Iran Seizes Oil Tanker In Retaliation For Earlier US Confiscation

As revealed by four officials speaking to POLITICO, Hezbollah, backed by Iran, is anticipated to direct its focus initially on US personnel in the Middle East.

“Hezbollah could draw on the capability they have … to put people [in] places to do something,” one of the officials said, referring to a potential attack on the US. “It is something to be worried about.”

Intelligence agencies are amassing data indicating potential attacks on both US troops and diplomatic staff overseas. Rising tensions in the region have officials even expressing increasing apprehension about a potential assault on US soil.

While officials did not disclose specifics about potential attacks, they underscored Hezbollah's capabilities compared to other regional terrorist groups.

In contrast to lone-wolf attacks, Hezbollah, Iran's biggest and richest proxy, possesses a sophisticated international network, enabling coordinated assaults, said the officials.

Criticism has surfaced over the Biden administration's perceived shortcomings in deterring Iran and its proxies in the Middle East, raising the prospect of heightened US involvement in the region amid efforts to counter China and Russia.

Despite escalating threats, senior Biden administration officials publicly stated their belief after October 7th that Tehran and its proxies are not seeking a wider regional war or confrontation with the US.

US troops in the Middle East have already encountered attacks from various Iranian proxy groups, prompting counterstrikes. While Hezbollah has refrained from major attacks since the recent Israel-Hamas conflict, concerns persist.

Iraqi Kurdistan's counter-terrorism service reported the news on Wednesday. The airport houses international forces, including the United States. The official statement did not disclose any information regarding potential casualties or damage to infrastructure resulting from the thwarted attack.

Tensions in the region have been escalating since the start of the Gaza war, sparked by Iran-backed Hamas's invasion of Israel on October 7. US officials documented over 100 attacks on American interests in Iraq, Syria and the Red Sea. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq attributes the actions to their opposition against Washington's support for Israel during the Gaza conflict.

Iran had refrained from attacking US bases for nearly a year leading up to the October 7th invasion by Hamas. During this time, confidential discussions between Tehran and Washington took place, aiming to release billions of dollars in blocked Iranian funds. In an effort to de-escalate tensions, the Biden administration agreed to release at least $8.7 billion held in South Korea and Iraq since June, along with securing the release of five American hostages held by Iran.

However, the Gaza war has triggered action from Iran's proxies around the region. Iran, a supporter of Hamas, issued a warning to the United States, threatening potential threats to US interests if attacks on Gaza persist.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have also declared their intention to target both US and Israeli interests in the Red Sea, prompting the formation of a more than 20-nation coalition by the United States to address these threats. Despite the initiative, the Biden administration is facing increasing criticism for its perceived inability to deter Iran and its affiliated groups in the Middle East.

Mark Wallace, the CEO of United Against Nuclear Iran, and Alireza Akhondi, a Swedish parliament member of Iranian descent, voiced their concerns on Wednesday over reports that Amir-Abdollahian is scheduled to travel to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“Amir-Abdollahian is an active card-carrying member of the IRGC’s Basij paramilitary force,” Wallace and Akhondi wrote in a letter to the forum and Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.

They added that granting a visa to Amir-Abdollahian and allowing him to participate in the Davos forum would be “a slap in the face” to the Iranians who have been fighting the Islamic Republic during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. Last year, Iranian government officials were not invited to the Davos forum amid the nationwide uprising sparked by the death in morality police custody of Mahsa Amini.

Iran’s foreign minister is also an affiliate of the IRGC Quds Force and was involved in planning meetings in Beirut and Tehran prior to the Hamas October 7 onslaught on Israel, Wallace and Akhondi noted.

“Switzerland and the World Economic Forum would not dream of inviting Hamas leadership to travel to Davos. By the same token, they should similarly deny a visa and invitation to its major Iranian sponsor,” the letter went on to say.

The 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum will be held from January 15 to January 19, 2024.

The Houthis, armed by Iran, have been targeting commercial vessels since mid November, after Israel began its onslaught on Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack, effectively closing down a major maritime route and disrupting the global flow of goods.

After much deliberation, the 15-member council arrived at a draft with no direct reference to Iran and mild enough for Russia and China to not use their veto. Both countries abstained.

“With this resolution, the Council has lived up to its responsibility to help ensure the free flow of lawful transit through the Red Sea continues unimpeded,” said the US ambassador to the UN after the vote. “The world’s message to the Houthis today was clear: Cease these attacks immediately.”

The Houthis, however, rejected the resolution.

“The United Nations resolution on the security of navigation in the Red Sea is a political game,” a group’s spokesman said shortly after the vote. “Washington is the one violating international law, and what the Yemeni armed forces are doing is a legitimate defense, and any action it faces will have a reaction.”

A key provision of the resolution stresses the right of UN member states, “to defend their vessels from attack,” in accordance with international law.

Hours before the vote at the Security Council, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken once more threatened the Houthis with military response, emphasizing Iran’s role.

“These attacks have been aided and abetted by Iran with technology, equipment, intelligence, [and] information,” he said. “If these attacks continue, as they did yesterday, there'll be consequences.”

Blinken was referring to a barrage of “complex” Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea a day earlier, using “Iranian-designed” drones and missiles, all of which the US and UK forces neutralized, according to the US military.

The Houthis say they act in support of Hamas and only go after vessels that are linked or headed to Israel, although some of the targets have had no discernible link with the country, merely forcing mass reroute of cargo ships that experts say could push up global food prices.

Curiously enough, oil tankers have not been targeted so far, either because the Houthis dread a potentially catastrophic oil leak, or more likely because they have been hinted by their sponsors in Tehran that oil –the Iranian regime’s lifeline– has to remain off limits.

The Wednesday’s resolution condemned “large-scale” violations of the arms embargo against the Houthis without naming Iran, which is the group’s main arms supplier.

Leaving out Iran seems to have been a compromise US and Japan, the resolution sponsors, have had to make to get the nod from the Chinese and the Russians –who, in turn, had to abandon their draft amendment which called the Israeli war on Gaza a “root cause” of the Houthi attacks.

Nonetheless, the Russian representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya did make his country’s position clear.

“In order for the Red Sea waters to become calm again, the current escalation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone must be resolved, the slaughter in Gaza must be stopped and Palestinian-Israeli settlement must be addressed seriously,” he stated.

The Houthis say they will only stop their operations if Israel stops theirs in Gaza. The group has repeatedly called for a ceasefire, which the US and Israel reject.

White House spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that the US does not support a ceasefire because it only benefits Hamas.

Tehran Prosecutor Ali Salehi said Monday that these individuals, including seven well-known public figures have been indicted. “Those who attempt to endanger the society’s psychological security by spreading false and offensive content [on social media] will be dealt with decisively, quickly and according to the law,” he said.

HRANA, the website of the US-based Human Rights Activists, reported Tuesday that at least 76 social media users have been arrested across Iran since the bombing in Kerman, and 108 others have been summoned by security and judicial organizations. HRANA said nearly 500 social media accounts have been suspended and two businesses were shut down in this relation.

Nearly one hundred were killed and dozens of others were injured on January 3 in the twin bombings on the road leading to Golzar-e Shohada (Martyrs Garden) cemetery of Kerman where Soleimani is buried.

The ISIS of Afghanistan (The Islamic State – Khorasan Province or ISIS--K) has taken responsibility for what it claimed were suicide bombings, but some Iranian social media users continue to accuse Iran's own security and intelligence agencies of being behind the attacks to buy sympathy for the regime. The media and some political figures criticized the regime for concentrating their efforts on suppression of dissent instead of preventing terror.

100%

One of the seven "well-known figures" indicted for their comments on the Kerman bombing is the prominent political commentator Sadegh Zibakalam. He has been indicted by the Tehran Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor for his remarks. During an interview with the Voice of America's Persian television, Zibakalam stated that Israel, which authorities continue to accuse of involvement in the bombing, should not be held responsible because it targets specific individuals in its operations and "does not attack innocent people." 

Like other branches of the Islamic State in the Middle East, the Daesh of Khorasan has conducted many terrorist attacks including suicide bombings in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Kerman bombing is the first attack in Iran that the Daesh of Khorasan has taken responsibility for.

Some social media users also said they were happy that that regime supporters who were participating in Soleimani’s death anniversary ceremony were killed in the attack.

Relatively independent media in Tehran have also demanded the resignation of the interior minister Ahmad Vahidi. “What other disaster should happen now for a government official to resign from his post?” an editorial in Jahan-e Sanat newspaper Tuesday asked. “What else should happen for a government official to apologize to the nation?”

In response to government criticism over its failure to provide security at Soleimani's death anniversary ceremony, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei defended the performance of security agencies on Tuesday. He stated that the rate of neutralizing threats is tens of times higher than those threats that materialize.

“We are not adamant in accusing this or that [country or group] but insist on identifying the real culprits who are behind the scenes and on crushing them,” he told a group of visitors from Qom in a speech in which he alleged that Iran's enemies have been trying to harm the Islamic Republic by instilling disillusionment in people and discouraging them from supporting the regime.

“Making fun of the Shiite Arbaeen procession”, “insinuating doubt” about Iranians’ respect for Soleimani, questioning the “magnificence of people’s participation” in religious celebrations such as the birthday of the twelfth Imam, Mahdi, “are examples of the enemy's strategic policy” of enticing the Iranian people to cease support for the Islamic Republic, he said.