By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
TEHRAN (Worthy News) – Iran says it is mobilizing regional forces to attack Israel and its allies as it seeks to continue the policies of the Islamic Republic’s president and foreign minister, who recently died in a helicopter crash.
Ali Bagheri, Iran’s acting foreign minister, revealed in remarks monitored by Worthy News that he will tour the region to “mobilize” Iraq-based militias and Hezbollah in Lebanon to hit Israel, which Tehran views as a “Zionist regime.”
Bagheri, 56, had served as deputy to the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who died along with President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others in the May 19 chopper crash in north-western Iran.
Tehran is also backing the Houthis in Yemen, saying it is moving forward to supply the group with anti-ship ballistic missiles, said Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, which is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israeli media pondered how Iran would move the missiles to the Houthis “as they do not have many substantial ships in their navy.”
Tehran also suffers a lack of spare parts for aircraft due to Western sanctions, an issue that might have contributed to the helicopter crash killing the president and other high-ranking officials, experts said.
However, Iran’s announced attempts to provide more missiles to Houthis comes after the Marshall Islands-flagged dry-bulk ship Laax said it was hit by five rockets fired from Yemen this week.
VESSEL STILL AFLOAT
But miraculously, the vessel could still sail to its destination, and the crew was safe, the ship’s security company, LSS-SAPU, announced Wednesday. The vessel, which was carrying a cargo of grains, was reportedly attacked on Tuesday off the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah.
Despite the damage, “she is not taking water, she is not tilting, and there are no wounded onboard,” an LSS-SAPU spokesperson said. “Everyone [is] onboard.”
The Houthis said on Wednesday they had targeted six ships, including the Laax. They had made clear they would continue attacking vessels in the Red Sea from countries supporting Israel as long as Israel’s war against Hamas continued.
Iranian and Russian officials said that besides supporting regional allies, Bagheri also held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to increase cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.
Iran’s plans to step up military support to its regional allies, as well as Russia, comes more than a month after Tehran fired hundreds of missiles and drones toward Israel. Yet about 99 percent of these weapons were shot down, Israeli defense sources said.
Tehran has expressed outrage over Israel’s attacks in Gaza and its refusal to end operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah after dozens of people reportedly died there.
Israel seeks to destroy Hamas after the group massacred some 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7. However, Hamas is hiding among civilians, increasing the death toll among innocent Palestinians, the Israeli government says.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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