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Iran’s War With Israel and the United States

Iran Unveils Combat Drone with New Capabilities

  • The new drones are equipped with air-to-air missiles “for air defense in all border areas of the country,” according to Iranian state media (AFP)

Iran Stops Mahsa Amini’s Family from Travelling to Receive Award on Her Behalf

  • Iran confiscated the family’s passports and prevented them from boarding their flight to France to receive a posthumous humanitarian award for Mahsa Amini, who died in September 2022 after being detained by Iran’s morality police (BBC)

Iran Says Israeli Air Strike Killed Two of Its Personnel in Syria

  • An Israeli air strike on Saturday killed two members of the Iranian paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Guard announced (AP)
  • Israel did not immediately comment, but Iran’s military presence in Syria has been a top concern for Israel, which has vowed to stall Iranian entrenchment along its northern border (AFP)

Iran Announces Upgraded Hypersonic Missile

  • Iran also unveiled upgraded unmanned aerial vehicles and a new missile defense system; earlier this year, Iran said it could move to develop hypersonic missiles capable of traveling two thousand miles, which would put Israel within range (Al Jazeera)

UN: Iran Increased Stockpile of Uranium

  • The UN nuclear watchdog says that Iran has increased its stockpile of uranium that is enriched to near weapons-grade since its last report in September; it also said that Tehran has rebuffed UN requests for information on its uranium or the installation of monitoring cameras (AP)

Iran Discusses Gaza War with China, Seeking Greater Cooperation

  • Beijing’s director general for the Middle East, Wang Di, visited Iran and reiterated the “urgent need for a ceasefire;” Tehran, meanwhile, said it hoped to “strengthen communication and coordination” with China to de-escalate the situation (SCMP)

New Study: Severe Drought in Iran Caused by Climate Change

  • A new study found that the severe drought in Iran, Iraq, and Syria over the last three years, the second worst on record, would have been “virtually impossible” in the absence of global warming (NYT)

Jailed 2023 Iranian Nobel Laureate Goes on Hunger Strike

  • Activist Narges Mohammadi needs urgent medical care but has been banned from leaving Iran’s Evin Prison for refusing to wear a hijab, her family said; her hunger strike is in protest of the “delaying and neglecting” of medical care for sick inmates and the mandatory hijab policy for women, they said in a separate statement yesterday (Time)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Calls for Boycott of Israel

  • Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslim countries to halt food and oil exports to Israel until it ends its bombardments of the Gaza Strip, which Palestinian authorities say have killed more than eight thousand people (Reuters)

Prominent Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Reportedly Arrested, Beaten

  • Nasrin Sotoudeh was severely beaten after being arrested at a Tehran funeral for a girl who died in what could have been a confrontation with Iran’s morality police for not covering her hair, her husband said; though the details of the girl’s case are not fully known, Iranian observers have drawn parallels to the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini (NYT)

WSJ: Around 500 Palestinian Militants Trained in Iran Ahead of Hamas Attack

  • Hundreds of members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad reportedly participated in exercises led by Iran’s Quds Force in September, not long before Hamas’s October 7 attack (WSJ)

Blinken to Iran: U.S. Will Respond “Swiftly and Decisively” to Any Attack

  • U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the United Nations that the United States does not seek conflict with Iran but that it would defend itself against attacks by Iran or its proxies (Reuters)

Iran Sentences Two Journalists to Prison for Allegedly Collaborating With the U.S.

  • Both women have been imprisoned for a year for their coverage of Mahsa Amini’s death and now face up to seven years in prison (AP)
  • Meanwhile, Iranian state media announced the teenage girl who fell into a coma during an incident with the morality police on the metro is “brain dead” (BBC)

U.S. Announces Sanctions on Iran’s Weapons Programs as UN Restrictions Sunset

  • The sanctions targeting Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programs coincide with the expiration of UN restrictions that had been in place as part of a 2015 nuclear deal (NYT)

Iran Calls for Oil Embargo on Israel

  • Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian appealed to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to impose an embargo and sanctions and expel Israeli ambassadors; the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) secretary-general said no one should use oil as a weapon, while OPEC said it is not a political organization and has no plans for immediate action on the issue (Reuters)

Iran Warns of ‘Preemptive Action’ Against Israel

  • Iran’s foreign minister said all options are open and that Israel will face consequences for any actions against the people of Gaza (Reuters)

Israel Says Iran Trying to Deploy Arms in Syria

  • In the wake of Israel’s strikes on Syrian airports, a high-ranking official said Israel was trying to prevent Iran from moving arms into or through Syria (Reuters)

U.S. Lawmakers Pressure Biden to Refreeze $6 Billion in Iranian Assets over Hamas Attack

  • Several Democratic senators have joined Republicans in calling on the president to renege on a deal that released assets in return for Iran’s release of five prisoners (Guardian)
  • Meanwhile, the leaders of Iran and Saudi Arabia discussed the Israel-Hamas conflict yesterday on their first phone call since they restored ties in March (Reuters)

U.S. Initial Intelligence Suggests Hamas’s Attack Surprised Iran

  • The information casts doubt on the likelihood that Iran helped Hamas plan the attack (NYT)
  • Hamas said that Iran did not play a role in the planning process but that Iran and Hezbollah would intervene if necessary, while a top U.S. general warned Iran not to get involved (AP; Reuters)

Allegations of Iranian Involvement in Hamas Attack on Israel

  • Hamas spokespeople have issued conflicting statements over Iran’s possible involvement, while U.S. military officials said the complexity of the attack suggests Hamas had help; Iran denies involvement and says the accusations are “politicized” (NBC; WSJ)
  • Nonetheless, Iran has praised the operation, and U.S. lawmakers have asked Beijing to pressure Iran not to inflame tensions further (CBS; FT)

Jailed Iranian Women’s Rights Activist Wins Nobel Peace Prize

  • The prize for Narges Mohammadi, who has campaigned for a more free and equal Iran for decades and is currently held in the country’s Evin prison, also recognizes the hundreds of thousands of people who have demonstrated against Iran’s discriminatory policies targeting women, the Nobel Committee said (NYT)
  • The award comes roughly one year after the start of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement; as protesters marked the anniversary in recent days, Iranian security forces have detained hundreds of people, according to a human rights group (RFE/RL)
  • In addition to women’s rights activism, Mohammadi has also long campaigned against the death penalty and been imprisoned thirteen times, the head of the Nobel Committee said; in a written statement, Mohammadi said she hopes the recognition “makes Iranians protesting for change stronger and more organized” (AP)

Activists Accuse Iran’s Morality Police of Beating Sixteen-Year-Old Girl Into Coma

  • They reportedly beat her for not wearing a hijab and pulled her unconscious from a metro train; authorities also briefly detained a female journalist who went to the hospital to report on the incident (BBC)

Iran’s Supreme Leader: Normalizing Ties with Israel is a Losing Bet

  • Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s statement likely refers to reports that Israel and Saudi Arabia may normalize relations (Reuters)
  • Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia withdrew from a soccer match with Iran over the presence of a bust of slain Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani (CNN)

Protests Mark Anniversary of Iran’s ‘Bloody Friday’ Crackdown

  • Demonstrators confronted security forces in the southern city of Zahedan, where gunfire was reported and dozens were injured (Al Jazeera)

U.S. Military: Iran Aimed Laser at American Helicopter

  • The incident occurred as the helicopter passed by Iranian naval forces in international airspace (AFP)
  • Meanwhile, the United States acknowledged that Iran had successfully launched a satellite into orbit that could assist its ballistic missiles program (AP)