Lindsey Graham Slams Iranian Animation Portraying Trump's Killing

The area is home to diplomatic missions and the seat of Iraq's government,

Three of the missiles struck within the perimeter of the American Embassy, the officials said.

Another hit a school located in a nearby residential complex.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

An Iraqi military statement said a girl and a woman were injured in the attack, without providing more details.

The statement said the rockets had been launched from the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad.

The US Embassy in Baghdad said in a statement that its compound had been attacked by "terrorists groups attempting to undermine Iraq's security, sovereignty, and international relations.”

The embassy's C-RAM defense system - supposed to detect and destroy incoming rockets, artillery and mortar shells - was heard during the attack.

The attack is the latest in a series of rocket and drone attacks that have targeted the American presence in Iraq since the start of the year, following the second anniversary of the US strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani.

The US warned Iran on January 9 against harming any Americans, referring also to by Iran-backed militia forces in the region.

Addressing a webinar held by Brookings Institute's Center for Middle East Policy on Thursday, Safadi said in addition to Iran's nuclear program, "there are other issues that need to be addressed in order for us to be able to have good relations with Iran."

"All Arab countries want good, neighborly relations with Iran, and there are already so many conflicts and crises in region that they cannot afford a new one," he noted.

However, he added, "in order for that to happen, Iran needs to stop its interventionist policies in the region."

According to Safadi, "healthy relations need respect for non-intervention in other countries' affairs. Iran's policies in the region need to be addressed, and the way to achieve that is dialogue."

He referred to recent talks between Iran and Arab countries as an example of such approach, adding, "We have seen a lot of Arab countries engaging in dialog with Iran with the purpose of making sure

The animation shows an all-terrain vehicle with an operator on board driving through streets and a golf course and approaching a point from where its camera shows a man who looks like Trump playing golf. The operator targets the figure and a large gun on top of the vehicle aims at the target and the video ends.

At the time of this publication the website was showing “error” and not responding to page requests but the video was still there.

Khamenei and other top civilian and military leaders have threatened revenge for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian operator who organized and controlled anti-Western and anti-Israeli militant groups in the Middle East. Trump ordered his killing in early 2020. He was one of Khamenei’s most trusted people.

Khamenei on January 1 lashed out at former US president Donald Trump and others for Soleimani’s killing, saying they “will pay back for their crime.”

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned Iran on Sunday against harming any Americans, after Tehran intensified calls for revenge on the second anniversary of Soleimani’s death.

Without providing many details, the statement [Jan. 13] said that Babak Iztzhaki in Jerusalem was the target by individuals recruited by Iran's Intelligence Ministry in Israel. The statement does not elaborate on the exact nature of the threat but says that Iran’s action “as part of a continued campaign of intimidation against Iranian journalists, is most strongly condemned as yet another abhorrent attack on the freedom of the press.”

But information released by Israeli authorities show that some of the suspects approached the Iran International bureau and tried to befriend Iztzaki and gather information. Their ultimate aim is not known at this point.

Israeli domestic intelligence service Shin Bet disclosed on Wednesday[Jan. 12] that it had successfully uncovered and broken up a spy ring created by Iran’s intelligence whose members were Israeli Jewish citizens with Iranian roots.

Authorities have arrested four women and a man who were recruited by Iranian agents over the Internet and persuaded to collect sensitive information and deliver to their handlers in exchange for relatively small amounts of money.

“Through coercion and manipulation of members of the Iranian community in Israel, actions by the Iranian regime have willfully endangered the security of Babak Itzhaki, his family and other members of the Iran International bureau in Israel,” Iran International said.

Itzhaki is one of few Persian speaking Israeli reporters who keep Iranian audiences informed about current affairs in Israel and stories related to long-running tensions between the Jewish state and the Islamic Republic. But the clerical government in Tehran regards Iran International Television and other foreign-based Persian broadcasters as enemies of the regime and regularly tries to intimidate journalists working in these media outlets. Harassment of their family members in Iran by intelligence services is a routine matter.

In September 2019 Iran abducted Ruhollah Zam, a Paris-based Iranian journalist by luring him to Iraq, where intelligence agents captured him and took him across the border to Iran. He was tried behind closed doors as a spy and executed in December 2020.

“The Iranian regime has sought to infiltrate the bureau in Israel as part of its global campaign to harass, intimidate and cause harm to Iranian journalists and their families,” the statement by Iran International said, and vowed that its journalists “will continue to work in defense of freedom of expression and of the press.”

Spying by five Israeli citizens for Iran came as a shock. “With their grave actions, those involved put themselves, their families and innocent Israeli citizens at risk, as their information was transferred to Iranian intelligence, in addition to the information that was handed over about Israeli sites and American sites in Israel, which would be used for terrorist purposes,” a senior Shin Bet official said on Wednesday.

Iran International called on governments and institutions “who support freedom of expression and who are advocates of free and independent journalism, to vigorously condemn the recent actions of the Iranian regime.”

Some scuffles were reported during the demonstrations on Thursday that took place outside the parliament in Tehran and at the provincial offices of the education ministry in other cities across the country.

The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, which had organized the protests, reported that several people were arrested during the Thursday protests, including two in the southern city of Bushehr and one in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.

This is the fourth nationwide protest by teachers in the past two months, as they vow to continue protests until their demands are met.

Iranians with different professions are holding regular protest rallies or strikes to demand better work conditions and salaries.

Less than a week ago, hundreds of staff members from Iran’s judiciary department took to the streets in several cities.

Food prices have risen by more than 60 percent this year, on top of high inflation in the previous three years. Government figures released in recent days showed that prices for 83 percent of basic food staples have reached a critical level. People living on salaries have cut back on consumption of nutritious food, such as meat, fruits and dairy products.