Radiofarda – In a new tweet Sunday in a series of tweets in the past 24 hours, President Donald Trump once again promised to strike back at Iran “perhaps in a disproportionate manner” should Iran strike any U.S. person or target. President of the United States also said his tweet will serve as notification to the United States Congress. “Such …

Radiofarda – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has downplayed President Donald Trump’s threat to target Iranian cultural sites, insisting that the U.S. would behave within the rules of international law. Speaking to ABC on Sunday, January 5, Pompeo asserted that any U.S. military action against Iran would conform to international law, after President Donald Trump was accused of threatening to …

Radiofarda – An influential member of Iran’s parliament, Mojtaba Zonnour (Zolnour) has responded to President Donald Trump’s January 4 tweet threatening to hit 52 targets, issuing his own threat. If America dares to hit 52 targets in Iran, the hardliner cleric has fired back, “We hit back with a number representing all verses in the Quran, and we will hit …

Radiofarda – Immediately after General Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. airstrike on January 3 local time, near Baghdad airport, the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed the dead general’s deputy, Esmail Qa’ani (Ismail Ghaani), as his successor in charge of commanding Qods (Quds) Force. By doing so, Khamenei was relaying a message that was also reflected …

Al-Arabia – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe repeated his plans to deploy the Self-Defense Forces to the Middle East to ensure the safety of its ships, even as tensions in the region erupt in the wake of the United States’ killing of one of Iran’s top military commanders. At a televised news conference on Monday, Abe called on nations involved …

Al-Arabia – US President Donald Trump threatened sanctions against Baghdad on Sunday after Iraq’s parliament called on US troops to leave the country, and the president said if troops did leave, Baghdad would have to pay Washington for the cost of the airbase there.“We have a very extraordinarily expensive airbase that’s there. It cost billions of dollars to build, long …

Iran-HRM – Year 2019 was marked by brutal clampdown on Iranian society. Beset by a whole host of economic, social and political crises, the clerical regime has tried to rein in simmering social discontent by use of brute force. Hundreds of people have been rounded up for expressing their views or taking part in peaceful demonstrations. Vindictive crackdown against human rights …

VOA – Huge crowds gathered Monday in Tehran to mourn top general Qassem Soleimani, as his replacement vowed to take revenge for the U.S. airstrike that killed him, and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to hit Iranian cultural sites if Iran does retaliate. “They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to …

VOA – Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei presided over prayers Monday for Qassem Soleimani as hundreds of thousands of people assembled in Tehran to mourn the top Iranian general. In this image taken from video, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, openly weeps as he leads a prayer over the coffin of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, at the Tehran …

gatestoneinstitute.org – “… you should know that I… control the policy for Iran with respect to Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan.” — The late Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, to US General David Petraeus, The Guardian, July 28, 2011. Under Soleimani’s rule, Iran’s military was also implicated in the 9/11 attacks. To the likely dismay of Washington’s critics, President Trump’s Iran …