Iran: Night Protests Challenge Security, Officials Exchange Criticism

Anti-government demonstrations in Tehran/AFP
Anti-government demonstrations in Tehran/AFP
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Iran: Night Protests Challenge Security, Officials Exchange Criticism

Anti-government demonstrations in Tehran/AFP
Anti-government demonstrations in Tehran/AFP

Iranian preachers’ podiums turned on Friday into stages from where they attacked anti-government protests that kicked off last week in several parts of the country to object to a surge in the prices of basic food supplies and the regime’s bad regional policy.

In a telephone interview from Tehran, Iranian human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Starting 3 pm till late at night, the main streets of Tehran witnessed fueled moments.”

Although the regime was capable to quell anti-government protests in Iran in the past 39 years, night demonstrations continued across the country on Friday.

Protestors echoed their voices in the presence of more than 50 thousand people who attended a football match in the 'Tractor Sazi' stadium in Tabriz, the central province of Azerbaijan.

The Friday prayer leader in Sunni-majority Zahedan, Abdulhamid Mullazahi, criticized authorities for quelling protests and called on officials to pay attention to the demands of the Iranians and their problems.

Official reports said that more than 22 people were killed in the unrest which begun in Iran last week.

More than 40 Iranian university students, mostly activists, were arrested between Dec. 30 and Jan. 4, according to credible information received by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

Hardline preacher Ahmad Khatami told thousands of worshippers gathered in Tehran on Friday that “when cyberspace was closed down, the sedition was stopped,” adding that Iran nation does not support a social network that has its key in the hands of the US.

Khatami was speaking before pro-government demonstrations followed Friday prayers in Tehran and several other cities, including Tabriz and Kerman. It marked the third day of such demonstrations.

Despite the surge of demonstrations across the country, Interior Ministry spokesperson Salman Samani is still refusing to answer journalists’ questions on the situation.

Meanwhile, in New York, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said during an emergency Security Council meeting that "the voices of the Iranian people should be heard."



Russia Says It Destroys Ukraine’s ‘Last Warship’ 

The Yuriy Olefirenko. (Russian media)
The Yuriy Olefirenko. (Russian media)
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Russia Says It Destroys Ukraine’s ‘Last Warship’ 

The Yuriy Olefirenko. (Russian media)
The Yuriy Olefirenko. (Russian media)

Russia's defense ministry said on Wednesday that its forces had destroyed what it described as Ukraine's "last warship" two days ago in the port of Odesa in a missile strike.

Ukraine's navy declined to comment.

"The last warship of the Ukrainian navy, the Yuriy Olefirenko, was destroyed at a warship mooring in the port of Odesa," Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a daily briefing on the war.

He said the vessel had been hit with "high-precision weapons" - a phrase he uses to mean missiles - on May 29, but gave no further details.

Oleh Chalyk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian navy, said he would not respond to any assertions made by Russia. The Ukrainian navy will not disclose any information about losses during the war, he added.

Ukrainian officials said on Monday that Russia had put five aircraft out of action in an attack on a military target in western Ukraine and caused a fire at the Black Sea port of Odesa in heavy air strikes early on Monday.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield accounts of either side.

The Russian defense ministry also said on Wednesday that its forces had pushed Ukrainian units out of positions around the settlements of Krasnohorivka and Yasynuvata in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which Moscow claims to have annexed.

The ministry said "fierce fighting" was continuing around Avdiivka, a large town located between the two settlements, which has been largely razed to the ground during months of fighting.


Israel’s Mossad Confirms Ex-Agent Was One of 4 Who Died When Boat Sank in Italy 

Carabinieri and fire brigade officers take part in the search and rescue operation in Lake Maggiore after a tourist boat capsized near Lisanza (Varese), northern Italy, 29 May 2023. (EPA)
Carabinieri and fire brigade officers take part in the search and rescue operation in Lake Maggiore after a tourist boat capsized near Lisanza (Varese), northern Italy, 29 May 2023. (EPA)
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Israel’s Mossad Confirms Ex-Agent Was One of 4 Who Died When Boat Sank in Italy 

Carabinieri and fire brigade officers take part in the search and rescue operation in Lake Maggiore after a tourist boat capsized near Lisanza (Varese), northern Italy, 29 May 2023. (EPA)
Carabinieri and fire brigade officers take part in the search and rescue operation in Lake Maggiore after a tourist boat capsized near Lisanza (Varese), northern Italy, 29 May 2023. (EPA)

Israel's intelligence agency confirmed on Wednesday that a retired agent was among four people killed in Italy when a sudden storm sank a houseboat hired for a pleasure cruise over the weekend.

The former agent was on the houseboat, with 22 other people, on a northern Italian lake near the town of Lisanza.

Two Italian intelligence agents and a Russian woman — part of the two-person crew — of the boat also died in the incident.

The Israeli prime minister's office issued a statement on behalf of the Mossad saying the unnamed agent's remains had been returned to Israel for burial.

The Foreign Ministry had previously confirmed that a retiree from the Israeli security forces was killed but didn’t provide a name or age or give details on his professional background.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that because of the agent's work in the agency, further details could not be disclosed and extended condolences to his family.

Police said Tuesday they had no further information on the identities or professions of the 19 other people on board who survived. Some managed to swim to shore, while others were picked up by other boats.

Italian media reported that a private plane had picked up the other Israeli survivors and flown them out of Italy.


UN Nuclear Chief Urges Russia, Ukraine to Ban Attacks at Europe’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant 

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is seen from around twenty kilometers away in an area in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. (AP)
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is seen from around twenty kilometers away in an area in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. (AP)
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UN Nuclear Chief Urges Russia, Ukraine to Ban Attacks at Europe’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant 

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is seen from around twenty kilometers away in an area in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. (AP)
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is seen from around twenty kilometers away in an area in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. (AP)

The UN nuclear chief stressed Tuesday that the world is fortunate a nuclear accident hasn’t happened in Ukraine and asked Moscow and Kyiv to commit to preventing any attack on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and make other pledges "to avoid the danger of a catastrophic incident."

Rafael Grossi reiterated to the UN Security Council what he told the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors in March: "We are rolling a dice and if this continues then one day our luck will run out."

The IAEA director general said avoiding a nuclear accident is possible if five principles are observed at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where fighting on seven occasions, most recently last week, disrupted critical power supplies, "the last line of defense against a nuclear accident."

Grossi "respectfully and solemnly" asked Ukraine and Russia to observe the principles, saying IAEA experts at Zaporizhzhia will start monitoring and he will publicly report on any violations:

— Ban attacks from or against the plant, especially targeting reactors and spent fuel storage areas.

— Ban the storage of heavy weapons or presence of military personnel that could be used for an attack.

— Ensure the security of an uninterrupted off-site power supply to the plant.

— Protect "all structures, systems and components" essential to the plant’s operation from attacks or acts of sabotage.

— Take no action to undermine these principles.

Grossi asked the 15 Security Council members to support the five principles, stressing that they are "to no one’s detriment and to everyone’s benefit."

The Kremlin’s forces took over the plant after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy opposes any proposal that would legitimize Russia’s control.

Neither the Russian nor Ukrainian ambassador gave a commitment to support the principles.

Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya accused Russia of continuing "to actively use the nuclear plant for military purposes." He said Russia has mined its perimeter and is responsible for shelling that has inflicted "serious damage" on parts of the plant, undermining its safety. He claimed 500 Russian military personnel are at the plant along with heavy weapons, munitions and explosives.

"The threat of dangerous accident as a result of these irresponsible and criminal actions hangs over us," he said.

Kyslytsya said Ukraine takes "note" of Grossi’s five principles but urges him to add several more, starting with the withdrawal of all Russian personnel from the Zaporizhzhia plant, guarantees of uninterrupted power to the plant from Ukraine, and a humanitarian corridor to ensure that Ukrainian and IAEA personnel at the plant can be rotated safely.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia denied that Russia has ever attacked the Zaporizhzhia plant, placed heavy weapons there or stationed military personnel at the plant to carry out an attack from its territory.

He accused Ukraine of shelling the plant and said "Russia will take the most severe measures" to respond to any Ukraine attack.

Nebenzia insisted that nuclear safety remains a priority for Russia and urged the IAEA to "openly condemn Ukraine’s actions, which have repeatedly brought the world to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe."

Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward said an IAEA report in February confirmed the continuing presence of Russian military troops, equipment and land mines.

"New imagery shows Russian forces have established sandbag fighting positions on the roofs of several of the six reactor buildings," she said. "This indicates that they have integrated the actual reactor buildings of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant into tactical defense planning."

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged council members to support the five principles, but accused Russia of demonstrating "flagrant disregard" for them.

"To make matters worse, recent news reports indicate that Moscow has disconnected Zaporizhzhia's vital radiation monitoring sensors, which means the plant’s data is now being sent to the Russian nuclear regulator," she said,

"This is a clear escalation of Russia’s efforts to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty and authority over the Zaporizhzhia plant," Thomas-Greenfield said. "And this undermines our ability to have confidence in the level of nuclear safety at the plant."

Grossi, asked whether he felt he had received commitments from Russia and Ukraine to the five principles, replied that the council meeting showed "there is a consensus on the fact that no nuclear accident should happen."

"The important thing is that the minimum common denominator, which are these basic five principles, have been widely supported and there was no voice opposing them," he said. "This indicates that what we are saying is something no one has a contradictory view upon."


Medvedev: UK Officials Helping Ukraine War Are 'Legitimate Target'

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev. Reuters
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev. Reuters
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Medvedev: UK Officials Helping Ukraine War Are 'Legitimate Target'

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev. Reuters
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev. Reuters

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that Britain was Moscow's "eternal enemy" and that any British officials who facilitated the war in Ukraine could be considered legitimate military targets.

Medvedev, responding to British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly's remark that Ukraine had a right to project force beyond its own borders, said Britain's "goofy officials" should remember that Britain could be "qualified as being at war".

"The UK acts as Ukraine's ally providing it with military aid in the form of equipment and specialists, i.e., de facto is leading an undeclared war against Russia," Medvedev said on Twitter.

"That being the case, any of its public officials (either military, or civil, who facilitate the war) can be considered as a legitimate military target."


Seven Arrested as Part of ISIS Financing Probe in Germany 

Police officers on patrol in Düsseldorf, western Germany, April 24, 2021. (AFP)
Police officers on patrol in Düsseldorf, western Germany, April 24, 2021. (AFP)
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Seven Arrested as Part of ISIS Financing Probe in Germany 

Police officers on patrol in Düsseldorf, western Germany, April 24, 2021. (AFP)
Police officers on patrol in Düsseldorf, western Germany, April 24, 2021. (AFP)

German authorities have arrested seven suspected supporters of the ISIS terrorist group as part of an investigation into terrorist financing, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

At the same time, authorities conducted 19 raids in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, as well as in one property in the Netherlands, the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The individuals arrested are suspected of belonging to an international network that solicited financial donations for ISIS in Syria through platforms including Telegram and subsequently transferred them to the group or its intermediaries.

At least 65,000 euros ($71,552.00) were transferred in this manner, prosecutors said, adding that the money was used to support ISIS members imprisoned in Syria, in some cases allowing them to escape from prison camps.

The seven suspects are to appear on Wednesday and Thursday before a magistrate who will decide whether they are to remain in pre-trial detention.


Governor: Ukrainian Drone Sparks Fire at Russian Refinery

A specialist inspects the damaged facade of a multi-story apartment building after a reported drone attack in Moscow on May 30, 2023. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
A specialist inspects the damaged facade of a multi-story apartment building after a reported drone attack in Moscow on May 30, 2023. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
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Governor: Ukrainian Drone Sparks Fire at Russian Refinery

A specialist inspects the damaged facade of a multi-story apartment building after a reported drone attack in Moscow on May 30, 2023. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
A specialist inspects the damaged facade of a multi-story apartment building after a reported drone attack in Moscow on May 30, 2023. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

A Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an oil refinery in southern Russia and shelling hit a Russian town close to the border for the third time in a week, Russian officials said on Wednesday.

A day after Russia accused Ukraine of sending drones to attack buildings in Moscow, Ukrainian artillery struck the Russian town of Shebekino about 7 km north of the border with Ukraine's Kharkiv region, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Two people were hospitalized and the shelling smashed windows and damaged roofs of an eight-story apartment building, four homes, a school and other places, he said.

The governor of Russia's southern Krasnodar region said a drone was the likely cause of a fire that broke out at the Afipsky oil refinery.

The fire was soon put out and there were no casualties, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. The Afipsky refinery is not far from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, near another refinery that has been attacked several times this month.

There was no immediate information on who launched the drone but Moscow has accused Kyiv of increased attacks inside Russia in recent weeks, while Russia has repeatedly pounded Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports.

A Moscow-installed coordination center also said on Wednesday that five people were killed and 19 wounded in Ukrainian shelling of a village in the Russian-controlled east Ukrainian region of Luhansk.

The center said on the Telegram messaging service that Ukrainian forces had used HIMARS rocket launchers to attack a poultry farm in the village of Karpaty.


North Korean Satellite Plunges Into Sea after Rocket Failure

This handout photo taken on May 31, 2023 and provided by South Korean Defense Ministry in Seoul shows an object presumed to be part of North Korea's claimed 'Space Launch Vehicle' being salvaged by South Korea's military in waters 200 km (124 miles) west of Eocheong Island in the Yellow Sea. (Photo by Handout / South Korean Defence Ministry / AFP)
This handout photo taken on May 31, 2023 and provided by South Korean Defense Ministry in Seoul shows an object presumed to be part of North Korea's claimed 'Space Launch Vehicle' being salvaged by South Korea's military in waters 200 km (124 miles) west of Eocheong Island in the Yellow Sea. (Photo by Handout / South Korean Defence Ministry / AFP)
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North Korean Satellite Plunges Into Sea after Rocket Failure

This handout photo taken on May 31, 2023 and provided by South Korean Defense Ministry in Seoul shows an object presumed to be part of North Korea's claimed 'Space Launch Vehicle' being salvaged by South Korea's military in waters 200 km (124 miles) west of Eocheong Island in the Yellow Sea. (Photo by Handout / South Korean Defence Ministry / AFP)
This handout photo taken on May 31, 2023 and provided by South Korean Defense Ministry in Seoul shows an object presumed to be part of North Korea's claimed 'Space Launch Vehicle' being salvaged by South Korea's military in waters 200 km (124 miles) west of Eocheong Island in the Yellow Sea. (Photo by Handout / South Korean Defence Ministry / AFP)

A North Korean satellite launch on Wednesday ended in failure, sending the booster and payload plunging into the sea, North Korean state media said, and the South's military said it had recovered parts of the launch vehicle.

The new "Chollima-1" satellite launch rocket failed because of instability in the engine and fuel system, state news agency KCNA reported.

The flight was the nuclear-armed state's sixth satellite launch attempt, and the first since 2016. It was supposed to put North Korea's first spy satellite in orbit, Reuters reported.

It prompted emergency alerts and brief evacuation warnings in parts of South Korea and Japan. The notices were withdrawn with no danger or damage reported.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday the military was conducting a salvage operation to recover what is believed to be parts of the space launch vehicle.

The military shared pictures of debris pulled from the water, including a large cylindrical object tethered to a buoy.

George William Herbert, adjunct professor at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies and a missile consultant, said the images showed at least part of a rocket, including an "interstage" section designed to connect to another stage.

It is most likely a liquid-fuel rocket, and a round, brown object inside is likely a propellant tank for either fuel or oxidizer, Herbert added.

Officials from the United States, Japan, South Korea held a phone call, where they “strongly condemned" the launch, Japan’s foreign ministry said.

“The three countries will stay vigilant with high sense of urgency”, the statement said.

North Korea had said it would launch its first military reconnaissance satellite between May 31 and June 11 to boost monitoring of US military activities.

South Korea last week placed satellites in orbit with a domestically designed and produced rocket for the first time, and China sent three astronauts to its space station as part of crew rotation on Tuesday.

The rocket plunged into the sea "after losing thrust due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine," KCNA reported, in an unusually candid admission of a technical failure by the North.

Pyongyang's National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) will investigate the "serious defects" and take action to overcome them before conducting a second launch as soon as possible, KCNA said.

An official at South Korea’s presidential office said there was a "good chance" of another launch attempt before June 11, the end of 12-day period when the North had flagged to the International Maritime Organization that it planned a launch, Yonhap News reported.

Lee Choon Geun, honorary research fellow at South Korea's Science and Technology Policy Institute, said it was a rare opportunity for South Korea to retrieve part of a North Korean rocket, and perhaps even the satellite. He played down the prospect of another imminent launch, noting it might take the North several months to fix the technical issue.

In data provided to international authorities before the launch, North Korea said the rocket would fly south, with stages and other debris expected to fall over the Yellow Sea and into the Pacific Ocean.

Air raid sirens wailed across the South Korean capital of Seoul about 6:32 a.m. (2132 GMT Tuesday) as the city warned citizens to prepare for a potential evacuation. Later alerts said the city warning had been a mistake.


UN Extends Arms Embargo on South Sudan

Children stand among the rooftops of homes after the Yusuf Batir refugee camp in South Sudan was hit by flooding. (AFP)
Children stand among the rooftops of homes after the Yusuf Batir refugee camp in South Sudan was hit by flooding. (AFP)
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UN Extends Arms Embargo on South Sudan

Children stand among the rooftops of homes after the Yusuf Batir refugee camp in South Sudan was hit by flooding. (AFP)
Children stand among the rooftops of homes after the Yusuf Batir refugee camp in South Sudan was hit by flooding. (AFP)

A divided UN Security Council extended an arms embargo on South Sudan Tuesday over protests from the world´s newest nation and abstentions from Russia, China and the council´s three African nations sympathetic to its demands that sanctions be lifted, The Associated Press reported.

 

The 10-0 vote with five abstentions on the US-drafted resolution was the same as the vote on the previous sanctions resolution adopted last May.

 

In a report to the Security Council earlier this month, UN experts monitoring the arms embargo and a travel ban and asset freeze on targeted individuals said South Sudan is facing violent clashes and increasing disillusionment and frustration as it struggles to implement the most challenging provisions of a fragile 2018 power-sharing agreement.

 

They pointed to difficulties integrating rival military forces, drafting a new constitution and preparing for the country's first election as an independent nation in December 2024, they said.

 

The resolution welcomes "encouraging developments" in implementing some elements including completing the first phase of training and graduation of the unified force. But it expresses concern "over the continued intensification of violence prolonging the political, security, economic and humanitarian crisis in most parts of the country," condemns the mobilization of armed groups, and underscores the need for parties to the agreement to avoid a relapse into widespread conflict.

 

There were high hopes when oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long conflict. But the country slid into a civil war in December 2013 largely based on ethnic divisions when forces loyal to the current president, Salva Kiir, battled those loyal to the current vice president, Riek Machar.

 

The war, which left nearly 400,000 people dead and more than 4 million displaced, ended with the 2018 peace agreement, bringing Kiir and Machar together in a government of national unity. Under the agreement, elections were supposed to be held in February 2023, but last August they were postponed until December 2024.

 

UN special envoy Nicolas Haysom said last week that "We still see 2023 as a `make or break´ year for this nation, if it is to fully implement the peace agreement, which is to suggest that matters cannot be deferred to 2024."

 

The resolution adopted Tuesday extends sanctions until May 31, 2024 and lifts the requirement that South Sudan notify the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions about the supply, sale or transfer of non-lethal military equipment. It also reiterates the council´s readiness to modify or suspend the arms embargo in light of progress by South Sudan on fulfilling key benchmarks toward implementing the power-sharing agreement.

 

South Sudan´s UN Ambassador Akuei Bona Malwal objected to the resolution, telling the council it was put forward "in bad faith with ill intentions" and calling the sanctions "coercive" and unnecessary.

 

"It is counterproductive and has had an adverse humanitarian effect on the very citizens the proponents claim to support and protect from harms way more than the government," he said. "The resolution is an example of brazen interference in domestic affairs."

 

Japan´s UN Ambassador Ishikane Kimihiro, who supported the resolution, said sufficient progress hasn´t been made by South Sudan in implementing the agreement, but he said sanctions should be lifted as soon as that happens.

 

Among the countries that abstained, China´s deputy ambassador Geng Shuang said sanctions "have seriously hampered" the country´s implementation of the 2018 agreement and efforts to improve its security.

 

Ghana´s UN Ambassador Harold Agyeman said "what South Sudan needs from the international community at this time are not sanctions" but carefully managed support for its development and transition.

 

 


Iran Starts Trial of Female Journalist Who Covered Amini’s Death 

A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the country's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul on 20 September, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)
A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the country's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul on 20 September, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Iran Starts Trial of Female Journalist Who Covered Amini’s Death 

A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the country's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul on 20 September, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)
A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the country's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul on 20 September, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)

A Revolutionary Court in Iran on Tuesday began the trial of a female journalist behind closed doors on charges linked to her coverage of a Kurdish-Iranian woman whose death in custody last year sparked months of unrest, her husband said on Twitter.

Mahsa Amini's death while held by the morality police for allegedly violating Iran's strict dress code unleashed a wave of mass anti-government protests for months, posing one of the boldest challenges to the country's clerical leaders in decades.

A photo taken by Niloofar Hamedi for the pro-reform Sharq daily showing Amini’s parents hugging each other in a Tehran hospital where their daughter was lying in a coma was the first sign to the world that all was not well with 22-year-old Amini.

Tuesday's trial session "ended in less than two hours while her lawyers did not get a chance to defend her and her family members were not allowed to attend the court," Hamedi's husband, Mohammad Hossein Ajorlou, said on Twitter.

"She denied all the charges against her and emphasized that she had performed her duty as a journalist based on the law."

Hamedi, along with another female journalist, Elaheh Mohammadi, who went on trial on Monday, face several charges including "colluding with hostile powers" for their coverage of Amini's death.

Iran's intelligence ministry in October accused Mohammadi and Hamedi, both imprisoned for over eight months, of being CIA foreign agents.

Iran's clerical rulers have blamed the protests on an array of enemies, including the United States, aimed at destabilizing the country.


White House Says it Does Not Support Attacks inside Russia

Russian law enforcement officers stand guard near a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
Russian law enforcement officers stand guard near a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
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White House Says it Does Not Support Attacks inside Russia

Russian law enforcement officers stand guard near a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
Russian law enforcement officers stand guard near a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2023. (Reuters)

The United States is still gathering information on reports of drones striking in Moscow, the White House said on Tuesday, reiterating that Washington does not support attacks inside Russia and is focused on helping Ukraine retake its territory.

"We saw the news and are still gathering information about what happened. As general matter, we do not support attacks inside of Russia," a White House spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson said Washington was "focused on providing Ukraine with the equipment and training they need to retake their own sovereign territory," and pointed to Russian attacks on Kyiv, which has been hit by drones or missiles 17 times in May.

Russia said Ukrainian drones struck wealthy districts of Moscow on Tuesday, targeting areas where President Vladimir Putin and other Russian elite have residences. Two people were injured in the incidents, according to Moscow's mayor.

Putin said Tuesday's attack was an attempt to scare and provoke Russia, and that air defenses around the capital would be strengthened.