UK Decries Iran’s ‘Cowardly’ Execution, Says World Is Watching

According to the Arabic service of Yonhap News Agency, Yoon Suk Yeol said during his visit to the UAE Sunday that "the security of the UAE, which is our sister nation, is our security".

He added that the two countries are in a very similar situation as both face dangerous enemies.

The president of South Korea has travelled to the Arab country on a four-day official visit upon the invitation of Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates.

It seems that this is the first time South Korea calls the Islamic Republic "the enemy and the biggest threat" to the security of the UAE.

Seoul's relations with Tehran, except for the issue of seven billion dollars frozen in Korean banks due to US sanctions, were usually considered to be normal and far from tension.

Yoon Suk Yeol is not the first leader of a Asian country who has openly adopted positions that conflict with Iran's national interests and possibly a kind of turn in his country's policy.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also visited Saudi Arabia in December and met members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. He signed a joint statement in which the issue of three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf was mentioned as a claim pursued by the United Arab Emirates.

According to the new information, five individuals were the main members of a hit squad from the Quds Force Unit 400 of the IRGC, who sought to kill Itsik Moshe, a prominent businessman and the chairman of Israel Georgia Chamber of Business. Hacker group Backdoor (3ackd0or) provided Iran International with documents about their identities, place of residence, etc.

The five agents were Hossein Rohban, Mohammad-Reza Arablou, Mohsen Rafiei Miandashti, Farhad Fashaee and Ali Feizipour.

Moshe is also the chairman of Israeli House, the organization concentrated on public diplomacy for Israel in Eastern Europe, tasked with communicating directly with citizens of other countries to inform and influence them so that they support the Israeli government's strategic objectives.

Unit 400 of the Quds Force -- a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations – planned assassination of some Israeli officials in several countries, and a Pakistani team affiliated with al-Qaeda was tasked with gathering information in the operation in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

The operation was revealed when Georgian security forces noticed the suspicious activity of a member of the Pakistani team. The State Security Service of Georgia released a statement in mid-November saying that two Iranian-Georgian citizens -- Miandashti and Fashaee -- who were responsible for providing weapons for the assassination were arrested. They were cooperating with an arms smuggler in Turkey.

Georgia also said the one who ordered the murder – Rohban – was outside Georgia. According to data leaked by the 3ackd0or, he is residing in the northwestern city of Orumiyeh (Urmia). Arablou was also responsible for coordinating the team and is reportedly living in the city of Zanjan. 

The leader of the team – Rohban -- was under the direct command of Hamed Abdollahi, the head of the Unit 400 who is wanted internationally following the disclosure of an assassination plot targeting Adel al-Jubeir, the former ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United States from 2007 to 2015. Abdollahi, who used to serve as the IRGC commander in Zahedan and also served as a deputy to slain Quds commander Qassem Soleimani, is also sanctioned by the US following the failed assassination.

Most of the members of the Quds Force Unit 400 of the IRGC were former comrades of Soleimani in the 41st Tharallah Division in Kerman, who later gathered under the title of Haj Qassem's guys. Soleimani – who was killed by a US air strike on January 3, 2020 -- was in charge of supporting and organizing militant proxy forces, including the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militia groups that were repeatedly attacking US forces in Iraq and elsewhere.

The news from Georgia came months after Israeli and Turkish intelligence agencies worked together to stop an Iranian plot to assassinate Israeli tourists in Istanbul. Jerusalem warned Israelis not to visit Turkey in June, and soon after, Turkey arrested eight members of an Iranian cell in hotel rooms in a popular tourist district, with weapons and ammunition.

In October 2021, Cyprus foiled an Iranian plotto attack Israelis, including billionaire Teddy Sagi, which Tehran denied. Cypriot authorities arrested a Russian-Azeri man who had a loaded pistol with a silencer in his rental car.

In recent years, there are numerous reports about assassinations of Iranian military commanders and sabotage attacks in Iranian industrial complexes, attributed to Israel, as well as numerous failed attempts to assassinate or kidnap Israeli officials in many countries. Iranian officials claim that they have dealt serious blows to Israel, but they cannot announce them due to confidentiality.

Shahriar Heidari (Haydari), a member of the parliament's National Security Committee, told Tasnim News Agency on Sunday that the fighter jets are going to arrive in the coming Iranian new year that begins on March 21.

However, Heidari did not specify the number of aircraft ordered.

“We have also ordered a number of other military equipment from Russia, including air defense systems, missile systems and helicopters, most of which will also arrive soon,” underlined the Iranian parliamentarian.

Iran has supplied hundreds of Kamikaze drones to Russia since last September that have been extensively used against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure. Western powers have expressed concern over the growing military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran.

Media reports say the Islamic Republic will also get 24 twin-engine fourth-generation fighter jets that will be used primarily for "air superiority missions."

Back in September, Air Force Commander Hamid Vahedi said "the purchase of the Sukhoi 35 from Russia is being considered" by the Iranian air force.

The news of Iran's purchase of Sukhoi 35 fighter jets was first published last summer by the Institute for the Study of War, based in Washington, which covers the news of Russia's war against Ukraine.

Iran has not acquired any new combat aircraft in recent years, except some Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters it purchased in the 1990s.

Simon Shercliff, the British ambassador to Tehran, published pictures, which he took together with his French and German colleagues Nicolas Roche and Hans-Udo Muzel, on Twitter Sunday.

The three European powers and Iran have been at loggerheads in recent months due to several issues, including stalled nuclear talks, deadly suppression of protests in Iran, and the execution of four protesters, as well as Iran’s supply of kamikaze drones to Russia.

The latest was the execution of Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian defense ministry official and an Iranian-British citizen, who was accused of spying for MI6.

Iranian officials have been attacking Europe for criticizing Tehran’s human rights violations and accusing them of interference in their internal affairs.

In response, Britain temporarily recalled its ambassador for consultation and sanctioned Iran's Attorney General Mohammad Javad Montazeri. France and Germany, along with Britain, strongly condemned the move by the Iranian regime.

In mid-December, a group of Iranians in the capital Tehran voluntarily helped paint the walls of the British embassy vandalized with anti-UK slogans.

The slogans had been seemingly sprayed by some pro-regime elements to protest UK’s support for anti-government protesters in Iran.

Shercliff in a tweet thanked Iranians and international friends from Germany, South Korea, France, Italy, Brazil, and some other countries who sympathized with the UK.

The arrest comes after a very small amount of radioactive material was discovered by police on a package that arrived in Britain on December 29.

The package, which was reported to have originated in Pakistan, arrived at Heathrow airport on a flight from Oman. It was thought to have been sent to British-based Iranians, say the British media.

Although there is no public evidence of Iran being involved, some believe that whoever sent it might be testing weak points in British safeguards.

The 60-year-old suspect was apprehended in Cheshire in northwest England on Saturday and then released on bail, the Metropolitan Police said Sunday.

Met Counter Terrorism Commander Richard Smith stressed that there appears to be no direct threat to the public.

“The discovery of what was a very small amount of uranium within a package at Heathrow Airport is clearly of concern, but it shows the effectiveness of the procedures and checks in place with our partners to detect this type of material,” Smith said, adding “there is no linked direct threat to the public.”

Highly enriched uranium can be used to make a nuclear bomb, but the Met statement did not specify the uranium’s intended use.

Some experts told the media the uranium found is likely too inefficient to be used for bomb-making.