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[Tehran] is in a difficult position because it labeled the explosion an accident, but it is now facing a deluge of foreign media reports seeking to conclude that the explosion was perpetrated by a state or group. This is what Iran's regime is reading: Major media from The New York Times to The Washington Post and local media such as Kuwait's Al-Jarida have all sought to assert that Israel was involved in the mysterious July 2 explosion at a warehouse in the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility... [t]hat could set back the program for months or a year. Iran, however, is...

If anti-Muslim hate crimes do not exist, they must be invented. They’re simply too politically useful to do without. And so it is that the Minnesota chapter of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) held a press conference Monday to demand the firing of a Starbucks barista who was so “Islamophobic” as to write “ISIS” on a Muslim woman’s coffee cup. CAIR also announced that it had filed a discrimination complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights about the incident. If you think that the world is on fire and that CAIR should find more important things to...

At pro-Palestinian Black Lives Matter rallies in New York and Washington, chants were heard calling for “Death to Israel,” “Death to America” and “From Gaza to Minnesota, globalize the Intifada!” Several hundred protesters attended the July 1 demonstration in Brooklyn dubbed as a “Day of Rage” event, set to coincide with the earliest date Israel could begin its plans to apply Israeli law over parts of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley. Speakers issued inflammatory rallying cries that ran the gamut from anti-Semitic and anti-American to just plain absurd. One pro-North Korea activist called for the end of the...

A Muslim convert who is believed to be the UK’s first female suicide bomb plotter has been jailed for planning to “blow St Paul’s Cathedral to the ground” and “kill as many people as possible”. Safiyya Amira Shaikh, 37, who professed support for Islamic State, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday to life imprisonment with a minimum incarceration term of 14 years. Born Michelle Ramsden, the single mother from Hayes was seen leaving court in a black hijab, smiling at the press while raising her finger in a salute associated with the Islamic State terror group, according to...

Italy's financial police Guardia do Finanza, said in a statement Wednesday that authorities seized a 15.4 ton shipment of amphetamines reportedly produced by ISIS in Syria. The police tracked three containers at the port of Salerno in southwest Italy and found around 84 million pills stored inside industrial paper cylinders, CNN reported. The estimated value of the drugs was around $1.12 billion, the largest amphetamine bust in the world by quantity and value, the statement said.

In this Friday, Oct. 26, 2018 file photo, released by Oman News Agency, Oman's Sultan Qaboos, left, receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Muscat, Oman. (Oman News Agency via AP, File) The “last decade,� notes James Sinkinson in a perceptive article, has seen a “sea change� in Israel’s ties with “key Arab states.� And that last decade is also the one in which Benjamin Netanyahu (again, after a stint in the 1990s) has been Israel’s prime minister — specifically since March 2009.True, conditions for enhanced Arab-Israeli ties have been propitious — particularly the behavior of regional bully Iran, a...

Seasonal workers mostly from Mexico and Southern California are in quarantine in a Los Angeles hotel after three of them tested positive for the coronavirus. They were hired to work at the Red Salmon Cannery in Nanek, Alaska. They are not being paid and a lawsuit on their behalf has been filed.... In the Netherlands today dozens of protesters arrested in The Hague as thousands rallied against coronavirus restrictions.... The Libyan Government of National Accordd saying that Egyptian President Sisi's command for military forces to be ready for action outside the country amounts to a "declaration of war" against it........

Dr. Reza Parchizadeh, a political theorist and analyst, recently noted on Twitter that “the Iranian regime has turned the late #George_Floyd into Saint George, Shiite-style!” And sure enough, Parchizadeh posted a painting of Floyd depicting him in the way Shi’ite Muslims often depict their holy figures: in a green robe and surrounded by an aura of holy light. The Iranian regime has turned the late #George_Floyd into Saint George, Shiite-style! #Beware_Foreign_Influence pic.twitter.com/ofTtW5J3px— Dr. Reza Parchizadeh (@rezaparchizadeh) June 1, 2020 As incongruous as the image is, it’s perfectly fitting: Floyd, whose murder touched off the rage for destruction that is...

It began with a prayer and ended with a loud clunk. On Saturday afternoon, a group of about five dozen indigenous activists of all ages — children and elders included — gathered at Father Serra Park in downtown Los Angeles, just south of Olvera Street. As Tataviam/Chumash elder Alan Salazar burned sage and invoked the spirit of his ancestors, a group of young activists bound the nearby statue of Father Junipero Serra with ropes and tore him off his pedestal to chants of "Take it down! Take it down!"

Syria devalued its currency by 44% on Wednesday, announcing a new official exchange rate for the pound amid chaos in the market, hours before new U.S. sanctions aimed at cutting off revenue for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government took effect. The sanctions, known as the U.S. Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, are the toughest set of measures to be imposed on Syria yet, preventing anyone around the world from doing business with Syrian officials or state institutions or from participating in the country’s reconstruction... Syria’s already troubled economy has sharply deteriorated, prices have soared and the national currency, the Syrian...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the story of a major drama that unfolded behind the scenes at the UN Security Council shortly before former US President Barack Obama left office. New details about some drama involving Israel, Russia, and the US that played out behind the scenes at the United Nations Security Council some four years ago are coming to light. more.... It appears that Russia demonstrated a rare willingness to use its UNSC veto on Israel's behalf to block a resolution led by then-US President Barack Obama, which would have compelled Israel to set up a Palestinian state based...

June 9, 2020: Despite the financial crises, continuing anti-government protests and growing criticism from government and military leaders, the senior clerics who run Iran believe that there is a good chance the American presidential elections in November will put a more pro-Iran and anti-Israel government in power. While this is a possibility, many Iranians don’t believe the clerics can hang onto power until the end of the year. Poverty is growing in Iran and the government continues to spend lots of money on military operations in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. Syria is the costliest foreign adventure. So far this...

7:20 PM · Jun 8, 2020 

The sister of a recently arrested Florida terrorism suspect was shot and killed by police on Friday after being caught on video charging officers while armed with a butcher knife outside a government building. Temple Terrace Police Chief Kenneth Albano said during a news conference that the officer-involved shooting occurred at the City Hall building. Heba Momtaz Al-Azhari, 21, arrived at City Hall at around 1pm and asked for an officer's help, officials said. When a uniformed officer went outside and approached the woman, she charged at him with a knife.

Egypt has announced an anti-Turkey alliance that includes Greece, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and France to confront Turkish moves in Libya and the Mediterranean. The announcement was made during a virtual meeting with the foreign ministers of these countries on May 11. In a joint statement issued shortly after the meeting, the five-party alliance said it will focus on confronting the Turkish moves in the territorial waters in Cyprus, where Turkey has been carrying out “illegal” excavations in the Mediterranean under Cyprus sovereignty. The alliance also condemned Turkey’s escalated violations of Greek airspace.  The European Union condemned May 16...

A woman was fatally shot by police after charging an officer with a butcher knife just days after her brother was charged with attempting to help the Islamic State. Temple Terrace Police were called to talk to a woman, identified as Heba Momtaz Al-Azhari, on Friday. She did not show any signs of distress while talking to the officer but later began brandishing a knife and tried to attack him with it, according to police. The officer then fatally shot the woman, who later died at a hospital. Part of the incident was caught on a surveillance camera and comes...

GOP senator and Obama administration Defense secretary, says he's voting for Democrat Joe Biden over Republican Donald Trump in November. Hagel said during an interview with AL-Monitor's On the Middle East podcast that his choice is based on the belief that America continues to lose sight of its mission in Iraq and perhaps the entire Middle East. "We can't afford to just abandon Iraq," Hagel told show host Andrew Parasiliti. "I don't think our continued role should be to fight ISIS," on an indefinite basis. "If Iraq is a sovereign nation and wants to continue to exist, they’re the ones...

The terrorist who mowed down a group of people in New York City Tuesday was so strident about what he had done, he told law enforcement he wanted to fly the ISIS flag in his hospital room. According to the criminal complaint, obtained by TMZ, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov told FBI agents he "felt good about what he had done." His cellphone was an electronic ISIS training manual which included, among other things, a video of ISIS fighters shooting prisoners in the face and a video of a beheading. *** Saipov was shot by a cop after the attack and was...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - A Florida man is charged with providing material support to the Islamic State extremist group, including attempting to buy multiple weapons and scouting potential targets for an attack in the Tampa Bay area, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. A criminal complaint charges Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, with attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. The charge carries a potential 20-year prison term. **SNIP** According to the affidavit, Al-Azhari scouted a number of targets in the Tampa Bay region, including beaches, parks and even the Tampa FBI field...

Barack Obama warned his successor against hiring Michael Flynn. It was Nov. 10, 2016, just two days after Donald Trump upset Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president of the United States. Trump told aide Hope Hicks that he was bewildered by the president’s warning. Of all the important things Obama could have discussed with him, the outgoing commander in chief wanted to talk about Michael Flynn. The question of why Obama was so focused on Flynn is especially revealing now. The Department of Justice recently filed to withdraw charges against the retired three-star general for making false statements to...