Iranian Newspapers Renew Support for Houthi-Fired Missiles Targeting Gulf Countries

Iranian newspaper Kayhan incites Houthis to launch more missiles at countries participating in the Arab Coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Iranian newspaper Kayhan incites Houthis to launch more missiles at countries participating in the Arab Coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Iranian Newspapers Renew Support for Houthi-Fired Missiles Targeting Gulf Countries

Iranian newspaper Kayhan incites Houthis to launch more missiles at countries participating in the Arab Coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Iranian newspaper Kayhan incites Houthis to launch more missiles at countries participating in the Arab Coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Iranian newspapers supported the Tehran-backed Houthi group in Yemen in their launching of a cruise missile at the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates.

Papers led with headlines and justifications saying that the alleged missile attack last was in response to confrontations witnessed by the forces of late former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Houthi militias.

Iranian newspapers omitted however the UAE’s denial that any missile had struck the nuclear reactor project’s site. They went ahead instead and promoted the claims made by Houthis.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasimi meanwhile denied reports by local news agencies of arson in the Iranian embassy in Yemen. He also denied that Iranian diplomats were present in the capital Sanaa.

Ultra-conservative newspapers loyal to the Revolutionary Guard led with headlines supporting the launch of Houthi rockets into Saudi Arabia and the UAE even after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had called for resolving the region's disputes through dialogue.

An editorial from the Iranian Kayhan newspaper led with stirring headlines that supported the missile attacks by the Houthis.

In addition, Iranian media went into a state of alert after clashes erupted in Sanaa last week between forces loyal to Saleh and the Houthi militias.

The newspaper, which is close to the office of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, renewed calls on the Houthis to fire rockets against countries participating in the coalition to support the legitimacy in Yemen.

A semi-official Iranian news agency said authorities at the Iranian culture and information ministry suspended the Kayhan newspaper for two days following its calls for rockets to be fired against the UAE. Officials in the spiritual administration said that such calls went against Iran's supreme interests.

The Kayhan ban came after it ran a headline saying Dubai was the "next target" for Yemen's Houthis.



Iran Discloses New Details of Israeli Attempt to Assassinate Heads of Three Govt. Branches

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, on Saturday evening (Iranian Presidency) 
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, on Saturday evening (Iranian Presidency) 
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Iran Discloses New Details of Israeli Attempt to Assassinate Heads of Three Govt. Branches

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, on Saturday evening (Iranian Presidency) 
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, on Saturday evening (Iranian Presidency) 

The Fars news agency on Sunday disclosed new details of an assassination attempt that targeted a high-level meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council attended by heads of the three government branches and high-ranking officials during the 12-day war between Tehran and Tel Aviv.

Iran has launched a comprehensive investigation into the assassination attempt, and there is suspicion that an agent was involved, informed sources told the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated news agency.

Fars said that in the attack, “some officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, suffered minor injuries to their legs while leaving the meeting,” and added that they escaped through “an emergency hatch that had been planned in advance.”

The speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, were also said to have been in the meeting.

According to Fars, the attack occurred on Monday, June 16, at the lower levels of a secure government facility in western Tehran.

Fars said the attack was modeled after an Israeli plan to assassinate Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, involving the launch of six bombs or missiles aimed at entry and exit points to block evacuation routes and disrupt ventilation.

Following the explosions, power was cut to the targeted floor. However, Iranian officials reportedly managed to escape through a pre-designated emergency hatch.

In an interview last week with Tucker Carlson, the political commentator, Pezeshkian accused Israel of trying to assassinate him but did not admit to having being injured. “They did try, yes... They acted accordingly, but they failed,” he said.

Hours after the Fars news agency published its report, a spokesman of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council told the Nour News agency that “the Israeli attack on a secret meeting of the Council at a highly protected site, attended by heads of authorities and senior military and political leaders, set a dangerous precedent and sounded the alarm about the possibility of a security breach and the need to strengthen protection at the highest levels.”

“The attack is a dangerous threat to Iran not only in its timing and location, but also in the fact that it targeted one of the most secret and important meetings of the Iranian state,” the news agency wrote.

Vahid Jalili, the chief for cultural affairs and policy evolution at the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and the brother of Saeed Jalili, Khamenei’s representative in the Supreme National Security Council, was the first to speak about the attack.

He said the meeting of heads of the government branches on June16 was targeted by Israeli attacks just hours before the missile strike on the broadcasting building.

In a related development, the wife of Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ air force, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Iran during the 12-day war, said her husband received a phone call from his workplace, and headed there before he was killed.

In an interview with the Jamaran website, affiliated to the Khomeini Foundation, she said “Amir returned home from a ceremony, slept for about half an hour, before receiving the phone call.”

She added, “Our house was attacked after the dawn prayer.”