An aircraft takes off to join the U.S.-led coalition to conduct air strikes against military targets in Yemen, aimed at the Iran-backed Houthi militia that has been targeting international shipping in the Red Sea, from an undisclosed location, in this handout picture released on January 12, 2024.
US Central Command forces destroyed three unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in an area of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
Thursday’s military operation was in response to an assessed "imminent threat to US, coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region," CENTCOM stated, adding that “these actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S., coalition, and merchant vessels.”
This week, Israel targeted a siteclose to the Syrian capital resulting in several Syrian soldiers sustaining injuries, while there were no casualties reported among the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) – unlike Israel’s strike last month on a purported Iranian consulate in Damascus.
Experts have noted that amid regional tensions, Houthi rebels have broadened their operational reach, extending their influence from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden eastwards towards the Indian Ocean – with a reported aim is to block maritime traffic heading to Israel through strategic waterways.
In response to the Houthis' escalated activities and threats, the US, in collaboration with the UK, has intensified its military operations within Yemen.
Israel is building a "cyber dome" to counter online threats, in particular those originating from Iran and its proxies, an Israeli official told AFP on Thursday.
While Israel's Iron Dome defense system has been protecting it from incoming rocket attacks for years, it is now trying to beef up its cyber security by building a system to ward off increasing threats from hackers.
"It is a silent war, one which is not visible," Aviram Atzaba, the Israeli National Cyber Directorate's head of international cooperation told AFP.
Since Israel launched its war on Hamas in Gaza, following the militant group’s attack on October 7 last year, the country has experienced a notable surge in cyberattacks from Iran and its allies, Atzaba said.
Since the war began, around 800 major cyber-attacks have reportedly been foiled.
Among the targets were government organizations, military infrastructure, and civil infrastructure; some, including hospitals in the cities of Haifa and Safedsome, could not be stopped.
Without going into details, Atzaba told AFP that for the past two years, the directorate has been attempting to develop a centralized, real-time system that proactively protects all Israeli cyberspace – emphasizing the project's collaboration with Israel's allies.
"It takes a network to fight a network," he said.
According to experts speaking to AFP, Iran's investment in cyberwarfare was spurred by two pivotal incidents. Firstly, the use of the internet by anti-government protesters to garner support for a post-election uprising in 2009. These protests erupted following the announcement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in the presidential election, amid widespread allegations of irregularities.
Iran's investment in cyberwarfare was also prompted by a cyberattack in 2010 that inflicted physical damage on Iran's nuclear program. Tehran attributed this attack to Israel and the US.
In April the US Treasury Departmentimposed sanctions on individuals and companies accused of conducting cyber-attacks for the benefit of the IRGC’s Cyber-Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC).
“Iranian malicious cyber actors continue to target US companies and government entities in a coordinated, multi-pronged campaign intended to destabilize our critical infrastructure and cause harm to our citizens,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson in April.
The US Justice Department and FBI also unveiled an indictment in April against Iranian individuals, accusing them of taking part in a coordinated hacking initiative from 2016 through April 2021.
Intelligence agencies in both the USand Canadaalso warned in February that Iranian state-sponsored hackers might interfere with their respective country’s elections.
The Iranian government says it has released the crew of a seized Portuguese-flagged ship linked to Israel, though it continues to hold the vessel itself seized last month.
The country’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said the crew of the Portuguese-flagged container ship MSC Aries can return to their respective home countries.
The minister claimed the release of the crew of 25 was a “humanitarian act”, while the ship itself remains under “judicial detention.”
The MSC Aries was seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in the strategic Strait of Hormuz on April 13, shortly after Iran threatened to close the vital shipping route in retaliation for a widely-believed Israeli airstrike on its purported consulate in Damascus.
According to Amir-Abdollahian, the vessel was detained because it "turned off its radar in Iran's territorial waters and jeopardized the security of navigation," the foreign ministry explained in a statement posted on X late Thursday night.
The regime has seized several vessels since 2019 in what some say is a way for Tehran to show its naval might – and to keep pressure on different governments.
The foreign ministry previously cited "violations of maritime laws" as the reason for the Aries' seizure and emphasized its links to Israel. The MSC leases the Aries from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, partially owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.
The seize of the vessel is part of a broader pattern of maritime disruptions, including recent attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The attacks, which were reportedly conducted in solidarity with Palestinians amidst Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza, are contributing to significant perturbations in global shipping operations.
British billionaire and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson is adding his voice to high-profile figures condemning the death sentence handed down to Iranian dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi.
In a statement on the Virgin website, Branson expressed support for human rights activists advocating for Salehi’s release and the freedom of all prisoners in Iran.
"Toomaj and so many others must be freed," Branson wrote, emphasizing the importance of artistic freedom, stating that "open artistic expression should be welcomed and celebrated; it gives us opportunities to contemplate, reflect and debate. And it should never be persecuted – in Iran or elsewhere."
Salehi, one of Iran's most prominent rappers and a vocal and long-time critic of the regime, was sentenced to death last week by a non-independent Islamic Revolutionary Court under the charge of "corruption on earth."
The government’s intelligence ministry, which usually takes charge of sentencing dissidents, has historically exploited the vague term to target and silence them.
Salehi's years-long dissent took center stage during the nationwide 2022 anti-regime protests, where his outspokenness positioned him as one of the most prominent icons. For years, his music has resonated with many, particularly the youth who feel oppressed and silenced by the ruling authorities.
Branson’s statement also highlighted the ongoing human rights abuses in Iran, including the recent revelation that Nika Shakarami, a 16-year-old protester, was sexually assaulted and killed by Iranian security forces, contrary to official claims of her suicide.
The billionaire condemned the Iranian regime's continued violence and suppression, emphasizing the devastating impact on the nation's populace.
Branson's commentary also sheds light on the continued use of executions in Iran as a means to stifle dissent – with authorities havingexecuted at least 853 people in 2023, many of whom were non-violent offenders or protesters.
The Chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Michael McCaul, has criticized a reported trip by Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to Iran.
Grossi is set to attend a conference in Isfahan, Iran next week.
"I am concerned by reports the IAEA Director-General plans to participate in an international nuke conference in Iran next week. This risks legitimizing Iran’s illicit nuclear activity. Focus instead needs to be on holding Iran to account for NPT-related violations," he wrote on X.
The IAEA has confirmed that Grossi’s visit on May 6 aims to engage with officials and participate in the 'International Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology.'
The visit comes just days after Grossi said that Iran was "weeks, not months" from acquiring the material needed for a nuclear weapon.
Ties between Iran and the IAEA have deteriorated, with Grossi in February acknowledging a "drifting apart" as Iran becomes defiant.
He also mentioned that the country is still enriching uranium to 60 percent purity at a rate of around 7 kg per month reaching levels close to those used for producing weapons.
Iran's uranium enrichment vastly exceeds the limits of the 2015 JCPOA agreement, which restricted Iran's uranium enrichment to 3.67 percent. Following the US withdrawal from the deal in 2018 during former President Donald Trump's administration and the subsequent reimposition of sanctions Iran began to exceed these limits in 2021.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has indicated that the 2015 nuclear pact has essentially collapsed, sparking concerns about Iran acquiring nuclear weapons capabilities.
Israel carried out an airstrike on a target near Damascus Thursday night, in what seems to be the first such attack since the one on Iranian consulate which led to an unprecedented escalation of hostilities between the two countries.
There has been relative calm in the past few weeks, after both Iran and Israel directly hit the other country, showing their fire power albeit in entirely different ways: Iran launching hundreds of missiles and drones to overwhelm the Israeli defense system, and Israel surgically taking out the central component of Iran’s defense system near a nuclear facility.
Both governments could claim victory and step back from the edge, momentarily perhaps, and under pressure from the United State, which is worried an all out war can break out in the region and drag in American forces.
The airstrike Thursday night had no IRGC casualties, unlike the attack on the consulate. Eight Syrian soldiers were injured in a building operated by Syrian security, according to the Syrian defense ministry. Reuters quoted a source that the site struck was not operated by Iranian units or Hezbollah – but it sat south of the Sayyeda Zeinab shrine, where Hezbollah and Iranian forces are entrenched.
That airstrike was above all a reminder that the fundamentals of power politics in the region remain the same, and another crisis could emerge at any time.
As if another reminder was required, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella term for a number of armed groups backed by Iran, claimed Thursday night that they had launched multiple cruise missiles towards Israel, including (for the first time) at the capital Tel Aviv.
Israel has not commented on the reports, but it’s more or less a given that all such attacks are neutralized by the Israeli defense system mid-air.
Thursday night’s event suggests that the existing calm may be a quiet overture to yet another storm, especially as reports have emergedthat an armed group in Bahrain has claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Israel last week.
The Islamic Resistance in Bahrain – almost certainly backed and equipped by Iran – said in a statement Thursday night that it had targeted an Israeli logistics company in Eilat on 27 April. Also known as the Ashtar Brigades, the group published a short video purporting to show the launch of the drone towards Israel. Its statement said its operation was in solidarity with “the patient people in resisting Gaza”.
This is the first time that a group based in Bahrain has claimed responsibility for an attack on Israel. If true, the attack raises many questions not just about the group and its capabilities, but also about Iran’s capacity and its intentions in the region, as the Biden administration attempts to avert war and even make deals –public and private.
“Iran is pursuing a strategy in which they hope we continue to pretend like we don't understand what the return address is for all this violence,” former US national security advisor HR McMaster told Sky News “And in a horrible, cynical way, Iran is willing to expend every Arab life, if necessary, to accomplish its objectives of pushing the United States, the United Kingdom and our allies out of the region as the first step in establishing hegemonic power in the region and destroying Israel."
