This is Beirut

Senior U.S. Official to TIB: “Serious Consequences” if Lebanon Fails to Disarm Hezbollah

This is Beirut, 20:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

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A senior U.S. official told This is Beirut that Washington has urged Israel to move toward a diplomatic track with Lebanon, adding that Israel has agreed and discussions could be convened as early as next week. The official said the United States expects the Lebanese government to take concrete steps to address and ultimately disarm Hezbollah, ...

Iran's Supreme Leader Says Does Not Seek War in Written Message

This is Beirut, 09:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

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Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in his latest written message the Islamic republic did not want war with the United States and Israel, but would protect its rights as a nation, state television reported Thursday. "We did not seek war and we do not want it," he said in the message read out on state TV, weeks after his ...

Iran Announces Alternative Routes in Hormuz Strait

This is Beirut, 09/04 07:05 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

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Iran announced alternative routes on Thursday for ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz, citing the risk of sea mines in the main zone of the vital waterway. Tehran has agreed to temporarily reopen the strait, through which one-fifth of the world's oil usually passes, as part of a two-week truce. "All ships intending to transit ...

Foreign Fighters Alongside Hezbollah: What Do We Know?

Samar El-Kadi, 08/04 11:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

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An Israeli drone strike near Naqoura in southern Lebanon last week raised fresh questions about whether foreign combatants, apart from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are fighting alongside Hezbollah. While Hezbollah announced that the fighters killed in the airstrike were from southern Lebanon, the Israeli military identified ...

Trump Announces Two-Week Pause on Iran Strikes

This is Beirut, 08/04 01:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

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U.S. President Donald Trump announced a two-week suspension of planned military strikes on Iran on Wednesday, citing direct appeals from the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces Asim Munir. “Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal ...

How the Iran War Can Help Reorient Shia Identity

Marwan El Amine, 07/04 12:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

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As the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran nears the limits of its original target bank, the contours of a new phase are beginning to emerge, one defined by the search for a political exit from the war. Discussions are no longer confined to closed-door deliberations but are now unfolding in public. Fundamental questions are emerging about ...

Oil Prices Rally, Stocks Edge Up After Trump's Latest Iran Threat

This is Beirut, 07/04 11:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

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Oil prices rose Tuesday while equities edged up tentatively as investors assessed Donald Trump's latest deadline for Iran to reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz or be "decimated." As the Middle East war entered its sixth week, the U.S. president warned Tehran that its civilian infrastructure would be destroyed if it did not let ...

Decapitation of Iranian Military and Intelligence Leadership: Timeline and Structure

Ralph Atrach, 06/04 23:40 - Reading : 8 minute(s)

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Since the outbreak of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran on February 28, a series of coordinated strikes by both countries has dramatically reshaped Iran’s military and political command structure. The U.S.-led Operation Epic Fury and Israel’s Operation Roaring Lion have systematically targeted senior Iranian officials, top advisors, ...

State Media Says Iran Rejects Ceasefire Proposal

This is Beirut, 06/04 18:40 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

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Iran has rejected a proposed truce in its war with the United States and Israel, state media reported Monday, despite a stark threat by US President Donald Trump to destroy its vital infrastructure. "Iran has conveyed to Pakistan its response to the American proposal to end the war," the news agency IRNA said, without revealing its source or what ...

Iran Rejects Immediate Ceasefire as Revolutionary Guard's Vow New 'Order' for Persian Gulf

This is Beirut, 06/04 10:35 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

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Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they are completing preparations to enforce new operating conditions in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been all but shut since the war with the United States and Israel began. "The IRGC naval force is completing operational preparations for the Iranian authorities' #declared_plan for the new Persian ...

Iran Hangs Man Convicted of Links with U.S., Israel in Pre-War Protests

This is Beirut, 06/04 09:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

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Iran on Monday executed a man convicted of acting on behalf of Israel and the United States during a wave of anti-government protests earlier this year, the judiciary said. "Ali Fahim, one of the enemy elements in the terrorist riots of Dey (January)... was hanged after the Supreme Court reviewed the case and confirmed the verdict," the ...

Trump Says U.S. Rescued Pilots of Downed U.S. Jets in Iran

This is Beirut, 05/04 08:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

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U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that U.S. forces had safely recovered two pilots whose fighter jets were downed in Iran. In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated that U.S. personnel were monitoring one of the fighter’s locations 24 hours a day, to plan for his rescue. He added that “the U.S. military sent dozens of ...

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