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Senior defense and intelligence officials from Israel and Saudi Arabia are visiting Washington this week for talks on Iran as US President Donald Trump weighed possible military strikes, Axios reported.
Axios said Israel’s military intelligence chief held meetings with senior officials at the Pentagon, the CIA and the White House on Tuesday and Wednesday to share intelligence on possible targets inside Iran.
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman was expected to hold meetings focused on Iran at the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House on Thursday and Friday, Axios reported, adding that Saudi Arabia was concerned about a wider regional war and was trying to help push diplomacy.
European Union foreign ministers approved new sanctions on Iran on Thursday, targeting individuals and entities linked to a violent crackdown on protesters and Tehran’s support for Russia, Reuters reported.
The ministers are also expected to reach a political agreement to add Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the EU list of terrorist organizations, a move that would mark a symbolic shift in the bloc’s approach to Iran’s leadership.
Iran’s army said it has added 1,000 drones to its four service branches on Thursday, as tensions rise in the region.
The drones were built by army specialists with support from the defense ministry and were designed based on what Iran described as new threats and lessons from the 12-day war in June, Revolutionary Guards-linked media, Tasnim, reported.
They include strike, attack, surveillance and electronic warfare drones intended to hit fixed and mobile targets on land, at sea and in the air.
Army commander Major General Amir Hatami said the force was focused on maintaining and upgrading its capabilities to respond quickly to any attack. “Preserving and enhancing strategic advantages for rapid combat and a crushing response to any aggression is always on the army’s agenda,” he said.
No images of the drones were released due to what the army said were security considerations.
France said on Thursday it supports adding Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations, as EU foreign ministers met in Brussels to approve new sanctions over Tehran’s crackdown on protests.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Paris had decided to back the move after previously taking a more cautious position.
“The extraordinary courage of the Iranian women and men who have been targeted by this violence cannot be in vain. That is why we will today impose European sanctions against those responsible for this repression: government officials, prosecutors, police unit chiefs, members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, and those responsible for blocking the internet,” Barrot told reporters on arrival at the meeting.
He said the EU would impose new sanctions targeting those responsible for the repression, including government officials, prosecutors, police commanders, members of the Revolutionary Guard, and officials involved in blocking internet access.
Iran’s parliament vice speaker warned US President Donald Trump that any attack on Iran would be met with sustained retaliation, saying there would be no limited war, state media reported.
“Strike once and we will keep hitting back until we end them,” Hamid Reza Haji-Babaei said at a public event in the western city of Hamedan. “We have no limited war.”
Referring to the US military buildup in the region, he said American naval power would not deter Iran. “An aircraft carrier cannot stand against a Basij fighter in a small boat,” he said.
Haji-Babaei said Iran was not seeking conflict and was trying to prevent war, but warned that Tehran would respond broadly if attacked. “If this happens, wherever and whichever country supports America, we will strike there,” he said.
He also described current conditions as an “economic war,” calling for unity at home as tensions with Washington rise.
