TOP STORIES
Iran-Backed Forces Widen Their Attacks On Commercial Shipping | Wall Street Journal
Escalating Iran-backed attacks against global commercial shipping in the Red Sea have heightened pressure on the Biden administration as officials scramble to protect trade while trying to avoid a direct confrontation with Tehran. The U.S. Navy said late Saturday that two more vessels had been attacked that day by Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, bringing the number of commercial ships attacked near a crucial passageway between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East to 15. The Pentagon said earlier in the day that a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean was struck by a drone launched directly from Iran, a claim Tehran denied.
US Retaliates In Iraq After Three US Troops Wounded In Attack | Reuters
The U.S. military carried out retaliatory air strikes on Monday in Iraq after a one-way drone attack earlier in the day by Iran-aligned militants that left one U.S. service member in critical condition and wounded two other U.S. personnel, officials said. The back-and-forth clash was the latest demonstration of how the Israel-Hamas war is rippling across the Middle East, creating turmoil that has turned U.S. troops at bases in Iraq and Syria into targets. Iran-aligned groups in Iraq and Syria oppose Israel's campaign in Gaza and hold the United States partly responsible. At President Joe Biden's direction, the U.S. military carried out the strikes in Iraq at 1:45 GMT, likely killing "a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants" and destroying multiple facilities used by the group, the U.S. military said.
U.S. Says Iran Drone Struck An Oil Tanker Near India | Wall Street Journal
A chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean was struck by a drone launched directly from Iran early Saturday, the Pentagon said, signaling a widening risk to shipping after Yemeni rebels started attacking vessels in the Red Sea. “The motor vessel Chem Pluto, a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned, and Netherlands-operated chemical tanker was struck at approximately 10 a.m. local time today in the Indian Ocean, 200 nautical miles from the coast of India, by a one-way attack drone fired from Iran,” a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Mark Wallace told The Sun that obtaining a nuclear weapon is just one strand in Tehran’s blood-soaked global campaign to reign terror and "the UK is firmly in its sights”. “Iran is the number one state sponsor of terrorism and the most egregious, terroristic and destabilising actor on the world stage,” said Mark Wallace, CEO of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). Wallace, who is the former US ambassador to the UN, is tired of the world not seeing the bigger picture. He told The Sun: “It is Iran and not the hidden hand of Iran behind the horrific attacks of October 7 and those that predate it. The dots are well connected.”
Israel At War – Day 79 | i24 News
'Iran has the ability to wreak havoc in this region of the world' @UANI's @JasonMBrodsky breaks down the threat Iran poses to the Middle East amid threats to close the Mediterranean Sea over #IsraelHamas war.
Israel At War – Day 80 | i24 News
Jason Brodsky interview on i24 News.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Iran’s Nuclear Breakout: ’Twas The Night Before Armageddon | New York Post
... Tehran is only days from a nuclear breakout, not weeks or months. Iran already possesses sufficient mass of 60% highly enriched uranium to assemble nuclear bombs, and readily has the centrifuge capacity needed to reach 90% enrichment — the level required to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. In November, the latest quarterly report from the International Atomic Energy Agency warned, “Iran’s stocks of enriched uranium and its centrifuge capacity combined are sufficient to make enough weapon-grade uranium . . . for six nuclear weapons in one month, eight in two months, ten in three months, eleven in four months, and twelve in five months.”
MISSILE PROGRAM
Iran’s Navy Adds Sophisticated Cruise Missiles To Its Armory | Washington Post
Iran’s navy on Sunday added domestically produced sophisticated cruise missiles to its arsenal, state TV reported. The TV said both Talaeieh and Nasir cruise missiles have arrived at a naval base near the Indian Ocean in the southern Iranian port of Konarak, some 1,400 kilometers (850 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran. Navy chief Adm. Shahram Irani said the Talaeieh has a range of more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) and called it “fully smart.” Irani said the cruise missile is capable of changing targets during travel.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
How Russian And Chinese Interference Could Affect the 2024 Election | New York Times
The U.S. government is preparing for its adversaries to intensify efforts to influence American voters next year. Russia has huge stakes in the presidential election. China seems poised to back a more aggressive campaign. Other countries, like Iran, might again try to sow division in the United States. As Washington looks ahead to the 2024 vote, U.S. intelligence agencies last week released a report on the 2022 midterm elections — a document that gives us some hints about what might be to come.
The United States shot down four drones headed towards a US destroyer in the southern Red Sea and launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Saturday, US Central Command (Centcom) said. “These attacks represent the 14th and 15th attacks on commercial shipping by Houthi militants since Oct. 17,” Centcom said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have disrupted world trade for weeks with attacks on ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea in what they say is a response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran Sentences Reporter To Six Months Over ‘False’ Content | Al Arabiya
An Iranian court has sentenced a journalist to six months in prison and a two-year reporting ban for “publishing false information,” Iranian media reported. The charge against Sara Massoumi related to an online post about Armita Geravand, a teenage girl who died in October after a disputed incident on the Tehran metro, lawyer Ali Mojtahedzadeh told reformist newspaper Shargh. It was not immediately clear which post on X the lawyer was referring to but Iranian media said Massoumi had questioned the official explanation of the teenager’s death.
Iran Shutters Tehran Bookshop For Letting Unveiled Women In: Report | Al Arabiya
Iranian police on Friday closed a major bookshop in the center of the capital Tehran for allowing unveiled women to enter the premises without a compulsory headscarf, a newspaper reported. The closure is part of punitive measures by authorities over the past year against women and businesses who fail to observe the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. “Today, at around noon (0830 GMT), police officers went to the central Tehran branch of Shahr-e-Ketab (book city in Farsi) and closed it,” reformist Shargh daily said on its website.
UN Says Swedish Citizen Faces Iran Execution 'Shortly' | Voice of America
The United Nations warned Saturday that an Iranian-Swedish citizen is facing imminent execution in Iran after a Swedish court upheld the conviction of a former Iranian prison official. "Disturbing news that Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali could be shortly executed on charges of 'enmity against God,'" the U.N. human rights office said on X. Djalali was sentenced to death in 2017 on espionage charges that have been denounced as baseless by Stockholm and his supporters.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Double-Agent Reveals IRGC Plot To Kill Iran International TV Anchors | Iran International
The IRGC was plotting to assassinate two Iran International television anchors in London in 2022 amid Iranian anti-government protests, UK’s ITV has revealed. The plan was foiled because the man hired to do the job turned out to be a ‘double-agent’ working for a western intelligence agency. He would relay all information to his handler and has now shared some details with ITV. Based on irrefutable evidence –seen and verified by ITV and multiple officials– the plot was commissioned and signed off by Mohammad Reza Ansari, the IRGC commander in charge of assassinations outside Iran.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iranian MP Says Fuel Cyber Attack Was Inside Job | Iran International
A member of the Energy Committee of the Iranian Parliament claimed that the cyber attack on Iran's fuel supply system was carried out “from inside.” Parviz Mohammadnezhad Ghazimahalleh said on Thursday that the the attack which cut off 70% of the country's petrol stations was a “physical” one. “They entered the system via a USB or a program from inside,” he added without specifying the identities of the people involved. On Monday, the cyberattack which crippled gas stations across Iran was claimed by the hacking group "Gonjeshk-e-Darande" or Predatory Sparrow which announced the attack on X, claiming that they took out “a majority of the gas pumps throughout Iran.”
CONGRESS & IRAN
Sen. Hagerty: Biden Administration Sending ‘Mixed Messages’ To Israel | The Hill
... “From a diplomatic standpoint, we’ve been sending mixed messages to Israel. You know, we talk about cease-fires. We talk about sending humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Hagerty said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “These mixed messages and the fact that we’ve allowed Iran to enrich itself and repopulate Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis with the weapons that they need, have created this situation,” he said, referring to Iran’s increased aggression in the region.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iranian Lawmaker Urges Review Of Ties With Russia | Iran International
Reactions in Tehran to Moscow's support for Arab claims over three Iranian islands continue, with a lawmaker suggesting that Russia prefers Iran to remain isolated in the world. Referring to the islands of Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa in the Persian Gulf, MP Ahmad Avaei, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said President Ebrahim Raisi's reaction to Russia is weak. “It is surprising that Iran does not exhibit a strong reaction to Russia's actions," he said. Avaei demanded a serious review of Iran's foreign policy and a more thorough examination of the possible damages inflicted by such political maneuvers by Russia.
An Israeli Airstrike In Syria Kills A High-Ranking Iranian General | Associated Press
An Israeli airstrike Monday in a Damascus neighborhood killed a high-ranking Iranian general, Iranian state media said. Iranian officials and allied militant groups in the region vowed revenge for the killing but did not immediately launch any retaliatory strike. The killing of Seyed Razi Mousavi, a longtime adviser of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Syria, comes amid ongoing fears of the Israel-Hamas war sparking a regional spillover. Iran-backed groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq have launched attacks on Israel and its allies in support of Hamas.
After the report of the Israeli-affiliated ship that was attacked west of India, Iran's leader Ali Khamenei called on the countries that take part in the international force established to deal with the threats of the Houthis, not to take part in it. "It is the duty of the Islamic countries to prevent the sending of oil, fuel, and goods to Israel," he noted. He even attacked the Arab countries that take part in the force "Providing support to the resistance is a duty, and standing by Israel is a crime and treason."
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
US Says Iran 'Deeply Involved' In Red Sea Attacks On Commercial Vessels | Reuters
Iran was "deeply involved" in planning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and its intelligence was critical to enable Yemen's Houthi movement to target ships, the White House said on Friday. Iran-backed Houthis, who say their attacks are in support of Palestinians under siege by Israel in Gaza, have targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea with drones and missiles, forcing shippers to change course and take longer routes around the southern tip of Africa.
IRAQ & IRAN
Baghdad Condemns U.S Strike On Iraqi Military Positions | Reuters
Iraq's government condemned on Tuesday overnight U.S. air strikes on Iraqi military positions that it said killed one serviceman and wounded 18 other people, calling them a "clear hostile act". The United States has carried out retaliatory air strikes on Monday in Iraq after a one-way drone attack earlier in the day by Iran-aligned militants that left one U.S. service member in critical condition and wounded two others.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Iran Threatens To Close Mediterranean Sea Citing US ‘Crimes’ In Gaza | The Hill
Iran threatened Saturday that the Mediterranean Sea could be “closed” if the U.S. and Israel continued “crimes” in Gaza, state media reported, according to Reuters. The Iranian government has showed support for the militant group Hamas in its war against Israel, while the U.S. has strongly backed Israel — despite growing criticism of the Israeli military’s war effort.
Lord Cameron Warns Iran Is A 'Malign Influence' And Global Threat | The National
... Lord Cameron, speaking to the Telegraph newspaper, named Iran as one of the five significant crises threatening the world – the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, terrorism and climate change being the others. “Iran is a thoroughly malign influence in the region and in the world – there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “You’ve got the Houthis, you’ve got Hezbollah, you’ve got the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq that have actually been attacking British and American bases, troops. And, of course, Hamas. So you’ve got all of these proxies, and I think it’s incredibly important that, first of all, Iran receives an incredibly clear message that this escalation will not be tolerated.