NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Saturday, January 13, 2024.
IRAN DAILY:
- Iran’s Navy seizes oil tanker in court-mandated retaliation
The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy announced the seizure of an American oil tanker by court order in the Sea of Oman on Thursday.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) identified the tanker Marshall Islands-flagged St. Nikolas, saying it was boarded at about 7:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) off Sohar in Oman and changed course towards Bandar-e-Jask in Iran, Press TV wrote.
A British maritime risk company, Ambrey, said the recently renamed tanker was previously prosecuted and fined for carrying Iranian oil, which was confiscated by US authorities.
“Iran has previously taken action against those it has accused of cooperating with the US,” it added.
The vessel had been loaded with 145,000 tons of crude oil in Basra, Iraq, and was destined for Aliaga in Turkey, via the Suez Canal, said the tanker’s Greece-based management company Empire Navigation.
The United States condemned what it called an “unlawful seizure” and demanded that Iran “immediately release the ship and its crew”.
“No justification whatsoever to seize it, none whatsoever. They need to let it go,” said Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House John Kirby.
“Following the violation of the Suez Rajan in April and the theft of Iranian oil by the United States, the oil tanker renamed St. Nicholas was seized in retaliation this morning by court order and the approval of the Ports and Shipping Organization by the strategic Islamic Republic of Iran Navy and transferred to Iranian ports,” Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
The tanker, it said, had stolen the cargo of oil belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran under the direction of the United States and transferred it to the country’s ports and put it at the disposal of American authorities.
Oil prices gained about 1% on Thursday after Iran seized the oil tanker off the coast of Oman.
Brent futures rose 61 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $77.41 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 65 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $72.02.
Last August, the US Navy unloaded a tanker of stolen Iranian oil worth around $56 million off a Texas port, despite warnings from Iran and after American oil firms had resisted the temptation of touching the 800,000-barrel tanker for fear of Iranian retaliation in the Persian Gulf waters.
The decision came as Iran was marking the 70th anniversary of the CIA-engineered military coup against Iran’s then-prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq.
The Marshall Islands-flagged Suez Rajan tanker carrying Iranian oil was illegally seized by Washington in April 2023 under the guise of “a sanctions-enforcement operation” and guided toward the Texas port.
It came days after a group of US senators and House representatives, at the behest of the Israeli lobby in Washington, began mounting pressure on the Joe Biden administration to unload the tanker, without considering its possible repercussions.
It was not the first time the US had resorted to the unconventional step of seizing a sovereign country’s cargo in international waters.
In May 2022, the US seized a Russia-operated ship, the Pegas, carrying Iranian oil off the shore of Karystos near Greece to dispatch the oil cargo to the US, but the Greek court ruled against the move.
In February 2021, Washington seized a tanker carrying Iranian oil off the coast of the Emirati city of Fujairah and sold more than a million barrels of oil confiscated from it for $110 million, or $55 a barrel.
The United States has also regularly stolen Syrian oil in recent years under the guise of anti-terror operations in the Arab country. In August 2022, the Syrian Oil Ministry accused the US and its mercenaries of stealing 66,000 barrels of oil per day, accounting for almost 80 percent of the country’s oil production.
- Owji: $20b investment in needed SP gas pressure boosting projects
Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji on Thursday stressed the need for investing $20 billion in gas pressure boosting projects in the South Pars (SP) field.
Delivering a speech at the National Conference on Production Growth, Inflation Control with Governance Model and Roadmap for Having Knowledge-Based Big Industries by Taking Opportunities to Produce National Brands to Compete at Regional Level, the minister added, “To this end, there is a need to use domestic expertise and therefore 753 contracts were signed with knowledge-based companies involved in oil industry last year.”
The number of domestic knowledge-based firms cooperating with the government stood at 150 when the 13th administration took over, but the figure has now risen to 650, he was quoted as saying by Shana.
Touching upon domestic oil industry’s achievements, he said enemies failed to prevent its development in spite of sanctions, adding, “Investment of around $150 billion in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (PSEEZ) in recent years and exports of technical and engineering services to other countries are among the major achievements.”
Owji said the development process has taken place under all governments, but it has been fortunately accelerated under the 13th administration.
The country was faced with big challenges to oil exports in August 2021, when the 13th administration took office and sanctions were ramped up, recalled the minister, adding the challenges were beaten off and completion of 133 partly-finished key projects worth $28.5 billion was put on the agenda, with the aim of increasing production.
Elaborating on oil industry’s achievements under the 13th administration, he said, “Oil production has jumped 60 percent, natural gas and gas condensate outputs have topped one billion cubic meters (bcm) and 760,000 barrels per day, respectively, petrochemical production capacity has soared to 95 million tons per year, oil refining capacity has witnessed a 230,000-barrel increase per day by launching Phase 2 of the Abadan Refinery development plan, and gas processing capacity has increased by 50 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) as part of a plan to boost production and processing capacities by putting the refinery of SP Phase 14 into operation.”
He also referred to implementation of 50 new projects aimed at increasing output and creating added value in upstream and downstream sectors, underlining, “Around 2.2 million barrels will be added to the country’s refining capacity when the new projects come on stream.”
Projects for promoting quality of products have started, said Owji, naming the project for improving quality of Isfahan Refinery’s diesel by applying expertise of domestic knowledge-based companies and experts.
Shifting to the SP Phase 11 development project at the zero-border point, the oil minister said all operations were carried out by Iranian experts under the 13th administration.
Five wells have become operational and 12-15 mcm/d have been added to the country’s gas recovery capacity, explained Owji, stating the added figure will soar to 50 mcm/d when the operations of its wells are completed.
APG collection,
economic growth
Approximately 11 mcm of associated petroleum gas (APG) are now captured per day, said the oil minister.
The volume of APG to be gathered daily will reach around 17 mcm by the end of this winter and will jump to about 40 mcm by the end of the 13th administration’s term (August 2025), he continued.
Talking about oil and gas industry’s economic growth, Owji said, “According to the reports of the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) and the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), the industry’s economic growth surpassed 25 percent in summer 2023, which will, hopefully, not be less than 20 percent in the Iranian calendar year (ending March 19, 2024).”
Predicting an annual eight percent growth in the country’s Seventh Five-Year National Development Plan (2023-27), a roadmap for around 5.5-million-barrel-per-day output has been provided, he pointed out, and that participation of Iran’s big contractors is required for achieving that goal.
- Tehran-Baku nine-month exchange of goods via rail up 33%: Official
The director general of Iran’s North Railway Administration-2 said that the exchange of goods between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan registered a 33-percent growth in the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2023).
While expounding on the nine months’ performance of imports, exports and the transit of cargo at the Astara Border Terminal, Gholam Hossein Valadi said the exchange of non-oil products via rail between Tehran and Baku increased 33% from March 21 to December 22, 2023 compared to the same period last year, reported Tasnim News Agency.
About 498,000 tons of goods were exchanged between the two countries at the Astara Border Terminal, he noted.
Valadi put the weight of products exchanged between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan from March 21 to December 22, 2022 at 374,454 tons.
The official went on to say that 152,268 tons of non-oil products were imported into the country from the Republic of Azerbaijan via rail in the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year, showing about a 63 percent hike compared to last year’s corresponding period, the website of Iran Ministry of Roads and Urban Development (MRUD) reported.
More than 93,000 tons of goods had been imported into the country from the Republic of Azerbaijan from March 21 to December 22, 2022, he stated.
He further noted that more than 136,000 tons of goods were exported from the country via the Astara Border Terminal through the rail network between March 21 and December 22, 2023.
Cement, chemicals, tiles and food products were among the main products exported to the Republic of Azerbaijan via rail, Valadi added.
In return, wood, lumber, chemicals, grains, etc. were among the most important products imported from the Republic of Azerbaijan to the country, he added.
- Yemen brushes off US, UK raids
Yemen’s Ansarallah movement on Friday vowed to continue attacks against Israel-bound ships in the Red Sea despite strikes by US and British forces on the Arab country.
Early on Friday, the US and Britain launched military strikes on Yemen in response to Ansarallah’s attacks on Israeli-bound ships in the Red Sea in recent weeks.
US officials said targets included logistical hubs, air defense systems, and weapons storage locations. US media reported that the strikes involved fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles.
The overnight strikes followed weeks of missile and drone attacks by Yemen on Israel-bound ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israel’s deadly bombardment in recent months.
“Yemen was subjected to a blatant US-British aggression to protect Israel and to stop Yemen’s operations in support of Gaza,” Ansarallah’s spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam wrote on X.
“They committed foolishness with this treacherous aggression, and they were wrong if they thought that they would deter Yemen from supporting Palestine and Gaza,” he said, adding that the movement will continue its attacks on Israeli ships and those heading to Israel’s ports.
No justification for
strikes
He said there was no justification for the strikes on Yemen because its actions do not threaten international shipping.
Yahya Saree, spokesperson for the Ansarallah movement, said the US and UK bear full responsibility for “criminal aggression” against the Yemeni people and their attacks will not go unanswered or unpunished.
Saree said in a statement that the US and UK targeted the capital, Sana’a, and the governorates of Hodeida, Taiz, Hajjah, and Saada, killing five individuals and wounding six others.
Condemnations
The strikes on Yemen drew condemnations from many countries in the Middle East, including some US allies.
Iran on Friday lambasted the strikes, saying that the attacks were “arbitrary” and a “violation” of international law.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement strongly condemned the attacks, saying that the strikes were “an arbitrary action, a clear violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yemen, and a violation of international laws and regulations”.
Kanaani warned that the attacks “will have no result other than fueling insecurity and instability in the region” as well as “diverting the world’s attention from the crimes” in Gaza, where Israel has launched brutal attacks on the Palestinians since October 7.
Turning Red Sea into
‘bloodbath’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the US and British strikes were “disproportionate,” alleging the US and Britain wanted to turn the Red Sea into a “bloodbath”.
“First of all, they are not proportional. All of these constitute disproportionate use of force,” Erdogan told journalists after Friday prayers in Istanbul.
“It is as if they aspire to turn the Red Sea into a bloodbath.”
Risk of escalating
conflict
Oman also condemned the attacks, warning of the risk of escalating conflict in the region.
“Oman has warned several times about the risk of the extension of the conflict in the region due to the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian territories,” Oman’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry also expressed “great concern” about the strikes, echoing the view of Yemen’s neighbor Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom voiced its own concern after the UK and US military action, calling for “self-restraint and avoiding escalation”.
Hamas resistance group in Gaza warned of “repercussions” following the attacks.
“We vigorously condemn the flagrant American-British attack on Yemen. We hold them responsible for the repercussions on regional security,” Hamas said on Telegram.
‘Illegitimate’ strikes
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the “illegitimate” strikes by the United States and Britain on Yemen.
“From the point of view of international law, they are illegitimate,” he added.
‘United, resolute’
response
However, US President Joseph Biden defended the strikes, saying that they represented a “united and resolute” response to Ansarallah’s attacks on international ships and that the US would “not hesitate to direct further measures” against Yemen.
In a statement released by the White House, Biden said the US and UK strikes were carried out with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands.
In a separate statement, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also confirmed the strikes, saying the UK took “limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defense” in order to degrade Ansarallah military capabilities and protect global shipping.
The Ansarallah resistance movement has said it is targeting Israeli-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza. It says its attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip.
The Red Sea links the Middle East and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The strait is only 29 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, limiting traffic to two channels for inbound and outbound shipments, according to the US Energy Information Administration. About 10% of all oil traded at sea passes through it and an estimated $1 trillion in goods pass through the strait annually.
- Israel accused of ‘incontrovertible’ intent to commit genocide in Gaza at ICJ
South Africa accused Israel of “chilling” and “incontrovertible” intent to commit genocide in Gaza on the opening day of a landmark case before the UN’s top court at The Hague.
Calling on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Israel to cease military operations in Gaza, lawyers for South Africa said that Israel has gone beyond its intention to eradicate Hamas and is aiming to bring about the “the destruction” of the besieged territory’s population. Israel was accused of breaching the UN Genocide Convention, with lawyers saying that even the October 7 attack by Hamas on the occupied territories – during which around 1,200 people were killed – could not justify such actions, according to The Independent newspaper.
South Africa’s Justice Minister, Ronald Lamola, opened Thursday’s session saying that Israel has “crossed the line” with its bombardment of Gaza, with health officials in the Palestinian territory putting the death toll at over 23,700 people.
“The intent to destroy Gaza has been nurtured at the highest level of state,” Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, advocate of the High Court of South Africa, told the court. “The evidence of genocidal intent is not only chilling, it is also overwhelming and incontrovertible,” Ngcukaitobi said.
Israel said Friday it was not seeking to destroy the Palestinian people, as it hit back at what it called a “profoundly distorted” and “malevolent” genocide case against it.
Tal Becker, a top lawyer representing Israel, said South Africa had “regrettably put before the court a profoundly distorted factual and legal picture”.
Destruction of
Palestinian life
Lawyers for South Africa told the court that Israel’s military response to Hamas attack has gone beyond what is reasonable. “This killing is nothing short of destruction of Palestinian life,” Adila Hassim, a South African lawyer and member of the delegation, said. “It is inflicted deliberately. No one is spared. Not even newborn babies.”
Post-apartheid South Africa has long defended the Palestinian cause.
Although the court’s findings are considered binding on parties, including both South Africa and Israel, the court has no way to enforce them.
The court is expected to rule on possible emergency measures to halt Israel’s military activities in Gaza later this month, although it will not rule at that time on the genocide allegations. Those proceedings could take years.
In an 84-page filing to the ICJ, South Africa argued that Israel is committing genocide by killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing serious mental and bodily harm, forced evacuation, widespread hunger, and by creating conditions “calculated to bring about their physical destruction.” It also accused Israel of failing to stem incitement to genocide in the public pronouncements of its
officials.
Record daily death toll
The Health Ministry in Gaza said Friday at least 23,708 have been killed in the territory in nearly 100 days of Israel’s onslaught.
The charity Oxfam International said on Thursday that the daily death toll in Gaza was higher than any other major conflict this century.
Oxfam’s Sally Abi Khalil said it is “unimaginable” that the international community stands by as the killing unfolds.
Israeli strikes killed at least 59 people in Gaza overnight Thursday-Friday.
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
- U.S. Base in Syria Comes Under Attack From Iraq
Iraqi resistance forces on Friday targeted a U.S.-occupied military base in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr as well as strategic sites inside the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories in retaliation for Washington’s support for the bloody Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip. Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen television news network, citing local sources speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that the forces targeted the base that houses U.S. troops at the Conoco gas field with a barrage of rockets on Friday afternoon.
- U.S. Targets Yemen’s Ansarullah With Sanctions
The U.S. government on Friday announced new sanctions on two companies in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates over Yemen’s Ansarullah funds.
The Treasury Department in a statement said it had sanctioned the companies for allegedly shipping Iranian commodities on behalf of the Ansarullah financial facilitator already under U.S. sanctions. It also targeted four vessels.
- The Splitter & Spreader of Sciences
“The first beings God created were Muhammad and his progeny, the rightly guided ones and the guides; shadows of light, luminous bodies without spirits; strengthened by Ruh al-Qudus (Holy Spirit), through which Muhammad and his progeny worshipped God. For this reason He created them forbearing, learned, endowed with filial piety and pure. They worshipped God through prayer, fasting, prostration, enumeration of His Names and expression of Allah-o Akbar (God is Greatest).”
The above definition of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger and the Infallible Members of his Ahl al-Bayt (Blessed Household), whom God has decreed as Guides for the salvation of humanity, is found in authoritative books of hadith in reference to explanation of Ayahs of the Holy Qur’an by Prophet Muhammad’s (SAWA) Namesake and 5th Divinely-Designated Heir, Imam Muhammad Baqer (AS), whose birthday we mark every year on the 1st of the lunar month of Rajab.
Rajab is one of the four sacred months of the Islamic calendar. It is the month in which the All-Merciful, in addition to the regular conduits of mercy, opens up special passageways to His creatures for attaining greater heights of virtue. Indeed, fortunate are those who grab the opportunity to strive towards the bounties of the Hereafter.
Last night on the eve of Rajab most of the faithful certainly performed the special prayers and recited the exclusive supplications in the Divine Court. Today many are fasting and are observing the special prayers of the 1st of Rajab, while basking in the blessings of the birth of the 5th Infallible Imam who was descended on both sides from the Seal of Messengers – father Imam Zayn al-Abedin (AS), the son of the Prophet’s younger grandson Imam Husain (AS), and mother Fatema (SA), the daughter of the Prophet’s elder grandson, Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS).
The faithful are beseeching God to firm up their faith, enlighten their minds, illuminate their hearts, purify their souls, strengthen their spirits, and make them worthy recipients of the bezels of knowledge bequeathed by the person whose epithet “Baqer al-Uloum” was prophesied by his great-grandfather the Prophet and which means “Splitter and Spreader of Sciences” (more clear to today’s scientific minds acquainted with the splitting of the atom to produce energy).
They are also praying to the Lord Most High to alleviate the sufferings of all believers – especially the defenceless people of Gaza in Occupied Palestine, who for the past three months are the victims of the brutal bombing of the illegal Zionist entity, whose crimes against humanity are backed by the US, Britain, France, and Germany.
True, by the Will of Allah the Exalted, Imam Baqer’s (AS) physical presence in the mortal world began in 57 AH and ended 57 years later in 114 AH due to a fatal dose of poison on the orders of Hesham ibn Abdul-Malik, the self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime. His celestial light, however, neither his assassins could extinguish nor the vestiges of time, including Wahhabi destruction of the grand mausoleum in Medina’s sacred Jannat al-Baqie Cemetery where he reposes in eternal peace, along with his son Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS), his father Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS), and maternal grandfather Imam Hasan al-Mojtaba (AS).
During his 19-year mission as the Representative of God on earth, he had the opportunity of promoting in society the genuine teachings of the Prophet of Islam including his unsullied “Sunah wa Seerah” (Practice & Behaviour), which after all were family inheritances, since those were the days when pseudo jurisprudents having little knowledge about Islam and nothing about the Prophet were resorting to “qiyas” (analogy or mere guesses) to confuse the faith of the Muslim masses.
The 5th Imam, who as a 4-year boy had witnessed the martyrdom of his paternal grandfather Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala and suffered imprisonment in Syria in its equally tragic aftermath – along with his parents, aunts and Grand Aunts Hazrat Zainab (SA) and Hazrat Omm Kolsoum (SA) – resolved to enlighten minds and souls of the Ummah, after having seen his father gradually reweave for 34 long years the tattered fabric of the Islamic society.
On his authority the Ayahs of the Holy Qur’an were explained, the legal code of Islam defined, and accounts of the prophets of the past penned down.
He thus strengthened the foundations of the School of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, which would flower and reach its peak under his son and successor, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS), at whose feet were to sit over 4,000 scholars and students to learn various branches of sciences, ranging from theology and jurisprudence to medicine and astronomy.
Imam Baqer (AS), who despite his grooming of scholars, would at times love to toil under the blazing sun by personally engaging in farming in order to set the practical example of dignified labour for earning of legal and lawful subsistence, has said the following:
“There is no job better than farming and there is no benefit better than the benefit of farming, because benevolent and malevolent grazing animals and birds benefit from it and pray for the farmer.”
Yet at the same time, he warned against being deceived and trapped by the glamour of transient life, as is evident by his following statements:
“A person who seeks the world is like the silk-worm which becomes more and more incarcerated inside the cocoon the more silk it wounds around and dies inside it.”
“A seeker of the world is like the sheep that ventures into the grassland to feed. It fattens, and the same fattening becomes the cause of its death under the butcher’s knife! Remember, when you go before Allah, four questions will be asked: How did you spend your youth? What work you did during your lifetime? From where did you acquire wealth? Where did you spend your wealth? So prepare your replies to these questions.”
Imam Baqer (AS), however, did not preach asceticism and discouraged such unnatural habits by encouraging people to marry, raise children, and cater to their needs in lawful and legal manner. He has narrated the following hadith from his ancestor, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA):
“This (Islam) is a firm and decisive Faith! Scale its heights, but calmly! Don’t put excessive weight of prayer on your bodies! Don’t be like a rider who tires his animal by travelling more than it possibly can! It may fail to carry you to your destination! Satan has misguided some of our people and made them abstain from meat and other delicacies. Such abstention is against the Shari’ah.”
I end this newspaper column by citing the Prophet’s hadith that whoever recites in Rajab “Astaghfirullah wa atubu ilayh” (I plead to Allah for forgiveness and turn to Him penitently) seventy times in the morning and seventy times in the evening and with hands raised says “Allahum∙magh∙fir li wa tub alayya” should he/she die during Rajab, God shall be pleased with him/her and hellfire shall not touch him/her.
The Prophet also said God Almighty forgives all the sins of a person who offers ten “raka’ah” of the ritual prayer during one of the nights of Rajab, reciting Surah al-Hamd and Surah Kafiroun once and Surah Towheed thrice in each “raka’ah”.
- Yemen Vaults Into Frontline of Resistance
Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis took to the streets in several cities on Friday to condemn the U.S. and UK strikes on their country and reiterate their solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The Supreme Political Council pledged retaliation after the overnight attacks on several cities in the impoverished country.
“The Americans and the British should not believe that they will escape the punishment of our heroic armed forces,” the council said in a statement.
“All American-British interests have become legitimate targets for the Yemeni armed forces in response to their direct and declared aggression against the Republic of Yemen.”
The airstrikes add to escalating fears of wider conflict in the region, where Israeli violence in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine continues to take hundreds of lives on a daily basis.
Many in West Asia, including some U.S. allies, condemned the airstrike and warned that they risked causing a broader conflict in the region.
The strikes came after a series of Yemeni operations against ships in the Red Sea. The Yemenis have said they are targeting Israeli ships and vessels headed to Occupied Palestine in an effort to support Palestinians in Gaza, who have been under relentless Israeli bombardment for nearly 100 days.
Israel’s invasion of Gaza since Oct. 7 has martyred more than 23,000 Palestinians, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.
Ansarullah spokesman Muhammad Abdul Salam said on social media that Yemen would remain by Gaza’s side. He said there was no justification for the strikes on Yemen because its actions do not threaten international shipping, and vowed tha Yemeni armed forces would continue to target Israeli ships and those heading to the occupied territories.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Abdul Salam signaled that Yemeni forces would retaliate for the U.S. strikes, saying, “Now, the response no doubt is going to be wider.”
Hamas and Hezbollah also condemned the strikes. Hamas called them an “act of terrorism,” a violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and “a threat to the security of the region.”
Hamas said it will hold Britain and the United States “responsible for the repercussions on regional security.”
Nasser Kanani, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, denounced the strikes as “a violation of international laws” and said they “will have no result other than fueling insecurity and instability in the region.”
Hundreds of people rallied in Tehran against the U.S., Britain and the occupying regime of Israel while voicing support for Gazans and Yemenis.
Even close U.S. ally Oman expressed concern, a reflection of the fear that the American-led aggression would only inflame regional conflict.
“It is impossible not to denounce that an allied country resorted to this military action, while meanwhile, Israel is continuing to exceed all bounds in its bombardment, brutal war and siege on Gaza without any consequence,” Oman’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In Bahrain, another U.S. ally, people took to the streets on Friday to protest their country’s involvement in the military coalition, according to Bahraini activists who shared pictures of the demonstrations. Amid popular anger over its participation in the coalition, the Bahraini government has not independently acknowledged its role, but was named in the joint statement announcing the strikes.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the strikes as “disproportionate” and said: “It is as if they aspire to turn the Red Sea into a bloodbath.”
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said Riyadh “is following with great concern the military operations” and called for “self-restraint and avoiding escalation”.
The kingdom is trying to extricate itself from a nine-year war with Yemen, though fighting has largely been on hold since a truce in early 2022.
Iraq and Syria voiced similar concerns.
Further afield, China said it was “concerned about the escalation of tensions in the Red Sea” and Moscow condemned the “illegitimate” strikes.
News of the airstrikes sent oil prices up four percent. Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB bank, cited market fears that “the region is on an unpredictable escalating path”.
Some 12 percent of global maritime trade normally passes through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, but since mid-November the amount of shipping containers has dropped by 70 percent, according to maritime experts.
Friday’s strikes targeted an airbase, airports and a military camp, Yemen’s Al-Masirah TV station said.
“Our country was subjected to a massive aggressive attack by American and British” forces, said Hussein al-Ezzi, Yemen’s deputy foreign minister.
According to official Yemeni media, he added the two countries “will have to prepare to pay a heavy price”.
U.S. President Joe Biden called the strikes a “defensive action” after the Red Sea attacks and said he “will not hesitate” to order further military action if needed.
With fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles, 60 targets at 16 locations were hit by more than 100 precision-guided munitions, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
Unverified images on social media, some of them purportedly of Al-Dailami airbase north of the capital Sanaa, showed explosions lighting up the sky as loud bangs and the roar of planes sounded.
Ansarullah military spokesman Yahya Saree said at least five people had been martyred.
As the Yemenis have weathered years of air raids by a Saudi-led coalition, hitting them would have little impact and would only raise their standing in the Arab world, Gerald Feierstein, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, said before the strikes.
“The Houthis are immune to airstrikes,” agreed Maged Al-Madhaji, co-founder of the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies think-tank.
U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Syria have also faced stepped-up retaliatory attacks since the Israeli war on Gaza began.
On Tuesday, Yemeni forces launched what London called their most significant attack yet.
“While the Zionist regime continues its attacks and war crimes in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in Palestine, the United States and England are trying to divert the attention of the people of the world from the crimes of this fake, criminal and aggressor regime against the people of Palestine by expanding their umbrella of support for the Zionist regime,” Iran’s Kananni said.
The attacks come as Israel’s three months of a ferocious military campaign against the besieged people of Gaza is sputtering in the face of heroic resistance from Palestinian fighters.
The economic costs of the invasion are also beginning to mount as operations by Yemeni armed forces in the Red Sea against Israeli ships and vessels bound for Israeli ports in solidarity with the Palestinian people are having a mark.
On Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian called Yemen a part of the reality and security of the West Asian region.
“Yemeni leaders, emphasizing the security of navigation, say that they will only stop the ships that are going to spread the war and send weapons to the occupied territories,” he told his Norwegian counterpart Espen Barth Eide.
The U.S.-led aggression, however, came on the first of two days of hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague where Israel faced the charge of being involved in genocide in Gaza.
The ricochet from the case, observers say, will inevitably land at the doors of the West, especially the U.S. and Britain which have supported the invasion with continued shipments of armament and ammunition.
“America’s entry into direct war against civilians, women and children of Gaza is a strategic mistake,” Amir-Abdollahian said in a phone conversation with Eide late Thursday.
“We have warned since the beginning of the bombing and genocide in Gaza that war is not the solution, but if the killing of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank continues, the scope of the war will expand. This warning is due to our understanding of the situation in support of Palestine in the region.”
TEHRAN TIMES:
- Leader slams Israel’s criminal acts, lauds Iraqi resistance in separate posts in Hebrew, Arabic
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to slam Israel for its crimes in the Gaza Strip. The leader once again posted a message in Hebrew on Wednesday, writing, “The crimes of the Zionist regime will not be forgotten, even after this regime is destroyed and whipped out from the earth.” “The narratives of these heinous acts, including the tragic massacre of thousands of children and women, will be etched into the annals of history,” he further pointed out. This marks the fourth occasion since the beginning of the al-Aqsa Storm Operation that the Khamenei.ir account has shared a statement from the Leader of the Islamic Revolution in the Hebrew language. Also, in another post in Arabic, the Leader emphasized the importance of the ‘Resistance Front’ remaining vigilant against oppression and arrogance. “May the ‘Resistance Front’ stay vigilant against oppression and arrogance, never overlooking the enemy’s plots, and strike where it can, with the assistance of God,” wrote Ayatollah Khamenei.
- Iran vehemently denounces ‘arbitrary’ U.S., British strikes in Yemen
Iran has severely condemned the U.S. and UK military attacks on Yemen, branding it as an act of “arbitrary” action that violates the nation’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and international rules and norms. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani emphasized on Friday that the “arbitrary attacks will have no result other than fueling insecurity and instability in the region” in Iran’s initial response to the aggression. “These military attacks are carried out in line with the continuation of the full support of the United States and the United Kingdom for the last hundred days of the Zionist regime’s war crimes against the Palestinian nation and the oppressed citizens under the complete siege of the Gaza Strip,” he said. Kanaani went on to add, “While the Zionist regime continues its attacks and war crimes in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in Palestine, the United States and England are trying to divert the attention of the people of the world away from the crimes of this fake, criminal and aggressor regime against the people of Palestine by expanding their umbrella of support for the Zionist regime.”
- Anti-war activists in New York City, Washington protest strikes in Yemen
Anti-war activists gathered at Times Square in New York City and outside the White House late on Thursday to protest U.S. and British strikes against military targets in Yemen, saying the step threatened to widen the war in Gaza. The United States and Britain launched the strikes from the air and sea in response to attacks by Ansarallah on ships to and from Israel in the Red Sea, which the movement says is a show of support for Palestinians under siege by Israel in Hamas-governed Gaza. Protesters at Times Square chanted slogans such as “hands off the Middle East,” “hands off Yemen,” and “hands off Gaza.” The demonstrators near the White House waved Palestinian flags and carried banners that read “Free Palestine” and “Stop bombing Yemen.” The strikes in Yemen represent one of the most dramatic demonstrations to date of the widening of the war in Gaza since it erupted in October, although the U.S. and its allies said in a joint statement there was no intent to escalate tensions.
NOURNEWS