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The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval commander Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said the Persian Gulf belongs to Iran, saying that Iran has the right to question any vessels entering the Straits of Hormuz and Iranian territorial waters. The statement is the latest in a series of Iranian threats to neighboring countries of the Persian Gulf after six months of tensions in which Iran downed a US drone, attacked six ships and seized one UK-flagged ship in the sensitive waterway.Tangsiris statement is part of the IRGCs increasing attempts to harass or provoke the US and allies. The IRGC navy controls and monitors the foreign vessels which enter the Persian Gulf and questions them about their nationality, type of vessel and their destination, said the Iranian commander. He claimed the US has always responded to these requests. Iran hosted Omans foreign minister recently and sought to reduce tensions with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Iran wants to push its own initiative called Hormuz Peace Endeavor (HOPE) in the Gulf. It also says that it wants a joint naval drill with Russia and China.Irans mixed statements about peace and also control are a way to send a message to the US and Western navies. For instance the US has sought to lead a maritime security initiative in the Gulf and France has pushed its own European role. Denmark and Holland appear ready to work with France, which has a naval base in the UAE. The US has a naval base in Bahrain. Since August the UK and US have also worked increasingly closely in the Gulf. In July, the UK seized an Iranian tanker and Iran seized a British tanker. Iran wants to claim that its navy can do what it wants, even escort US ships, in the Gulf.Irans IRGC naval commander says the Gulf covers 250,000 square kilometers and that it opposes nuclear-powered vessels entering the Gulf, including submarines. He says foreign states are also adding to insecurity in the Gulf. Iran says that the seven countries, called 7+1 in Irania parlance around the Gulf should be the ones to establish sustainable security in the region. That would apparently mean Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, Iran and Oman. Tasnim and Fars News both reported the admirals comments.Iran says that it will hold a large-scale naval exercise in the Gulf that will include a massive naval war game. Iran will show off its latest gadgets, although the Iranian navy is not very large and is no match for major Western navies. However, its use of IRGC fast-boats has been successful at harassing large ships of other powers. In March 2018 Iranian IRGC boats harassed the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier and in October 2018, boats harassed the USS Essex, part of the US Amphibious Ready Group. In the summer of 2019 the US increased its naval presence in the Gulf, sending the US destroyer Mason to join the USS Bainbridge. The USS Abraham Lincoln remains near the Gulf with the USS Leyte Gulf. US Central Command said the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Leyte Gulf were in the Arabian Sea on December 10.

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Irans IRGC: The Persian Gulf belongs to us - The Jerusalem Post

An Iranian man whose lorry broke down in Poland will be given a new truck after a fundraising drive

An Iranian driver who was stranded after his lorry broke down in Poland received a helping hand from locals who launched a crowd-funding initiative for a new truck to take him home.

Self-employed lorry driver Fardin Kazemi was delivering raisins to Poland and planned to continue on to the Czech Republic to pick up goods to import to Iran when his American International 9670 lorry broke down.

Mr Kazemi was forced to sleep in his truck after the breakdown 5,550 kilometres from home in the southern city of Czestochowa in early December. Locals provided him with food and a roof over his head a few days after the vehicle broke down, but quickly decided they wanted to do more to help.

Polish lorry-drivers joined forces to help him repair the vehicle, and when that proved impossible, they decided to crowd-fund him a new one.

I have travelled all over Europe for 27 years so far I have not had the chance to get to know Poles better, although they have always been nice. Now it turns out that they are wonderful people, and it is difficult for me to believe in all the help I received, Mr Kazemi told local newspaper Dziennik Zachodni.

By Friday morning, the appeal on the website zrzutka.pl had drawn more than 250,000 zlotys (Dh240,000) in donations for Mr Kazemi.

A replacement lorry was found on Thursday but its seller DAF Trucks - a Dutch manufacturing company which is a division of US firm Paccar - pulled out at the last minute for fear of being affected by US sanctions against Iran.

The organisers of the online appeal now hope to quickly find another vehicle for Mr Kazemi, according to a video posted to Facebook.

Updated: December 21, 2019 11:50 AM

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Polish public to buy new lorry for stranded Iranian - The National

WASHINGTON Iran has used the continuing chaos in Iraq to build up a hidden arsenal of short-range ballistic missiles in Iraq, part of a widening effort to try to intimidate the Middle East and assert its power, according to American intelligence and military officials.

The buildup comes as the United States has rebuilt its military presence in the Middle East to counter emerging threats to American interests, including attacks on oil tankers and facilities that intelligence officials have blamed on Iran. Since May, the Trump administration has sent roughly 14,000 additional troops to the region, primarily to staff Navy ships and missile defense systems.

But new intelligence about Irans stockpiling of missiles in Iraq is the latest sign that the Trump administrations efforts to deter Tehran by increasing the American military presence in the Middle East has largely failed.

The missiles pose a threat to American allies and partners in the region, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, and could endanger American troops, the intelligence officials said.

Both Iran and Iraq have been gripped in recent weeks by sometimes violent public protests. In Iraq, some are protesting against Iranian influence.

Iraqis do not want to be led around on a leash by the Iranians, Representative Elissa Slotkin, Democrat of Michigan and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview. But, unfortunately, due to the chaos and confusion in the Iraqi central government, Iran is paradoxically the best poised to take advantage of the grass-roots unrest.

Iranian officials did not return a request for comment.

Tehran is engaged in a shadow war, striking at countries in the Middle East but thinly disguising the origin of those attacks to reduce the chance of provoking a response or escalating the fight, military and intelligence officials said.

An arsenal of missiles outside its borders gives advantages to the Iranian government, military and paramilitary in any standoff with the United States and its regional allies. If the United States or Israel were to bomb Iran, its military could use missiles hidden in Iraq to strike back against Israel or a gulf country. The mere existence of those weapons could also help deter attacks.

Intelligence officials would not discuss the precise model of ballistic missile Iran has sneaked into Iraq. But short-range missiles have a range of just over 600 miles, meaning that one fired from the outskirts of Baghdad could strike Jerusalem.

American intelligence officials first warned about new Iranian missiles in Iraq last year, and Israel launched an airstrike aimed at destroying the hidden Iranian weaponry. But since then, American officials have said the threat is growing, with new ballistic missiles being secretly moved in.

Officials said Iran was using Iraqi Shiite militias, many of which it has long supplied and controlled, to move and hide the missiles. The Iranian-backed militias have effectively taken control of a number roads, bridges and transportation infrastructure in Iraq, easing Tehrans ability to sneak the missiles into the country, officials said.

People are not paying enough attention to the fact that ballistic missiles in the last year have been placed in Iraq by Iran with the ability to project violence on the region, said Ms. Slotkin, an expert on Shiite militias who recently visited Baghdad to meet with Iraqi and American officials.

Ms. Slotkin pressed Iraqi leaders on the threat from Iran, telling them that if Iran launched a missile from Iraqi territory, it could threaten the American training effort in Iraq and other support from the United States.

The United States was concerned about potential Iranian aggression in the near future, John C. Rood, an under secretary of defense, told reporters on Wednesday, but he provided no details about what prompted officials concerns. CNN reported on Tuesday about American intelligence officials warning about new threats by Iran against American forces in the Middle East.

Tensions in the Persian Gulf have risen since attacks on oil tankers this spring, including off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, as well as a major drone and missile strike on Saudi oil fields in September. The Trump administration and European allies have blamed Iran, which has denied responsibility for the attacks.

Mr. Trump opted against a military strike in response to those attacks, but has authorized the United States Cyber Command to strike targets in Iran, although military and intelligence officials have said such electronic attacks are unlikely to deter Tehran.

Last year, Reuters reported that Iran had moved ballistic missiles into Iraq. In a public report released last month, the Defense Intelligence Agency reported that Irans ballistic missiles were a primary component of its strategic deterrent.

Tehran has been building up its arsenal to better dissuade the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia from attacking.

While decades of international sanctions have weakened the Iranian military, the agencys report said Iran had invested in its domestic infrastructure, allowing it to continue to develop capable cruise and ballistic missiles.

In the strike in September, Iran used sophisticated cruise missiles to attack Saudi oil facilities and disguise, at least for a time, where the strike originated. Those missiles were fired from Iran, but flew around the northern Persian Gulf before striking their targets.

Positioning missiles in Iraq as well as in Iran would further allow the Iranian government to create initial doubts about an attacks origins. Obscuring responsibility, if only for a short time, is a key part of Irans hybrid war strategy, in which it tries to keep its adversaries off balance and pressure them without prompting a larger crisis or even war.

Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the head of the militarys Central Command, has said that he does not think that the American defensive buildup has deterred Tehran. Last month, he said that he expected Iran to try to mount additional attacks in the region.

General McKenzie added in a later interview, Its the trajectory and the direction that theyre on.

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Iran Is Secretly Moving Missiles Into Iraq, U.S. Officials Say - The New York Times

The U.S. military seized a "cache of weapons and advanced missile components" believed to be of Iranian origin in the northern Arabian Sea, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The small vessel carrying the weapons, referred to as a dhow, was believed to be headed to Yemen, a U.S. official told ABC News, where the missile parts would likely support Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The dhow carried dissembled part for anti-ship cruise missiles, land attack cruise missiles, air defense missiles and anti-tank missiles, the official said.

"On November 25th, a U.S. warship conducted a flag verification boarding in the Arabian sea in accordance with international law of what was subsequently determined to be a stateless vessel, and discovered a cache of weapons and advanced missile components," said Pentagon spokesperson Cmdr. Sean Robertson in a statement. "An initial investigation indicates that these advanced missile components are of Iranian origin. A more thorough investigation is underway."

The USS Forrest Sherman, a Navy destroyer, interdicted the dhow early last week in the northern Arabian Sea, and a U.S. Coast Guard boarding party seized the guided-missile parts, a second U.S. official said.

The dhow's crew was held aboard the U.S. destroyer while the missile components were transferred aboard the ship, that official said. The crew has already been released and given to Yemeni authorities, the first official said, but it's unclear where the dhow and crew were transferred.

The Associated Press, which was first to report the seizure, said it was the first time that such sophisticated components have been taken en route to the war in Yemen.

On Wednesday morning, a top Pentagon official said that the U.S. continues to see "indications" that Iranian aggression could occur. That warning came one day after CNN reported that "fresh intelligence" showed there is a "potential Iranian threat against U.S. forces and interests in the Middle East," as evidenced by the movement of Iranian forces and weapons in the region.

"We also continue to see indications, and for obvious reasons I won't go into the details, that potential Iranian aggression could occur," Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood told a small group of reporters.

Rood said that in the aftermath of Iranian attacks over the summer -- attacks which targeted commercial ships, a Saudi oil facility and a U.S. drone -- the U.S. moved about 14,000 additional U.S. troops into the Middle East and "stepped up messaging" to Iran in order to discourage further attacks.

"Watch this space," he said. "I think we're going to be dynamic in our deployments, in our response and how we message. In private, you should know we've sent very clear and blunt signals to the Iranian government about the potential consequences of aggression."

The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group was one of the U.S. assets rushed to the Middle East in May to deter what at the time appeared to be imminent threats to U.S. interests and forces in the region from Iran.

The carrier transited the Strait of Hormuz out of the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, after spending almost two weeks there. While in the Persian Gulf, the Lincoln made a port call in Bahrain, the first port visit during its Middle East deployment that is expected to come to an end soon with the expected arrival of the USS Harry S. Truman.

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US seizes Iranian weapons and missile parts headed to Yemen in northern Arabian Sea - ABC News

The killers of the year 1978 were the representatives of a nonreligious regime and the agents and shooters of November 2019 are the representatives of a religious government, he said. Then the commander in chief was the shah and today, here, the supreme leader with absolute authority.

The authorities have declined to specify casualties and arrests and have denounced unofficial figures on the national death toll as speculative. But the nations interior minister, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, has cited widespread unrest around the country.

On state media, he said that protests had erupted in 29 out of 31 provinces and 50 military bases had been attacked, which if true suggested a level of coordination absent in the earlier protests. Irans official media have reported that several members of the security forces were killed and injured during the clashes.

The property damage also included 731 banks, 140 public spaces, nine religious centers, 70 gasoline stations, 307 vehicles, 183 police cars, 1,076 motorcycles and 34 ambulances, the interior minister said.

The worst violence documented so far happened in the city of Mahshahr and its suburbs, with a population of 120,000 people in Irans southwest Khuzestan Province a region with an ethnic Arab majority that has a long history of unrest and opposition to the central government. Mahshahr is adjacent to the nations largest industrial petrochemical complex and serves as a gateway to Bandar Imam, a major port.

The New York Times interviewed six residents of the city, including a protest leader who had witnessed the violence; a reporter based in the city who works for Iranian media, and had investigated the violence but was banned from reporting it; and a nurse at the hospital where casualties were treated.

They each provided similar accounts of how the Revolutionary Guards deployed a large force to Mahshahr on Monday, Nov. 18, to crush the protests. All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution by the Guards.

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With Brutal Crackdown, Iran Is Convulsed by Worst Unrest in 40 Years - The New York Times