Iran Denies US Claim it Targeted Tanker near India

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran March 19, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran March 19, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Iran Denies US Claim it Targeted Tanker near India

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran March 19, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran March 19, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iran denied on Monday a US claim that a drone launched from Iran had struck a chemical tanker in the Indian ocean.
The Pentagon said at the weekend that the Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned and Netherlands-operated Chem Pluto ship was hit 200 nautical miles off the coast of India, Reuters said.
"These repetitive accusations are rejected as baseless," Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said at a briefing, adding that the US instead should face accusations for its role in Israel's war in Gaza.
The Iranian navy has taken delivery of cruise missiles with a range of 1,000 km (621 miles) as well as reconnaissance helicopters, state media reported on Sunday, amid growing attacks on shipping lanes in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent bombardment of Gaza.



Israeli Police Arrest Couple Accused of Spying for Iran

A man walks across a bridge, in front of billboards bearing the flags of the US and Israel with a message in support of US presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Tel Aviv on October 30, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
A man walks across a bridge, in front of billboards bearing the flags of the US and Israel with a message in support of US presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Tel Aviv on October 30, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
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Israeli Police Arrest Couple Accused of Spying for Iran

A man walks across a bridge, in front of billboards bearing the flags of the US and Israel with a message in support of US presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Tel Aviv on October 30, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
A man walks across a bridge, in front of billboards bearing the flags of the US and Israel with a message in support of US presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Tel Aviv on October 30, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Israeli police said Thursday they have arrested a couple accused of spying on Israeli intelligence sites and collecting information on an Israeli academic on behalf of Iran.

Israeli security services say they have uncovered several Iranian spy networks in recent months. The two archenemies have waged a long-running shadow war that has burst into the open since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. They exchanged fire directly for the first time in April and then again this month.

In a statement released Thursday, the police and the Shin Bet internal security agency said that the man arrested, Rafael Guliev, from the central city of Lod, had surveilled Israel’s Mossad spy headquarters for the Iranians and collected information on an academic working at the Institute for National Security Studies, a prominent Israeli think tank. It did not identify the scholar.

The statement said Guliev was also entrusted with finding an assassin, though the statement did not make clear if he had actually done so.
Guliev’s wife, Lala, assisted in the activities, the statement said.