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subscribe now unrestricted access 1 month...$12 | 3 months...$30 | 6 months...$55 | 1 year...$99 Existing users can login here or register for a new account.</s>Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said an attack on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday was a crime and would not achieve any gains.

“Today’s dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals,” Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

“They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits,” Khamenei said.

Iran - the dominant Shi’ite Muslim power which is in rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the United States’ other Sunni Arab friends - has fought decades of sectarian proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Iran’s pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani also warned that the U.S.-led missile attack on Syria would lead to further destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

“Such attacks will have no result but more destruction ... the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

Rouhani signalled that Iran’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would grow.

“The Syrian nation will continue to resist against foreign aggression ...Iran has always helped and will continue to support oppressed nations in the region and around the globe,” Rouhani said.

Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said: “The Syrian people will certainly answer these attacks and the people of the world should condemn this aggression,” Fars news agency reported.

An official in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Republic’s most powerful arm, said the fallout from the attacks will be at Washington’s expense.

“With this attack ... the situation will become more complex, and this will surely be at the expense of the United States, which will be responsible for the aftermath of upcoming regional events that will certainly not be in their interest,” Yadollah Javani, the Guards’ deputy head for political affairs, told Fars news agency.

“The resistance front will be strengthened and it will have more capacity to act against (U.S.) acts of intervention. Americans should expect the consequences of their actions,” Javani said.

Iran often refers to regional countries and forces opposed to Israel and the United States as a “resistance front”.

“Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence ... will assume responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

“Iran is opposed to the use of chemical weapons on the basis of religious, legal and ethical standards, while at the same time it ... strongly condemns (using this) as an excuse to commit aggression against a sovereign state,” it said.

Iran has been Assad’s most supportive ally against insurgents throughout the conflict. Iran-backed militias helped his army stem rebel advances and, following Russia’s entry into the war in 2015, turn the tide decisively in Assad’s favour.

Analyst Hossein Sheikholeslam, a former Iranian ambassador to Damascus, told state television the attacks would help unite Syrians behind the government.

“These attacks will stabilise the Syrian government... and unite the different tribes in Syria as Syrians become aware of their honour and come to the defence of the independence, territorial integrity and the government of their country,” Sheikholeslam said.</s>The successful allied air strike on chemical-weapons facilities in Syria has given President Trump a victory — but not a mission. The victory against Bashar al-Assad is a well-deserved response to his use of weapons of mass destruction against his own people, as Germany and the Saudis recognize, in addition to Britain and France.

What’s missing is a clear idea of our role in the broader conflict, and why we still have 5,000 troops in Syria. Our intervention in the Syrian civil war began with President Barack Obama’s ill-fated decision to assist the Syrian rebels in their efforts to topple Assad. That was a fiasco, but the mission was subsequently extended to the fight against the Islamic insurgency, which itself arose because of Obama’s decision to remove our forces precipitously from Iraq.

The fight against ISIS is nearly won and no longer provides an excuse for a strong US military presence in the region. The Trump administration has also signaled that it has given up on regime change in Syria. Assad is a thug, but it’s not our business to try to change that.

So what are our interests in the region? Just one. To oppose Iran.

Tehran has a made a puppet state out of Syria, more like Iran’s 32nd province than an independent state. In Iraq, the pro-Shiite government has agreed to the construction of a Tehran-Baghdad highway that would ferry the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps across the Middle East, and especially to Lebanon, whose government has partnered with Hezbollah.

Iran is what the Soviet Union was before the fall of Communism — an expansionist, ideological enemy. It seeks to be the dominant regional player in the Middle East and its tentacles have spread to Latin America. In Yemen, its Houthi proxies launch missile attacks on Saudi Arabia, while in Lebanon its Hezbollah allies seek the destruction of Israel.

We’ve begun to reverse Obama’s calamitous policies in the region, beginning with our refusal to certify the Iran nuclear deal. We’ve also strengthened our ties with Arab states that are willing to live with Israel. That thaw is an unremarked triumph of Trump’s foreign policy.

So what’s next? Let’s begin by recognizing that Iran is fighting above its weight. Its plans for the Middle East require the complicity of Iraq, and it’s less than clear that Baghdad wants to be dominated by Tehran.

While the Iraqi national government is dominated by Shiites who’ve in the past showed themselves friendly to Iran, we’re starting to see increasing resentment of overbearing Iranians, even in Shiite parts of Iraq.

There are parliamentary elections set for next month, and the voters don’t seem ready to embrace the Iranian mullahs and their Revolutionary Guards.

Second, Russia has been sending signals that its alliance with Iran is less than iron-clad. It’s a tactical alliance, they say, not a strategic one. As a matter of tactics, Russia is strongly protesting Friday’s missile strike, and has sent some of its air force to Iranian bases.

But we gave the Russians a head’s-up about the attack, and we’re going to have to live with the idea that Obama’s blundering has given Russia what it’s always wanted: a permanent base on the Mediterranean.

As a matter of strategy, then, it’s time for Russia to negotiate with America — and vice versa.

Finally, the Iranian regime is hugely unpopular at home, as evidenced by the street protests of 2009 and 2017-18. Ordinary Iranians have seen the country’s wealth spent on foreign wars by a regime indifferent to the welfare of its citizens. Half the country lives below the poverty line, and a quarter of the population lives in shacks and hovels.

And what has the regime done to make things better? It’s legalized the selling and buying of organs, and a desperately poor population resorts to selling their kidneys to make money.

The Iranian regime is propped up by its sale of oil and other commodities on international markets, as permitted by the nuke deal. But that doesn’t bind us unless Trump waives compliance with US sanctions laws. The next waiver is due on May 12, and Trump should just say no.

The treaty was premised on the idea that it would “positively contribute to regional and international peace and security.” By funding Iran’s imperialism, it’s had just the opposite effect.

F.H. Buckley is a foundation professor at Scalia Law School and author of the forthcoming book “The Republican Workers Party: How the Trump Victory Drove Everyone Crazy, and Why it Was Just What We Needed.”</s>Sputnik: One can’t call the relations between Iran and Israel amiable. It strongly affects a whole range of issues in the Middle East. A great deal of analysts suppose that if Iran and Israel could come to terms, then a compromise could be reached over a number of issues in the Middle East. Do you think there will peace between Israel and Iran? Can Israel be the first to demonstrate wisdom?

Yakov Kedmi: There will be peace between Iran and Israel, if the present authorities of the Islamic republic change their attitude to us. We had never had any troubles with this country before the incumbent authorities took office.

We recognize Iran, we appreciate Iranian people and their culture. Iran’s present authorities interpret Islam in a rather original way, as compared to other Muslim and Arabic countries, even Shiite ones. This is a real handicap. In general, if we justify the saying that Israel is a wise state, there will certainly be peace.

Sputnik: On the other hand, Saudi Arabia and Iran are now in a very complicated relationship regarding the Middle East. Is there a solution to this standoff?

Yakov Kedmi: I think Saudi Arabia and Iran have an opportunity to get [their] relationship back on track and lift the tension. Everything depends on Iran in this respect. The Saudi kingdom proceeds from the fact that Tehran would like to displace the Sunni authorities from Mecca and Medina and lay its hands on everything, namely the major Muslim holy sites.

These actions are views by Saudi Arabia as aggressive. It is it that prevents a healthy relationship between these two countries. If Iran is ready to ease the kingdom’s concerns, then this will change the situation, as Riyadh has no claims with regard to Tehran and their Shiite territory in particular.

Iran deems itself as a guardian of all the Shiite sanctuaries, both in Iraq and Lebanon. Meanwhile, there are many Shiites among the Saudi population, like in Kuwait and Bahrain.

So, when it all happens due to some threats and danger, we see the corresponding reaction. But I think, Russia, which boasts good relations with both Tehran and Riyadh, can play a big part in the resolution of the crisis.

Sputnik: There is information circulating in the media that Israel has reached a covert agreement with Saudi Arabia against Iran. Is it really so? What are the prospects of rapprochement between Tel-Aviv and Riyadh?

Yakov Kedmi: There is an old Latin saying: "My foe’s enemy is my friend." Israel is clearly wary about Iran, deeming the Iranian threat as supportive of terror against Israel and an attempt to obtain nuclear weapons.

READ MORE: US to Deploy Harry Truman Strike Group to Middle East Amid Syria Tensions

Nearly the same is true for Saudis. Hence common interests to better coordinate our policies, to defend ourselves against the threat. However, unless the Palestinian issue is resolved, our relations with the Islamic world and Arab countries will be tense.

As soon as the Palestinian problem ceases to exist, we will have completely different ties with Saudi Arabia and other states of the Muslim and Arabic world.

The views expressed in this article are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.</s>DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Tuesday warned citizens to "consider the risks" when traveling to Saudi Arabia due to militant threats and the threat of ballistic missile attacks on civilians by rebels in Yemen.

The warning comes two weeks after U.S.-allied Saudi Arabia said it had shot down a ballistic missile fired by Iran-aligned Houthis from Yemen towards the Saudi capital Riyadh. The missile, which the Houthis said was in response to Saudi-led air strikes on civilians in Yemen, was shot down near Riyadh airport without causing any casualties. [L8N1NA0JH]

"Terrorist threats persist throughout Saudi Arabia, including in major cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dhahran, and attacks can occur without warning anywhere in the country," the State Department said in the warning, which was also posted on the U.S. embassy's website.

"Terrorist groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its affiliates have targeted both Saudi and Western government interests, mosques and other religious sites (both Sunni and Shia), and places frequented by U.S. citizens and other Westerners," it added.

In October, two Saudi guards were shot dead and three others injured when a gunman drove up to the gate of the royal palace in the Red Sea city of Jeddah and opened fire.

Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of Arab states that intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis marched on the interim headquarters of the internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in the southern port of Aden, forcing him to flee.</s>ANKARA: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said an attack on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday (Apr 14) was a crime and would not achieve any gains.

"Today's dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals," Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

"They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits," Khamenei said.

Iran - the dominant Shi’ite Muslim power which is in rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the United States’ other Sunni Arab friends - has fought decades of sectarian proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Iran's pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani also warned that the US-led missile attack on Syria would lead to further destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

"Such attacks will have no result but more destruction ... the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

Rouhani signalled that Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would grow.

"The Syrian nation will continue to resist against foreign aggression ... Iran has always helped and will continue to support oppressed nations in the region and around the globe," Rouhani said.

Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said: "The Syrian people will certainly answer these attacks and the people of the world should condemn this aggression," Fars news agency reported.

An official in Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Republic's most powerful arm, said the fallout from the attacks will be at Washington's expense.

"With this attack ... the situation will become more complex, and this will surely be at the expense of the United States, which will be responsible for the aftermath of upcoming regional events that will certainly not be in their interest," Yadollah Javani, the Guards' deputy head for political affairs, told Fars news agency.

"The resistance front will be strengthened and it will have more capacity to act against (US) acts of intervention. Americans should expect the consequences of their actions," Javani said.

Iran often refers to regional countries and forces opposed to Israel and the United States as a "resistance front".

"Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence ... will assume responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism," Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

"Iran is opposed to the use of chemical weapons on the basis of religious, legal and ethical standards, while at the same time it ... strongly condemns (using this) as an excuse to commit aggression against a sovereign state," it said.

Iran has been Assad's most supportive ally against insurgents throughout the conflict. Iran-backed militias helped his army stem rebel advances and, following Russia’s entry into the war in 2015, turn the tide decisively in Assad’s favour.

Analyst Hossein Sheikholeslam, a former Iranian ambassador to Damascus, told state television the attacks would help unite Syrians behind the government.

"These attacks will stabilise the Syrian government ... and unite the different tribes in Syria as Syrians become aware of their honour and come to the defence of the independence, territorial integrity and the government of their country," Sheikholeslam said.</s>ANKARA: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said an attack on Syria by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday (Apr 14) was a crime and would not achieve any gains.

"Today's dawn attack on Syria is a crime. I clearly declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals," Khamenei said in a speech, according to his Twitter account.

"They will not benefit (from the attack) as they went to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in the past years and committed such crimes and did not gain any benefits," Khamenei said.

Iran - the dominant Shi’ite Muslim power which is in rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the United States’ other Sunni Arab friends - has fought decades of sectarian proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Iran's pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani also warned that the US-led missile attack on Syria would lead to further destruction in the Middle East, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

"Such attacks will have no result but more destruction ... the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

Rouhani signalled that Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would grow.

"The Syrian nation will continue to resist against foreign aggression ... Iran has always helped and will continue to support oppressed nations in the region and around the globe," Rouhani said.

Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said: "The Syrian people will certainly answer these attacks and the people of the world should condemn this aggression," Fars news agency reported.

An official in Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Republic's most powerful arm, said the fallout from the attacks will be at Washington's expense.

"With this attack ... the situation will become more complex, and this will surely be at the expense of the United States, which will be responsible for the aftermath of upcoming regional events that will certainly not be in their interest," Yadollah Javani, the Guards' deputy head for political affairs, told Fars news agency.

"The resistance front will be strengthened and it will have more capacity to act against (US) acts of intervention. Americans should expect the consequences of their actions," Javani said.

Iran often refers to regional countries and forces opposed to Israel and the United States as a "resistance front".

"Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any proven evidence ... will assume responsibility for the regional and trans-regional consequences of this adventurism," Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

"Iran is opposed to the use of chemical weapons on the basis of religious, legal and ethical standards, while at the same time it ... strongly condemns (using this) as an excuse to commit aggression against a sovereign state," it said.

Iran has been Assad's most supportive ally against insurgents throughout the conflict. Iran-backed militias helped his army stem rebel advances and, following Russia’s entry into the war in 2015, turn the tide decisively in Assad’s favour.

Analyst Hossein Sheikholeslam, a former Iranian ambassador to Damascus, told state television the attacks would help unite Syrians behind the government.

"These attacks will stabilise the Syrian government ... and unite the different tribes in Syria as Syrians become aware of their honour and come to the defence of the independence, territorial integrity and the government of their country," Sheikholeslam said.</s>DUBAI (Reuters) - A spokesman for Yemen's Houthi group on Thursday dismissed U.S. accusations that Iran had supplied a missile fired at Saudi Arabia last month, saying it was an attempt to divert attention from the United States' decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"After three years of war, America suddenly finds evidence that Iran supports the Houthis," Abdel-Malek al-Ejri said in a message on his Twitter account. 

 "America did not find any evidence in all the missiles fired from Yemen until now. The story is clear. They want to give Arabs a story to divert their attention from Jerusalem. Instead being angry at Israel, they wave the Iranian bogey," he added.

 The United States on Thursday presented for the first time pieces of what it said were Iranian weapons supplied to the Iran-aligned Houthis, describing it as conclusive evidence that Tehran was violating U.N. resolutions.

 Iran has denied supplying the Houthis with such weaponry and on Thursday described the arms displayed as "fabricated."

 President Donald Trump on Dec. 6 announced U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, stirring anger across the Arab and Muslim world and concern among Washington's European allies as well as Russia.

 

 (Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)</s>By AFP - Apr 14,2018 - Last updated at Apr 14,2018

This screen grab from a handout video provided by the Anssarullah Military Media Centre on April 11 shows the launching of a ballistic missile from an undisclosed location in Yemen (AFP photo)

ADEN, Yemen — The Yemeni government on Saturday accused Iran of supplying Shiite Houthi rebels with drones used for cross-border attacks into Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh said on Wednesday it had shot down two drones in the south of the kingdom as well as intercepting ballistic missiles fired from rebel-held parts of Yemen, the latest in a series of similar incidents.

The Saudi-backed government said in a statement on Saturday that the drones are “made in Iran”.

It added that Yemen’s military did not possess such aircraft and it was “impossible to manufacture them locally”.

Iran backs the Houthis, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military coalition to intervene against the rebels the following year.

But Tehran has repeatedly denied arming the rebels, which would violate a United Nations weapons embargo slapped on Yemen in 2015.

Riyadh said its air defences between Wednesday and Friday intercepted five ballistic missiles and two drones launched from rebel-held northern Yemen.

Saudi Arabia in March 2015 launched a coalition of Arab states fighting to roll back the Houthi rebels in Yemen and restore the country’s internationally-recognised government to power.

Nearly 10,000 people have since been killed in Yemen’s conflict, in what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.</s>The Yemeni government on Saturday accused Iran of supplying Shiite Huthi rebels with drones used for cross-border attacks into Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh said Wednesday it had shot down two drones in the south of the kingdom as well as intercepting ballistic missiles fired from rebel-held parts of Yemen, the latest in a series of similar incidents.

The Saudi-backed government said in a statement Saturday that the drones are “made in Iran”.

It added that Yemen’s military did not possess such aircraft and it was “impossible to manufacture them locally”.

Iran backs the Huthis, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military coalition to intervene against the rebels the following year.

But Tehran has repeatedly denied arming the rebels, which would violate a United Nations weapons embargo slapped on Yemen in 2015.

Saudi Arabia in March 2015 launched a coalition of Arab states fighting to roll back the Huthi rebels in Yemen and restore the country’s internationally-recognised government to power.

Nearly 10,000 people have since been killed in Yemen’s conflict, in what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Yemen accuses Iran of arming Houthi rebels with drones in violation of United Nations sanctions to allow the militants to launch attacks on Saudi Arabia. Iran supports the Houthis but denies arming them.