Iranian Child Brides At Record Numbers

Yadollah Javani, the political deputy to the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) also opined that the purpose of negotiations with Iran is to establish dominance.

“America today has reached the conclusion that confrontation with Iran is useless and intends to gain leverage through negotiations, tabling the issues of missiles and the nuclear [program], counting on soft power,” Javani said.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday told a security conference that “With or without an agreement, Iran will be a nuclear state and have a nuclear weapon within five years, tops."

At the same time, the chief commander of IRGC, Hossein Salami said Tuesday that the Islamic Republic can dictate to the United States because, “Today’s America is much weaker than what it was 43 years ago,” and in balance of power, Iran is becoming equal to the US.

Salami is known for lofty statements, often claiming that the IRGC or the Islamic Republic have unparalleled power in the region and intimidate even the American military.

Lieberman was speaking at a security conference on Tuesday where Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Iran is at the most advanced stage of acquiring nuclear weapons and Israel reserves the right to confront Tehran, with or without a nuclear agreement.

Israel, itself widely believed to have nuclear weapons, has long argued that the 2015 deal was too weak to prevent Iran from pursuing a bomb. Former US President Donald Trump abandoned the deal in 2018, describing it as too soft, and Iran responded by violating some of the deal's restrictions. President Joe Biden's administration aims to revive it.

Israel has also complained that the nuclear agreement does nothing to rein in Iran's ballistic missile program, or hostile activity by Iranian-backed militia.

"The Iranians have encircled the State of Israel with missiles while they sit safely in Tehran," Bennett said. "To chase the terrorist du jour sent by the (Iranian covert) Qods Force does not pay off anymore. We must go for the dispatcher."

Speaking separately, the chief of Israel's air force offered cooperation with Gulf Arab partners against Iranian-made attack drones, a rare public airing of the possibility of joint operations.

A broadcaster run by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, Al Masirah TV, said three air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition had hit a residential district of the capital.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

In a statement reported by the Saudi state news agency (SPA) on Twitter, the coalition said air strikes had been conducted against "legitimate military targets" in Sanaa.

It described the ballistic missile sites as "secret" and said one of "high-value" had been destroyed.

The coalition said that "the secret positions" had used hospitals, organizations and civilians as human shields.

Residents told Reuters the explosions had rocked the northern neighborhoods of the city, and said two military sites had been attacked.

The Houthis have repeatedly launched cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia using drones and missiles since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the movement ousted the Saudi-backed government from the capital.

The Houthi movement said on Saturday it had fired 14 drones at several Saudi cities, including at Saudi Aramco facilities in Jeddah.

The conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Reuters Report

Gantz also said that these sites were also used to store combat drones.

Iran’s military drone program has expanded in recent years and UAV’s have been more frequently used in recent months both on land and at sea.

Separately, the chief of Israel's air force proposed working with Arab partners - such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, with which Israel formalized ties last year - against the drone threat.

Iran has been accused of attacking tankers in the Persian Gulf region since 2019 when several vessels were hit by what was described as limpet mines. Iranian naval forces have also seized tankers, most recently in late October, when they forced a Vietnamese-flagged tanker into Iranian waters.

Gantz made the allegation, which he described as a first public disclosure, during a televised speech at a security conference hosted by Reichman University.

Chabahar is a port city on the Sea of Oman near Pakistan from where Iranian forces can project power into the Indian Ocean and to the shores of Oman. Frequent naval drills take place in the region.

Javad Rahmati, deputy governor of Eastern Azarbaijan province said the provincial capital Tabriz is enveloped in smug because from late summer power plants were ordered to switch from natural gas to mazut, a heavy diesel fuel banned in most of the world.

This week, Tehran, Esfahan, Mashhad and Arak reported heavy pollution and people at higher risk were advised to stay indoors.

Iran has the second largest gas reserves in the world but because of lack of investment and advanced technologies it is unable to produce more than what it extracts now, which is around 700-750 million cubic meters a day. Domestic usage has climbed to 530 million cubic meters a day officials announced this week, leaving little for industries and export.

Iran has the world’s cheapest energy prices in par with Venezuela, which is the main factor in high consumption, while various sanctions have made it difficult to upgrade its oil and gas industries or to adopt more alternative fuels.