July 4 – The United States Department of Homeland Security announced the arrest of 11 Iranian nationals located across the U.S. whom it said were illegal migrants.
The department added that one of the men taken into custody had been an Iranian military sniper and a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The arrests follow the recent war between Iran and Israel, in which the U.S. carried out a bombing offensive against key nuclear sites in the country.
France issued fresh condemnation against the Islamic Republic for its ongoing detention of French nationals Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, and accused the country of holding the pair in a “totally arbitrary manner.”
Kohler and Paris were charged with spying for Israel’s intelligence unit Mossad, according to a report by news agency AFP.
The accusation was called “totally unfounded” by a diplomatic source, who added that they were innocent.
And British police launched an investigation into comments made by singer Bob Vylan while performing on stage at the world famous Glastonbury music festival.
Video footage of the set showed Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, chanting “Death to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces),” and “Free, free Palestine.”
The police investigation will consider whether the language used amounted to a hate crime. The organizers of the festival said in a statement about the performance that “there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence” while the BBC called the comments “antisemitic” and apologized for broadcasting the set.
