Sweden Summons Iran Diplomat Over Detained Citizens

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Herzog’s call for a coalition to face Iran and its proxies comes against a backdrop of rising tensions in the Middle East following the Israel-Hamas conflict, sparked by Iran-backed Hamas's October 7 invasion of Israel. Some 1,200 mostly civilians were murdered and over 250 more taken hostage. 

There is an empire of evil emanating from Tehran, spending billions of dollars in arms and money and people's well-being to derail the entire stability of the world and the region. They've attacked the United States forces two nights ago, openly. They have proxies all over the region quietly lurking to undermine any peace process and any stability of the world. And that is exactly what we are seeing – and they have to be faced by a very strong coalition, Herzog said.

Though the Iranian regime has avoided any direct involvement in the Gaza war, Tehran has used its proxy groups in the region such as Houthis and Hezbollah to attack Israeli and American targets since the war began. From north to south, around 250,000 Israelis have been displaced since October.

"Every Israeli wants to know that he will not be attacked in the same way from north or south or east," explained the President. "You have Hezbollah in the north, armed up to its neck by Iran, financed by Iran, and simply firing, ongoing, and killing civilians, and killing soldiers, and going to war with Israel."

Speaking of Iran's influence on Gaza, he added: "It was taken over by Hamas in a coup d’etat in 2007 after we pulled out of Gaza unilaterally to the last iota. And from then on, it became a platform for Iran and all its proxies. And from then on, we had thousands of missiles on our heads."

Yemen's Houthis, in particular, have disrupted regional stability and international trade by targeting shipping lanes in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The blockade, instigated by Iran's Supreme Leader, has seen the US lead a multinational naval coalition in the Red Sea to protect trade vessels.

At least 20 countries, including Britain, Norway, Seychelles, France, the Netherlands, Australia and Italy, have joined the coalition and the US and UK have carried out direct attacks on Houthi assets in Yemen in recent days. 

Dozens of attacks on the global shipping route have forced many companies to reroute to longer and more expensive journeys around Africa.

As recently as Thursday morning, Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani expressed support for the attacks carried out by Yemeni Houthi rebels on commercial ships in the region. “The Yemenis are moving in the direction of the world’s wishes, undoubtedly achieving victory, and we commend their efforts,” he stated.

How to end the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict has been a ubiquitous topic in most of the discussions held in the World Economic Forum’s main stage. Referring to the issue, the Israeli president stressed that neither the political establishment nor the public opinion in Israel considers the possibility of a peace agreement at the moment given the ongoing war with Hamas.

“If you ask an average Israeli now about his or her mental state, nobody in his right mind is willing now to think about what will be the solution of the peace agreements,” Herzog noted, adding that the annihilation of Iran-backed Hamas would benefit Israelis, Palestinians, and the entire free world.

He added that in order for any peace process to come into existence and be viable, Israel first needs guarantees to make sure that it will not witness another deadly rampage like the one carried out by Hamas militants on October 7.

Nonetheless, Herzog did not reject the prospect of peace in the region: “We all understand that there has to be a vision, and I think part of it should be also going back to the normalization process of Israel and its neighbors.”

Herzog’s remarks came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the integration of Israel in the region and the creation of a Palestinian state, saying these actions would isolate the Islamic Republic and its proxy groups.

Israel will not experience “genuine integration” and “genuine security” without a Palestinian state, Blinken stressed.

Citing three anonymous US officials, NBC News reported on Wednesday that the Israeli government has turned down Blinken’s peace plan. According to the proposal, Saudi Arabia would normalize its relations with Israel in case the latter approved of a pathway towards Palestinian statehood.

American news website Axios announced on Sunday that Washington is “frustrated” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over “his rejection of most of the [US] administration’s recent requests related to the war in Gaza.”

"As for our inner circle, then, of course, I should mention countries in the Middle East - Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar," Lavrov told a news conference devoted to the achievements of Russian diplomacy in 2023.

Lavrov emphasized Russia's keenness to advance relationships not solely through bilateral means but also through regional organizations established by several of Russia's partners.

"I mean the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, I mean the League of Arab States, ASEAN, the African Union, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and others," he explained.

Russia has delayed the renewal of a two-decade-old strategic agreement with Iran; however, amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Moscow is increasingly reliant on Iranian weaponry, including kamikaze drones.

Much like North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong Un met with Putin in Russia's far east in September, Iran is a declared adversary of the United States, presenting Moscow with the opportunity to supply military hardware for the Ukrainian war, where Russian forces extensively deploy Iranian drones.

In November, the Kremlin acknowledged the ongoing development of relations between Russia and Iran, particularly in the field of military-technical cooperation. However, there was no comment on the White House's suggestion that Iran might be contemplating providing Russia with ballistic missiles.

Iranian authorities have stated that military cooperation with Russia is expanding, with Iran finalizing arrangements last year for Russia to supply Su-35 fighter jets, Mi-28 attack helicopters, and Yak-130 pilot training aircraft.

Amid global sanctions, the UAE has seen around one million Russians descend on its shores since war broke out, the tax haven offering a sanction free destination for oligarchs and non-oligarchs alike. Turkey equally has seen a spike in Russian arrivals, especially from Russia's oligarch elite.

The former head of the Iranian Parliament's Foreign Relations and National Security Committee anticipates a war in the region with Iran and the US as key players, while Iran's former Ambassador to Norway says the probability of a war between Iran and the United States is very low."

Former lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, who is currently teaching international relations at the Tehran University expressed in a January 15 tweet, "There is an unprecedented war looming ahead, unlike anything since World War II. After numerous fruitless visits to Oman [to finalize a nuclear deal], the most practical solution for both Iran and the United States is to return to the negotiation table in Oman." 

However, he noted that the efforts in Oman have been practically abandoned, and diplomats find themselves idle in a region embroiled in conflict.

Quoting the tweet on the following day, centrist website Entekhab quoted the former lawmaker as also having said that: "If a war breaks out within the next two years, the US is not the only player who will be in control. Despite the 'maximum pressures' Iran is likely to have more manoeuvrability."

He also noted that the Iran-led Resistance Front knows that current developments are not moving in a direction that would serve its interests. Falahatpisheh made the comments after the strikes on a Hamas leader in Lebanon and US strikes on Houthis in Yemen. He said that developments in the region are generally going ahead in the direction envisaged by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “other Israeli radicals.”

Meanwhile, another Iranian pundit, former diplomat Abdolreza Faraji Rad, who currently teaches geopolitics at Iranian universities, says : "The probability of a war between Iran and the United States is too small, unless a strange development occurs."

He asserted that Netanyahu desires a war between Iran and the United States to serve as the final chapter in the ongoing regional conflict. Falahatpisheh also noted two indicators suggesting an increasing likelihood of implementing Netanyahu's idea. First, there is a resurgence of maximum pressure on Iran. Biden had previously abandoned this approach, but he has now returned to it, with the additional goal of targeting Iran's regional allies. Falahatpisheh remarked, "Given these circumstances, Iran might consider a limited war with the US more preferable than enduring maximum pressure."

Nonetheless, Iran’s former ambassador to Norway Abdolreza Farajirad agreed with Falahatpisheh that Israel has been working hard for three months now to bring about a confrontation between Iran and the United States. Israel still hopes to drag Iran into the tension prevailing between the Houthis and the US in the Red Sea.

He added that the escalation of war in the region and attacks on the forces close to Iran as well as the strikes on Iranian commanders [in Syria] have increased the possibility of a military confrontation between Iran and the United States although both sides have officially declared that they do not intend to get involved in a war with the other side.

Farajirad further mentioned that support for Israel has weakened Biden's position in the US elections and therefore, he is not interested in a war in an election year. As a result, unless something exceptional occurs, there is very little chance of a war between Iran and the United States under the current circumstances.

Ahmad Jannati, Secretary of the Guardian Council, hailed the missile operations, stating, "the recent intelligent and powerful missile operations by the IRGC against terrorist forces once again demonstrate the comprehensive and faith-based prowess of the Islamic Republic."

Vice-President for Parliamentary Affairs, Mohammad Hosseini also said that "the action by the armed forces was very valuable and demonstrated that our words were not merely for appeasing the people."

On Tuesday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed a series of missile and drone operations against Iraq, Pakistan, and Syria. They claimed a “spy headquarters” in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, as well as ISIS centers in Syria and Jaish al-Adl militants’ group inside Pakistani territory were targeted.

President Ebrahim Raisi said the attacks were a step towards "tranquility" during the Wednesday cabinet session, though it has inflamed already mounting tensions in the region into new fronts.

The missile strike on Tuesday marked Iran's first significant incursion into Pakistan's sovereign territory. In retaliation for Iran's missile attack, Pakistan targeted several locations inside Iranian territory early on Thursday, resulting in the death of nine, including three women and four children, according to official Iranian news agencies.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that the men are detained in prisons around the country.

The report emphasizes the involvement of branches 26 and 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, led by Judges Iman Afshari and Mohammad Moghiseh, in issuing death sentences for eight of the individuals in two separate cases.

Charges against them include allegations of "insurgency, corruption on earth, membership in opposition parties, and collaboration with foreign countries." Despite repeated assertions of the baselessness of the accusations in letters published by human rights organizations in recent years, the prisoners now find themselves on death row.

HRANA, after scrutinizing the current status of the 12 prisoners, has declared that the report illustrates a "repetitive and alarming pattern of human rights violations in Iran." The human rights organization condemns instances of confessions obtained under torture as “blatant injustices and clear violations of the fundamental rights of these individuals.”

The organization additionally emphasized, "In terms of access to their chosen legal representation, these prisoners have never effectively exercised this right, and their trials have been short and riddled with numerous flaws, indicative of their deprivation of fair trial proceedings."

As the regime struggles to contain dissent, hundreds of Iranians were killed last year, many of whom were political prisoners, with a spike in executions for drug related offences.