Page 27 - Iran

Iranian operatives charged in US with hacking Trump's presidential campaign

The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges Friday against three Iranian operatives suspected of hacking Donald Trump's presidential campaign and disseminating stolen information to media organisations. The latest action, coupled with sanctions and rewards for information leading to the hackers' capture, is the latest US government effort to call out what's seen as Iran's attempts to interfere in the election by damaging Trump and sowing general chaos. It comes as Iran has also been accused of threatening the lives of Trump and former officials and US-Iran relations remain especially tense with Israel fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The defendants' own words made clear that they were attempting to undermine former President Trump's campaign in advance of the 2024 US presidential election. We know that Iran is continuing with its brazen efforts to stoke discord, erode confidence in the US electoral process and advance its malign activities, Attorney General ...

US intel warns Trump on 'real' assassination threat from Iran: Campaign

US intelligence agencies have briefed former president Donald Trump on the "real and specific" threat to his life allegedly from Iran to allegedly "sow chaos" in the country, according to his campaign. Two apparent assassination attempts have been made in the same number of months on the life of the 78-year-old Republican presidential candidate. President Trump was briefed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilise and sow chaos in the United States, Steven Cheung, Trump's Campaign communications director said late Tuesday night. Intelligence officials have identified these "continued and coordinated" attacks heightened in the past few months, and law enforcement officials across all agencies are working to ensure Trump is protected and the November election is free from interference, Cheung said. On July 13, the first failed assassination attempt on Trump was made

Iran wants to play 'constructive role' in world affairs: Pezeshkian to UN

Iran's new president signalled to world leaders Tuesday that he wants to open a constructive chapter in his country's international relations but he made clear that everyone else, including the United States, needs to do their part. In his first speech at the UN General Assembly's annual gathering of world leaders, Masoud Pezeshkian struck a somewhat more measured tone than his predecessors often have in recent years. I aim to lay a strong foundation for my country's entry into a new era, positioning it to play an effective and constructive role in the evolving global order, said Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon who ran as a reformer. He took office in July. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, opened the door last month to renewed negotiations with the United States over his country's rapidly advancing nuclear programme, telling Iran's civilian government there was no harm in engaging with its enemy. The United States, under former President Donald Trump, withdrew in 2018 fr

President Pezeshkian urges US to begin new era of relations with Tehran

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged the US to begin a new era in its relations with Iran. While criticising the US military presence in Iran's neighbourhood, the US sanctions against Iran, and the killing of Iranian top Gen. Qassem Soleimani in 2020, Pezeshkian said during his speech at the UN General Assembly, We can go beyond these limits and begin a new era. The new era begins by recognising Iran's security concerns as well as joint work on joint issues. He said his message addresses all governments that follow unconstructive strategies toward Iran. Pezeshkian said despite the bitterness of years of sanctions, Iran has achieved strong will and self-confidence and is ready to work with the world, Iran is ready to have economic, political and security equal-base cooperation for building a better world with world powers and neighbours. He said Iran expects that the world does not answer Iran's message for cooperation by imposing more sanctions, Implementations of (world) ...

Iran believes workers trapped in coal mine explosion dead, toll rises to 49

Iran said Tuesday it believes the remaining workers trapped by an explosion at a coal mine in the country's east have died, bringing the death toll in the disaster to at least 49. A provincial emergency official, Mohammad Ali Akhoundi, gave the death toll in a report carried by Iranian state television from the mine in Tabas. Figures for the numbers of miners inside the mine at the time have fluctuated since the methane gas leak Saturday sparked an explosion.

Iran's president accuses Israel of seeking wider Mideast war, laying traps

Iran's new president accused Israel on Monday of seeking a wider war in the Middle East and laying traps to lead his country into a broader conflict. Masoud Pezeshkian told about two dozen media representatives that Iran doesn't want to see the current war in Gaza and airstrikes across the Israeli-Lebanon border expanded. We don't want to fight, he said. It's Israel that wants to drag everyone into war and destabilize the region. They are dragging us to a point where we do not wish to go. Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and reformer, defeated a hardliner in Iran's July presidential runoff, after the death of the former president in a helicopter crash. He is making his debut on the international stage at this week's annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly, just as Israel steps up attacks on Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The Iranian leader, who will turn 70 on Sunday, said that while Israel insists it doesn't want a wider war, i ts actions show ...

At least 38 dead, 14 still missing after explosion at Iran coal mine

Rescuers on Monday recovered the bodies of more workers killed in an explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran, bringing the death toll in the disaster to at least 38, officials said. Another 14 miners are still believed to be trapped below ground. The blast struck the coal mine in Tabas, about 540 km (335 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran, on Saturday night. On Sunday, weeping miners stood alongside mine cars that brought up the bodies of their colleagues, covered in coal dust. The state-run IRNA news agency on Monday reported the new death toll from the blast, as well as the number of missing. Survivors interviewed by Iranian state television, still smudged in coal dust, described chaotic scenes after the blast. We were in the mine, working. Suddenly there was some smoke rising...then I noticed I had difficulty breathing," said one miner who was not identified by state TV. "I jumped off from the workshop and I scrambled until I reached somewhere (safe). My friends (remained)

Methane leak-triggered explosion in Iran coal mine kills 32: Report

A methane leak sparked an explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran, killing at least 19 people and injuring another 17, Iranian state television reported Sunday. The report said the deaths happened at a coal mine in Tabas, some 540 kilometers (335 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran. Authorities were sending emergency personnel to the area after the blast late Saturday, it said. Around 70 people had been working there at the time of the blast. Oil-producing Iran is also rich in a variety of minerals. Iran annually consumes some 3.5 million tons of coal but only extracts about 1.8 million tons from its mines per year. The rest is imported, often consumed in the country's steel mills. This is not the first disaster to strike Iran's mining industry. In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people. Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services i

Iran tried to send hacked files to Democrats, signaling meddling: FBI

When the FBI said this week that Iran had tried to provide Democrats with material stolen from Donald Trump's campaign, it was only the latest allegation of foreign interference with the US election. The 2024 presidential campaign is encountering a spate of efforts by adversaries to weaken faith in the outcome and potentially alter the results. While much of the attention has been focused on Iran, Russia is still seen as the biggest threat. The Biden administration has moved aggressively in recent weeks to call out the operations in hopes of alerting Americans so they remain vigilant to wide-ranging, often hidden, foreign efforts to influence their positions on hot-button positions and the candidates. A look at the latest development and broader concerns about foreign election meddling: What Iran is alleged to have done Iranian operatives stand accused of hacking the Trump campaign and attempting to spread the internal communications they pilfered. They also sought access to the .

Iranian hackers sent stolen Trump campaign info to Biden's campaign: US

Iranian government-backed hackers stole Trump campaign documents and shared them with news organisations, CNN had reported

Iran-India tensions flare over controversial comments on minorities

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has sparked outrage in India with his remarks on the condition of minorities in the country, to which India gave a swift and stern reply.

Unacceptable: Govt on Iranian supreme leader's comment on Indian minorities

India on Monday strongly deplored comments made by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the condition of minorities in India, calling the remarks "misinformed and unacceptable". External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said countries commenting on minorities in India should look at their "own record" before making any observations about others. "We strongly deplore the comments made regarding minorities in India by the Supreme Leader of Iran. These are misinformed and unacceptable," he said. "Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making any observations about others," Jaiswal said. The Iranian leader, addressing a gathering of clerics in Tehran on Monday, talked about what he described as "suffering" of Muslims in Gaza, Myanmar and India. "The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah. We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are obliv

Iran successfully launches satellite in its programme criticised by West

Iran launched a satellite into space Saturday with a rocket built by the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media reported, the latest for a program the West fears helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program. Iran described the launch as the second such launch to put a satellite into orbit with the rocket. Independent scientists later confirmed the launch and that the satellite reached orbit. Footage later released by Iranian media showed the rocket blast off from a mobile launcher. An Associated Press analysis of the video and other imagery later released suggested the launch happened at the Guard's launch pad on the outskirts of the city of Shahroud, some 350 kilometres (215 miles) east of the capital, Tehran. The launch comes amid heightened tensions gripping the wider Middle East over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, during which Tehran launched an unprecedented direct missile-and-drone attack on Israel. Meanwhile, Iran continues to enric

Iran launches satellite in space amid Western concerns over missile risks

Iran launched a satellite into space Saturday with a rocket built by the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media reported, the latest for a programme the West fears helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile programme. Iran described the launch as a success, which would be the second such launch to put a satellite into orbit with the rocket. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the launch's success, nor did Iranian authorities immediately provide footage or other details. The launch comes amid heightened tensions gripping the wider West Asia over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, during which Tehran launched an unprecedented direct missile-and-drone attack on Israel. Meanwhile, Iran continues to enrich uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels, raising concerns among nonproliferation experts about Tehran's program. Iran identified the satellite-carrying rocket as the Qaem-100, which the Guard used in January for another successful launch

Iran's president Pezeshkian slams West over war in Gaza, support for Israel

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday slammed the West, saying that Israel is committing massacres in the war in Gaza and using European and American weapons to do so. Pezeshkian, who spoke in Baghdad at the start of his first visit abroad since taking office, is hoping to cement Tehran's ties to Baghdad as regional tensions increasingly pull both majority Shiite countries into the widening Middle East fray. Iran has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian militant Hamas group since its Oct 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in the Gaza Strip. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war erupted, according to local health officials. The war has also caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. The Israeli entity is committing massacres against women, children, young men and elderly. They bomb hospitals and schools, Pezeshkian said. All these crimes are being committed

Tehran a partner: Kremlin on report of missile supplies from Iran to Russia

The Journal cited unidentified US and European officials as saying that Iran had sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia

Ukraine expresses concern over transfer of Iranian missiles to Russia

In a statement emailed to reporters, the ministry said the deepening military co-operation between Tehran and Moscow was a threat to Ukraine, Europe and the Middle East

As Iran threatens Israel, danger of missile programme remains in question

As Iran threatens to attack Israel over the assassination of a Hamas leader in the Iranian capital, its long-vaunted missile program offers one of the few ways for Tehran to strike back directly, but questions loom over just how much of a danger it poses. The program was behind Iran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel in April, when Iran became the first nation to launch such a barrage since Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein lobbed Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War. But few of the Iranian projectiles reached their targets. Many were shot down by a US-led coalition, while others apparently failed at launch or crashed while in flight. Even those that reached Israel appeared to miss their marks. Now a new report by experts shared exclusively with The Associated Press suggests one of Tehran's most advanced missiles is far less accurate than previously thought. The April assault showed "some ability to strike Israel, said Sam Lair, a research associate at the Jame

Iranian backed Yemen's Houthi rebels target oil tanker in Red Sea

An attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted an oil tanker in the Red Sea on Monday, authorities said, as a second ship nearby also came under fire. Both attacks were near where crews hope to salvage a tanker loaded with oil and still ablaze after another assault by the group. The attacks are believed to be the latest in the Iranian-backed rebels' campaign that has disrupted the $1 trillion in goods that pass through the Red Sea each year over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip as well as halted some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen. Meanwhile, the efforts to salvage the still-burning Sounion seek to head off the potential ecological disaster posed by its cargo of 1 million barrels of crude oil. In Monday's first assault, ballistic missiles hit the Panama-flagged oil tanker Blue Lagoon I, and a third exploded near the ship, the multination Joint Maritime Information Center overseen by the U.S. Navy said. All crew on board are safe (no injury reported), the cente

Record heat in Iran raises global concern as heat index touches 82 degrees

If verified, these figures could set new records for the highest heat index and dew point ever documented on Earth