Israel asked Russia and the United States to prevent an Iranian presence, or that of any Shi’ite militia operating under Iranian influence, in southern Syria near the Israeli border in any cease-fire agreement. Israel presented its demand during the talks that preceded the cease-fire agreement in July – but the Russians refused.
Donald Trump on Thursday slammed Iran for violating ‘the spirit’ of a deal curbing its nuclear program, weeks before the US president must decide whether to stick by the agreement.
The Trump administration is poised to extend sanctions relief to Iran, avoiding imminent action that could implode the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
Russia has urged Syrian President Bashar Assad not to retaliate against Israel after an airstrike on the country’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, which the Syrian regime attributes to Israel, a senior Russia official dealing with Middle East affairs told Yedioth Ahronoth in an conversation in Moscow over the weekend.
Russia has reportedly reassured Israel that it will not allow Iran and its Hezbollah proxy to threaten the Jewish state from Syria, where Moscow is fighting alongside Tehran and the Lebanese terror group on behalf of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
British officials fear that North Korea’s sudden advancement in developing nuclear weapons may be due to secret support from Iran, The Sunday Telegraph reported over the weekend.
In the wake of reports that Israel struck a chemical weapons facility in southern Syria, Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi on Thursday warned that Israel was consistently working to combat its enemies ‘both near and far.’
A red line’s a red line. That was Israel’s message Wednesday, when it struck a major Syrian arms facility from the air.
The U.S. military is keeping a wary eye on Iran’s most violent proxy militia in Iraq, which has vowed to start killing Americans again once the Islamic State is expelled.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday said President Donald Trump would be justified if he denied Iranian compliance to the nuclear accord when it comes up for a quarterly review next month, though she said she does not know what Trump will decide.
US President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York later this month, Haaretz reported Wednesday citing local officials.
Tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers will stage a mock 10-day war against the Hezbollah terrorist group in northern Israel beginning Tuesday, marking the IDF’s largest exercise in nearly 20 years, the army announced Monday, amid tensions over growing Iranian influence in Syria and Lebanon.
U.S. officials are closely monitoring an ongoing meeting between senior North Korean and Iranian officials that comes on the heels of a nuclear test by Pyongyang, according to senior Trump administration officials and other sources who expressed concern that North Korea is helping to put the Islamic Republic back on the pathway to a functional nuclear weapon.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov went on a PR offensive this week to counter Israeli warnings that a ceasefire imposed by Moscow in Syria is enabling Iran and its terror proxy, Hezbollah, to amass fighters and weapons near the Jewish state’s northern border in preparation for a future war.
Israel’s intensive diplomatic campaign in recent weeks, which included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, trips by senior Israeli defense officials to the United States and more, comes on the heels of updated situation assessments within the defense establishment suggesting that if nothing is done, the weapon manufacturing facilities Iran is building in Syria and Lebanon, Israel’s neighbors to the north, will become operational in the foreseeable future.
Russia has reportedly stationed its advanced S-400 anti-missile defense system near an Iranian arms factory in Syria, which allegedly manufactures long-range guided missiles for Hezbollah to use against Israel.
US officials have agreed to let Iranian-backed militias take up positions in Syria less than ten kilometers from the Israeli Golan Heights, the Arabic daily Asharq Al Awsat reported Thursday.
The top UN official monitoring Iran’s nuclear program on Thursday noted no violations by Tehran in its latest quarterly Iran monitoring report. At the same time, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano’s report said that the agency continues to hunt for ‘undeclared nuclear material and activities.’
An Al Qaeda affiliate has seized control of uranium mines in Africa with the intent of supplying the material to Iran, according to a diplomatic letter from a top Somali official appealing to the U.S. for ‘immediate military assistance.’
The US and Israel are ‘of the same mind’ when it comes to opposition to any Iranian military presence in Syria, US Ambassador David Friedman told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview this week.