Iran’s security chief has warned of plots to stage a false flag attack similar to the September 11 attacks and blame it on Iran, saying while the Islamic Republic is firmly punishing the aggressors, it fundamentally opposes such terrorist attacks.

“I’ve heard that the remaining members of Epstein’s network have devised a conspiracy to create an incident similar to 9/11 and blame Iran for it,” Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, wrote in a post on his X account on Sunday.

He made clear that Iran fundamentally opposes such terrorist schemes and has no war with the American people.

According to Larijani, Iran is currently defending itself against the aggression of the United States and Israel. “Of course, in this defense it is acting very strongly and resolutely in order to punish the aggressors,” he added.

The remarks came after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) roundly dismissed any connection to a series of drone strikes targeting positions in the Saudi capital Riyadh and the energy-rich Eastern Province, urging Saudi authorities to fully investigate their origin.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also clarified that the Iranian Armed Forces “only American bases and interests in the region.”

In an interview with Al-Arabi Al-Jadid, Araghchi speculated that the Israeli regime may have targeted non-military areas in neighboring Arab countries to destroy their relations with Iran.

Source: Presstv

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says US attacks on two Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf that took place overnight on Saturday originated in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and he warns that Iran will definitely respond. 

Araghchi said on Saturday that the US military used populated areas in the UAE to fire on Kharg, an island that houses Iran’s oil‑export terminals, and on Abu Musa, a strategic island at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Last night they attacked Kharg Island and Abu Musa Island with the artillery‑rocket system HIMARS, which is a short‑range rocket system,” he said.

“They launched these rockets from the soil of our neighbors. It is crystal clear they are using our neighbors’ territory to attack us, and this is absolutely unacceptable.”

The minister said Iranian military forces tracked the attacks, which he said came from Ras Al Khaimah and a location very close to Dubai.

Araghchi added that firing from densely populated areas is a very dangerous practice, and while Iran will definitely respond, it will exercise utmost caution to avoid striking residential buildings.

“What we are doing within the framework of legitimate defense is targeting American bases, facilities, assets and interests, which unfortunately are located in the territories of our neighbors,” he said.

The attacks on Kharg and Abu Musa did not hit Iranian energy facilities but caused losses at military sites on the two islands.

Iran has previously responded to similar attacks and warned that if oil or electricity production facilities are targeted, it will launch massive strikes on all energy facilities in Persian Gulf countries where the United States has interests.

Source: Press TV

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Friday his group was ready for a long confrontation with Israel, as the latter threatened to make Lebanon pay an “increasing price” in damage to infrastructure.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when the Tehran-backed militant group attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.

“We have prepared ourselves for a long confrontation, and God willing, they (Israelis) will be surprised on the battlefield,” Qassem said in his second televised address since the latest war began.

“This is an existential battle, not a limited or simple battle.”

Israel on Friday destroyed a bridge over the Litani River between the towns of Zrariyeh and Tayr Falsay, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. The river bisects southern Lebanon, from east to west.

In a statement, the Israeli military described the bridge as a “key crossing” for Hezbollah “from northern to southern Lebanon, to build up its power and prepare for combat”.

The attack was the first on Lebanese public infrastructure to be acknowledged by Israel since the start of the Middle East war.

“This is just the beginning and the Lebanese government and the state of Lebanon will pay an increasing price in damage to Lebanese national infrastructure used by Hezbollah terrorists,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday.

He said Lebanon would suffer “loss of territory — until it fulfils its central commitment of disarming Hezbollah”.

Earlier this week, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun offered to negotiate directly with Israel, but on Friday he said he had not received a response.

The Israeli military bombed several roads in southern Lebanon on Friday, according to the official National News Agency, blocking access from the north of the Litani River and from the Bekaa valley, an eastern area Hezbollah uses to transport weaponry.

The NNA also reported that Israeli shells hit the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon’s Nepalese battalion in the border town of Mays al-Jabal.

Source: AFP

All six crew members of a US Air Force refueling aircraft have been confirmed killed after it was shot down by resistance groups in western Iraq on Thursday.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the deaths in a post on the social media platform X on Friday, hours after it reported that the KC-135 refueling aircraft had gone down in western Iraq.

It said at the time that four of the six crew members on board were killed.

CENTCOM also claimed that “the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.”

The aircraft, however, was targeted and struck by a missile fired by the Resistance Front in western Iraq, according to a statement issued by the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters of Iran on Thursday night.

In a separate statement, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that the aircraft was intercepted and destroyed while it was in the middle of a refueling mission for an “aggressor fighter jet.”

The incident has brought the number of US troops killed, as per the Pentagon data, to at least 13 since the US and the Israeli regime launched an unprovoked war against Iran on February 28.

Ever since, Iraqi resistance groups have been carrying out daily attacks on US assets in Iraq and across the region.

Source: Presstv

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says it has launched a devastating missile and drone strike on the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet base in Mina Salman, Bahrain, shortly after the first message from the new leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, emphasized Iran’s “determined and regret-inducing” defense efforts.

The IRGC’s public relations office announced that the attack took place on Thursday, with two waves of missile and drone strikes hitting the base.

The statement said that key facilities at the base, including anti-drone defense systems, storage and maintenance areas for drones, support equipment, and fuel tanks, were all targeted with precision missiles and drones.

According to the IRGC, the strike successfully hit American military gatherings, causing significant damage.

“By divine grace, the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed,” the statement declared, just after Ayatollah Khamenei asserted that the narrow strategic waterway in the Persian Gulf must remain closed.

“The will of the people is to continue effective defense, and their presence on the scene must be maintained. The Strait of Hormuz must remain closed,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in his first address to the nation on Thursday.

Source: Presstv

The first message from new Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei was released on Thursday, outlining key strategic points on the nation’s direction.

The message, delivered in seven major sections, stresses the importance of avenging the blood of martyrs and the crucial role of active participation in national events such as the Quds Day march.

In his statement, Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that Iran will not hesitate to seek retribution for the blood of martyrs, reaffirming the country’s unwavering resolve in the face of external threats.

He also called for an effective presence in key national activities, particularly highlighting the significance of participating in the Quds Day march, stressing that all citizens must contribute to such pivotal moments to show strength and unity.

The message also discussed the roles and responsibilities of the people, the armed forces, executive bodies, the resistance front, and regional countries, framing these elements as vital in confronting the nation’s enemies.

Source: Press TV

Kim’s teenage daughter Ju Ae featured prominently in state photos published to mark the closing stages of the nuclear-armed country’s key ruling Workers’ Party congress last month.

She has long been seen as next in line to rule the country, a perception stoked by a string of recent high-profile outings, as well as a rare image released late last month of her firing a rifle at a shooting range.

Pyongyang’s state media released an image of Ju Ae firing what looked like a pistol with one eye closed, flames shooting from the muzzle of the gun.

She was attending an event, along with her father, at a “major munitions factory” that produces new pistols and other “portable light arms”, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

State media images showed the duo, donning matching leather jackets — often seen as a symbol of power in North Korea — being briefed by officials as they inspected the facility.

There, leader Kim visited the factory’s “shooting gallery” where he got to test the “new-type” pistol himself, and expressed satisfaction over the weapon’s “excellence”.

The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in the isolated country.

Despite her young age, “it appears the regime is trying to cultivate the image of a strong and formidable woman,” Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea’s Kyungnam University, told AFP.

“The pistol-shooting scene clearly serves to signal that she is cultivating the attributes of a military leader.”

Ju Ae was publicly introduced to the world in 2022 when she accompanied her father to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.

Before then, the only confirmation of her existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited the North in 2013.

Source: AFP

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced that around 100 American “terrorists” have been injured in a retaliatory attack by Iran’s navy on al-Udairi base in Kuwait.

 The IRGC said in a statement that its naval forces carried out “glorious and powerful” operations against the remnants of the American forces in West Asia.

According to the statement, the operations included “two heavy and simultaneous missile strikes” on the al-Udairi helicopter base, which left “more than 100” American soldiers injured.

The wounded were transferred to al-Jaber and Al-Mubarak hospitals, it said.

The statement added that Iranian missiles and drones also struck the key infrastructure of the US base at Mina Salman port in Bahrain, which serves as the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet, and also hosts critical systems like the Leeds.

“The Patriot camp and the equipment warehouses, as well as the accommodation and gathering centers of American terrorist soldiers at the two naval bases of ‘Muhammad Al-Ahmad’ and ‘Ali Al-Salem’ [in Kuwait], were also intensely struck.”

The IRGC vowed that the war against “the terrorist Americans and the criminal Zionist regime” will continue powerfully until “the complete surrender of the enemy.”

Iran conducts drone attacks on ‘Aman, Unit 8200’

Meanwhile, Iran’s Army announced that it has launched drone attacks on the military intelligence organization of the Israeli army, Unit 8200, the Green Pine radar, and the headquarters of the submarine Haifa Naval Base since the early hours of Wednesday.

According to the statement, the military intelligence organization of the Israeli army, known as “Aman”, which was targeted in the recent drone attack played a role in “identifying targets and military actions in the Ramadan war.”

It added that the other target, “Unit 8200,” was responsible for “collecting intelligence signals, tracking digital communications, and conducting offensive cyber operations.”

The statement also described the targeted Green Pine radar as “one of the main pillars of the regime’s army in countering Iranian missiles,” noting that the damage inflicted to these radars has “significantly reduced” the regime’s ability to intercept missiles.

The US and Israel started a fresh round of aerial aggression on Iran on February 28, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country.

Iran began to swiftly retaliate against the strikes by launching barrage of missiles and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on US bases in regional countries.

Source: Presstv

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the country is fully prepared to react to malicious plots by the United States aimed at altering the economic equations arising from the ongoing US-Israeli aggression against Iran.

In a post on his X account on Monday, Araghchi stated that the US military operation, which he termed “Epic Mistake” instead of “Epic Fury,” has already driven international energy and commodity prices to unbearable levels.

He suggested that the US may be considering surprising Iran by launching attacks on its energy production facilities.

Without elaborating, the minister noted that such a move could be an attempt by the US to contain the growing economic shocks caused by the war and its impact on energy prices.

“9 days into Operation Epic Mistake, oil prices have doubled while all commodities are skyrocketing. We know the U.S. is plotting against our oil and nuclear sites in hopes of containing a huge inflationary shock. Iran is fully prepared,” Araghchi said in his post.

“And we, too, have many surprises in store,” he added.

Iran’s extensive response to US and Israeli attacks has included operations targeting US military assets in oil-rich countries of the Persian Gulf.

This has triggered a major surge in the prices of oil and natural gas, sending shockwaves through international markets.

Iran has indicated that the surge may continue and could reach historic levels if the US and Israel decide to target Iran’s energy production facilities, prompting Iran to retaliate by striking corresponding sites in the region.

Market analysts believe such a scenario could drive oil prices to record levels exceeding $200 per barrel.

Source: Presstv