TOP STORIES
US Calls On Iran To Stop Weapons Transfers To Yemen's Houthis | Associated Press
The United States called on Iran on Monday to halt its transfer of an “unprecedented” amount of weaponry to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, enabling their fighters to carry out “reckless attacks” on ships in the Red Sea and elsewhere. U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the U.N. Security Council that if it wants to make progress toward ending the civil war in Yemen, it should collectively “call Iran out for its destabilizing role and insist that it cannot hide behind the Houthis.” He said there is extensive evidence that Iran is providing advanced weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles, to the Houthis in violation of U.N. sanctions.
Acclaimed Iranian Filmmaker Flees To Europe After Prison And Flogging Sentence | CNN
Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof says he has fled his home country to an undisclosed location in Europe after a court in Iran sentenced him to prison on national security charges. Rasoulof condemned the Iranian government in an Instagram post on Monday, calling it a tyrannical and oppressive regime, and posting a video that showed him crossing the country’s mountainous border. “If geographical Iran suffers beneath the boots of your religious tyranny, cultural Iran is alive in the common minds of millions of Iranians who were forced to leave Iran due to your brutality and no power can impose its will on it. From today, I am a resident of cultural Iran,” he said.
India Inks 10-Year Deal To Operate Iran's Chabahar Port | Reuters
India signed a 10-year contract with Iran on Monday to develop and operate the Iranian port of Chabahar, the Narendra Modi-led government said, strengthening relations with a strategic Middle Eastern nation. India has been developing the port in Chabahar on Iran's south-eastern coast along the Gulf of Oman as a way to transport goods to Iran, Afghanistan and central Asian countries, bypassing the port of Karachi and Gwadar in its rival Pakistan. U.S. sanctions on Iran, however, slowed the port's development.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Ex-Iranian President Criticizes Government's Stance On JCPOA | Iran International
Former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized the government's approach to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In a letter to the Guardian Council, he asserted that the Raisi Administration "neither has the capability to withdraw from the JCPOA nor the will to revive it." Rouhani also lamented that the opportunity for reviving the JCPOA at the end of his term was thwarted by "the parliament's sabotage and the support of the Guardian Council."
US Says It Won't Let Iran Build Nuclear Bomb | Iran International
The US will not allow Iran to build a nuclear bomb, the State Department said on Monday, one day after a senior Iranian official said Tehran would have no option but to change its nuclear doctrine in the face of Israel's threats. “[President] Biden and [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a press briefing. He made the remarks in reaction to Sunday comments by Kamal Kharrazi, a senior advisor to Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei, that the Islamic Republic would be left with no option but to alter its nuclear doctrine if Israel threatened its nuclear facilities or its existence.
MISSILE PROGRAM
Iran last month launched a large-scale overnight air strike on Israel. More than 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles targeted the country. North Korean technology was at least partly to blame. Iran last month launched a large-scale overnight air strike on Israel. More than 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles targeted the country. While the attack was quite large, it was also ineffective. According to spokespersons for the U.S. and Israeli militaries, 99% of the projectiles launched at Israel failed to make it through.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran Jails Regime Critic Sadegh Zibakalam | DW
Sadegh Zibakalam, a distinguished former political science professor and prominent critic of the Iranian regime, has been detained and sentenced to jail, according to Iranian media reports. The charges against Zibakalam were related to spreading "propaganda" against the Islamic Republic, as reported by the Iranian judiciary's news website Mizan. The report said Zibakalam will serve at least 18 months. He is to be sent to Tehran's notorious Evin prison, where numerous political prisoners, including human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, are incarcerated.
Iran Court Denies Release Of Woman Journalist, Says 'Needs To Punish' | Iran Wire
Vida Rabbani, an Iranian woman journalist, was denied conditional release by Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals. Parto Borhanpour, Rabbani's lawyer, announced the news on social media, stating the court justified its decision by citing the "need to punish such criminals" and "maintain public order." Rabbani, known for her work with various publications, including Shargh and Mordam Salar, has a long history of activism. She was arrested in September 2022 following protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
This is the shocking moment a suspected female morality police officer attacked a screaming teenager and forced her to the ground. It was reported that the teenager was accosted by the officer for refusing to cover her hair, thus breaching Iran's strict laws governing what women can wear. Footage of the incident was captured in what appears to be a busy public park in Iran - reportedly Borujerd - and shared to social media.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
How Iran Is Preparing The Ground For The Next Supreme Leader | Financial Times
It was 20 years ago that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei felt God speaking through him. The experience took place during a cordial gathering between Iran’s supreme leader and approximately 20 commanders of the country’s Revolutionary Guards, Khamenei recalled earlier this year. After leading a collective prayer Khamenei found himself engaged in “warm and captivating” conversation with the military brass, while casually seated on a staircase in a courtyard. It was then, he said, that “the Almighty God’s words flowed from my tongue”.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Lebanon’s Hezbollah Says Behind Strikes That Wounded Israeli Soldiers | AFP News
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group claimed responsibility Monday for a strike that Israel said wounded four soldiers in the country’s north, the latest cross-border fire in more than seven months of clashes. Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire following the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked war in Gaza. Hezbollah fighters fired “a guided missile” at an Israeli Merkava tank across the border on Monday morning, destroying it “after closely monitoring the enemy’s movements,” the group said in a statement.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Cholera Outbreak Intensifying In Yemen, UN Warns | Al Arabiya News
The United Nations on Monday expressed fears at what it called a “rapidly worsening” outbreak of cholera in war-ravaged Yemen, with more than 40,000 suspected cases since October, mainly in areas controlled by Iran-backed Houthis. “We are also deeply concerned about a rapidly worsening cholera outbreak. 40,000 suspected cases and over 160 deaths have so far been reported -- a sharp increase since our update last month,” UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said. “The majority are in Houthi-controlled areas, where hundreds of new cases are reported every day,” Griffiths told the Security Council.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warned of a dangerous future for the U.K. in a pitch to voters Monday as he fights to hang on to power ahead of a national election that could see Conservatives ousted after 14 years. Sunak’s speech repeatedly attacked Labour leader Keir Starmer, saying he lacked plans to deal with security risks from what he described as an “axis of authoritarian states” that he named as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Sunak said his pledge to increase military spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2030 better positions his party to confront that threat.
Iran Accuses France Of 'Interfering' Over Detained Nationals | AFP News
Iran condemned as "interfering" Tuesday a French foreign ministry statement accusing it of "state hostage-taking" and "blackmail" in the detention of four French nationals. "We strongly condemn such unprofessional, interfering and inappropriate positions while resorting to false references," foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani told state news agency IRNA. "The people mentioned in the statement of the French foreign ministry were arrested based on solid evidence and witnesses, and the French government is well aware of their crimes."