Iran’s FM Meets Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad Chiefs In Lebanon

This is Hezbollah’s first reaction related to popular anti-regime protests in Iran in four months, calling the caricatures as an “ominous” development, Iran International’s correspondent reported from Beirut.

Some Lebanese in social media have reacted to Hezbollah’s statement, asking why the pro-Islamic Republic militant group never condemned the killing of young Iranians during the protests, but condemns a French magazine exercising its media freedom.

Charlie Hebdo published its caricatures showing Khamenei as a despot and made fun of Iran’s ruling clerics. The Islamic Republic quickly condemned the publication and even lodged protests with the French government. The commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami, also threatened Charlie Hebdo that has already been the target of deadly attacks by Muslim extremists in the past.

The leader of the group, Hassan Nasrallah, who is very vocal in condemning Western countries, Israel or some Arab states on various occasions, has so far remained silent over the protests in Iran.

Hezbollah’s statement accused Charlie Hebdo of attempting “to weaken the highest religious and Islamic authority in the world.” Khamenei’s propaganda machine portrays him as “the leader of Muslims”, when in fact he represents a part of the Shiite sect, which is a small minority compared with the dominant Sunni majority.

Hezbollah also urged France “to punish” the perpetrators of “the shameless insult to sanctities.”

The website close to the Supreme National Security Council in a note published Friday accused “radical circles” of spreading the rumor after Alireza Akbari a former top official close to Shamkhani was sentenced to death earlier this week as a “British spy”.

Without mentioning Shamkhani by name, Nour news said radical elements who endanger national security by making outrageous claims decided to take advantage of Akbari’s case to spread harmful rumors.

Akbari had been deputy defense minister under the reformist President Mohammad Khatami, from 1997 to 2005 and an advocate of the 2015 nuclear accord with the West.

UK foreign secretary James Cleverly Thursday called on Tehran not to execute Akbari who is dual British-Iranian citizen.

A source close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has provided documents to Iran International showing that the death sentence for Alireza Akbari was a move to weaken Shamkhani’s position in the clerical regime.

It seems that President Ebrahim Raisi, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib and Interior Minister Ahmed Vahidi are exerting pressure to remove Ali Shamkhani from the post.

In a statement published by Iran's Intelligence Ministry, Akbari was described as "one of the most important infiltrators in the country's sensitive and strategic centers". He was arrested in 2019.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud and Sameh Shoukry released a statement calling on Tehran to abide by its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which commits signatories to the solely peaceful application of nuclear technology.

While stressing its continued adherence to the NPT, Iran has breached the limits set by the 2015 nuclear agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), from which President Donald Trump withdrew the US in 2018. It has also substantially reduced monitoring of its nuclear facilities by UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA.

The Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al-Saud announced Wednesday that Riyadh intended to use domestically sourced uranium to power its future nuclear industry, and that recent exploration had revealed rich deposits. Saudi Arabia, half of whose electricity currently comes from fossil fuels, is expanding solar energy but has also invited international interest in building its first nuclear power plant, with Russia’s Rosatom among those expressing interest.

Using domestic uranium for generating electricity would require enriching the naturally occurring material to 5 percent purity, the beginnings of a process that can produce ‘weapons grade’ uranium enriched to 90 percent. Saudi Arabia signed the NPT in 1988, but several leaders, including Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud, have said Riyadh would develop nuclear weapons if Tehran did.

While Iran find itself in more isolation in recent months, due to international condemnations over its deadly suppression of protests and supplying drones to Russia, officials in Tehran claimed earlier this month that there is a chance for improving ties with Egypt. However, Cairo has remained silent on the issue.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt have drawn closer politically since the ‘Arab spring’ revolts of 2010-13. The statement issued by the foreign ministers Thursday said the two countries had agreed to “support Arab efforts to urge Tehran to not interfere in the internal affairs of regional countries, preserve the principles of good neighborliness, and spare the region from all destabilizing activities, including supporting armed militias and threatening maritime navigation and international shipping lines,” the semi-official Arab News reported.

Riyadh last year extended Cairo a $5-billion aid package. Egypt faces a severe financial challenge including loss of tourism revenue and rising food prices resulting from the Ukraine war, with the International Monetary Fund recently identifying a $17 billion fiscal gap that will require international support in coming years. Public debt is around $400 billion and a third of Egyptians live in poverty.

Egypt, which has seen some US aid blocked over ‘human rights’ concerns, took part in the US-sponsored ‘Negev summit’ last year with Israel and the Arab states – Bahrain, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates – that ‘normalized’ relations with Israel in 2020. Saudi Arabia has kept to the long-standing Arab League position that normalization requires recognition of a Palestinian state, a goal receding as the new government in Israel aims to speed up Jewish settlements on occupied land.

At least six mosques across the country organised events to honour the former Commander of IRGC Quds Force as a “martyr” after he was killed.

On January 3, 2020, the US military, on the order of President Donald Trump, killed Soleimani in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport, saying that he had been "actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."

Photographs posted on social media show children sitting in an unnamed mosque while being taught about Soleimani.

Reports say at the Idara-e-Jaaferiya mosque in Tooting, South London, and in Hammersmith, West London, Iranian officials made speeches praising the IRGC commander days after his death.

In Manchester, the Islamic Institute said it was holding a “commemoration of the martyrs” killed by “the aggressor and criminal US regime”.

In Birmingham, the Imam Reza Centre said it was honouring “our beloved martyrs” Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, an Iraqi militia commander who died alongside him.

The revelation comes as UK lawmakers voted Thursday to ask the government to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.

Soleimani, who was Iran’s top military and intelligence operator outside its borders, was in charge of supporting and organizing militant proxy forces, including the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militia groups that have repeatedly attacked US forces.

The visit was announced shortly after a phone call between the two countries' presidents.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing that the two sides will continue to exchange views on several issues, including Iran nuclear deal known as the JCPOA.

“On January 17, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold talks with his Iranian counterpart, who will be in Moscow on this day on a working visit. During the talks, the sides are expected to continue an interested exchange of views on a number of topical international and regional topics, including the situation around the JCPOA on the Iranian nuclear deal, and interaction between the two countries at international platforms, including the UN, the SCO, the situation in Syria, Afghanistan, the Caucasus Region and the Caspian issue,” TASS quoted Zakharova as saying.

“There are plans to discuss the bilateral agenda, primarily its trade and economic component in the context of the implementation of key joint projects in energy, transport and other sectors, including taking into account the transition to the final phase of the negotiation process to conclude a full-fledged agreement on a free-trade zone between the EAEU and Iran,” she underlined.

Military ties have expanded between the two countries since the start of the Ukraine war, with Tehran supplying kamikaze drones to Moscow to use in its invasion.