The Iranian militia group Kataeb Hezbollah vowed to seek the expulsion of U.S. troops from Iraqi territory Thursday through legal channels after protests manufactured by Iran wreaked havoc on the U.S. embassy earlier in the week.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday that the U.S. was anticipating more attacks from Iran following an assault on the American embassy Tuesday that caused serious damage, promising to pre-emptively strike the Islamic Republic if reliable intelligence of a forthcoming attack surfaced.
The US is scheduled to deploy 750 new troops to defend the US embassy in Iraq, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday night, following protests by Iran-backed groups that marched on the compound in retaliation for US strikes Sunday that killed 25 Kataeb Hezbollah fighters.
The US flew a rapid response team of Marines into Baghdad to reinforce its embassy on Tuesday after a mob of pro-Iranian demonstrators stormed the compound, setting fires and chanting ‘Death to America!’
Three U.S. defense officials confirmed late Tuesday night that 4,000 troops from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division’s alert brigade are preparing to mobilize to the Middle East after protesters encircled the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad earlier in the day.
Nine Iranian Christians who had converted from Islam were sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison for “acting against national security” and “promoting Zionism,” as Iran’s Revolutionary court denied the requests of those who asked for lawyers and transferred them to the country’s worst prison.
One hundred marines were deployed to the US embassy in Iraq Tuesday under a “show of force” from two Apache helicopters, as Iraqi protestors assaulted the compound in retaliation for US strikes on Iran-backed forces that killed 25 militants.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday praised as ‘important’ the series of US airstrikes a day earlier against an Iranian proxy group that had carried out an attack on American forces in Iraq.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Monday seized a ship in the Persian Gulf suspected of carrying smuggled fuel, state media reported.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that US airstrikes on Iraq and Syria were unacceptable and counterproductive, and urged all sides to avoid fueling tensions in the region.
Following Sunday’s US airstrikes on Iranian-affiliated militias in Iraq, Israel must now be more careful about its own airstrikes in Iraq, former IDF intelligence chief Amos Yadlin tweeted on Monday.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq vowed to respond to US strikes Sunday that killed between 12 and 24 fighters sponsored by Iran, as the US promised to continue battling Iranian influence in the region.
12 Iran-backed fighters were killed in Iraq and Syria Sunday, as the US retaliated for a Friday strike by Iran proxies that left 4 American servicemen wounded and killed a military contractor.
Shockwaves from a magnitude 5 earthquake that occurred 30 miles away from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor may have struck the site Friday, though no reports of damage had yet surfaced.
Russia said it will not extend an arms embargo on Iran that the 2015 nuclear accord with world powers promised to lift within 5 years, raising eyebrows in the US.
Iran, Russia, and China began four days of naval drills in the Gulf of Oman Friday, following Iran’s activation of advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium at greater speeds.
Brazil has pledged multiple political and economic commitments to Israel in recent days, with leaders promising the country will move its embassy to Jerusalem, designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization, and work with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch direct flights between the two nations.
Israel may carry out a ‘limited’ war with Iran according to the Chief of the Israel Defense Forces, who spoke openly for the first time about Iranian entrenchment in Iraq as a problem for the Jewish state.
The Iraqi President has threatened to resign instead of nominating an Iran-backed candidate for Prime Minister against the will of protestors.
Iran’s authorities have restricted mobile internet access in several provinces, an Iranian news agency reported on Wednesday, a day before new protests were expected to kick-off following calls for the demonstrations on social media.