Soleimani's assassination weakened Iran's regional power

The meeting was requested by Israel to discuss the Houthis' ongoing targeting of the country. Israeli UN ambassador Danny Danon demanded the Iran-backed militants halt their missile attacks or face consequences.

“This is not a warning,” said Danon, “It is a promise: the Houthis will suffer the same miserable fate as Hamas and Hezbollah."

In a press conference prior to the Security Council session, Iran International’s Maryam Rahmati asked the Israeli permanent representative to the UN if the escalations with the Houthis would increase the likelihood of a direct war with Iran.

In response, Danon did not rule it out and said Israel seeks peace but would prepare for all scenarios.

“I would say also to the Iranian leadership, we have shown our capabilities. We have the ability to strike every target in the Middle East, including Iran,” replied Danon.

It appears Israel may be paving a case to the UN security council for full assault on Yemen’s Houthis.

Since the launch of October 7, the Houthis have fired drones and missiles almost daily towards Israel, describing it as an act of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Earlier this month, a missile fired from Yemen breached Israel’s air defense systems, striking a playground near Tel Aviv which injured 16 people and damaged homes. The incident occurred only two days after a Houthi missile hit a school in Ramat Gan, the same school that Danon said he attended as a child.

"What would you do if it were your child? Your school? Your city?,” said Danon.

Israel responded by striking targets in Yemen, including Sanaa airport, ports on the west coast of the country, and two power plants. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was about to board a plane at the airport when he said he had to run for shelter.

Engaging Iran to halt Houthis

Ambassador Danon presented a map showing the distance between Israel and Yemen, adding that Israel and Yemen do not share a border but that the Houthis are being used by Iran as a tool.

The skirmishes between Israel and Yemen are the direct result of Iran's actions against Israel, according to other key member states. Their message was to engage Iran to stop the Houthi operations.

"We can all see clearly that the Houthis are fully enabled by Iran to launch long range and deadly attacks on Israel, including civilian infrastructure, as evidenced by the Houthi's propaganda boasting about the use of advanced hypersonic missiles," US Ambassador Dorothy Shea told the council."

"Iran's provision of these and other lethal weapons to the Houthis violates the arms embargo imposed on the group by this council," she added.

The Deputy US Representative also called the UN to strengthen its verification and inspection mechanism on arms to prohibit any illicit smuggling.

Russian position

Russia, another key security member state, did not reference the Islamic Republic of Iran in its condemnation of the Houthis.

The Russian representative denounced the Houthi’s recent strike on Israel but said the narrative of blame has been one-sided, saying Israel’s action in Gaza are the root cause to the conflict.

“We shouldn't dismiss the broader context because many hotspots of tension today are provoked by the actions of Israel against Palestinians,” said Vasily Nebenzya, a permanent representative to Russia at the UN.

Japan's representative to the UN also mentioned Palestinians, asserting that Houthis' actions do nothing to help their cause and urging Iran to exercise its influence to halt the strikes.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Maritime Attack Tracker recently tallied 106 confirmed Houthis strikes on shipping since November 2023.

The Houthis boast higher numbers and have seized two civilian ships and held another, killing at least four merchant seamen according to Michael Knights of the Washington Insititute who spoke at Monday’s security council session.

'Dangerous escalation'

UN Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed Khaled Khiari addressed the Security Council meeting with a warning that the Mideast is witnessing another dangerous escalation. He condemned attacks in Israel and Yemen.

Britain's representative expressed concern about Israel’s strikes on civilian infrastructure in Yemen, while taking aim at Iran for the Houthis' continued strikes against Israel and their targeting of international shipping in the Red Sea.

"(Iran's) long standing financial and military support to the Houthis has enabled and exacerbated Houthi aggression. Iran bears responsibility for the actions of its proxies, and it must cease its illegal activity, which is destabilizing the region and threatening international peace and stability," said Ambassador Barbara Woodward, UK Permanent Representative to the UN.

Mehdi Chamran, chairman of the Tehran City Council, confirmed on Sunday that the council is now looking for an alternative location to honor the assassinated Hamas leader, killed by Israel amid the war in Gaza in October, with a street name.

The proposal to rename a section of Bisotun Street in central Tehran was introduced last week by councilor Narges Madanipour.

Her proposal was approved by other councilors, most of whom are ultra-hardliners supporting the Iran-backed Palestinian group, Hamas, which countries such as the UK and US designate a terrorist group.

The section in question is between a street named after the lead of Iran's other Palestinian military ally, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Fathi Shaqaqi, and a nearby square called Jihad.

The City Council’s decision sparked an outcry from thousands of citizens, activists, and politicians who took to social media to voice their opposition. A petition was quickly launched, protesting what many perceived as an attempt to erase an important part of Iran’s heritage and identity.

Cultural Significance of Bisotun

Bisotun is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in western Iran and features an enormous bas-relief and nearly 1,200 lines of multilingual inscriptions by Darius the Great, the Persian king who ruled from 522 to 486 BCE.

The inscriptions, carved into Mount Bisotun, are some of the most significant archaeological relics from ancient Persia. Some nearby archaeological sites date back to prehistoric times.

The mountain also holds a special place in Persian literature, notably in the tragic love story of Shirin and Farhad, written by 12th-century poet Nizami Ganjavi.

One of the critics argued in a post on X that renaming the street after Sinwar—who he said contributed to instability in the Middle East—was an unacceptable affront to Iran’s ancient heritage. The post added that "Bisotun is a cultural symbol, and changing its name is deeply disrespectful," he wrote in his post.

Even politicians who have no objection to honoring Sinwar with a street name have voiced concerns over the renaming of Bisotun Street.

Councilor Narjes Soleimani, the daughter of the late Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, warned that renaming such a culturally important street could have serious repercussions, highlighting the significance of Bisotun to Iranians.

The legacy of street name changes in post-revolution Iran

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the Shah, Iranian authorities have frequently renamed streets, squares, parks, and other public spaces to reflect the Islamic Republic's ideological values. Many of these name changes have been politically motivated, and some have created diplomatic challenges with other countries.

Shortly after the revolution, Pahlavi Avenue, once the longest streets in the Middle East named to honor the Pahlavi Dynasty, was renamed Mosaddegh Avenue in honor of Mohammad Mosaddegh, the nationalist prime minister overthrown in 1953.

A year later, Islamists who had gained the upper hand in the country renamed the avenue again. It has since been called Vali Asr, a title of the twelfth Shia Imam, Mahdi. Some people still call it Pahlavi.

“Bisotun is one of the prides of Iran's cultural heritage, and eradicating its name from Tehran will not send a good message to Iranians. Why don't you rename Khaled Islambouli Street, [named after] a Takfiri terrorist and associate of Ayman al-Zawahiri, after Sinwar?”, Abdolreza Davari, a former advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who now supports President Masoud Pezeshkian, asked in an X post.

The street referred to by Davari, was named Khalid Islambouli after a lieutenant in the Egyptian army who assassinated the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981 because Sadat had opened his arms to his long-time friend, the Shah, granted him political asylum, and held a state funeral for him when he died of cancer in 1980.

Cairo still considers the street’s name an affront to the Egyptian nation. Iranian diplomat Amir Mousavi in July 2023 told Faraz Daily that the street name was one of the last hurdles to be overcome to make the normalization of Tehran-Cairo relations, which were severed over four decades ago, possible.

A joint statement from Israel’s security services and the police, said that Alexander Granovsky, a resident of Petah Tikva, was arrested this month after being suspected of spying for Iran, in a plot which had involved photographing the entrance to former defense minister Benny Gantz's residential neighborhood.

He is also accused of setting eight cars on fire around Israel and photographing a sensitive facility in the center of the country.

Granovsky had also sprayed "Children of Ruhollah” on various buildings, referring to Iran’s first Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini.

The investigation also revealed that the man’s handlers discussed with him the possibility of obtaining a rifle and grenades to shoot at houses.

He had also been asked to gather information on the residential addresses of ministers in the Israeli government, and to set fire to a police car, a bus, and a truck, but Alexander refused to carry out the tasks.

A prosecutor's statement was filed against him on Monday and an indictment is expected to be filed against him in the Central District Court in the coming days.

A statement from Israel Police said Granovsky had, like those cases previously, been lured by money.

"This case joins a series of cases from the past year that teaches about repeated efforts by terrorist and hostile intelligence agencies to recruit Israeli citizens for the sake of carrying out tasks intended to harm the security of the country of Israel and its inhabitants,” the statement said.

Multiple cases have been foiled in Israel this year as Iran steps up its attempts to infiltrate the country through its citizens in the wake of the Gaza war. Arrests of both men and women have taken place this year from all over Israel, in cash for intelligence plots.

Nour News, allegedly still controlled by the Council’s former secretary Ali Shamkhani, wrote, “Syrian sources have reported the emergence of resistance cells in response to escalating attacks by forces under the command of Jolani. Meanwhile, a prominent Arab tribal leader in Syria has confirmed intense clashes between Jolani’s fighters and Iraqi tribal groups.”

While Iran’s diplomatic officials have maintained a cautious tone when addressing Syria’s new rulers, earlier this month, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei openly called for resistance against the authority of Ahmad al-Sharaa (Jolani).

Several Tehran-based publications, along with hardline political and military figures, have voiced more blunt and critical opinions about the Islamist forces that have replaced former president Bashar al-Assad.

Nour news alleged in its report that the new authorities have committed multiple crimes in recent days leading to the formation of resistance groups.

Referring to unknown sources, Nour News wrote, “In the past three weeks, numerous crimes have been committed against Syrian citizens and minorities, particularly in the coastal regions of the country. The emergence of resistance forces in Syria could clarify the trajectory of developments, as public anger grows in response to the aggressions by Jolani's forces.”

Nour News went on listing a number of alleged incidents even in Damascus, and continued to label the new authorities as representing Tahrir al-Sham “terrorists.”

This stance by Iran’s security establishment may indicate a potential interest in destabilizing Syria under the new anti-Assad forces. However, Tehran’s levers of influence appear limited.

Its proxy groups in Iraq seem to have adopted a cautious approach, likely due to government pressure, while in Syria, Iran has little remaining influence to pose a significant challenge to Damascus.

In an interview with Al Arabiya at the weekend, Sharaa said: "We were expecting positive statements from Tehran.”

In a possible bid to reach out a hand to Tehran after its weakening position in the country, he said that "a broad segment [of the country] aspires to a positive Iranian role in the region" as the rulers of Syria move forward, and the Syrian population having seen both Iran and Russia siding with Assad in the 13-year-long civil war.

President Joe Biden announced that January 9 will be a national day of mourning throughout the US. "I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President James Earl Carter," Biden said.

Carter, a Democrat, assumed office in January 1977 but his one-term presidency was marked by the highs of the 1978 Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt and conversely, the 444 day hostage crisis which saw more than 50 Americans held captive in the US embassy in Tehran.

It is not only in Iran that the former statesman has become a divisive figure. Even in the US, the Washington Historical Association says that “The Iran Hostage Crisis was one of the most important issues of Jimmy Carter’s presidency and likely one of the reasons for his election loss in 1980,” losing in a landslide to Ronald Reagan in 1980.

The US State Department is today more open about the failings of Carter's administration. While at the beginning of Carter’s presidency, the United States and Iran were allies, today, they say, “The Iran hostage crisis undermined Carter’s conduct of foreign policy”.

Like last year’s hostage crisis under Joe Biden in which five dual-nationals were released by Tehran for $6 billion of Iranian frozen funds, the crisis dominated the headlines and made the administration look weak, in echoes of history repeating itself.

When Secretary of State Cyrus Vance opposed a mission to rescue the hostages in Iran in favor of diplomatic channels, the administration was left wide open for the incoming Reagan presidency.

In a 2014 interview with CNBC, Carter tried to justify the disaster that led to his election defeat, failing to admit that it was on the very day his rival was sworn in that the release of hostages took place. American television networks broadcasting Reagan's inauguration, showed hostages on a split screen boarding a flight to the United States.

Carter said: “I could have been re-elected if I had taken military action against Iran. It would have shown that I was strong and resolute and manly. ... I could have wiped Iran off the map with the weapons that we had. But in the process a lot of innocent people would have been killed, probably including the hostages. And so I stood up against all that advice, and then eventually all my prayers were answered and all the hostages came home safe and free.”

Relations before the 1979 Islamic revolution had been strong between Iran and the US. Carter even called Iran during the monarchy “an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world” during a visit to Tehran and maintained a strategic relationship with the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.

However, this relationship was contentious for both nations. In November 1977, President Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter hosted the Shah and his wife, Empress Farah Pahlavi, at the White House for a State Visit.

Protests broke out between the pro and anti-Shah factions which ended up with over 100 protesters injured as well as police officers. It further pushed Iranians into the hands of the incoming Islamic Republic and its narrative of anti-US policy, which continues to today.

After his January 1979 exile of the Shah, suffering from terminal cancer was allowed to receive medical care in New York, but he later decided to spend his remaining days in Egypt. He was buried with full honors in a Cairo mosque.

Just 16 days after the Shah left, the incoming Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, returned to Iran to a thunderous welcome, paving the way for the Islamic Republic’s birth, with the US embassy first attacked in those initial days after.

In Iran, sentiment against the US grew when Carter allowed the exiled Shah into the US for what Carter believed to be life-saving medical treatment in October 1979, one of the final triggers leading to the hostage crisis.

Carter failed to grasp the magnitude of sentiment against the Shah by Iranians in Iran and abroad in the heydays of the revolution, many thinking it was part of a plan to return him to power. Again, it led to demonstrations around the US embassy.

The legacy of Carter’s Middle East policy will now always be torn between the historic peace deal he secured between Israel and Egypt, while for others, it will be the failings of his policy on Iran.

In 1984, during a national debate with Walter Mondale, Reagan blamed Carter for the fall of the Shah, who he said had been a major ally in the Middle East.

He said: “The shah, whatever he might have done, was building low-cost housing and taking land away from the mullahs and distributing it to the peasants so they could be landowners. ... But we turned it over to a maniacal fanatic who has slaughtered thousands and thousands.”

Many Iranians have already spoken out against Carter. Political researcher Arvin Khoshnood wrote on X: “He bears responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iranians. By actively supporting Khomeini and enabling the Islamic Revolution, Carter is complicit in every life lost to the regime’s brutality and inhumane policies over the past 45 years.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said of Carter: “In recent years I had the pleasure of calling him and thanking him for his historic efforts to bring together two great leaders, [Menachem] Begin and [Anwar] Sadat, and forging a peace between Israel and Egypt that remains an anchor of stability throughout the Middle East and North Africa many decades later. His legacy will be defined by his deep commitment to forging peace between nations.”

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in a post on X: ”His significant role in achieving the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel will remain etched in the annals of history.”