• ‘Iran replicating Hezbollah model in Yemen’
Jeddah — The Iranian regime is trying to copy the Hezbollah model in Yemen by financing the Houthi militia and arming it with lethal weapons enabling them to attack the Yemeni people, disrupt international shipping routes and destabilize the whole region, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States Prince Khalid Bin Salman said on Tuesday.
In a number of tweets posted on Tuesday, Prince Khalid said the Iranian regime created Hezbollah which has helped Tehran in “killing dozens of Americans and committing genocide against the Syrian people”.
“The Iranian regime founded Hezbollah in Lebanon, a terrorist proxy which acts as it’s subcontractor in the region, helping the regime in killing dozens of Americans and committing genocide against the Syrian people, among other things,” he said.
• U.S. Sends Aircraft Carrier to Persian Gulf in Show of Force Against Iran | The Wall Street Journal
A U.S. aircraft carrier strike group will arrive in the Middle East within days, U.S. defense officials said, ending the longest period in two decades that such a military presence has been absent from the region. The USS John C. Stennis and accompanying ships will arrive by this week’s end, the first such military presence in the region in eight months, the officials said, to exhibit a show of force against Iran.
• Iran: 25th Day of Strike by Steel workers
Today the 25th day of huge demonstration and strike by the workers of the National Industrial Alloyed Steel group of Ahvaz started in the city center, workers carry placards reading: Workers are Aware and Disgusted of the Exploitation. And: the worker will die but will tolerate no humiliation. And: Our country is a thieves’ bunker, well known in the world. One worker stated; we will recapture our rights and Mafia (regime’s officials) will be destroyed.
• US Ambassador to UN Calls on Iran to Release Political Prisoners
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, is demanding that Iran release its political prisoners following the publication of a joint letter written by families of those detained in Iran.
“Our hearts hurt for the families around the world whose loved ones have become political prisoners in Iran,” Haley said Monday.
Haley said “Iran invented reasons to throw these innocent people in jail and keeps them there with no end in sight and no fair judicial process for them to pursue.”
• U.S. Urges Europe to Impose Sanctions On Iran Over Missiles| Associated Press
The Trump administration is urging Europe to impose tough new sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile program.
The call comes as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is to meet European officials in Brussels this week and after the U.S. and others condemned an Iranian missile launch over the weekend.
U.S. special envoy for Iran Brian Hook rejected Iran’s insistence that its missile program is defensive.
“It is a grave and escalating threat, and nations around the world, not just Europe, need to do everything they can to be targeting Iran’s missile program,” Hook said.
• France Says Iran Ballistic Test Provocative and Destabilizing
Iran’s test of a medium-range ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads is a provocative and destabilizing act, France’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
“France is concerned about Iran’s mid-range ballistic missile test last Saturday. It condemns this provocative and destabilizing action,” Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said in a statement.
She said the test did not comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231 and called on Tehran to immediately stop all its ballistic missile-related activities designed to carry nuclear weapons.
• UN Security Council to meet on Iran missile test| AFP
The UN Security Council will meet behind closed doors on Tuesday at the request of France and Britain after they accused Iran of test-firing a medium-range missile at the weekend, diplomats said.
The United States said the missile launch on Saturday was a violation of a UN resolution that endorsed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, from which Washington has withdrawn.
That resolution calls on Iran to refrain from testing missiles capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.
• Iran Regime Faces ‘Chronic Challenges’ Beyond US Sanctions
The influential parliament speaker Ali Larijani said on Monday.: Iran is facing “chronic challenges” that existed long before US sanctions were reimposed.
Larijani said at a press conference: “External factors do affect our economy, but there are problems persisting from before,”
He listed a number of challenges, including “big, costly government”, high interest rates that “disrupt production”, cash-strapped pension funds and a water crisis.
• Khalid bin Salman: “Hezbollah helped Iran in ‘killing dozens of Americans’”
Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States Khalid bin Salman on Tuesday criticized the Iranian regime for its creation of Hezbollah which has helped Tehran in “killing dozens of Americans and committing genocide against the Syrian people”.
Khalid bin Salman wrote on twitter: “The Iranian regime founded Hezbollah in Lebanon, a terrorist proxy which acts as it’s subcontractor in the region, helping the regime in killing dozens of Americans and committing genocide against the Syrian people, among other things,”
he added: “The regime of Iran is trying to copy the Hezbollah model in Yemen, where they finance the Houthi militia and arm it with lethal weapons, enabling them to attack the Yemeni people, disrupt international shipping routes, and destabilize the whole region,”.