US Says Iran’s Intelligence Ministry Behind MuddyWater Hacking Group

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh made the remarks after the Islamic Republic lost the right to vote at the UN over unpaid dues.

Khatibzadeh said Wednesday night that necessary consultations are ongoing to resolve the issue but did not elaborate on the process or the secure channel.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said this week that 11 countries are behind in their payments but the right to vote is suspended for eight of them, including Iran, Sudan and Venezuela.

According to the UN charter, a member loses the right to vote when its debts equal or exceed the amount of dues it should have paid over the last two years.

Last year, Iran was suspended because it could not pay even the minimum amount because of US sanctions, but after months of negotiations Tehran was granted an exemption and was allowed to access money blocked by the US Treasury.

Tehran managed to pay $16 million of its $65 million arrears to recover the vote in June 2021, in time for the election of new members of the Security Council but this time the minimum amount Iran must pay is over $18 million.

Behruz Mohebbi-Najmabadi, a member of parliament’s budget committee, said on Wednesday that the high number of people suffering from absolute poverty is due to the Iran’s zero economic growth in the last decade.

He noted that the Gini coefficient that is used to measure wealth or income inequality is so high in the country as some people have become extremely rich. “There are a few million bank cards in Iran whose financial transactions is over $355,000”, he said.

Commenting on the government’s decision to stop providing cheap dollars for food imports, Najmabadi said that in such a case it would become necessary to provide food coupons to poor households so they can meet their minimum needs.

On Sunday, the parliament approved the broad outline of the budget eliminating the cheap dollars for food imports without any fallback plan to help millions in poverty.

Mehdi Asgari, another lawmaker warned, “Ten million families have fallen below the poverty line” and stopping the subsidy will bring about a shock for many who would not be able to afford even “bread and cheese” while Moeineddin Saeedi, another MP, said ordinary people will never be able to eat meet.

Earlier on Wednesday Israel said that it had broken up an Iranian spy ring that recruited Israeli women via social media. Four women and a man were arrested. Israeli media said they are all Jewish immigrants or descendants of immigrants from Iran. It is not clear exactly when the arrests were made, but indications are the suspects have already been interrogated.

The women agreed to photograph sensitive sites, including the United States consulate and embassy, gather intelligence and in at least two cases, to encourage their sons to join Israeli military intelligence.

A relative of one of the suspects traveled from Iran to Israel bringing cash to be handed out to the recruits. An Iranian operative going by the name of Rambod Namdar handled the spies. He maintained profiles on social media sites and pretended to be Jewish.

"The state of Israel is in an ongoing campaign with Iran. It is clear: We see never-ending efforts and attempts by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to recruit Israeli citizens," Bennett said.

“With their grave actions, those involved put themselves, their families and innocent Israeli citizens at risk, as their information was transferred to Iranian intelligence, in addition to the information that was handed over about Israeli sites and American sites in Israel, which would be used for terrorist purposes,” a senior Shin Bet official said.

What could be more worrying for the Israeli authorities is that some of the suspects seem to have known or suspected that Namdar was an Iranian operative, but agreed to cooperate for small sums of money, ranging from $900 to $5,000. Israeli officials and media did not mention any possible motives for mainly middle-aged people to have gotten involved in spying for Iran.

Israel views Iran as its greatest threat, and the two nations have been waging a shadow war for years.

Israel has repeatedly threatened to take military action against Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iran denies it is seeking such weapons and has vowed a harsh response to any aggression.

"Have no doubt – the long arm of the security establishment will reach anyone who tries to harm Israel's security," said Bennett.

Israel's Shin Bet internal security service said the targets of the alleged spy network have been arrested and face “severe charges.”

With reporting by AP and Times of Israel

A health official in the city of Ahvaz said on Wednesday that the number of patients in the east of the city has risen five times compared with previous week and another report put the country’s average increase at 175 percent in the past three days.

Health ministry officials in provinces of Esfahan and Kerman also reported sharp rises in the number of cases, while an official from Qom province said that the number of Covid-19 patients is increasing exponentially because over 30 percent of the people in the province have not even received their first vaccine shot.

As the number of hospitalizations has jumped by 77 percent throughout the country, an official from Iran’s Covid-19 taskforce, Hamidreza Jama’ati, said the next peak will hit in the next few weeks, adding that omicron is set to become the dominant type of coronavirus in Iran.

Last week, the World Bank confirmed a $90-million loan for measures to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in Iran, saying it is "the epicenter of Covid-19 infections in the region".

Iran, which confirmed the first Omicron case on December 19, is the worst hit country in the Middle East by at least 132,000 deaths since February 2020.

Riyadh and Paris agreed in early December to establish a common humanitarian mechanism to alleviate the suffering of the Lebanese as a first step to Saudi Arabia re-engaging with Lebanon after a diplomatic row between Beirut and the Gulf states.

"The visit by President (Emmanuel) Macron enabled the Gulf (Arab countries) to renew ties, which saw (the creation of) a joint Franco-Saudi fund to support the Lebanese, which will be helped tomorrow or the day after with a contribution from the United Arab Emirates," Jean-Yves Le Drian told a parliamentary hearing.

Le Drian gave no details on how the fund would work or how much was being pledged.

France has led international efforts to resolve the political and economic crisis in Lebanon.

But despite staking a lot of political capital on the issue for more than a year, President Emmanuel Macron has failed so far to push the country's squabbling politicians to carry out economic reforms that would unlock vital foreign aid.

Le Drian condemned efforts led by Iran-backed Hezbollah to prevent cabinet meetings and remove political blockages surrounding an investigation into the 2020 Beirut port explosion, saying this was an "unacceptable obstruction" for political objectives.