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TOP STORIES
Remnants of four ballistic missiles
fired into Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Houthi rebels this year appear to
have been designed and manufactured by Riyadh's regional rival Iran,
a confidential report by United Nations sanctions monitors said,
bolstering a push by the United States to punish the Tehran
government.
For the second time in a month, the
Saudi military has intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile it
said was launched from Yemen on Thursday... Houthi rebels in Yemen
claimed success in the missile launch, saying it was a test firing...
Weeks earlier, Yemeni rebels fired a ballistic missile towards an
international airport in Riyadh, which was intercepted before it
struck... Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of Gulf states
against Houthi rebels who ousted the pro-Saudi,
internationally-recognized goverment in Yemen in 2015... The Houthis,
a Shiite tribal militia from northwest Yemen, have been at war with
the central government for the best part of a decade. Saudi Arabia
and its allies claim that Iran backs and funds the rebels, something
the rebels themselves deny.
Signs of increasingly frayed relationship between
President Trump and Rex Tillerson have fueled speculation that the
secretary of State could soon be on the way out. The New York Times
reported Thursday that the White House had drafted a plan to replace Tillerson
with Mike Pompeo, a former Republican congressman who now leads the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday underlined
Britain's support for the nuclear deal concluded with Iran which came
into force in October 2015.
NUCLEAR & BALLISTIC-MISSILE PROGRAMS
A senior Iranian lawmaker reiterated that Iran's missile
capabilities are for defending the country and will not be subject to
any negotiations.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Having been on the receiving end of a human rights
focus, mainly initiated by the United States and Western Europe, Iran
has turned the tables and is demanding answers regarding the police
shooting of an unarmed Iranian-American man in Virginia.
SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT
A Turkish-Iranian gold trader on Thursday told jurors in
a New York federal court that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
authorized a transaction in a scheme to help Iran evade U.S.
sanctions.
Turkey's president has argued that his country did not
break a trade embargo on Iran as it hadn't committed to abide by U.S.
sanctions, and there were no United Nations restrictions in place,
the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Friday.
HUMAN RIGHTS
"How old are you?" the interviewer asks.
"Thirteen," replies the boy, in uniform. "Thirteen
years - thirteen years old!" the interviewer repeats, proudly,
as the camera pans upward to the grinning, bearded faces of uniformed
men, apparently Iranian soldiers, who pat their young recruit on the
back. On November 25, a video with the logo of the Islamic Republic
of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) agency circulated on Iranian websites and
social media showing the boy in the Syrian border city of Abu Kamal.
He said he was a "defender of the shrine," the euphemism the
Iranian government uses for fighters it sends to Syria and Iraq.
RUSSIA & IRAN
Iran's First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri hailed on
Thursday cooperation of Russia and Iran in fight against terrorism,
saying it is a good example for other countries.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Iran on Thursday brushed off suggestions it should curb
its reach in the Middle East and denied accusations of meddling,
saying it was "going nowhere". Iran and Saudi Arabia are
engaged in a regional battle for dominance being fought by proxies in
Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and other countries -- a tussle which has
drawn in the West.
SYRIA CONFLICT
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says U.S.
efforts to push Iranian military advisers and fighters out of Syria
as part of a deal to end the war-torn country's six-year civil war
will not succeed.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, LEBANON, AND IRAN
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia successfully intercepted a
ballistic missile fired into its territory from Yemen... Because of
the Houthis' reliance on Iranian ballistic missile support, training,
and resources, we can confidently assume Iranian responsibility for
Thursday's launch. It's a wake-up call. The Trump administration
cannot ignore or neglect Iranian aggression in the Middle East.
U.S. President Donald Trump's policies in the Gulf are
dangerous and misguided, Iran's foreign minister said on Thursday,
adding that pressure from Washington had only succeeded in
strengthening Tehran's resolve.
There is no prospect signaling that the French-Iranian
relations could see possible breakthroughs following tension that
erupted in the past few days due to the strong reactions expressed by
Iranian officials, including Iranian Supreme Leader's senior advisor
for international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati and commander of the
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Mohammad Ali Jafari, concerning
Paris' position from several disputed files with Tehran, such as the
Nuclear Deal, the Iranian ballistic missile and Tehran's policies in
the region. French President Emmanuel Macron's comments on Wednesday
from Abidjan further complicated relations between the two countries
and made the upcoming official visit of the French president to
Tehran early next year, less possible.
IRANIAN DOMESTIC ISSUES
A strong quake of magnitude 6.0 struck southeastern Iran
near the city of Kerman on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.3, was centered 36
miles (58 km) northeast of Kerman, which has a population of more
than 821,000. It struck at 6:32 a.m. (0232 GMT) and was very shallow,
at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), which would have amplified the
shaking. A magnitude 6.0 quake is considered strong and is capable of
causing severe damage.
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