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CNN
3 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
‘Nothing has changed': Iran tries to rearm proxy groups as US talks stall
Iran's armed proxies are ramping up pressure on key points in the Middle East as Tehran attempts to rebuild its regional influence, eroded by almost two years of a destructive Israeli military campaign. Tehran's Houthi allies in Yemen ended months of calm in the Red Sea last week with strikes on two commercial ships travelling in the critical waterway. Proxies in Iraq are suspected of disrupting oil production in the Kurdish region, and shipments of hundreds of rockets bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon have been intercepted by Syrian forces over the past months. The increasing activity by the proxies reflects Iran's determination to continue supporting a network of disruptive armed groups – long seen as essential to Tehran's deterrence strategy, despite their failure to deter recent Israeli and American attacks on Iranian soil – ahead of possible talks with Washington to reach a new nuclear deal. But so far, neither the United States nor Iran appears to be willing to make major compromises. 'Iran was never going to stop resupplying their groups,' said Michael Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute specializing in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran and the Gulf states. 'They might not be able to send this much or regularly – more stuff might get intercepted – but if you're the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force right now, what you're trying to show is 'we still exist, we're intact, nothing has changed.'' Israel launched an unprecedented attack on Iran last month, targeting and killing key military figures, including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami, critical to sustaining and expanding the Islamic Republic's regional proxy network, and Behnam Shahriyari, who Israel says was responsible for weapons transfers to Tehran's proxies. But even as Iran reels from the loss of key military figures, it has persisted in arming those proxies, signaling that it still views them as a strategic asset to expand its regional leverage. Just three days after a ceasefire was declared between Iran and Israel, a vessel carrying 750 tons of Iranian missiles and military equipment, including missiles, drone engines and radar systems, was intercepted in the Red Sea by forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government, the United States Central Command said Wednesday. It added that the 'massive Iranian weapons shipment' was destined for the Houthis. The interception, according to the US military, marked the 'largest weapons seizure' in the history of the Yemeni National Resistance Forces (NRF) – a pro-US, anti-Houthi group led by Tariq Saleh, the nephew of Yemen's late leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Iranian foreign ministry denied that it had sent weapons and called it a 'deceitful attempt' by the US to 'divert public opinion.' The Houthis in Yemen have used Iranian weaponry to launch attacks on both Israel and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. An attack on a Greek-owned ship last week killed four crew members, injured others and left 11 people missing, the European Union naval operation Aspides told CNN. Six of those on board were captured by the Houthis, a UK-based maritime risk management company, Vanguard Tech, told CNN. Days before that, the Houthis targeted a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, the Magic Seas, using unmanned boats, missiles and drones. The attacks, which sank the two vessels, appear to show an escalation of force and were the first recorded this year after months of calm in the busy waterway. Over the past few months, suspected Iran-backed groups have also increased their attacks on Western allies in Iraq, destabilizing oil output in the Kurdish-controlled region of the country. Five oil fields, including two operated by US companies, were hit after a 'spate of drone attacks' by 'criminal militias,' Aziz Ahmad, an official in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), said on Wednesday. 'The KRG welcomed U.S. investment and companies. Now, those same investors are being pushed out in a calculated campaign to economically strangle us,' Ahmad said on X. The spokesperson for the KRG Peshawa Hawramani told CNN that the drone attacks are 'intended to destroy the energy infrastructure' and to ensure that the KRG 'has no capacity to produce oil and gas, so it cannot use this as leverage in agreements or rely on it as a source of income.' The KRG's interior ministry blamed attacks earlier this month on the Popular Mobilization Units, a predominantly Shiite Iranian-backed paramilitary force based in Iraq. 'These attacks are being carried out… with the aim of creating chaos,' the interior ministry said after a bomb-laden drone landed near the KRG capital Erbil earlier this month. Iran's regional influence has been substantially weakened since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent campaign to root out Tehran's proxies from the region. Iran's key ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, sought to support Hamas after October 7 by firing cross-border rockets and opening a second front against Israel. Since then, the group has been severely weakened, losing its once-dominant influence in Lebanon and facing growing internal and Western demands to disarm, as its fighters are targeted by near-daily Israeli strikes. The group's revered leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike last year and its key supply route in Syria was lost after the fall in December of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a crucial ally to Tehran. 'Hezbollah are losing sway, they've lost credibility with their own base. Of course, the Iranians are trying to reinforce some of their proxies to reinforce their negotiating hand, but they're not making much headway,' a regional official told CNN. Still, another regional source told CNN that Hezbollah could begin 'regrouping itself over the coming weeks' fearing an escalation from Israel. Hezbollah feels it is in an 'existential situation' because of the loss of Syria and the growing internal Lebanese pressure, the source added. Iran's attempts to rearm Hezbollah have continued over the past year. The new Syrian government, which staunchly opposes Iran, has seized several shipments of weapons bound for Lebanon, according to the Syrian Interior Ministry. Last month, the Syrian interior ministry said in a statement that it had foiled an attempt to smuggle anti-tank Kornet missiles, the same type used by Hezbollah to target Israeli tanks in southern Lebanon. The Syrian police said the weapons were hidden in a truck carrying vegetables in the Homs countryside, which borders Lebanon. The first regional source who spoke to CNN questioned Tehran's purpose in arming proxy groups who had proven ineffective in protecting Iran, or achieving their stated mission of 'liberating Jerusalem.' 'Why are Hezbollah still arming? What have their arms given them? It has not given them protection, it has not brought them an inch closer to Jerusalem? What are these arms doing except causing misery to a civilian population?' the source said. Asked if Damascus was seeing Iranian attempts to arm Hezbollah, one senior Syrian government official told CNN, 'We're intercepting Iranian shipments quite often. Mostly seems to be collected locally and put together in small shipments to be smuggled to Lebanon.' 'We're also seeing clear activities to send money to networks in Syria through Iraq,' he added. Iran's rearming of groups across the Middle East comes as US President Donald Trump signals his waning interest in negotiations with Tehran. 'They want to negotiate badly. We're in no rush… we bombed the hell out of their various places, if they want to negotiate, we are here,' Trump said Wednesday. Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, dismissed the idea that talks were imminent and downplayed their importance. 'Right now is not the time for talks. Negotiations are a tactic… we wait and see if the Supreme Leader finds it useful or not,' Larijani said in a televised statement on Friday. A sixth round of negotiations was scheduled June 15, but Israel's surprise attack the day prior disrupted the plans. Experts say rebuilding regional armed groups and showcasing their disruptive capabilities could serve as leverage for Iran, as it looks to negotiate from a position of strength despite its recent losses. 'It will strengthen their hand, in theory, to show that they are not just rolling over and subservient… they want to appear defiant but not enough that the US hits them,' Knights said.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Nothing has changed': Iran tries to rearm proxy groups as US talks stall
Iran's armed proxies are ramping up pressure on key points in the Middle East as Tehran attempts to rebuild its regional influence, eroded by almost two years of a destructive Israeli military campaign. Tehran's Houthi allies in Yemen ended months of calm in the Red Sea last week with strikes on two commercial ships travelling in the critical waterway. Proxies in Iraq are suspected of disrupting oil production in the Kurdish region, and shipments of hundreds of rockets bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon have been intercepted by Syrian forces over the past months. The increasing activity by the proxies reflects Iran's determination to continue supporting a network of disruptive armed groups – long seen as essential to Tehran's deterrence strategy, despite their failure to deter recent Israeli and American attacks on Iranian soil – ahead of possible talks with Washington to reach a new nuclear deal. But so far, neither the United States nor Iran appears to be willing to make major compromises. 'Iran was never going to stop resupplying their groups,' said Michael Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute specializing in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran and the Gulf states. 'They might not be able to send this much or regularly – more stuff might get intercepted – but if you're the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force right now, what you're trying to show is 'we still exist, we're intact, nothing has changed.'' Israel launched an unprecedented attack on Iran last month, targeting and killing key military figures, including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami, critical to sustaining and expanding the Islamic Republic's regional proxy network, and Behnam Shahriyari, who Israel says was responsible for weapons transfers to Tehran's proxies. But even as Iran reels from the loss of key military figures, it has persisted in arming those proxies, signaling that it still views them as a strategic asset to expand its regional leverage. Yemen Just three days after a ceasefire was declared between Iran and Israel, a vessel carrying 750 tons of Iranian missiles and military equipment, including missiles, drone engines and radar systems, was intercepted in the Red Sea by forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government, the United States Central Command said Wednesday. It added that the 'massive Iranian weapons shipment' was destined for the Houthis. The interception, according to the US military, marked the 'largest weapons seizure' in the history of the Yemeni National Resistance Forces (NRF) – a pro-US, anti-Houthi group led by Tariq Saleh, the nephew of Yemen's late leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Iranian foreign ministry denied that it had sent weapons and called it a 'deceitful attempt' by the US to 'divert public opinion.' The Houthis in Yemen have used Iranian weaponry to launch attacks on both Israel and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. An attack on a Greek-owned ship last week killed four crew members, injured others and left 11 people missing, the European Union naval operation Aspides told CNN. Six of those on board were captured by the Houthis, a UK-based maritime risk management company, Vanguard Tech, told CNN. Days before that, the Houthis targeted a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, the Magic Seas, using unmanned boats, missiles and drones. The attacks, which sank the two vessels, appear to show an escalation of force and were the first recorded this year after months of calm in the busy waterway. Iraq Over the past few months, suspected Iran-backed groups have also increased their attacks on Western allies in Iraq, destabilizing oil output in the Kurdish-controlled region of the country. Five oil fields, including two operated by US companies, were hit after a 'spate of drone attacks' by 'criminal militias,' Aziz Ahmad, an official in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), said on Wednesday. 'The KRG welcomed U.S. investment and companies. Now, those same investors are being pushed out in a calculated campaign to economically strangle us,' Ahmad said on X. The spokesperson for the KRG Peshawa Hawramani told CNN that the drone attacks are 'intended to destroy the energy infrastructure' and to ensure that the KRG 'has no capacity to produce oil and gas, so it cannot use this as leverage in agreements or rely on it as a source of income.' The KRG's interior ministry blamed attacks earlier this month on the Popular Mobilization Units, a predominantly Shiite Iranian-backed paramilitary force based in Iraq. 'These attacks are being carried out… with the aim of creating chaos,' the interior ministry said after a bomb-laden drone landed near the KRG capital Erbil earlier this month. Lebanon Iran's regional influence has been substantially weakened since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent campaign to root out Tehran's proxies from the region. Iran's key ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, sought to support Hamas after October 7 by firing cross-border rockets and opening a second front against Israel. Since then, the group has been severely weakened, losing its once-dominant influence in Lebanon and facing growing internal and Western demands to disarm, as its fighters are targeted by near-daily Israeli strikes. The group's revered leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike last year and its key supply route in Syria was lost after the fall in December of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a crucial ally to Tehran. 'Hezbollah are losing sway, they've lost credibility with their own base. Of course, the Iranians are trying to reinforce some of their proxies to reinforce their negotiating hand, but they're not making much headway,' a regional official told CNN. Still, another regional source told CNN that Hezbollah could begin 'regrouping itself over the coming weeks' fearing an escalation from Israel. Hezbollah feels it is in an 'existential situation' because of the loss of Syria and the growing internal Lebanese pressure, the source added. Syria Iran's attempts to rearm Hezbollah have continued over the past year. The new Syrian government, which staunchly opposes Iran, has seized several shipments of weapons bound for Lebanon, according to the Syrian Interior Ministry. Last month, the Syrian interior ministry said in a statement that it had foiled an attempt to smuggle anti-tank Kornet missiles, the same type used by Hezbollah to target Israeli tanks in southern Lebanon. The Syrian police said the weapons were hidden in a truck carrying vegetables in the Homs countryside, which borders Lebanon. The first regional source who spoke to CNN questioned Tehran's purpose in arming proxy groups who had proven ineffective in protecting Iran, or achieving their stated mission of 'liberating Jerusalem.' 'Why are Hezbollah still arming? What have their arms given them? It has not given them protection, it has not brought them an inch closer to Jerusalem? What are these arms doing except causing misery to a civilian population?' the source said. Trump in 'no rush' to talk Iran's rearming of groups across the Middle East comes as US President Donald Trump signals his waning interest in negotiations with Tehran. 'They want to negotiate badly. We're in no rush… we bombed the hell out of their various places, if they want to negotiate, we are here,' Trump said Wednesday. Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, dismissed the idea that talks were imminent and downplayed their importance. 'Right now is not the time for talks. Negotiations are a tactic… we wait and see if the Supreme Leader finds it useful or not,' Larijani said in a televised statement on Friday. A sixth round of negotiations was scheduled June 15, but Israel's surprise attack the day prior disrupted the plans. Experts say rebuilding regional armed groups and showcasing their disruptive capabilities could serve as leverage for Iran, as it looks to negotiate from a position of strength despite its recent losses. 'It will strengthen their hand, in theory, to show that they are not just rolling over and subservient… they want to appear defiant but not enough that the US hits them,' Knights said. Solve the daily Crossword
CNN
3 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
‘Nothing has changed': Iran tries to rearm proxy groups as US talks stall
Iran's armed proxies are ramping up pressure on key points in the Middle East as Tehran attempts to rebuild its regional influence, eroded by almost two years of a destructive Israeli military campaign. Tehran's Houthi allies in Yemen ended months of calm in the Red Sea last week with strikes on two commercial ships travelling in the critical waterway. Proxies in Iraq are suspected of disrupting oil production in the Kurdish region, and shipments of hundreds of rockets bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon have been intercepted by Syrian forces over the past months. The increasing activity by the proxies reflects Iran's determination to continue supporting a network of disruptive armed groups – long seen as essential to Tehran's deterrence strategy, despite their failure to deter recent Israeli and American attacks on Iranian soil – ahead of possible talks with Washington to reach a new nuclear deal. But so far, neither the United States nor Iran appears to be willing to make major compromises. 'Iran was never going to stop resupplying their groups,' said Michael Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute specializing in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran and the Gulf states. 'They might not be able to send this much or regularly – more stuff might get intercepted – but if you're the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force right now, what you're trying to show is 'we still exist, we're intact, nothing has changed.'' Israel launched an unprecedented attack on Iran last month, targeting and killing key military figures, including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami, critical to sustaining and expanding the Islamic Republic's regional proxy network, and Behnam Shahriyari, who Israel says was responsible for weapons transfers to Tehran's proxies. But even as Iran reels from the loss of key military figures, it has persisted in arming those proxies, signaling that it still views them as a strategic asset to expand its regional leverage. Just three days after a ceasefire was declared between Iran and Israel, a vessel carrying 750 tons of Iranian missiles and military equipment, including missiles, drone engines and radar systems, was intercepted in the Red Sea by forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government, the United States Central Command said Wednesday. It added that the 'massive Iranian weapons shipment' was destined for the Houthis. The interception, according to the US military, marked the 'largest weapons seizure' in the history of the Yemeni National Resistance Forces (NRF) – a pro-US, anti-Houthi group led by Tariq Saleh, the nephew of Yemen's late leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Iranian foreign ministry denied that it had sent weapons and called it a 'deceitful attempt' by the US to 'divert public opinion.' The Houthis in Yemen have used Iranian weaponry to launch attacks on both Israel and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. An attack on a Greek-owned ship last week killed four crew members, injured others and left 11 people missing, the European Union naval operation Aspides told CNN. Six of those on board were captured by the Houthis, a UK-based maritime risk management company, Vanguard Tech, told CNN. Days before that, the Houthis targeted a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, the Magic Seas, using unmanned boats, missiles and drones. The attacks, which sank the two vessels, appear to show an escalation of force and were the first recorded this year after months of calm in the busy waterway. Over the past few months, suspected Iran-backed groups have also increased their attacks on Western allies in Iraq, destabilizing oil output in the Kurdish-controlled region of the country. Five oil fields, including two operated by US companies, were hit after a 'spate of drone attacks' by 'criminal militias,' Aziz Ahmad, an official in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), said on Wednesday. 'The KRG welcomed U.S. investment and companies. Now, those same investors are being pushed out in a calculated campaign to economically strangle us,' Ahmad said on X. The spokesperson for the KRG Peshawa Hawramani told CNN that the drone attacks are 'intended to destroy the energy infrastructure' and to ensure that the KRG 'has no capacity to produce oil and gas, so it cannot use this as leverage in agreements or rely on it as a source of income.' The KRG's interior ministry blamed attacks earlier this month on the Popular Mobilization Units, a predominantly Shiite Iranian-backed paramilitary force based in Iraq. 'These attacks are being carried out… with the aim of creating chaos,' the interior ministry said after a bomb-laden drone landed near the KRG capital Erbil earlier this month. Iran's regional influence has been substantially weakened since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent campaign to root out Tehran's proxies from the region. Iran's key ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, sought to support Hamas after October 7 by firing cross-border rockets and opening a second front against Israel. Since then, the group has been severely weakened, losing its once-dominant influence in Lebanon and facing growing internal and Western demands to disarm, as its fighters are targeted by near-daily Israeli strikes. The group's revered leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike last year and its key supply route in Syria was lost after the fall in December of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a crucial ally to Tehran. 'Hezbollah are losing sway, they've lost credibility with their own base. Of course, the Iranians are trying to reinforce some of their proxies to reinforce their negotiating hand, but they're not making much headway,' a regional official told CNN. Still, another regional source told CNN that Hezbollah could begin 'regrouping itself over the coming weeks' fearing an escalation from Israel. Hezbollah feels it is in an 'existential situation' because of the loss of Syria and the growing internal Lebanese pressure, the source added. Iran's attempts to rearm Hezbollah have continued over the past year. The new Syrian government, which staunchly opposes Iran, has seized several shipments of weapons bound for Lebanon, according to the Syrian Interior Ministry. Last month, the Syrian interior ministry said in a statement that it had foiled an attempt to smuggle anti-tank Kornet missiles, the same type used by Hezbollah to target Israeli tanks in southern Lebanon. The Syrian police said the weapons were hidden in a truck carrying vegetables in the Homs countryside, which borders Lebanon. The first regional source who spoke to CNN questioned Tehran's purpose in arming proxy groups who had proven ineffective in protecting Iran, or achieving their stated mission of 'liberating Jerusalem.' 'Why are Hezbollah still arming? What have their arms given them? It has not given them protection, it has not brought them an inch closer to Jerusalem? What are these arms doing except causing misery to a civilian population?' the source said. Iran's rearming of groups across the Middle East comes as US President Donald Trump signals his waning interest in negotiations with Tehran. 'They want to negotiate badly. We're in no rush… we bombed the hell out of their various places, if they want to negotiate, we are here,' Trump said Wednesday. Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, dismissed the idea that talks were imminent and downplayed their importance. 'Right now is not the time for talks. Negotiations are a tactic… we wait and see if the Supreme Leader finds it useful or not,' Larijani said in a televised statement on Friday. A sixth round of negotiations was scheduled June 15, but Israel's surprise attack the day prior disrupted the plans. Experts say rebuilding regional armed groups and showcasing their disruptive capabilities could serve as leverage for Iran, as it looks to negotiate from a position of strength despite its recent losses. 'It will strengthen their hand, in theory, to show that they are not just rolling over and subservient… they want to appear defiant but not enough that the US hits them,' Knights said.
Spectator
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Is Britain an ally or an enemy of Israel?
Even as the British parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) published its stark warning yesterday that the Islamic Republic of Iran's Quds Force orchestrates spy rings on British soil, the UK continues its public ostracisation of Israel, the very country on the frontline of seeing down that exact threat. Britain must choose. Not between Israelis and Palestinians, but between honesty and hypocrisy Earlier this week, an Afghan-Danish spy working for Iran was arrested for photographing Jewish and Israeli targets in Berlin. The intelligence trail ran through Israel, Denmark, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK. Israel's cooperation helped foil an operation with chilling echoes of the Iranian regime's 1980s and 90s terror campaigns in Europe, such as the assassination of Shapour Bakhtiar in France, the murder of Salman Rushdie's Japanese translator, and Hezbollah-linked attacks tied to Iranian agents. And yet we in Britain are punishing our ally, Israel, with symbolic slights, even as it helps protect European citizens. Britain must choose. Not between Israelis and Palestinians, nor between compassion and realism, but between honesty and hypocrisy. For too long, successive UK governments have sought to conceal the depth and strength of their alliance with Israel behind a veil of diplomatic ambiguity and theatrical moralising. In doing so, they not only insult a vital ally but also betray the British public by failing to explain, with clarity and confidence, why our alliance with Israel is essential – economically, militarily, and morally. In May, Foreign Secretary David Lammy declared with great theatrical indignation that he was suspending UK-Israel trade negotiations, condemning Israeli ministers in apocalyptic tones, while still quietly affirming continued security and intelligence cooperation. As he stood up in the Commons, all bluster and rage, I thought back to a moment less than two years before; I had been in Israel, travelling with then Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch as she diligently worked towards that exact free trade agreement, paving the way to greater collaboration between the UK and Israel. As we toured the Teva pharmaceuticals factory, she told me how it represents just one example of the mutual benefits to both countries of our close ties: the Israeli company's generic medicines save the NHS around £2.7 billion every year, and it employs 1,200 people in the UK across four sites. But in 2025, Lammy declared the trade talks frozen. Yet only today the British Embassy in Israel quietly released a glowing statement (aimed at the Israeli press), touting Britain's new Industrial Strategy and hailing Israel as a premier partner in eight high-growth sectors, from AI and clean energy to life sciences and digital innovation. One in eight medicines used in the UK originates from Israeli firms, it boasts. Over the last five years, more than 300 Israeli companies have expanded into the UK creating around 4,000 jobs and over £906 million in investment. Israeli investment in the UK last year alone created nearly 900 jobs and injected £173 million into our economy. Britain exports aircraft engines and automobiles to Israel. Israel delivers biotechnology, software, and cyber expertise to Britain. The relationship is not just strategic, it is indispensable. But while Britain embraces it in practice, it condemns it in public. Israel is treated by British politicians not as a respected friend, but as a secret mistress, visited in the dark, denied in the daylight. This duplicity is neither moral nor mature. It is cowardice, dressed up as conscience. Worse still, it empowers precisely the voices that seek to undermine both countries. By indulging and appeasing the anti-Israel theatrics of certain backbenchers and media ideologues –those who confuse Hamas propaganda with human rights advocacy – the UK government lends legitimacy to a worldview in which the Jewish state is uniquely villainised. Nowhere is this split-personality approach more absurd than in the UK's recent decision to sanction Israel's Finance and National Security Ministers, at the very moment it is deepening trade ties and drawing on Israeli expertise in security. The Finance Minister is targeted while UK-Israel economic cooperation thrives. The National Security Minister is blacklisted even as, in the words of Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan and ex-head of international terrorism at the UK's Joint Intelligence Committee, the UK continues to rely on Israel's unmatched security know-how. Earlier this month as we sat together in a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv, Kemp told me just how much Britain still learns from Israel. The ISC's report on Iran is categorical: Iran is executing or sponsoring kidnapping plots, assassination attempts, cyber-attacks, and propaganda operations within the UK. MI5 and counter-terror agencies have thwarted at least 15 credible plots since 2022. British-Iranian journalists have been targeted. Families of BBC Persian staff harassed in Tehran. British Jews are in danger. All this, while Britain dithers on whether to proscribe the IRGC, the military arm of a regime that openly boasts of its ambition to destroy both Israel and the West. Meanwhile, Israel confronts these threats head-on. Not with bluster, but with courage, skill and competence. It has created a society that is both free and secure, pluralistic and resilient. It is a state where secularism coexists with vibrant religious life, where Arab citizens serve in the judiciary and military, and where corruption is prosecuted even at the highest levels – unlike in Britain where free spectacles, clothes, wallpaper, concert tickets, dresses and much more are no more than tabloid fodder. A nation of just ten million has produced more start-ups and lifesaving medical innovations per capita than nearly any other country on Earth, ranking among the top globally for Nobel laureates per capita. It has absorbed refugees from every continent, forged a national identity from extraordinary diversity, and shown that multiculturalism need not mean fragmentation. Contrast this with Britain's own drift. Struggling with incoherent policing, demoralised armed forces, a fraying social contract, and a political class paralysed by its own post-colonial neuroses, the UK seems ever more inclined to lecture its allies instead of learning from them. We issue pious calls for ceasefires with no strategy, no plan, no understanding of the enemy. We demand de-escalation while offering no alternative to surrender. We condemn Israel for confronting jihadism while failing to contain it ourselves. Enough. Britain cannot afford to berate the very partner that helps it survive in a perilous age. Nor can it outsource its moral compass to the loudest street protestor, the scariest religious fanatic, or most sanctimonious backbencher. It should stand up, speak clearly, and state the truth: Israel is our friend, a model, and an essential ally. The time for double-dealing is over. We must stop whispering our friendship and start declaring it with pride.
Reuters
09-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
U.S. issues additional Iran-related sanctions, Treasury website shows
WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - The United States imposed sanctions on 22 companies in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey on Wednesday for their roles in helping sell Iranian oil, the Treasury Department said. The oil sales benefit Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, Iran's most powerful paramilitary organization, it said. The U.S. has designated Quds as a foreign terrorist organization. The Quds Force employs front companies outside of Iran that use offshore accounts to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in profits derived from Iranian oil sales to circumvent U.S. sanctions, Treasury said. The money funds Iran's weapons programs and proxy groups across the region, according to the Treasury Department, which has imposed waves of sanctions targeting such activities. "The Iranian regime relies heavily on its shadow banking system to fund its destabilizing nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs, rather than for the benefit of the Iranian people," said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
