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All in News
◢ Iran on Thursday urged the United States and its allies to stop their "absurd" accusations about Iranian missile tests, a day after Washington urged the UN to adopt punitive measures against Tehran. "US & allies should cease their hypocritical absurdities about Iran's missiles," Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter.
◢ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel would be prepared to attack inside Iran if the Jewish state's survival was at stake. "Our red line is our survival," Netanyahu said at a meeting with foreign media where he was asked what his "red line" was for attacking Iranian territory, rather than its proxies in Syria and Lebanon.
◢ US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday urged the United Nations to tighten restrictions on Iran's missiles, which he warned could strike US allies, but other powers called instead for dialogue. Pompeo headed to New York for a Security Council meeting on Iran, which recently confirmed a medium-range ballistic missile test, arguing it is legal and necessary for its defense.
◢ More suspected Iranian-made weapons have been found in Yemen, the UN says in a report that will be discussed Wednesday by the Security Council. The Gulf monarchies and United States accuse Iran of supporting Houthi rebels in Yemen—and see this as justification for the military campaign they have been waging in Yemen since 2015.
◢ Iran confirmed on Tuesday that it had carried out a recent test of a medium-range ballistic missile after Western powers sharply criticized a December 1 launch. “We are continuing our missile tests and this recent one was a significant test," the Fars news agency reported, citing Revolutionary Guards aerospace commander Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh.
◢ Iranian police said Sunday that 10 people had been arrested in connection with a suicide attack in southeastern Iran that killed two police officers. Jihadist separatist group Ansar al-Furqan has claimed responsibility for Thursday's assault in which an explosives-laden car was driven into a police station in the port city of Chabahar.
◢ Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said US sanctions were "economic terrorism", as he sought to foster a united front from visiting regional officials on Saturday. Addressing parliament speakers from Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey, Rouhani said they had all suffered economic pressure from the US.
◢ Chinese telecom giant Huawei's chief financial officer faces US fraud charges related to sanctions-breaking business dealings with Iran. Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada's Pacific coast city of Vancouver on December 1 while changing planes during a trip from Hong Kong to Mexico—ratcheting tensions between the United States and China just as the countries' leaders agreed a truce in their trade war.
◢ A suicide bomber killed at least two people and wounded many more outside police headquarters in the port city of Chabahar in restive southeastern Iran on Thursday, according to a revised official toll. Chabahar lies in Sistan-Baluchistan province which has long been a flashpoint, with Pakistan-based Baluchi separatists and Sunni Muslim extremists carrying out cross-border attacks targeting the Shiite authorities.
◢ Iran's President Hassan Rouhani struck a defiant stance against US sanctions on Tuesday, renewing his threat to cut off international oil sales from the Gulf. “America should know... it is not capable of preventing the export of Iran's oil," Rouhani said at a televised rally in Semnan province.
◢ France and Britain on Monday requested a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council after charging that Iran test-fired a medium-range missile at the weekend, diplomats said. The meeting is expected to be held Tuesday. The United States said the missile launch on Saturday was a violation of a UN resolution that endorsed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, from which Washington has withdrawn.
◢ The United States urged the European Union on Monday to apply sanctions targeting Iran's ballistic missile program, calling it a "grave and escalating threat." Over the weekend, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo charged that Iran tested a medium-range missile capable of carrying multiple warheads and striking parts of Europe and the entire Middle East.
◢ An Iranian fertility expert accused of working with foreign "espionage networks" to downplay the country's population crisis has been arrested, state news agency IRNA confirmed on Sunday. It did not give details of the charges, but quoted a lawyer who named the expert as Meimanat Hosseini Chavoshi.
◢ Iran said Saturday it had finalized a deal with South Korea to trade oil for goods, skirting renewed US sanctions. "A mechanism has been devised for returning oil export revenues from South Korea, by which Iran's oil export revenue will be bartered with imported goods," Hossein Tanhayi, head of the Iran-South Korea chamber of commerce, told state news agency IRNA.
◢ The laborers edge their way across a field of bright purple flowers gathering up the world's most expensive spice, a bounty that makes this dusty corner of Iran a crucial part of global cuisine. The delicate purple leaves of the Crocus sativus plant hold just three or four of the even more delicate red stamen, better known as saffron, that sprouts for just 10 days a year.
◢ Iran is determined to fight against US Donald Trump's anticipated Israel-Palestinian peace plan, parliament speaker Ali Larijani said Tuesday according to semi-official news agency ISNA. Trump has dubbed his administration's long-awaited plan the "ultimate deal.” which has already unsettled the Palestinians although no details have yet been disclosed.
◢ The head of Iran's judicial authority on Monday warned restive workers against creating "disorder", while calling on the government to address their problems. Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani spoke amid efforts to resolve a weeks-long strike at a major sugar factory in western Iran and popular discontent over rising prices.
◢ Qatar Airways announced Monday it is expanding operations in Iran, despite US sanctions on the Islamic republic and a Gulf diplomatic rift over accusations Doha was too close to Tehran. The carrier will begin twice-weekly flights to Isfahan in February 2019 and increase existing services to Shiraz and Tehran in January 2019, it said in a statement.
◢ A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit Iran's western province of Kermanshah late Sunday, the country's institute of geophysics said, with local officials reporting some 260 people injured. The epicenter of the quake was 17 kilometers southwest of the city of Sarpol-e Zahab, according to the institute, which said it struck at a depth of 7 kilometers.
