Iran & The Gulf

Statement follows a report about the regime's new underground tunnel system near a nuclear enrichment facility.

Several weeks ago, Tehran made a sudden jump to 84% purity level, only to later claim it made a mistake. Officials have recently made it clear that Israel was prepared to use its military power if it believed the circumstances warranted it. 

National security advisor says Iranian efforts to move equipment below ground not surprising. IDF chief of staff says there are possible "negative developments on the horizon and that can bring about action."

The new project is being constructed next to Natanz, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of Tehran. Experts say the scope of the construction effort indicates Iran likely would be able to use the underground facility to enrich uranium as well – not just to build centrifuges.

"This follows directly on the maritime terrorism Iran has been imposing on the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. It is working to expand its activity to the Indian Ocean, too, and later to the Red Sea and to the Mediterranean Sea as well," Defense Minister Gallant says.

Ali Shamkhani's successor is Ali Akbar Ahmadian, the former chief of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard's strategic center.

Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib says the group was arrested on the western borders of Iran.

The two men executed, Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare, died at Arak Prison in central Iran. They had been arrested in May 2020, accused of being involved in a channel on the Telegram message app called “Critique of Superstition and Religion,” according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Both men faced months of solitary confinement and could not contact their families, the commission said.

During an official visit to Athens, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says that Tehran has enough enriched uranium to build five bombs and warns the regime against "igniting the region."

This is the Iranian president's first visit to Syria since the civil war began.