Stories related to: Iran

Hezbollah’s takeover of Beirut is nothing less than an “armed coup,” Lebanon’s ruling party said today. “The armed and bloody coup which is being implemented aims to return Syria to Lebanon and extend Iran's reach to the Mediterranean,” one official in the US-backed government said. The militant group made further progress, the New York Times reports, with troops loyal to the government disappearing and Hezbollah knocking state TV off the air. More »

What began as a strike yesterday is now “open war” in Lebanon, according to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, CNN reports. Open violence continued for a second day today, with loyalists and opposition fighters clashing after the US-backed government tried to muscle through measures against Hezbollah on Monday, including a crackdown on the Syria- and Iran-friendly group’s communications network. More »

One of the suicide bombers responsible for a series of attacks in the Iraqi city of Mosul last month is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, reports the New York Times. The Kuwaiti, originally detained in Afghanistan, is said to have traveled to Iraq via Syria to join jihadists after his release in 2005. Several Gitmo detainees are known to have returned to insurgent status, officials say. More »

Iran has rejected an international package of incentives to stop its nuclear enrichment program, and Tehran won’t accept any proposal of that kind, the foreign ministry said today. “Those incentives that violate the Iranian nation's right in any form will not be reviewed,” a spokesman said, referring to the pursuit of nuclear technology. But foreign diplomats are skeptical, Reuters reports. More »

With wars still raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US would be hard-pressed to start a new one with Iran, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Michael Mullen said today. “I actually am very hopeful that we don't have to get into a conflict,” Mullen told Israeli TV, though he reiterated he would “keep all the military options on the table.” More »

Hezbollah is helping to train Iraqi militants in Iran, the US claims in a report to Iraq’s government. The information, obtained during US questioning of captured Shiite fighters, suggests Iran is quietly aiding the militia, despite repeated claims it’s not interfering in internal Iraqi matters, the New York Times reports. More »

Obama likened Hillary's stance on Iran to George Bush's "cowboy diplomacy" on Meet the Press today, while Clinton took to ABC to defend the gas tax and told voters mired in the Jeremiah Wright controversy "We should move on." Tim Russert ignored her advice, however, and devoted his first 18 minutes to the pastor, reports the New York Times . “Obviously, it’s distracted us,” Obama admitted. More »

A delegation of Shiite Iraqi officials is heading to Iran to discuss its role in supporting anti-government activity in Iraq, the New York Times reports. The trip marks the first time Iraqi leaders have visited Tehran over the issue. The officials, selected by PM al-Maliki, all have links to Iran, whose support of Shiite militias has long drawn US criticism. More »

A second US aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf yesterday, which Robert Gates says Iran should see as a "reminder." The defense secretary denied that the deployment of another ship in the Gulf amounted to an escalation of American forces in the area, Reuters reports, but hoped to get Tehran's attention with the extra vessel's presence. More »

Barbie, Batman, and Harry Potter have no place in the Islamic Republic of Iran, says the nation's top prosecutor. He warned of the "social danger" that toys and other Western cultural imports pose to his country and has called for a ban, the BBC reports. Barbie is a big seller in Iran, and the country's little girls haven't been as keen on the more modestly dressed, Iranian-made alternative. More »

Hidden in a sandstorm, militants struck the US-protected Green Zone in Baghdad today and killed at least two Iraqis, the Los Angeles Times reports. The mortar or rocket attack, which also wounded 25, came just 2 days after influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered members of his Mahdi Army to end recent fighting. More »

The US is preparing for a potential military action against Iran, the nation’s top military official said today. Such an attack would be “extremely stressing” on the military, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, but it is on the table if a diplomatic solution can’t stop Iran’s alleged hunt for nuclear weapons and involvement in Iraq, the Washington Post reports. More »

The US military has discovered several caches of newly made Iranian weapons inside Iraq, reports the Wall Street Journal . The collection of mortars, rockets, and explosives had time stamps indicating that they were manufactured within the last 60 days, leading Washington officials to conclude that Tehran is still funneling armaments to Shiite extremist groups within Iraq. More »

Al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader says Iran is denying the terrorist group credit for 9/11 by spreading the rumor that Israel masterminded the 2001 attacks on the US. A new audiotape from Ayman al-Zawahiri highlights the growing tension between al-Qaeda and Tehran, the BBC reports, evidence of a sectarian struggle for power in the region. More »

A meeting in Shanghai of permanent UN Security Council members and Germany failed to produce a new set of incentives to offer Iran for cessation of its nuclear activities, Reuters reports. "We can say we agreed on the main content of a plan to restart negotiations, but not all the problems have been resolved," a senior Chinese diplomat said today. More »

The September 11 attacks were a simple pretext to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today, expressing doubt as to the cause and death toll of the attacks. “Four or five years ago, a suspicious event occurred in New York,” he said. “A building collapsed and they said that 3,000 people had been killed, but never published their names.” More »

A bomb killed nine and wounded more than 100 in an Iranian mosque today, scattering members of an extremist Shiite group, the BBC reports. Police and militia have cordoned off the area while medics attend to victims and local media call for blood donations. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. More »

Recent battles in Basra prove that Iran is crippling Iraqi stability while al-Qaeda's influence there wanes, US officials say. David Petraeus pointed to Iran's influence in testimony this week, and now Shiite militias are said to have benefited from Iranian weapons, training, and guidance in Basra fighting—prompting a Washington probe of Iran's impact, the Washington Post reports. More »

New satellite photographs reveal Iran's hastened production of long-range missiles, the Times of London reports, and in a previously unknown site capable of hitting Europe. Experts say an increasingly fractious Tehran looks to be about five years away from developing a ballistic missile—in line with the recent American intelligence estimate. More »

Vowing that Gen. David Petraeus will have “all the time he needs” in Iraq, President Bush today announced a pause, from August until at least mid-September, in withdrawal of troops from Iraq, CNN reports. Citing the post-surge security gains, Bush said, “we have renewed and revived the prospect of success” in a war he characterized as “difficult, not endless.” More »