US lawmaker blasts Baghdad parade honoring Nasrallah, trampling Trump’s image

Speaking about the operation named 'Iron Wall, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday: "We will not return to the reality that existed in the past. We will continue to clear refugee camps and other terrorist hotbeds in order to dismantle the battalions and terrorist infrastructures of extremist Islam that were built, armed, financed and trained by the Iranian axis of evil."

In the latest update, he said the groups have been attempting to form what he called an eastern terror front against the settlements of the occupied West Bank, the border area and large population centers in Israel.

"We are at war with Islamic terrorism in Judea and Samaria - I have instructed the IDF to prepare for a prolonged stay in the camps that have been cleared for the coming year - and not to allow residents to return and terrorism to grow again," he said.

Since the operation began last month, 40,000 Palestinians have so far evacuated from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur a-Shams refugee camps, all now empty of residents.

The UN said in a statement this month: "Armed Palestinians are also increasingly active in the northern West Bank, deploying improvised explosive devices inside refugee camps, including near UNRWA facilities and civilian infrastructure.

"The militants have engaged in violent clashes with both Israeli and Palestinian forces, UNRWA said. Furthermore, from December 2024 onwards, Palestinian forces operations further exacerbated displacement from Jenin camp."

UNRWA activities in the camps have also been suspended.

Last month, Khalil Shikaki, the director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, told Iran International that Iran is taking advantage of the ruling Palestinian Authority's lack of political legitimacy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to arm militants.

“Iran exploits this vacuum left by the lack of legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and unpopularity of President Mahmoud Abbas to maintain and sustain this situation," he said.

Also last month, Katz said that in the wake of the weakening of Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza and Iran’s largest military ally, Hezbollah in Lebanon, a new focus had been placed on Tehran's military allies in the West Bank, compounded by the fall of Iran's major ally, President Bashar Al Assad, in Syria.

"We are seeing increasing efforts to promote Palestinian terrorism in Israel through the smuggling of advanced weapons, funding and guidance both on the part of the Iranian axis and on the part of the radical Sunni Islamic axis that is strengthening its grip on the region after the events in Syria,” he said.

Groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade all operate in the area which has now become a war zone.

The missile fired at the American warplane did not hit the target, according to the Saturday report by Fox News.

The Houthis also fired a surface-to-air missile at an American MQ-9 Reaper drone that the US military was flying over Yemen on February 19.

The Houthis have earlier shot down several MQ-9 Reaper drones over the past year. Every single one of these drones costs about $32 million, according to a Congressional report.

Last month, US President Donald Trump re-designated the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization over their attacks on Red Sea shipping and Israel linked to the Gaza war.

Now there is a policy debate at the highest levels of the Trump administration's military about the best way to counter the Houthis, according to Fox News.

Shortly after Trump's inauguration, Iran directed its allied forces across the Middle East including the Houthis to act with restraint, the Telegraph reported, citing a senior Iranian official in Tehran.

“Forces and allies in the region have been instructed to act with caution as [the regime] feels an existential threat with Trump’s return,” the Iranian official said.

“In Iraq and Yemen, forces have been told not to target any American assets, and if they do, they are explicitly warned against using Iranian weapons,” the official added at the time.

“They have been told to keep defensive positions for a while and to avoid any actions that might provoke the Americans.”

His assassination by Israel last year marked an epochal setback to Tehran and its network of armed allies in the Middle East.

Ghalibaf secured attendance after personal follow-ups and an official invitation from Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, IRGC-affiliated Fars News reported Saturday.

The outlet also said Lebanese authorities did not extend an official invitation to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian..

Additionally, Fars noted that religious and Islamic jurisprudential considerations, specifically the obligation to expedite burial after a temporary interment, prevented the funeral from being held in Iran.

Lebanese authorities recently blocked Iranian flights from landing in Beirut, citing security risks and warnings from the US that Israel might target incoming Iranian planes. According to AFP, Israel had informed Lebanon via Washington that it would consider an Iranian flight landing in Beirut as a military escalation, alleging that Hezbollah uses civilian flights to transfer weapons and funds from Iran.

The flight restrictions have prevented a larger Iranian delegation and citizens from attending the funeral, according to Iranian media.

Nasrallah’s burial, five months after his assassination by Israel, will take place at Beirut’s Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium and also honor Hashem Safi al-Din, who briefly led Hezbollah before being assassinated by Israel.

Once Iran’s most powerful regional proxy armed militia, Hezbollah was founded with the support of the Revolutionary Guards in 1982 but suffered heavy losses in last year’s war, with Israel significantly weakening its military and political power. While Tehran remains its key backer, the group’s diminished strength has raised questions about its ability to project power as it once did.

Earlier this month, US envoy Morgan Ortagus declared that Hezbollah’s “reign of terror” was over, crediting US pressure on Iran for the group’s decline. After meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, she warned that Hezbollah’s involvement in the new government crosses a US “red line.”

As the group prepares for its leader’s funeral, it faces mounting challenges both militarily and politically.

Trump this month reinstated the so-called "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran from his first term, with the stated aim of driving its oil sales to zero.

Iraq’s oil minister announced on Monday that exports from the Kurdistan region would resume next week.

Sources cited by Reuters said Trump’s administration was a key driver behind the announcement.

Reuters cited two US administration officials confirming that the US had asked the Iraqi government to resume Kurdish exports. One of them said the move would help dampen upward pressure on oil prices, the report added.

"It's not only important for regional security that our Kurdish partners be allowed to export their own oil but also help keep the price of gas low," Reuters cited a White House official as saying.

Iran has been a major recipient of cut-price Kurdish oil. Last July, a Reuters report detailed how the closure of the pipeline transporting Kurdish crude to Turkey in 2023 led to an increase in oil smuggling to Iran, with an estimated 200,000 barrels per day being transported by truck.

In December 2024, Reuters also reported on a fuel oil smuggling network generating at least $1 billion annually for Iran and its proxies, which had flourished in Iraq since Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani took office in 2022.

The US aims to cut this supply route as part of Trump's maximum pressure campaign, the report said.

"Washington is pressuring Baghdad to ensure Kurdish crude is exported to global markets through Turkey rather than being sold cheaply to Iran," Reuters cited an Iraqi oil official with knowledge of the crude trucking shipments crossing to Iran as saying.

Turkey’s Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told Reuters that Turkey has not yet received any official notification from Iraq regarding the resumption of oil flows.

Speaking in Tehran on Thursday during a meeting with Iran’s armed forces chief Mohammad Bagheri, he called Iran the "home of the resistance."

"The victories of the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon were achieved with the support and effective role of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.

He also described Iran’s direct involvement in the True Promise 1 and 2 operations—missile and drone attacks launched by Iran on Israel—as a "strategic and influential shift in the spirit of the region’s nations."