Aug. 16 – A potential attack by Iran against Israel could be avoided if a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel is agreed, according to a statement by U.S. President Joe Biden this week.
Iran has threatened to attack Israel in retaliation for its assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in July. The killings were retribution for a Hamas attack on Oct. 7 which killed more than 1,200 people, including children, in Israel.
Hamas, which is backed by the Islamic Republic, has said it will not engage in the latest round of talks unless a roadmap based on a proposed deal by the U.S. President is implemented.
The family of detained human rights campaigner and Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi claimed that women in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison had been beaten after staging protests against a sharp rise in executions in the country.
The claims were made in a statement published online by the family.
Mohammadi’s family said they received the reports from other families of detainees held in the prison. Her family also claimed that Mohammadi had been punched in the chest by guards during the protests and had suffered a respiratory attack as a result of the assault.
And an Iran-backed hacking group increased their malign activity against Israel and Israeli targets, according to Google’s Threat Analysis Group, which works to stop government-backed hacking and cyber attacks against Google and its users.
The group found that hacking group APT42, which is connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, targeted accounts associated with the U.S. presidential election, as well as high-profile users in Israel and the U.S., including current and former government officials, think tank staff, charities and academic institutions contributing to foreign policy conversations.
The group also found that the U.S. and Israel accounted for an estimated 60 percent of APT42’s known geographic targeting in the last six months.
