However, the US media reports say that Trump has not made a final decision on whether to attack Iran. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, along with nearly 80 aircraft, was around 700 kilometers (435 miles) off Iranian shores as of Sunday. A second aircraft carrier group, the USS Gerald Ford, is also moving towards the region.
Iran on Tuesday announced it would partially close the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, a critical waterway for the world's oil trade. Iranian state television framed the closure as a "security" measure due to military drills by the country's Revolutionary Guards, which began a day earlier. It was unclear how long the partial closure would last. The Associated Press reported that the curbs would last several hours.
The FATF also ramped up measures aimed at isolating Iran from global financial markets with a particular focus on virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and cryptocurrencies. It recommended member states and financial institutions around the world to: Refuse to establish representative offices of Iranian financial institutions and VASPs or consider the noncompliance risks involved. Prohibit financial institutions and VASPs from establishing offices in Iran.
She took back roads to avoid security checkpoints, where hulking officers were strip-searching passengers to look for injuries or any evidence of their participation in the uprising that had recently swept the country. Around 2 A.M., the doctor arrived safely at the clinic, where she slipped a glove over the man's hand to hide his injury. Then she led him past reception, to a specialist who was waiting to receive him.
Tehran, Iran Iranian authorities have shut down a number of privately owned businesses in the wake of deadly nationwide protests last month, even as the country's cratering economy is hitting people and businesses hard and its government pursues a fraught diplomatic path with the United States. Neither police nor judicial authorities have elaborated on why the businesses, most of them popular gathering spots in central and northern Tehran for young Iranians, have been shut down.
One journalist, who spoke anonymously out of fear that being named would place more pressure on my family, said their father had been detained and warned by security forces that they were monitoring overseas journalists. They knew everything about me somehow, the journalist said. They said they know where I live. They even gave my father the address, the telephone number, where I'm sitting exactly in the newsroom.
Speaking in Doha on Thursday, Merz said that fears of a new conflict had characterised his talks during his trip to the Gulf region. In all my conversations yesterday and today, great concern has been expressed about a further escalation in the conflict with Iran, he said during a news conference. Merz also urged Iran to end what he called aggression and enter into talks, saying Germany would do everything it could to de-escalate the situation and work towards regional stability.
A US Navy F-35 stealth fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone on Tuesday that was flying toward an American aircraft carrier with "unclear intent," the US military confirmed to Business Insider. The incident, which occurred over the Arabian Sea, comes as the US has positioned nearly a dozen warships in the Middle East and tensions between the Trump administration and Iran are running high.
I should also state unequivocally that Iran's defensive and missile capabilities and Iran's missiles will never be the subject of any negotiations, Araghchi said during a news conference alongside his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. The security of the Iranian people is no one else's business, and we will preserve and expand our defensive capabilities to whatever extent is necessary to defend the country.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warns that attacking Iran would be wrong and says Tehran is ready to return to negotiations. He urges a step-by-step diplomatic approach and cautions against escalation.
The governors have been given authority to import goods without using foreign currency, engage in bartering and allow sailors to bring in products under simplified customs rules, according to the government-run IRNA news agency. In addition to importing essential goods, governors now have the authority to bring in all goods that are directly linked with the livelihoods of the people and the needs of the market in order to balance the market and prevent hoarding, Pezeshkian was quoted as saying at the meeting.
Iran's 86-year-old supreme leader, who believes that he represents God's will on Earth, ordered what now appears to be one of the deadliest two-day mass slaughters in modern history. According to estimates provided by two anonymous senior officials in the country's ministry of health, as many as 30,000 citizens may have been killed during this 48-hour rampage on January 8 and 9.
What he's saying: In the interview, Trump mentioned his decision to dispatch the Lincoln. "We have a big armada next to Iran. Bigger than Venezuela," Trump said. He declined to discuss the options presented to him by his national security team, or which one he prefers. At the same time, he said diplomacy remained an option. "They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk."
Kataib Hezbollah is one of the largest groups within the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), founded in 2014 to stop lightning advances by ISIL (ISIS) at the time. In a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Baghdad to keep a distance from Iran. Rubio said, Iraq can fully realise its potential as a force for stability, prosperity and security in the Middle East
A French prosecutor Friday sought a one-year jail term for an Iranian woman accused of promoting "terrorism" online in a case linked to a possible prisoner swap with two French citizens. Judgment in the case is expected on February 26. Mahdieh Esfandiari, a 39-year-old Iranian, was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting and inciting "terrorism" on social media.
The ones who did it can always rationalize their actions and even forget what they did. They can turn away from things they don't want to see. But the surviving victims can never forget. They can't turn away. Their memories are passed on from parent to child. That's what the world is, after all: an endless battle of contrasting memories.