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Azerbaijan Dismisses Claims on Its Airspace Used to Attack Iran

Azerbaijan Dismisses Claims on Its Airspace Used to Attack Iran
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Azerbaijan Dismisses Claims on Its Airspace Used to Attack Iran

Azerbaijan Dismisses Claims on Its Airspace Used to Attack Iran

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry on Monday denied allowing another country to use its airspace to carry out attacks on Iran.

"Information about Russia's 'Container' radar system detecting unknown planes using Azerbaijan's airspace to carry out attacks on Iran is an absolute lie," Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said according to Azerbaijan's International News.

“The dissemination of such information is aimed at undermining the Azerbaijani-Iranian relations," the Ministry told International News and declared that the allegations of Azerbaijan's involvement were propagated by "pro-Armenian forces" with the aim of damaging the relations between Iran and Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry also stressed that Azerbaijan has never taken any steps against Iran and will not do so in the future.

The source of the news about the detection of foreign planes in Azerbaijan's airspace is the lesser-known Avia-Pro news website of Russia. The news website on Monday claimed that the drones that attacked Iran's military and nuclear sites had been detected by the Russian Radar system.

In recent days there have been explosions at two of Iran's top security nuclear and military facilities – Khojir in the east of Tehran and Natanz in Isfahan province.

Iranian authorities said the incident at the first site was caused by the explosion of a gas storage tank but have delayed the announcement of the cause of the incident at Natanz "for security reasons".

When video footage of the blast surfaced online, the Iranian Defense Ministry quickly rolled out a spokesman to downplay the incident. Davoud Abdi, speaking on state television, dismissed it as a minor blast at a gas-storage facility in a “public area” of the Parchin military complex, outside the Iranian capital.

A well-known former site of nuclear activity, an explosion at the Parchin military complex would undoubtedly have been a serious incident.

Satellite imagery later suggested that the explosion took place at the Hemmat Industrial Complex, east of Tehran and away some 24 km from Parchin.

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World

Iran Frees Seven Crew From Portuguese Ship Seized in Gulf

One of the MSC Aries ships (Social media)
One of the MSC Aries ships (Social media)
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Iran Frees Seven Crew From Portuguese Ship Seized in Gulf

One of the MSC Aries ships (Social media)
One of the MSC Aries ships (Social media)

Iran on Thursday freed seven of the 25 crew on a Portuguese-flagged ship seized in the Gulf on April 13, Portugal's foreign ministry said.

Five Indians, a Filipino and an Estonian from the MSC Aries "have been freed today", the ministry said in a statement. Another Indian crew member had already been released, AFP reported.

Portugal welcomed the action but demanded the "immediate release" of the remaining 17 crew and the MSC Aries, which was seized near the Strait of Hormuz amid mounting tensions between Iran and Israel.

Iran said the container ship had Israeli links when it was taken, in parallel to Iranian forces launching a mass drone attack against Israel.

That unprecedented attack followed a deadly Israeli strike against an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus in which seven Iranian military officers were killed.

Iran accused the ship's owners of having links to Israel. "It is certain that this ship belongs to the Zionist regime," an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said at the time.

Portugal summoned Iran's ambassador on April 16 to demand the release of the vessel and its crew. Iran announced on April 27 that it was considering freeing more crew members.

Foreign ministers from the two countries spoke by telephone 10 days ago.

World

Iran Jails Film Director Rasoulof over 'Security' Offences

Iran Jails Film Director Rasoulof over 'Security' Offences
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Iran Jails Film Director Rasoulof over 'Security' Offences

Iran Jails Film Director Rasoulof over 'Security' Offences

An Iranian court has sentenced prominent filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof to jail time for "collusion against national security", his lawyer Babak Paknia said Wednesday.

Paknia said in a post on X that Rasoulof, whose film is due to be shown at the main competition at Cannes Film Festival this month, will serve five years in prison according to the verdict which also included "flogging, a fine, and confiscation of property."

Rasoulof, 51, known for his film “There Is No Evil," has become the latest artist targeted in a widening crackdown on all dissent in Iran following years of mass protests, including over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.

Iranian authorities haven't acknowledged the sentence but Rasoulof and other artists had co-signed a letter urging authorities to “put your gun down” amid demonstrations over a 2022 building collapse that killed at least 29 people in the southwestern city of Abadan. In the time since then, artists, athletes, celebrities and others have been called for questioning or faced prison sentences.

“This judgment is issued due to Mr. Rasoulof signing statements in support of the Iranian people,” his lawyer Babak Paknia told the AP. He said that those statements, along with his tweets and further social activities, were found to be instances of ‘action against national security.’

Rasoulof faced trial in Tehran's Revolutionary Court, Paknia added.

The tribunals, often handling cases of those with Western ties later used in prisoner swaps by Iran, have been internationally criticized for not allowing those on trial to pick their own lawyers or even see the evidence against them in closed-door hearings.

The director also faces lashings, fines and asset seizures, his lawyer said.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment over Rasoulof's sentencing. He had been scheduled to head to Cannes for the premiere of his new film, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” later this month.

“There Is No Evil,” which tells four stories loosely connected to the use of the death penalty in Iran, won the Golden Bear prize at Berlin in 2020. Rasoulof wasn’t there to accept the award due to a travel ban imposed on him by Iranian authorities. Shortly after receiving the award, he was sentenced to a year in prison for three films he made that authorities found to be “propaganda against the system.”

World

Passengers, Crew Safely Evacuated After Boeing 737 Plane’s Tire Burst During Landing in Türkiye

The first flight departs Istanbul's newly inaugurated airport. (AP)
The first flight departs Istanbul's newly inaugurated airport. (AP)
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Passengers, Crew Safely Evacuated After Boeing 737 Plane’s Tire Burst During Landing in Türkiye

The first flight departs Istanbul's newly inaugurated airport. (AP)
The first flight departs Istanbul's newly inaugurated airport. (AP)

A total of 190 people consisting of 184 passengers and six crew members had been safely evacuated from a plane in Türkiye on Thursday after one of its tires exploded during landing at a southern airport, Türkiye's transportation ministry said no one was hurt.

The Boeing 737 belonging to the Türkiye-based Corendon Airline landed on its nose at Gazipasa airport near the town of Alanya," HaberTurk television and other media reported. The plane was on a flight from Cologne, Germany.

Flights were diverted to the nearby Antalya airport while the aircraft was being removed, the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry said.

It was the second incident at a Turkish airport in as many days.

On Wednesday a Boeing 767 cargo aircraft belonging to FedEx Express made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport after its front landing gear failed. No one was injured and the crew safely evacuated the aircraft.

World

UK System of Arms Exports to Israel Not Same as US, Cameron Says

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron - File/AFP
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron - File/AFP
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UK System of Arms Exports to Israel Not Same as US, Cameron Says

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron - File/AFP
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron - File/AFP

Foreign Secretary David Cameron described Britain's system and scale of arms exports to Israel as completely different from those in the United States, saying the sales it licences were relatively small and policed by strict procedures.

Cameron was responding to a question on whether Britain would follow the US after it warned that it would withhold weapons from Israel in case of a major invasion of Rafah.

"There's a very fundamental difference between the US situation and the UK situation," Cameron said after a speech.

"The US is a massive state supplier of weapons to Israel ... we do not have a UK Government supply of weapons to Israel, we have a number of licences, and I think our defense exports to Israel are responsible for significantly less than 1% of their total."

World

Plane Skids Off Runway in Senegal, Injuring 11

This photograph shows old colonial style houses on Goree Island in Dakar on May 8, 2024. (Photo by JOHN WESSELS / AFP)
This photograph shows old colonial style houses on Goree Island in Dakar on May 8, 2024. (Photo by JOHN WESSELS / AFP)
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Plane Skids Off Runway in Senegal, Injuring 11

This photograph shows old colonial style houses on Goree Island in Dakar on May 8, 2024. (Photo by JOHN WESSELS / AFP)
This photograph shows old colonial style houses on Goree Island in Dakar on May 8, 2024. (Photo by JOHN WESSELS / AFP)

A plane with 78 passengers skidded off a runway before takeoff at Senegal's main airport on Tuesday, injuring 11 people and bringing the facility to a halt.
The Blaise Diagne airport said an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the accident, which occurred at around 0100 GMT as the Transair-owned Boeing 737-300 chartered by Air Senegal was preparing to fly to Mali.
A night-time video shared on social media showed a plane with the logo of Senegal-based airline Transair standing in grass with a wing covered in fire-suppressing foam.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the video.
The airport statement said it activated emergency protocols to evacuate passengers.
"For now, the airport is closed ... The reopening of the airport is expected within the next few hours," it added.

World

On Victory Day, Putin Accuses West of Risking Global Conflict

08 May 2024, Russia, Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in Moscow. Photo: Alexander Kazakov/Kremlin Pool/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
08 May 2024, Russia, Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in Moscow. Photo: Alexander Kazakov/Kremlin Pool/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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On Victory Day, Putin Accuses West of Risking Global Conflict

08 May 2024, Russia, Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in Moscow. Photo: Alexander Kazakov/Kremlin Pool/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
08 May 2024, Russia, Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in Moscow. Photo: Alexander Kazakov/Kremlin Pool/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the West of risking a global conflict and said no one would be allowed to threaten the world's biggest nuclear power as Russia marked the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany in World War Two.
As Russian troops advance against Ukraine's Western-backed forces, Putin accused "arrogant" Western elites of forgetting the decisive role played by the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany, and of stoking conflicts across the world.
"We know what the exorbitance of such ambitions leads to. Russia will do everything to prevent a global clash," Putin said on Red Square after Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reviewed troops lined up in a blizzard.
"But at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always in a state of combat readiness."
Putin, who sent his army into Ukraine in 2022, casts the war as part of a struggle with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence.
 

World

Rob Malley Faces ‘Troubling’ Accusations by Republican Lawmakers

US Special Envoy to Iran Rob Malley (Archives - AP)
US Special Envoy to Iran Rob Malley (Archives - AP)
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Rob Malley Faces ‘Troubling’ Accusations by Republican Lawmakers

US Special Envoy to Iran Rob Malley (Archives - AP)
US Special Envoy to Iran Rob Malley (Archives - AP)

Senior Republican lawmakers in Congress revealed the reasons for the removal of Robert Malley, the US special envoy to Iran, from his post, demanding more information about the case, in a letter they addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Malley’s exclusion has raised controversy since April 2023, when lawmakers expressed their anger at the administration’s evasiveness regarding the reasons for suspending him without pay and canceling his security clearance in June 2023.
Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul sent a letter to Blinken, demanding a detailed explanation of the reasons for Malley’s arrest and investigation.
“Specifically, we understand that Mr. Malley’s security clearance was suspended because he allegedly transferred classified documents to his personal email account and downloaded these documents to his personal cell phone. It is unclear to whom he intended to provide these documents, but it is believed that a hostile cyber actor was able to gain access to his email and/or phone and obtain the downloaded information,” the letter read.
The two congressmen stressed that the allegations were extremely disturbing and required immediate answers.
“Due to the Department’s evasiveness and lack of transparency, we have worked to glean information from other sources. Our own investigations have uncovered the following information and troubling allegations. We ask that you confirm the information we have learned,” they stated.
McCaul and Risch asked Blinken to answer a long list of questions, including whether the alleged hackers who accessed his phone were affiliated with Iran.
“The allegations we have been privy to are extremely troubling and demand immediate answers,” the letter concluded. “These allegations have a substantial impact on our national security and people should be held accountable swiftly and strongly.”
Although Malley remains on unpaid leave, he was not expelled from the position of presidential envoy to Iran, but rather placed under surveillance.
In October, the Oversight and Accountability Committee of the US House of Representatives requested documents from the US State Department, and summoned Malley to testify in the case.
In a letter addressed to Blinken, the committee pointed to a former member of Malley’s Iran negotiating team, Ariane Tabatabai, who was in close contact with the Iranian regime for years.
“Tabatabai participated in the regime-backed Iran Experts Initiative (IEI), which was launched by senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials in the spring of 2014. The alleged purpose of the initiative was to cultivate a network of European and US researchers that could be used to bolster Iran’s image on global security matters, especially its nuclear program,” the letter read.

 

 

World

Armenia's Prime Minister Talks with Putin in Moscow While Allies' Ties are Under Strain

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, February 2, 2024. (Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Pool via Reuters)
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, February 2, 2024. (Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Pool via Reuters)
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Armenia's Prime Minister Talks with Putin in Moscow While Allies' Ties are Under Strain

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, February 2, 2024. (Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Pool via Reuters)
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, February 2, 2024. (Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Pool via Reuters)

Armenia's prime minister visited Moscow and held talks Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid spiraling tensions between the estranged allies.
Putin hosted Nikol Pashinyan for talks following a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union, a Moscow-dominated economic alliance they both attended earlier in the day. The negotiations came a day after Putin began his fifth term at a glittering Kremlin inauguration, The Associated Press said.
In brief remarks at the start of the talks, Putin said that bilateral trade was growing, but acknowledged “some issues concerning security in the region.”
Pashinyan, who last visited Moscow in December, said that “certain issues have piled up since then.”
Armenia's ties with its longtime sponsor and ally Russia have grown increasingly strained after Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in September to reclaim the Karabakh region, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatists’ rule there.
Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers who were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after the previous round of hostilities in 2020 of failing to stop Azerbaijan's onslaught. Moscow, which has a military base in Armenia, has rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.
The Kremlin, in turn, has been angered by Pashinyan’s efforts to deepen ties with the West and distance his country from Moscow-dominated security and economic alliances.
Just as Pashinyan was visiting Moscow on Wednesday, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry announced that the country will stop paying fees to the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-dominated security pact. Armenia has previously suspended its participation in the grouping as Pashinyan has sought to bolster ties with the European Union and NATO.

World

Iran Says to Change Nuclear Doctrine if Existence Threatened

A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him speaking during a ceremony in Tehran on May 1, 2024. (Photo by KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him speaking during a ceremony in Tehran on May 1, 2024. (Photo by KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)
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Iran Says to Change Nuclear Doctrine if Existence Threatened

A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him speaking during a ceremony in Tehran on May 1, 2024. (Photo by KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him speaking during a ceremony in Tehran on May 1, 2024. (Photo by KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)

Iran will have to change its nuclear doctrine if its existence is threatened by Israel, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, Kamal Kharrazi said, raising concerns about an Iranian nuclear weapon.
"We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb, but should Iran's existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine," Kharrazi said, as reported by Iran's Student News Network on Thursday, adding that Tehran has already signaled it has the potential to build such weapons.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei banned the development of nuclear weapons in a fatwa in the early 2000s, reiterating his stance in 2019 by saying: "Building and stockpiling nuclear bombs is wrong and using it is haram (religiously forbidden) ... Although we have nuclear technology, Iran has firmly avoided it."
However, Iran's then-intelligence minister said in 2021 that Western pressure could push Tehran to seek nuclear weapons, Reuters reported.
"In the case of an attack on our nuclear facilities by the Zionist regime (Israel), our deterrence will change," Kharrazi added.
In April, Iran and Israel reached their highest level of tensions, with Tehran directly launching about 300 missiles and drones against Israel as retaliation for a suspected deadly Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Damascus.

World

Biden: US Weapons Have Been Used by Israel to Kill Civilians in Gaza

US President Joe Biden - AFP
US President Joe Biden - AFP
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Biden: US Weapons Have Been Used by Israel to Kill Civilians in Gaza

US President Joe Biden - AFP
US President Joe Biden - AFP

US President Joe Biden publicly warned Israel Wednesday he would stop supplying artillery shells and other weapons if it attacks Rafah in southern Gaza, as he deplored the fact that civilians had been killed by the dropping of US bombs.

"If they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used... to deal with the cities," Biden said in a televised interview with CNN.

"We're not gonna supply the weapons and the artillery shells that have been used."

The threat to cut artillery supplies comes after the United States confirmed on Tuesday that it had already paused a shipment of large bombs over concerns about Israel's planned assault on Rafah, where more than a million Palestinian civilians displaced by the war are sheltering near the Egyptian border.

"Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they (Israel) go after population centers," Biden said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to go into Rafah as part of the campaign to eliminate Hamas after the militants' attack inside Israel on October 7.

Israel has already defied US and international objections and sent tanks into Rafah, seizing early Tuesday the key border crossing with Egypt.

When asked about Israel's action already in Rafah, Biden said "they haven't gone in the population centers."

"What they did is right on the border and it's causing problems with, right now, in terms of Egypt, which I've worked very hard to make sure we have a relationship and help," he told CNN.

He promised Washington would "continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks."