Israel says Iran sabotaged French rail network ahead of Paris Olympics

The shift has happened as demand for Iranian crude from small buyers in the independent refining hub of Shandong province has waned in the face of deteriorating refining margins, squeezed by higher crude prices but weaker-than-expected fuel demand, traders said. They have been Iran's main buyers in China since 2019.

Iran, including its oil, is subject to US sanctions, reinstated in 2018 over concerns about its nuclear program. But China did not stop buying Iranian oil, with margin-driven independent plants filling a vacuum left by sanctions-wary state firms, Reuters has reported.

Vortexa, a consultancy that tracks tanker flows, said 23 cargoes, or a total of 45 million barrels, of Iranian oil was discharged at Dalian between October 2023 and June 2024.

It said this included 28 million barrels discharged at Changxing island, about 85 km (53 miles) northwest of central Dalian.

Another consultancy, Kpler, estimated China imported 34 million barrels into Dalian during the same period.The figures equate to 124,000-164,000 barrels per day, roughly 13% of China's total Iranian oil imports during the first half of 2024.Analysts estimate China imported 1.2-1.4 million bpd of Iranian crude during the period. Vortexa said the imports hit a record 1.52 million bpd last October.

When asked about the Dalian imports, China's foreign ministry told Reuters that China and Iran "have always maintained normal and legitimate trade under the international legal framework."China says it opposes unilateral sanctions. Still, tanker trackers and dealers say that traders rebrand Iranian oil destined for China as originating from elsewhere, such as Malaysia, Oman or the United Arab Emirates.

Officially, Chinese customs have not reported any imports of Iranian oil since June 2022.

There are four possible destinations for the Dalian shipments - Hengli Petrochemical's 400,000-bpd refinery complex and 44 million-barrel storage farm, two refineries run by state-giant PetroChina, and a 30 million-barrel storage base operated by the Liaoning Port Authority at Changxing island.

There is no pipeline connecting the storage facility to refineries outside Dalian, traders said.

Three senior trading sources close to Hengli said the company bought at least some of the shipments.

One of the sources estimated Hengli had bought 4 million barrels a month during the first few months of 2024. Another said the purchases were 4-6 million barrels a month.

Vortexa said Hengli was a buyer of Iranian crude shipments, based on its tanker tracking information and analysis.

A Hengli spokesperson said the company had not bought Iranian oil.

PetroChina, like China's other big state crude buyers, stopped buying Iranian oil around 2018/2019, traders and other industry experts have said.

PetroChina, Asia's largest oil-and-gas producer, did not respond to a request for comment.

The Liaoning Port Group and its unit Liaoning Port Co Ltd did not respond to emailed requests seeking comment.

Before last October, Dalian, which accounts for 6% of China's crude processing capacity, had received only sporadic Iranian oil shipments in recent years, according to Vortexa and Kpler.

Iranian oil is attractive to refiners due to steep discounts relative to similar Middle Eastern grades, such as Oman or Murban, or Russia's main export grade ESPO Blend.

(Report by Reuters)

According to the exclusive report by Iran International, on the afternoon of July 15, Ahmadinejad and his entourage were headed to Zanjan to participate in a religious ceremony. Before departure, the head of the security team checked a recently repaired Land Cruiser intended for Ahmadinejad and, complaining that the air conditioner was not properly fixed, requested Ahmadinejad to ride in another Land Cruiser.

In Mehr-e-Farda's report, published on the media's X account, it was mentioned that despite the original plan for Ahmadinejad to travel in the recently repaired Land Cruiser, the head of security decided that the former president should ride in another vehicle, while some members of the security team took the targeted Land Cruiser.

According to the channel affiliated with Ahmadinejad’s office, the security team realized mid-journey that the steering and brakes of the Land Cruiser were malfunctioning. The vehicle collided with other cars and eventually stopped on the side of the highway.

Iran International's report also emphasized that the steering and brakes of the Land Cruiser carrying the security team failed suddenly on the Karaj-Qazvin highway in the Abyek region. The vehicle spun around three times, veered left and right multiple times, hit the concrete barrier in the middle of the highway, collided with another vehicle in Ahmadinejad's convoy, and finally stopped after hitting a passing Peugeot on the right side of the highway.

Mehr-e-Farda pointed out that the investigation into this incident is ongoing. In a post on the channel's Telegram account, it asked, "Who is responsible for this assassination attempt?" This post was deleted without explanation early Friday morning.

Sources previously told Iran International that Ahmadinejad's office informed "responsible officials" of the incident on July 21, five days after the failed assassination attempt, and complained about multiple previous attacks and attempts on Ahmadinejad's life.

Information received by Iran International indicated that the Land Cruiser, which was sabotaged, was under the custody of the Presidential Office for repairs. However, instead of being sent to an authorized repair shop, it was handed over to unidentified "special security agents" and taken to an unknown location.

Given their organizational positions, these special security agents could belong to the higher ranks of one of three IRGC subunits: the IRGC Intelligence Organization, the IRGC Counterintelligence Organization, or the IRGC's Vali-e-Amr unit. These units have the authority to retrieve Ahmadinejad's vehicle from the Presidential Office's repair unit without coordination with the Ansar Protection Corps and could potentially carry out the alleged sabotage.

Iran International's exclusive report on the assassination attempt received widespread coverage in multiple international and some Iranian media outlets.

Among domestic media, Khabar Online noted the assassination attempt report on Ahmadinejad and wrote that "one of the figures close to the former president neither confirmed nor denied this claim."

Saberin News channel, close to security forces, confirmed the issue with Ahmadinejad's escort vehicle but wrote, "All the aforementioned news is false, and nothing happened to Ahmadinejad's vehicle."

However, neither Iran International's exclusive report nor Mehr-e-Farda's later news claimed any problem occurred with Ahmadinejad's vehicle.

Journalist Fariborz Kalantari, a day before Mehr-e-Farda's official response, posted details about the assassination attempt on his social media accounts, stating that Ahmadinejad's office is following up on the issue.

Ahmadinejad has previously spoken about assassination attempts on his life.

On August 26, 2023, the Dolat-e-Bahar Telegram channel, associated with Ahmadinejad, reported that his office sent a letter to senior military and security officials, warning of "very concerning actions" against him and calling for necessary protective measures and action against those responsible.

The channel quoted Ahmadinejad's office stating: "The recent actions clearly indicate an organized effort to assassinate Dr. Ahmadinejad."

On August 29, 2023, Alireza Beigi, a parliament member and close associate of Ahmadinejad, confirmed the Dolat-e-Bahar Telegram channel's report, saying: "Efforts to assassinate Ahmadinejad have increased in the past couple of months, and documentation of these efforts has been submitted to security agencies."

Previously, on March 1, 2021, domestic media reported that Ahmadinejad had responded to a question by saying: "The discussion of my assassination is serious. They will kill me, hold mourning ceremonies, and then accuse others. I have recorded the information I know and placed it in several secure locations."

Two US officials said the base itself had not been struck in the attack. This was the second such attack this week. Two drones were fired at the base on Tuesday, with no casualties.

The attack came two days after a military summit in Washington where Iraqi and US officials discussed winding down the coalition's work a decade after it was formed to fight Islamic State as it stormed across Iraq and Syria.

No major announcement was made at the end of the talks, though US and Iraqi sources say an announcement that it will begin to gradually wind down is likely in the coming weeks.

Iran’s Islamic government has long campaigned for US troops to leave Iraq, where it has established wide-ranging influence by creating armed militia groups. As a result, Iran-aligned Iraqi political and military factions have pressured the country's government to quickly draw down the coalition's work and say they want all 2,500 troops deployed by the country's one-time occupier to leave.

Washington and the Iraqi government say they want to transition to a bilateral security relationship that would likely see some troops remain in an advisory role.

US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003, toppled former leader Saddam Hussein and then withdrew in 2011, only to return in 2014 to fight Islamic State at the head of the coalition.

Iran-backed Iraqi armed factions have targeted bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria over the years and particularly since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, though there have only been a handful of attacks since February, when the US retaliated and an unofficial truce took hold.

The latest attacks come after Masoud Pezeshkian, who is presented as a “moderate” won the presidential election in Iran, raising some expectations in the West that he might restart nuclear talks. However, the United States has dismissed such suggestions, giving little credence to major changes under the new president.

Speaking at a security meeting in Qazvin Province Wednesday, Qasem Rezaei said implementation of the government's hijab enforcement initiative, known as the Nour (Light) Plan, will continue irrespective of the change in administrations.

Under the Nour Plan, businesses face closure if they fail to ensure compliance with hijab regulations among their customers, and cars are impounded if passengers are unveiled.

At a press briefing in Rasht a few weeks before the recent snap elections, Rezaei claimed that the enforcement of the hijab plan was a popular demand. He labeled unveiling as a "soft threat" and a "sedition" used by the enemy, urging the parliament to urgently pass a bill imposing cash fines and other punishments on women for unveiling.

The bill, originally drawn up by the government of President Ebrahim Raisi in July 2023, is officially titled "Protection of Family Through Promotion of Hijab and Chastity Culture".

The proposed bill secured parliamentary approval in September 2023 but has not yet come into effect due to formal objections raised by the Guardian Council which many believe stemmed from fears of a popular backlash rather than disagreement with its provisions.

Pezeshkian, who defended hijab enforcement in the early years of the Islamic Republic after 1979, has on several occasions in the past few years, including during recent election debates, denounced the deployment of the morality police and violence against women for “a few locks of hair”.

“We have been trying to institutionalize the hijab for forty years. Those behind the Nour Plan should tell us whether its implementation will lead us to light or there is darkness at the end,” Pezeshkian said in a campaign speech to a gathering of women on June 14.

Some women’s rights activists believe that Pezeshkian neither has the strong will to challenge hardliners over hijab and morality patrols, nor is invested with the power to do so as president.

Shirin Shams, a women’s rights activist, told Iran International that the police official’s statement was intended more for those within the ruling establishment, including Pezeshkian, who oppose the use of violence to enforce hijab. It was not aimed at Iranian society or the women who are determined to maintain the progress gained through hijab defiance.

Pointing out that it is unlikely the acting chief of the police was unaware of Masoud Pezeshkian’s promise to end the implementation of the hijab enforcement plan, prominent journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi criticized Rezaei for undermining Pezeshkian a few days ahead of his inauguration.

“The bigger question is why this police official did not say these things when Mr. Pezeshkian was trying to convince the people [who did not want to vote] to go to the ballot boxes … and is underscoring the powerlessness of the president about the matter now that [the election] is over?” Zeidabadi asked in a social media post.

Citizen reporters say enforcement of hijab was somehow relaxed after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May and during the following weeks when the but has once again picked up after the presidential elections.

The patrols had also largely vanished from the streets following the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini at the age of 22 in the custody of the morality police in September 2022. Her death sparked extensive protests that persisted for several months. Once the protests were repressed, the enforcement returned in 2023.

There has been a significant increase in the number of unveiled women, even in many traditionally conservative towns and cities, since Amini’s death.

Pezeshkian, who was a lawmaker at the time, strongly condemned the police violence against Amini one day after her death, and the crackdown on protesters in a fiery speech in the parliament.

His statement was made alongside a video clip of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress on Wednesday, where Netanyahu emphasized Iran's threats.

On Truth Social, Trump wrote, “If they do ‘assassinate President Trump,’ which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth — If that does not happen, American Leaders will be considered ‘gutless’ cowards!”

US authorities were reportedly aware of an alleged Iranian plan to assassinate Trump before an attempt on his life occurred at a rally. On July 13, twenty-year-old Thomas Michael Crooks opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing a former volunteer fire chief and injuring two others. Trump was slightly injured in his ear.

However, no direct link has been found between the reported Iranian plot and the attempted assassination.

In a recent interview with Iran International, Trump's former national security aide John Bolton said that naturally Trump would take the Iranian threat personally.

Trump withdrew from the Obama-era JCPAO nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and imposed heavy sanctions, that have crippled Iran's weak economy.

Relations between the US and Iran became more strained since the 2020 US drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, and Iran's top military intelligence operative in the Middle East.

Iranian officials, both political and military, have persistently issued threats against Trump and former members of his administration to avenge Soleimani's death, who orchestrated Iran's proxy operations throughout the region. For instance, in February 2023, Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace force, explicitly declared that the Islamic Republic intends to kill Trump.

In January 2022, Iran's former President Ebrahim Raisi vowed retaliation for Soleimani's killing unless former US President Donald Trump was brought to trial.

"If Trump and (former Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo are not tried in a fair court for the criminal act of assassinating General Soleimani, Muslims will take our martyr's revenge," Raisi said in a televised speech.

In 2022, the US Justice Department brought charges against a member of the IRGC for plotting to assassinate John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, likely in retaliation for Soleimani's death. Similar threats have been directed at other former Trump administration officials, including Mike Pompeo and Robert O'Brien, who continue to have security details due to ongoing risks.

Soleimani played a crucial role in Iran's external military and intelligence operations, often orchestrating hostilities against US forces in the region. Despite Iran's denials, the security concerns for those involved in the decision to kill Soleimani remain significant, necessitating ongoing protection measures.

Trump's post echoes his controversial rhetoric from 2019, when he threatened the "obliteration" of Iran if they attacked "anything American."