticism of Turkish military operations in Iraq. The complaint concerned demands by another Iranian ambassador, Iraj Masjedi in Baghdad, for Turkey to suspend operations and remove all of its forces from Iraqi territory.

Iran is behind a mysterious explosion on an Israeli cargo vessel in the Persian Gulf and a response will be forthcoming, Israeli defense officials said over the weekend.

Joe Biden’s Syria airstrikes mark a 180-degree turn for him and for members of his administration.

PressTV, an Iranian government propaganda outlet, suggested President Joe Biden’s decision to bomb targets tied to Iran-backed militias in Syria on Thursday may be linked to “numerous reports” of American support for the Islamic State.

China’s state-run Global Times newspaper mocked President Joe Biden on Friday, quoting his declaration, “America is back,” in a headline about his decision to bomb Syria on Thursday evening.

President Joe Biden ordered his first military airstrikes on Thursday, targeting “multiple facilities” used by by Iranian-backed militia groups in eastern Syria, according to the Pentagon.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran reportedly opened fire on protesters in the city of Saravan on Monday, killing and injuring an unconfirmed number of people.

Social media platform Twitter announced on Tuesday it has banned 373 accounts linked to the governments of Russia, Iran, and Armenia for violating various policies and “undermining faith in the NATO alliance and its stability.”

The South Korean Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that $7 billion in Iranian assets, frozen in two South Korean banks due to U.S. sanctions since September 2019, would be released to Iran following “consultations” with the Biden administration. 

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly issued a decree that female characters in cartoons must wear a hijab, the Islamic head covering that Iranian women are persecuted for refusing to wear.

MUSCAT — Iran must refrain from any provocation as Washington steps up efforts to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, the head of US forces in the Middle East told AFP.

TEHRAN — The head of the UN nuclear watchdog met Iran’s atomic energy chief in Tehran Sunday, hours before a deadline set by the Islamic republic to limit inspections by the agency if US sanctions are not lifted.

Congressional Republicans are troubled by President Joe Biden’s offers to restart nuclear talks with Iran. The concern comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken relayed Thursday that the Administration is ready to begin negotiating.

Former President Donald Trump expressed his views about Joe Biden’s negotiations with Iran and China in an interview with Newsmax TV’s Greg Kelly.

“Israel believes that going back to the old agreement will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal,” the statement from Netanyahu’s office read.

The United States is ready to begin negotiating with Iran in an attempt to reestablish the 2015 nuclear deal or something like it, Secretary of State Antony Blinken relayed to counterparts Thursday in a video conference call with France, Germany, and the U.K.

An Iran-backed militant group in Iraq called Saraya Awlia al-Dam, or “Guardians of Blood Brigades,” quickly took credit for Monday’s rocket attack on the Erbil International Airport in the Kurdistan region.

A militia believed to be tied to the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) took responsibility on Tuesday for a rocket attack on Erbil, Iraq, that resulted in damage to the Chinese consulate there.

Iranians in the United States say they were hoping the election of Joe Biden as president would mean that their loved ones would be allowed to come into the country after the reversal of former President Donald’s Trump’s policy to restrict travel from countries with links to terrorism.

Israel may ignore U.S. President Joe Biden in dealing with Iran if he pushes toward reviving the nuclear deal, according to Ambassador to the U.S. Gilad Erdan.

The same Houthi rebels that President Joe Biden plans to officially remove from U.S. terrorist lists on Tuesday to allow more humanitarian assistance into Yemen are “diverting” aid for starving Yemenis, the State Department recently announced.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he has had “fantastic conversations” about the way President Joe Biden “sees things” on climate change, NATO and Iran.

The United Nations (U.N.) has condemned reports from Iran that LGBT youth suffer electric shocks and other mistreatment from state authorities, saying the practices amount to “torture,” the Jerusalem Post reported on Friday.

Iranian Chief Justice Ebrahim Raeisi on Wednesday accused the U.S. government of helping the Islamic State recover its strength in Syria and spread its operatives into countries such as Iran that oppose U.S. hegemony. According to Raeisi, only Iran and the Shiite-dominated government of Iraq truly stand against ISIS.

Iran celebrated the 42nd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on Wednesday with marches and demonstrations partially confined to vehicles due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, an organization founded by the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, published a report on Thursday that found terrorist militia aligned with Iran surged in numbers and influence across the Middle East after the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Saudi state television on Wednesday reported an attack on a civilian airport in Saudi Arabia by the Houthis, the Iran-backed Islamist insurgents who overthrew the internationally-recognized government of Yemen in 2014.

The November killing of the mastermind behind the Iranian nuclear program was carried out using a one-ton gun smuggled into Iran in separate pieces by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, according to a report by The Jewish Chronicle on Wednesday.

Russian news sources reported Monday that Russia, China, and Iran will hold joint naval drills in the northern Indian Ocean in the next few weeks. The precise date and scope of the exercises were not specified.