• US Issues New Hezbollah-Related Sanctions
The U.S. Treasury, moving to boost pressure on Hezbollah, imposed sanctions on Wednesday against two people and three firms that Washington accuses of being involved in schemes to help the armed Shi’ite group backed by Iran evade American sanctions.
Two individuals — a Belgium national and a Lebanon national — and three entities — two based in Belgium and one based in Britain — were sanctioned, according to a notice on the U.S. Department of Treasury’s website.
Treasury Undersecretary Sigal Mandelker said in a statement: “Treasury is relentlessly pursuing Hezbollah’s financial facilitators by dismantling two of Hezbollah’s most important financial networks,”.
• Khalid bin Salman: Iran Regime is spreading chaos in the region through destruction
Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Defense Minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, said that “Iran is spreading chaos in the region through destruction and blood,” in a speech at the International Security Conference in Moscow, Russia.
“The Iranian regime continues to feed sectarianism and disrespect international laws,” the minister said. Adding that it is “spreading chaos in the region through destruction and blood.”
“We must choose between the chaos that Iran spreads, and stability, security and development.”
The minister said that Iran is shaking the stability of the region “by supporting Hezbollah and the Houthis.”
• US vows to ‘spare no effort’ to combat Iranian threat in Yemen
The US special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, on Wednesday said Washington would spare no effort to battle the Iranian threat in Yemen.
“The US will work closely with the Yemeni government to eliminate all threats posed by Tehran’s terrorist regime in the region,” Mr Hook told Ahmed bin Mubarak, Yemen’s ambassador to the US, on Wednesday.
The two discussed crucial concerns on “Iran’s support to the Houthis and its inimical influence against reaching peace in Yemen”, Yemen’s embassy in Washington said on social media.
• Iran Guard ship spotted off Libyan coast
A ship with ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has been monitored off Libya’s western city of Misrata, the self-styled Libyan National Army has said.
“The vessel is involved in suspicious activities,” Ahmad Al Mesmari, the LNA spokesman said in televised remarks.
This month, the US designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group, imposing massive-ranging economic and travel sanctions on the powerful military arm of Tehran. The sanctions also cover companies and individuals dealing with the corps.
The ship is owned by an Iranian company, which is also under US sanctions, according to media reports.
• State Security Forces Arrest 25 Partygoers In Iran
Twenty-five men and women have been arrested at a mixed gender party near the northern city of Gorgan, Golestan Province, according to the judicial authorities of the city.
Head of the Justice Department of Golestan Province, Reza Seyed Hosseini said: “25 men and women were arrested on April 19, at a mixed gender party.”
Attacking and breaking up parties have been quite rife in Iran.
In a most recent case on January 22, 2019, at least 72 people were arrested at a mixed-gender party in Sari, the capital city of Mazandaran province.
• Iranian teachers and government retirees hold protests
A group of teachers and educators held rallies on Wednesday in protest to poor living conditions and their unpaid reward in front of the offices of the Education Ministry in Tehran.
The protesters were heard chanting:” We want our reward and it’s our legal right.”
Also on Wednesday, a group of construction workers gathered in Baneh in the western province of Kurdistan to protest the increase in insurance and unemployment.