Feb 06 Who is part of Iran’s regional armed network and what are their aims? By Kali Robinson, Will Merrow, Council on Foreign Relations Fighters from Shiite Muslim-majority countries such as Iraq and Lebanon compose Iran’s main proxies, but groups in Sunni-majority Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories, Syria, and Yemen have also formed associations with Iran. Continue reading
Feb 05 Watch 5:47 Iranian American writer discusses new novel about struggling with survivor’s guilt By Jeffrey Brown, Anne Azzi Davenport, Alison Thoet, Alexa Gold In 1988, amid the Iran-Iraq war, the U.S. military accidentally shot down an Iranian commercial passenger jet, killing all 290 people aboard. That real-life tragedy sets in motion the fictional events in the new novel “Martyr!” a young Iranian American… Continue watching
Feb 05 WATCH: Pentagon holds briefing as U.S. warns of more retaliation if attacked by Iranian allies By Jon Gambrell, Tara Copp, Associated Press After a weekend of retaliatory strikes, the United States is warning Iran and the militias it arms and funds that it will conduct more attacks if American forces in the Mideast continue to be targeted. Continue reading
Feb 05 Obstacles loom as Blinken returns to Middle East to negotiate plans for Gaza By Matthew Lee, Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, Associated Press Blinken hopes to press ahead with a potential cease-fire deal and postwar planning while tamping down regional tensions. But on on all three fronts he faces major challenges. Continue reading
Feb 05 Several allied Kurdish fighters killed in drone attack on base housing U.S. troops in Syria By Bassem Mroue, Kareem Chehayeb, Associated Press In late January, a drone attack by an umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias killed three U.S. troops and wounded dozens more at a desert base in Jordan. Continue reading
Feb 04 Watch 3:21 News Wrap: U.S. vows ‘sustained’ military response to Iran-backed attacks In our news wrap Sunday, U.S. officials say they are not done yet with their military response in the Middle East, another atmospheric river threatens California with flooding and mudslides, Moscow-appointed officials say Ukrainian shelling killed at least 28 people… Continue watching
Feb 04 After U.S. and UK strikes in Yemen, Iran warns against targeting suspected spy ships By Jon Gambrell, Lolita C. Baldor, Tara Copp, Associated Press Iran issued a warning Sunday to the U.S. over potentially targeting two cargo ships in the Mideast long suspected of serving as forwarding operating bases for Iranian commandos, after the U.S. and the United Kingdom launched a massive airstrike campaign against… Continue reading
Feb 03 Watch 5:27 What the U.S. hopes to achieve with airstrikes against Iran-backed militias By John Yang, Harry Zahn The U.S. is responding to last weekend’s drone strike in Jordan that killed three U.S. troops with airstrikes against Iran-backed militias in the Middle East. Pentagon officials say it took just 30 minutes for B-1 bombers and other U.S. aircraft… Continue watching
Feb 03 What to know about the U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran-backed fighters By Bassem Mroue, Associated Press The U.S. military has launched strikes on dozens of sites manned by Iran-backed fighters in western Iraq and eastern Syria in retaliation for a drone strike in Jordan in late January that killed three U.S. service members and wounded dozens. Continue reading
Feb 03 Iranian-backed militia official in Iraq downplays U.S. retaliatory strikes, hints at de-escalation By Abdulrahman Zeyad, Ali Jabar, Associated Press An Iraqi militia official on Saturday hinted at a desire to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East following retaliatory strikes launched by the United States against dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Continue reading