Australia Slams Iran Envoy For Inflammatory Call For ‘End’ To Israel

Johan Floderus, 33, is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison ahead of a trial on charges of spying for Israel and "corruption on earth," a crime punishable by death.

Speaking on Monday, Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson said the charges against Floderus are “completely without factual basis”.

He told a press conference in Stockholm: “We demand his immediate release.

We have very intensive work we are showing Iran on this issue. But I will not be going into anything of the contents of that work.”

Floderus was arrested while on holiday in Iran last year. His family insists that the detention lacks justifiable cause or due process.

The situation has sparked concerns among human rights organizations and Western governments, who allege that Iran is leveraging arrests on security charges for political motives. Despite the accusations, Tehran claims that such detentions adhere to its criminal code and are devoid of political motivations.

Diplomatic tensions between Sweden and Iran have risen since 2019, stemming from Sweden's arrest and subsequent life sentence of former Iranian official Hamid Nouri. He was convicted of participating in mass executions and torture of political prisoners in the 1980s. In response, Iran protested by recalling its envoy to Sweden.

In May, Iran carried out the execution of a Swedish-Iranian dissident accused of leading an Arab separatist group. The dissident was alleged to be implicated in attacks including one on a 2018 military parade that claimed 25 lives.

Jamshid Sharmahd, a 68-year-old software developer and California resident, was allegedly abducted during a visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2020 and forcibly taken to Iran.

In April, the Iranian judiciary sentenced him to death on charges of "spreading corruption on Earth," a verdict upheld by Iran's Supreme Court.

His family vehemently denies the allegations, and Amnesty International has condemned the trial as a sham.

At the end of last week, German officials disclosed that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had held discussions about Germans detained in Iran with her Tehran counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

On Sunday, Jamshid’s daughter Gazelle Sharmahd responded, tweeting: “I have requested an input from the German Government regarding what was discussed about the hostages in Iran, in particular about my father Jamshid Sharmahd.”

In remarks targeted at US President Joe Biden, she said: “What are you doing for the US hostages after you handed the Islamic regime $6 billion, and still couldn’t save all US nationals like my dad. We are still waiting for you to take action. Action that won’t further threaten my dad‘s life and won’t further empower his kidnappers.”

She earlier expressed frustration with the passing of responsibility between Germany and the US, stating, "The issue is tossed back and forth, with each side claiming 'not my citizen,' 'not my jurisdiction.' And we're not getting through to them."

Houthis’ Information Minister Dhaif Allah (Dhaifullah) Al-Shami said Sunday that their forces will attack sensitive targets of Israel and US in the region if they move to act against the Houthis. Bragging about their attacks on vessels, he claimed that these are in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza.

Palestinian Islamist militia Hamas, another Iran-backed group, declared war on Israel on October 7 in a surprise attack that they codenamed Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, killing over 1,200, mostly civilians and taking about 250 hostages. In retaliation, Israel has been pounding the enclave to uproot Hamas, which has made the war exceedingly bloody hiding deep among the civilian population and underneath the coastal sliver’s non-military facilities.

Al-Shami's remarks came a day after General Yahya Saree, the military spokesman for Houthi rebels, warned that they would target all ships heading to Israel, regardless of their nationality. He also warned all international shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports. "If Gaza does not receive the food and medicine it needs, all ships in the Red Sea bound for Israeli ports, regardless of their nationality, will become a target for our armed forces."

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The Houthis have attacked and seized several Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea and its Bab al-Mandab strait, a sea lane through which much of the world's oil is shipped, and fired ballistic missiles and armed drones at Israel.

According to Israeli media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly told US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that if they do not take military action against the Houthis soon, Israel will. The US government’s reaction to attacks on vessels in the Red Sea has been a mixture of blaming Iran and downplaying the threat to the US Navy.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that senior Israeli defense officials have intelligence that Iran is urging their regional allies, such as Hezbollah and the Houthis, to increase their attacks and pressures against Israel.

Al-Shami described the threat by the Houthis’ military spokesman as “historic,” claiming that targeting ships belonging to other countries is the next phase to put pressure on Israel after the first phase of targeting Israeli-linked ships. “This statement is a historic declaration for Yemen; a country that has been under siege and attack, facing ruthless and rebellious forces for nine years. Yet today, it rises in support and assistance to the oppressed in Gaza and throughout Palestine.”

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Earlier in the day, France’s defense ministry said a French warship operating in the Red Sea has shot down two drones that were launched at it from the Yemen coast. On Friday, British officials warned shipping in the Red Sea to “exercise caution.” In another one of the latest incidents, three commercial vessels came under attack in international waters last week, prompting a US Navy destroyer to intervene. The Houthis, which rule much of Yemen and its Red Sea coast, also seized last month a British-owned cargo ship that had links with an Israeli company.

The Houthis are one of several Iran-backed militant groups in the Middle East. They have been effectively in a state of war with Saudi Arabia since 2015 and have claimed support for Palestinians since the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7. Iran supports Hamas but says it did not play any role in the Islamist militants' terror attack that triggered the current crisis. Tehran also denies involvement in the recent attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. Iran also backs the Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group that has deep ties with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian faction in Gaza that is also backed by Iran.

Iran's current war strategy is employing proxy forces to target Israel, Israeli assets, and US military installations in the region. Since the October 7 attack, Tehran has been warning of the spillover of the conflict in case of a regional escalation, but at the same time cheers attacks against Israel and the United States.

The bill, which implements an agreement signed three years ago by former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, received the green light from parliamentarians.

Comprising nine articles, the bill focuses on combating cyber threats, fortifying information security measures, and fostering collaboration between Iran and Russia. A notable clause in the legislation addresses the exchange of information and cooperation in prosecuting criminal offenses between the two nations.

Before the parliamentary vote, Abolfazl Amouei, spokesperson for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, advocated for the bill, citing the emergence of cyber threats against the two countries. He stressed that the collaboration between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation, as outlined in the bill, provides responsive solutions to counter these evolving threats.

However, Hosseinali Haji Deligani expressed his opposition to the bill, stating, "The terrorist objectives for the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia differ, and the bill lacks specificity regarding the nature of collaboration. In essence, the sections are ambiguous, failing to provide guidance on how to proceed if the exchange of information contradicts our laws."

In recent years, Tehran and Moscow have strengthened their political, military, communication, and cyber ties, prompting concerns among Western countries and their allies. Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) recently reported that Russia, Iran, and China are likely planning to influence upcoming elections, including those in the United States in 2024. The report warned of potential targeting of "election infrastructure, campaigns, and voters" by authoritarian regimes.

Netanyahu cut short a cabinet meeting to speak with Putin on the phone an hour about Israeli hostages in Gaza and the crisis in the Middle East. He voiced “robust disapproval” of Russia’s “dangerous cooperation” with Iran, echoing concerns repeatedly voiced by the United States.

Russian and Iranian military cooperation has widened since the invasion of Ukraine. Tehran has delivered hundreds of Kamikaze drones that have been used against Ukrainian civilian and infrastructure targets. Russia is also poised to deliver advanced fighter planes to Iran and possibly receive ballistic missiles.

Criticizing Russian statements attacking Israel for its military operation in Gaza, Netanyahu told Putin that any country would have responded as Israel has to the October 7 Hamas attack and the killing of more than 1,000 Israeli civilians and the taking of hostages.

Netanyahu reportedly asked Putin to use his influence to help the 138 remaining hostages, including pressure on the Red Cross to pay humanitarian visits to the captives.

Putin traveled to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia this week and returned to Moscow to receive Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The two held talks for three hours on Thursday and discussed the Middle East crisis. Iran and Qatar are pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza, that Israel and the United States say would simply help Hamas to survive and lead to more crises in the future. It is not clear if Putin’s diplomatic meetings were an important part of what he discussed with Netanyahu.

In the meantime, there was a serious flare up of fighting between the Lebanese Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the border of the two countries. Hezbollah said it had launched explosive drones at an Israeli command position on Sunday and extensive Israeli air strikes hit south Lebanon.

The Israeli army said "suspicious aerial targets" had crossed from Lebanon and two were intercepted. Two Israeli soldiers were moderately wounded, and several others lightly injured from shrapnel and smoke inhalation, it said.

Israeli fighter jets carried out "an extensive series of strikes on Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanese territory", it said.

Although Hezbollah was initially expected to join the war to help Hamas by dividing Israeli forces, it has stayed out of large-scale hostilities, launching occasional and limited attacks on Israeli forces near the border. It has not fired any of its tens of thousands of missiles at Israel civilian targets.

Hezbollah’s cautious behavior follows Iran’s reluctance to directly get involved in military hostilities to help Hamas. Tehran has tried to shake off accusations that it greenlighted the Hamas attack, but its proxies have launched nearly 100 attacks against US and Israeli targets, in addition to attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea.