Iran

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran from 2005 to 2013, registered on Wednesday to run once again in the June 18 presidential election. Ahmadinejad’s last comeback attempt in 2017 was scuttled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but this time Khamenei appears content to let him run. The extremist hardliner’s candidacy is not welcome news for an unstable Middle East roiled by violence from Iran’s client insurgencies and terrorist proxies. 

BRUSSELS (AP) – European companies doing business with Iran could face legal troubles if they have terminated their contracts with Iranian banks or firms solely because of fears about possible U.S. sanctions, according to a legal opinion handed down Wednesday by a top EU court advisor.

Iran has enriched uranium to 63 percent — dangerously close to weapons-grade and far beyond the 3.67 percent allowed under the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal — the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a confidential report obtained by Reuters.

TEHRAN — Iran’s state television reported Wednesday that the country’s former firebrand president will run again for office in upcoming elections in June.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization, issued a statement on Monday describing the bombing attack on a girls’ school in Kabul, Afghanistan as part of a “plot by Americans” to bring “terrorism, war, and insecurity to Afghanistan.”

Anti-government protesters in the central Iraqi city of Karbala set fire to the outer gates of the city’s Iranian consulate on Sunday after unidentified gunmen killed an Iraqi activist in Karbala earlier the same day.

A large group of Iranian military fast attack boats on Monday harassed six United States Navy ships escorting a guided missile submarine into the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said.

TEHRAN — A string of military figures on the list of Iranian presidential hopefuls is stirring unease over a possible militarisation of the Islamic republic’s politics.

An Iranian man caught fire while trying to burn an Israeli flag during annual anti-Israel demonstrations on Friday, as reported by Al Arabiya.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the Muslim world Friday to keep fighting Israel, declaring the Jewish state a “terrorist garrison” which must be eliminated.

Iraqi President Barham Salih claimed in an interview on Wednesday that Baghdad has “more than once” hosted secret talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Maj.-Gen. Hossein Salami warned Israel “could be destroyed” in a single operation, and the Jewish state’s security was crumbling from within.

Major General Hossein Salami, senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), on Thursday scorned the military forces of Israel and the U.S. as “weaklings” as he boasted of the “blistering” military capabilities at the disposal of Tehran.

Pablo Iglesias, a far-left former television host on Iranian state television who served recently as Spain’s Second Deputy Prime Minister, often translated to English as “vice president,” announced his retirement from politics late Tuesday after a crushing defeat in Madrid’s regional elections.

Iran made several attempts in 2020 to obtain technology needed to develop weapons of mass destruction and has continued its pursuit of atomic weapons, a Dutch intelligence report said.

Iranian state media reported Tuesday that a senior Swiss diplomat fell to her death from a high-rise apartment building in Tehran.

President Joe Biden told visiting Israeli Mossad spy chief, Yossi Cohen, the U.S. is still a long way to agreeing to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, according to the Axios news site citing a senior Israeli official.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday gave a public scolding to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for disparaging the late Brig. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an interview leaked to the media last week.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is “almost certainly” interfering in Scottish politics in order to boost separatism and harm the British Union, according to a new report.

Tehran has signed on for China’s global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure project, Iran Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami declared Monday.

Iran’s government on Thursday debuted a domestically made “coronavirus spray” it claims can “recognize” and “deactivate” the Chinese coronavirus.

Iranian officials and state media on Friday interpreted conciliatory remarks from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in an interview on Tuesday as proof the Saudis realize their intervention in Yemen was a failure, and have abandoned any hopes of defeating Iran in a struggle for regional authority.

At least one senior Iranian official has lost his job and 15 unidentified people can no longer leave the country as of Friday in response to the publication of audio of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif complaining about the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Rep. Nick Kustoff (R-TN) said John Kerry should be removed from the White House if reports of him leaking intelligence to Iran are true.

After reports of former U.S. Secretary of State and Biden Climate Czar John Kerry leaking information to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif concerning covert Israeli military operations in Syria, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) called on Kerry to “immediately resign” in the event that the allegations prove to be true.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the de facto chief executive of Saudi Arabia, said in a televised interview Tuesday that he wants to improve relations with regional rival Iran.

President Joe Biden “should fire John Kerry” if the allegations against him — that he allegedly leaked information about covert Israeli military operations to Iran — prove to be true, according to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who made the remarks during a Tuesday appearance on the Mark Davis Show.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif enthusiastically praised “Martyr Soleimani,” the dead former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leader, on Wednesday after an hours-long interview leaked in which Zarif repeatedly insulted him.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday night on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” that former Secretary of State John Kerry needs to address The New York Times report that alleged Kerry told Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, that Israel was behind attacks on Iranian assets in Syria.

Long before John Kerry allegedly shared information with Iran, Ted Kennedy allegedly cozied up with the Soviets.