Netanyahu Government Sets Course On Iran, Normalization

Ukraine said waves of Iranian-made Russian drones targeted infrastructure in Kyiv and surrounding areas on Monday, damaging energy facilities and causing some power outages, officials said, as Russia extended its bombardment into the second day of 2023.

Ukraine’s air force said that its air defense systems destroyed all of Russia's 39 Iranian-made Shahed 131 and 136 drones that targeted Ukraine overnight in what it said was a “massive attack”.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani in his weekly briefing implicitly denied the use of Iranian-made drones and said Kyiv has never produced any evidence.

Ukraine said December 13 that it provided Iran with the evidence. "We are not surprised by yet another objection from Iran regarding the supply of weapons to Russia. During the technical meeting, Ukrainian experts provided the Iranians with the sufficient evidence," Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said during an interview with Kyiv-based news agency Interfax-Ukraine.

Iran’s decision to supply weapons to Russia has played a major role in the deterioration of its already frayed ties with Europe that has put nuclear talks with Tehran on the back-burner since evidence emerged of the kamikaze drones being launched by Russia in October.

Kanaani also spoke about these talks, having little to offer as a sign of any positive movement. After 18 months of negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear accord known as the JCPOA the talks broke down in early September. The United States has said i tis not focused on the diplomatic effort any more because Iran presented last-minute extraneous demands.

Meanwhile, nationwide antigovernment protests in Iran have posed the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic in its 43year history, with the economy in serious trouble. Consequently, Tehran has been showing renewed interest in reviving the nuclear talks, because the process, if successful, could end harsh US sanctions and bring a much-needed financial relief to the embattled regime.

Kanaani insisted that Iran is ready to conclude the nuclear talks based on a draft agreement prepared "after months of difficult talks," referring to what the European Union submitted in August to all sides to wrap up the negotiations. It was at this juncture when Tehran and Washington were giving their feedback to the draft that talks came to a standstill.

Kanaani also tried to put a positive spin on chances of improving relations with Saudi Arabia and Egypt, amid its regional isolation. Iran was not even invited to tripartite defense talks between Russia, Turkey and Syria last week, although it is a major player in the Syrian conflict. It has also not been invited to a similar meeting of foreign minsters to take place in the second half of January.

Asked about why Iran has not been invited, Kanaani simply replied that "Russia, Turkey and Syria are well aware of Iran’s decisive role in the fight against terrorism in Syria and its support for the people and the government [of Syria]".

The source told IRNA Sunday that Nasrallah has the flu and is "going through his treatment process", however, independent sources and media in Lebanon have not yet confirmed this claim about Nasrallah's illness.

The Hezbollah leader was scheduled to give a speech to his supporters on Friday, but al-Manar TV, affiliated with Hezbollah, said in a statement that the speech was canceled due to Nasrallah's illness.

After that, unofficial reports were published about Nasrallah's "stroke".

Hossein al-Ghawi, a Saudi journalist, wrote in a tweet that Nasrallah was transferred to a hospital in Beirut after suffering a second stroke.

In recent years, numerous reports have been published about Nasrallah's physical condition.

Four years ago, reports about Nasrallah's "heart attack" were published, but Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was the foreign policy advisor to Iran’s parliament speaker at the time, denied it.

Groups like Hezbollah and governments like the Islamic Republic do not provide clear and accurate information about the physical condition of their leaders.

Hezbollah, supported by the Islamic Republic, is recognized as a terrorist group by several countries, including the United States.

Head of the Tehran Telecom Traders Union Mehdi Mohebi quoted an “official” who did not want to reveal his identity that 800 Starlink satellite internet terminals have entered the country so far.

This comes as the American tycoon Elon Musk said last week that the use of satellite internet services in Iran has increased and around 100 Starlink devices are active in the country now.

Musk said in a tweet that “approaching 100 Starlinks active in Iran”, three months after he confirmed he would activate the service in the country to help Iranians circumvent internet restrictions imposed by the government amid nationwide protests.

Back in September the billionaire, who is now also a social media player by controlling Twitter, had announced he would activate Starlink in Iran as part of the United States’ effort “to advance internet freedom” and facilitate “the free flow of information” to Iranians.

The Iranian regime has been severely restricting Internet access in general and access to popular social media platforms, such as Instagram, in particular that play a key role in protester communications. These restrictions have caused many problems for those who rely on social media to promote their businesses and hugely damaged e-commerce.

It is not clear who are the importers of the receivers, which the government views as illegal. Most likely, the devices are brought from across the borders by small-time smugglers.

Fars News Agency, affiliated to the Revolutionary Guard, said Saturday that the warning procedure was carried out by Iranian drone Karrar; however, it did not specify the nationality of the reconnaissance aircraft.

The US State Department has refused to comment on the report referring questions to the Pentagon, which declined to comment as well, according to Reuters.

Iran’s military began to test new attack drones in the coastal area of the Gulf of Oman and near the strategic Strait of Hormuz since Thursday as part of its annual drills.

“During the exercises, a P-8 manned intelligence aircraft belonging to extra-regional forces, which had tried to reduce altitude to collect more accurate information from the exercise area, was forced to leave the area by the firing of a Karrar drone by (Iran's) air defense,” Fars reported.

Last week, top Iranian military official General Mohammad Bagheri said the Islamic Republic will continue to develop drones according to its interests and Tehran will cooperate with other countries in this regard.

According to IRNA, Chief of General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces said the country’s UAVs are accurate enough to respond to any threat endangering its interests.

Bagheri, however, did not name any specific country with which the Islamic Republic is cooperating to develop UAVs.

Two years ago, Lebanon's Hezbollah distributed a card called "Sajjad" among the families of its members to buy food stuff with a 60% discount at shops selling Iranian products.

The Lebanese website "Janoubieh" quoted its sources as saying that now shopping with this card has encountered problems.

According to this report, the Islamic Republic is unable to send food items such as cooking oil and tea to Lebanon due anti-regime protests and its economic problems, including the sharp increase of the US dollar against its currency, the rial.

The militant Hezbollah group has reportedly replaced Iranian goods with the Lebanese, Turkish, and Indian items for the users of the Sajjad card.

Makram Rabah, a Lebanese political activist, emphasized in an interview with Iran International that the consequences of the uprising of Iranians against the regime could now be seen in Lebanon.

He said the dire situation of the Islamic Republic, as the biggest financial and political supporter of Hezbollah, causes this group to lose the ability to stand on its own feet.

Earlier, some media, including Jerusalem Post, reported that the Palestinian groups affiliated to the Islamic Republic have also suffered a financial crisis because of troubles Iran faces.