TEHRAN (Iran News) – The US assassination of the top Iranian commander, Major General Qassem Soleimani was condemned by different countries.

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Iran’s power is so great that all countries know regional problems cannot be resolved without the Islamic Republic power of counter, IRGC commander, General Salami, said, addressing a conference in the southwestern city of Ahvaz on Thursday.

He further pointed to the US hostilities toward the Iranian nation and said, “They have besieged us with economic, industrial, and scientific sanctions to keep us dependent but our nation has resisted with divine guidance…”

“Iran is on the right track and a testimony to our power is that the US blames Iran wherever it faces defeat…,” the IRGC commander said, referring to the US officials’ recent claims that Iran has encouraged the ongoing protests in Iraq decrying US airstrikes against Popular Mobilization Units (also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi).

“We do not interfere in countries’ internal affairs,” he said, adding, “This hatred against the US is pervasive all over the world.”

“We do not lead the country to war, but we are not afraid of any war, and we are telling America to use a proper language in the face of the Iranian nation,” Major General Salami went on to say.

US officials, including President Donald Trump, are trying to accuse Iran of encouraging the protests underway in Iraq decrying US airstrikes against Hashd al-Sha’abi.

On Sunday, US forces conducted drone strikes on a number of Kata’ib Hezbollah bases in Iraq’s western Anbar province, killing at least 28 individuals and leaving another 51 injured.

Kata’ib Hezbollah is part of Hashd al-Sha’abi.

Following the strikes, the Pentagon issued a statement saying that it had targeted three locations of the Iraqi fighters in Iraq and two in Syria in response to alleged attacks targeting American forces.

Angered by the US air raids, Iraqi protesters stormed its embassy compound in the high-security Green Zone in Baghdad on Tuesday, setting fires and chanting: “Death to America!”

They also demanded the removal of American troops from Iraq.

Reacting to the attack, Trump on Tuesday held Iran “fully responsible” for the incident on Twitter and added that the protesters “will be held fully responsible.”

In a separate statement, Trump later also threatened that Tehran would “pay a very big price” after the attack.

On Wednesday, Iran summoned the Swiss charge d’affaires, whose country represents US interests in Iran, to protest “warmongering” remarks by American officials.

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In a statement on Tuesday, Abbas Mousavi dismissed the “bogus” allegations that the American officials have made against Iran over the recent developments in Iraq and called US initiatives as destructive regional policies.

“The surprising impudence of the American authorities is at such a level that after slaughtering at least 25 people, wounding many Iraqi people, inflicting financial damages on Iraq and violating the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, they (Americans) are now blaming the Islamic Republic of Iran for the protests from the Iraqi people against their own ferocious measures in a blatant and cheap act of pinning the blame on others,” Mousavi said.

Such allegations leveled by the US amount to an insult to the people of Iraq, the Iranian spokesman said, asking the US officials how and with what logic they expect the Iraqi nation to remain silent about such extensive crimes.

“On the one hand, the Americans have ignored the Iraqi nation’s liberality and pursuit of independence, and on the other hand, they have forgotten their role in supporting Saddam and in creating Daesh and the consequent massacre and depredation of the Iraqi people, and have apparently failed to remember that they are still deemed by the people of Iraq to be ‘occupiers’,” the spokesman added.

He went on to dismiss the accusations and, warning Washington against showing any thoughtless and wrong reaction in their calculations, called on the White House to reconsider its destructive policies on the region.

On Sunday, US forces conducted drone strikes on a number of Kata’ib Hezbollah bases in Iraq’s western Anbar province, killing at least 25 individuals and leaving another 51 injured, according to the PMU (Popular Mobilization Units).

Following the strikes, the Pentagon issued a statement saying that it had targeted three locations of the Iraqi fighters in Iraq and two in Syria in response to alleged attacks targeting American forces.

Kata’ib Hezbollah is part of the PMU. The PMU, also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, played a key role in defeating the Daesh terrorist group that had occupied parts of Iraq since 2014.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – China’s foreign minister decried international “bullying practices” while meeting with his Iranian counterpart Tuesday, in the country’s latest criticism of US foreign policy.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran has vehemently condemned the Sunday US forces attacks against Iraqi Popular Mobilization forces, describing the act as a clear act of terrorism.

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The news agency also said that North Korea believes that the US has done a stupid thing by convening the UN Security Council, adding that it is nothing more than a political tool of US interests, Sputnik reported.

Pyongyang is ready to respond to any corresponding measure that the US chooses, the KCNA said.

“The United States said about corresponding measure at the meeting, as we have said we have nothing to lose and we are ready to respond to any corresponding measure that the US chooses,” said its state news agency KCNA citing a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

On Wednesday, US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft said at the UNSC meeting on non-proliferation that her country was ready to be flexible during the denuclearization talks with North Korea.

“We have not asked N. Korea to do everything before we do anything. We are prepared to be flexible, but we cannot solve this problem alone,” Craft said.

Last week, North Korea’s ambassador to the UN said that denuclearization was off the table in negotiations with the US. This prompted US President Donald Trump to urge North Korea to denuclearize in accordance with the previously made agreement.

In November, North Korea fired two short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast, marking the fourth test of its “super-large multiple-rocket launcher.” The test came as the year-end deadline set by N. Korea for the US to show flexibility in the stalled denuclearization talks is fast-approaching.

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The turnover of the 100 biggest arms manufacturers came to $420 billion, thanks in large part to the US market, said the report. US manufacturers alone accounted for 59% of the market, or a turnover of $246 billion, up 7.2% on the previous year.

“This is a significant increase over one year considering the already high levels of US combined arms sales,” Aude Fleurant, the director of SIPRI’s arms transfers and military expenditure program, told AFP. These firms were benefitting from the Trump administration’s decision to modernize its armed services to reinforce its position against China and Russia.

Russia was second in the rankings for arms production, with 8.6% of the market, just ahead of the United Kingdom on 8.4% and France on 5.5%. The study did not include China, for which there was insufficient data, but SIPRI’s research estimated that there were between three and seven Chinese businesses in the top 100 arms manufacturers.

Two major European companies, Airbus and MBDA were also responding to “demand due to ongoing armed conflicts and severe tensions in several regions”, Fleurant added.

China has spent 1.9% of its gross domestic product on defense every year since 2013. The top-ranked Russian firm, Almaz-Antei, jumped to ninth on the list with a turnover of $9.6 billion — 18% up on the previous year.

“This increase was based not only on strong domestic demand but also on continuing growth in arms sales to other countries, in particular exports of the S-400 air defense system,” said the report. One of the buyers of this system is NATO member Turkey, which took the deal despite a US threat of sanctions.

Turkey’s arms industry had two businesses in the top 100 and turnover of $2.8 billion, up 22% on the previous year. Turkey was “driven by the goal of being self-sufficient in arms supply and therefore develop arms production capabilities in all segments (land systems, air systems, naval systems, missiles, etc.),” said Fleurant.

“Turkey is also involved with an enduring armed conflict with the Kurds, which also tends to increase demand for arms,” she added.

The world’s largest arms maker remains the US firm Lockheed Martin, as it has been since 2009, this last year with a turnover of $47.3 billion. Its sales alone account for 11% of the world market.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – International organizations need to speak out and break the silence about US economic sanctions that target Iran’s food and medicine on top of the economy, an Iranian minister has said, warning of the adverse consequences of the embargoes.

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“I think Ukraine is kind of a victim of US politics in this case because I believe they were pushed to do something that is not in the real Ukrainian interest,” said Igor Yarmak, 63, a tech professional in New York City who has voted Republican in the past but dislikes Trump. Iran News quotes the story.

The inquiry into whether Trump misused US foreign policy to ask Ukraine to target a domestic political opponent enters a critical phase on Wednesday when Congress holds its first public, televised hearings to question witnesses.

Others among the roughly 1 million people of Ukrainian descent living in the United States also expressed frustration at seeing Ukraine, which largely depends on foreign aid and protection from Russia, dragged into the impeachment fight.

“Once again, Ukraine is in the spotlight for its critical position in eastern Europe and I feel it’s being used by political powers for their own gain,” said Paul Jablonsky, a small business owner and the president of the Ukrainian American Community Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The inquiry comes three years into Trump’s unconventional presidency and as Democrats and Trump’s Republicans are gearing up for a brutal election battle.

Democrats are investigating whether there are grounds to impeach Trump over his July 25 request, in a phone call to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, that the latter investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a key political rival to Trump in 2020.

That call prompted a whistleblower complaint that led congressional Democrats to launch the probe into whether Trump abused his power by withholding nearly $400 million in security assistance to Ukraine to pressure the vulnerable US ally.

“(It is) really disheartening if it does come to pass that President Trump has been using his individual influence as president to further his political ambitions for the next election,” said 59-year-old Jablonsky, who considers himself an independent and agrees with Trump politically on issues including trade.

There are large populations of Ukrainian-Americans in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, which are seen as competitive in next year’s presidential election.

“Trump putting the screws and the pressure on Ukraine, which is the victim of US politics … to extort and grind a poor fledgling democracy, it’s beyond the pale of understanding,” said Ulana Mazurkevich, a business owner from the Philadelphia area and a Democrat who declined to give her age.

Ukraine’s Zelensky, a comedian and, like Trump, a political novice, won a landslide election victory in April promising voters an end to a conflict with Russian-backed forces in the Donbas region that has killed 13,000 people.

He has been walking a diplomatic tightrope to maintain good relations with both US political sides whose bipartisan support Ukraine counts on for aid and diplomatic cover against Russia following Moscow’s annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014.

“He might appear as a weak leader because he was trying to play ball with Trump or he was trying to avoid playing ball with Trump,” said Irina Medvinskaya, a US citizen who was born in Kyiv and emigrated to the United States at age 15.

But Medvinskaya, a Democrat, voiced hope that Ukraine could play a historic role if Trump were to be impeached and removed from office.

“If this becomes the death of him, I will be very proud of my motherland.”

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