Israel Vows ‘Destruction Of Lebanon’ If Hezbollah Rears Head

It comes a week after a series of intense seismic events and aftershocks that claimed the lives of thousands and razed entire villages in the same region.

The quake was also felt in eastern regions of Iran including the religious city of Mashhahd.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the epicenter of the earthquake was approximately 34 kilometers beyond Herat, the provincial capital, and reached a depth of eight kilometers below the surface. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale.

As of midday local time there were no official reports about casualties and damage.

The earthquakes that occurred on October 7 had catastrophic consequences, completely decimating villages in Herat, marking one of the most devastating seismic events in the nation's recent history.

Tragically, more than 90% of the individuals who lost their lives were women and children, according to UN officials.

Taliban officials said that the earthquakes last week claimed the lives of over 2,000 people across the province. The epicenter was situated in the Zenda Jan district, where UN data indicates that 1,294 people lost their lives, and 1,688 sustained injuries.

The 6.3-magnitude quake demolished hundreds of mud-brick homes that were ill-equipped to withstand such powerful tremors. Schools, health clinics, and other vital village facilities also crumbled.

Survivors grapple with the profound loss of multiple family members, and in many places, the number of volunteers who have arrived to sift through the debris and excavate mass graves now exceeds the remaining residents.

Iranian media on Sunday quoted Ali Motahari, former deputy speaker of the Islamic Republic’s parliament, who often appears as a voice of moderation on some issues, called the Lebanese Hezbollah and Syria “Iran’s forces”.

He stated that “We should not be indifferent until the operation starts,” and added that Iran’s allies should “play a deterrent role.”

Motahari called for “all the means prepared in past years should be deployed. Naturally, such plans should already exist. Mr. Amir-Abdollahian’s [foreign minister] trip to Syria and Lebanon showed that such coordination is taking place. He did mention that if a ground attack takes place against Gaza, others in the resistance front will become active.”

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who visited Qatar on Saturday met Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, leading to calls by many observers for the United States to push Qatar to distance itself from Palestinian militants.

A senior Israeli official accused Iran on Sunday of trying to open a second war front by deploying weapons in or through Syria as Israel steps up its counter-offensive in Gaza to the south.

Responding to a post of the X social-media platform that posited such a scenario, Joshua Zarka, head of strategic affairs for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said: "They (Iranians) are."

The original post also said "the Israelis are determined to prevent" such developments. To that, Zarka responded" "We are."

Syria accused Israel of carrying out strikes against Damascus and Aleppo airports last week.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has always encouraged self-sufficiency in wheat production as a strategic crop. The government purchases farmers’ crops at a guaranteed price announced before the beginning of every crop year towards this goal. 

Bread, which is heavily subsidized, is a major staple in the Iranians’ diet the shortage of which may instigate massive popular discontent or even protests and riots. 

In the past few weeks, government officials have repeatedly claimed that the new prices, which should have been announced by July 22, would be revealed “soon”. But nearly three weeks after the start of Iran's farming year (September 23) confusion still reigns and many wheat producers have not begun planting winter seeds for harvest in spring, unsure whether new rates will justify higher production costs resulting from inflation. 

Meanwhile, Arsalan Ghasemi, chairman of the agriculture and food industries committee of the Agricultural Trade Chamber told Fars news agency Friday that the Planning and Budget Organization has not authorized the payment of around 25 percent of the government’s debts to farmers for the crops purchased last year due to its allocated budget having run out. 

“Farmers will lose their trust [in the government] due to the Planning and Budget Organization’s approach. This is harmful to self-sufficiency in wheat and production of basic commodities in the country,” he said. 

Iran has attained self-sufficiency in wheat production a few times since 2004 but in most years the government has had to import more than half of the country’s wheat required for bread, seed, and food industries. Wheat imports surged to seven million tons in 2013 and a record nine million tons 2021 when domestic crops were hit by the worst drought in the past fifty years. 

Iranians consume over 160 kilograms of bread annually and rank second in the world per capita consumption of bread after Turkey. The country requires at least 14 million metric tons of wheat for bread and production of other foodstuff such as pasta. 

According to Deputy Agriculture Minister Mojtaba Khayam-Nekouei, the government purchased 9.7 million tons of wheat from farmers at the guaranteed price of 150,000,000 rials per ton (under $500) during the previous crop year. This is roughly competitive with international market prices.

Farmers demand a much higher payment for the current year arguing that Iran’s 50-percent annual inflation has hugely increased all their production costs including labor. 

Jafar Hosseini, an advisor to the Chamber of Agricultural Unions, said Friday that the government’s guaranteed price, which it was supposed to announce before July 22, has been set at 195,000 rials per kilo. He said anything less could dissuade farmers from planting. According to Hosseini, other farmers including those producing oil seeds are facing similar problems as wheat producers. 

Bread prices have jumped by up to 40 percent in most provinces since March despite officials underlining before that the price of bread was President Ebrahim Raisi’s “redline”. The hike in the price of bread was a result of a government decision to scrap the subsidy for imported wheat, flour and other essential items.

Iran is among the world’s top twenty producers of wheat. The country ranked 12 globally in 2022 with 15 million tons and also a major importer. 

In recent years the area under wheat cultivation has increased to around five million hectares nearly 3.5 million hectares of which is rainfed. 

Abbas Golroo said, "The Americans ... sent us a message not to get involved in the war".

Shortly after the attack launched when thousands of Hamas militants infiltrated Israel by land, sea and air, the US began moving warships and aircraft to the region in support of Israel and as a warning to the regime.

On Friday, a second carrier strike group will begin making its way to the Mediterranean in addition to scores of aircraft already heading to US military bases around the Middle East.

Munitions have already arrived in Israel and special operations forces are now assisting Israel’s military in planning and intelligence.

While thousands of Israelis and Palestinians are dying in the war declared by Hamas last Saturday in the single most deadly day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, he said the Hamas onslaught is a “legitimate defense” as per the United Nations Charter.

He made the remarks on Saturday as the regime's top leadership expressed solidarity with the terror group for the unprecedented attack which took Israel by surprise on a religious holiday in a haunting reminder of the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago.

“The operation carried out by Palestinians was notably intricate, involving elements of cyber warfare, drones, aerial assaults, ground advancements, and field actions," he said. "It was executed with an element of surprise, resulting in casualties and significant damage to Israel.”

Golroo added that the Islamic Republic has consistently shown support for Palestine, and it has provided assistance, indicating a long-standing commitment to the Palestinian cause.

Reza Rasaei was handed the death penalty by the second branch of the Kermanshah Province Criminal Court on Friday. He was accused of the murder of Nader Beirami, head of the Intelligence of the Revolutionary Guards in Sanandaj, during a violent protest last November.

According to Dadban, a group of pro-bono lawyers in Iran dedicated to defending political prisoners and rights activists, Beirami was killed following a clash between security and law enforcement forces and protesters.

Approximately one week after the incident, Rasaei and ten other citizens were arrested on charges of participating in the assault and injury of Beirami solely for their presence at the protest.

Security authorities attributed Beirami's murder to Rasaei without any evidence, witnesses, or documents, as reported by various human rights organizations including Dadban and Hengaw.

The spokesperson for the judiciary of the Islamic Republic had previously announced that 52 individuals had been arrested in connection with Beirami's murder.

The Yarsan faith, also known as Ahl-e Haqq, is one of the oldest Middle Eastern religious traditions with about three million followers in Iran, primarily in western Kurdish areas, and 120,000 to 150,000 in Iraq known as Kaka'i.

Yarsan adherents have encountered challenges, including the inability to register their children as Yarsan at birth, restrictions on building places of worship, and the fear of persecution for printing their holy book.