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Four Iranians Face Trial Before Belgian Judiciary

Belgian police special forces patrol after an area of the Forest commune that had been closed by them in Brussels, Belgium February 22, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman
Belgian police special forces patrol after an area of the Forest commune that had been closed by them in Brussels, Belgium February 22, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman
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Four Iranians Face Trial Before Belgian Judiciary

Belgian police special forces patrol after an area of the Forest commune that had been closed by them in Brussels, Belgium February 22, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman
Belgian police special forces patrol after an area of the Forest commune that had been closed by them in Brussels, Belgium February 22, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman

This November will witness the trial of an Iranian group charged with planning an attack on a rally of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) at the end of June in Villepinte.

The meeting was attended by some 25,000 individuals including international prominent figures.

The rally was also attended by leading US figures, including President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and other close allies of Trump.

Assadolah Assadi is the central figure in this case. This 49-year-old man was a diplomat in Iraq from 2003 to 2008, before being appointed third secretary at the Iranian embassy in Vienna, in 2014. According to State Security, he mainly acted on behalf of the “Department 312”, a service of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) which appears on the list of organizations classified as terrorist by the European Union.

During his military training, Assadi was notably introduced to the manufacture of explosives and his main mission was to collect information on Iranian opponents, in liaison with the foreign ministry.

In case the charges were confirmed, the four will be handed over a life-imprisonment sentence.

Assadi was arrested while on holiday in Germany and handed over to Belgium, where two of his suspected accomplices had been arrested with 500 grams (one lb) of TATP, an explosive, as well as a detonation device.

Le Mond reported that Assadi showed no cooperation with the Belgium investigation. Not only that, but he also warned authorities of possible retaliation by unidentified groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen if he is found guilty.

Assadollah’s lawyer, Dimitri de Beco, denied his client was making threats.

“It is absolutely not a threat of retaliation and if it’s understood that way it’s a misinterpretation,” he told Reuters. “He will explain the sense of his remarks to the court.”

Jaak Raes, head of the Belgian State Security Service, revealed on Feb. 20 that the terrorist attack wasn’t a personal initiative by Assadi but was pushed by Iran.

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World

Russian Strikes kill 11, Including 3 Children

Local residents stand amid the rubble of a five-story residential building following a Russian attack that killed seven people, including three children, in Zaporizhzhia on October 10, 2026. (Photo by Daria Nazarova / AFP)
Local residents stand amid the rubble of a five-story residential building following a Russian attack that killed seven people, including three children, in Zaporizhzhia on October 10, 2026. (Photo by Daria Nazarova / AFP)
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Russian Strikes kill 11, Including 3 Children

Local residents stand amid the rubble of a five-story residential building following a Russian attack that killed seven people, including three children, in Zaporizhzhia on October 10, 2026. (Photo by Daria Nazarova / AFP)
Local residents stand amid the rubble of a five-story residential building following a Russian attack that killed seven people, including three children, in Zaporizhzhia on October 10, 2026. (Photo by Daria Nazarova / AFP)

Russian strikes on Ukraine's southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday killed at least 11 people, including three children, according to regional authorities.

Ukrainian national police said Russia had targeted residential neighborhoods in the city with "five guided aerial bombs" early Saturday morning, hitting two residential buildings.

The strikes came a day after Ukrainian and European officials met in Miami in a renewed diplomatic push to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

"The toll from the air strikes on Zaporizhzhia continues to rise. At present, 11 civilians have been killed. Among them are three children," said Mykhailo Semikin, head of Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration.

He said rescuers were continuing their search for people under the rubble.

An AFP correspondent at the scene saw people being pulled from the rubble by Ukrainian emergency services.

"We saw people under the rubble -- a woman, her husband and a child," one volunteer rescuer, Daniil Pishkin, told AFP.

He added that he saw two people rescued from the wreckage but "unfortunately there was a little girl who died.”

A resident of one of the buildings that was hit, who identified herself as Iryna, 69, said she just had time to seek refuge in the toilets after receiving an air raid warning.

She said her two neighbors were killed.

"They were 75 years old. They were simply thrown out there, onto the street. They didn't make it to the hospital," she told AFP.

The Zaporizhzhia region, located just a few dozen kilometers from the front line, and its capital by the same name have been the target of frequent strikes.

Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukrainian territory in recent months, causing a growing number of civilian casualties.

Diplomatic efforts mediated by the United States to end the war more than four years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine have so far yielded no results.

World

OpenAI Disrupts 2 Influence Operations Linked to Russia and Iran

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo
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OpenAI Disrupts 2 Influence Operations Linked to Russia and Iran

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo

OpenAI on Thursday said it shut down two influence operations -- from Russia and Iran -- that used ChatGPT to push fake journalist personas and run a “think-tank” to covertly peddle anti-Ukraine propaganda.

The American AI giant said it banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts that originated in Russia and Iran and were used to support “false front” entities for geopolitical and conflict-related messaging, according to AFP.

The Iranian operation involved seven “journalist” profiles, each purporting to be from Western countries including the United States, that were used to plant long-form articles in media outlets around the world.

“We identified almost 100 articles published or syndicated under the operation's bylines across roughly a dozen online outlets around the world,” OpenAI said.

“These were small to medium outlets, generally focused on international affairs, geopolitics, and events in the Middle East.”

The earliest article identified by OpenAI was published in July 2025, and the latest in October 2026, with the frequency of reports increasing after the US-Iran war broke out earlier this year.
The operation also generated social media comments on topics related to the US-Iran war, it added.

One of the personas named Ervin B Hoskins, whose bio claimed to be “an American freelance writer,” had social media accounts across tech platforms including Elon Musk's X and Meta-owned Instagram.

X's transparency information showed the account was connected via a “West Asia android app” and Instagram's transparency information showed the account was based in Iran, according to screenshots provided by OpenAI.

Both accounts appeared to be suspended.

The Russian operation co-opted “unwitting people” in Latin America to run a “think-tank” -- called the Social Research Center (SRC) -- used for covert activities aimed at undermining Ukraine's reputation in the region and to influence local politics, the company said.

“The available evidence indicates that the SRC's employees in Latin America were not aware that they were working for a Russian group,” OpenAI said.

The SRC appears to have produced a majority of original content via its co-opted staff. “This stands out as the most complex attempt to run a front identity that we've disrupted over the past two and a half years,” it added.

World

Iran Guards Say Struck Tanker Transiting Strait of Hormuz

An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
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Iran Guards Say Struck Tanker Transiting Strait of Hormuz

An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that they had struck a tanker attempting to take an “illegal route” through the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has sought to blockade since the outset of the Middle East war.

Maritime trackers also reported on Friday that an unknown projectile sparked a fire aboard a ship off the UAE coast, but named a different vessel.

In a statement carried by official media, the Guards said its naval forces were acting in accordance with “the orders of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the Iranian people’s desire to exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.”

“In carrying out this mission, a few hours ago, a giant LPG carrier named NV Sunshine, owned by NatWit, which was attempting to transit via the illegal route south of the Strait of Hormuz, was struck,” they added, according to AFP.

Iran has attempted to impose its control over the Hormuz over the course of the war, insisting that vessels seek its permission to cross via its preferred routes.

However, ships have increasingly been willing to risk transiting via an alternative route hugging the strait's southern coast.

Britain's UKMTO maritime agency said on Friday that a ship 13 nautical miles (24 kilometers) off the UAE's Al Jazeera Al Hamra, southwest of the strait, was struck by a projectile, which caused a fire on board.

“Status of the crew, damage assessment and environmental impact are unknown at present. Authorities are investigating,” UKMTO said in a statement.

British security firm Vanguard also reported the incident, and identified the vessel as the Panama-flagged crude tanker GEM NO2.

The incident comes days after a tanker was hit off Qatar, around 500 kilometers west of the vital strait.

Ships in the Gulf and those attempting to transit the strait -- the only maritime route in or out of the oil-rich region -- have come under repeated attack since the US and Israel sparked the Middle East war on February 28.

Iran has blockaded the strait ever since, though some vessels do manage to cross, and US media has reported on American military efforts to protect ships on the southern route.

The United States has set up its own counter-blockade of Iranian ports and occasionally fires on vessels linked to Tehran.

Hormuz is vital to the world economy, with around a fifth of the planet's oil and liquefied natural gas passing through the strait before the war began.