Tag Archives: Iran

The Associated Press reports: An American warship fired warning shots when vessels of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard came too close to a patrol in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday. The Navy released black-and-white footage of the encounter in international waters of the northern reaches of the Persian Gulf. Iran did not immediately acknowledge the incident. The Navy …

Axios reports: Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner praised the Biden administration for its Iran strategy, writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Biden’s refusal to remove sanctions before Iran returns to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal is a “smart diplomatic move.” Kushner led Middle East peace talks on behalf of the Trump administration. Former President Trump …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Federal Bureau of Investigation has determined that Iran is responsible for an online attempt this month to incite violence against FBI Director Chris Wray and federal and state officials who pushed back on election-fraud claims advanced by President Trump and some of his supporters, according to people familiar with the matter. A website called …

Axios reports: The Israel Defense Forces have in recent weeks been instructed to prepare for the possibility that the U.S. will conduct a military strike against Iran before President Trump leaves office, senior Israeli officials tell me. The Israeli government instructed the IDF to undertake the preparations not because of any intelligence or assessment that Trump will order such a …

The New York Times reports: President Trump asked senior advisers in an Oval Office meeting on Thursday whether he had options to take action against Iran’s main nuclear site in the coming weeks. The meeting occurred a day after international inspectors reported a significant increase in the country’s stockpile of nuclear material, four current and former U.S. officials said on …

The Washington Post reports: The U.S. government has concluded that Iran is behind a series of threatening emails arriving this week in the inboxes of Democratic voters, according to two U.S. officials. Department of Homeland Security officials told state and local election administrators on a call Wednesday that a foreign government was responsible for the online barrage, according to the …

Agence France-Presse reports: President Trump on Monday night warned Iran of a counterattack “1,000 times greater in magnitude” after reports the Iranian government may have hatched an assassination plot against a US ambassador to avenge the killing of Qassem Soleimani. Politico reported on Sunday, citing two unnamed government officials, the existence of intelligence reports about an Iranian plot to assassinate …

Politico reports: The Iranian government is weighing an assassination attempt against the American ambassador to South Africa, U.S. intelligence reports say, News of the plot comes as Iran continues to seek ways to retaliate for President Donald Trump’s decision to kill a powerful Iranian general earlier this year, the officials said. If carried out, it could dramatically ratchet up already …

The New York Times reports: The United States government on Thursday became, for a brief moment, one of the biggest and perhaps most annoying telemarketers in Russia. Seeking to publicize new rewards of up to $10 million for information about people trying to attack American voting systems, the State Department sent text messages to cellphones in Russia as well as …

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: Iran has issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol to help detain US President Donald Trump and others it believes carried out a drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, a local prosecutor reportedly says. While Trump faces no danger of arrest, the charges underscore the heightened tensions between Iran and the …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Campaign staffers working on the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Joe Biden have been targeted with online attacks coming from Iran and China respectively, Google said Thursday. These so-called phishing attacks are often an attempt to gain access to online email accounts. They raise the specter of a repeat of the 2016 campaign, during …

CNN reports: Dozens of US military personnel are expected to receive Purple Hearts in recognition of traumatic brain injuries they suffered in a January Iranian missile attack in Iraq, according to three US defense officials. The officials describe the decision as extremely sensitive because of the attention the issue received after President Donald Trump dismissed the injuries as “not very …

Media Matters reports: President Donald Trump, apparently responding to a Fox & Friends report, tweeted Wednesday morning that he had ordered the U.S. Navy to “destroy any and all Iranian gunboats” if they “harass” U.S. ships. Fox & Friends ran a series of reports Wednesday morning about Iran launching its first military satellite into orbit. Those reports also referenced an …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had instructed the U.S. Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that harass it at sea, a week after 11 vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) came dangerously close to U.S. ships in the Gulf. “I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any …

Axios reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared with his cabinet a video he claimed was evidence of Iran concealing coronavirus deaths by dropping bodies in garbage dumps, two cabinet ministers tell me. Several hours later, Netanyahu’s office realized the video had nothing to do with Iran, or with the coronavirus crisis. It was a clip from “Pandemic,” a 2007 …

The Middle East Eye reports: A recently elected Iranian member of parliament died on Saturday from the novel coronavirus, state news agency IRNA has reported. Fatemeh Rahbar, 55, was a conservative MP from the capital Tehran who was elected in last month’s general election. Her party won the most seats in a vote that was marred by the lowest turnout …

The BBC reports: Iran has temporarily released more than 54,000 prisoners in an effort to combat the spread of the new coronavirus disease in crowded jails. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told reporters that the inmates were granted furlough after testing negative for Covid-19 and posting bail. “Security prisoners” sentenced to more than five years will not be let out. The …

The Associated Press reports: A member of a council that advises Iran’s supreme leader died Monday after falling sick from the new coronavirus, state radio reported, becoming the first top official to succumb to the illness striking both citizens and leaders of the Islamic Republic. The death of Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi, 71, came as Iran announced the virus …

The BBC reports: At least 210 people in Iran have died as a result of the new coronavirus disease, sources in the country’s health system have told BBC Persian. Most of the victims are from the capital, Tehran, and the city of Qom, where cases of Covid-19 first emerged. The figure is six times higher than the official death toll …

The New York Post reports: Masoumeh Ebtekar, an Iranian vice president who is better known as the infamous “Screaming Mary” during the 1979 US hostage crisis, has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to reports. Reports about her illness come two days after Iraj Harirchi, the official who was tasked with tackling the outbreak in Iran, also tested positive. He …