The Iranian military yesterday began a short-range missile drill in the Gulf of Oman, state TV reported, amid heightened regional tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program and a US pressure campaign against the Islamic republic.
The two-day missile drill was being held in the gulf’s southeastern waters.
Two new Iranian-made warships joined the exercise: the Zereh, or “armor,” a missile-launching vessel, and the Makran, a logistics vessel with a helicopter pad named for a coastal region in southern Iran.
Photo: Iranian Army via AP
US President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran’s nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Trump cited Iran’s ballistic missile program, among other issues, in withdrawing from the accord.
When the US then ramped up sanctions, the Iranian government gradually and publicly abandoned the deal’s limits on its nuclear development, as a series of escalating incidents pushed the two countries toward the brink of war at the beginning of the year.
Photo: Iranian Army via AP
Over the past few weeks, Iran has increased its military drills.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday last week held a naval parade in the Persian Gulf and Iran a week earlier held a massive drone maneuver across half of the country.
Also last week, Iran seized a South Korean oil tanker and its crew members in the Gulf, and continues to hold the vessel at an Iranian port.
Iran has apparently sought to increase its leverage over Seoul ahead of negotiations over billions of US dollars in Iranian assets frozen in South Korean banks tied to US sanctions on Iran.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and imposed new sanctions on several senior Iranian officials.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yesterday said in a televised speech during a Cabinet meeting that US sanctions would fail.
“We are witnessing the failure of a policy, the maximum pressure campaign, economic terrorism,” he said.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
RSS