Iranian-American Manssor Arbabsiar pled guilty yesterday to attempting to murder the Saudi ambassador to the United States. The plot, which would have constituted a “significant terrorist attack in the United States” was, according to Arbabsiar “directed by high-ranking” Iranian officials. The United States has linked the plot to a larger...

The United States and Israel will conduct their largest joint military exercise ever, dubbed Austere Challenge, later this month. More than 3,500 Americans and 1,000 Israelis will participate in a three-week drill tackling threat scenarios and focusing in part on the two allies’ coordinated air defense systems. In addition to...

Jordan’s national elections commission announced parliamentary elections would take place January 23, the day after Israelis go to the polls for their own election. Analysts suggested that the date was meant to distract Jordanian citizens from the glacial pace of the country’s democratization. Jordan’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood has already announced...

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization charged with combating money laundering and terrorist financing, may blacklist Turkey for “inadequate monitoring of bank transfers and unwillingness to freeze accounts” associated with terrorist activities. Turkey has responded by insisting that while the country intends to implement FATF rules, “parliament’s...

One year after the exchange deal that saw kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit returned to Israel from Hamas captivity, Shalit gave his first public interview about the ordeal. Israel yesterday permitted 18 Palestinian security prisoners released under the Shalit deal to re-enter the West Bank per the terms of the...

The Israeli army will send enlistment notices to 15,000 ultra-Orthodox youths currently attending religious schools in the coming weeks, part of an effort inside Israel to fully integrate all citizens into the state’s civil and military institutions. Existing ultra-orthodox army battalions will be expanded to accommodate the new enlistees, though...

A diplomatic spat between Sweden and Israel bubbled to the surface overnight in the aftermath of reports outlining how Sweden sought to block European Union sanctions on Iran in order to protect a business deal between Tehran and the Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt took to...

The upcoming Israeli election, which was set yesterday for January 22, after Israel’s Knesset dissolved itself and which will see Israel’s 5.5 million eligible voters go to the polls, is already generating political intrigue. Speculation is swirling about several relatively popular politicians who are currently on the sidelines and may...

A new cyber espionage tool has been uncovered targeting Lebanon, Iran, and other countries. Dubbed “miniFlame” by the security firm that discovered it, but apparently code-named “John” by its creators, it is related to the Stuxnet cyberweapon deployed against Iranian nuclear installations. Stuxnet is in turn closely related to the...

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice insisted at a United Nations Security Council meeting yeserday that Hezbollah is part of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad’s “killing machine” and must be countered firmly by the international community. The ambassador’s stance echoes that of the Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Ron Prosor,...