The Iranian embassy in Tajikistan has shut down its economic and cultural offices in northern parts of the country, the BBC Persian reported today.
The Iranian parliament is finalizing a bill to increase the annual budget for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.), the Iranian media reported. The estimated surplus budget of more than half a billion dollars is specifically designed to help the I.R.G.C. to further enhance the country’s missile program and military activities in the region. The move came as a response to the latest U.S. Senate legislation that would impose new sanctions against Iran’s missile program.
A senior Iranian official called on the Trump administration to avoid taking any further military action against the Syrian government and its allies and threatened that any such move would not go unanswered.
Iran’s anti-narcotics police forces have seized more than 16 tons of illicit drugs in the southern province of Hormozgan, the Iranian media reported. According to Hormozgan’s Police Chief Brigadier General Azizollah Maleki, the security forces confiscated the drugs from 219 vehicles over the past three months.
With the Islamic State collapsing in Iraq and losing ground in Syria, Iran and its regional proxies see the United States as the primary threat to their influence and ambitions and have stepped up efforts to oust the U.S. military from the region. Through diplomatic outreach – and at times veiled threats – Iranian leaders have been urging the Afghan and Iraqi governments to expel American forces from their countries. Tehran has also deepened its ties with the Taliban and has reportedly teamed up with Moscow to undermine U.S.-led stabilization efforts in war-torn Afghanistan.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said the latest U.S. Senate legislation that would impose new sanctions on Iran was a violation of international law and U.N. conventions, the Iranian media reported. He made the remarks in a speech at the meeting of the Eurasia’s parliament speakers in South Korea on Tuesday.
A top Iranian lawmaker said that the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission has finalized a legislation that would counter the U.S. “adventurous and terrorist” actions in the region, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported today. “This bill has set some obligations for the government and the government is obliged to implement them,” Alaeddin Boroujerdi emphasized. He further noted that the bill is a reaction to the latest U.S.
The U.S. military is taking measures in the Iraqi province of al-Anbar close to the Syrian border to counter the growing influence of the Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.), reports Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.). According to the Iranian outlet, the U.S. military seeks to push back against the P.M.F.’s territorial gains because Washington and its allies see the Iraqi paramilitary forces as “Iran’s operational arm” in Iraq and Syria. According to Fars, the U.S.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Charles Lister, W. Robert Pearson, and Yousef Munayyer provide analysis on ISIS’ continued threat to security despite losing territory, President Erdogan’s upcoming visit to Sudan as a political calculation, and Mohammed Dahlan’s effort to return to Palestinian politics.
On Sunday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani pledged support for Qatar in its latest standoff with Saudi Arabia and its regional allies and called for the expansion of bilateral ties between Tehran and Doha, the Iranian media reported.
Iranian Ambassador to Damascus Javad Torkabadi has said that the Islamic Republic is ready to help Syria’s reconstruction after the defeat of the Islamic State in the war-ravaged country, Iranian media reported. “Many companies in Iran are ready to help Syria in the housing and reconstruction fields rendering their best services now that victory is in sight in Syria after a protracted battle,” he was quoted as telling Syrian Minister of Housing Hussein Arnus at a meeting in Damascus.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani hailed efforts by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) to develop and employ advanced weapons to protect the country, Iranian media reported. “I’d like to thank the ones that manufacture strategic arms for the country and the ones that employ such strategic weapons very well,” Rouhani said in a meeting of top Iranian officials and ambassadors of Islamic nations on the occasion of Eid in Tehran.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians today marched the streets of Tehran and across the country to mark the International Quds Day, Iranian media reported. The demonstrators voiced support to the plight of Palestinians and chanted slogans against Israel and the United States. Senior political and military leaders, including President Hassan Rouhani and Islamic Revolution Guards Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, attended the anti-Israeli rallies.
