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‘Wanted’: FBI Searching for Iranian Spy Allegedly Plotting to Assassinate US Officials
Then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, US, July 8, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Tom Brenner/Pool
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is searching for an Iranian spy who is suspected of plotting to assassinate current and former US government officials involved in the 2020 killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The FBI’s Miami field office late last week issued a wanted notice for Majid Dastjani Farahani, 41, who is “wanted for questioning in connection with the recruitment of individuals for various operations in the United States, to include lethal targeting of current and former United States government officials.”
Farahani allegedly “recruited individuals for surveillance activities focused on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities in the United States” and “acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security,” according to the notice.
Mike Pompeo, who served as former US President Donald Trump’s secretary of state, and Brian Hook, who served in the Trump administration as the US special envoy for Iran, are reportedly at the top of Iran’s hit list.
In December, Farahani — who according to reports sometimes makes visits to Iran and Venezuela — was sanctioned by the US along with Mohammad Mahdi Kanpour Ardestani for recruiting prospective assassins.
The possible assassination attempts would act as revenge for the killing of Soleimani by a US drone strike in Iraq in 2020. As chief commander of the elite Quds force — the overseas arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a US-designated terrorist organization — Soleimani was responsible for Iran’s proxies and terror operations abroad. He was revered among supporters of the Iranian regime.
At the time of the strike on Soleimani, the US Department of Defense said that he and his Quds Force “were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.”
He was also “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” the Pentagon statement read.
In many ways, the drone strike represented the culmination of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, which included pulling out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action — commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal — and imposing tough sanctions as a way of preventing the Iranian regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon that would threaten the US, Israel, and other allied countries.
While the move was celebrated by many in the US, it was met with anger in Iran. Considered an act of war by some, Iran vowed “harsh revenge” for the “martyr.” Soleimani was involved in several significant Iranian military and intelligence operations over the past 20 years, and his sudden death sent shockwaves across the country.
Years later, Iran was still pledging it would take revenge. “We have not and will not forget the blood of martyr Soleimani. The Americans must know that revenge for martyr Soleimani’s blood is certain, and the murderers and perpetrators will have no easy sleep,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said last year.
In December, the IRGC claimed Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre — in which the Palestinian terrorist group invaded Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 240 others as hostages — was part of its revenge. The Iranian government for years has provided funds, weapons, and training to Hamas terrorists.
The post ‘Wanted’: FBI Searching for Iranian Spy Allegedly Plotting to Assassinate US Officials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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