March 3 – The United States said it had developed a secret military plan with Israel in the event that the country found itself at war with Iran.
Tensions between the US, Israel and Iran have remained high in recent years, fueled by disagreements about how to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran’s activities in the Middle East and the regime’s support of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
The plan, code-named “Support Sentry,” has not been previously reported on and was launched in 2018, according to news outlet The Intercept.
The UK Home Office said it did not support calls to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization because the move could frustrate attempts at freeing Morad Tahbaz and Mehran Raoof, two British-Iranians who remain unjustly detained in Iran.
The call to blacklist the military unit has been made by several British lawmakers including Tom Tugendhat and Alicia Kearns who say the force is engaging in acts of terrorism.
Speaking in the British parliament, Kearns told policymakers that the Home Office’s argument was without basis, as the UK could continue to negotiate the dual nationals’ release from London.
And computer games for children produced by Iran’s Basij Cyberspace Organization, a digital arm of the IRGC, were accused of being forms of propaganda by computer programmers working on similar games in Iran.
Speaking to news outlet Wired, one coder told the newspaper that the state sanctioned games — which have military themes — were designed to influence young people’s minds, and that the gaming industry in the country had since become dominated by the regime.
The coder added that the games, which aim to cast the regime in a positive light, also show the weaknesses inside Iran’s government.
