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Iran Guards Commander Challenges ‘Enemy’ Naval Presence in Region
Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami speaking in Tehran. Photo: Reuters/Nazanin Tabatabaee
i24 News – The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) vowed on Saturday to reach “the enemy” far and near as tensions soar on key shipping routes where Tehran’s allies have been attacking vessels.
“Today, we are facing an all-out battle with the enemy,” said Guards commander Hossein Salami at a ceremony in the southern Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas, where the IRGC’s navy unveiled a new ship named “Abu Mahdi” and 100 missile launchers.
“The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways.”https://t.co/deS2Em4a9z via @whitehouse pic.twitter.com/7I9oRbjlrR
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 3, 2024
Salami did not name the enemy, but the statement comes as 22 nations have agreed to participate in a U.S.-led coalition to safeguard commercial traffic in the Red Sea from attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement.
Many major shipping companies have switched to the longer and more costly route around the Africa’s Cape of Good Hope rather than pass through the Suez Canal, which handles about 12% of global trade.
Additionally, UK’s Minister of Finances Jeremy Hunt on Saturday stated that Houthis’ hostilities in the Red Sea could impact British economy.
“We need to defend our national interests to wherever they extend,” Salami said in a televised speech. “It will be harmful for the enemy to be found near and at a half distant. They should stay away from this area.”
The Guards’ navy, he said, had made a “brilliant leap in its offensive and defensive powers” to challenge the world’s naval powers. According to Iranian media, Iran’s Alborz warship entered the Red Sea earlier this month to secure shipping routes.
Meanwhile, an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on Friday was reported deployed in the Red Sea.
#ICYMI : Sailors aboard guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) practice emergency response scenarios during a training drill, Dec. 6. Carney is deployed to the Middle East to help ensure the free flow of merchant shipping in regional waterways.#RESOLUTECOMMITEDSUCCESSFUL pic.twitter.com/G2rVecCUWv
— U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet (@US5thFleet) January 5, 2024
The post Iran Guards Commander Challenges ‘Enemy’ Naval Presence in Region first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.
According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.
In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.
The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.
Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.
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Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen
The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.
Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.
Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.
Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.
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Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.
Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.
Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.
“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”