UK Slaps Sanctions On IRGC Commanders Over Human Rights Violations

More than 20 shells were fired Monday morning at a position controlled by the Lebanese Hezbollah, which has established many similar bases near the Israeli border.

So far, there is no official word from the Syrian or Israeli governments about the attack, that came barely three weeks after extensive terror and rocket attacks by Iran-backed Palestinian groups against Israel.

Times of Israel reported that artillery strike was reported by Sham FM, a Syrian radio station affiliated with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Israel also reportedly dropped leaflets warning Syrian troops not to cooperate with Iranian militia and allow them to operate near its borders. Names and photos of Syrian army officers allowing these militias to operate in the area were printed on the leaflets.

“We are closely watching and aware of the ongoing intelligence cooperation with Hezbollah within the Syrian army’s positions in the region, including near the Israeli border. Your cooperation with Hezbollah has… brought you more harm than benefit. Cooperation with Hezbollah leads to harm!” the flyer read.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based war monitor also reported the Israeli attack, saying that a similar artillery strike took place on April 17.

There are still no reports about possible casualties.

Iranian officials have boasted of having destabilized Israel by the early-April rocket attacks by the Palestinians and with a new vigor has vowed to help militant forces to continue the campaign, saying that Israel has become weaker and will succumb to the “resistance,” a term used to refer to Tehran’s proxies.

Concerns have been growing in Israel over a possible multi-front war, with attacks coming from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Army intelligence has warned of the danger, but Iran International's correspondent in Israel reported that the chairman of Israel's national security council Tzachi Hanegbi disagrees with the assessment for the near future.

Israel has been extensively conducting air and missile strikes against Iran’s military presence across Syria at least since April 2017. Thousands of attacks have targeted weapons depots, and other military positions controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Iran ships large quantities of arms to Syria and maintains up to 30,000 Afghan, Pakistani and Iraqi militiamen in addition to Hezbollah fighters to turn Syria to a new front against Israel.

Israel has not taken responsibility for the great majority of these attacks but has vowed never to allow Iran to get entrenched in Syria.

Iranian officials have intensified their anti-Israeli rhetoric since the military confrontation earlier this month, with claims of victory and threats of annihilating Israel coming on daily basis.

Iranian media reported Monday that Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh by phone, reiterating Tehran's "spiritual and political support" for Palestinians. Haniyeh reiterated "the serious will of Palestinian groups" to continue "the resistance".

The Hamas leader also welcomes a Saudi Iranian agreement in March to restore diplomatic relations.

Gen. Mohammad-Reza Naghdi, speaking Sunday to Fars news agency controlled by the IRGC, made the anti-Semitic remark amid a torrent of daily attacks by Islamic Republic officials against Israel.

The renewed rhetoric began just a few weeks after Iran concluded an agreement with Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic relations and according to Israeli officials, instigated attacks by Palestinians in early April.

Naghdi, who is a deputy to IRGC's chief commander, went on to say that while Satan guides the Zionists, Iran’s regime “is led by saints” and its mission is to inspire light in the hearts of men. “Some have been awakened” and even voluntarily provide top-secret information to the Islamic Republic.

“Sometimes they are shocked how the Iranians found a particular secret,” he said. “They search and search again for a spy and cannot find one, unbeknownst to them that many of their personnel are cooperating out of conviction.”

Naghdi, like many other IRGC officers, is adept at propaganda, having been raised in a religious milieu where fantastic stories are told and told again to build faith in the Shiite ideology. However, faced with multiple crises regime officials seem to have resorted more intensely to twisting reality to justify their policies or deflect criticism.

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Recently, a leaked audio recording showed how an intelligence official used bizarre and conspiratorial statements in a speech to try to explain away multiple problems the regime faces.

In fact, since July 2020, evidence has piled up that Israel has deeply penetrated Iran’s security barriers and has succeeded in major sabotage operations against nuclear and military targets. The regime in Tehran and particularly the IRGC have lost face after telling the people for four decades that they are very strong in security and military spheres.

Their myth shattered, their failures in the economic sphere now loom even larger. The economy is in tatters and tens of millions of Iranians have sunk into poverty. Last year, the regime faced the most intense protests in its four-decade history, and large-scale unrest can resume at any moment.

Naghdi claimed that last year 10,000 attacks took place against Israel, taking credit for standing behind what the regime calls “the resistance front.”

“This is the revenge of the Islamic Revolution; the destruction of the Zionist regime,” he said.

Naghdi also echoed statements by other senior officials in the past few days that Israel’s power of deterrence has been broken and not only it is unable to intimidate Iran, but also it can no longer deter the Hezbollah and Palestinian militants.

He also claimed that the Islamic Republic has almost driven out the United States from the region, highlighting the US defeat in Afghanistan and the hasty withdrawal.

“They escaped from Afghanistan and most of them also escaped from Iraq and the rest will also leave. They have been defeated, and this trend will continue,” Naghdi claimed. He also mocked the US and Britain for not being able to do anything when their servicemen were detained by the Revolutionary Guard, in 2016 and 2007 respectively.

Claiming that people throughout the world follow the ideology of Iran’s regime, Naghdi asked, “In which era in history we, or any other country, had such an influence? I have estimated that daily 100,000 experts wake up, go to work, get paid in different countries just to overthrow the Islamic Republic regime…”

In a tweet on Thursday, Antony Blinken had said that Washington is firmly committed to disrupting Iran’s military procurement activities.

“We are designating entities from Iran and the People’s Republic of China involved in such destabilizing behavior,” he added.

Kanaani stated in a press release on Sunday that such remarks are “aimed at selling American weapons by fomenting the failed project of Iranophobia and creating division among regional countries.”

He claimed that Iran's military program is solely “defensive and deterrent” in nature and is not directed against any country that would not consider aggression against the Islamic Republic.

Iran has been supplying drones, rockets, missiles and other weapons to a host of militant proxy groups throughout the Middle East, and has sent hundreds of suicide drones to Russia that have been used against Ukraine.

On April 19, US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated six persons and one entity involved in Iran's acquisition of electronic components for its destabilizing military programs.

OFAC has issued multiple rounds of designations targeting Iran's UAV and missile programs, to include elements involved in production, procurement, and proliferation.

“Treasury will continue to enforce its sanctions against Iran’s military procurement efforts that contribute to regional insecurity and global instability,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said recently said.

At the same time, Israeli officials are visibly angry at what they insist is Iranian orchestrated multi-front attacks, from Gaza, Lebanon and even Syria.

On April 15, the Spectator wrote about "The dangerous shadow war between Iran and Israel" and quoted regional affairs analyst Kim Ghattas as saying in her new book, The Black Wave, that the recent "Saudi-Iran peace deal might be based on the KSA's judgment that Israel will attack Iran sooner or later."

The Spectator, said Iran is likely to continue to use its proxy groups in the region against Israel and further quoted Ghattas as saying, "There is no change to Iran’s foreign policy, except for some cosmetic changes to allow the supreme leader some space and time to figure out how they’re going to ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic."

A Foreign Affairs report in February pointed out that "Israel has long made clear its penchant for applying military pressure to disrupt Iran’s nuclear advances and weapons exports—and, more recently, its drone technology program."

The publication added that "In the last few months, however, Israel’s appetite for risk seems to have increased." Israel's past weeks' attacks on Iranian targets in Syria seems to have proven the Foreign Affairs' argument.

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And last but not least, the Times of Israel quoted former Israeli National Security Adviser Yaacov Amidror as saying that "Israel must prepare for war with Iran without US help."The Times of Israel further quoted Amidror as saying that “We need to prepare for war. It’s possible that we will reach a point where we have to attack Iran even without American assistance.”

In Iran, in a message to his counterparts in Muslim countries, the Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on Friday, "The Islamic ummah [nation] can see the destruction of Israel thanks to their profound unity." In the message that was carried by IRGC-linked Fars News Agency, Ghalibaf reiterated that the liberation of Quds [Jerusalem] is one of the highest ideals of Muslims.

Meanwhile, the Friday Prayers Imam of Kangan, in southern Iran, Mahmoud Mahmoudi spoke about the recent visit to Israel by Prince Reza Pahlavi, the former Crown Prince of Iran, and said "The Iranian nation will send their message to Israel with the Resistance's missile, not by Reza Pahlavi."

The cleric was referring to Prince Reza's statement in which he said that his visit was aimed at carrying Iranian nation’s message to the people of Israel. Reports on social media and foreign-based Persian television channels indicate that the prince's visit to Israel was welcomed by Israeli officials and Iranian expats in Israel.

Mahmoudi referring to Iran's proxy groups in the region including the Lebanese Hizballah, claimed that "the resistance forces have opened the doors of hell to the Zionists who are now encircled by the resistance."

Earlier, on Thursday, the Friday Imam of Mashhad, firebrand cleric Ahmad Alamolhoda referred to possible Israeli attacks on Iran and threatened that, "If there is going to be any stupidity and aggression, all of the US bases in the region will be destroyed in the region."

In another development on the same day which marked the Army Day in Iran, President Ebrahim Raisi who reviewed the troop on the occasion, threatened Israel while watching obsolete US warplanes produced in the 1960s and 70s fly over the area by saying that "The smallest error by Israel, will lead to the destruction of Haifa and Tel Aviv."

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Khamenei said in a Saturday meeting with regime officials and ambassadors of Muslim countries that Israel is gradually collapsing, and the Muslim nations must focus on supporting the militant elements in and around Israel.

While renewing his support for jihadists in Palestinian territories, Khamenei alleged that “The downfall [of Israel] which started a few years ago, has now accelerated and the Muslim world must take advantage of this great opportunity.”

Earlier, an Iranian IRGC Commander also hailed Palestinian terror groups, claiming 10,000 attacks have been perpetrated against Israelis this year.

Ramazan Sharif, the head of the Intifada and Quds Central Headquarters of the Islamic Propaganda Coordination Council, said earlier this month that the formation of a unified anti-Israeli front from South Lebanon and the Syrian Golan Heights to Gaza and the West Bank has challenged Israel more than ever.

Iranian proxies in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria have all recently attacked Israel with rockets as tensions simmered during the holy month of Ramadan.

Khamenei said in 2016 that Israel must be destroyed in 25 years and the government even set up a countdown clock in Tehran the following year.

Many Iranians mock the anti-Israel rhetoric and the ticking clock, but the regime is adamant in repeating its threat.

Iranians who have been periodically protesting against the regime since 2017, often chant slogans against spending Iran's national wealth to create and support proxy groups.