French Navy Thwarts Houthi Drone Threat Near Yemen Coast

Floderus, detained in April 2022 during a vacation in Iran on charges of espionage, is now navigating a legal process marked by little transparency.

Foreign Minister Billstrom informed the Swedish news agency TT, stating, "I have been informed that the trial of Johan Floderus has begun in Tehran." Notably, the Swedish charge d'affaires was denied participation in the trial, prompting Sweden to seek permission for future involvement in the proceedings.

The specific charges against Floderus remain undisclosed, but his family asserts that the detention lacks justifiable cause or due process. The situation amplifies concerns voiced by rights groups and Western governments, accusing Iran of exploiting arrests on security charges for political ends. Tehran, however, maintains that such detentions adhere to its criminal code and are devoid of political motivations.

Diplomatic tensions between Sweden and Iran have heightened since 2019, following Sweden's arrest of former Iranian official Hamid Nouri, involved in the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in the 1980s. Nouri was sentenced to life imprisonment last year, leading Iran to recall its envoy to Sweden in protest.

In a related incident, in May, Iran executed a Swedish-Iranian dissident accused of leading an Arab separatist group, implicated in various attacks, including a 2018 military parade incident resulting in 25 fatalities.

"In response, we stated that the groups are independent, make their own decisions, and we respect their decisions. We will continue our actions in support of Palestine," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated without providing any further details.

Since the start of the Gaza war, militant groups backed by Iran have attacked US bases in the region more than 80 times.

Iran supports Hamas but says it did not play any role in the Islamist militants' October 7 terror attack that triggered the current crisis. Iran also backs the Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group that has deep ties with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian faction in Gaza that is also backed by Iran.

He further asserted, "The assessment of the resistance after seven days of ceasefire is that the Zionist regime continues attacks because they have not achieved anything so far."

Amir-Abdollahian's comments coincide with the circulation of several clips and photos on social media showing Palestinians being rounded up by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza. The individuals, suspected of involvement with Hamas and other terror groups, were seen blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs, held by Israeli troops in northern Gaza's Jabaliya.

"At the beginning of the conflict, the Zionist regime sought to destroy Hamas but failed. Meanwhile, Western supporters sent arms to Israel regularly, hoping to destroy Hamas within 15 to 20 days, but they couldn't," claimed the Iranian foreign minister.

This comes as the Israeli military announced on Thursday that it had apprehended hundreds of people suspected of terrorism, including wanted Hamas operatives, across the Gaza Strip in a single day.

The militias have carried out more than 80 such attacks since mid-October, when Israel’s onslaught on Gaza began. But the Biden administration has largely avoided retaliation, drawing stark criticism from Congressional Republicans.

“How many attacks on American personnel and facilities by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria will be tolerated before we hold Iran accountable,” Senator Lindsey Graham asked on his X account.

“We have lost all deterrence as a nation,” he said. “The Biden Administration is letting our men and women in uniform down and putting them at risk by not challenging Iran directly.”

The Biden administration has been trying to avoid conflict with Iran ever since Hamas forces attacked Israel, fearing that the war on Gaza could expand and set the whole region ablaze.

Secretary of defense Lloyd Austin spoke Friday with the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani reminding him of Iraq's obligation to protest diplomatic missions and "Coalition advisers and facilities." He emphasized that the US reserved the right to self-defense.

The attacks Friday were a mix of drones and missiles, targeting American bases and the US embassy in Baghdad –a first since October, marking a clear escalation of operations by Iran proxies in Iraq and Syria, who seem to have taken over from Houthis in Yemen.

The Houthis robbed the spotlight last week with several attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and forcing two US warships to engage.

A senior White House official blamed Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) for Houthi actions.

"We believe that they are involved in the conduct of these attacks, the planning of them, the execution of them, the authorization of them and ultimately they support them," deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said.

He added that the Biden administration has “not ruled out the possibility of taking military action” against the Houthis.

On Friday, Bloomberg reported that the administration “has been consulting with Gulf allies about potential military action” against Houthis.

The report suggested that the talks were at a “preliminary stage” and both the US and partners still favored diplomacy over direct confrontation, especially since any military action can jeopardize the renewed relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which the Biden administration values as essential to the peace and stability in the region.

It seems unlikely, however, that the regime in Tehran or its regional proxies would change course unless they felt the heat.

“Retaliate yes and soon but the target must be something dear to Iran,” said Douglas London, a former CIA expert and a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute’s Countering Terrorism & Extremism program. “Little value in hitting the Houthis or Iraqi proxies apart from capability reduction since their casualties are expendable to Iran.”

The hardliners in Iran –including the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself –believe the recent events to be in line with their interests and their long-term vision for the region.

The ongoing attacks in Iraq, Syria, and the Red Sea are likely intended to push the Biden administration to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. But they may also be intended to wreak havoc in the region, shifting American public opinion and eventually forcing US troops out or at least diminishing their presence.

In all this, the confusion and the dithering of the Biden administration can play the role of an unintended catalyst.

The measures by Washington are part of a raft of penalties imposed by the US Treasury and State Departments against 37 individuals from 13 countries accused of violating human rights.

The implementation of sanctions and visa restrictions was announced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday, ahead of Human Rights Day on Sunday.

Among those targeted are Iranian intelligence officers Majid Dastjani Farahani and Mohammad Mahdi Khanpour Ardestani, as identified by the Treasury Department. The officers are alleged to have played a role in recruiting individuals for US operations, including carrying out lethal actions against current and former US government officials in retaliation for the 2020 killing of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani.

Additionally, the officers are accused of recruiting individuals for surveillance activities focused on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities within the United States.

Iran vowed revenge after the US airstrike in Baghdad that killed Soleimani. The Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York has not responded to requests for immediate comment on the recent sanctions.

Canada has also invoked a sanctions law targeting corrupt office holders to join forces with the US in taking action against officials in Russia, Iran, and Myanmar.

The sanctions specifically target individuals accused of longstanding human rights violations. The list includes two senior Iranian officials accused of overseeing the torture of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who was killed in custody in 2003.

The latest sanctions fall under the Magnitsky Act. The law is aimed at penalizing corrupt officials and has only been employed twice since its passage in 2018.

Khatami claimed such action aligns with the teachings of the Quran, saying: "May God bless your hands! Strike Israel because your striking is worship."

The sermon comes as tensions in the Middle East escalate amid the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict, which began two months ago.

Iranian authorities have been issuing a series of inflammatory statements in recent weeks, warning both Israel and its ally, the United States, of the response should attacks on Gaza persist.

The Friday prayer leader in Mashhad, Ahmad Alamolhoda, echoed the words of his counterpart in Tehran, saying: "Fortunately, today the resistance movement has encompassed the majority of the region, and we witnessed the resistance's attacks on Israel during the Gaza war."

Commenting on the global impact of the “Al-Aqsa storm”, as the October 7 massacre by Hamas of around 1,200 Israelis has been dubbed, Alamoldha said: "Today, the whole world realized that America is a child killer and a devil regime."

Alamolhoda holds a significant position as the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's representative in Mashhad, a city of high Shiite importance. He is also the father-in-law of President Ebrahim Raisi, who assumed office in 2021 after being handpicked by Khamenei in a tightly controlled electoral process.