Category Archives: Iran

Senate votes to restrict Trump’s authority to launch military action in Iran – live updates

Posted on by
  • Democratic resolution to limit Trump’s power will likely not become law
  • Pelosi says Trump comments on Stone case are ‘abuse of power’
  • Hope Hicks reportedly returning to the White House
  • Help us cover the critical issues of 2020. Consider making a contribution

A judge has temporarily blocked Microsoft’s cloud-computing work with the Pentagon after Amazon complained that it lost the contract partly because of Trump’s bias against the company.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out against Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and owner of the Washington Post.

A judge ordered Thursday a temporary block on the JEDI cloud contract, which was awarded to Microsoft, in response to a suit filed by Amazon. Shares of Microsoft fell on the news, while Amazon’s stock rose slightly.
A court notice announcing the injunction was filed on Thursday, but wasn’t public. It’s unclear why the documents were sealed.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is instructed to earmark $42 million for any ‘costs and damages’ that could be incurred in the event that the ‘injunction was issued wrongfully,’ the filing states. Amazon must file a notice with the courts indicating it has obtained the $42 million by Feb. 20. Microsoft and Amazon must respond to the filing by Feb. 27.

The eight Republicans who supported the Iran War Powers resolution in the Senate were: Todd Young, Mike Lee, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Rand Paul, Bill Cassidy, Jerry Moran and Lamar Alexander.

The resolution, aimed at limiting Trump’s authority to launch military operations in Iran, was expected to attract some Republican support, but the number of defections was surprising.

Continue reading...

Nuclear watchdog head warns Iran over recent detention of inspector

Posted on by

Rafael Grossi, IAEA director general, said he told Iranian officials a repeat of the ‘grave’ incident would be a ‘serious problem’

The new head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned Iran there would be serious consequences if there is any repeat of last year’s detention of an IAEA inspector.

Speaking to journalists on his first official trip to Washington as IAEA director general, Rafael Grossi said he had met a senior Iranian official inVienna in December and expressed his concern over what he described as a “grave” incident.

Continue reading...

Iranian rapper Amir Tataloo arrested in Turkey

Posted on by

Musician was detained in Istanbul after Tehran issued Interpol request

The rapper Amir Tataloo, one of Iran’s most famous musicians, has been detained in Istanbul after an Interpol request from Tehran authorities.

Turkish police confirmed on Tuesday they detained Tataloo, real name Amirhossein Maghsoudloo, in Istanbul’s Fatih district because of an Interpol red notice flagging him as a wanted person.

Continue reading...

Yemen rise in violence threatens to derail peace moves, UN warns

Posted on by

Special envoy calls for emergency meeting of security council as violence flares

The sudden surge in violence in Yemen could scupper fragile moves towards a peace settlement, the UN’s special envoy for the country has said.

“We have to get the genie back in the bottle,” said Martin Griffiths. “Whoever started this renewed violence, it is unequivocally the case that there has been a huge rupture of confidence and a huge loss of life for the sake of uncertain territorial gains.”

Continue reading...

Reporting on the Iran nuclear deal: ‘nothing happens until everything happens’

Posted on by

Our world affairs editor reflects on how, despite years of negotiations, we came once again to the brink of conflict

Countries tend to go to war when diplomacy fails. But Washington and Tehran are now facing off because it succeeded. It was because the 2015 nuclear deal was Barack Obama’s proudest foreign policy achievement that Donald Trump was so determined to destroy it.

The US and Iran are sliding back towards the brink of conflict. If a missile had landed a little bit differently in the course of the latest exchange of hostilities, they would probably be at war by now.

Continue reading...

Pentagon says 34 US soldiers suffered traumatic brain injury in Iran strike

Posted on by
  • Trump downplayed injuries: ‘I heard they had headaches’
  • Expert calls president’s comment ‘insulting and disrespectful’

Thirty-four US soldiers have been diagnosed with concussion or traumatic brain injury from an 8 January Iranian missile attack on their base in Iraq, the Pentagon has revealed.

The Pentagon spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said on Friday that eight service members who had been previously transported to Germany had been moved to the United States.

Continue reading...

Iran admits it fired two missiles at Ukrainian passenger jet

Posted on by

Tehran issues first acknowledgement of precise number of rounds fired at plane

Iran says its armed forces mistakenly launched two surface-to-air missiles at a Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed with 176 people onboard earlier this month, its first acknowledgement of the precise number of rounds fired at the airliner.

Assessments by western intelligence agencies and video footage from the launch site had pointed to two missiles being fired at the Boeing 737-800 on the morning of 8 January, but Iranian officials had so far referenced only one until the release of preliminary report on Tuesday by the country’s civil aviation authority.

Continue reading...

Jailed British-Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert rejected Iran’s offer to work as a spy

Posted on by

Melbourne University academic rebuffed bid to recruit her in exchange for her release, letters reveal

Iran tried to recruit the British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert as a spy for Tehran in exchange for her release, but the overture was furiously rebuffed, letters smuggled out of Evin prison reveal.

Moore-Gilbert, a Cambridge-educated academic specialising in Middle East politics, is currently being held in Ward 2A, an isolated Revolutionary Guard-run wing of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, serving a 10-year sentence for espionage, a charge she, and the Australian government, rejects as entirely false.

Continue reading...

‘Passengers of light’ visit Iran-Iraq war memorials – a photo essay

Posted on by

Pilgrimages made by loved ones of those who died in combat are also supported and organised by the regime, which sees in them the opportunity to spread its doctrine

In Iran, every spring, thousands of families travel to the battle sites of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88). Many of those who make these pilgrimages – called Rahian-e Noor in Persian (the passenger of light) – lost loved ones in the war, which caused more than half a million deaths on the Iranian side.

But they are also supported and organised by the regime, which sees the opportunity to disseminate its doctrine.

Continue reading...

The Observer view on the EU’s weakness on the world stage | Observer editorial

Posted on by

Its new commission is failing to enact its grand ambitions, as destructive global power games are played out by others

It has been a difficult start to 2020 for the EU and the new European commission, which took office last month. Ursula von der Leyen, who succeeded Jean-Claude Juncker as commission president, is not short of ambition. She believes Europe should take a leading “geopolitical” role in international affairs, reflecting the EU’s status as the world’s largest trade bloc. But turning words into deeds is proving problematic.

“The EU needs to be more strategic, more assertive and more united in its approach to external relations,” Von der Leyen told Josep Borrell, the newly nominated EU high representative for foreign and security policy, in a mission statement last autumn. “We must use our diplomatic and economic strength to support global stability and prosperity… and be better able to export our values and standards.”

Continue reading...

Iran’s supreme leader calls Trump ‘clown’ in rare Friday sermon

Posted on by

Remark came as US revealed 11 of its troops had been injured in 8 January missile attacks

Iran’s supreme leader has delivered a rare sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran in which he described Donald Trump as a “clown” who pretended to support the Iranian people but would push a poisonous dagger into their backs.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei struck a defiant tone following weeks of domestic and international turbulence, including the US killing of a top general, missile attacks on US military bases in Iraq and the accidental downing of an airliner that killed 176 people.

Continue reading...

Iran’s supreme leader says missile strikes against US were ‘a day of God’ – video

Posted on by

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran's missile strikes on US targets in Iraq earlier this month show it has divine support in delivering a 'slap on the face' to a 'bullying' world power. Addressing Friday prayers, Khamenei added that the killing of general Qassem Suleimani showed the US's 'terrorist nature'

Continue reading...

Iran: Khamenei to lead Friday prayers for first time since 2012 amid US tensions

Posted on by

Supreme leader will deliver sermon in Tehran as anger continues over downing of passenger plane

Iran’s supreme leader will deliver a Friday sermon in Tehran for the first time since 2012 as the Islamic republic grapples with the fallout from the killing of its top general in a US airstrike and popular anger at its accidental shooting down of a passenger plane.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has held the country’s top office since 1989 and has the final say on all major decisions.

Continue reading...

Iran missile strike: US now says 11 troops were treated for concussion symptoms

Posted on by

Trump and military initially said no service members were hurt in retaliatory strike over Suleimani killing

The United States treated 11 of its troops for symptoms of concussion after an Iranian missile attack on an Iraqi base where US forces were stationed, the US military said on Thursday, after initially saying no service members were hurt.

The attack was retaliation for a US drone strike in Baghdad on 3 January that killed Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the elite Quds force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Continue reading...

The Guardian view on Trump’s folly: racing to war | Editorial

Posted on by

If the 2015 nuclear pact cannot be rebuilt or a new one struck, then the choice will be to let Iran have the bomb or to bomb Iran

Next week the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will unveil the current time on its Doomsday Clock, meant to convey the nuclear dangers facing the world. The closer the clock is to midnight, the greater the existential threat. If the stand-off between Iran and Donald Trump persists, or takes a frightening turn for the worse, then the clock’s hands may be closer to the bell tolling than they have ever been. This would mean the danger to the planet was judged greater than at any time since the first H-bomb tests.

The drumbeat of war reverberates around the Middle East. On Tuesday, Britain, France and Germany said that they had been “left with no choice” but to trigger a dispute mechanism in the six-nation nuclear deal with Iran after Tehran declared, in the aftermath of the US assassination of its top general, that it would no longer observe the pact’s “operational restrictions”. Iran’s president then warned that European soldiers in the Middle East “could be in danger”, a clear indication that if the continent stood with Mr Trump then its forces could expect to be treated as enemy combatants.

Continue reading...

European troops may be at risk after dispute process triggered – Iran

Posted on by

Hassan Rouhani’s threat to western allies comes amid fears of reimposition of sanctions

Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani has warned that European soldiers in the Middle East could be in danger after the UK, France and Germany triggered a dispute mechanism in the nuclear agreement that could lead to the reimposition of international sanctions on the country.

Rouhani’s remarks on Wednesday were the first direct threat he has made against European powers as tensions have grown between Tehran and Washington since Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the nuclear deal more than 18 months ago.

Continue reading...

Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert begs Scott Morrison to help get her out of Iranian jail

Posted on by

Letter comes as human rights groups urge foreign governments to take a stronger line with Tehran

The imprisoned British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has begged the Australian prime minister to secure her release from an Iranian jail, as human rights groups urge foreign governments to take a stronger line with Tehran.

A Cambridge-educated academic specialising in Middle East politics, Moore-Gilbert has been imprisoned in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since September 2018, after she was arrested at Tehran airport while trying to leave the country after attending an academic conference.

Continue reading...

Trudeau: Canada ‘didn’t get a heads-up’ from US on Suleimani killing – video

Posted on by

Justin Trudeau said on Monday that Canada did not receive a warning from the US before it killed the Iranian top general Qassem Suleimani on 3 January. 'We didn't get a heads-up,' the prime minister said, adding that Canada would 'obviously' have preferred a warning. Referring to the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian plane outside Tehran in which 57 Canadians died, he said that 'if there were no tensions, if there was no escalation recently in the region, those Canadians would be right now home with their families'

Continue reading...

Justin Trudeau: US escalation partly to blame for Iran plane deaths

Posted on by

Canadian PM says victims would still be alive if not for rising tensions party triggered by US

Victims of an Iran-downed jetliner would still be alive if not for a recent escalation of tensions partly triggered by the United States, Justin Trudeau has said.

“I think if there were no tensions, if there was no escalation recently in the region, those Canadians would be right now home with their families,” the Canadian prime minister said in an interview with Global television.

Continue reading...

Iran calls for UK ambassador to be expelled as arrests made over plane crash

Posted on by

Effigy burned on streets of Tehran as diplomat accused of ‘interfering in internal affairs’

Iran’s judiciary has described the UK’s ambassador to Tehran as “persona non grata” and called for his expulsion, while crowds of regime supporters burned his effigy alongside the British flag.

The actions came after the envoy, Rob Macaire, was briefly arrested at the weekend and accused of “coordinating” anti-government protests.

Continue reading...