Syria suspends flights from Iran until late January, says Iranian aviation official

While Israel's role was already widely understood, its disclosure likely signals Israel is less concerned about provoking an Iranian response after the Islamic Republic and its allies in the region have been dealt harsh Israeli military blows in recent weeks.

"These days, when the Houthi terrorist organization is firing missiles at Israel, I want to convey a clear message to them at the beginning of my remarks: We have defeated Hamas, we have defeated Hezbollah, we have blinded Iran's defense systems and damaged the production systems, we have toppled the Assad regime in Syria, we have dealt a severe blow to the axis of evil, and we will also deal a severe blow to the Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen, which remains the last to stand," Israel Katz said during an evening honoring defense ministry personnel.

"We'll severely cripple the Houthis, damage their strategic infrastructure, and we will behead their leaders – just as we did to Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon – we will do it in Hodeidah and Sana'a," Katz added.

Haniyeh was a Palestinian politician who served as prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority for over eight years until 2014 and as chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from May 2017 until his assassination in Tehran.

He had been attending the inauguration of newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian when he was assassinated. At the time, Hamas said they were convinced Haniyeh was killed, along with one of his bodyguards, by an Israeli airstrike on his residence.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was responsible for protecting Haniyeh, said in early August that Haniyeh was assassinated with a "short-range projectile with a warhead of approximately 7 kilograms".

"This action was designed and implemented by the Zionist regime and supported by the criminal government of America," the IRGC added.

Western media reports suggested that Haniyeh was killed by explosive devices planted well in advance in his room, possibly by agents recruited by Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. A report by The Telegraph says the devices were placed in three separate rooms of the guesthouse, pointing to a meticulously planned operation.

The assassination was carried out despite heightened security measures due to the inauguration which took place one day earlier, underscoring a severe breach in Iran's security apparatus.

A report by the New York Times said at the time that over two dozen individuals, including senior intelligence officers, military officials, and staff at the guesthouse, had been detained in connection with the incident.

Haniyeh's assassination was soon followed by a series of Israeli attacks killing other leaders of Iran-backed groups including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on September 27 and Haniyeh's successor Yahya Sinwar on October 16.

In a statement during a session of the Iranian parliament's economic commission, Abdolnasser Hemmati said that under normal political and economic circumstances the rial should be trading somewhere close to 73,000 per dollar—a figure significantly higher than Iran’s official exchange rate.

"Of course, this calculation assumes normal economic conditions and stable political and security situations," Hemmati said.

Upheaval in Syria and tensions with Israel along with threats to the economy as US President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office were among the causes, Hemmati said.

“Given 30% inflation, it is impossible to maintain a stable exchange rate,” Hemmati said.

While Iran has multiple exchange rates, including the open market rate and the official rate, the open market rate most accurately reflects the true value of transactions.

Hemmati further noted that while the government’s official exchange rate is 400,000 rials to the dollar, many goods are traded in the market within the 700,000 to 800,000 rials range.

The reaction to Hemmati’s remarks in Tehran’s currency market was swift and severe. Within hours, the dollar climbed by over 20,000 rials. According to data from Tehran exchange offices, the dollar traded at 780,250 rials, while the exchange rate for dollar remittances rose to 790,800 rials.

The minister later retracted his remarks and said his comments were misinterpreted and that a video of the session had been edited. However, his commentary was widely covered in local media, and currency traders interpreted his comments as a potential sign of further devaluation of the rial.

Hemmati is scheduled to appear before parliament on Tuesday, alongside other officials including the Central Bank’s governor, Iranian media reported. Lawmakers are set to discuss measures to address exchange rate fluctuations and improve economic stability.

The rial has depreciated by over 25% since September, driven by regional conflicts and Iran’s setbacks in Syria and Lebanon.

Since the establishment of the Islamic government in 1979, the Iranian currency has undergone an 11,000-fold decline in value.

"Israel is consolidating its deterrent power, it is striking at those who seek to harm it, it is collapsing Iran's terror branches one after the other," Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli Knesset.

Netanyahu said Tehran was still "busy licking the wounds from the blows we inflicted on them", adding he had instructed the Israeli military in recent days to attack strategic targets of Yemen's armed Houthi group in response to their missile launches at Israel.

"It is neither the first nor the last. We have destroyed significant terrorist assets that the Houthis have used, and the principle we have set is very simple – whoever tries to harm us, we will hit him with uncompromising force," Netanyahu added, according to a translation by the Israeli website Ynet.

The Israeli military and its American allies have launched multiple air raids against the Houthis' positions in recent days, but have failed to stop Houthi attacks on Israel.

The spokesman for the Houthis said the Iran-backed group launched two drone attacks against targets in Israel's Ashkelon and Tel Aviv on Monday.

Some Israeli officials believe their country must directly target the Islamic Republic, which has publicly declared its support for Yemen's Houthis.

"The solution is in Tehran: if you want to stop the Houthis' firing, you have to hit Iran directly," Israeli National Unity Front leader Benny Gantz told a meeting of his faction on Monday.

Mossad chief David Barnea also recommended Israel's political echelon attack Iran instead of Yemen's Houthis, a Ynet report quoted him as saying on Sunday. "We have to go for the head, for Iran," Barnea said in discussions on the issue in recent days.

In October 26 retaliatory strikes again Iran, Israel took out nearly the entirety of Iran’s air defense system, according to Western officials including the UK's Chief of Defense Staff.

In his Monday remarks, Netanyahu stopped short of explicitly discussing further attacks on Iran in response to the Houthis' strikes but vowed to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

"We do not take our eyes off Iran that is threatening to eliminate us, and we are determined to stop Iran from reaching nuclear weapons as well as other weapons that could threaten our cities," he said.

Since May, top Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's adviser, Kamal Kharrazi, have warned that if Iran's nuclear installations are attacked, the Islamic Republic will shift its nuclear doctrine.

So far, Tehran has been insisting that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, in spite of having exceeded international limits on uranium enrichment and accelerating its nuclear program.

In October, 39 lawmakers called for changing the nuclear doctrine without mentioning an attack on nuclear facilities but citing tensions with Israel.

The calls for the pursuit of nuclear weapons have grown in Iran following the Israeli airstrikes destroying the Islamic Republic's air defense batteries.

The move reflects concerns about escalating conflicts in the region and fears of Iraqi security being endangered after insurgents took control in neighboring Syria.

Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have launched multiple attacks targeting Israel since the Hamas attack on the Jewish state on October 7, 2023.

Following the assault, these militias began their operations by first targeting US forces in Syria and Iraq, before escalating their actions to include strikes against Israel itself.

Known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, the groups are a patchwork of Shi'ite militias and factions. The factions joined forces to largely defeat radical Sunni Islamic State in Iraq but continue to exert broad military and political control.

They typically use drones to target Israel, as Iraq does not share a land border with Israel.

A member of the al-Nujaba militia whose name was withheld expressed apprehension that the resurgence of Islamic State in Iraq could mirror or surpass the devastation experienced during the Syrian conflict.

The militia leader told al-Akhbar that the militias decided not to interfere in Syrian affairs and "to follow the situation from a distance, in addition to waiting to understand the orientations of the US President-elect, Donald Trump, and his policy towards the Middle East, specifically Iran."

Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, officially known as the 12th Brigade, is a radical Iraqi Shi'ite paramilitary group primarily active in Iraq and formerly in Ba'athist Syria.

Founded in 2013 by Akram al-Kaabi, the group was established to support Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria against Islamist rebels. It is backed by the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, which provides financial support, weapons and training for its members.

The source suggested that a resurgence of Islamic State could upend the relative stability achieved in Iraq.

This follows broader US efforts to curtail the influence of Iranian-aligned forces in Iraq. The Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada mentioned leaked information suggesting a phone conversation between Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani and Ahmad al-Shara', leader of Syrian new rulers, mediated by Turkey.

Concerns about ISIS sleeper cells activating across Iraq were part of the discussions.

Prime Minister al-Sudani confirmed Israeli threats to target positions of Iran-backed groups in Iraq, a claim also echoed in Al-Akhbar.

A member of the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada group also said that their operations against Israel were closely tied to Lebanese Hezbollah's campaigns and ceased following the ceasefire in Lebanon.

The militias' attacks on Israel were "linked to the operations of Lebanese Hezbollah. When the ceasefire was reached in Lebanon, the operations of the Iraqi factions stopped." The spokesman for the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada militia, Kazem al-Fartousi told the Lebanese daily.

"There are also partners in Iraq who have opinions and reservations about these operations, and they must be listened to."

Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada', officially known as the 14th Brigade, is a radical Iraqi Shiite paramilitary group formed in 2013. Its stated mission is to protect Shi'ite shrines across the globe, preserve Iraqi unity, and put an end to the sectarian conflict. KSS is funded, trained and equipped by the IRGC's Quds Force and Hezbollah.

Prior to these developments, Iran International reported that commanders of the al-Nujaba movement, backed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), had secretly visited Tehran. This visit underscores ongoing coordination between Iran and its allied militias in Iraq amid evolving regional dynamics.

The reports reflect complex regional calculations, with Iraqi militias seeking to balance their stance based on the domestic power balance and regional military situation.

Since Khamenei explicitly said that he was speaking as the leader of the Islamic Republic and not offering an analysis, his words could signal that hostility toward Syria’s new government is now official policy for the Islamic Republic. This may serve as a directive for the Quds Force, the IRGC’s foreign operations branch.

This speech, Khamenei’s 1,936th during his 35-year tenure, delivered a clear message about the Islamic Republic’s position on Syria's new administration. While many regional nations have expressed hope for peace and stability in Syria, Khamenei underscored the need to oppose the new government, essentially advocating for its overthrow.

"The young Syrian has nothing to lose. His university is unsafe, his school is unsafe, his home is unsafe, his street is unsafe, his life is unsafe. What should he do? He must stand strong and determined against those who designed this insecurity and those who implemented it, and God willing, he will triumph over them," Khamenei said.

Khamenei also denied the existence of proxy groups tied to the Islamic Republic, even though such groups are widely recognized globally as Iran’s proxies. Organizations like Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis, and Hashd al-Shaabi have openly acknowledged their dependence on and allegiance to Iran.

Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, who was recently killed in an Israeli strike, repeatedly affirmed that Hezbollah relies entirely on Iran for its financial, military, and logistical support. This dependency is not unique to Hezbollah. Both the Houthis and Hamas have frequently acknowledged receiving financial and military assistance from Iran. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, once disclosed that during a visit to Tehran, Qasem Soleimani personally handed him $22 million in cash, which Hamas representatives transported back to Gaza in suitcases. These statements from the leaders of these groups directly challenge Khamenei’s assertions that these forces operate independently and are not proxies of Iran.

Khamenei further claimed that the Islamic Republic does not need proxies and is capable of acting directly against the US and Israel if necessary. This assertion contradicts his admission just ten days earlier in another speech, where he acknowledged that Iran’s efforts to support Bashar al-Assad were thwarted by Israeli and US air forces.

Not only did Khamenei deny the existence of Iran's proxy forces, but he also refused to acknowledge the evident setbacks faced by Iran and its allied groups in the region. While Israel has destroyed Hamas infrastructure in Gaza, eliminated many of its leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, and targeted Hezbollah’s command network, Khamenei continues to claim victory. These statements starkly contrast with the on-the-ground realities. Regional and international analysts widely agree that Iran's regional policies have failed. Israel's military strategy has successfully pushed Hezbollah away from the border, limiting its access to Israeli territory. Despite these setbacks, Khamenei persists in his analyses, insisting that Hezbollah has not been defeated.

Khamenei’s refusal to accept the realities in the region and his continued reliance on flawed analyses stem more from obstinacy than from genuine miscalculation. Rather than acknowledging his mistakes, he attempts to reshape facts to align with his vision. This stubbornness has wasted Iran’s financial and human resources while deepening animosity among regional nations and governments toward Iran.

Moreover, Khamenei not only dismisses external realities but also attempts to silence domestic critics. In his recent speech, he targeted opponents of the Islamic Republic's regional policies, branding them as mercenaries. This follows earlier threats in which he accused dissenting analysts of treason and demanded punitive measures against them. This repressive approach highlights Khamenei's growing concern over the potential domestic fallout from his regional policy failures and their impact on the Islamic Republic’s stability.

Denying failures and silencing critics will not resolve any issues; rather, they will exacerbate internal dissatisfaction and further isolate the Islamic Republic both regionally and globally. This persistent denial and obstinacy have already inflicted significant costs on the Iranian people. Khamenei's insistence on opposing Syria's new government and risks not only deepening regional instability but also fueling anti-Iran sentiment among the Syrian population and neighboring countries.