Israel to brace for year of war on Iran, says new military chief

The upgrading of Iran to the highest tier of the United Kingdom's Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) announced on March 4, is due to be rolled out in the summer. Evidence has emerged in recent years of pervasive security threats emanating from the government in Tehran against independent journalists based in the UK.

Under the designation, Iran and anybody acting on its behalf would be deemed a potential security threat and compelled to register their activities in the UK. Not doing so would potentially incur a five-year prison sentence.

Iran International is a Persian-language TV news network that broadcasts 24/7 and has a strong following in Iran, despite government efforts to restrict access to the internet and satellite signals.

The statement appreciating the UK Government’s step said, “Iran International and its journalists have been targeted by Tehran’s security apparatus, facing intimidation, surveillance, and direct threats to their lives.”

In February 2023, the network relocated its studio and broadcast operations to Washington, DC, three months after the police raised alarm of direct threats and provided protection at its London headquarters. Most of its broadcast operations later returned to a new location in London.

“We support the UK Government’s decision to place the entire Iranian state, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS). This decision is an important step in preventing attacks on our journalists in the UK and their families in Iran,” the network said.

The network also emphasized its role as a necessary news source for the Iranian people and said it will not be intimidated.

“Iran International remains steadfast in its commitment to independent journalism. We will not be silenced by threats, intimidation, or state-backed violence.”

"We must lead the IDF in a reality where the Iranian threat is ever-present and the enemy is striving with all its might to obtain nuclear weapons and establish them within our borders," he said as outgoing Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi handed over to the new Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.

On Tuesday, the interim US envoy to international organizations in Vienna, Howard Solomon, called Iran's nuclear program an "existential threat" to the international community.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also spoke at the event, said that Israel is “determined to achieve decision and victory” over Iran and its allied groups.

Katz spoke of Halevi's tenure, highlighting the challenges facing Israel in the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas invasion.

The shock attack saw more than 3,000 militants storm the country, killing around 1,200 mostly civilians in Israel. Over 250 more were taken hostage in the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.

"From the failure to protect our citizens on the Black Sabbath of October 7, you knew how to rise, recover, and lead an army that achieved a series of impressive military successes - in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria, Yemen - and Iran," Katz said, referring to the onslaught of attacks from Iran-backed groups around the region sparked by the Gaza war.

Additionally, last year saw two direct aerial barrages from Iran as the shadow war between the two archenemies came into light, with Israeli retaliation taking out large swathes of Iran's air defences.

Since then, Iran has put even heavier focus on its allies in the occupied West Bank and stepped up spy operations in the country, Iran-backed plots rising by 400% last year, according to Israeli security.

Israel significantly weakened Iran's biggest military ally, Hezbollah in Lebanon, in addition to massively weakening Hamas in Gaza.

Large numbers of Hezbollah's leadership, including decades-long leader Hassan Nasrallah, were taken out in targeted strikes amid a conflict which sent Israel and the group to the verge of war.

As US-brokered ceasefires have seen calm with Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel's campaign against Iran continues while Tehran's allies keep threatening the Jewish state.

Earlier this week, senior Houthi leader Nasser al-Din Amer threatened on his X account that the Iran-backed group in Yemen was ready to resume its attacks against Israel.

"The eye is watching Gaza, the hand is on the trigger, the missiles and UAVs and all military units are on alert. The decision of the leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, is clear," he said.

In an open letter organized by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), the former commanders said that “it is time to let Israel finish the job against the Iranian axis and stop Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold” and urged Washington to provide military assistance.

"A nuclear Iran would be a threat to US national security," the letter reads. "What Israel seeks from the United States is support to ensure the maximum effectiveness of its actions and manage the risk of Iranian retaliation. We should provide it expeditiously."

Referring to Iran's rising enrichment and obstruction of IAEA inspectors, it said more must be done to defend the Jewish state.

“With Iran capable of producing weapons-grade uranium in just days, working toward a nuclear weapon, and building ever-deeper underground facilities, time is running out to stop its march to the bomb,” the former generals added.

While acknowledging that diplomacy is preferable, the signatories said they doubt Iran would negotiate in good faith. "Repeated negotiations with Iran over two decades have led to one dangerous result: The world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism now stands on the cusp of developing the world’s most dangerous weapons," they wrote.

In early-February, Trump declared the return of the so-called maximum pressure on Tehran, vowing to block its paths to a nuclear weapon.

"Iran remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terror," the memo read, blaming Tehran for supporting militant groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, visiting Israel last week, called Iran the single greatest source of instability in the Middle East. "There can never be a nuclear Iran," Rubio said. "That can never happen."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during the same press conference that "Israel and America are shoulder-to-shoulder in countering the threat of Iran."

"At least 66 cases of State hostage-taking in the Islamic Republic of Iran have been reported since 2010," the report released on Tuesday said.

"Journalists, aid workers, academics, business travelers and human rights defenders are especially vulnerable," it added. "Dual nationals are often specifically targeted, and, in some cases, those individuals have been denied consular assistance from their other country of nationality."

The report covered hostage-taking in an array of countries and cited an International Court of Justice ruling that states like Iran and not just militant groups take part in the practice.

Iran denies a policy of hostage-taking but has repeatedly seized dissidents, foreigners and dual nationals in exchange for its detained nationals and economic concessions.

“Hostage-taking is cruelty – plain and simple – and almost always involves torture,” Edwards said. “It inflicts severe physical and psychological suffering on both hostages and their families.”

The German embassy in Tehran is investigating reports of the detention of a German national and has raised the matter with Iranian authorities, a source from the German Federal Foreign Office told Iran International on Sunday.

As a diplomatic standoff over Tehran's disputed nuclear program deepens, Iran has been detaining more Western citizens.

Iran last month charged a British couple in the midst of a worldwide road trip with espionage. The United Kingdom is one of three European countries involved in ongoing talks with Tehran over the nuclear dossier.

Another, France, has protested Iran's continued detention of three of its nationals.

The upgrading of Iran to the highest tier of the United Kingdom's Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) due to be rolled out in the summer ratchets up tension between the nuclear-armed security council member state and the Islamic Republic.

Under the designation, Iran and anybody acting on its behalf would be deemed a potential security threat and compelled to register their activities in the UK. Not doing so would potentially incur a five-year prison sentence.

"We will place the whole of the Iranian state, including Iran's intelligence services, the IRGC and MOIS (Ministry of Intelligence), on to the enhanced tier of the new foreign influence registration scheme," Jarvis told parliament.

Jarvis was referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary organization at the heart of the Iranian establishment which oversees foreign operations including aid to militant groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Pointing to threats from Iran, he mentioned that in December 2023, a Chechnya-born individual was sentenced to three and a half years in jail by a British court for collecting information for terrorist purposes. He had been arrested earlier that year in a Starbucks near Iran International’s premises after being spotted filming the broadcaster’s building in West London.

"The national protective security authority and counter-terrorism police will continue to provide protective security advice and support to individuals and organizations threatened by the Iranian regime and its criminal proxies, including Persian-language media organizations and their employees," Jarvis told the parliament.

The UK and European states have so far stopped short of following the United States in designating the IRGC a terrorist organization.

According to an announcement by UK counter-terrorism police in 2023, UK security forces foiled 15 kidnapping and murder plots against British or UK-based targets deemed Tehran's enemies.

Jarvis said that since 2022, 20 Iranian-backed plots putting the lives of British citizens or UK residents at risk had been foiled, adding that the number of state-level investigations run by MI5 had jumped by 48% in the past year.

"It's clear that these plots are a conscious strategy of the Iranian regime to stifle criticism through intimidation and fear," he noted.

Journalism watchdog Reporters Without Borders said last year that Tehran was carrying out "systematic targeting of journalists reporting on Iran from abroad, in an effort to silence them."

"London, home to major Persian-language broadcasters, has been a hotspot for such attacks because of the large number of Iranian journalists based there," the group added.

The British government last month denied funding an Iranian influence network in Western countries, rejecting remarks by a Swedish-Iranian scholar who said his involvement in the initiative was backed by the UK government.