Tehran Pundits Say Iran-Saudi Ties Not An Ideological Alliance

Following the opening of Azerbaijan’s embassy in Israel in March, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen met in Baku with President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday and discussed common strategic challenges. They also discussed regional security and the fight against terrorism, as well as expanded cooperation. 

“Azerbaijan is a Muslim country, and its strategic location makes the relationship between us of great importance and great potential. Israel and Azerbaijan share the same perception of the Iranian threat. The Iranian ayatollah regime threatens both our regions, finances terrorism and destabilizes the entire Middle East. We must act together to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capabilities,” Cohen said.

Heading a delegation of 30 Israeli companies at the Presidential Palace, Cohen said, “Israel and Azerbaijan are strengthening their political and security alliance. I met with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and we talked about the strategic regional challenges we share, chief among them regional security and the fight against terrorism.

“I congratulated the president on his decision to establish an embassy in Israel, the first embassy of a Shiite Muslim nation in the country,” Cohen said, adding that the step further strengthened security, as well as the political and economic alliance between the two countries.

Cohen added, "We signed a series of agreements between us and Azerbaijan that will significantly increase the economic potential between the countries.”

When Azerbaijan opened its embassy in Israel in March, Cohen hosted his Azeri counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov. At the time, the embassy opening was the first since Israel and Azerbaijan established relations in 1991.

Israel is one of Azerbaijan’s leading arms suppliers. According to

the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Israel provided 69 percent of Baku’s major arms imports in 2016-2020, accounting for 17% of Jerusalem’s arms exports over that period.

Cohen flew from Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan Wednesday night, becoming the first Israeli minister to visit the central Asian state in nearly three decades.

Cohen will inaugurate Israel’s embassy in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat, a mere 15 miles from Iran’s northeast border. The office will be Israel’s closest embassy to its archfoe Iran. The move is apparently intended to send a message to Tehran that Israel is a present and growing influence in the region.

Turkmenistan, another Muslim-majority country, established relations with Israel after its declaration of independence in 1991. About a decade ago, Israel opened a temporary embassy there with a temporary structure that has become permanent.

"The inauguration of the embassy building is another sign of the strengthening of relations between Israel and Turkmenistan and marks the thirty years of the establishment of relations between countries," Cohen said. 

A report released on Tuesday by Microsoft Threat Intelligence revealed the threat from the Iranian hackers, known as "Mint Sandstorm".

The gang’s recently adopted new strategy is to target energy and transportation infrastructure across the US, including ports, energy companies, and transit systems.

Initially engaged in reconnaissance, the subgroup eventually began attacking critical infrastructure organizations in the United States in 2022.

These attacks were "potentially designed to support destructive cyberattacks in retaliation," Microsoft said.

"Mint Sandstorm" is a new name used by Microsoft to track the activities of hackers formerly known as Phosphorus, a collection of threat actors deemed to be affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence arm.

Mint Sandstorm has also been referred to as APT35, APT42, Charming Kitten, and TA453. However, Iran has denied carrying out cyberattacks.

Since at least 2011, Mint Sandstorm has targeted activists, journalists, critical infrastructure, and government entities.

Microsoft researchers reported in February that an Iranian regime-backed hacking team had stolen and leaked the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's data.

The hackers, calling themselves “Holy Souls,” were from the Iranian cybersecurity firm Emennet Pasargad, according to Clint Watts, General Manager of Microsoft's Digital Threat Analysis Center.

In November 2021, the United States Justice Department indicted two Iranians, Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazemi and Sajjad Kashian, who were employed by Emennet Pasargad.

During the 2020 presidential election, they allegedly conducted a cyber campaign "to intimidate and influence American voters" as well as undermine voter confidence and sow discord.

The trip by the 13-meter (41-foot) speedboat carrying sensors and cameras, drew the attention of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, but took place without incident, said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins.

Two US Coast Guard cutters accompanied the drone.

Iran announced last September that it had seized and released two US naval drones in the Red Sea. The US confirmed the claim but refused to comment.

But the passage through the Hormuz was without incident. The strait is a busy waterway between Iran and Oman which at its narrowest is just 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide.

A fifth of all oil traded passes through the strait, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.

“The Iranians observed the unmanned service vessel transiting the strait in accordance with international law,” Hawkins told The Associated Press.

He said an Iranian drone and at least one Houdong-class fast-attack vessel operated by Iran's Revolutionary Guard observed the MAST-13 drone.

The US Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet patrols Mideast waters, particularly the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, to keep open the waterways for international trade, as well as protect American interests and allies.

However, Iran views the Navy's presence as an affront, and vows to expel US forces from the Middle East.

The 5th Fleet launched a special drone task force last year, aiming to have a fleet of some 100 unmanned drones, both sailing and submersible, operating in the region with America’s allies.

"In total, up to 17 launches of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) attacks were recorded, presumably from the eastern coast area of the Sea of Azov," the command said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

This was the first attack by Iranian-made drones in almost two weeks. Russian long-range missile stockpiles have dwindled after repeated attacks on civilian targets since October when Moscow also began using hundreds of Shahed suicide drones.

Iran first denied it had supplied drones to Russia but in early November foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian admitted the deliveries, but claimed they were sent before the Russian invasion.

There have been intelligence reports that Tehran might be planning to also supply long-range missiles to Russia.

Ukraine's South military command said one drone hit an enterprise in the Odesa region, causing a fire, which was eliminated by the morning.

"According to preliminary information, there were no human losses," the command said in a statement.

The United States and its NATO allies have strongly condemned Iran’s drone deliveries to Russia. Washington, which has stopped nuclear talks with Tehran, has indicated that it expects the deliveries to stop before any further negotiations take place.

In a letter to Iran’s Prosecutor General Mohammad Javad Montazeri on Tuesday, the human rights group said the authorities must ensure girls have equal and safe access to education and are protected from any form of violence.

Amnesty warned that the rights to education, health and life of millions of schoolgirls are at risk amid ongoing chemical gas attacks deliberately targeting girls’ schools in Iran.

According to the letter, more than 100 schools have been targeted since November, some more than once.

Amnesty says the poisonings appear to be a coordinated campaign to punish schoolgirls for their peaceful participation in nationwide protests that erupted in mid-September 2022, including through acts of resistance such as removing their mandatory hijabs and showing their hair in public while in school uniform.

Amnesty wrote: “An independent international delegation to investigate the attacks, including UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, and Committee on the Rights of the Child, must also be granted access to the country.”

The letter adds: “Many people in Iran suspect actors tied to the state or pro-government vigilantes, who have been empowered by Iran’s discriminatory and degrading laws and policies that perpetuate violence against women and girls, of being involved in the attacks, especially given the authorities’ failure to take meaningful action and their attempts to silence public criticism.

“The attacks were first reported in Qom province and have since spread to other provinces and become more frequent with multiple schools attacked daily. These attacks have left schoolgirls hospitalized with symptoms including coughing, difficulty in breathing, nose and throat irritation, heart palpitation, headache, nausea, vomiting and numbness in limbs.”

Amnesty also noted that the authorities have tried to silence public calls for accountability by subjecting distressed parents, schoolgirls, teachers, journalists and others to violence, intimidation and arrest for peacefully protesting or reporting on the authorities’ failure to stop the poisonings.

Meanwhile, the deposed Sunni Imam of Azadshahr Mowlavi Hossein Gorgij on Monday wished for the death of those who poison children.

He said the world earlier witnessed such chemical attacks on children in Syria.

Chemical attacks on girl's schools in Iran continued on Tuesday with students in at least 26 elementary and high schools poisoned according to reports.

A large number of students were taken to hospital in the cities of Kermanshah, Urmia, Eslamshahr, Tehran, Karaj, Ardebil, Saqqez and Ahvaz.

Videos published on social media show families gathered in front of the schools to vent anger at the regime’s indifference to the attacks.

The serial poisoning of students has been ongoing for over four months. The perpetrators have not been identified, while the attacks have spread to more and more cities.

Amid an international outcry over the attacks, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva has called for a transparent investigation, while the White House has demanded that those responsible are held accountable.