Ahmad Majidyar

Hossein Sheikholeslam, a senior advisor to Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, credited Iran’s elite Quds Force for “defeating” the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and “foiling the American plots and calculations” in the region. In an interview with Tasnim News Agency, the former Iranian ambassador to Syria, commended Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem Soleimani for having created a multinational force of Shiite groups from South Asia to the Levant region in order to secure Iran’s objectives in the region.

In a meeting today in Tehran with the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamo, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif raised concern about the growing presence of ISIS fighters in Afghanistan, the Iranian media reported. Zarif emphasized that the Islamic Republic is ready to expand its cooperation with the U.N. and the Afghan government to counter the ISIS threat in Afghanistan and the broader region.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks on Friday about Iran’s destabilizing role in the Middle East and controversial missile program provoked angry reactions in Tehran.

The U.S. Treasury Department today sanctioned a network of individuals and entities involved in counterfeiting Yemeni bank notes for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and assisting I.R.G.C.’s destabilizing activities. The network is said to have produced hundreds of millions of dollars in fake Yemeni cash, using “deceptive measures” to circumvent European export restrictions to buy advanced equipment needed to print the money for the I.R.G.C.’s elite Quds Force.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has rejected media reports that the British government’s willingness to pay Iran a decades-long debt of about $600 million is related to the potential release of a British mother jailed by the Islamic Republic. “The case of Nazanin Zaghari and the issue of the debt payment to Iran by the British government are separate matters,” Bahram Ghassemi told the Islamic Students’ News Agency today. “Ms.

The presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey will hold a trilateral meeting on Syria next week.

With ISIS on the brink of defeat, Tehran and Damascus say the next phase of the conflict in Syria is for the “resistance forces” to confront the U.S. military and its local allies, particularly the Syrian Democratic Force (S.D.F.). They have dialed up anti-American propaganda and warn that a “direct confrontation” with the U.S. will be necessary if Washington decides to keep its troops in Syria for the long haul.

Seizure of Abu Kamal

The Bahraini government’s claim that Iran was directly involved in an oil pipeline explosion near the Bahraini capital of Manama is the latest sign of heightening tension in the Gulf region. Bahrain’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah al-Khalifa said the blast was the latest example of a “terrorist act” under instructions from Tehran, the state-run Bahrain News Agency reported.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a top aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said Tuesday that Tehran hopes Saad Hariri will return from Saudi Arabia and resume his position as Lebanon’s prime minister. “We support the unity between the March 8 and March 14 [alliances], which reached an agreement to form a government after a long time, and acted in unison to make Lebanon one of the region’s peaceful countries. This is the result of the understanding and logic of the [Lebanese] people and Islamic resistance.

When the chief of the Pakistani Army visited Tehran last week, he told the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) that Pakistan is interested in learning from Iran’s experience of creating the Basij Organization and using “popular forces” to counter enemy threats, according to the Iran

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met with Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon today in the capital city of Dushanbe to discuss ways to improve economic and trade relations between the two countries and coordinate their counterterrorism efforts in the region. The Iranian foreign minister arrived in Dushanbe on Wednesday and held meetings with his Tajik counterpart and participated in the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new embassy building in the Tajik capital.

The top Iranian nuclear official has warned that Washington wants to “annihilate” the nuclear deal and blame Iran for it, the Iranian media reported.

The outgoing commander of the Iranian Navy hailed the expanding presence of the country’s naval forces in international waters and said the Navy plans to send fleets to open seas between Europe and Americas.

The Syrian Army and Iranian-led forces have captured Abu Kamal, a strategic border town in eastern Syria and the last major ISIS stronghold in the country, Iranian and Arab media report. While the physical and military defeat of the Islamic State is good news, the rapid territorial gains by pro-Syrian regime forces, particularly in the oil-rich eastern province of Deir Ezzor, have increased the risk of a potential confrontation with U.S.-backed Syrian opposition forces that have also captured strategic areas from ISIS in northern and eastern Syria.

Harakat al-Nujaba, a militia unit within Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.), lashed out at the United States for seeking to impose sanctions against the group and other Iranian-sponsored militia organizations fighting in Iraq and Syria. On November 3, a bill was introduced the U.S. House of Representatives, entitled “Iranian Proxies Terrorist Sanctions Act of 2017,” which, if passed, will impose terrorism-related sanctions with respect to Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq and Harakat al-Nujaba groups.