Page 51 - Iran

Iran announces visa-waiver for Indian tourists for maximum of 15-day stay

Iran on Tuesday announced a visa-waiver programme for Indians entering the country by air for tourism for a maximum stay of 15 days. The visa-free entry has been rolled out for Indian citizens from February 4 subject to four conditions, the Iranian embassy said. In December, Iran approved a new visa-free programme for India and 32 other countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. The Iranian readout said individuals holding ordinary passports will be allowed to enter the country without a visa once every six months, with a maximum stay of 15 days. "It is important to note that the 15-day period cannot be extended," it said. "The visa abolition only applies to individuals entering the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran for tourism purposes," it said. It said Indians wanting to stay for a longer period or make multiple entries within a six-month period or requiring other types of visas must obtain necessary visas fro

Yemen appoints Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak as country's new Prime Minister

In a surprise move, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, Yemen's foreign minister, has been appointed as the country's new Prime Minister, according to Al Jazeera

President Joe Biden vows response as Iran denies role in US base attack

The troops were the first Americans to die from a West Asia attack since regional tensions were inflamed by the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza last October

Iran executes 4 convicted of planning sabotage, alleged links with Mossad

Iran executed on Monday four men convicted of planning sabotage and alleged links with Israel's Mossad secret service, state media reported. The official IRNA news agency said the men were convicted of planning to target a factory in 2022 belonging to Iran's defense ministry and involved in missile and defense equipment in the central city of Isfahan. The operation was allegedly engineered by Mossad and the four were trained by the Israeli agency in an African country before entering Iran, it said. The four were identified as Iranian nationals: Mohammad Faramarzi, Mohsen Mazloum, Vafa Azarbar and Pejman Fatehi. The execution was carried out after the country's Supreme Court upheld their death sentences, handed down by another court in September. The report did not say how the death sentences were carried out, but in Iran it's usually by hanging. In 2022, Iran said its intelligence agents had dismantled a group linked to Mossad that had allegedly planned terror operations inside Ira

Proxies can even consume empires that support them. Iran should remember

While it may be tempting to allow militants to operate as long as they are focused on your strategic rival next door, there is no such thing as 'our' terrorists

3 Americans killed in drone attack by Iran-backed militia in Jordan: Biden

Three American service members were killed and many were wounded in a drone strike in Jordan, President Joe Biden said in a statement Sunday. He attributed the attack to Iran-backed militia groups. They were the first US fatalities in months of strikes against American forces across the Middle East by Iranian-backed militias amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, increasing the risk of escalation. Biden said the United States will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner our choosing. There was no immediate reaction from Jordan, a kingdom bordering Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, Saudi Arabia and Syria. US troops long have used Jordan as a basing point. Some 3,000 American troops typically are stationed in Jordan. Since Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip began, US troops in Iraq and Syria have faced drone and missile attacks on their bases. The attack on Jordan marks the first targeting American troops in Jordan during the war. Bi

Iran launches 3 satellites into space as tensions grip wider Mideast

Iran said Sunday it successfully launched three satellites into space, the latest for a programme that the West says improves Tehran's ballistic missiles. The state-run IRNA news agency said the launch also saw the successful use of Iran's Simorgh rocket, which has had multiple failures in the past. The launch comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel's continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. While Iran has not intervened militarily in the conflict, it has faced increased pressure within its theocracy for action after a deadly Islamic State suicide bombing earlier this month and as proxy groups like Yemen's Houthi rebels conduct attacks linked to the war. Footage released by Iranian state television showed a nighttime launch for the Simorgh rocket. An Associated Press analysis of the footage's details showed that it took place at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran's rural Semnan province. State TV named the launched satellites Mahda, Kayhan-2 and Hatef

China presses Iran to rein in Houthi attacks in Red Sea, says report

Freight through Suez Canal down 45% since Houthi attacks

US strikes 3 facilities in Iraq after attack on forces, says Lloyd Austin

The US military struck three facilities in Iraq on Tuesday, targeting an Iranian-backed militia in retaliation for missile and drone attacks on American troops in Iraq and Syria over the past several days, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. The US strikes hit militia facilities in western Iraq, near the Syrian border, US Central Command said. At President Biden's direction, US military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group and other Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq, Austin said in a statement. These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against US and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias. The strikes came hours after the US said militants fired two one-way attack drones at the al-Asad Air Base, injuring US service members and damaging infrastructure. And they follow the militia's most serious attack this year on the air base

China assures Pak of support to defend sovereignty after Iran's airstrikes

China has assured Islamabad of its support in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity even while welcoming on Tuesday the restoration of diplomatic ties between Tehran and Islamabad after their recent air strikes against each other. As China's Foreign Minister Sun Weidong visited Pakistan on a mediation mission, a statement from Foreign Ministry on Monday said it is maintaining close contacts with Pakistan and Iran to bridge their differences. China on January 18 offered to play a constructive role to ease tension between Pakistan and Iran following their missile strikes against each other and asked the two countries to "exercise restraint and calmness and avoid escalation. Earlier on January 18, Pakistan conducted "precision military strikes" against what it called "terrorist hideouts" in Iran's Siestan-Balochistan province that killed 9 people. The attack was seen as retaliation to Iranian missile and drone attacks on January 16 which targeted two bases of the Sunni ..

India likely to resume Iran crude oil imports due to Houthi threat

The issue may have been discussed during recent bilateral meetings between the countries last week when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar travelled to Iran

Iran is 'directly involved' in Yemen Houthi rebel ship attacks, says US

Iran is very directly involved in ship attacks that Yemen's Houthi rebels have carried out during Israel's war against Hamas, the US Navy's top Mideast commander told The Associated Press on Monday. Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the Navy's 5th Fleet, stopped short of saying Tehran directed individual attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. However, Cooper acknowledged that attacks associated with Iran have expanded from previously threatening just the Persian Gulf and its Strait of Hormuz into waters across the wider Middle East. "Clearly, the Houthi actions, probably in terms of their attacks on merchant shipping, are the most significant that we've seen in two generations,he told the AP in a telephone interview. The facts simply are that they're attacking the international community; thus, the international response I think you've seen. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cooper's remarks. Houthi .

Pakistan, Iran restore bilateral ties by agreeing to reinstate ambassadors

Pakistan and Iran have "mutually agreed" to reinstate their ambassadors in each other's country, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Monday, restoring bilateral ties downgraded following last week's tit-for-tat attacks on each other's territory. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian will also visit the country on January 29 at the invitation of cash-strapped Pakistan's Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, the FO said in a statement. Tensions escalated between Islamabad and Tehran after Pakistan conducted "precision military strikes" against what it called "terrorist hideouts" in Iran's Siestan-Balochistan province that killed 9 people in the wee hours on Thursday. The attack was seen as retaliation to Iranian missile and drone attacks last Tuesday on two bases of the Sunni Baloch militant group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan's unruly Balochistan province. Following the telephone conversation between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, it has been .

Gaza's expanding footprint

The conflict is getting unpredictable

Israeli airstrike on Syria kills at least 5 Iranian advisers: Officials

An Israeli strike on the Syrian capital, Damascus, destroyed Saturday a building used by Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard killing and wounding 10 people, state media outlets and an official with an Iran-backed group said. An opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said at least five people were killed in the missile attack that struck when officials from Iran-backed groups were holding a meeting. State-TV reported that the Israeli aggression targeted a residential building in the tightly guarded western Damascus neighbourhood of Mazzeh, home to several diplomatic missions, including the Lebanese and Iranian embassies. An official with an Iran-backed group in the Middle East told The Associated Press that the building was used by Revolutionary Guard officials, adding that the Israeli missiles destroyed the whole building and that 10 were either killed or wounded in the attack. The strike came amid widening tensions in the region and the Israeli ...

Iran launches satellite that is part of Western-criticised programme

Iran on said Saturday it had conducted a successful satellite launch into its highest orbit yet, the latest for a program the West fears improves Tehran's ballistic missiles. The announcement comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel's ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and just days after Iran and Pakistan engaged in tit-for-tat airstrikes in each others' countries. The Soraya satellite was placed in an orbit at some 750 kilometers (460 miles) above the Earth's surface with a three-stage rocket, the state-run IRNA news agency said. It did not immediately acknowledge what the satellite did. The launch was part of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' space programme alongside Iran's civilian space program, the report said. There was no immediate independent confirmation Iran had successfully put the satellite in orbit. The United States has previously said Iran's satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no ...

Pakistan's civil-military leadership holds meeting amid tension with Iran

Pakistan's civil-military leadership held a high-level consultative meeting on Friday to discuss the ongoing tiff with Iran as the two neighbours made amends to repair the frayed ties following their military strikes in each other's territory. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar presided over the meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) while services chiefs, cabinet ministers, and other officials were in attendance, sources said. The NSC meeting has started and is currently underway, a source said. The officials from the defence and foreign ministries will brief the meeting about the attack by Iran and counter charge by Pakistan armed forces, sources said. It is said the NSC is likely to give guidelines for future ties with Iran. Kakar had rushed back home on Thursday night from Davos, where he had gone to attend the World Economic Forum event after Pakistan and Iran carried out military strikes against each other. Pakistan conducted "precision military strikes" ag

Iran condemns Pakistan's 'unbalanced and unacceptable' drone attack

It said Iran adheres to the policy of "good neighbourliness and brotherhood" between two nations and does not allow enemies to strain the ties between Tehran and Islamabad

Pak strikes terrorist hideouts in Iran's Siestan-o-Balochistan province

Pakistan on Thursday said that the country's air force struck terrorist hideouts in Iran's Siestan-Balochistan province, a day after Islamabad recalled its ambassador from Tehran in the wake of Iranian missile and drone strikes in Balochistan. "This morning Pakistan undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Siestan-o-Baluchistan province of Iran," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday. It said a number of terrorists were killed during the intelligence-based operation codenamed "Marg Bar Sarmachar". Pakistan on Wednesday recalled its ambassador to Iran and suspended all planned high-level bilateral visits, hours after Tehran launched an unprecedented missile and drone strikes on what it said were directed at the bases of a terrorist group in the restive Balochistan province. Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Baloch in a terse statement read out to the media on Wednesday said

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