Senate pushes back against Trump over Syria troop pullout
The Senate voted Monday to oppose the withdrawal of US troops from Syria and Afghanistan, breaking with President Donald Trump as he calls for a military drawdown in those countries.
Iran
Iran says new cruise missile successfully fired on revolution’s 40th anniversary
Iran on Saturday said it had successfully fired a new long-range cruise missile, amid events marking 40 years since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran controls new Lebanese government, Netanyahu tells visiting UN envoys
Iran controls the new Lebanese government via its proxy Hezbollah group, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, in his first public comments on the government formed in Beirut last week.
Nearly all of Iran’s advanced nuke centrifuges failing, top expert reveals
Nearly all of Iran’s advanced centrifuges used for enriching uranium potentially towards a nuclear bomb are failing, one of the world’s leading nuclear weapons experts revealed to The Jerusalem Post this week.
Iran general says Tehran aims to wipe Israel off the ‘global political map’
he deputy head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday that Tehran’s strategy was to eventually wipe Israel off the ‘global political map.’
Top Saudi official: Barack Obama lied, set Middle East back 20 years
Former US president Barack Obama lied to Saudi Arabia when violating the redlines he famously declared regarding Syria’s use of chemical weapons and then not acting when they were used, a former senior Saudi official said in an interview with Independent Arabia.
Russians won’t be able to push Iran out of Syria, expert says
Iran isn’t going to leave Syria and Russia won’t be able to fully push them out of the conflict-ridden country, an expert on Shia militias told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Iran: Proxies in Lebanon, Gaza will respond with ‘hellfire’ to Israeli attacks
Iran will continue supplying high-precision missiles to its proxies in Lebanon and Gaza so they would be able to respond to Israel’s ‘acts of stupidity with hellfire’ said the country’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani on Tuesday.
Iran, Syria Strike Deals to Advance Economic Cooperation
Syria and Iran signed on Monday 11 agreements, memoranda of understanding and an executive program to boost bilateral cooperation in the economic, cultural, scientific, infrastructure, services, investment and housing fields.
Rivlin predicts Iran will ‘worsen its attacks on Israel’s north’
President Reuven Rivlin said Monday that he believes Iran will step up its attacks on the north of Israel in retaliation for IAF air strikes on Iranian facilities in Syria.
Trump warns Europeans not to try to evade Iran sanctions
The Trump administration is closely eyeing efforts in Europe to set up an alternative money payment channel to ease doing business with Iran and avoid running afoul of sanctions the US has levied on the Islamic Republic.
Iran: We won’t negotiate over our missile program
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi stressed Monday that the country would never negotiate over its missile program, saying that the country will continue to boost its deterrence power ‘to protect national security.’
Nasrallah says Iran, Hezbollah may begin responding to Syria strikes
The chief of the Hezbollah terror group on Saturday warned it could respond to Israeli airstrikes in Syria targeting mainly Iranian positions and what Israel says are weapons shipments.
Satellite images appear to show Saudi Arabia working on ballistic missile program
Newly analyzed satellite imagery may suggest that Saudi Arabia is advancing its ballistic missile development at a suspected testing facility in the country’s center.
Iran’s military chief warns his forces could shift to ‘offensive approach’
Iran’s military chief of staff indicated on Sunday that Tehran was preparing to adopt offensive military tactics to protect its national interests.
U.S. sanctions hit Iran-backed airlines, fighters in Syria
The United States on Thursday targeted two Iran-backed foreign fighter militias in Syria and two airlines that help send weapons to Syria in fresh sanctions as Washington prepares for a military withdrawal from the war-torn country.
Iran’s nuclear chief: We bought spares for nuke equipment we agreed to destroy
Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, has detailed how Iran quietly purchased replacement parts for its Arak nuclear reactor while it was conducting negotiations for an international agreement under which it knew it would be required to destroy the original components.
Russia tells Israel: No more ‘arbitrary’ airstrikes in Syria
Russia is demanding that Israel end its ‘arbitrary’ airstrikes on targets in Syria, two days after the Israeli Air Force struck a series of Iranian military and intelligence targets in response to a rocket strike on the Golan Heights.
Rivlin warns Macron: Israel may have to hit Hezbollah rocket factories in Beirut
President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday told his French counterpart that Israel could be forced to strike the Hezbollah terror group’s rocket-building operations ‘in the heart of Beirut,’ a development he warned would drag Lebanon into a punishing regional war that neither side wants.
Russia calls on Israel to ‘rule out practice’ of striking Syria
Russia called on Israel to ‘rule out’ the ‘practice’ of carrying out airstrikes in Syrian territories, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a press briefing on Wednesday.