U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein yesterday expressed concerns that Iran is working to destabilize the country. Feierstein’s comments echo those of Yemen’s chief of political security, Ali Al-Ahmadi, who last month accused Tehran of having “exploited Yemen’s turmoil to expand” its influence in the country’s north. Other Sana’a officials,...

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Iranian press outlets are conveying information to the effect that several Iranians recently released in a prisoner swap between Damascus and Syrian rebels were Revolutionary Guard commanders. Last September, Revolutionary Guard Commander-in Chief Mohammad Ali Jafari confirmed that “a number of members of the Qods force are present in Syria.”...

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Two Saudi fishing vessels have been seized by the Iranian coast guard, heightening tensions between the two regional rivals. Tehran is increasingly at odds with the Gulf Arab states, and in December the Gulf Cooperation Council lashed out at the Islamic republic for interfering in the internal affairs of Gulf states and for engaging...

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Australian officials announced yesterday that the country will expand its sanctions against Iran, which are targeted at encouraging Tehran to increase transparency around its atomic program. Canberra imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Iran in 2008, and Foreign Minister Bob Carr linked the new restrictions to ongoing Iranian noncompliance wth U.N. Security...

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Despite recent rapprochement between the U.S. and Turkey, Washington is increasingly concerned over Ankara’s involvement in Iraq. Analysts note that business ties, particularly between northern Iraq and Turkey “could further push Baghdad toward Tehran.” Turkey has maintained growing trade with Iran despite U.S. and international sanctions on Iranian financial institutions that aid the...

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Two key Iranians, including the man described as Tehran’s “Spy Master” have been spending time in Egypt over the last two weeks. For three decades the two countries had no diplomatic relations, but ties have warmed considerably since the Muslim Brotherhood ascended to power in Cairo. Egypt invited Iranian spy...

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Iran’s missiles can strike thousands of “enemy” bases throughout the region, according to boasts by a top Iranian military official. Gen. Morteza Qorbani described Iran’s missile arsenal as capable of conducting sustained strikes on targets within 2,000 kilometers of Iran’s borders, and Qorbani emphasized that the range brought 2,000 “enemy” targets...

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Iran will hold a festival of cartoons minimizing and mocking the Holocaust, a repeat of a similar event held in the country in 2006. Tehran’s efforts to trivialize Nazi Germany’s near-annihilation of European Jewry, which extend into virulent and explicit Holocaust denial, have caused concern among foreign policy analysts that...

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Iranian press reports conveyed by Chinese media describe a “massive” six-day military exercise launched by the Iranian navy on Friday. The drills come at a time of generally heightened tensions between Tehran and regional Arab states, and just days after Gulf Cooperation Council states lashed out at Tehran for interfering...

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Iranian media is conveying government boasts over new surface-to-surface missiles available to Tehran’s navy. The announcement comes on the eve of naval exercises, which include a range of Iranian assets including destroyers and homegrown drones, and which involve surface combat, subsurface combat, and electronic warfare. Analysts have expressed concern over...

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