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CNN – A confidential UN report has concluded that Iran failed to block ballistic missile supplies from being used by Houthi rebels fighting a Saudi-led military coalition in war-torn Yemen. The report, now in the hands of the UN Security Council, does not identify the supplier of the weaponry but says missile debris inspected by UN experts was of Iranian …

Al-Arabia – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday Moscow will not support attempts by Washington to modify the Iran nuclear deal. Lavrov spoke days after US President Donald Trump said he would waive nuclear sanctions against Iran for the last time to give Washington and its European allies a chance to fix the “terrible flaws” of the 2015 …

RFL/RE – An Iranian oil tanker that has been on fire and drifting in the East China Sea since last week has experienced several more explosions, hampering efforts to put out the fire and rescue 31 missing crew members, Chinese state media reported.

Al-Monitor – A history of support for Kurdish extremists comes back to haunt Tehran   Bahram Fatehi’s tea house in Paveh was bustling with clients smoking shisha when the religious fanatic who would later stab him to death first walked in. For months prior to that fateful late summer evening in 2013, the hardscrabble mountain town in the heart of Iranian …

VOA – An Iranian oil tanker continues to burn in the East China Sea Tuesday, three days after it collided with a Chinese cargo ship off the China’s east coast. China’s Ministry of Transport said Tuesday that efforts by emergency vessels to extinguish the fire on the Panamanian-registered tanker Sanchi and search for its missing crewmen were hampered by poor …

Al-Arabia – As usual, the Iranian regime is in the spotlight for its intolerable behavior in the region. Make no mistake, Iran and its revolutionary guards (the IRGC) think they have it all figured out. After having secured a grip in Iraq and Syria, thanks to Mr. Obama’s hands off policy toward Iran, it is now ready to gain its …

snopes – On 22 December 2017, news outlet Politico reported on the existence of a former covert Drug Enforcement Agency operation named Project Cassandra aimed at disrupting a Hezbollah-run cocaine and weapon smuggling operation: The campaign, dubbed Project Cassandra, was launched in 2008 after the Drug Enforcement Administration amassed evidence that Hezbollah had transformed itself from a Middle East-focused military …

RFL/RE – An earthquake of magnitude 5.2 rocked Iran’s southeastern province of Kerman on December 21 and at least 23 people were injured, state TV said, only a day after two people were killed by a similar tremor near Tehran. Rescue teams were dispatched to the town of Kuhbanan, the epicenter of the latest quake, officials said. No deaths were …

RFL/RE – Iran’s chief prosecutor says authorities will soon issue an “appropriate” response to an ultimatum made by former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to the country’s powerful judiciary. Prosecutor-General Hojatoleslam Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said on December 18 that the judiciary will issue its response to Ahmadinejad “within a day or two.” Ahmadinejad issued a 48-hour deadline for the judiciary on December …

sputniknews – French President Emmanuel Macron said that the international coalition will have won in Syria in February and that France will seek a political solution to the crisis. Syrian President Bashar Assad will stay in power after the Syrian conflict is over and the West will have to speak to him, French President Emmanuel Macron said. “Bashar al-Assad will …