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Men Accused of Impersonating Federal Agents Investigated for Possible Ties with IRGC

US Capitol police attend a morning briefing outside the US Capitol in Washington, US, August 3, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US Capitol police attend a morning briefing outside the US Capitol in Washington, US, August 3, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
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Men Accused of Impersonating Federal Agents Investigated for Possible Ties with IRGC

US Capitol police attend a morning briefing outside the US Capitol in Washington, US, August 3, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US Capitol police attend a morning briefing outside the US Capitol in Washington, US, August 3, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

The US Department of Justice issued a ruling to maintain the imprisonment of two persons arrested in Washington, for impersonating federal security officials over several years, as well as recruiting people to gain access to the security service that protects President Joe Biden and his wife.

The authorities launched an investigation into possible links with Iranian intelligence services, particularly Al-Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Revolutionary Guards.

The US authorities announced the arrest of Iranian-born Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Pakistani-born Haider Ali 35, on Wednesday evening in their residence in the luxurious Crossing Building, in the Eastern Market neighborhood near the US Capitol building in Washington.

Justice Department Assistant Attorney Joshua S. Rothstein told the court on Friday that the two men, who hold US passports with visas to Iran and Pakistan, have impersonated Department of Homeland Security officials, including members of federal law enforcement agencies, since February 2020.

Rothstein said that during 2019 and 2020, the two men recruited professional security personnel in an apartment building in Washington, and traveled several times to Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and Qatar.

In addition, Rothstein said that Ali “made claims to witnesses that he had connections to the ISI, which is the Pakistani intelligence service.”

Investigators found in the residence a number of pistols, stockpiles of weapons, flak jackets, radios, a small drone, training manuals and surveillance equipment.

They were also charged with providing bribery and favors to members of the United States Secret Service, including an agent working with the bodyguards of First Lady Jill Biden, and another officer in the White House Uniformed Division.

Judge Michael Harvey ordered that the two men not be released on bail, due to fears that they might escape the United States. The Pakistani embassy in Washington did not comment on the allegations of the suspects’ links with Pakistani intelligence. CBS News reported that investigators are looking into the possibility that the accused have links to Iranian intelligence, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, or its foreign arm, Al-Quds Force.

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World

Pregnant Syrian Mum, 5 Kids Die in Container Fire in Türkiye

A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)
A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)
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Pregnant Syrian Mum, 5 Kids Die in Container Fire in Türkiye

A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)
A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)

A pregnant Syrian woman and her five young children died when a fire ripped through containers housing agricultural workers near the southwestern Antalya resort, the governor and media reports said Friday.

DHA news agency said the 27-year-old mother was seven months pregnant, with her husband fighting for his life after the blaze.

The tragedy occurred as Türkiye began celebrating the three-day Bayram holiday to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Antalya Governor Hulusi Sahin said the fire ripped through several containers where greenhouse workers were living in Kepez district, just north of Antalya.

"Three containers caught fire, and we lost a mother and five children aged between four and nine," he told reporters standing in front of the charred remains of a container and a burned-out car.

Five others were injured in the blaze, one of whom had sustained "life-threatening injuries", he said.

DHA said the fire broke out in the northern Gaziler neighborhood at around 1:30 am (2230 GMT on Thursday), with local leader Suleyman Kaplan saying the victims were from a family of Syrian agricultural workers.

"A fire broke out in the middle of the night in a container where Syrians were staying. Unfortunately, five children and their pregnant mother died. The children's father was also injured and is in intensive care," he told DHA.

Anadolu said four of the injured -- one of whom was a two-year-old -- had the same family names as the victims, while the fifth was the business owner.

Although the cause was not immediately clear, Sahin said it appeared someone had been having a barbecue on a burner outside the containers.

"It seems they went to bed without extinguishing it. But for now, we cannot definitively say that's why it happened," he added.

Investigators were looking into the cause of the blaze and had arrested three people, he said.

Kaplan said he and other neighborhood leaders had repeatedly asked the authorities to set up a fire station in the area.

"As a community, we've asked for a fire engine because the fire station is so far away and it takes the fire brigade too long to arrive," he said.

"We urgently need a fire station."

World

UK FM Warns Iran against 'Directly' Targeting British Bases

UK and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado
UK and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado
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UK FM Warns Iran against 'Directly' Targeting British Bases

UK and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado
UK and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado

Britain's Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper warned her Iranian counterpart in a phone call "against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly", a foreign office statement said Friday, AFP reported.

The statement was response to one issued by Iran's foreign ministry in which it said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Cooper in the call on Thursday that any US use of British bases would be seen as "participation in aggression" against the Islamic republic.

Cooper told Araghchi "the defensive UK operations in the region were a response to the Iranian aggression against Gulf partners", the UK foreign office said, adding: "She made clear that the UK wants to see a swift resolution to this conflict."

World

Trump Calls NATO Allies 'Cowards' over Iran

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
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Trump Calls NATO Allies 'Cowards' over Iran

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

US President Donald Trump on Friday branded NATO allies "cowards" for not heeding his demand for military assistance against Iran to control the Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

Trump has recently veered between saying that Washington needs no help to secure the vital waterway for oil tankers, and then lashing out at other countries for failing to help.

"Without the USA, NATO IS A PAPER TIGER!" Trump posted on his Truth Social network, AFP reported.

"They didn't want to join the fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran. Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don't want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices.

"So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!"

The 79-year-old Republican, a long-term skeptic of the Western military alliance, has launched a series of diatribes against NATO in recent days.

On Thursday, six major international powers, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan said they were ready to "contribute to appropriate efforts" to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

But they have not formally committed to any mission to work in the crucial waterway -- while other allies such as Germany and Italy have ruled out doing anything before a truce in the Middle East war.

None of the countries Trump has called on to help was consulted before the US-Israeli mission started.

An effective Iranian blockade has paralyzed commercial shipping through the crucial maritime chokepoint, which in peacetime sees a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas pass through it.

Global oil prices have spiked as a result of the war, which erupted on February 28 when the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, leading Tehran to retaliate with strikes across the Gulf region.