Qassem Soleimani

Iran’s Khamenei: Fight to ‘Liberate Palestine’ Is ‘Islamic Duty’

Iran’s supreme leader said it was an “Islamic duty” to fight for the “liberation of Palestine” in a landmark speech Friday amid rising tensions with regional arch-enemy Israel. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lashed out at Western governments and their Arab “puppets” for supporting the Jewish state, in his first ever address marking Quds (Jerusalem) Day. The 80-year-old leader also appeared to confirm for the first time that Iran has helped to provide Palestinians with arms. The remarks came at the end of a week that saw Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launch a Twitter tirade against Khamenei and reports that the two sides carried out cyber attacks on each other. “The aim of this struggle is the liberation of the entire Palestinian land” and “the return of all Palestinians to their country,” Khamenei said in the speech broadcast live on state television. “The policy of normalizing the presence of the Zionist regime in the region is one of the major policies of the United States of America,” he said. “Some Arab governments in the region, which play the role of U.S. puppets, have provided the necessary preconditions for this, such as economic ties and the like; these efforts are completely fruitless and sterile. …

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US extends carrier strike group Middle East mission, sends Patriot missile defense system to Iraq

The US is moving Patriot air defense systems into Iraq and deployed a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East for the first time since 2012 amid tensions with Iran

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US-led Coalition and Iraq resume operations against ISIS

Iraq and the US-led Coalition will resume joint operations against ISIS, nearly a month after attacks bases hosting American personnel forced a pause in the mission

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Rockets hit US embassy in Baghdad amid standoff with Iran

Multiple rockets struck the US embassy compound in Baghdad on Sunday amid a wider standoff between the US and Iran-backed militias in Iraq

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Iran admits ‘unintentionally’ downing Ukrainian airliner

Iran said its armed forces "unintentionally" shot down a Ukrainian plane that crashed after taking off from Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard

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Iran fires ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing US troops

Iran fired missiles at Iraqi bases housing the US forces in revenge for the US killing of IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani

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Iran designates US military ‘terrorists’ over Soleimani killing

Iran has designated the U.S. armed forces a terrorist group over the killing of top commander General Qassem Soleimani. Iran’s lawmakers on Tuesday, January 7 unanimously approved the bill to designate the U.S. Army and Department of Defense as terrorist organizations, Tasnim news reported. The bill designates U.S. forces, Pentagon employees, affiliated organizations, and those who ordered Soleimani’s death, AFP reported. Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force – the IRGC’s external operations arm – was killed last week in a U.S. drone strike outside Baghdad International Airport. Killed with him was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the head of the Kataib Hezbollah group and de facto commander of Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi militias. In April the Trump administration designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, the first such designation of a state’s armed forces. The U.S. designated the Quds Force a foreign terrorist organization a decade ago. Also on Tuesday, Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said 13 “revenge” scenarios had been drafted in response to the Soleimani’s killing. Soleimani was to be buried in his hometown of Kerman on Tuesday. The general’s killing has sparked a new crisis in the region, with Iran and its surrogate forces vowing revenge on …

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‘Draft’ letter saying US forces to leave Iraq was sent by ‘mistake,’ Milley says

Troops from US-led Coalition against ISIS are preparing to leave Iraq in the wake of an airstrike that killed an Iranian general and Iraqi militia commander

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NATO ambassadors to meet in Brussels over Iran concerns

NATO ambassadors will meet at their Brussels headquarters as Middle East tensions mount after US forces killed a top Iranian general

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US-led Coalition pauses training of Iraqi forces, ISIS operations over force protection concerns

The US-led Coalition against ISIS paused training of Iraqi forces and operations against the militants due to a barrage of attacks against American bases

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