Page 28 - Iran

Iran needs more than $100 billion in foreign investment: Prez Pezeshkian

Iran's president said Saturday his country needs some $100 billion in foreign investment to achieve an annual target of 8% economic growth up from the current rate of 4%. The remarks by Masoud Pezeshkian, who was elected in July, came in his first live televised interview by state TV. Pezeshkian said Iran needs up to $250 billion to reach its goal but more than half is available from domestic resources. Experts say growth in GDP of 8% would reduce double-digit inflation and unemployment rates. Hundreds of entities and people in Iran from the central bank and government officials to drone producers and money exchangers are already under international sanctions, many of them accused of materially supporting Iran's Revolutionary Guard and foreign militant groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Pezeshkian in his interview complained about the sanctions and said his administration plans to reduce inflation, which is running at more than 40% annually, if we solve our problems

Houthis will allow rescue ships to aid tanker ablaze in Red Sea: Iran

Yemen's Houthi rebels have agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to assist a Greek-flagged oil tanker that remains ablaze in the Red Sea in consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns, Iran's UN Mission said late Wednesday. The Pentagon said Tuesday that attempts by an unidentified third party to send two tugboats to the stricken Sounion were blocked by the Iranian-backed Houthis. Air Force Maj Gen Pat Ryder told reporters that the Houthis' actions demonstrate their blatant disregard for not only human life, but also for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents. Last week's attack on the Sounion marked the most serious assault in weeks by the Houthi rebels, who continue to target shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion in trade that typically passes through the region, as well as halted some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen. Iran's UN Mission ...

How lessons learned from 2016 campaign led US to be open about Iran hack

The 2016 presidential campaign was entering its final months and seemingly all of Washington was abuzz with talk about how Russian hackers had penetrated the email accounts of Democrats, triggering the release of internal communications that seemed designed to boost Donald Trump's campaign and hurt Hillary Clinton's. Yet there was a notable exception: The officials investigating the hacks were silent. When they finally issued a statement, one month before the election, it was just three paragraphs and did little more than confirm what had been publicly suspected that there had been a brazen Russian effort to interfere in the vote. This year, there was another foreign hack, but the response was decidedly different. US security officials acted more swiftly to name the culprit, detailing their findings and blaming a foreign adversary this time, Iran just over a week after Trump's campaign revealed the attack. They accused Iranian hackers of targeting the presidential campaigns of b

Iran's foreign min vows retaliation against Israel over Haniyeh's death

Iran's foreign minister again has referenced his country's planned retaliation over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Abbas Araghchi said late Sunday he made the remark in a conversation with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani by telephone. Iran reaction to Israeli terrorist attack in Tehran is definitive, and will be measured & well calculated, Araghchi wrote on the social platform X. We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it unlike Israel. Tajani said in a statement he called for restraint and to pursue a constructive approach, in order to stop the cycle of military actions in the region, which only risks bringing more suffering. It is important that Iran exercises moderation towards Hezbollah in order to avert an escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli border, where Italian soldiers of the UNIFIL contingent are operating, and towards the Houthis in order to avoid an increase in tensions in the Red Sea area, where Italy plays a leading role in the .

Pak flies home injured and bodies of 28 pilgrims killed in Iran bus crash

Pakistan brought home Friday the bodies of 28 Shiite pilgrims killed in a bus crash in Iran this week while heading to Iraq for a pilgrimage. A Pakistani military aircraft also flew back 23 pilgrims injured in the accident, officials said. Earlier in the day in Iran, officials handed over the bodies of the crash victims to Pakistani diplomats. Prayer services were held in both Iran and later in Pakistan. Funeral were to take place in the victims' home districts early Saturday. The pilgrims were from Pakistan's southern Sindh province, according to Nasir Shah, a provincial government spokesman. The plane, requested by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the repatriation, landed at the airport in Jacobabad, about 1,000 kilometres southwest from the capital of Islamabad. The coffins, covered in Pakistan's national flag, were handed over to the victims' relatives for burial. State-run PTV broadcast the ceremony at the Jacobabad airport, where relatives of the victims cried and

Google says Iranian group trying to access mails linked to US prez campaign

Google has said that an Iranian group linked to the country's Revolutionary Guard has tried to infiltrate the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump since May. The tech company's threat intelligence arm on Wednesday said the group is still actively targeting people associated with Biden, Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden as the Democratic candidate last month when he dropped out. It said those targeted have included current and former government officials, as well as presidential campaign affiliates. The new report from Google's Threat Analysis Group affirms and expands on a Microsoft report released Friday that revealed suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in this year's US presidential election. It sheds light on how foreign adversaries are ramping up their efforts to disrupt the election that is now less than three months away. Google's report said its threat researchers detected and

Suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in US presidential race: What we know

Details emerged over the weekend of a suspected Iranian cyber intrusion into the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, potentially resulting in the theft of internal campaign documents. The FBI is investigating the matter as well as attempts to infiltrate President Joe Biden's reelection campaign, which became Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign after Biden dropped out of the race. Here's what we know: What happened? Trump's presidential campaign said Saturday that it had been hacked and that sensitive internal documents were stolen and distributed. It declared that Iranian actors were to blame. The same day, Politico revealed it had received leaked internal Trump campaign documents by email, from a person only identified as Robert. The outlet said the documents included vetting materials on Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and Sen Marco Rubio, who also was considered as a potential vice president. Two other news outlets, The New York Times and

Ex-nuclear negotiator, female min in list of proposed mins by Iran prez

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday proposed former nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi as the country's new foreign minister and also sought to appoint a woman as roads and housing minister. If approved, she would be Iran's first female minister in more than a decade. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf read out the list of proposed ministers to lawmakers. The hard-line-dominated chamber will have two weeks to review qualifications and give a vote of confidence to the proposed ministers. Araghchi, 61, a career diplomat, was a member of the Iranian negotiating team that reached a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 that capped Tehran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal and imposed more sanctions on Iran. Pezeshkian said during his presidential campaign that he would try to revive the nuclear deal. Pezeshkian named Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, an F-14 Tomcat pilot, as defense minist

Trump's campaign says its emails were hacked, Iranian actors suspected

Former President Donald Trump's presidential campaign said Saturday that it has been hacked and suggested Iranian actors were involved in stealing and distributing sensitive internal documents. The campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran's involvement, but the claim comes a day after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents' attempts to interfere in the US campaign in 2024. It cited an instance of an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sending a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor. Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blamed the hack on foreign sources hostile to the United States. The National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday by The Associated Press. Politico first reported Saturday on the hack. The outlet reported that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source an AOL email ..

29 executions in two days in Iran, UN rights office expresses concerns

The UN human rights office is expressing concerns about reports that Iran has executed 29 people over two days this week, with the rights chief decrying an alarmingly high number" of executions in such a short period of time. The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday it has verified 38 people were executed in July, bringing the total number of executions to at least 345 this year mostly for drug offenses or murder including 15 women. Imposing the death penalty for offenses not involving intentional killing is incompatible with international human rights norms and standards, rights office spokeswoman Liz Throssell told a U.N. briefing Friday. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Trk is extremely concerned about reports that, in the space of two days this week, Iranian authorities reportedly executed at least 29 people across the country, she said. This represents an alarmingly high number of executions in such a short period of time. Throssell

Iran could discard revenge plan against Israel in return for Gaza ceasefire

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US has told both- Israel and Iran that 'no one should escalate this conflict'

Iran accelerating cyber activity seemingly to influence US polls: Microsoft

Iran is ramping up online activity that appears intended to influence the upcoming US election, in one case targeting a presidential campaign with an email phishing attack, Microsoft said Friday. Iranian actors also have spent recent months creating fake news sites and impersonating activists, laying the groundwork to stoke division and potentially sway American voters this fall, especially in swing states, the technology giant found. The findings in Microsoft's newest threat intelligence report show how Iran, which has been active in recent US campaign cycles, is evolving its tactics for another election that's likely to have global implications. The report goes a step beyond anything US intelligence officials have disclosed, giving specific examples of Iranian groups and the actions they have taken so far. Iran's United Nations mission denied it had plans to interfere or launch cyberattacks in the US presidential election. The report doesn't specify Iran's intentions besides sowin

UK, Egypt issue alerts for Iran, Lebanon airspace amid conflict risks

Egypt's civil aviation ministry later confirmed on Wednesday the notice was intended to reduce flight safety risks in light of a notification it received from Iranian authorities

Who is Asif Merchant: Pak national charged with US assassination plots

Asif Merchant has been charged with murder-for-hire in connection with a foiled assassination plot targeting US politicians or government officials

Pak man with Iran ties charged in plot to assassinate gov officials in US

A 46-year-old Pakistani national with close ties to Iran was on Tuesday charged in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate a politician or US government officials on American soil, authorities here said. Asif Raza Merchant was charged in a complaint unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn with murder-for-hire as part of a scheme to assassinate a politician or US government officials on its soil. Law enforcement foiled the charged plot before any attack could be carried out. Merchant, who has stated that he has a wife and children in Iran and a wife and children in Pakistan, is in federal custody in New York. US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that for years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran's brazen and unrelenting efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. US Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York said that working on behalf of others ...

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US, allies push to avert possible Mideast war amid heightened tensions

The focus has been to prepare for and possibly blunt an attack by Iran, which has warned it will respond after blaming Israel for killing a top Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in a government

Putin ally holds talks in Iran as West Asia teeters on brink of wider war

Russia has condemned the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Iran last week

Iran Army refutes reports about IRGC infiltration to kill Hamas' Haniyeh

The statement by IRGS also accuses the criminal government of the United States of supporting the attack

US General arrives in Middle East as Iran prepares for attack on Israel

Three US and Israeli officials said that they expect Iran to launch an attack on Israel as early as Monday