Category: News

• Yemen has warned the USA. “We will not remain silent if the attacks on Iran continue.”

• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it detected an F-16 fighter jet that had violated Iran’s airspace and fired surface-to-air missiles at it, forcing it to retreat.

• Commenting on the situation, the former US chief negotiator Robert Melli stated. “If [the Trump administration] really thinks that Iran’s position will change through an attack, then this situation is typical of someone who is desperate because of not getting what he wants, so he takes irregular steps and attacks. They confuse military escalation with the leverage of pressure, just to make sure once again that pressure will not change Iran’s attitude.”

• Israeli Channel 11 reports. “Israel is not involved in the strikes against Iran at this stage.”

• The attack continues. American officials say it will last for hours.

• The target map of US strikes against Iran has been presented.
  US forces strike along the southern coast of Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz. Asaluye, Bandar Abbas, Qeshm, Hengam Island, Minab, Kargan and Sirik.

• Prospects for diplomatic progress in negotiations between the United States and Iran have become even more hazy after the Qatari mediation delegation left Tehran on Wednesday evening without making any progress in the talks, reports The New York Times.

• Sources monitoring the movement of military aviation report that two units of the US Air Force “KC-135R Stratotanker” air refueling aircraft are currently conducting refueling maneuvers in the south of Hormozgan province, west of the Strait of Hormuz. These stratotankers took off from the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

• According to IRIB and their Iraqi sources, the American military base “Al-Harir” in Erbil, in the north of Iraq, was targeted by an Iranian missile. Iraqi Al-Ma’uluma media also reported that Iran destroyed an American radar in Erbil.

• According to Arab news sources, Iran did not make any concessions to the United States during the negotiations, which probably led to the current stage of the military conflict.

• Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth periodical. “One of the American warships was seriously injured during the night clash today.”

• Fox News, referring to a high-ranking US official, reports that several new waves of attack are planned for Iran tonight.

• Information is being spread about the intensive activity of American fighter jets in the north of Iraq.

• Sources following the movement of military aviation report that a large number of American aerial refueling planes have taken off from Israel to support the ongoing operations.

• At this moment, fighters of the Air Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran are flying over Tehran.

• Israel’s Channel 12 reports that the Israeli army is preparing to join the United States in a new campaign against Iran.

• The US armed forces, by order of the Commander-in-Chief, have started to strike additional targets in Iran, announced CENTCOM (Central Command of the US Armed Forces).

• A US representative told Axios that all the targeted facilities are located in the south of Iran. According to him, among them are air defense systems, radars, as well as command and control points for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

• These strikes are being carried out to put pressure on Tehran to sign the agreement, but they could lead to an escalation of the military conflict, writes Axios.

• Explosions have just been heard in Bandar Abbas, Iran’s state IRIB agency reports.

• Iran launched missile attacks on American targets in northern Iraq

• According to Iraqi sources, the American military base “Al-Harir” located in the north of Iraq (Erbil) was subjected to rocket attacks launched from the territory of Iran.

• The Iraqi “Al-Maluma” website reports that an American radar system was destroyed in Erbil, the center of Iraqi Kurdistan, as a result of Iranian strikes.

• The USA will strike Iran hard tonight, Pentagon chief Hegsett said earlier, and added that bombings will be carried out in the direction of key infrastructures.

• Due to military operations, US President Donald Trump will not attend the opening game of the FIFA World Cup, which was scheduled to take place on Friday in Los Angeles between the US and Paraguay national teams. This is reported by “Politico” magazine, referring to its informed sources.

• Iranian radio and television and “Tasnim” news agency report that loud explosions are heard in the port city of Bandar Abbas. In addition, the petrochemical plant belonging to the “South Pars” gas complex located in the city of Asaluye was bombed. According to the circulating information, the Kargan naval base was also targeted once again.

The journalist of Axios, referring to a high-ranking American official, reported a while ago that the strikes on Iran have begun.

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Shiraz Khachatryan, an expert of “Henaket” analytical center, writes: “I was watching the last Facebook live of Edmon Marukyan… what can I say, it is hard to find a more pathetic scene than putting one’s own political bankruptcy in the pocket of the “formers”. The figure who experienced a complete fiasco and ended up in a dead end, instead of admitting his own incompetence, went back to the old craft of trying to blame all his failures and mistakes on the RPA and Serzh Sargsyan.

The irony is that just yesterday these same entities were publicly thanking the RPA for the correct decision not to participate in the elections and not to pollute the field. And today, when they stand in front of the broken trough, they are again ordering the culprits. A more absolute sign of political immorality is hard to find.

Even so, Marukyan did not decide whose door he serves or whose ambassador he pretends to be on “special assignments”.

Put an end to this primitivism and pettiness. Even cheap shows should have a limit. Just play away…”

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Today, the chairman of the “Enlightened Armenia” party, Nikol Pashinyan, former ambassador with special assignments, Edmon Marukyan once again targeted the leader of the RPA, the 3rd president of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, calling him “Nikol Pashinyan’s lawyer”.

Eduard Sharmazanov, member of the RPA Executive Body, former vice-chairman of the National Assembly, published a video in response to Edmon Marukyan.

“For 7-8 years, the society, my close friends and colleagues asked me a question, they said: have you communicated with Edmon Marukyan, have you worked with him? Is he Nikol Pashinyan’s political trap, the political six, is he Nikol Pashinyan’s six and a mine in the opposition field. I have refrained, given the full range of circumstances. But today Edmon crossed all the red lines. No more, no less, like others, he says: Nikol Pashinyan’s lawyer is Serzh Sargsyan.

Are you talking about Nikol Pashinyan’s advocacy… You, who were Nikol’s special ambassador, and there was no hole that you did not defend, because you justified the handover of Lachin, Susi, Aghavno…

Didn’t you say, Edmond, there is no negotiation? We had coffee with Nikol Pashinyan, he convinced me.

Whenever Serzh Sargsyan’s team, led by Serzh Sargsyan, did not come home from the streets and fight, was caught, detained, you received bonuses from Nikol Pashinyan, do it. And you are not ashamed, are you talking like this now?

You behave like a political trap. At that time, Nikol was using you as a political trap, and now others? At that time, you received instructions from Nikol, and now from others? You are a mine in the opposition.

And one thing… don’t get between Armen Ashotyan and Serzh Sargsyan, please, don’t get between the finger and the ring to try to assert yourself now with your little mutilation. We will be crushed politically. If you are considered a political triad, act like a political triad,” said Eduard Sharmazanov.

Details in the video.

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Azerbaijanologist Tatevik Hayrapetyan writes: “Pashinyan’s victory became possible thanks to Ilham Aliyev’s strategic vision,” Azai Guliyev, a deputy from Azerbaijan, said two days ago.

He noted that “the result of the elections should be considered first of all as a new success and victory of Ilham Aliyev’s political line and his strategic vision regarding the future of the South Caucasus…”.
He added:

“However, the Armenian society and the authorities are facing another important challenge: to amend the constitutional provisions containing territorial claims against Azerbaijan in order to remove the last remaining legal obstacles on the way to sustainable peace and the signing of a peace agreement.

The results of yesterday’s elections show that the Armenian society today is more ready than before to take steps in this direction and realizes that there is no alternative to it.”

What does this show? The Azerbaijani side is satisfied with the success of its candidate Pashinyan, because Pashinyan is their main tool against the Armenian state, and the tool should be used to the maximum. Therefore, in the near future, he will be forced to organize the referendum of Aliyev, the text of the constitution will be dictated from Baku. This is Aliyev’s political plan to humiliate the Armenian community as much as possible, which will never lead to the signing of the contract, instead it aims to finally break the Armenian community and simply nullify the sovereignty. This is exactly what Aliyev’s candidate will do in the near future. At the same time, I think this is entirely preventable, and it requires a broad public consolidation.”

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A bipartisan resolution was presented in the US Congress calling on Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian prisoners of war and civilians held in Baku. This is reported by the American Armenian Dat office.

Should we build expectations around this resolution and in which case is the return of Armenian prisoners possible? 168․am–addressed these questions Siranush Sahakyan, representative and lawyer of Armenian prisoners at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).in։

First, he noted that although we are dealing with discussions in the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, it has not yet passed the necessary stages of becoming a law and it is still unclear what will happen.

“I should note that during the previous discussions, these initiatives did not reach their logical end, that is, they did not become a law, with the difference of a few votes. On the other hand, I would like to note that in order to become a law, the threshold must first be overcome, it must be discussed in the plenary session, and the House of Representatives must discuss it, after which a discussion and vote must take place in the Senate.

We do not rule out revising the wording here either, and most importantly, after acceptance, it must be signed by the president, and only after passing those thresholds can it become a law.

In my opinion, this is mostly a political position, and not an initiative aimed at establishing legally binding behavior for the authorities of Azerbaijan. It is also not a punitive step, because the draft does not contain a procedure for providing sanctions in case of non-compliance, and in many cases in America it is combined with threats of sanctions, and here, for example, it is defined a limitation of some aid, sanctions against officials, obligation to submit regular reports, etc.

Along with this, the issue is important because the agenda is being set at the Congress level. This is a message that the issue of prisoners is not only a closed negotiation topic between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it is an issue subject to international political pressure,” explained the human rights defender.

He also emphasized bipartisan support, noting that overcoming vote thresholds in single-party initiatives is quite difficult. in this case, the situation is already encouraging.

“And if it does not directly lead to the release of prisoners, for example, it is accepted, but Azerbaijan evades its implementation, it still remains as a diplomatic lever, and US officials can always refer to the position of the Congress in meetings with Azerbaijan and emphasize the implementation of the provisions of those resolutions in bilateral relations, as well as the adoption by America.

I think this may pave the way for the adoption of similar bills in other countries pursuing policies compatible with the American policy, for example, it may be Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, etc., which seem to adopt common foreign policy courses,” added the representative of the Armenian prisoners.

Speaking in general about the possibility of the return of prisoners in the context of Trump’s policy adopted in our region, if this issue was not included in the so-called Peace Agreement, Siranush Sahakyan elaborated: “I think two parallel processes are going on. Although this clause is missing in the peace agreement, the American administration also reaffirms its involvement in the solution of the problem in this way, which will increase the credibility of the peace process.

If this element is ignored, which is ignored in the formal text, I think that the promise of peace will be difficult to implement, viable. It will mostly remain at the level of a wish, a dream, but in the context of the coexistence of peoples, the results of peace will not be tangible. That’s why I see that it seems like a parallel policy is being conducted.”

By the way, it is noted that the resolution was presented in the US Congress by Brad Sherman (Democrat, California), the vice-chairman of the Armenian Affairs Committee of the Congress, and was discussed in the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives. and now it is expected to be voted on in the committee.

The resolution states that Azerbaijan should immediately and unconditionally release all Armenian prisoners of war and political prisoners.

“Given the documented executions of Armenian POWs by Azerbaijani forces, including several executions that have been recorded and shared on social media, as documented by Human Rights Watch, it is vitally important that the United States unequivocally advocates for the immediate and unconditional release of all Armenian POWs,” Brad Sherman said during the committee hearing.

It is reported that Representative Sherman also described the release of hostages as a direct part of US President Donald Trump’s peace efforts in the South Caucasus.

“As President Trump continues his efforts to ensure lasting peace in the South Caucasus, the release of Armenian prisoners of war and political prisoners will be a significant step towards this achievement,” he noted.

Azerbaijan continues to illegally hold 19 Armenian prisoners, including representatives of the former military and political leadership of Karabakh. Imprisonment sentences were passed against them on false charges.

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