Welcome to the Kayhan Life Week in Review
Attacks on commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz and Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia intensified in tandem with the expansion of U.S. “Operation Economic Outcast” against the Islamic Republic. Iranian officials told Reuters the regime was changing tactics to keep oil prices high ahead of U.S. midterm elections. In Europe, Britain linked a suspected airbase plot to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). A German court convicted two men over an assassination plan tied to the regime’s intelligence service. Inside Iran, annual inflation reached 73.6%, and authorities executed mountaineer and musician Ali-Sina Mostafavi.
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Two senior officials of the Islamic Republic admitted to Reuters that the IRGC has stepped up attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz to keep oil prices high and influence U.S. midterm elections. The regime is pinning its hopes on elections in Israel and the U.S. congressional midterms, hoping Benjamin Netanyahu will lose power and Republicans will lose ground in the Senate and House of Representatives, easing the pressure on the Islamic Republic.
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Yemen’s Houthi movement also intensified attacks on Saudi Arabia, with a blast at Riyadh’s international airport. Saudi, Iranian and regional sources told Reuters the campaign sought concessions in Yemen and Saudi pressure on Washington to ease its blockade of the Islamic Republic. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned attacks on civilian infrastructure and expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia and Gulf partners.
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Reuters documented at least 135 Islamic Republic strikes on 84 Gulf infrastructure sites, with damage to critical equipment causing wider failures. Despite U.S. intelligence assessments that Russia and China supplied targeting imagery and weapons components to the IRGC, President Trump said he did not believe Russia and China were aiding the regime’s war effort.
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In Europe, British authorities revealed that an alleged plot targeting a military airbase in southwestern England hosting American bombers was almost certainly orchestrated by the IRGC. This marks the most recent state-linked incident made public. In his annual address, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum revealed that investigations into activities connected to the Iranian regime have resulted in over 50 arrests in the past year. Foreign ministries representing nearly 30 nations denounced Tehran’s use of violent attacks, including acts of lethal plotting, arson, sabotage, cyber-attacks, and other hybrid activities.
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A Hamburg court sentenced two men to eight and a half years and four and a half years in prison for plotting to kill the leader of a Jewish organization in Germany.
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Inside Iran, annual inflation reached 73.6% in September, and the rial has lost nearly 35% of its value against the US dollar since July. Yet, the central bank governor dismissed U.S. claims that Iran’s economy was collapsing under the naval blockade as an illusion.
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The judiciary executed mountaineer and musician Ali-Sina Mostafavi at Kerman Prison in southeastern Iran on Oct. 14, for being a monarchist and sending images of the December and January protests to foreign media. Mostafavi had climbed Everest and other Himalayan peaks. Prince Reza Pahlavi’s office said his death sentence followed a sham trial and confessions obtained under torture.
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