Saudi Coalition Says It Destroyed Houthi Ballistic Missile Sites In Yemen

Gantz also said that these sites were also used to store combat drones.

Iran’s military drone program has expanded in recent years and UAV’s have been more frequently used in recent months both on land and at sea.

Separately, the chief of Israel's air force proposed working with Arab partners - such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, with which Israel formalized ties last year - against the drone threat.

Iran has been accused of attacking tankers in the Persian Gulf region since 2019 when several vessels were hit by what was described as limpet mines. Iranian naval forces have also seized tankers, most recently in late October, when they forced a Vietnamese-flagged tanker into Iranian waters.

Gantz made the allegation, which he described as a first public disclosure, during a televised speech at a security conference hosted by Reichman University.

Chabahar is a port city on the Sea of Oman near Pakistan from where Iranian forces can project power into the Indian Ocean and to the shores of Oman. Frequent naval drills take place in the region.

Javad Rahmati, deputy governor of Eastern Azarbaijan province said the provincial capital Tabriz is enveloped in smug because from late summer power plants were ordered to switch from natural gas to mazut, a heavy diesel fuel banned in most of the world.

This week, Tehran, Esfahan, Mashhad and Arak reported heavy pollution and people at higher risk were advised to stay indoors.

Iran has the second largest gas reserves in the world but because of lack of investment and advanced technologies it is unable to produce more than what it extracts now, which is around 700-750 million cubic meters a day. Domestic usage has climbed to 530 million cubic meters a day officials announced this week, leaving little for industries and export.

Iran has the world’s cheapest energy prices in par with Venezuela, which is the main factor in high consumption, while various sanctions have made it difficult to upgrade its oil and gas industries or to adopt more alternative fuels.

The ministry, tweeting the news, did not say how many people were arrested or specify their nationalities. It described them as "linked with terrorist groups in Iran" and said they were "plotting terrorist operations against security and civil peace".

Bahrain, host to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet and other international naval operations, has often accused Shiite Muslim Iran of seeking to subvert the Sunni-ruled kingdom, which has a Shiite majority. Iran has denied such charges.

The island state was the only Gulf Arab state to witness a sizeable pro-democracy uprising in the 2011 "Arab Spring", from a largely Shi'ite opposition movement, which it quashed with help from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Last year, Bahrain said it had foiled a "terrorist attack" backed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iranian officials and government-controlled media routinely attack Bahrain’s royal family and its close ties with Saudi Arabia.

Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese citizen, and a US permanent resident spent four years in Iranian prisons on vague charges of espionage for the United States and was released in June 2019 after an appeal by Lebanese President Michelle Aoun.

He responded to a statement by Amir-Abdollahian saying that if expat Iranians want to visit the country, the foreign ministry can tell them if they have any legal issues and once cleared, they have nothing to fear about.

Zakka tweeted, “What are the guarantees, and from whom? You? What about foreigners? You were at the foreign ministry when your gov invited and kidnapped me.”

Zakkawas invited to Iran in 2016 by a top official of former president Hassan Rouhani’s government, but once he was arrested and jailed by the Revolutionary Guard the official said there was complete lack of coordination between the government and security forces.

Iran has arrested many dual nationals who have visited the country and used them as bargaining chips against Western countries, according to human rights organizations.

Families of some of those killed in Iran’s downing of Ukrainian Airlines Flight PS752 on January 8, 2019 say the trial of those allegedly responsible lacks transparency and due process. "This a shameful show with ten low-ranking officers on trial," said Hamed Esmaeilion, the Canada-based spokesman for some of the families, Sunday.

Abbas Abdi, a reformist politician, in a tweet Monday also criticized the authorities. "Make the trial transparent,” he wrote. “It will be in everyone's interest," he wrote.

The passenger plane was hit by two surface-to-air missiles in the tense aftermath of Iran's missile attack on United States military bases in Iraq in retaliation for the US killing of Iranian general Ghasem Soleimani and nine others in Baghdad. All 176 onboard died.

Among those protesting outside court were family members either barred from attending or refusing to acknowledge the court. Protesters held photos of victims and chanted slogans, while surrounded by police and security forces who kept others away.

Names, ranks, and positions of the suspects were not disclosed. Victims' families and critics say those on trial are not responsible for decisions taken at a higher level on the night of the incident. They say Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, the Revolutionary Guards aerospace commander was responsible because he did not “clear the airspace.”

Hajizadeh commented last week on the tragedy, which Iran attributed to the misalignment of a mobile surface-to-air missile battery at a time of high alert. "How is it possible that a plane so huge cannot return to the airport and land [after being hit] by a few kilos of explosives?" Hajizadeh asked a gathering of Sharif University students November 15.

In response Abolfazl Najafi-Tehrani, a dissident cleric and publisher in Tehran tweetedNovember 17: "It is not too far-fetched that few years from now Hajizadeh and Co. ask there is a question of why the Ukrainian plane placed itself in the path of our missile to cause this incident and to demand the families of the victims and the Ukrainian airliner to pay for the missiles that the plane hit itself against!"

In another reaction reformist politician Mostafa Tajzadeh tweeted: "The nation's question is why you couldn't tell the difference between the Ukrainian passenger flight and an enemy missile [to shoot at it]? Why two [missiles]? Why did you lie to the world for several days?"

The Ukrainian ambassador refused an invitation to attend the trial. Ukrainian journalist Anna Rajskaya tweeted Sunday that the ambassador did not want to legitimize the trial given the Ukrainian deputy justice minister had said Iran’s investigation was inadequate.

A date for the next session has not been announced.