Iran Warns Against 'Border Changes' As Armenia, Azerbaijan Clash

Israel has been mounting air and missile attacks since 2017 on what it has described as Iranian-linked targets in Syria, but these have largely been weapons shipments and warehouses.

There were no immediate comments from Iran and Syria on Monday, but Damascus has declined to comment on such accusations in the past and Tehran has denied it builds production capabilities across the Middle East.

But top Iranian military officials routinely threaten Israel with attacks by their proxy forces in Syria and Lebanon and even direct strikes.

Ground forces chief Brigadier General Kyumars Haydaritold the semi-officila hardline Mehr news website on Monday that Iran has developed an advanced long-range suicide drone "designed to hit Israel's Tel Aviv, Haifa.” He said the drone, named Arash-2, is a newer version of Arash-1.

Speaking at a conference in New York, Gantz presented a map of what he said were military sites of the Centre D'Etudes et de Recherches Scientifiques (CERS), a Syrian government agency, involved in manufacturing missiles and weapons for Iran.

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"Iran transformed CERS into production facilities for mid and long-range, precise missiles and weapons, provided to Hezbollah and Iranian proxies. In other words, it became yet another Iranian front – a factory for advanced, strategic weapons," Gantz said.

Israel is fiercely campaigning against a new nuclear deal with Iran that the United States and three of its European allies, Britain, France and Germany have been negotiating since April 2021. Both former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the current leadership argue that the new deal will not permanently stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons but will lift US sanctions and release hundreds of billions of dollars, which would worsen Iran’s missile and terror threats in the region.

Strikes attributed to Israel have recently intensified on Syrian airports to disrupt Tehran's increasing use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to allies in Syria and Lebanon, including Hezbollah, regional diplomatic and intelligence sources have told Reuters.

Israeli strikes have repeatedly targeted the Masyaf area, a zone in the western Hama district where Gantz said an underground weapons production facility threatens Israel and the region.

"Masyaf, specifically, is used to produce advanced missiles," he said.

Gantz added that Iran was also working on building missile and weapons industries in Lebanon and Yemen. The Lebanese Hezbollah already possesses precision an arsenal of precision missiles and Israeli officials are warning of its intentions to target the country if a conflict breaks out.

"If this trend will not be stopped, within a decade, there will be advanced Iranian industries across the region, producing weapons and spreading terror," he said.

With reporting by Reuters

During a joint press conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Lapid said he provided the chancellor with sensitive intelligence information that supports Israel's opposition to the looming agreement.

Stressing the need for a new strategy to stop Iran's nuclear program, he said, "Removing sanctions and pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into Iran will bring waves of terrorism, not only to the Middle East, but also across Europe." He added, “A nuclear Iran will destabilize the Middle East, and create a nuclear arms race that will endanger the entire world.”

Lapid welcomed the statement released by Germany, Britain and France who said September 10, that they had "serious doubts" about Tehran's intentions to reach a nuclear deal.

Scholz, for his part, said the Islamic Republic must not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. He said Germany and the other European powers had made suggestions that Iran had refused, expressing regret that Tehran has not positively responded to the proposals.

Despite Israel’s strong opposition to a new agreement, Scholtz renewed calls for a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear crisis, saying that “a functional international agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program is the right way.”

A Greek shipping ministry source said on Monday that "a very serious effort has been under way for the return of the Greek crews the soonest possible," without elaborating. Iran had said the crew were not detained and are on board their vessels.

The Greek union of commercial ships' seafarers said Sunday that Iran has agreed to release the crews so they will be replaced, allowing their return to their countries of origin as of Monday. It was not clear whether the two tankers, the MT Prudent Warrior and Delta Poseidon, would be released, a statement on the union’s website added.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani did not confirm the information. "We have no confirmation at this moment about a release," he said early Monday, expressing hope that "there would be positive developments in the future".

Tehran allowed the release of the crews after the 100,000 tons of oil originally seized by the Greek authorities at the request of the US was returned to the tanks of the Iranian-owned ship Lana late August.

The Iranian-flagged tanker Lana, formerly Pegas, was seized by Greece in April and was held for months, and the US had confiscated part of its oil cargo due to sanctions. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards' navy seized the two vessels during helicopter-launched raids in the Persian Gulf on May 27, a week after Washington chartered a vessel to transfer the Iranian oil to the US.

Timothy Lenderking made the remarks in an interview with Arab News on Sunday in Riyadh, where he arrived as part of a diplomatic push to extend a UN-mediated truce in Yemen into a permanent arrangement.

He said the Islamic Republic has “supported the Houthis in developing their military capability, their UAV capability. And that’s been very negative,” criticizing Iran for fueling rather than tempering the conflict.

Describing the truce as an opportunity for the Houthis to show good faith and good will, he said, “From what we know after talking to Yemenis inside Yemen and around the world, there is no appetite for a return to war. There is no capacity for anybody to wish to see this happen.”

Washington’s point man for Yemen also expressed hope that Tehran’s actions would match its words -- welcoming the truce and backing an extended ceasefire -- by supporting the current positive situation as fuel ships and commercial flights are working again.

The Houthis receive military and political support from Iran in their conflict with other Yemenis, who have been backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2014. Iran has been sharing its missile and drone technology with Yemen’s Houthis and has also supplied other proxy forces, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militias.

In his first public speech since becoming head of the spy agency in June 2021, Barnea said at a conference at Herzliya’s Reichman University on Monday that Israel would not participate in the “charade” of a renewed nuclear deal between world powers and Iran, warning that the looming accord would “not provide immunity” for Tehran from Mossad’s operations, “even if a deal is signed.”

“The Iranian leadership must understand that attacks against Israel or Israelis, directly or indirectly by proxies, will be met with a painful response against those responsible, on Iranian soil,” Barnea warned. 

“The deal is based on Iranian lies. Iran has sought to build a nuclear weapon that endangers Israel’s existence. The deal will easily help them reach this goal under international legitimization,” he added. 

“It is state terrorism, ordered by [Iran’s Supreme] Leader and perpetrated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other Iranian intelligence organizations. It is not spontaneous; it is planned, systematic, and strategic terror,” he said. 

He underlined that terror is Iran’s substitute for diplomacy, stating that “Terror serves to help the survival of the regime, prevents any change by the Iranian public, undermines the sovereignty of its neighbors, and deters them from cooperating with Israel. Terror is used to extort countries all over the world.” 

Mossad had foiled “dozens of Iranian terror attacks against Israelis and Jews abroad” recently, in Cyprus, Turkey, Colombia, and “many other places,” Barnea said. “Attempts are being made to harm American officials on US soil.”