Iran unveils new ballistic and cruise missiles amid U.S. tensions

Tehran: Iran unveiled on Thursday, new ballistic and cruise missile systems designed and manufactured locally, ignoring U.S. demands that Tehran halt its missile program.

The two new missiles, named after former IRGC Quds Force Commander Lt. General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were unveiled on Thursday during a virtual ceremony. The surface-to-surface missile named after Soleimani has a range of 1,400 km, according to Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami. The pictures of the missiles were shown on state TV.

Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in January 2020 in a U.S. strike on their convoy at Baghdad airport. The announcement comes as Washington has been pushing to extend a U.N.-imposed arms embargo against Iran, which is due to expire in October under Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Washington says its aim is to force Tehran to agree a broader deal that puts stricter limits on its nuclear work, curbs its ballistic missile program and ends its regional proxy wars. Iran has rejected talks as long as U.S. sanctions remain in place.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday (August 19) Trump has directed him to trigger 'snapback' - a return of all U.S. sanctions on Iran - at the U.N. Security Council in New York on Thursday, after the council rejected Washington's bid to extend Tehran's arms embargo.

Iran's Khamenei rejects talks with US over missile, nuclear programmes

Tehran: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a live speech on state TV on Friday, July 31, ruled out negotiations with the United States over Tehran's ballistic missile and nuclear programs, calling on Iranians to resist U.S. bullying.

Khamenei called the United States Iran's "main enemy" and urged Iranians to resist U.S. pressure. He ruled out negotiations with Washington saying Trump would use talks for propaganda as he did with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "At the negotiating table, America wants us to abandon our nuclear industry altogether, reduce our defence capabilities and relinquish our regional influence," Khamenei said in a televised speech marking the Muslim religious holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Since pulling out of the nuclear deal, Washington has reimposed sanctions that have sharply lowered Tehran's oil exports. It is pursuing a "maximum pressure" policy aimed at forcing Tehran to negotiate a broader deal that further limits its nuclear work, ends its missile program and its support for proxy forces in a regional power struggle with U.S.-backed Gulf Arabs.

Relations between Tehran and Washington have deteriorated since 2018 when U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six powers under which Tehran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in return for the lifting of most international sanctions. Iran's clerical rulers have tried to prevent a revival of anti-government unrest that have shaken the country in recent years and that began with protests over economic hardship but turned political, with demonstrators demanding top officials step down. Authorities have said street protests will be dealt with "decisively".

In addition to the U.S. sanctions, Iran's economy has been hit by a fall in oil prices, as well as the coronavirus crisis: Iran has one of the highest death tolls in the Middle East from the pandemic.

Iran fires ballistic missiles from underground for first time

Bandar Abbas, Iran: Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards fired ballistic missiles from underground for the first time as part of an annual military drill, Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the aerospace division of the Guards, said on footage aired by a national broadcaster.

Footage purporting to be of the missiles showed clouds of dust before the missiles streaked into the sky. The military drill in the Gulf, which began on Tuesday, July 28, comes at a time of high tension between Tehran and Washington. The U.S. military said the drill caused two bases with American troops in the region to go on heightened alert and said Tehran's missile launches were irresponsible.

There have been periodic confrontations in the Gulf in recent years between the Guards and the U.S. military, which has accused the Guards' navy of sending fast-attack boats to harass U.S. warships as they pass the Strait of Hormuz. The video shows missiles striking a mock-up U.S. aircraft carrier.

The use of dummy American warships has become an occasional feature of training by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and its naval forces, including in 2015 when Iranian missiles hit a mock-up resembling a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.

Tehran, which opposes the presence of U.S. and other Western navies in the Gulf, holds annual naval war games in phases in the strategic waterway, the conduit for some 30% of all crude and other oil liquids traded by sea.

Iran holds annual Gulf drill amid rising tensions with US

Bandar Abbas: Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards launched a military drill in the Gulf on Tuesday, July 28, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, at a time of high tension between Tehran and Washington.

In recent years, there have been periodic confrontations in the Gulf between the Guards and the U.S. military, which has accused the Guards' navy of sending fast-attack boats to harass American warships as they pass the Strait of Hormuz. The Guards, in a statement quoted by Fars, said its naval and air forces will use "missile, UAV and radar units" in the drill.

Tensions have spiked between Iran and the United States since 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six powers and reimposed sanctions that have sharply lowered Tehran's oil exports.

The Guards in April said Tehran would destroy U.S. warships if Iran's security is threatened in the Gulf. Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to block Hormuz if Iran is not able to export oil or if its nuclear sites are attacked.

Two fighter jets came close to an Iranian passenger plane over Syrian airspace

Beirut, Lebanon: Two fighter jets came close to an Iranian passenger plane over Syrian airspace, causing the pilot to change altitude quickly to avoid collision and injuring several passengers, the official IRIB news agency reported on Thursday, July 23.

The agency initially said a single Israeli jet had come near the plane but later quoted the pilot as saying there were two jets that identified themselves as American. The incident is likely to ramp up tensions between longtime foes Iran and the United States.

The pilot of the passenger plane contacted the jet pilots to warn them to keep a safe distance and they identified themselves as American, IRIB reported.

Video posted by the agency showed a single jet from the window of the plane and comments from a passenger who had blood on his face. The Iranian plane, belonging to Mahan Air, was heading from Tehran to Beirut and landed safely in Beirut, an airport source told Reuters. An Israeli military spokesman had no immediate comment and there was no immediate comment from the U.S. military.

The incident is being investigated and Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said the necessary legal and political action would be taken, according to the Foreign Ministry website.

Israel and the United States have long accused Mahan Air of ferrying weapons for Iranian-linked guerrillas in Syria and elsewhere.

The United States imposed sanctions on Mahan Air in 2011, saying it provided financial and other support to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. Tensions have spiked between Tehran and Washington since 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump exited Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six powers and reimposed sanctions that have battered Iran's economy.

One passenger described how his head had hit the roof of the plane during the change in altitude and video showed an elderly passenger sprawled on the floor. All of the passengers left the plane, some with minor injuries, the head of the Beirut airport told Reuters.The plane arrived back in Tehran in the early hours of Friday, July 24 morning, the Fars news agency reported.

Syrian air defences intercept 'hostile targets' over Damascus

Damascus, Syria: Syrian air defences on Monday, july 20  intercepted a new Israeli "aggression" above the capital Damascus, state media said, in the latest wave of attacks that Western intelligence sources have said were Israeli strikes on Iranian-backed targets in Syria.

State television said Israeli missiles had flown over the Syrian Golan Heights where they conducted raids around the capital and live footage showed blasts across the skies of the capital. The bases in eastern, central and southern Syria which Israel had hit in recent months are believed to have a strong presence of Iranian-backed militias, according to intelligence sources and military defectors familiar with the locations.

Syria never publicly acknowledges that the strikes target Iranian assets in a country where Tehran's military presence has covered most government-controlled areas. Western intelligence sources say Israel's strikes on Syria are part of a shadow war approved by Washington and part of the anti-Iran policy that has undermined in the last two years Iran's extensive military power without triggering a major increase in hostilities.

Israel has acknowledged conducting many raids inside Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011. Israeli defence officials have said in recent months Israel would step up its campaign against Iran in Syria where, with the help of its proxy militias, Tehran has expanded its presence.