Airspaces of Iraq, western Iran cleared as region braces for Tehran's attack

The State Department statement said it is looking for "information leading to the identification or location" of the suspects.

The six Iranian officials named in the advisory are linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Cyber-Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC).

They are accused of compromising industrial control systems, specifically targeting the Vision series of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) manufactured by Israel-based Unitronics. These PLCs are widely used in various industries, including water and wastewater, energy, food and beverage, manufacturing, and healthcare.

The men identified include Hamid Reza Lashgarian. head of the IRGC’s cyber-electronic command and a commander in the IRGC-Qods Force.

The officials have been linked to the hacking group CyberAv3ngers. In October, CyberAv3ngers publicly took credit for cyberattacks against Israeli PLCs, and starting in November, they compromised the default credentials in these PLCs across the US, leaving messages on the devices’ digital screens with anti-Israel statements. These compromises often rendered the devices inoperative.

On February 2, the US imposed sanctions on the same six individuals for their “deliberate targeting of critical infrastructure.” A Treasury Department official condemned the attacks as “unconscionable and dangerous,” emphasizing that the US “will not tolerate such actions and will use the full range of our tools and authorities to hold the perpetrators to account.”

The IRGC-CEC was previously sanctioned by the US in 2018 and designated a terror group in 2019.

The individuals were named as Specially Designated Nationals under Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, which targets leaders and officials of terrorist organizations.

The sanctions block all property and interests in property of the designated officials within the US or controlled by US citizens and generally prohibit US citizens from engaging in transactions with them.

Many are left wondering could the Egyptian warning to pilots against using Iran’s airspace early Thursday be the window that Iran will use to retaliate against Israel.

Experts advise caution on reaching conclusions just yet. The answer, they said, is not a simple yes or no, but rather a myriad of reasons.

"No one has a clear sense of Iran's timing for a response," Bessma Momani, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo in Canada, told Iran International.

Momani said it would be be highly unusual for Iran to share information of a potential strike on Israel with Egypt.

"Regional actors are trying to get prepared and to signal their preparedness but I doubt Egypt would be privy to any information on when or if Iran and its allies plan on responding to Israel with a military attack," she added.

"Cordial but not warm," is how Momani described Egypt-Iran relations.

Twenty-six prisoners were executed in Ghezelhesar Prison and three were executed in Karaj Central Prison, according to Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization (HRNGO).

"The Islamic Republic, by exploiting global attention on its tension with Israel, is currently engaged in mass killing prisoners and intensifying the suppression in Iran,” said HRNGO director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam in a statement on Wednesday.

Of the 29 men executed, 17 were executed for murder charges, seven were on death row for drug-related charges and three on rape charges.

HRNGO also reported that the rights group had received reports of an additional two women being executed on Wednesday but was unable to confirm the report so far.

HRNGO further noted that at least 87 people have been executed in Iran in one month since the presidential elections on July 6. This brings the total number of those executed in 2024 to 338 as of Wednesday.

According to Amnesty International, Iran carried out 853 executions in 2023, marking the highest number in eight years. Amnesty International noted that 64 percent of the executions in 2023 were for crimes that did not warrant the death penalty under international law, including drug-related offences, robbery, and espionage​.

Since the alleged Israeli assassination of Hamas's political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last week, Iran has threatened to retaliate. Global powers have been intervening to calm tensions as fears rise of an escalation between the two archenemies.

In April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel, launching a barrage of 350 missiles, rockets and drones, most of which were intercepted by Israel and a US-led coalition.

However, the threats from Tehran say this retaliatory attack would be far worse, while countries such as the US and Russia have been urging calm.

The French president Emmanuel Macron told Israeli prime minister to avoid a cycle of retaliation, following a similar conversation with the Iranian president Wednesday.

Macron told Netanyahu the "logic of de-escalation "should apply to all parties in the region," according to the official report of the phone conversation.

He also reiterated that France's "absolute urgency" is an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, as well as delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Iran's official news agency says the country's air defense systems on its eastern borders have been upgraded with new radars and missile interceptors.

The report, published Wednesday by the state-run IRNA, comes amid heightened tensions in the region, following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.