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Irans Foreign Ministry on Saturday denied a report that Israeli agents had fatally shot Al Qaedas second-ranking leader on the streets of Tehran, likening it to a Hollywood scenario manufactured by American and Zionist officials.

The ministry issued the denial to Iranian reporters in the wake of a report Friday by The New York Times, which quoted intelligence officials as saying that Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was killed by two motorcycle-riding assassins on Aug. 7.

That day was the anniversary of the 1998 attacks on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people. Mr. al-Masri was accused of being one of the masterminds of the attacks.

The killing of Mr. al-Masri and his daughter was carried out by Israeli agents at the behest of the United States, The Times reported.

Saeed Khatibzadeh, a foreign ministry spokesman, denied any presence of Al Qaeda members in Iran. And he warned American media outlets not to fall for the trap of Hollywood scenarios fed to them by American and Zionist officials, according to the ministrys website.

Mr. al-Masris death had been rumored but never confirmed until The Timess report.

Mr. al-Masri, who was about 58, was one of Al Qaedas founding leaders and was thought to be first in line to lead the organization after its current leader, Ayman al-Zawahri. The F.B.I. had offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Mr. al-Masris presence in Iran was surprising given that Iran and Al Qaeda are bitter enemies. American intelligence officials told The Times that Mr. al-Masri had been in Irans custody since 2003, but that he had been living freely in an upscale suburb of Tehran since at least 2015.

In its statement Saturday, Irans foreign ministry accused the United States and Israel of leaking false information to the news media so they dont have to take responsibility for the murderous actions of this terrorist group and other groups.

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Iran Denies That Al Qaeda Leader Was Killed in Tehran - The New York Times

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) For over half a century, a massive graveyard on the edge of Irans capital has provided a final resting place for this countrys war dead, its celebrities and artists, its thinkers and leaders and all those in between.

But Behesht-e-Zahra is now struggling to keep up with the coronavirus pandemic ravaging Iran, with double the usual number of bodies arriving each day and grave diggers excavating thousands of new plots.

All of the crises that we have experienced at this cemetery over the past 50 years of its history have lasted for just a few days or a week at most, said Saeed Khaal, the cemeterys manager. Never before not during earthquakes or even the countrys 1980s war with Iraq has the pace of bodies flowing into Behesht-e-Zahra been so high for so long, he said.

Now we have been in a crisis for 260 days, and it is not clear how many months more we are going to be facing this crisis, he said.

With 1.6 million people buried on its grounds, which stretch across more than 5 square kilometers (1,320 acres), Behesht-e-Zahra is one of the worlds largest cemeteries and the primary one for Tehrans 8.6 million people. The golden minarets of its Imam Khomeini Shrine, the burial site of the leader of Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution, are visible for kilometers (miles).

But it was not big enough for the coronavirus, which roared into Iran early this year, seeding the regions worst outbreak.

Iran has reported over 715,000 infections and said that 39,664 have died so far of the coronavirus. The country has set single-day death records 10 times over the past month. Another record came on Wednesday, with 462 deaths. Almost half of the countrys reported virus fatalities have happened in Tehran, putting pressure on the cemetery.

Far past the graves of the dead from Irans war with Iraq and those of politicians, the cemetery has expanded to a new area. Tehrans leaders announced in June that they were preparing 15,000 new graves there about 5,000 more than in a typical year. Satellite pictures from September show the plots deep enough to allow for as many as three bodies in each newly dug, each separated by a layer of dirt and bricks.

While not all of the new graves are for coronavirus victims, most are.

For Khaal, sometimes referred to as the mayor of this vast necropolis, the pace is beyond anything hes seen before.

We used to accept between 150 to 170 dead bodies every day, but these days when we are experiencing the peak of deaths, we are accepting 350 bodies on average, he told The Associated Press.

The tremendous workload is also putting a strain on the cemeterys employees, Khaal said.

Its unclear how other cemeteries in Iran are coping. In March, authorities arrested a man for posting a video online of bodies wrapped in white shrouds and zipped into black body bags at a cemetery in the Shiite holy city of Qom, alleging they all were corona-infected. Officials at that cemetery at the time said they were testing the bodies for the virus.

At Behesht-e-Zahra or Zahras Paradise in Farsi, named after a daughter of the Prophet Muhammad the bodies of known coronavirus victims arrive every day by ambulance. Mortuary attendants prepare each body for the ritual washing required for the Muslim dead. During the pandemic, that now includes the use of disinfectants.

Later, an imam recites prayers, while mourners stand on spaced-out squares that ensure they keep their distance from one another.

These days I perform about 25 to 30 death prayers (for COVID-19 victims) on average, just myself, cleric Meysam Rajavi said. There are about 12 of us who pray for the same number of the dead on a daily basis. This is a big number.

Mourners follow the body to the graveyard, where another masked staffer in gloves and disposable coveralls lowers the body to its final resting place.

The wails of loved ones echo across the expanse of freshly dug graves that await the next funeral.

___

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Nasser Karimi and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Mohammad Nasiri on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/moenasiri.

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In Iran, a massive cemetery struggles to keep up with virus - Associated Press

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THE CONTENT OF THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS

UPDATE: 13:30 PM CET

***

Free Iran Rally Paris 2018

They looked like any couple out shopping as they walked across the Place dArmes in Luxembourgs old city and into a branch of Pizza Hut. But the police were watching closely.

It was the pivotal moment in a terrorist plot blamed on Iran that is about to be laid bare in court to the fury of the regime in Tehran, which has threatened retaliation.

Read more

***

UPDATE: 9:30 AM CET

The Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) announced on Saturday, November 14, 2020, that Coronavirus has taken the lives of more than 154,300 people in 465 cities across Iran. The death toll in various provinces include: 37,541 in Tehran, 11,460 in Khorasan Razavi, 8,670 in Isfahan, 6,530 in Lorestan, 6,415 in Qom, 6,382 in Mazandaran, 5,702 in East Azerbaijan, 4,984 in West Azerbaijan, 4,240 in Alborz, 4,195 in Fars, 3,986 in Golestan, 3,965 in Hamedan, 3,368 in Kermanshah, 2,840 in Markazi (Central), 2,655 in Yazd, 2,596 in Kerman, 2,360 in Semnan, 1,765 in Hormozgan, 1,688 in Ardabil, 1,445 in Zanjan, 1,355 in Ilam, 1,351 in South Khorasan, and 1,210 in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari.

Read more

***

According to New York Times Al Qaedas second-highest leader, accused of being one of the masterminds of the deadly 1998 attacks on American embassies in Africa, was killed in Iran three months ago, intelligence officials have confirmed.

Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was gunned down on the streets of Tehran by two assassins on a motorcycle on Aug. 7, the anniversary of the embassy attacks. He was killed along with his daughter, Miriam, the widow of Osama bin Ladens son Hamza bin Laden.

Read more

***

One year ago today, 49 years old nurse Azar Mirzapur, on her way home from work was shot by security forces during Nov. 2019 Iran Protests in Karaj near Tehran.She was buried in Khoramabbad, West of Iran.

*****

*****

WHAT ARE THE IRAN PROTESTS OF 2019?

Sunday, November 15, 2020, marks the 359th day since the beginning of the nationwide Iran protests.

ThePeoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)has identified828of the more than1500 protesters killedby the regime so far.

Mrs.Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect ofthe National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)has called on the United Nations to urgently send an international fact-finding mission to Iranian prisons to meet with the detainees.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE UPRISING:

Number of uprising cities:191

Number of martyrs: At least1500

Number of injured: More than4,000

Number of detainees: More than12,000

Read more:Iran News in Brief November 14, 2020

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Iran News in Brief November 15, 2020 - NCRI - National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

Two recent ransomware waves that targeted Israeli companies have been traced back to Iranian threat actors, multiple sources have toldZDNettoday.

The ransomware attacks have been taking place since mid-October, have ramped up this month, and have repeatedly focused on Israeli targets.

Israeli companies of all sizes have been targeted by threat actors using thePay2KeyandWannaScreamransomware strains.

Hackers breached corporate networks, stole company data, encrypted files, and asked for huge payouts to deliver a decryption key.

Furthermore, adding to this tactic, this week, the Pay2Key ransomware gang also launched a "leak directory" on the dark web where the group is now leaking data they stole from companies who refused to pay the ransom demand,Ram Levi, Founder and CEO of Konfidas, a cybersecurity consulting firm based in Israel, toldZDNettoday.

The Pay2Key attacks are a curious case because, unlike most other ransomware operations taking place today, these attacks have repeatedly and primarilyfocused on infecting Israeli companies.

Attacks with the WannaScream ransomware have been spotted across the globe, butOmri Segev Moyal, Founder and CEO of Israeli security firm Profero, toldZDNetthat this ransomware is currently available via a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) model and that one group who rents the ransomware from its creators is targeting Israeli companies in particular.

Profero, who is one of the local security firms that are currently providing Incident Response (IR) services to the many beleaguered Israeli companies, said today it tracked several payments Israeli companies made toExcoino, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Iran.

"The overall sophistication of both the WannaScream and Pay2Key ransomware waves is very average. The low level of sophistication with Pay2Key enabled us to track the bitcoin flow easily," Moyal toldZDNet.

"Our team pinpointed an exit strategy at Excoino, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Iran. This act is very uncommon for major ransomware operators," the Profero exec added.

"An experienced operator will go through mixing services, swapping between different coins via Binance sub-exchanges such as ChangeNow, or other less familiar exchanges such as coin2cards.

"We haven't seen any of those in this case. This might indicate the origin of the attackers, though it can be a false flag as we all aware in our industry."

Profero's findings and the links between Pay2Key and an Iran-based threat actor were also confirmed today by Check Point and a third source who spoke withZDNeton the condition of anonymity.

Check Point, who first spotted the Pay2Key ransomware wave last week, plans to publish an in-depth report on its newest findings and the Iranian links on Thursday.

While payments have not been traced to Excoino for the WannaScream attacks, other indicators in the code and ransom negotiations process have also led Moyal and others to think that this ransomware group is also managed by an Iranian entity.

Moyal's assessment that both Pay2Key and WannaScream are unsophisticated operations was also confirmed by evidence from real-world incidents.

For example, in some early Pay2Key incidents, the ransomware's command-and-control servers didn't release a decryption key to some victims that paid the ransom demand, leaving companies unable to recover their files.

In the case of WannaScream, the ransomware decrypter, the app that victims receive to decrypt their files after paying the ransom demand, has also been throwing errors in some cases, similarly leaving companies unable to recover their data even after making payments.

In recent months, both Israel and Iran have accused each other of carrying out cyber-attacks against each other's critical infrastructure[1,2,3].

At the time of writing, there was no evidence to link either Pay2Key or the WannaScream attacks that have taken place in Israel to an Iranian government entity beyond any doubt. Nonetheless, the door has been left open for future investigations.

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Recent ransomware wave targeting Israel linked to Iranian threat actors - ZDNet

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The deteriorating economic situation of Iran has been due to the anti-patriotic policies of the clerical regime and the spending of Iranian funds on the export of terrorism, nuclear and missile projects by the mullahs. The regime blames all economic problems of the country on international sanctions to cover up its corruption that has destroyed the countrys economic infrastructure.

Skyrocketing prices of necessities and revelations about the regimes lies about the sanctions have forced the regime officials including the regimes supreme leader, and other regime officials, to acknowledge that high prices have nothing to do with the sanctions. In this regard, in the infighting between the regimes factions, some of the facts related to the catastrophic economic policies of the regime have come to the surface. A look at the regimes media further discloses the dimensions of this catastrophe. For example, on November 13, the regimes Farhang radio broadcast the speech of Ehsan Arkani, a member of the regimes parliament from Neishabour, who said:

Although my constituency is considered as the center of industry, agriculture, and livestock in Khorasan, the people still suffer from many problems. Our ranchers are suffering from a lack of livestock inputs. Concerning the agricultural water, under the pretext of water consumption management, we cut the water of deep wells in the villages for six months, and then when the crop is dehydrated, we allow them to harvest on the condition of paying money for the water. Is this fair, is this water management or water sales.

He then indirectly explains that the reason for the rise in prices of products is the profitability of regime-affiliated brokers so that the price of the product in the market is more than 45 times the selling price at the place of production. In this The farmer cultivates with all these problems and costs, but they do not even buy his product at the cost price of production, a kilogram tomato costs 500 tomans, but in the market is sold 23,000 tomans. This has nothing to do with Trump and Biden and has nothing to do with negotiations, this has to do with the motivation of serving and offering work to the people, He said.

In another part of his speech, the member of the regimes parliament referred to the regimes imports over the past few years and said that 85% of the regimes imports between 2013 and 2018 were food and livestock, while the regime had not supported the domestic ranchers and farmers.

By addressing the regimes President Hassan Rouhani, he said: In your government, of the $370 billion in foreign exchange earnings, $314 billion, or 85 percent, was spent on imports. Between 2013 and 2018 alone, $39 billion was spent on livestock and food, including dairy and eggs, fruits, and vegetables. This is while our rancher in the country has no livestock feed and you are not buying our farmers product.

Mr. Rouhani, the result of your promise in inflation and controlling it, turned into astronomical inflation of 41%, your promise in the slogan of saving Irans economy, became the worst economic growth rate in the last three decades.

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Iran: Skyrocketing Prices and Government Corruption - NCRI - National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)