During a press briefing, Nasser Kanaani dismissed the news as unfounded, stating he was unaware of its origin.

He continued, “The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also had a clear and explicit position in this regard. The Islamic Republic of Iran and China, as two countries in favor of convergence, have consistently demonstrated their commitment to regional and international justice, peaceful resolution of disputes and conflicts, and opposition to tension. The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed a clear opinion about what is happening in Palestine, Gaza, and the Red Sea. We also agree that the immediate priority is to cease the atrocities of Israel in Gaza. The developments in the Red Sea are just consequences of the injustice that we witness in Gaza.”

Earlier some news agencies such as Reuters claimed the Chinese officials have requested their Iranian counterparts, urging them to take action to quell attacks on ships in the Red Sea carried out by the Ansarullah, underscoring the potential risk to their business relations with Tehran if these attacks continue unchecked.

Amid Iran’s repeated assertions that regional Resistance groups operate independently for the security of their countries and the support of the oppressed Palestinian people, the Western countries claim that Iran is fully backing these movements in the region.

Iranian officials have asserted that the U.S. and Israel’s accusations against Tehran are politically motivated, denying claims of being “deeply involved” in attacks by Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

Sana’a has repeatedly stated that it targets only ships heading to occupied territories and ensures freedom of navigation for other ships in the Red Sea.

Yemen’s Armed Forces and the country’s Ansarullah have been staging many strikes against Israeli vessels or those bound for the occupied Palestinian territories’ ports.

The operations have been described as a response to an October 7, 2023-present war and siege that the Israeli regime has been waging against Gaza following an operation carried out by the Palestinian territory’s resistance movements.

Since the inception of the war in the enclave, nearly 26,300 Palestinians, some 70 percent of whom are women, children, and adolescents, have been killed.

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The Yemeni army announced on Tuesday the liberation of two more districts in the strategic west-central province of Ma’rib from pro-Saudi militants, urging the mercenaries to surrender “before it is too late.”

At a presser, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the armed forces’ spokesman, said the province’s al-Jubah and Jabal Murad Districts were liberated by the army and allied popular forces during the second phase of ‘Operation Spring of Victory.’

The Yemeni armed forces have vowed not to lay down their arms until the complete liberation of the whole country that has been subjected to a Saudi-led war since March 2015.

On Friday, Yemeni forces and allied fighters from Popular Committees also captured a key military base occupied by Saudi militants loyal to former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in the country’s strategic oil-rich province of Ma’rib, and moved closer to the heart of energy reserves in the area.

Local military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said army troops and their allies launched intense attacks in the al-Jubah district of Ma’rib, and managed to seize Umm Reesh base following hours of fighting with Saudi mercenaries on Friday.

As the Yemeni armed forces advance and liberate more districts, some media outlets have reported the U.S. is to sell more weapons to Saudi Arabia.

On Thursday the United States approved a $650m sale of air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon announced, in what would be the Biden administration’s first major weapons deal with the Persian Gulf kingdom.

In a statement on Thursday, the Pentagon said the U.S. State Department approved the sale to help Riyadh counter current and future threats.

“This proposed sale will support US foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political and economic progress in the Middle East,” the Pentagon said.

It added that Massachusetts-based firm Raytheon would be the “principal contractor” for the sale of AIM-120C-7/C-8 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) and related equipment.

The sale comes months after President Joe Biden said he would end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s “offensive operations” in Yemen, including “relevant arms sales”.

The State Department’s bureau of political-military affairs noted in a series of tweets on Thursday that the missiles are “not used to engage ground targets”. As a candidate, Biden berated Saudi Arabia over the Yemen war and the killing of U.S-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, calling the kingdom a “pariah”.

It seems Biden is not a man of words and he has changed his words due to the advancement of Yemeni Army and he has come to the rescue of the Saudis under the pressure of Zionists and Saudis despite his election campaign vows.

Yemen’s Ansarullah movement condemned the new U.S. arms deal with Saudi Arabia as a show of Washington’s continued support for Riyadh’s war-mongering.

A senior member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, Mohammed al-Houthi, has slammed the recent U.S. arms sale to Saudi Arabia, saying it confirms the contradiction in Biden’s administration when it comes to Yemen.

In a tweet, al-Houthi said the arms sales once again proved that the administration of U.S. President Biden had no real intention to stop the support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen.

Observers say Biden’s promises to stop the war on Yemen have been nothing but lies to gain more votes in the elections. They say the new U.S. missiles sold to Riyadh will be used to bomb Yemenis in fighter jets such as F-15, and not as defensive weapons, contrary to what Washington claims.

Saudi Arabia, with Washington’s support, launched a deadly war on Yemen in March 2015. Over the years, the kingdom has used internationally-prohibited weapons, including the US cluster bombs, to target residential areas, according to the Cluster Munition Monitor.

But Yemenis have proved that they can overcome problems and defeat enemies with empty hands but with strong determination. Their recent victories have angered Saudis in a way that Saudis have started a dispute with Lebanon to stop Hizbullah from its support to Ansarullah and Yemen Army, and the U.S. Administration has been forced to arm Saudis with new weapons but they have forgotten that strong determination is the best weapon for defeating enemies as the Americans themselves have witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and soon Saudi-led coalition forces will experience such a humiliating defeat in Yemen.

Resistance Front and Islamic Movement in the world is now determined to fight for its right against any ill-wisher either it is the U.S, Zionists, European or any other country as the victory approaches.

The post Yemenis Inching Towards Victory appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Late on Tuesday, the websites of a number of Iranian news media outlets, most notably the English-language Press TV and the Arabic-language Al Alam, as well as regional media outlets close to Iran, were blocked with a message showing that the websites were seized by the government of the United States.

“The domain presstv.com has been seized by the United States Government in accordance with a seizure warrant…as part of a law enforcement action by the Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement and Federal Bureau of Investigation,” the message on Press TV website read.

The websites of Iran’s Arabic-language Al Kawthar television network, Yemen’s al-Masirah TV channel and Bahrain’s Lualua television network were also among the targeted outlets.

The U.S. State Department declined to comment on the matter and referred it to the Justice Department, which later issued a statement confirming the seizure of Iranian websites. The statement alleged that the targeted websites were used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union and Kata’ib Hizballah of Iraq.

“Today, pursuant to court orders, the United States seized 33 websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU) and three websites operated by Kata’ib Hizballah (KH), in violation of U.S. sanctions,” the statement said.

In an echo of the Trump administration’s allegations against Iran’s news organizations, the Justice Department accused IRTVU and others like it of being “disguised as news organizations or media outlets” and targeting “the United States with disinformation campaigns and malign influence operations.”

“Thirty-three of the websites seized today were operated by IRTVU. The 33 domains are owned by a United States company. IRTVU did not obtain a license from OFAC prior to utilizing the domain names. Three additional websites seized today were operated by KH,” the statement continued.

It added, “These website seizures were investigated by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement and the FBI. The National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the seizure. Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers for the Justice Department’s National Security Division; Special Agent in Charge J.C. (Chris) Hacker, of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Ariel Joshua Leinwand, of the Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement’s Atlanta Office, made the announcement. The National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section is investigating this matter in coordination with the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and Atlanta Field Office.”

This is not the first time that the U.S. targets Iranian news organizations or media outlets allegedly affiliated with Iran. Under Trump, the U.S. seized dozens of websites operated by Iranian entities or non-Iranian groups. Among these websites, was the Fars News.

Press TV has also been targeted many times by U.S. social media and internet services companies. Technology giant Google has targeted Press TV at least seven times, blocking the English-language news network’s access to its official YouTube account without any prior notice.

“We have reviewed your content and found severe or repeated violations of our Community Guidelines. Because of this, we have removed your channel from YouTube,” Google told the Iranian broadcaster in a message in late March after blocking its access to YouTube.

Over the past years, the U.S. tech giant has recurrently been opting for such measures against Iranian media outlets. It has taken on Press TV more than any other Iranian outlet given the expanse of its viewership and readership, according to Press TV.

Analysts believe the U.S. move against Iranian news organizations reflects a sense of American failure in suffocating the Iranian narrative. Ben Norton, an American journalist and commentator, has called the U.S. seizure of Iranian websites “another attack on freedom of press and speech.”

In an interview with Press TV, Norton described the U.S. move as “desperation to control a narrative that Washington has lost control of.”

“It’s incredible to see that while the U.S. government is accusing other countries of supposedly violating press freedoms, it’s actually seizing the property of foreign media outlets and not just Iranian but also Yemeni. This is rather incredible because of course there’s so much propaganda and fake news and dehumanization in the Western media. The U.S. government claims for instance that the IRGC is a terrorist organization, which is an absurd designation. This is a major violation of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. And it’s especially ironic coming from a government that … even carries out a cruise in the name of defending freedom of speech and democracy and civil liberties when it is actually violating them pretty egregiously,” Norton said.

He added that the claim that Press TV and other media outlets are supposedly disseminating disinformation is laughable on its face. “When the U.S. government says disinformation what it really means is information that Washington doesn’t like. And we’ve seen the U.S. government use this talking point to censor outlets not only abroad but also at home. It’s a desperation to control a narrative that Washington has lost control of,” Norton continued.

Iran condemned the U.S. move against Iranian news websites, calling it “illegal” and “bullying.”

An Iranian official at the United Nations called the U.S.’s move to block Iranian websites illegal and said, “This issue will be pursued through legal channels.”

Rejecting the U.S. “illegal and bullying”, the Iranian diplomat told IRNA on Tuesday that the move was an attempt to restrict freedom of expression.

Mahmoud Vaezi, the Iranian president’s chief of staff, accused the U.S. of pursuing double standards in terms of dealing with freedom of expression.

“They always have a double standard, that is, they observe the issue that pertains to themselves and their friends, but what pertains to other countries and Islamic countries, they have a double discriminatory approach,” Vaezi told reporters on Wednesday.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also reacted to the U.S. seizure of Iranian websites. Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh, in response to the seizure of Iranian media websites belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Radio and Television, called the move a “systematic attempt by the United States to undermine global freedom of expression and silence independent voices in the media.”

The spokesman called it shameful for Washington to continue these double standards, adding that the current U.S. administration is following in the footsteps of the previous U.S. administration, which will only lead to a double defeat for Washington.

At the end of his statement, Khatibzadeh emphasized that “the Islamic Republic of Iran, while rejecting this illegal and bullying action, will pursue the issue through legal channels.”

A leader of Yemen’s Ansarallah also reacted to the seizure, saying it showed that the message has been delivered.

Mohammad Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Yemeni Ansarallah political bureau, in response to the U.S. move to close several official Iraqi, Yemeni and Iranian websites, stressed that the move reflects the influence of these networks.

In a tweet on Tuesday, al-Houthi said the U.S. seizure of these websites shows that their message has been received and that these outlets have made an impact, and that free media frightens regimes claiming to defend freedom of expression.

He added that this move also shows the falsehood and superficiality of American democracy and proves that America acts on the principle of comprehensive confrontation and is the example of the verse of the Qur’an which says to comprehensively fight the polytheists as they fight comprehensively.

Yemen’s Al Masirah website was among the outlets targeted by the latest wave of U.S. seizures. Ansarallah reactivated the Al Masirah network a few hours after it became unavailable using another domain.

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According to Alahed, Seyyed Nasrallah stressed that “The resistance took advantage of the July 2006 war experience, setting a developed military system to defend our land.”

He further noted that ‘Israel’ has been trying over 13 years to renovate its ground forces and its confidence to achieve victory but it is still unable to do that.

He reiterated an earlier promise that the enemy’s brigades and their tanks will be destroyed live on TV screens, adding that the world will witness the live broadcast of the destroying the ‘Israeli brigades that would enter Lebanon.’

Voicing the strength of the axis of resistance, he stressed that the Zionists wanted during the July war to put an end to all the states of resistance in the region, however, “today we have an axis of resistance that stretches from Palestine to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Yemen.”

He further explained that “The former head of the strategic planning at the ‘Israeli’ army confessed that the enemy’s entity is small and breakable, and that with a few number of accurate missiles, Hezbollah is able to inflict heavy costs on it in any war.”

Resistance’s cost way less expensive than submission

Tackling the issue of resistance in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, he said “Syria endured the universal war and is heading with stable steps towards victory,” adding that “a strong and faithful resistance in Iraq forced the Americans to withdraw.” He then went on to say the “Yemen today is in a state of legendary endurance and stability, and that there are signs of the near defeat of the aggression.”

The resistance leader considered that “relying on the axis of resistance leads to stopping the aggression against Yemen, and will prevent Iraq from returning to the American hegemony.”

“With the might of the resistance front, al-Quds and the sanctities maybe restored, and Gaza remains dignified with the hope filling the hearts of the Palestinians.”

He noted that “the cost of resistance is way less than that of submitting and compromising,” stressing that with the resistance the land, dignity, oil, sovereignty and honor remain, while with submission they would take them all.

Regarding the axis of resistance, Seyyed Nasrallah said that “when talking about a US war on Iran, the axis of resistance is the one that prevents the war through its solid stance, endurance and readiness to burst the region out.”

What prevents war is the cohesion of the resistance front, Seyyed Nasrallah added.

Naming those pushing the region towards a war, Hezbollah Secretary-General listed ‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and some Gulf countries: “We want to stop the wars in Yemen and Syria and preserve stability in Iraq and Lebanon.”

Hinting to US President Donald Trump’s retreat from waging a war on Iran, Seyyed Nasrallah explained that it is because Trump recognized how strong and capable Iran is on the military level, not to mention its courage and bravery.

Resistance didn’t spare Zionists from fleeing under fire

Regarding the square of confrontation (comprising the villages of Ainatha, Bint Jbeil, Maroun al-Ras and Aitaroun) where the celebration was held, Seyyed Nasrallah said this place witnessed one of the major battles during the July war, and it was a main decisive point during the war.

“The enemy was eyeing Bint Jbeil because it would have represented a moral and military achievement upon which it would build its achievements during the rest of the war,” the resistance leader explained, adding that “the Zionist war minister insisted on Bint Jbeil where the 200 Liberation celebration was held to deliver a speech in which he tells the world that ‘Israeli’ is not feebler than a spider web, but he also failed.”

Sayyed Nasrallah noted that “the resistance fighters confronted the enemy’s army a few meters away from one house to another and under tough military circumstances, and Allah blessed them with victory.”

The resistance didn’t spare the ‘Israeli’ from fleeing under, Sayyed Nasrallah said, explaining why the enemy committed massacres in the villages. “The ‘Israeli’ army wanted to present a field achievement but its defeat in Bint Jbeil made it desperate from making any ground achievement.”

Sayyed Nasrallah further praised the resistance men and the villagers who confirmed the spider web belief which the ‘Israeli’ was dying to eliminate.

Fire intended for the region will burn their faces

“The evidence on Iran’s power and will is the legal downing the US spy drone and the detaining of the British oil tanker,” Sayyed Nasrallah explained.

He further stressed that “The Iranian people refuse that their officials negotiate under pressure because their dignity is above all,” noting that “a war on Iran is a war on the entire axis of resistance, which means that the region will burn.”

Hence, His Eminence stressed that “the fire some are attempting to ignite in the region will burn their faces and entities, not only their fingers.”

The tripartite equation saved Lebanon

“Neither the US nor the international community and the Arab protection can remind Lebanon of a favor regarding its stability and freedom,” he said, adding that the tripartite equation of the Army, people and resistance is the one that made safety and stability in Lebanon.

“The scheme of 2006 war on Lebanon was supposed to crush the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine, crush the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, stabilize the US occupation of Iraq, eliminate resistance there, in addition to isolating Iran on the way to topple it,” Sayyed Nasrallah stressed.

“July war stopped for one reason which is that the US and ‘Israel’ recognized their failure in making any achievement in this war and their fear of things turning against them.

“Had ‘Israel’ continued the war after what it had faced over its course, it would have been heading towards a major catastrophe; and had the US scheme succeeded, it would have led to American hegemony in the region, and the starting point would have been the July 2006 war.”

Invitation to the Second Liberation celebration

On the domestic level, Hezbollah Secretary General noted that in the past few days, people celebrated the Eid al-Adha occasion in the villages and the cities with total peace of mind and without any concern, which is of great importance.

“We notice the phenomenon of construction in the south with the people’s money and the money of the expatriates against whom the US and its minions are fighting a shameful war. This excess of power the southerners are feeling is a result of the resistance’s efforts, struggle and tiredness,” Sayyed Nasrallah explained.

The resistance leader called for celebrating another festival which is the occasion of the Second Liberation in Lebanon, when Hezbollah liberated Arsal from terrorist groups in 2017.

The celebration will be held on August 25 in the town on al-Ain, Beqaa area.

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