Iran’s most influential military commander on Wednesday declared the wave of anti-regime protests rocking nation as over, despite reports that demonstrators continue to fill the streets in more than a dozen cities.
Pictures and videos coming out of Iran are starting to look more like a full-on revolution than a protest movement, but American news agencies continue to be slow to react, describing the historic protests as mostly about the country’s weak economy and chastising President Trump for cheering them on.
US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley on Tuesday called for emergency sessions of the United Nations Security Council and Human Rights Council to discuss the Iranian protests and the government’s reaction.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday said his country would respond to ‘rioters and lawbreakers,’ a day after attempting to strike a conciliatory tone with protesters demonstrating against the regime across the country.
The unrest in Iran is just “the beginning of a big movement” that could be more widespread than the demonstrations of 2009, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi said in an interview Sunday.
The Iranian government warned people against further protests on Saturday after two days of demonstrations sparked by anger over an array of economic problems even as a fresh demonstration was reported at the University of Tehran.
Two demonstrators were reportedly killed overnight as the Iranian government struggled to contain anti-government protests spreading throughout the country.
President Trump on Saturday again expressed his support for Iran’s growing anti-government protests, saying oppressive regimes ‘cannot endure forever” and that “the world is watching.’
The evacuation of several hundred Syrian rebels from the Beit Jinn area on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights over the weekend puts Israel in an old-new position on the border. Assad’s army is once again at the fences, just like it was from 1967 to 2011.
Current and former U.S. officials said President Donald Trump’s response to Iranian protests could have long-term effects on nuclear tensions with North Korea.
President Donald Trump allowed the Iran nuclear deal to survive through 2017, but the new year will offer him another chance to blow up the agreement — and critics and supporters alike believe he may take it.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran and Hamas on Wednesday not to act against the Jewish state, as it has the strongest air force in the region, with the ability to reach targets at all distances.
The United States and Israel are working hand in hand to counter dangerous Iranian activity in the Middle East. According to Axios News, a strategic partnership agreement was reached during a secret meeting between Israeli and U.S. officials in the White House on December 12th.
Hezbollah and Syrian army forces have reportedly launched an assault on a besieged Syrian rebels’ stronghold some 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from Israel’s border, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel will not accept Iranian proxies on its frontier.
The Iranian parliament voted to approve a plan on Wednesday that would require the government of Iran to recognize Jerusalem as the permanent capital of the Palestinian people, Iranian news agency Fars reported.
The Iraqi government estimates $100 billion is needed nationwide to rebuild cities and towns left in ruins by more than three years of war against the Islamic State group. Local leaders in Mosul, the biggest city held by IS, say that amount is needed to rehabilitate their city alone.
Hamas’ latest effort to join a Palestinian unity government is little more than a facade. Instead, the terror group’s top immediate objective is to seize control of Judea and Samaria and turn it into a second Gaza, according to the assessments of Israeli defense experts.
Syrian army forces backed by Iranian-backed militias pushed deeper into the last rebel-held enclave near a strategic border area with Israel and Lebanon in a new expansion of Tehran’s influence in the war-torn country.
Now that they’ve helped vanquish the Islamic State from much of Iraq, a battle-hardened militia with close ties to Iran may be training its sights on the remaining U.S.-led coalition troops scattered across the country.
Nikki Haley, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, said that based on a new report by the U.N. Secretary General, new pressure on Iran’s continued behavior could lead to a new resolution against the Tehran regime or the strengthening present ones.