Month: December 2021

Iran to cut oil output, prioritize defense in 2022-23 budget

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Reports say $5 billion will boost ‘defense capacities and strategic research,’ amid sanctions and threats to Tehran’s nuclear program By AFP Today, 9:58 pm TEHRAN — Iran plans to cut oil output and prioritize defense spending in its 2022-2023 draft budget because of sanctions and US-Israeli threats linked to its nuclear program. Iranian news agencies […]

Iran: Europe not offering viable solutions at Vienna nuclear talks

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Tehran’s negotiator Ali Bagheri says UK, France, and Germany ‘failed’ to resolve removal of sanctions; British foreign secretary warns this is Iran’s ‘last chance’ By TOI staff and Agencies Today, 9:47 pm Edit Iran said Sunday that European countries have failed to offer constructive proposals to help salvage a tattered 2015 nuclear deal, Reuters reported. […]

Iran’s IRGC foresees advances in missiles, drones – analysis

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Iran’s IRGC has immense power and sway in Iran’s strategy and also its development of new weapon systems. SETH J. FRANTZMANPublished: DECEMBER 12, 2021 19:02 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Air Force commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh praised the country’s advances in a speech reported this weekend. He emphasized that Iran’s infrastructure had advanced and the […]

Defense committee chair: It is possible for Israel to act alone

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  ח’ בטבת תשפ”ב 19:2412.12.21   Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Ram Ben-Barak says that Israel will do everything in its power to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. “We will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons. We hope that the United States will be with us, but it is not impossible to […]

Hamas weapons depot causes massive explosion in Lebanon

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December 12, 2021 A Lebanese security official has said that the explosion could not have been caused by anything else but ammunition. By Tobias Siegal, World Israel News A massive explosion rocked the Burj al-Shemali Palestinian refugee camp at the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre Friday night, according to local media. The explosion is […]

Iran builds new ‘intel ship’ dubbed Shiraz – analysis

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Shiraz is the size of a destroyer and has a “wide range” of electronic warfare abilities. SETH J. FRANTZMANPublished: DECEMBER 12, 2021 16:21DECEMBER 12, 2021 17:47 Iran is preparing to launch a new ship for its navy. The ship is called the Shiraz according to reports and it is supposed to be an intelligence-gathering ship […]

Iran thinks Israeli efforts are ‘futile’ amid Vienna talks – analysis

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Iran believes that the talks may outflank Israeli warnings and it hopes the US will call what it sees as Israel’s bluff. SETH J. FRANTZMANPublished: DECEMBER 12, 2021 16:12DECEMBER 12, 2021 17:55 One of Iran’s leading pro-government media outlets called Israeli efforts surrounding the Vienna talks “futile,” an apparent reference to Iranian regime optimism. “The […]

Erdogan: ‘No peace without two-state solution’

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed on Friday that the only way to achieve stability and peace in Palestine is to create an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, Anadolu Agency reported. Speaking at the opening session of the 16th Conference of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation […]

Hamas: Oxygen bottles, not weapons, exploded in Lebanon

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ח’ בטבת תשפ”ב 05:0112.12.21   Hamas claimed on Saturday that explosions in a Palestinian “refugee camp” in southern Lebanon on Friday were caused by an electrical short-circuit in a storage area for oxygen bottles used to treat coronavirus patients, The Associated Press reports. Later in the day however, a Lebanese security official said that it […]

Russia’s foreign minister cancels trip to Israel, North Africa

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Sergei Lavrov backs out of meeting with Bennett and Lapid amid Ukraine tensions and delicate Iran talks; Israeli sources say visit officially postponed Lazar Berman11 December 2021, 11:04 pm Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov canceled on Friday a planned trip to Israel and the region, during which he had been slated to meet with Prime […]

Hamas source says weapons cache that exploded in southern Lebanon was ‘for defense’

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Source from terror group confirms to Lebanese outlet that explosion was caused by fire; arms depot in mosque detonates after fireball engulfs building in refugee camp By TOI staff and Agencies Today, 12:19 pm A source from the Palestinian Hamas terror group said Saturday that a weapons cache which exploded in southern Lebanon was “for […]

Gantz: Iran foremost a threat to global peace and only then a threat to Israel

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Addressing IAC Florida confab, defense minister seeks to combat narrative placing Israel at center of Iran issue; says Jews must never hide their identity amid antisemitism spike Jacob MagidToday, 2:50 am HOLLYWOOD BEACH, Florida — Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Friday that he told senior US officials in Washington this week that Iran is a […]