{"id":1066,"date":"2020-06-18T00:59:28","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T05:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=1066"},"modified":"2020-06-20T06:40:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T11:40:00","slug":"1066","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2020\/06\/18\/1066\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uk.reuters.com\/article\/uk-iran-missiles-test\/iran-says-it-successfully-tests-new-naval-cruise-missile-idUKKBN23P186\">\u201cIran says it successfully tests new naval cruise missile,\u201d<\/a> Reuters, June 18, 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIran\u2019s Latest Misadventure Destabilizes the Caucasus,\u201d Stephen Blank, War on the Rocks, June 18, 2020.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/iran-economy-rial\/iranian-rial-drops-to-lowest-rate-since-september-2018-against-dollar-idUSL8N2DV6FW\">\u201cIranian rial drops to lowest rate since September 2018 against dollar,\u201d<\/a> Reuters, June 18, 2020.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukrinform.net\/rubric-polytics\/3047603-iran-ready-to-send-black-boxes-from-downed-uia-plane-to-ukraine.html\">\u201cIran ready to send black boxes from downed UIA plane to Ukraine if it provides necessary conditions,\u201d<\/a> Ukrinform, June 18, 2020.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/majority-house-members-back-resolution-supporting-iranian-opposition\">\u201cMajority of House members back resolution supporting Iranian opposition, condemning regime&#8217;s terror,\u201d<\/a> Adam Shaw, Fox News, June 18, 2020.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/middle-east\/rockets-targeted-us-embassy-in-baghdad-in-sixth-recent-incident-631890\">\u201cRockets targeted US embassy in Baghdad in sixth recent incident,\u201d<\/a> Seth Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, June 18, 2020.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iranfocus.com\/en\/human-rights\/34580-iran-political-prisoner-forced-to-watch-executions-as-form-of-torture\">\u201cIran Political Prisoner Forced to Watch Executions As Form of Torture,\u201d<\/a> Iran Focus, June 18, 2020.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/training-sim\/2020\/06\/18\/iran-test-fires-cruise-missiles-resistant-to-electronic-war-says-naval-chief\">\u201cIran test fires cruise missiles resistant to \u2018electronic war,\u2019 says naval chief,\u201d<\/a> AP, Military Times, June 18, 2020.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.radiofarda.com\/a\/iran-pilot-says-he-carried-7-tons-of-prohibited-cargo-to-syria-with-soleimani-on-board\/30678389.html\">\u201cIran Pilot Says He Carried 7 Tons of Prohibited Cargo To Syria With Soleimani On Board,\u201d<\/a> Radio Farda, June 18, 2020.\u00a0\u00a0A U.S. sanctioned Mahan Air pilot has told an IRGC-linked website in Tehran that he has once carried seven tons of &#8220;prohibited cargo&#8221; to Syria in 2013 with former Qods Force Commander Qasem Soleimani also on board. Amir Assadollahi, the Mahan Air pilot, says he carried the prohibited cargo, most probably weapons and ammunitions on board a passenger aircraft with some 200 passengers. Mahan Air was first sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2011 for secretly carrying weapons and IRGC forces to Syria. In December 2019. U.S. Treasury imposed new sanctions on Mahan Air and its shipping company, accusing it of &#8220;transporting lethal aid from Iran to Yemen.&#8221; \u2026 Assadollahi told the Razmandegan-e Eslam Association website, that Soleimani was seated in the pilot&#8217;s cabin. The Razmandegan-e Eslam Association is an IRGC body that organizes eulogists for religious ceremonies and other occasions including crackdown on protesters. Reminiscing about his association with Soleimani, the Mahan Air pilot told the website that he was ordered to land at Baghdad airport while he was flying to Syria with the cargo and Soleimani. He claimed that the airport in Iraq was being controlled by U.S. forces and that the situation was not normal, adding that Soleimani took off his outfit and dressed as a flight engineer sitting all the time in the pilot&#8217;s cabin while the Americans scanned the faces of all passengers, missing Soleimani.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/middle-east\/new-video-of-irans-use-of-long-range-missiles-that-could-target-israel-631880\">\u201cVideo of Iran\u2019s long-range missiles that could target Israel \u2013 WATCH,\u201d<\/a> Seth Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, June 18, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIran says it successfully tests new naval cruise missile,\u201d Reuters, June 18, 2020. \u201cIran\u2019s Latest Misadventure Destabilizes the Caucasus,\u201d Stephen Blank, War on the Rocks, June 18, 2020. \u201cIranian rial drops to lowest rate since September 2018 against dollar,\u201d Reuters, June 18, 2020. \u201cIran ready to send black boxes from downed UIA plane to Ukraine &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2020\/06\/18\/1066\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2819,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2532],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-update"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2819"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1066"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1087,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions\/1087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}