WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed on Tuesday that he visited US troops in Israel and said he would not discuss the details of a private conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I was there visiting our troops, (and) had a chance to talk to the prime minister. Of course, the nature of our conversation is not something I would talk about, but they’ve been good partners, and I appreciate that,” Hegseth told reporters.
LONDON: The Saudi ambassador to Syria, Ghazi Al-Enezi, held talks on Tuesday with the Syrian interior minister, Anas Khattab, about bilateral cooperation, including ways to streamline administrative procedures for citizens of both countries. During their meeting they also discussed other issues of mutual interest, Syria’s Interior Ministry said in a message posted on Telegram. It followed talks in Riyadh on Friday between the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and his Syrian count
LONDON: The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said on Tuesday it is continuing its operations to support peace and stability as the Security Council considers options for the period after its mandate expires Dec. 31. “As the Security Council considers options for the post-UNIFIL period, our work on the ground continues,” the UN Interim Force in Lebanon said in a statement. The mission said it remained committed to its duties under Security Council Resolution 1701, including monitoring development
Ukraine has deployed drone personnel and thousands of microdrones across countries surrounding Iran, including Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, an Iranian security source told Tasnim News Agency, highlighting the deployments as part of a broader network of hostile activities directed against Tehran.
According to the security source, Kiev had established an operational microdrone network across the region, with thousands of drones deployed in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
The source withheld the names of the countries hosting Ukrainian personnel and equipment, stating that the information remained confidential and would be disclosed in due course.
Tehran preparing appropriate response
The Iranian security source further said Tehran considers Ukraine’s activities part of the broader hostile actions pursued by Europe and NATO against Iran, adding that Iranian authorities are fully aware of Kiev’s operations.
Tehran, according to the source, is considering an appropriate response to the deployments, which it stressed as a security threat.
Describing the operation as a “failed attempt and an embarrassment” for Ukraine, the source stressed that Iran remains aware of Kiev’s activities and their implications for regional security.
The bigger picture
The deployment comes amid longstanding security concerns over armed Kurdish separatist groups operating along Iran’s western border and growing tensions between Tehran and Kiev following a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea.
Baghdad, Tehran, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed a security agreement in March 2023 requiring Iranian Kurdish separatist groups to disarm and relocate away from the Iraq-Iran border.
The agreement also obliges Iraqi authorities to prevent the groups from using Iraqi territory to launch military operations against Iran. While Baghdad and the KRG have fulfilled their obligations, sources told Al Mayadeen that four or five Iranian separatist groups continue to defy the agreement and carry out provocations along the border.
The remaining groups have continued their activities despite guarantees offered by the KRG, with Al Mayadeen Plus reporting in September that they had refused to leave their positions.
Tehran has responded to the separatist groups with missile and drone strikes, as well as ground operations targeting positions in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. In July, Iranian strikes martyred nine members of the Komala Party. Iran is also building a security wall extending more than 250 kilometers along its border with the Kurdistan Region.
These security concerns have unfolded alongside a deterioration in relations between Iran and Ukraine. In July, Tehran condemned a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea that killed one sailor and injured another. Iran’s Foreign Ministry characterized the strike as an act of aggression and a violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, warning that it could widen the scope of the war.
TEL AVIV: He celebrated his 50th birthday with a cake decorated with a noose. He says he plans to surround jailed Palestinians with crocodiles. In videos, he berates foreign activists captured at sea trying to bring aid to Gaza, forced to kneel at his feet with their faces pressed to the ground. To much of the world and to many Israelis, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the bellicose face of Israel’s far right, is a figure from the fringe of politics, despite over four years in power as police minister in Pri
Sea mines have resurfaced as a threat in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran claimed Oct.17 that two oil tankers caught fire after striking the explosives, raising fresh alarms over the safety of one of the world's most critical shipping lanes.
This came as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) warned that sea mines pose a serious threat to vessels navigating the strategic waterway and while Tehran continues to maintain its own unauthorized shipping corridor inside its territorial waters.
"The traffic separation scheme, the information that we have is that they still have mines. And of course, whilst the conflict is ongoing, it's very difficult for us to use third parties to verify that it is clear of these hazards," IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez told Fox News Digital.
"So in the meantime, we cannot guarantee that a vessel that intends to transit that route will not be hit by a mine."
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy said Saturday that two oil tankers caught fire after striking naval mines while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported, citing Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
State media also said both tankers were carrying about 2 million barrels of crude oil, according to Reuters.
IRNA also reported that the vessels had switched off their positioning and radar systems and attempted to use a route through the strategic waterway that Iran had not authorized.
The second tanker was left immobilized after striking a mine, according to the Reuters report.
The alleged strikes came as Tehran continued to maintain its transit passageway inside Iranian territorial waters, imposing tolls and safety fees administered by the IRGC — a framework rejected by Washington and the IMO as inconsistent with international maritime law.
"Right now there's only one route that was adopted back in 1968 that is approved and recognized for IMO and that appears in all the charts for the vessels to operate," Dominguez explained.
"There's only one route that should be used for transit, but it's not clear of mines right now, so it's not safe."
"We have received confirmation from Iran about the establishment of its temporary route in the waters," he added before stating that the route was not provided with "an official confirmation or a decision of the organization."
"Any other route needs to actually be sent to the organization to go through the processes, and we have not received that."
"We have received communication from Iran to use that route because of the conflict," Dominguez clarified.
"That's the way that it's been presented. But anything for us to approve needs to go through the mechanisms at the international maritime organizations and the member states need to review it."
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and a former Revolutionary Guard commander, said Tehran considered Washington's latest response to negotiations "insufficient," Reuters reported, according to IRNA.
Rezaei said the U.S. had accepted some of Iran's seven conditions but that other issues remained unresolved, adding that Tehran was no longer responding to Washington and that the U.S. needed to clarify the outstanding matters.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran had submitted a proposal to Washington through Qatar, which is mediating the negotiations, outlining conditions under which the Strait of Hormuz could reopen and normal maritime traffic resume within seven days.
"Our situation is clear and based on the seven-day proposal presented to the US. They shared comments which we are reviewing, but our proposal is still on the table and if there is any honesty on the US part, which there isn't, the way to reopening the Strait of Hormuz is obvious," Araqchi said in Baghdad, Reuters reported
Senior Iranian officials also told Reuters that Tehran has shifted its strategy for attacking commercial vessels during that period.
For commercial shipping operators, Dominguez warned that the continued threat of mines and attacks means the waterway has yet to return to normal operations.
The Strait of Hormuz is "not open for business in the way that it was before the conflict started," he said.
"Our role right now is to prepare for when we have the opportunity to go back, resume the operations, follow all the procedures at IMO, but not until the root causes are addressed and those are beyond IMO."
TEHRAN, Oct. 20 (MNA) – A security source has revealed to local Iranian media that hostile actions by Ukraine involving the deployment of micro-drones in countries within the region.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have announced that their naval mines stopped three oil tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz. Two of the vessels were set ablaze and halted due to explosions at a route deemed illegal by Iran.
LONDON: Shooting detainees inside closed cells when they pose no apparent threat to guards raises “serious legal concerns” about unlawful force, an Israeli human rights lawyer said after two rights groups documented accounts of Palestinian prisoners wounded at close range. Some of the injuries required surgery and caused irreversible damage, according to the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Physicians for Human Rights Israel. In one case, medical records described a prisoner’s righ
ADEN: Yemeni government forces have carried out 744 strikes against Iran-backed Houthi positions over the past 24 hours, neutralizing an estimated 200 militia fighters in intensified military operations in Taiz and across several other fronts, a military spokesperson said on Tuesday. Col. Majed Al-Nuzaili, spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, said in a post on X that government troops continued to push back Houthi fighters in Taiz as part of Operation Dawn of Yemen, while maintaining pressu
BAGHDAD: Iran’s ambassador to Iraq said on Tuesday that Baghdad had agreed to “expel” or hand over members of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups who have taken refuge on the Iraqi side of the border. The announcement came after senior Iraqi security officials repeatedly told AFP that Baghdad was refusing to do so, fearing for the lives of the Kurdish exiles. Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, an oil-rich area in the north of the country, has long hosted camps and bases for Iranian Kurdish reb
US Vice President JD Vance stated he will not endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opting to remain neutral in Israeli elections, unlike Donald Trump, who supports Netanyahu.
Jordanian Minister of Transport Nidal Qatamin and Turkish Ambassador Hakan Karacay met in Amman to discuss enhancing rail transport cooperation, including the preservation of the historic Hejaz Railway and the development of its museum. They also focused on railway connections tied to infrastructure projects like the Aqaba-Shidiya-Maan Railway, aimed at improving freight transport, and discussed measures to boost trade and supply chain efficiency between Jordan and Turkiye.
ANAKARA: Turkiye will keep its own troops in Syria and Iraq until border security with its two neighbors has been fully ensured, Defense Minister Yasar Guler told AFP. “We are maintaining our military presence in Iraq and Syria,” he said in a written answer to AFP questions. “When we assess that the necessary conditions have been met in terms of regional and border security, the status of our base areas and our presence in the region will be reconsidered.” Turkiye has for years maintained tr
Libya’s eastern parliament has approved a maritime deal with Turkiye, reversing a 2020 decision to sever ties. The agreement is expected to provide strategic economic and security benefits.
R.A.F. Typhoon fighter jets will be deployed to protect infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, Britain said, after a spike in attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militia.
Government forces launched fresh offensives across multiple Yemeni front lines, and a tightening blockade increasingly threatens the besieged city of Taiz. The death toll from fighting in Shabwah province keeps rising.
The UK announced it will provide additional defensive military support to Saudi Arabia as Houthi attacks escalate in the region. London frames the deployment as defensive support rather than a combat mission.
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