Middle East Broadcasting Networks

The overall message was unmistakable: The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople was not merely a historical episode but a living pillar of Turkish national identity – which, in Erdoğan’s conservative version, is predominantly defined by Islam.

“We are trying to view the Lebanon-Israeli talks as separate and distinct from Iran, and what Iran wants to do is mix it all together,” the U.S. secretary of state told senators in a hearing on Tuesday. Yet by week’s end, Iran was openly linking the conflicts, citing Israel’s actions in Lebanon as a reason to halt back-channel talks with the U.S. while threatening to “complete” its closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“The money suddenly disappeared,” Rahmani told Alhurra. “I went to the bank several times, but they said the matter was beyond their control and that the accounts had been hacked by Israeli cyber operatives.”

Information obtained by Alhurra from official and unofficial sources points to two parallel channels of support: cash transfers crossing the border and government contracts worth billions of dollars that Iraqi intermediaries allegedly secured for the benefit of Iranian companies or affiliated networks.

In the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, time continues as a flat circle. Talks begin, tensions rise, limited violence breaks out, talks begin again. #MBNFridayBriefing | Get Friday insights from our on-the-ground reporting on the most important stories from the Middle East.

Hezbollah received a message from Iran instructing it not to comply with a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel because of complications surrounding an Iranian-U.S. arrangement aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a Lebanese security source told Alhurra

Pakistani Shias in the Gulf appear to have become more vulnerable to suspicion amid a regional security climate increasingly sensitive to any perceived connection to Iran, whether religious, social or political

According to information obtained by Alhurra from opposition leaders, a group known as Mansouroun (the Victorious) has emerged at the center of this shift. The organization was among several ideological armed groups that conducted clandestine operations against the Shah before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and later became one of the formations relied upon by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in building the Revolutionary Guards after the monarchy’s collapse. More details ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eDbNGHBi

Iran struck Kuwait’s international airport overnight as the ceasefire continues to unravel. Inside Iran, the regime is using the conflict as cover to execute protesters, freeze the assets of journalists, and leave cancer patients hunting for medicine on the black market. #IRanBriefing

China’s role in the Iran war raised new questions for the Gulf: from Beijing’s support for Tehran to the risks of surveillance technology and reliance on the Strait of Hormuz. A conversation with Matt Pottinger https://lnkd.in/egnVyCEx #China #MiddleEast #Iran #MBNChinaTracker