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Iran Could Review ‘Nuclear Doctrine’ Amid Possibility of Israeli Strike, Iranian Commander Warns
Iranians carry a model of a missile during a celebration following the IRGC attack on Israel, in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
A senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a US-designated terrorist organization, suggested on Thursday that the Iranian regime could reassess its position on nuclear weapons amid warnings of an Israeli military strike in response to Tehran’s unprecedented direct attack against Israel.
“The threats of the Zionist regime [Israel] against Iran’s nuclear facilities make it possible to review our nuclear doctrine and deviate from our previous declared policies and considerations,” Ahmad Haghtalab, the IRGC commander in charge of nuclear security, was quoted as saying in the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Iran has claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes rather than building weapons, although many experts have argued that the Iranian program is too advanced to be for purely civilian use. Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, said in February that Iran continued to enrich uranium at rates up to 60 percent purity, which is far beyond the needs for commercial nuclear use.
Israel has accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge echoed by lawmakers in many allied nations. Leaders in Middle Eastern countries have also expressed concern about Tehran covertly trying to build nuclear weapons.
Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack against the Israeli homeland on Saturday as revenge for an airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria last week that Iran has attributed to Israel. The strike killed seven members of the IRGC, including two senior commanders. One of the commanders allegedly helped plan the Hamas terrorist group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the incident.
The Jewish state, with the help of allies including the US, Britain, France, and Jordan, repelled the massive Iranian drone and missile salvo, shooting down nearly every drone and missile. The attack caused only one injury.
However, escalating tensions between Iran and Israel risk spreading an already explosive situation in the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
World leaders, especially in the US and Europe, have been urging Israel to show restraint in its response and to de-escalate tensions. Israeli officials have said the Jewish state must respond and will make its own decisions about how to defend itself. British Foreign Minister David Cameron, who was in Israel this week, said after his meetings it was “clear” that Israel decided to respond militarily to the Iranian attack.
Haghtalab’s comments appeared to be addressing concerns that Israel could target Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“If the Zionist regime wants to take action against our nuclear centers and facilities, we will surely and categorically reciprocate with advanced missiles against their own nuclear sites,” Haghtalab said.
The post Iran Could Review ‘Nuclear Doctrine’ Amid Possibility of Israeli Strike, Iranian Commander Warns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op
DF operating in southern Lebanon. Photo: IDF Spokesperson
i24 News – The Israeli military eliminated 250 Hezbollah terrorists including 21 commanders in four days of ground combat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday.
IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon have uncovered vast caches of weapons and munitions in civilian residences, showing how central embedding within civilian population is to Hezbollah’s mode of warfare.
Meanwhile, heavy strikes targeting the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh in southern Beirut were ongoing, Lebanese media reported.
The post 250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says
Illustrative. Hodeidah, Yemen, July 20, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
Airstrikes were launched on Friday at several parts of Yemen including its capital Sanaa and Hodeidah airport, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement controlling much of Yemen, and residents said.
Strikes also targeted the south of Dhamar city and the southeast of al-Bayda province, the channel added.
Residents said that the attack on al-Bayda province targeted several Houthi military outposts.
Al Masirah TV reported that the strikes had been carried out by the United States and British forces, but a British government source said Britain was not involved.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since last November in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel‘s war with Hamas.
The attacks have drawn US and British retaliatory strikes and disrupted global trade as ship owners reroute vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.
Following the airstrikes, a Houthi spokesman called the attack “a desperate attempt,” adding that “Yemen will not be deterred by these attacks and will continue its steadfastness in confronting the enemies.”
The post Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem
Illustrative. Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
JNS.org – An Israeli Air Force fighter jet conducted a rare strike in Tulkarem in the West Bank on Thursday night, targeting top Hamas terrorist Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.
The Palestinian Authority reported at least 18 fatalities in the strike, with a local security source telling Agence France-Presse it was the deadliest in Judea and Samaria since the Second Intifada.
Ayyth Radwan, the head of Islamic Jihad’s Tulkarem branch, was also reportedly killed.
Oufi was planning a terrorist attack “in the immediate time frame,” according to the Israel Defense Forces, and directed the thwarted car bombing last month near Ateret in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
There were no casualties in the incident, which Israel Ganz, the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, called a “great miracle.”
The IDF said Oufi was involved in smuggling weapons to terrorists who perpetrated several recent attacks against Israelis, including some that resulted in injuries to civilians.
He also “worked to establish terrorist networks on behalf of Hamas and assisted terror operatives in the area to carry out significant shooting and explosive attacks,” added the military.
The post IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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