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“There are instruments so dangerous to the rights of the nation and which place them so totally at the mercy of their governors that those governors, whether legislative or executive, should be restrained from keeping such instruments on foot but in well-defined cases. Such an instrument is a standing army.”
- Thomas Jefferson, 1789
The tanker at the center of the latest dispute between the United States and Iran, the Suez Rajan, quietly slipped away from the U.S. earlier this week using a new identity, the St Nikolas. The ship became the center of attention in what the U.S. Department of Justice highlighted as the first-ever criminal resolution involving a company that violated sanctions by facilitating the illicit sale and transport of Iranian oil.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi used his time in front of the UN General Assembly to request President Joe Biden commit to a return to the 2015 nuclear deal or abandon the agreement. The Iranian leader stressed that Tehran believes Washington’s control over the global economy is faltering.
Washington imposed sanctions on four entities and seven people in Russia, China, and Turkey over their alleged assistance with Tehran’s drone program which the US says has significantly benefited Russia in its war with Ukraine. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has denounced the accusations that Tehran has been arming Moscow since the Kremlin launched its invasion last year.
Iran has invited Saudi Arabia to join the Islamic Republic in a proposed initiative for the global registration of the “intangible cultural heritage” of Iftar, the fast-breaking evening meal of Muslims in the holy month of Ramadan.
The invitation was extended by Ali Darabi, the deputy minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts of Iran, during a meeting with Saudi assistant minister of Culture, Rakan bin Ibrahim Al-Touq, in Riyadh on Thursday.
Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces says Tehran and Moscow are working to draw up a long-term military cooperation agreement in the near future as the world moves towards an increasingly multipolar order.
During a meeting with visiting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Tehran on Tuesday evening, Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri stressed the need for enhancement of ties between the two neighboring countries.
Days after President Joe Biden bypassed the congress to approve a $6-billion ransom payment to Iran, the Mullah regime has taken another Western national hostage as part of its ongoing ‘hostage diplomacy,’ media reports say.
Iran has withdrawn the designation of several inspectors assigned to conduct verification activities in Iran under the Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement.
Rafael Grossi, Director General of UN nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), made the rare public statement on Saturday amidst the national rallies taking hold in Iran and abroad around the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini.
Rights groups have claimed that Iranian authorities arrested Mahsa Amini’s father and prevented her family from holding a vigil to commemorate the first anniversary of her death.
A report on Saturday in the official IRNA news agency said Amjad Amini had not been arrested. Later in the day, the agency said security forces had foiled an assassination attempt against Amini.
Iran’s defense minister has rebuked the US government’s seizure of one million barrels of Iranian crude, warning that the Islamic Republic is fully capable of retaliating “on a larger scale” in due time.
The US Department of Justice confirmed on September 8 that it had seized the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker carrying Iranian oil, named Suez Rajan, and its cargo of 980,000 barrels of crude oil off the coast of Texas.
President Ebrahim Raeisi has asserted that Iran cannot tolerate the presence of terrorist groups on the country's common border with Iraq.
The chief executive made the remarks in Tehran on Wednesday to Iraq's visiting Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, urging Baghdad to honor its relevant security commitments towards Tehran.
"During the days that Iraq was besieged by the Daesh terrorist group, the Islamic Republic did not withhold any assistance from Iraq, proving itself to be Iraq's friend during its (the Arab country's) tough days," Raeisi said.
