TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces on Friday held a military exercise involving ballistic missiles and drones in the country’s central desert, state TV reported, amid heightened tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program and a U.S. pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the lavishly-funded theocratic wing of the Iranian military and a designated terrorist organization, held a ceremony on Friday to showcase a new underground strategic missile site located on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf.
An exclusive report published by OilPrice.com on Monday said China and Iran will begin implementing a 25-year arms deal next month, with China helping Iran to obtain weapons that might include North Korean military technology in exchange for Iran selling China its oil.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday announced new sanctions against Iran targeting its billion-dollar metals industry, including the largest manufacturers of steel, aluminum, copper, and iron in the country. The new sanctions also named several senior regime officials involved with Tuesday’s missile attack on Iraqi bases.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft wrote a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday stating the U.S. is “ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations with Iran, with the goal of preventing further endangerment of international peace and security or escalation by the Iranian regime.”
Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Abdullah Agrahi on Thursday vowed to take “harsher revenge” against American targets for the liquidation of IRGC Gen. Qasem Soleimani by a U.S. airstrike. Agrahi, like many other Iranian officials, evidently saw Tuesday night’s zero-casualty Iranian missile attack on Iraqi bases as insufficient, or as merely a taste of greater retaliation to come.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley said Wednesday during a briefing that an Iran missile attack on Iraqi bases with U.S. troops stationed there was “intended to kill personnel.”
China’s envoy to Iran, Chang Hua, said on Tuesday that nothing would soften Beijing’s determination to develop a strategic partnership with Tehran. He said this shortly before Iran launched a missile attack against two Iraqi military bases.
Officials in Iraqi Kurdistan said on Wednesday they were not surprised to find themselves caught in the crossfire as Iran targeted bases in Iraq for an ultimately ineffective missile attack to avenge the death of terrorist mastermind Qasem Soleimani.
Establishment media broadcast unconfirmed falsehoods, offered praise for the Iranian authoritarian regime, and otherwise spent much of Tuesday night adding to the confusion surrounding Iranian airstrikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s foreign minister has suggested for the first time that the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program could be up for negotiations with the U.S., a possible opening for talks as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over the collapsing nuclear deal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a bill that formally suspends Russia’s involvement in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).
Pompeo arrived Tuesday evening in Baghdad, Iraq, amid what he said were “very specific” and “imminent” threats against U.S. troops.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with Iranian state media on Sunday that he will travel to North Korea in the near future. He said the date of his trip would be announced “soon.”
The Navy is planning a massive expansion of its warship fleet, announcing recently that it would add 30 heavily armed destroyers to its lineup of warships.
Russian President Vladimir Putin used an interview with Russian media on Wednesday to elaborate on the threats he made against the United States in his annual address.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank based in Washington, DC, published another report on Friday describing a missile base in North Korea whose existence has not been officially disclosed by the government. A previous CSIS report claimed North Korea operates about 20 undisclosed missile bases.
Satellite images released on Wednesday revealed what appeared to be a satellite launch from Iran’s Imam Khomeini Space Center.
Russian officials responded with belligerence and hysteria to Friday’s announcement that the United States will withdraw from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), a 1987 agreement the U.S. has accused Russia of repeatedly violating.
A Fox News exclusive report on Thursday claimed Russia may have deployed ballistic missiles within 270 miles of the Ukrainian border. The Iskander missiles captured by satellite photographs have sufficient range to reach Ukrainian territory and are capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads.
China responded to the latest U.S. Navy freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea by declaring it would “take necessary actions to protect state sovereignty” and touting its deployment of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles as a step toward doing so. Chinese state media pointedly described the missiles as “ship-killers.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin held his 14th annual year-ending press conference on Thursday. These events find Putin talking for hours on end as he takes questions from hundreds of journalists – in this case over 1,700 of them from both Russian and foreign media organizations, according to the Kremlin.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the United Nations Security Council on the subject of Iranian missile proliferation on Wednesday.
A study that the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published on Monday found that North Korea is maintaining at least 13 ballistic missile bases, seemingly contradicting the spirit of denuclearization even as Pyongyang demands sanctions relief as a reward for the steps it has taken so far.
Iran has developed land-to-sea ballistic missiles with the capability of hitting any ship from an estimated 435 miles, a top official from the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) declared this week amid escalating tensions with the United States over Tehran’s missile program.
A report published by Reuters on Friday revealed that Iran is moving ballistic missiles into Iraq, placing the weapons in the hands of its Shiite militia proxies, in order to expand its ability to hit targets across the Middle East in a regional conflict or war against Western powers.
An analysis published by the monitor site 38 North on Monday using satellite imagery of North Korea’s Sohae Satellite Launching Station finds that authorities appear to be dismantling key areas of the site, limiting North Korea’s ability to launch ballistic missiles.
President Donald Trump again slammed the “Fake News” on Sunday, this time for not highlighting North Korea concessions to the United States.
The United States and Israel successfully tested the Arrow 3 weapons system to defend against ballistic missiles.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Friday that the State Department is working to deliver on President Donald Trump’s promise to “fix” the Iran nuclear deal.
