Israeli Airstrikes Hit Targets Near Syrian Capital Damascus

The Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman claimed Monday that relations between Iran and Russia are not against any party and do not violate the international legal framework.

Naser Kanani told a news conference that “those who accuse Iran of supporting one side of the war are sending weapons to a warring side themselves,” implicitly referring to large Western military assistance to Ukraine.

Ukraine, the United States and Western countries say Iran has supplied military drones to Russia that are being used to attack civilian and infrastructure targets, and have begun imposing sanctions on Tehran.

Kanaani also rejected accusations that Iran has sent forces to Russian-occupied Crimea saying that “this is a media war to distract minds from the destructive role of Westerners in the Ukraine war.”

The US had earlier said that Iranian experts were in Crimea helping the Russians use Iranian supplied drones.

His comments come as Iran’s Supreme Leader in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin back in July clearly expressed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

While describing war as “brutal and hard,” Iran’s leader suggested that had Russia not “taken the initiative, the other side, with its own initiative would have created a war anyway.”

In that meeting Khamenei said “NATO is a dangerous creature [that] didn’t recognize any limits or borders. If you cannot stand up to them in Ukraine, then a little while later, with the excuse of Crimea, they would have started this war anyway.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Kanani accused US officials of “telling lies and being hypocritical” regarding the talks over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

“If the Americans say the negotiations have stopped, why do they send messages through intermediaries?” reiterated Kanani, adding that “it is clear Washington wants to return to the agreement but not pay its costs.”

His allegations come as US State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, on October 19 said reviving the 2015 nuclear deal is “not our focus right now.”

“Nothing we’ve heard in recent weeks suggests they have changed their position. And so right now our focus is on the remarkable bravery and courage that the Iranian people are exhibiting through their peaceful demonstrations,” he stated.

During his Monday statements, the Iranian spokesperson also claimed that the West is supporting anti-regime protests in Iran saying, “If Americans have bet on the domestic developments of Iran these days, they have made a mistake.”

Tehran routinely blames the West and Israel for negative events in Iran, not willing to admit that many of its citizens oppose clerical rule.

He also criticized recent sanctions by the European Union and the United Kingdom imposed for the brutal crackdown on protesters in Iran, stating that “supporting disorder, insecurity and instability is an illegal behavior. It is an irresponsible act to support rioters and those who have a history of terrorist activities.”

This comes as the Islamic Republic is designated by the US as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984 for supporting and organizing militant groups around the region.

In another part of his comments, Kanani claimed that relations between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are on the right track and the sides are having “constructive ties.”

However, Wall Street Journal correspondent Laurence Norman says there has been zero significant contact between Iran and the IAEA recently calling the claims “a heap of falsehoods”.

The military drills kicked off in Pasveh District in Piranshahr County on Saturday with the participation of combat forces of the 164th Mobile Assault Battalion of the Army’s Ground Forces. 

The battalion’s commander Colonel Hamid Firouzjai said, “The forces partaking in the exercise use organizational, light, semi-heavy and heavy weapons,” adding that the forces carry out heliborne parachute operations, overnight raids, helicopter combat, control of communication roads, capture of heights and offensive destruction and urban warfare during the drill. 

Amid nationwide protests in Iran sparked by the death in custody of a Kurdish girl in mid-September, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard launched several rounds of attacks against Iraqi Kurdistan, apparently aimed at intimidating the Kurds.

The maneuver took place only days after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard held another drill in the northwestern region of Aras along the borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. In mid-September, Iran warned that it would not tolerate any seizure of territory from Armenia by Azerbaijan after military clashes broke out between its two northern neighbors.

Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of attacking its towns to escape negotiating over the status of the mainly Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.

The US 5th Fleet said on Friday that the reports are not true whatsoever, adding that the fleet continues to operate its systems across the Middle East consistent with international law and without disruption.

Earlier in the day, the Iranian Army's Navy commander Shahram Irani had claimed that the Islamic Republic's Navy had seized two American sea drones. He made the remarks announcing the homecoming of the 84th IRIN Information and Operation Naval Fleet at the end of their 86-day mission in free and international waters. 

The development came two days after the US military made an unusual disclosure, revealing the location of its submerged nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines in the Arabian Sea near Iran’s waters.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) released photos showing its commander General Michael “Erik” Kurilla onboard West Virginia. It has been described as a rare decision, as the US military seldom, if ever, acknowledges where its ballistic missile subs are operating, particularly when they are stationed near an adversary's shores. Kurilla's visit may be seen as sending a message to US adversaries in the region, including the Islamic Republic, of Washington's capabilities, including submarines that can carry up to 20 ballistic missiles with multiple warheads.

Late August, the US Navy prevented an IRGC navy support ship from capturing an unmanned vessel operated by the US 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf.

A Ukrainian official told Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, Kan on Friday that the deaths occurred in two separate strikes, following recent reports that Iranian trainers were in Crimea to help Russians deploy the killer drones. The source did not provide any further details or the identities of the Iranians.

Also on Friday, Ukrainian Air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said the country’s military is taking down 85 percent of Iranian-made drones sent by Russia but needs its allies' support to prevent Tehran selling Moscow ballistic missiles. He said their air defense systems were proving increasingly effective against the drones but less effective against missiles. 

Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Friday, calling on its nationals to leave Ukraine and scrap their travel plans, saying, "Given the intensification of military conflicts and insecurity in Ukraine, all Iranian nationals are strongly recommended to refrain from traveling to this country.”

Rejecting reports and evidence of supplying Moscow with drones and missiles as “baseless,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Thursday, “We have defense cooperation with Russia but sending weapons and drones against Ukraine is not our policy."

Britain, France and Germany on Friday called for a UN probe about the use of Iranian drones, allegedly violating the UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2231 endorsing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The European Union and the United Kingdom Thursday sanctioned three Iranian military commanders and a defense company over allegedly supplying drones to Russia.

Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s traditional Army Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Friday that the United States and Israel seek to sow discord among different generations and ethnic groups.

“Seduction of the youth and discord between generations, ethnic groups, guilds and unions, political parties, classes of society, religions and sects, are the plots designed by the think tanks and research centers of the American and Zionist regime's intelligence apparatuses,” he said.

People from all the groups he mentioned have been holding protests or strikes against the clerical regime since 2017. A stronger and more enduring round of protests began in mid-September when Iran’s hijab police killed a 22-year-old woman. Mostly young demonstrators demand an end to the Islamic Republic and a democratic, secular government.

Ali Fadavi, the second highest commander in the Revolutionary Guard, said on Friday that the country’s ‘enemies’ that used to focus on ‘hard war’ against the Islamic Republic in the last decades have now adopted a hybrid approach, combined with soft power. He said popular art can be used to promote the Islamic Republic revolutionary ideology. 

IRGC’s Aerospace Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh also said on Friday, “We need to do creative and innovative works in the field of culture,” adding that “We have not done anything serious to celebrate and create a fresh and cheerful environment.”