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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 …

Al-Arabia – The two missiles fired at Mecca and Riyadh Airport in late July and early November bore the trademark of the Iranian ‘Shahid Bagheri Industries’ which is already on the sanctions list of the United Nations.

CNSNews.com – In line with its pledge to confront Iran over activities beyond its nuclear program, the Trump administration on Thursday unveiled what it said was evidence that Iran supplied Shi’ite rebels in Yemen with a missile that last month targeted Riyadh’s international airport – “through which tens of thousands of passengers travel each day.” Speaking in front of debris …

Al-Arabia – US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States is working with its allies and its European partners to counter Iran’s destructive and destabilizing policies in the region and its support with weapons to terrorist organizations in the region. “What worries us most is the ballistic missile programs, destabilizing Yemen and exporting weapons to terrorist organizations such …

RFL/RE – France’s foreign minister has accused Iran of trying to create an “axis” of military and political influence stretching from Tehran through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea. Speaking in an interview with France 2 television broadcast on December 12, Jean-Yves Le Drian said that rather than pursue ambitions to expand its military presence in the region, …

RFL/RE – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among the targets of an investigation in Turkey into suspected bribery and money laundering in connection with a scheme to help Iran evade sanctions, a former Istanbul police officer has testified. The officer, Huseyin Korkmaz, told a New York court on December 11 that the Turkish investigation that he led in 2012-2013 …

heraldscotland – WHEN Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei looks west from his Tehran residence, he can be forgiven a wry smile. An arc of Iranian influence from the Shia republic to the shores of the Mediterranean is taking shape in the increasingly troubled and unpredictable Middle East, slowly but certainly surely. And his great adversary in a campaign for …

RFL/RE – World powers are pushing Saudi Arabia and Iran to stop interfering in Lebanon’s politics while urging Iranian ally Hizballah to rein in its military activities in neighboring states.