Iranian Agents Threatened To Rape, Kill Students To Get Confessions

Security Minister Fernandez Anibal said on Wednesday that the four were arrested Monday night at the Ezeiza international airport as they tried to board a plane with false documents. The individuals intended to travel to the Netherlands on a KLM airline flight. 

Some reports said the two couples were of Iranian origin but it was not confirmed by any Argentinian official. The suspects were later identified as Iraqi Kurds, and members of the Yazidi religion who fled Iraq with the aim of establishing themselves in Germany via Amsterdam. 

He added their case is being investigated by the same federal judge in charge of the Iranian plane grounded in Argentina, Federico Villena. 

Villena is the same magistrate who is investigating the 14 Venezuelans and five Iranians who arrived in this capital in June on a plane from the Venezuelan state company Emtrasur, a subsidiary of Conviasa, grounded over links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. 

Earlier in August, Villena authorized the departure of 12 of the 19 people who were onboard, ordering four Iranians and three Venezuelans to be retained in Argentina.

Registered as a Venezuelan cargo plane, the aircraft was used by the Iranian company Mahan Air and transported a group of Iranian officials, including pilot Gholamrez Ghasemi, a senior executive of the airline Qeshm Fars Air, who is a member of the IRGC and a former board member of Fars Air Qeshm who stands accused of transporting weapons for Hezbollah during the civil war in Syria.

In a tweet on Thursday, he said the stabilization process of the satellite, dubbed Khayyam after a 12th-century Persian polymath, was done successfully. 

He added that Iranian knowledge-based companies will be able to use its images and data in various fields.

As Iran’s homegrown attempts at putting satellites into orbit have largely failed due to its technological limitations, Russia agreed to build and launch the Kanopus-V Earth-observation satellite that can resolve features as small as 3.9 feet (1.2 meters) on Earth's surface at a cost of about $40 million in a deal negotiated nearly four years. Iran claims it was designed by the country’s scientists but it is one of a series of satellites developed by the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Electromechanics.

Russia launched the controversial satellite into space Tuesday, August 9, from its Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan as planned. 

The satellite sparked controversy last week when The Washington Post quoted two Western security officials as saying that Moscow intends to use the space platform for several months or longer, to enhance its surveillance of military targets for its war in Ukraine, and Iran may not be able to take control of the satellite right away.

Iran's Space Agency denied the report on August 7, saying the satellite will be fully operated and controlled by the Islamic Republic from inside Iran.

In a joint press conference with his Cypriot counterpart Charalambos Petrides, Gantz said the financial support is in addition to the transfer of technical intelligence for the constitution of military bases in Gaza from which to launch attacks against civilian centers in southern Israel. 

"Israel will continue to act against Iran's emissaries together with our partners. We will continue to work together for the stability of the entire region," he added.

After the launch of Operation Breaking Dawn against targets in Gaza on August 5, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that Islamic Jihad is an Iranian proxy that wants to destroy Israel, noting that Israel has a zero-tolerance policy for any attempted attacks from Gaza. The head of Islamic Jihad -- a militant outfit designated a terrorist organization by the US, EU, and UK -- was in Tehran when during the three-day operation. 

Ziyad al-Nakhalah held meeting with several senior Iranian officials in Tehran including Supreme Leader's adviser Ali Akbar Velayati, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and Kamal Kharrazi, the head of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, as well as President Ebrahim Raisi and a number of high-ranking IRGC commander. 

Tehran condemned the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, vowed continued support and called for closer ties between the Islamic Republic and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In a Wednesday interview with Israel’s Channel 13, Tom Nides reiterated Washington’s full support of Israel’s right to self-defense after the latest operation against Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant outfit designated a terrorist organization by the US, EU, and UK. Iran also backs the Gaza rulers, Hamas.

“Every option is on the table, as President Biden has said. We’re not going to allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Every option is on the table,” Nides said of the Iranian nuclear threat.

“We support Israel’s right to defend itself, its right to basically take the actions it needs to keep this place safe, so we’re fully supportive of Israel’s actions,” the envoy said.

Israel launched airstrikes against the group on August 5, kicking off three days of fighting, before an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire came into force Sunday night. “These are bad guys,” Nides said referring to the terror groups. “We’re aware of the situation going on in Gaza. We understood this was an important mission for the Israelis.”

Earlier in the week, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that she remains committed to standing up to Iranian hostility and their pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"The UK stands by Israel and its right to defend itself. We condemn terrorist groups firing at civilians and violence which has resulted in casualties on both sides. We call for a swift end to the violence," the candidate to becomes the next UK prime minister added.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Florida’s senator Marco Rubio said, “Why is Biden still negotiating with Iran on a new 'deal' when he knows they are actively trying to assassinate former government officials on US soil?

While Iran rejected US accusations of a plot to kill former national security adviser John Bolton, the threat to US citizens can have an impact on nuclear talks as critics question Biden’s reasoning to continue the nuclear talks with the regime in Tehran.

Representative Claudia Tenney (Rep-NY) rebuked the administration for trying to “lift terror sanctions on the IRGC, even though it knew the IRGC was plotting to kill Americans on US soil.”

“The regime in Iran does not deserve nor should it receive a penny in sanctions relief,” she added.

Urging the administration to call off the talks in Vienna until the assassination plots end, former State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said, “Even in light of this, Biden admin “only respond once Iran kills one of our former officials.

“Iranian agents were willing to pay $300,000 to assassinate Bolton and suggested he be run over with a car or shot at short range. Iran planned worse for Pompeo. Iran offered to pay $1 million to kill him, and told their operative a 'long-range capability' was necessary.”

She stressed the need “to kick out the Iranian Interests Section in DC immediately and reimpose strict travel restrictions on Iranian 'diplomats’ in NYC.”