Hackers Announce Major Breach of Iranian Foreign Ministry Websites

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10:05-8 May 2023 AD ـ 18 Shawwal 1444 AH

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A group of hackers closely linked to the Iranian opposition organization Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) have claimed responsibility for a major breach of 75 electronic servers associated with numerous websites linked to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

This breach marks the most recent in a series of cyberattacks aimed at Iranian government institutions and facilities.

The hacktivist group ‘Uprising till Overthrow', according to its Telegram account, released hundreds of identification documents, minutes of meetings, the ministry’s correspondence, phone numbers of ministry officials, and the names of 11,000 employees of the foreign ministry, among others.

Iranian authorities have not commented on the documents and information leaked by the group. However, the website of the Iranian Foreign Ministry experienced an outage for several hours following the announcement of the cyberattack.

Since Sunday morning, the Iranian Foreign Ministry's website has displayed a message indicating that it is undergoing routine maintenance and updates that are expected to be completed in a few minutes.

The hackers have revealed that they obtained the documents by breaching 75 servers belonging to the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s e-network.

They indicated that the ministry’s main server, which has a capacity of 50 terabytes, was also breached.

The documents expose the “internal workflow” and “infrastructure” of the ministry.

Through their Twitter account, the hackers claimed to have infiltrated 210 websites within the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s system.

Among the documents released is a list of members of the diplomatic corps abroad, most of whom are due to end their missions before the current Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian took office.

One document includes the names of diplomats representing the Basij forces affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard.

A picture of Amir-Abdollahian’s membership card in the Basij forces, the paramilitary arm of the Revolutionary Guard, surfaced in the leaked documents.

A Twitter account affiliated with the hackers wrote that “Amir-Abdollahian is a former member of the Revolutionary Guard and Quds Force, and currently an active member of the Basij forces.”

In addition, the hackers leaked a picture of the passport of Ali Shamkhani, who is the Secretary-General of the Iranian National Security Council, along with several of his assistants and security team.

The leaked documents provide extensive information about various departments and units within the Iranian Foreign Ministry, including communication channels with other agencies and decision-making centers. Additionally, the documents reveal details such as the types of vehicles used by diplomats and their mobile phone numbers.

Bomb Threat Prompts Checks on Israel-Bound Cruise Ship in Greek Port

View of the island of Halki from a ferry sailing to the island of Rhodes, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, off the island of Halki, Greece, April 13, 2021. (Reuters)

16:53-3 November 2026 AD ـ 23 Jumada Al-Ula 1448 AH

Bomb Threat Prompts Checks on Israel-Bound Cruise Ship in Greek Port

View of the island of Halki from a ferry sailing to the island of Rhodes, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, off the island of Halki, Greece, April 13, 2021. (Reuters)

A ‌bomb threat to an Israel-bound cruise ship prompted a security operation at the Greek island port of Syros on Tuesday after an unknown person claimed an explosive device had been attached to ‌its hull, ‌Greek authorities said.

The Panama-flagged ‌Crown ⁠Iris was due ⁠to sail to Haifa carrying 940 passengers and 597 crew members when the threat was received.

Coast guard personnel assisted ⁠by an explosives detection dog ‌and ‌a private diver searched ‌the vessel, while a ‌special coast guard unit was deployed to the scene.

Initial checks found no explosive device. ‌Coast guard specialists are expected to arrive at ⁠9.30 ⁠p.m. (1930 GMT) to carry out further inspections before the ship can resume its voyage.

At least seven flights in Europe received bomb threats on Tuesday, causing disruption at airports although no devices were discovered.

World

US Will Halt $4 Billion in Aid to Israel, Trump Says

US President Donald Trump points his finger towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they shake hands during a press conference after meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 29, 2025. (Reuters)

16:44-3 November 2026 AD ـ 23 Jumada Al-Ula 1448 AH

US Will Halt $4 Billion in Aid to Israel, Trump Says

The United States will stop providing $4 billion in aid each year to Israel in 2027 but will sell arms to its closest ally in the Middle East, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.

The Republican president told Fox News Channel during a phone call on Election Day for the midterms that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approached him about the idea and that they have been talking about it for a couple of years.

Trump said Israel doesn’t need the aid and it’s a lot of money for the US to spend. But Trump also said that US aid to Israel has become a Democratic talking point for candidates such as Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel.

Even far-right conservatives, who have supported Trump in the past, have taken issue with US support for Israel, with prominent commentators like Tucker Carlson openly questioning the value of the relationship.

“You can consider it barter. You can consider military aid or cash,” Trump said. “Look, we give them $4 billion of things and money, and they don’t need it. And I was approached by Bibi Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money.”

There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office. But at least some of his political opponents were cautious.

Opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot said the announcement showed that Netanyahu must go.

"The fact that Israel's defense establishment is learning of a shift in our strategic relationship through the media, at the same time as the Israeli public, shows just how dangerous Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct is. He can no longer be trusted and must be replaced," Eisenkot said in a statement.

Yair Golan, a leader in Israel’s opposition bloc, said an end to US military aid would deal a “severe blow to Israel’s security” at a time when the country is fighting wars on multiple fronts.

“The burden of funding defense needs at such a critical juncture will fall entirely upon the Israeli public,” Golan, a former deputy military chief, said in a statement.

The United States has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel over the last few years.

In 2016, President Barack Obama, a Democrat, signed an unprecedented security agreement with Israel to give its military $38 billion over 10 years, amounting to $3.8 billion a year. Under the agreement, Israel’s ability to spend part of the funds on Israeli military products was to be phased out and eventually all of the money would be spent on American military industries.

Netanyahu has talked about the need to wean Israel off the aid in the past and has said that the American aid would end at some point.

He told The Economist in January that he wanted to “taper off” US military aid in the next 10 years and that such a change was “in the works.”

But the optics of the aid had also become an issue, according to Trump, who singled out El-Sayed for using it as a talking point.

“The left uses the $4 billion payment — that everybody knows about, it’s no secret — as a signal of unfairness,” Trump said Tuesday on Fox. “And we can’t allow that to happen. I don’t like that, because it’s too easy. It’s almost too easy a target. And Bibi and I have been talking, and we’ve agreed. He was very understanding of it.”

Phasing out direct military and economic aid to Israel has long been a subject of debate in both countries and has gained traction in the last several years.

There are several issues that complicate it, though, not least of which are obligations the US has to Israel under the terms of the Camp David peace accords with Egypt, which require the United States to support Israel and Egypt with security assistance.

In addition, much of the assistance the US provides Israel comes in the form of foreign military financing, or FMF, that gives Israel the money but requires it to spend the money on American-produced weaponry, meaning the funds are plowed back into the US economy.

Unless Israel plans to spend the same amount on purchasing American materiel, US defense contractors may see an impact.

An academic study published last year showed the US under the administrations of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Trump provided at least $21.7 billion in military assistance to Israel after the start of the Gaza war in 2023. The study was published on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel that provoked the conflict.

Another study, also published last year by the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs, said the US had spent roughly $10 billion more on security aid and operations in the broader Middle East in the previous two years.

While the reports relied on open source material for most of their findings, they offered some of the most comprehensive accountings of US military aid to close ally Israel and estimated costs of direct American military involvement in the Middle East.

World

EU to Host Talks on Ukraine with United States and Others on Wednesday

Ukrainian rescuers clear rubble from a destroyed residential building following an air attack in Dnipro on November 3, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

16:32-3 November 2026 AD ـ 23 Jumada Al-Ula 1448 AH

EU to Host Talks on Ukraine with United States and Others on Wednesday

Ukrainian rescuers clear rubble from a destroyed residential building following an air attack in Dnipro on November 3, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

The European Commission will host a meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday with representatives of the United States, Ukraine, NATO and European allies, the European Union's executive body said on Tuesday.

"So tomorrow the European Commission will host a meeting with representatives from Ukraine, from the United ‌States, France, Germany, the ‌UK, NATO and the ‌World ⁠Bank and this meeting ⁠will build on earlier talks that took place in Miami," Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho told reporters in Brussels.

The delegations will discuss a "prosperity plan" and security guarantees for Ukraine, a ⁠source familiar with the plans told ‌Reuters.

US envoy ‌Steve Witkoff had said earlier that the ‌meeting would take place in Brussels.

NATO ‌will host further talks on Thursday, according to Allison Hart, a spokesperson for the military alliance.

She said representatives from France, ‌Germany, Britain and the United States would "discuss the way forward on ⁠bringing about ⁠a just and sustainable end to the war in Ukraine".

The United States will then bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11 to discuss ending Moscow's war in Ukraine, post-war security agreements and de-escalation, Witkoff said earlier in a post on social media platform X.

Hackers Announce Major Breach of Iranian Foreign Ministry Websites

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