TOP STORIES
Top Russian Official Lands In Iran Amid US, UK Concerns Over Alleged Nuclear Deal | Fox News
Top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu landed in Iran on Tuesday for talks with his counterpart just one day after reports surfaced suggesting the U.S. and the U.K. are increasingly concerned over an alleged nuclear deal between Tehran and Moscow. Details of Shoigu’s meeting in Iran remain scarce, but U.S. officials have increasingly begun sounding the alarm that the burgeoning relationship between Iran and Russia amid the war in Ukraine may have reached concerning new levels. Secretary of State Antony Blinken first referenced these concerns last week during a visit to the U.K., where he confirmed reports that Iran had supplied Russia with short-range ballistic missiles to aid its continued war effort against Kyiv.
Hezbollah Vows To Punish Israel After Pager Explosions Across Lebanon | Reuters
Militant group Hezbollah promised to retaliate against Israel after accusing it of detonating pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others who included fighters and Iran's envoy to Beirut. Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary condemned the late-afternoon detonation of the pagers - handheld devices that Hezbollah and others in Lebanon use to send messages - as an "Israeli aggression". Hezbollah said Israel would receive "its fair punishment" for the blasts.
Iran's President Says Direct Talks With U.S. Possible If It Abandons Its Hostility | Reuters
Iran could hold direct talks with the United States if Washington demonstrates "in practice" that it is not hostile to the Islamic Republic, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday. Pezeshkian was responding to a question at a news conference in Tehran on whether Tehran would be open to direct talks with the U.S. to revive a 2015 nuclear deal. Former U.S. President Donald Trump reneged on that deal in 2018, arguing it was too generous to Tehran, and restored harsh U.S. sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to gradually violate the agreement's nuclear limits. "We are not hostile towards the U.S. They should end their hostility towards us by showing their goodwill in practice," said Pezeshkian, adding: "We are brothers with the Americans as well."
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran Executed Nearly 1,500 Since 2022 Protests Began – Rights Group | Iran International
At least 1,425 people have been executed in Iran since Mahsa Amini’s death in custody sparked a nationwide protest movement in September 2022, a new report by Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization said. Nearly twice as many executions were carried out in the two years following the outbreak of the protests compared to the same period before, according to the Monday report.
IRANIAN REGIONAL AGGRESSION
Iran Official Vows 'Unlimited' Support For Regional Terrorism | Newsmax
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi vowed on Monday to keep up Tehran's "unlimited support" for terror groups throughout the region while avoiding a direct clash with Israel, according to official Iranian media. The policy of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's government is to "provide unlimited support to the resistance," said Araghchi. "We will support the resistance front, which has established itself as a reality in the region." The "Axis of Resistance" includes Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Yemen's Houthi rebels, and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups in the Middle East.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Hezbollah Exploding Pager Trail Runs From Taiwan To Hungary | Reuters
The detonation of thousands of pagers targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon has left a mysterious trail from Taiwan to Hungary while raising the prospect of another full-scale war in the Middle East between the Iran-backed group and arch-foe Israel. Israel's Mossad spy agency, which has a long history of pulling off sophisticated attacks on foreign soil, planted explosives inside pagers imported by Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations that killed nine people, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.
The Iranian Red Crescent says it has dispatched “rescue teams and eye surgeons” to Lebanon to treat the wounded after yesterday’s detonation of pagers used by Hezbollah. At least nine people were killed, and thousands were injured when pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded yesterday in a coordinated attack widely attributed to Israel. Among the injured was Iran’s envoy to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, with Iranian media reporting he suffered injuries “to the hand and the face.” The New York Times reported he had lost one eye, and his second was severely injured.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has called for warm relations between Tehran and Riyadh and said he is ready to visit Saudi Arabia when opportune. During his first press conference since taking office in July, he suggested that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could be invited to Iran. “We are brothers, so there is no place for hostility,” Mr. Pezeshkian said, as he welcomed any effort “to solve differences” between Shias and Sunnis, Islam’s two main branches. While Iran is the largest Shia country, Saudi Arabia hosts Islam’s two key pilgrim sites, Mecca and Medina, and is regarded as a holy land by Sunnis and Shias.
AFGHANISTAN & IRAN
Taliban Jams Afghan TV Station 'With Iran's Help' | The National
The Taliban has jammed the only remaining free press television station covering Afghanistan, potentially with Iran’s assistance, The National can disclose. In the last week, the group has blocked broadcasts of Afghan International TV (AITV) in the country, denying people the last outlet for uncensored information. The jamming began on September 5 in what the channel called “a blatant violation of the free flow of information and a direct assault on press freedom.”