An American nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine traversed the strategically vital waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula on Monday, the U.S. Navy said, a rare announcement that comes amid rising tensions with Iran.
At least three rockets targeted the US embassy in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Sunday, Iraqi security officials said, sparking fears of renewed unrest, as next month’s anniversary of the slaying of an Iranian general draws near.
Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the US over its atomic program, satellite photos obtained Friday by The Associated Press show.
Israel’s head of missile defense said Tuesday that he would consider working with Arab Gulf states on mutually beneficial missile defense programs, World Israel News reports.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has appeared in public, countering unconfirmed publicized claims that his health had significantly deteriorated, the Times of Israel reports. At a meeting in Tehran Wednesday, Khamenei addressed the family of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a US drone strike this year, and senior Iranian military leaders.
Israel has successfully completed an air defense exercise that tested the abilities of the Iron Dome missile defense system to intercept cruise missiles for the first time, the Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday.
The US is making a mistake by leaving the Middle East to its own devices and this could lead to a conflagration between Israel and Iran, wrote former Turkish MP Aykan Erdemir and former US Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman in an article for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The Chinese government has called on the new US administration to re-join the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Iran nuclear deal as soon as possible, Jerusalem Online reports. The Trump administration took the US out of the international deal in 2018.
Iran on Saturday executed a journalist who inspired nationwide economic protests for freedom in 2017 after luring him out of exile in Paris and kidnapping him.
The United States sends a warning to Iran on Thursday with two American bomber aircraft flying over a swath of the Middle East, officials confirmed.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is trying to persuade Iran to resume its obligations under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear arms deal, the Times of Israel reports. In a report to the Security Council published Tuesday, Antonio Guterres called on Iran to address concerns about its decision last year to begin, among other violations, the enrichment of uranium beyond the agreed limits.
Leading Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal has described Israel as a Western colonizing power that is holding Palestinians in concentration camps, Ynet News reports. Formerly the Saudi ambassador to the US and the UK and head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki made his remarks Sunday at the Bahrain Security Conference.
Britain, France, and Germany say Iran’s apparent plan to install additional advanced centrifuges at its main nuclear enrichment facility is “deeply worrying” and contrary to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
The killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist last month was carried out remotely with artificial intelligence and a machine gun equipped with a “satellite-controlled smart system”, Tasnim news agency quoted a senior commander as saying.
A well-known Iranian journalist Momahad Ahwaze has said that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has transferred his power to his son Mojtaba Khamenei because of increasing concerns about the state of his health, Newsweek reported on Saturday.
Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to install several cascades, or clusters, of advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges at the Natanz plant in violation of its commitments under the nuclear deal, Reuters reported Friday.
Hardline Iranian daily Kayhan on Sunday called on Tehran not to delay in exacting vengeance for the assassination of the country’s nuclear mastermind last month.
Israel intelligence managed to recruit an Iranian official close to the recently assassinated Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and recorded the nuclear scientist speaking about his efforts to produce “five warheads” on behalf of the Islamic Republic, according to a Friday report in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.
Iranian parliament has passed a “double-urgency” bill to increase the level of uranium enrichment to weapons-grade, Jerusalem Online reports. The move follows the recent assassination of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in Damavand, east of Tehran on November 27.
The Trump administration ordered a drawdown of diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq until some time in January due to risks of a potential attack, according to a new report.