This is Beirut

New U.S. Sanctions Target Hezbollah Financial Intermediaries

This is Beirut, 06/11 18:10 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Hezbollah United States Washington sanctions Iran Lebanon

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Thursday new sanctions against several individuals accused of transferring tens of millions of dollars from Iran to Hezbollah in 2025 through Lebanese money exchange houses. According to the Treasury, these networks exploit Lebanon’s largely cash-based and informal financial system to fund the ...

Iran: “Hostage Diplomacy,” an Intractable Dilemma for the West

This is Beirut, 05/11 21:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Iran France Cécile Kohler Jacques Paris

For researchers, aid workers, and even tourists, Iran’s use of detention to extract concessions has become a serious dilemma for Western governments, which so far have failed to stop the practice. This so-called “hostage diplomacy,” consistently denied by Tehran, re-emerged just after the release on Tuesday of French nationals ...

Iran Releases New Details on Ismail Haniyeh’s Killing

This is Beirut, 05/11 16:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hamas Ismail Haniyeh Iran Israel

Ismail Haniyeh, the former leader of Hamas, was killed by a missile tracked to his mobile phone, according to Iranian officials. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has rejected claims that internal sabotage facilitated the assassination in Tehran. On November 3, Iran released new details on the death of Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas leader killed in ...

French Pair Released after 3-year Iran Jail Ordeal

This is Beirut, 04/11 21:22 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

France Iran Emmanuel Macron Cecile Kohler Jacques Paris

Iran has released from prison a French pair held for more than three years and sentenced to lengthy jail sentences on espionage charges their families always rejected, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday. Cecile Kohler, 41, and Jacques Paris, 72, both retired teachers, were both on a tourist visit to Iran when they were arrested ...

Iran: a Regime Trapped in Its Past

This is Beirut, 04/11 17:45 - Reading : less than a minute

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On November 4, 1979, Islamist students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days. 46 years later, Iran’s regime continues to commemorate this defining episode of the Islamic Republic, portraying it as a symbol of “resistance” against the West. Since then, the Islamic Republic has lived in ...

Hezbollah Activity Rises as Israel Watches and Tehran Calls for Vigilance

This is Beirut, 03/11 11:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

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Israeli intelligence services have reported unusual activity by Hezbollah in several parts of Lebanon, while Tehran is urging vigilance and the defense of Lebanese sovereignty, highlighting the fragile balance in a region already on edge. According to the Israeli daily Maariv, the Israeli army has observed intensified movements by Hezbollah ...

Iran Banking on Iraq Vote to Retain Regional Influence

This is Beirut, 03/11 09:25 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Hezbollah Tehran Iran Iraq US

Iraq will hold parliamentary elections on November 11, with analysts saying Iran will be watching closely as it hopes to retain influence over its neighbor after losing regional leverage during the Gaza war. The past two years have seen Iran-backed groups including Palestinian militants Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Huthis in Yemen suffer ...

Drought in Iran: Tehran’s Main Water Reservoir Nearly Dry

This is Beirut, 02/11 18:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Iran Amir Kabir Dam Water Tehran

Tehran, the capital of Iran, may run out of drinking water within two weeks due to a historic drought that has nearly emptied its main reservoir, state media warned Sunday. The vast metropolis of more than 10 million people, nestled on the southern slopes of the Alborz range, typically sees hot, dry summers, occasionally rainy autumns, and ...

How Venezuela Became America’s Next Battleground — And Why Iran Is in the Room

Salam El Zaatari, 30/10 11:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Venezuela Iran United States Hezbollah Colombia

There has been no formal declaration of war, no vote in Congress, and no rousing call to liberate a people from tyranny. Yet one of the largest U.S. military build-ups in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War is sitting a few miles off Venezuela’s coastline. Washington calls it a counter-narcotics mission. Caracas fears it is a slow-motion ...

European Intelligence: Iran Rebuilding Missile Program

This is Beirut, 29/10 21:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Israel Tehran United Nations Iran missiles

Western intelligence agencies have revealed that Iran is actively rebuilding its ballistic missile program in defiance of renewed UN sanctions, with significant assistance from China, according to a CNN report. European intelligence sources said that several shipments of sodium perchlorate, a key ingredient in the solid fuel used to power ...

Iran Declares Major Private Bank Ayandeh Bankrupt Amid Mounting Debt and Sanctions

This is Beirut, 25/10 17:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Iran Bank Ayandeh

Iran declared one of the country's largest private banks bankrupt, with its assets absorbed by the state, official media reported Saturday, in a rare move in the country grappling with international sanctions. Founded in 2012, Ayandeh Bank had a network of 270 branches across the country, including 150 in the capital, Tehran, alone. But it had ...

Assassination Casts Dark Cloud over Iraqi Elections

Seth J. Frantzman , 23/10 15:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Iran Iraq Hezbollah Baghdad

In the early hours of October 15, an IED tore through a Chevy Tahoe in Baghdad’s northern outskirts, killing Safaa al-Mashhadani, a candidate in Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections. Three days later, gunmen opened fire on the office of another candidate, Muthanna al-Azzawi, 25 kilometers south of the Iraqi ...

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