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Tag: Iran
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U.S., U.K. launch fourth round of joint airstrikes on Houthi targets
U.S., U.K. launch fourth round of joint airstrikes on Houthi targets – CBS News
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Bomb blast detectives find ‘British parts’ in Russian drones fired at Ukraine
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BOMB blast detectives found suspected British parts in Russian drones fired at Ukraine.
Last night an MP called it a “deeply worrying development”.
Bomb blast detectives found suspected British parts in Russian drones fired at UkraineCredit: Peter Jordan 
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Earlier investigations suggested the engines were reverse-engineered in Iran from a British partsCredit: Peter Jordan 
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Sun man Jerome Starkey and expert Andriy Kulchytskyi on a lab tripCredit: Peter Jordan Ex-colonel Andriy Kulchytskyi, at the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise, showed us a motor of an Iranian Shahed-M drone engraved with English writing.
He said he suspected some of the engines used to power the drone were made in England — but the manufacturer would not have known they could end up in a war zone.
Andriy said: “We thought the Shahed 131 engines were British, at the very beginning, but we haven’t made it official. England is a good friend.”
Earlier investigations have suggested the engines were reverse-engineered in Iran from a British part.
Former Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois said: “That these engines came from Britain is still unconfirmed but, if true, that’s a deeply worrying development.
“We have to assume our own intelligence agencies are investigating this, with a view to intervening rapidly, if required.”
Irish parts, US and Swiss computer chips, Sony optics on a spy drone and antennas made in Canada have also been found by the Kyiv lab.
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Jerome Starkey
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2/22: Prime Time with John Dickerson
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2/22: Prime Time with John Dickerson – CBS News
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Robert Levinson Fast Facts | CNN
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CNN
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Here’s a look at the life of Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran in 2007.
Birth date: March 10, 1948
Birth place: Flushing, New York
Birth name: Robert Alan Levinson
Father: Name unavailable publicly
Mother: Name unavailable publicly
Marriage: Christine (Gorman) Levinson
Children: Douglas, Samantha, David, Daniel, Sarah, Stephanie and Susan
Education: City College of New York, B.A., 1970
During his career at the FBI, Levinson specialized in investigating organized crime in Russia.
His family said Levinson suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure.
1970s – Levinson is hired by the FBI after six years with the Drug Enforcement Agency.
1998 – Levinson retires from the FBI.
1998-2007 – Levinson works as a private investigator.
2006 – Levinson is hired as a contractor by Tim Sampson, head of the Illicit Finance Group within the Office of Transnational Issues at the CIA, to write reports for the agency. The contract is for approximately $85,000. Three CIA employees, including Sampson, later lose their jobs for overstepping their authority as analysts and withholding information about Levinson after he disappeared.
March 8-9, 2007 – According to State Department officials, Levinson travels to Kish Island in Iran and checks into a hotel. Reportedly, Levinson is in the Middle East to investigate cigarette smuggling on behalf of a client. During the visit, he meets with American fugitive Dawud Salahuddin, who is the last person to acknowledge seeing him on March 9.
June 1, 2007 – US President George W. Bush says he is “disturbed” by Iran’s refusal to provide any information on Levinson. “I call on Iran’s leaders to tell us what they know about his whereabouts.”
December 2007 – Levinson’s wife, Christine Levinson, meets with government officials in Iran, but does not learn anything about her husband’s disappearance.
2008 – The CIA pays the Levinson family more than $2 million to head off a lawsuit, according to family attorney David McGee.
March 3, 2011 – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that evidence is growing that Levinson is alive and being held somewhere in southwest Asia.
December 2011 – The Levinson family publicly releases a “proof of life” video they received in November 2010. In the video, Levinson says, “I have been treated well, but I need the help of the United States government to answer the requests of the group that has held me for three-and-a-half years. And please help me get home. Thirty-three years of service to the United States deserves something. Please help me.”
March 6, 2012 – The FBI offers a $1 million reward for information leading to his safe return.
September 2012 – Christine Levinson attempts to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the UN General Assembly in New York. He does not meet with her but tells CNN, “They told me (Levinson) was in Iran, and of course the question came up in my mind, what was an American intelligence officer doing in Iran…an individual is lost, how are we supposed to find him among 7 billion people spread across the globe? What we can do is assist, help and cooperate, which we have been doing, and we are doing… as a humanitarian gesture and action.”
January 2013 – The Levinson family releases a series of photographs they received in April 2011. In the photos, a bearded, shackled Levinson, wearing an orange jumpsuit, holds signs written in broken English.
September 27, 2013 – US President Barack Obama speaks by phone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. One of the topics discussed is Levinson.
December 12, 2013 – The Associated Press and The Washington Post report that Levinson was working for the CIA when he disappeared in 2007, possibly investigating corruption among Iranian officials. The AP says it first learned of Levinson’s CIA ties in 2010 but delayed publishing the information at the government’s request. The next day the New York Times reports it has known of Levinson’s CIA work since 2007 but also delayed publishing the information to avoid jeopardizing his safety.
December 13, 2013 – White House Spokesman Jay Carney says Levinson “was not a US government employee when he went missing in Iran.”
December 2013 – Salahuddin, the last person to acknowledge seeing Levinson, tells the Christian Science Monitor that both he and Levinson were detained by Iranian police on March 9, 2007.
January 21, 2014 – In an interview with CNN, Levinson’s family discloses that they have known for some time that he was working for the CIA. They accuse the US government of failing to do enough to find Levinson.
March 9, 2015 – The FBI increases the reward for information on Levinson to $5 million.
February 11, 2016 – The Senate passes a resolution recognizing that Levinson is the longest held US civilian in US history and urges Iran to “act on its promises to assist in the case of Robert Levinson.”
March 21, 2017 – Levinson’s family files a lawsuit against Iran with the US District Court in Washington, DC. The complaint states that the family is filing suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act “for injuries suffered by each of them as a result of Iran’s unlawful acts of hostage taking, torture and other torts.”
November 4, 2019 – The Department of State Rewards for Justice Program announces a reward of up to $20 million for information leading to the safe return of Levinson, in addition to the FBI’s previously announced reward of $5 million.
March 9, 2020 – On the 13th anniversary of Levinson’s abduction, the FBI renews its “repeated calls to Iran to uphold its prior commitments to cooperate and to share information which could lead to Bob’s return.”
March 25, 2020 – The family of Levinson announces that they believe he is dead. “We recently received information from U.S. officials that has led both them and us to conclude that our wonderful husband and father died while in Iranian custody,” they said in a statement.
October 1, 2020 – A US court orders the government of Iran to pay more than $1.4 billion to Levinson’s family for compensatory and punitive damages.
December 14, 2020 – Senior US government officials say they have identified and sanctioned two senior Iranian intelligence officials who were involved in the abduction and “probable death” of Levinson.
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Suspected Houthi missile hits ship in Gulf of Aden as Yemeni rebels continue attacks over Israel-Hamas war
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Dubai, United Arab Emirates — A suspected missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels set a ship ablaze in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday as Israel intercepted what appeared to be another Houthi attack near the port city of Eilat, authorities said. The attacks come as the Iran-backed rebels escalate their assaults over Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The attack Thursday in the Gulf of Aden saw two missiles fired, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. It said the unnamed ship was ablaze, without elaborating.
Ship-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press identified the vessel as a Palau-flagged cargo ship named Islander. It had been coming from Thailand bound for Egypt and previously sent out messages saying “SYRIAN CREW ON BOARD” to potentially avoid being targeted by the Houthis.
Getty/iStockphoto
“The missile attack lead to a fire onboard and coalition military assets were responding to the incident,” the private security firm Ambrey said.
The ship’s Liberian-listed owners could not be immediately reached for comment.
Israel intercepts missile headed for Red Sea port
Sirens sounded early Thursday morning over Eilat, followed by videos posted online of what appeared to be an interception in the sky overhead. The Israeli military later said the interception was carried out by its Arrow missile defense system.
Israel did not identify what the fire was, nor where it came from. However, the Arrow system intercepts long-range ballistic missiles with a warhead designed to destroy targets while they are in space.
The system “successfully intercepted a launch which was identified in the area of the Red Sea and was en route to Israel,” the Israeli military said. “The target did not cross into Israeli territory and did not pose a threat to civilians.”
The Houthis did not immediately claim either attack. They typically acknowledge assaults they conduct hours afterward.
Eilat, on the Red Sea, is a key port city of Israel. On Oct. 31, Houthis first claimed a missile-and-drone barrage targeting the city. The rebels have claimed other attacks targeting Eilat, which have caused no damage in the city.
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over Israel’s war against Hamas. They have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Mideast and Europe. Those vessels have included at least one with cargo for Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor.
Houthi attacks continue despite U.S.-led strikes in Yemen
Despite a month of U.S.-led airstrikes, Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks. This week, they seriously damaged a ship in a crucial strait and shot down an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.
A U.S. defense official confirmed to CBS News that a Houthi surface to air missile downed a Reaper drone, adding that U.S. aircraft and coalition warships shot down 10 one-way suicide drones on Monday evening, as the U.S. carried out more strikes in Yemen, this time targeting a surface to air missile launch site and another drone that was being prepared for launch.
Over the weekend, CENTCOM said it had also carried out a self-defense strike in Yemen against a Houthi unmanned underwater vessel, the first time the U.S. has reported the Shiite Muslim rebels using an underwater drone since attacks in the Red Sea region started in October.
The Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks until Israel stops its combat operations in the Gaza Strip, which have enraged the wider Arab world and seen the Houthis gain international recognition.
On Wednesday, ships in the Red Sea off the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida in Yemen reported seeing an explosion, though all vessels in the area were said to be safe, the UKTMO said. The UKMTO earlier reported heavy drone activity in the area.
The U.S. State Department criticized “the reckless and indiscriminate attacks on civilian cargo ships by the Houthis” that have delayed humanitarian aid including food and medicine bound for Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen. That includes the Sea Champion, a ship carrying corn and other aid to both Aden and Hodeida.
CBS News
“Contrary to what the Houthis may attempt to claim, their attacks do nothing to help the Palestinians,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. “Their actions are not bringing a single morsel of assistance or food to the Palestinian people.”
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of CENTCOM, told “60 Minutes” that despite the ongoing attacks in the vital shipping lanes, it’s clear the U.S. military is degrading the Houthis’ capability.
“Every single day they attempt to attack us, we’re eliminating and disrupting them in ways that are meaningful, and I do believe have an impact,” he told Norah O’Donnell.
Cooper said he has an endgame in mind, which is “the restoration of the free flow of commerce and safe navigation in the Southern Red Sea,” but he didn’t say when that could be expected.
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Houthis deploy chilling submarine drones for first time in flashpoint Red Sea
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RED Sea ships face a new deadly threat from underwater drones, US forces have warned.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have deployed an “unmanned underwater vehicle” for the first time, America’s CentCom headquarters revealed.
Iran’s homegrown new marine drones may have been used by the Houthi rebels in the attackCredit: IRNA 
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The US said it is the first time the militia group had used underwater dronesCredit: IRNA 
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The Houthis have been relentlessly targeting ships in the Red SeaCredit: Getty The US did not release details of the underwater drone it destroyed.
But pictures of the parts seized on the smuggler’s boat on Jan 28 showed what looked like a torpedo propeller.
It could be the similar model to what Iran unveiled in December – a new devastating and secretive homegrown submarine drone which can go as deep as 200m.
Iran’s new toy acts like a torpedo by moving stealthily towards its target and exploding.
It comes as the crew of a UK-registered merchant vessel were forced to abandon their ship after a double Houthi missile strike left it sinking in the treacherous Bab el-Mandeb strait.
The attack on the 170m-long Rubymar was by far the most damaging since Oct 23, when Houthi rebels ramped up their attacks in response to the Israel Gaza war.
Earlier, the US Red Sea task force said it destroyed a mini-submarine, a surface maritime drone and three anti-ship cruise missiles over the weekend.
All five weapons posed an imminent threat to US warships and merchant vessels in the region, CentCom added.
The strikes came days after US officials revealed their seized underwater drone parts on a gun-runners’ boat in the Arabian Sea.
A US Coastguard cutter stormed the unnamed vessel packed with weapons components from Iran.
CentCom said: “The boarding team discovered over 200 packages that contained medium-range ballistic missile components, explosives, unmanned underwater [and] surface vehicle components, military-grade communication and network equipment, anti-tank guided missile launcher assemblies, and other military components.”
Ukraine has proved the power of sea drones by sinking Russian warships, including the Caesar Kunikov landing ship and Ivanovets corvette this month.
Naval expert H I Sutton warned underwater drones were more likely to surprise their targets and would force the Navy ships to change tactics.
Writing for the US Naval Institute News, he said: “Underwater weapons are inherently harder to detect and counter than surface vessels.
Britain joins US to strike Houthis in Yemen in third wave of attacks on Iran-backed militia“They are more likely to surprise the target and can cause holes below the waterline which can be more damaging.
“They also require a different set of tactics for the escorting warships to counter them.
“Ukraine has amply demonstrated the effectiveness of explosive-laden surface drones against Russian platforms.
“The Houthis have had less success, largely due to the presence of US Navy and allied warships in the region.”
Sutton said drones which look like torpedos are usually slower than normal torpedos but have a greater range.
He said they are “most effective against static targets such as ships in port or at anchor”.
On Monday, pictures allegedly showed the debris of a US drone after it was shot down by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
Yemen’s Houthis shot down US drone MQ9 in the port city of Hodeidah, according to Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea.
Who are the Houthis?
THE Houthi rebels are terrorising the Red Sea by launching persistent missile and drone attacks on vessels and warships – but who are they?
The Shia militant group, which now controls most of Yemen, spent over a decade being largely ignored by the world.
However, since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war they sprung from relative obscurity to holding roughly £1trillion of world trade hostage – turning one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes into an active warzone.
Their warped slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, curse the Jews and victory to Islam”.
Why are they attacking ships?
The rebel group has been launching relentless drone and missile attacks on any ships – including warships – they deem to be connected with Israel in solidarity with their ally, Hamas.
However, in reality there have been frequent attacks on commercial vessels with little or no link to Israel – forcing global sea traffic to halt operations in the region and sending shipping prices soaring.
The sea assaults have threatened to ignite a full-blown war in the Middle East as intense ripples from Israel’s war in Gaza are felt across the region – with Iran suspected of stoking the chaos.
Houthi attacks in the Red Sea increased 50 per cent between November and December as the rebel group’s chiefs pledged their assaults would continue until Israel stopped its offensive in Gaza.
And despite repeated threats from the West and joint US and UK strikes blitzing their strongholds in Yemen – Iran’s terror proxy appears undeterred.
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The unmanned Iranian sea drone at workCredit: IRNA 
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Alleged debris of the US drone dragged through the water by Houthis 
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The Iranian proxy claimed to have downed the US drone near HodeidahCredit: EPA 
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Jerome Starkey
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2/18/2024: Crisis in the Red Sea; Fake Electors; Finding Cillian Murphy
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2/18/2024: Crisis in the Red Sea; Fake Electors; Finding Cillian Murphy – CBS News
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Inside look at U.S. Navy response to Houthi Red Sea attacks | 60 Minutes
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Inside look at U.S. Navy response to Houthi Red Sea attacks | 60 Minutes – CBS News
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Zelenskyy offers Trump a tour of Ukraine’s front line
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“This is Russia’s war against any rules at all,” Zelenskyy said, to applause from the auditorium, adding:” If you do not manage to act now, Putin will make the next years catastrophic for other countries as well.”
Zelenskyy’s appearance in Munich is part on an ongoing campaign to strengthen Kyiv’s ties with its Western allies. Before coming to Munich, he was in Berlin and Paris to sign security agreements, adding to a similar pact with the United Kingdom.
Although Russia has more ammunition, the war is also causing problems, forcing it to plead for help from ramshackle dictatorships. “For the first time in Russian history, Russia bowed to Iran and North Korea for help,” said Zelenskyy.
Despite problems like ammunition shortages and retreats from cities like Avdiivka, Zelenskyy insisted that Ukraine can prevail in the war against Russia, especially if its allies give it more arms and ammunition.
“We can get our land back, and Putin can lose,” he said, adding: “We should not be afraid of Putin‘s defeat and the destruction of his regime. It is his fate to lose — not the fate of the rules-based order to vanish.”
Antoaneta Roussi contributed reporting.
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Joshua Posaner
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It’s time to meet your neighbor across the world, says Rick Steves. It starts with travel.
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Rick Steves taking a break from filming in Italy’s Dolomites. Steves visited Charlotte to speak at a lecture for the World Affairs Council of Charlotte on Thursday, Feb. 15.
Courtesy of Rick Steves’ Europe
A little over halfway through his lecture, travel writer and TV personality Rick Steves quoted the prophet Mohammad: “Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled.”
The message, which was delivered to the World Affairs Council of Charlotte on Thursday evening at the Knight Theater, may not have been a direct quote of his own but fell in line with his overall thesis: You have to get out there to better understand, not only the world, but yourself and the worldview around you.
It was Steves’ third trip to Charlotte with his last visit taking place in 2013. He said he’s always impressed with the city. “It just seems like a very smart, modern city. I like it. It reminds me I should get up and get to know our country a little better.”
The celebrated travel writer and host of Rick Steves’ Europe on PBS said he has traveled 100 days a year for decades and mostly in Europe (which he refers to as his “beat”.) “When you write a chapter, you hope it has a long life and then you just tweak it every year when you visit. That’s generally the case, but certain things have major changes,” he said.
“Berlin used to be two cities, now it’s one after the fall of the wall. So, you’ve got to bite the bullet and reconfigure the whole chapter because it’s been redesigned… when I made the initial review of all these countries, deciding what would be in the book, it’s pretty accurate. But you realize, oh, I should have done that city and then you go to that city and you like it and you have to add to the book.”
To him, Europe is the springboard for traveling abroad. He said he encourages Americans to venture “past Orlando.”
“There’s a general affluence (to Europe). When I started traveling, there were a lot of no star hotels. Now, they don’t have any no star hotels. Everything’s good. Everything has potential,” he said.
Rick Steves conducting guidebook research in Bern, Switzerland. Steves visited Charlotte to speak at a lecture for the World Affairs Council of Charlotte on Thursday, Feb. 15. Courtesy of Rick Steves’ Europe “The second cities are great in Europe… Of course we want to go to Edinburgh but you’ve got to check out Glasgow. Of course you want to visit Lisbon but you should check out Porto. You want to go to Paris, but you have got to see Marseilles. All of the crowds are in those first cities, none of the crowds are in the second cities. So if you want to get out of the crowds, you can do it. But most people don’t prioritize (that).”
As an American, it is easy to be sucked into the concept that we’re treading on Europe as the “ugly American tourists” – armed with big sunglasses and hats, snapping pictures everywhere and funneling out of tour buses in front of the Roman Coliseum or Big Ben like cattle. But Steves says that perception is more restrained among Europeans than it might be portrayed in the media.
“I think the perceptions of the American government (in Europe) goes up and down.. sometimes they don’t like our policies. But when you travel, they don’t know what party you are. They don’t know what your politics are. You’re just a person from the United States and they’re happy to see you,” Steves said.
“I’m always impressed by how they cut us slack in our politics and you’re just seen as an interesting visitor from far away. If you’re curious and if you’re not judgmental, and if you’re there to learn and have a good time, Europeans would love to be your friend.”
For Steves embodies transformational travel when he makes his 100 day trek away from home, and while he understands that a traveler or pilgrim style trip is not what everyone would want, he encourages Americans to give it a try to better expand their understanding of who people really are across the world rather than what they’re designated to through sound bites or television news clips during major events.
Steves recalls a recent trip to Iran, where amidst the “Death to America” propaganda streamed down buildings, he found a people that weren’t too far from our own.
“You go to Iran and you realize they’re essentially just like us. They’ve got their frustrations with the government. Our government is more responsive, their government will lock you up or torture you if you do something wrong,” he said.
“I’d love for us to go and get to know the enemy, it’s tougher for them. They understand this better, it’s tougher for them to dehumanize us and for us to demonize them with our propaganda. It’s a constructive thing (to visit).”
At the end of the day, Steves wants you to leave every trip with some sense of perspective either on the place you just visited or yourself. As in the Mohammad quote before, Steves wants to know how many people you met and how many memories you made of human interaction rather than how many memorable sites you checked off your list or how many countries you got to.
“It’s never not constructive to travel and talk to people. I’m a coastal elite, privileged white guy that travels a lot and has all these highfalutin ideas. It’s important for me to get out and talk to people around the country and find out what people’s life stories are. My worldview is shaped by something and the person over there is shaped by something else,” he said.
“It’s good to know each other.”
Steves’ work can be found at ricksteves.com and on PBS where his television program airs. This is the third visit he has made to Charlotte to speak with the World Affairs Council, the last time being in 2013.
Rick Steves photographed for New York Times Magazine. Zachary Scott Courtesy of Rick Steves’ Europe More arts coverage
Want to see more stories like this? Sign up here for our free “Inside Charlotte Arts” newsletter: charlotteobserver.com/newsletters. And you can join our Facebook group, “Inside Charlotte Arts,” by going here: facebook.com/groups/insidecharlottearts.
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Zach Dennis
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Houthis get critical support from Iran for Red Sea attacks, U.S. Navy admiral says
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Iranian support has been critical for the Houthis as they bombard commercial ships in the Red Sea, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, said in a recent “60 Minutes” interview.
The Houthis, a Shia militia from Yemen, have targeted at least 45 ships in recent months, disrupting crucial international shipping corridors, even as the U.S. Navy has moved into the Red Sea to push back against the group. They’re being aided by members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps, Cooper said.
“The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is inside Yemen, and they are serving side by side with the Houthis, advising them and providing target information,” Cooper said.
That support goes back a decade, Cooper said, with Iran providing supplies to the Houthis for years.
“They’re resupplying them as we sit here right now at sea,” Cooper said. “We know this is happening. They’re advising them, and they’re providing target information. This is crystal clear.”
On Thursday, U.S. Central Command announced that on Jan. 28, a U.S. Coast Guard ship in the Arabian Sea seized weapons originating in Iran and bound for Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The boarding team found more than 200 packages containing medium-range ballistic missile components, explosives, unmanned underwater/surface vehicle components, military-grade communication and network equipment, anti-tank guided missile launcher assemblies and other military components.
“This is yet another example of Iran’s malign activity in the region,” Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM commander, said in a statement. “Their continued supply of advanced conventional weapons to the Houthis is in direct violation of international law and continues to undermine the safety of international shipping and the free flow of commerce.”
Houthi attacks on ships began after war broke out in Israel and Gaza, even though President Biden had warned Iran and its allies to stay out of the conflict.
The Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital in 2014 and now control about one third of the country, initially stated they would only shoot at ships linked to Israel, but the Houthis have fired at ships tied to dozens of nations. The U.S. government in January re-designated the Houthi movement as a terrorist organization as the group stepped up attacks in the Red Sea.
Amid the ongoing attacks, Norah O’Donnell headed to the Red Sea. She was the first journalist to report from the southern Red Sea in the air, on the water, and inside a U.S. military command center. Her full report on the Red Sea crisis is set to air on 60 Minutes on Feb. 18, 2024.
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ICAIE Issues New Report on How Iran’s Threat and Illicit Networks Finance Chaos and Malign Influence to Destabilize U.S. Interests in the Americas and Globally
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Iran will continue to leverage multiple strategic lines of effort in the Americas, aided by a broad network of criminal and terrorist allies and proxies, including sanctions evasion, acquiring funds through multiple illicit economic activities, successful and unsuccessful terrorist attacks, and the deployment of massive mis- and disinformation campaign structures and a spectrum of threats that affect U.S. national security.
WASHINGTON, February 12, 2024 (Newswire.com)
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Today, the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE), a national security non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C., released a new report entitled, “How Iran’s Threat and Illicit Networks Finance Chaos and Malign Influence to Destabilize U.S. Interests in the Americas and Globally“, co-authored by Douglas Farah and David M. Luna. The New ICAIE policy brief highlights how as Iran is expanding its global security footprint, it poses an existential threat to not only peace and security in the Middle East but also to strategic American national security interests in Latin America. “Iran, through its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), is undertaking subversive active measures through its embassies, terrorist proxies, and criminal networks in the Americas to destabilize democracies and exert political influence, penetrate markets, and increase sway with corrupt ruling elites,” said David Luna, ICAIE’s Executive Director.Similar to its modus operandi in the Middle East of using proxies to advance its geo-security interests and have plausible deniability, Iran leverages proxy power forces in Latin America by “exploiting existing regional weaknesses—such as organized crime networks—to provide Iran with the ‘cover’ needed to pursue its strategic policy in the Americas.” The Iran-financed chaos and malign influence in the Americas also has a geopolitical ripple effect globally, that impacts U.S. national security in other corners of the world.
In a vulnerable region where Latin authoritarian regimes increasingly rely on repression, censorship, corruption, and alliances with transnational criminal forces, the deepening partnerships with China, Iran, and Russia accelerate democratic backsliding, economic stagnation, instability, and collapse of the rule of law. Iran’s threat and illicit networks today have advanced an array of malign influence and political interference activities in the Americas intended to harm the United States through multiple military, intelligence, security, diplomatic, and criminal operations.
Over the past two decades, Iran and its allies have worked aggressively to expand their activities and influence operations around Latin America. These activities have come under increasing scrutiny since Iran’s support for Islamic militants became a topic of recent international debate, following the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.
ICAIE’s report underscores the need to view Iran’s activities in the Western Hemisphere through a strategic prism of asymmetrical warfare and gray zones. This includes Iran’s alliance of convenience with foreign malign influence networks with other extra-regional state actors such as China and Russia. The Iranian collaboration with the Bolivarian Alliance and Bolivarian Joint Criminal Enterprise (BJCE) gives Iran more freedom of movement and leverage access in the region and allies with Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and other countries to export their malign influence, intelligence operations, criminal activities, and threat convergence strategies that are often coordinated with China and Russia.
ICAIE brings together diverse champions across sectors and communities, including governments and prominent organizations from the private sector and civil society to mobilize energies to combat cross-border illicit threats that endanger U.S. national security, global supply chains, and peace.
Find ICAIE’s New Report on Iranian Threat Networks in the Americas here.
Source: ICAIE
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Drone attack hits base used by U.S. troops in Syria
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Drone attack hits base used by U.S. troops in Syria – CBS News
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CNBC Daily Open: Wall Street rattled over Fed worries
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A trader works, as a screen displays a news conference by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell following the Fed rate announcement, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., January 31, 2024.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
Wall Street retreats
U.S. stocks lost ground on Monday and Treasury yields rose amid lingering concerns that the Federal Reserve may not cut rates as much as expected. The blue-chip Dow fell over 200 points. The S&P 500 also slumped after hitting a record high last week. The Nasdaq Composite also dropped 0.2%.Oil’s supply crunch
The oil market faces a supply crunch by the end of 2025 as the world is not replacing crude reserves fast enough, according to Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub. About 97% of the oil produced today was discovered in the 20th century, she told CNBC.Palantir surges
Shares of Palantir spiked 19% in extended trading after the company reported revenue that topped analysts’ estimates. In a letter to shareholders, Palantir CEO Alex Karp said demand for large language models in the U.S. “continues to be unrelenting.”Red Sea tensions
Higher shipping costs due to tensions in the Red Sea could hinder the global fight against inflation, said the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Clare Lombardelli, chief economist at the OECD, told CNBC that shipping-driven inflation pressures remain a risk rather than its base case.[PRO] Banking allure
The banking sector offers attractive opportunities despite an increase in volatility, according to fund manager Cole Smead. “It’s the banks that made bad decisions that are making [other] banks look attractive in pricing,” Smead told CNBC, who picked two bank stocks that are in play.The bottom line
Investors are once again getting ahead of themselves on the Fed’s next move.
Markets were rattled after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the central bank is unlikely to rush to lower interest rates.
Wall Street has been parsing his hawkish comments, yet in essence what Powell said over the weekend was no different than what he shared at Wednesday’s press conference: that he wants to see more evidence that inflation is coming down to a sustainable level.
Still, the debate over the timing of rate cuts unsettled Fed watchers.
This sparked a sell-off spurred by higher bond yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury spiked for a second day, trading around 4.163%. Typically, higher yields tend to indicate investors think the Fed will take longer to cut rates.
Fresh data out Monday also didn’t help. A new survey showed the U.S. services sector expand at a faster-than-expected clip in January.
This on top of the booming jobs report released Friday, fueled investor worries that rates may stay elevated for much longer.
Wall Street will now look ahead to the swath of Fed speakers this week. Perhaps they will shed more light on the path for rate cuts.
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2/4: Face The Nation
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Iran says US-British strikes in Yemen are ‘fueling chaos and disorder’ in Mideast
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Iran on Sunday denounced U.S. and British air strikes on Yemen as “fueling chaos and disorder” and risking an escalation of the war in the Middle East.
Washington and London, with support from partner nations, on Saturday launched a fresh round of air and missile strikes on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen in retaliation for the group’s continued attacks on international shipping. A day earlier, U.S. long-range aircraft bombarded Iranian military and proxy targets in Iraq and Syria.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanani, claimed that the strikes contradict U.S. and U.K. policy of wanting to avoid an escalation in the conflict.
These attacks are “in clear contradiction with the repeated claims of Washington and London that they do not want the expansion of war and conflict in the region,” Kanani said, according to AFP. He added that further attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen would constitute a “threat to international peace and security.”
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Hans von der Burchard
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After new US strikes hitting Yemen, Iran issues a warning about suspected spy ships in the Mideast
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JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran issued a warning Sunday to the U.S. over potentially targeting two cargo ships in the Mideast long suspected of serving as forwarding operating base for Iranian commandos, just after America and the United Kingdom launched a massive airstrike campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The statement from Iran on the Behshad and Saviz ships appeared to signal Tehran’s growing unease over the U.S. strikes in recent days in Iraq, Syria and Yemen targeting militias backed by the Islamic Republic.
Those attacks, themselves a retaliatory campaign for the killing of three U.S. soldiers and wounding of dozens of others in Jordan, all stem back to Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has escalated tensions across the wider Middle East and raised fears about a regional conflict breaking out.
The Yemen strikes overnight Sunday struck across six provinces of Yemen held by the Houthi rebels, including in Sanaa, the capital. The Houthis gave no assessment of the damage but the U.S. described hitting underground missile arsenals, launch sites and helicopters used by the rebels.
“These attacks will not discourage Yemeni forces and the nation from maintaining their support for Palestinians in the face of the Zionist occupation and crimes,” Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said. “The aggressors’ airstrikes will not go unanswered.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned the Houthis after the strikes that “they will continue to bear further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels.” That message was echoed by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who said: “The Houthi attacks must stop.”
The Behshad and Saviz are registered as commercial cargo ships with a Tehran-based company the U.S. Treasury has sanctioned as a front for the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. The Saviz, then later the Behshad, have loitered for years in the Red Sea off Yemen, suspected of serving as spy positions for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
In 2017, Saudi Arabia described the Saviz as a maritime base and weapons transshipment point for the Guard, staffed by men in military fatigues. Footage aired by Saudi-owned television channels showed the vessel armed with what appeared to be a covered machine gun bolted to the ship’s deck.
In the video statement Sunday by the Iran’s regular army, a narrator for the first time describes the vessels as “floating armories.” The narrator describes the Behshad as aiding an Iranian mission to “counteract piracy in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.” However, Iran is not publicly known to have taken part in any of the recent campaigns against rising Somali piracy in the region off the back of the Houthi attacks.
Just before the new campaign of U.S. airstrikes began, the Behshad traveled south into the Gulf of Aden. It’s now docked in Djibouti in East Africa just off the coast from a Chinese military base in the country.
The statement ends with a warning overlaid with a montage of footage of U.S. warships and an American flag.
“Those engaging in terrorist activities against Behshad or similar vessels jeopardize international maritime routes, security and assume global responsibility for potential future international risks,”
The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the threat.
The Saviz, which is now in the Indian Ocean near where the U.S. alleges Iranian drone attacks recently have targeted shipping, has come under attack before. In 2021, a likely limpet mine explosion blew a hole through the hull of the Saviz, forcing Iran to bring the ship home. That attack, suspected to have been carried out by Israel, is part of a wider shadow war between Tehran and Israel after the collapse of the Iran nuclear deal.
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Baldor and Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Brian Melley in London contributed to this report.
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US starts retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran-linked targets
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President Joe Biden arrives to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on January 30, 2024.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
The United States launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and the militias it backs, reportedly killing more than 30 people, in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. troops.
The strikes, which included the use of long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States, were the first in a multi-tiered response by President Joe Biden’s administration to the attack last weekend by Iran-backed militants.
More U.S. military operations were expected in the coming days.
The strikes intensified a conflict that has spread into the region since war erupted between Israel and Hamas after the militant Palestinian group’s deadly assault on Israel on Oct.7.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said in a statement the U.S. attacks represented “another adventurous and strategic mistake by the United States that will result only in increased tension in instability in the region”.
Iraq also condemned the U.S. attacks, saying they had killed 16 people including civilians. In Syria, the strikes killed 23 people who had been guarding the targeted locations, said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, an organization that reports on war in Syria.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II arrives to brief members of the House of Representatives in a classified, closed-door briefing about Hamas’ attack on Israel in the Capitol Visitors Center Auditorium on October 11, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images
U.S. Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Staff, said the attacks appeared to be successful, triggering large secondary explosions as the bombs hit militant weaponry. He said the strikes were undertaken knowing that there would likely be casualties among those in the facilities.
Despite the strikes, the Pentagon has said it does not want war with Iran and does not believe Tehran wants war either, even as Republican pressure has increased on the Biden to deal a blow directly.
Iran, a backer of Hamas, has sought to stay out of the regional conflict itself even as it supports groups that have entered the fray from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria – the so-called “Axis of Resistance” that is hostile to Israeli and U.S. interests.
‘We do not seek conflict’
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after the strikes that Biden had directed additional action against the IRGC and those linked to it. “This is the start of our response,” Austin said.
“We do not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else, but the president and I will not tolerate attacks on American forces,” Austin said.
An Iraqi government statement said the areas bombed by U.S. aircraft included places where Iraqi security forces are stationed near civilian locations. It said 23 people had been wounded in addition to the 16 killed.
The White House said the United States had informed Iraq ahead of strikes. Baghdad later accused the United States of deception, saying a U.S. claim of coordination with the Iraqi authorities was “unfounded”.
The Syrian foreign ministry said the United States was fueling conflict in the region in a “very dangerous way”.
On Friday, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said his country will not start a war, but it will “respond strongly” to anyone who bullies it.
Hamas condemned the U.S. strikes and said Washington was pouring “oil on the fire”.
Britain called the United States its “steadfast” ally and said it supports Washington’s right to respond to attacks.
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, arriving for an EU meeting in Brussels, said the U.S. strikes were the result of Iranian proxies “playing with fire”.
More than 160 attacks on U.S. troops
The strikes hit targets including command and control centers, rockets, missiles and drone storage facilities, as well as logistics and munition supply chain facilities, the U.S. military said in a statement.
In Iraq, local residents said several strikes hit the Sikak Neighborhood in Al-Qaim, a residential area that locals said was also used by armed groups to store large amounts of weapons. Militants had left the area and gone into hiding in the days since the Jordan attack, local sources said.
U.S. troops have been attacked over 160 times in Iraq, Syria and Jordan since Oct. 7, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones, prompting the United States to mount several retaliatory attacks even before the latest strikes.
The United States has assessed that the drone that killed the three soldiers and wounded more than 40 other people in Jordan was made by Iran, U.S. officials have told Reuters.
“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” Biden said.
The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker, criticized Biden for failing to impose a high enough cost on Iran, and taking too long to respond.
Iranian advisers assist armed groups in both Iraq, where the United States has around 2,500 troops, and Syria, where it has 900.
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2/2: CBS News Weekender
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Biden walks tightrope in Middle East
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