New EU Council President Urged To Initiate IRGC Terror Listing

It is possible that the Iranian in question is Yousef Shahbazi Abbasalilo, who was allegedly snatched from Iranian soil by Israel for planning attacks on Israeli targets in Cyprus, reported the London-based Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday.

It is not clear if Israel abducted Abbasalilo before or after Tsurkov was abducted.

Sources told the outlet that Moscow is mediating talks that could result in Tsurkov's release soon.

The pro-Iranian militia Kata’ib Hezbollah is believed to be holding Tsurkov in Iraq, while other sources suggest she has been taken to Iran.

On July 3, an Iraqi official told Israeli media that the Islamic Republic has been involved in the abduction in Iraq of the academic.

While Kata'ib Hezbollah denied any involvement in Tsurkov’s kidnapping, an Iraqi official told Israel's Channel 11 that she was arrested by Iraq's intelligence service - or someone posing as such - before being handed over to Iran-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah which has been holding her for months.

An expert on regional proxies across the Middle East including Turkey's proxies in Syria, Tsurkov had traveled to several of the region's terror hotspots.

Tsurkov's mother Irena said they lost contact two months ago. "From what I had known until today, she was in Turkey, working on her research for Princeton. I didn't even know she was in Iraq," she told Israel's N12 News.

Tehran University's public relations office said the decision was made in a meeting attended by the head of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's representatives at the universities and the education deputy of Hashd al-Shaabi on Sunday.

"We apply scientific standards to our friends in Hashd al-Shaabi more than other foreign students, because our goal is to improve the professional capabilities of Muslim fighters," said Dean of Tehran University Mohammad Moqimi at the meeting.

The Islamic Republic's efforts to train the Hashd al-Shaabi come in a situation that in recent months many reports have indicated expansion of cooperation between Tehran and Iraqi militia groups.

Last month, Iran International disclosed information about the role of the Islamic Republic in the establishment of the engineering arm of the Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi.

According to the information, the Islamic Republic has obtained permits for the establishment of a company for this purpose in exchange for supporting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani to win his office.

The Muhandis General Company (Sharakat al-Muhandis al-Amma) takes its name from Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the former deputy commander of Hashd al-Shaabi -- also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) -- and a close comrade of former IRGC’s extraterritorial Quds force commander Qassem Soleimani. They were both killed in January 2020 by a US drone strike.

The Muhandis company seeks to become the Iraqi version of Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, IRGC’s engineering and contracting arm. Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarter is one of Iran's largest contractors in industrial and development projects.

According to this report, published June 5, Iran has managed to attract only 1.5 billion dollars of foreign direct investment in 2022.

In 2017, and after the lifting of international sanctions, Iran attracted more than five billion dollars in foreign direct investments, but in 2018, this was halved, and after that, the annual amount fluctuated around 1.5 billion dollars.

The United States imposed oil export and banking sanction on Iran in 2018, making a series of demands including a stronger agreement to restrict Tehran's nuclear and missile programs. Thes sanctions have triggered an economic crisis, driving annual inflation to 70 percent and reducing the value of Iran's currency 12-fold.

Among Iran's neighboring countries, the UAE has attracted the most foreign investment.

In total, the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf region have attracted about 37 billion dollars in foreign direct investment in 2022, of which the UAE's share is 60%. Last year, Turkey attracted $13 billion.

The United States attracted the highest amount of foreign direct investment in the world with $285 billion, followed by China, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The US is also at the top in terms of investment in foreign countries with 269 billion dollars.

Figures by the UNCTAD show that a total of 1.3 trillion dollars of direct investment was made last year, which is 12% less than in 2021. The reason for the drop was the decrease in investments by advanced countries abroad.

Charming Kitten, also known as TA453, APT42, Mint Sandstorm, and Yellow Garuda earlier targeted high-value accounts in government, academia, NGOs, national security, and journalism.

As part of their recent operation, the IRGC-linked group used a benign email to begin a relationship with their target. Then they sent a follow-up email containing a malicious macro that directed the target to a Dropbox URL.

“Using a .rar and LNK file to deploy malware differs from TA453’s typical infection chain of using VBA macros or remote template injection. The LNK enclosed in the RAR used PowerShell to download additional stages from a cloud hosting provider,” a new analysis by Proofpoint says.

“The use of Google Scripts, Dropbox, and CleverApps demonstrates that TA453 continues to subscribe to a multi-cloud approach in its efforts to likely minimize disruptions from threat hunters. (...) Regardless of the infection method, TA453 continues to deploy modular backdoors in an effort to collect intelligence from highly targeted individuals,” Proofpoint said.

In April, Microsoft warned that hackers linked to Iran are targeting critical US infrastructure including transport, energy and ports. A report by Microsoft Threat Intelligence revealed the threat from the Iranian hackers, known as "Mint Sandstorm".

Initially engaged in reconnaissance, the subgroup eventually began attacking critical infrastructure organizations in the United States in 2022. In November 2021, the United States Justice Department indicted two Iranians, Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazemi and Sajjad Kashian, who were employed by Emennet Pasargad. During the 2020 presidential election, they allegedly conducted a cyber campaign "to intimidate and influence American voters".

According to Iranian law enforcement officials in Sistan-Baluchistan province, four gunmen attacked the police station using hand grenades and seized control of a watchtower. The attack was still ongoing as of noon local time. In early afternoon, officials said that all four gunmen were eventually killed and the situation around the heavily protected police compound returned to normal.

These circumstances suggest that since the attack began at around 7:15 am, it took hours to subdue the gunmen. This raises questions about whether the details provided by the authorities accurately represented the event.

Other reports have mentioned one or two suicide bombers detonating explosives to create an entry point for others into the heavily guarded premises. However, police officials insist that there were no suicide bombings and only hand grenades were used.

Tensions in Zahedan have been high since security forces, under the command of the Revolutionary Guard, killed an estimated 80-90 civilian protesters in the city on September 30, 2022, marking the start of anti-regime nationwide protests in Iran. This tragic event became known as Black Friday.

Since then, the people of Zahedan have been participating in peaceful demonstrations every Friday after prayers and sermons by their respected religious leader, Mowlana Abdolhamid.

One hour after the attack began, Abdolhamid disassociated himself from the incident and called for peace and security. However, some speculate that the authorities can use the incident to restrict his freedom, possible putting him under house arrest.

The authorities have attempted to intimidate and silence Abdolhamid, who has strongly criticized the rulers of the Islamic Republic in his sermons. He has called for a referendum on the future of the country, respect for women, the release of political prisoners, and genuine elections.

The government has failed to launch a proper investigation into the mass killings that occurred during Black Friday, which has been one of Abdolhamid's demands. No security officials have been arrested or suspended.

Some reports suggested that the police station - precinct #16 - was the compound from where security forces opened fire on September 30, 2022, because it was close to the main mosque where people began their protest march.

Although incidents of attacks against security forces have occurred in the impoverished and desolate province for years, the general population has remained peaceful. On June 30, Zahedan residents held a silent march in the city.

In this instance, no one knows who the attackers are and it cannot be ruled out that the whole incident could have been staged by security and intelligence organs to clamp down on Zahedan's residents and particularly Abdolhamid.

In recent weeks, the regime has escalated pressure on the outspoken cleric by arresting several individuals from his inner circle and supporters. Additionally, Abdolhamid has been prevented from leaving Iran for the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

In June, his grandson and several aides were arrested. The Makki Mosque, Abdolhamid's headquarters in Zahedan, has become a center of resistance against the government since September 2022. It is where Abdolhamid delivers his weekly sermons, openly criticizing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's regime.

These arrests followed reports that the Revolutionary Guard's intelligence arm had assigned a hitman to poison and kill the prominent Sunni cleric. Security guards at Makki Mosque apprehended a man posing as a religious student who allegedly intended to assassinate the Sunni leader.

Last updated at 16:00 GMT, July 8