Hezbollah Missiles Intensify Clashes With Israel

According to the Pentagon, a US Navy warship shot down a drone early Wednesday morning that “originated from Yemen and was heading in the direction of the ship.”

Although the Pentagon did not specify who was behind the attack, the incident occurred after Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen earlier this week vowed to target Israeli ships in the Red Sea.

As part of an interview with CBS on Wednesday regarding the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, Amir-Abdollahian said: "We did not want this crisis to escalate."

The terrorist group Hamas launched a surprise terror attack on Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,200 civilians and taking at least 240 hostages, after which Israel started a massive retaliation against Gaza.

The alleged Houthi attack comes after calls by Iran’s leader Ali Khamenei to ban shipment of oil and food to Israel. His call was repeated by his ultra-hardliner loyalists such as Hossein Shariatmadari, who runs the Kayhan Daily newspaper in Tehran.

The firebrand Hossein Shariatmadari called for blocking "maritime traffic in the Persian Gulf, Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, the Oman Sea, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal,” in a Kayhan Daily editorial, which is funded by the Supreme Leader.

Prior to this, an Iranian ultraconservative lawmaker also claimed on Wednesday that Houthis had targeted Israeli ships after Ali Khamenei had made public statements against Israel.

Mahmoud Abbaszadeh-Meshkini, who sits on the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, has criticized Amir-Abdollahian for what he called the government’s soft stance towards Israel.

The interior ministry said the Khamenei-controlled Islamic Center of Hamburg (IZH) activities are “aimed at spreading the revolutionary concept of the Supreme (Iranian) leaders,” and that the center allegedly undermines Germany’s “constitutional order.”

The German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, from the Social Democratic Party said, “We have the Islamist scene in our sights. Especially now, at a time when many Jews feel particularly threatened, we generally do not tolerate Islamist propaganda or antisemitic and anti-Israel incitement.”

The IZH has been a hotbed of pro-Hezbollah activism and support for Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of IRGC's Quds Force. In January 2020, after the US killed Soleimani in a drone strike in Iraq, a group of 600 pro-Iran regime Islamists attended a memorial service at the Hamburg center to mourn his death. The Islamists praised him as a “heroic martyr.”

Germany’ interior ministry outlawed all Hezbollah activities in 2020. In addition to the raid on the IZH in the city-state of Hamburg, the German authorities searched 54 properties across six other German states— Baden-Wuerttemberg,Bavaria, Berlin,Hesse, North-Rhine Westphalia and Lower Saxony. There were no arrests made during the raids. Faeser said with an apparent reference to the troika Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s regime (via its proxies) carrying out terror attacks against Israel and US military forces that "Now especially is the time to be on high alert and for a tough approach. This is why we are following every reasonable suspicion seriously."

German-Iranians and dissidents expressed support for the crackdown on the IZH.Dr. Kazem Moussavi , a spokesman for the Green Party of Iran in exile, told Iran International that “The police searches of the IZH and its associated religious institutes are now to be welcomed. But this is inadequate. After banning Hamas and Samidoun, interior minister Faeser should now finally immediately ban the IZH, whose regime is indisputably the decisive mastermind and supporter of the Hamas pogrom against Israel on October 7, 2023.”

In early 2023, the German Federal Administrative Court ruled that the IZH (and its affiliated Blue Mosque are an "extremist Islamic organization."

Moussavi, who has spent years campaigning to bring about the closure of the IZH, added, “The IZH is not a place of prayer for secularist and democratic Muslims but a refuge for jihadist regime supporters, secret service personnel and sympathizers of Hamas and Hezbollah.”

Sheina Vojoudi, a Germany-based associate fellow for the Gold Institute for International Strategy told Iran International that “For years Iranian dissidents try to convince Germany to close the Islamic Centre funded by the Islamic Republic in Hamburg, which according to German courts, is an ‘extremist Islamic organization’.”

She added “All the Islamic centers funded by the Islamic Republic with Iranian wealth must be closed. The Islamic Republic’s intention is to spread antisemitism, observe and threaten Iranians everywhere and build its network all over the world to export its revolution.”

In October 2020, roughly 150 demonstrators urged the city of Hamburg to close the IZH.

According to Vojoudi, " it’s an absolute fact that Hamas is funded and trained by the Islamic Republic and the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel is a warning message to the West considering that Iran’s regime also built its Islamic centers in the heart of Europe. The western city partnerships with the Islamic Republic in Iran legitimize its terror actions and it’s time to reconsider the continuation of the German city partnerships like Freiburg-Esfahan partnership before it’s too late.”

Iranian dissidents have urged Martin Horn, the mayor of Freiburg in southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, to end its twin city partnership with the Iranian regime in Esfahan. Horn has been vehemently opposed to pulling the plug on the partnership. Iran International sent press queries to Horn after reporting in August that Iranians urged the city of Frankfurt to close a center affiliated with the Islamic Republic.

The capital of Stuttgart in Baden-Wuerttemberg continues to post information about a reportedly pro-Hamas group on its municipal website. Iran International press queries to mayor Frank Nopper of Stuttgart were not immediately returned.

Nopper has refused to delete the notice. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told Iran International "What more needs to be said that one month after the most barbaric mass murder, rape kidnapping and hostage taking of Jews since the Holocaust, Mayor Nopper and his associates allow pro-Hamas postings on the city’s website while 30 Jewish children are held as hostages, It is despicable antisemitism and proves some in Germany have not and will never learn the basic lessons and historic responsibilities from the Nazi Holocaust for Germans."

Iran International sent press queries to Oliver Vrankovic, the chairman of the German-Israel Friendship Association in Stuttgart, whose organization claims to be against Iran’s regime and its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah. Vrankovic and his foreign ministry funded NGO have refused to publicly urge Nopper to expunge the pro-Hamas information on the taxpayer funded municipal website.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Iranian regime was unaware of Hamas' October 7 terror attack against Israel. The report quoted three anonymous senior officials as stating that in a recent meeting in Tehran, Khamenei told Haniyeh: “You gave us no warning of your Oct. 7 attack on Israel and we will not enter the war on your behalf.”

In an interview with IRNA, published on Thursday, Osama Hamdan, a member of Hamas' political office, denied the claim saying: “Such news is intended to destroy the image of Hamas and the Axis of Resistance in the region.”

The so-called Axis of Resistance refers to a coalition of military forces in the region backed by Iran, including militias in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. For years, Tehran has provided Hamas with military, technical, and operational support.

The Iranian government has not officially commented on the Reuters report, but publication of the interview with Hamdan on IRNA can be interpreted as an indirect response.

The Hamas official added: “Ayatollah Khamenei's meeting with Haniyeh was consistent with Iranian and Hamas' ongoing constructive ties”.

Reuters has updated its report since publication and said Hamas has denied the validity of the report on Telegram, calling it "baseless”.

At least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 240 more were taken hostage by Hamas after its surprise attack on Israel on October 7. This has led to the most deadly conflict between the two sides since Hamas took power in 2007.

Liam Fox hosted a session on the security threats posed by the group at Parliament this week just weeks after Ken McCallum, the Director-General of MI5, referred to "hostile activity by the Islamic Republic in the UK," emphasizing that countering threats from Tehran remains a top priority. "Iran has been a rising source of concern and a rising source of task for MI5 over the last 18 months or so in particular," he said last month.

The British newspaper, The Times, also reported that Iranian regime agents were stirring up unrest in the UK through pro-Gaza protests in the wake of the Iran-backed proxy Hamas' invasion of Israel on October 7.

The session on Tuesday was organized by the International Organization to Preserve Human Rights (IOPHR) and featured lawmakers such as former Leader of the Conservative Party Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against A Nuclear Iran, and Vahid Beheshti, British-Iranian journalist and anti-regime activist were among the panelists.

For months, Beheshti held a hunger strike for 73 days outside the UK Foreign Office in protest of the atrocities committed by the regime in the wake of the Women, Life, Freedom movement protests. Following the latest calls for designation, he told Iran International he is optimistic after earlier this week, more than 60 lawmakers urged the British Prime Minister to ban the IRGC, designated by the US in 2019.

Iran-backed Hezbollah, its biggest regional proxy based in Lebanon, is designated in several countries including the US and UK, and was designated by Germany in 2020. However, the IZH still has a deep influence on the likes of schools and mosques in Germany, believed to be an extension of the regime.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser highlighted that the IZH has been under continuous surveillance by German intelligence services, being categorized as "Islamist."

"We have the Islamist scene in our sights," she said following the Thursday raids. "Especially now, at a time when many Jews feel particularly threatened, it's important to state: we do not tolerate Islamist propaganda or anti-Semitic and anti-Israel agitation."

Cities across the world have seen a massive rise of antisemitism since the war began on October 7 when Iran-backed Hamas militia invaded Israel, killing at least 1,200 mostly civilians and taking around 240 more hostage. Israel's response has been the most deadly since Hamas took control of the strip in 2007.

Since the war broke out, a firebomb attack was carried out on a synagogue in Berlin and German police arrested a convicted Islamist on suspicion of planning an attack on a pro-Israel event.

According to DW, SPD politician Andy Grote, the interior senator for the city-state of Hamburg, called the raids a "hard blow" against the IZH whose time, he said, "has run out." "The sooner the IZH disappears from Hamburg entirely, the better," he said. "Today, we've come a great deal closer to that."

"I'm pleased that the federal interior ministry is pushing strongly for a ban. I am confident that this process will be concluded thoroughly and that the IZH will soon be closed," Grote said.