“Benny Gantz signs order to seize $4 million transferred from Iran to Hamas,” Udi Shaham, Jerusalem Post, December 22, 2020.

“Iran launches ‘indirect talks’ with US President-elect Joe Biden,” Middle East Monitor, December 22, 2020.

“Iran launches ‘indirect talks’ with US President-elect Joe Biden,” Middle East Monitor, December 22, 2020.

“Woman sets self on fire after city demolishes shelter, Iranians outraged,” Al Monitor, December 22, 2020.

“Al-Mustafa International University, a network of religious seminaries based in the Shi’ite holy city of Qom that has branches in some 50 countries. … The U.S. Treasury Department said Iran’s elite Quds Force, the overseas operations arm of the IRGC, used the university’s foreign branches as a “recruitment platform” for “intelligence collection and operations,” including recruitment for pro-Iranian militias. … Observers say Al-Mustafa has become Iran’s chief tool for promoting Shi’ism abroad. Saeed Ghasseminejad and Alireza Nader at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) wrote that three religious organizations — the Islamic Development Organization, Al-Mustafa International University, and the Islamic Propaganda Office of Qom Seminary — play a “central role in projecting [Iran’s] influence abroad.” They said that the three organizations were focused on “training Shi’ite clerics, sending missionaries across the globe, and disseminating Shi’ite propaganda” with the goal of creating a “network of native missionaries in each country who are loyal to Tehran.””  See “U.S. Sanctions Put Spotlight On Iran’s International Network Of Religious Seminaries,” Frud Bezhan, RFE/RL, December 22, 2020.