Thursday, May 14, 2026

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Brad Cooper, commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), announced that Iran's missile, drone, and naval industries have been "90 percent weakened." He said during a hearing in the U.S. Senate: "Iran's threat has been significantly weakened and this country is no longer capable of threatening regional partners or the United States in any area like it did in the past. They have been severely weakened." Cooper noted that Iran's armed proxy forces had conducted more than 350 attacks against American forces and diplomats in the 30 months before the recent war; on average one attack every three days, resulting in the deaths of four American soldiers. Brad Cooper, defending the recent war, emphasized: "Today Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis have all been cut off from Iran's arms supply and support. This outcome was not guaranteed beforehand." He also said American forces no longer use advanced and expensive ammunition to shoot down Iranian drones. The depletion of expensive defensive system stockpiles to counter Iranian drones during the war had made headlines, but the CENTCOM commander announced that the U.S. military now uses cheaper ammunition. @ VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Hamid Rasaei, Tehran's representative in parliament, wrote that a "well-known" faction in the 14th government, which considers "liberalization and price increases" as the solution, intends to reduce the 1,500 and 3,000 toman gasoline quotas and increase the 5,000 toman gasoline price to 15-20,000 tomans. He added that the same faction in the 14th government had previously imposed "the highest inflation since the 1979 revolution" on the people by eliminating the preferential exchange rate of 28,500 tomans and making foreign currency more expensive. Rasaei wrote that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has blocked representatives' oversight of government decisions by "sealing parliament without justification or reason." He added that fulfilling representative duties has become difficult, but he is trying to pull parliament out of this "deliberate death" and stop these "strange" decisions in the current "difficult and warlike" situation. @ VahidOOnLine 📡 @VahidOnline

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Mostafa Pourdehqan, second secretary of the Parliament's Industry and Mines Commission, has said that the Supreme National Security Council's resolution on Internet Pro has turned into "a piggy bank for Hamrah-e Avval, Irancell, and Rightel" in its implementation. Regarding the appointment of Mohammad Reza Aref as head of the special headquarters for organizing cyberspace, he said that "Parliament knows nothing about this" and called this decree by Masoud Pezeshkian, the President, "decorative." According to this parliamentary representative, such measures are more "psychological" in nature and no "special developments" are expected to happen in this regard. Mr. Pourdehqan also said that worse than internet outages is the closure of Parliament, and currently Parliament has no special oversight relationship with many government ministers regarding their performance, with internet being one of these issues, and we still don't have a single special session where someone comes and explains the situation. @ VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Israel Katz, Israel's Defense Minister, said in a speech that the country's military mission regarding Iran is not complete and is prepared for the possibility that they may be forced to act again. Israel Katz emphasized: "If our objectives are not met, we will act again." Earlier, Eyal Zamir, Chief of General Staff of the Israeli Army, had also said that "the battle has not ended and the army is ready to resume war if necessary." @ VahidOOnLine 📡 @VahidOnline

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Scott Besent, U.S. Treasury Secretary, in an interview with CNBC on the sidelines of the U.S. President's trip, said in a pre-recorded interview that he believes China will use its influence over Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He said: "I think they (the Chinese) will do whatever they can." Mr. Besent added: "Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is very much in China's interest. I think they will work behind the scenes, of course, if anyone can actually influence Iranian leadership decisions." According to the U.S. Treasury Secretary, China will soon announce a major order of Boeing aircraft and added that the two sides are in talks about improving trade relations, including energy exports. @ VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Iranian media report that the Islamic Republic's Foreign Minister accused the United Arab Emirates of "direct involvement" in military operations against his country during the BRICS meeting in New Delhi. This tension occurred one day after the UAE denied Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that the Israeli Prime Minister traveled to this Persian Gulf country during the war with Iran. Mehr News Agency quoted Araghchi as saying: "To preserve unity, I did not mention the UAE by name in my BRICS speech. But the truth is that the UAE was directly involved in the aggression against my country. When the attacks began, they didn't even condemn them." Iranian media did not specify what statements the UAE representative made at this meeting. According to these reports, Araghchi also said that "neither US bases nor alliance with Israel have brought security to the UAE, and this country must reconsider its policy toward Iran." Araghchi had previously stated: "Those who cooperate with Israel to create division will be held accountable." Iranian media have also expressed doubt about whether participants in the BRICS foreign ministers meeting in India will be able to issue a joint final statement, as tensions between Iran and the UAE continue. In this regard, Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, was quoted as saying that due to the UAE's presence at this meeting, there have been "problems and consultations." @ VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Yonhap, South Korea's state news agency, reported on Wednesday, May 14th, citing one of the country's security officials, that Seoul's investigations show that the Islamic Republic of Iran was most likely responsible for the attack on the country's cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Republic's embassy in Seoul had denied last week any attack by the Islamic Republic on the South Korean cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. @ VahidOOnLine 📡 @VahidOnline

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The UK Maritime Trade Operations center announced on Thursday, May 14th, that following a maritime incident in the northeast of the United Arab Emirates, "unauthorized individuals" have taken control of a ship at anchor, and this vessel is now moving toward Iranian territorial waters. The organization said it received a report about a maritime incident 38 nautical miles (approximately 70 kilometers) northeast of Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates, after which the ship was seized and its course was changed toward Iranian territorial waters. @VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, says it's in China's interest to pressure Iran's government to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. According to a report Fox News aired about Rubio's statements en route to China, he said: "We've made this argument to the Chinese and I hope it's persuasive. They'll have an opportunity later this week at the UN to take action on this issue; when a resolution condemning Iran's actions regarding the straits is introduced." Rubio said Iran's government has been building the capability to disable regional countries' defense systems with "swarms of missiles and drones" and respond to any potential attack on its nuclear program by threatening to inflict widespread damage on Persian Gulf countries. Marco Rubio also, referring to the Strait of Hormuz crisis, said this situation harms China more than any other country and Beijing should pressure Iran to back down from its actions. @VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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The White House announced that Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed in Beijing that Iran should never obtain nuclear weapons and the Strait of Hormuz must remain open. The U.S. described this two-hour conversation as "good" and says the two leaders are working to strengthen economic cooperation. In the White House statement, President Xi also expressed his "interest" in purchasing more American oil to reduce China's dependence on the Strait of Hormuz. It was also said that executives from some of America's largest companies were present during part of this meeting. They also discussed the importance of stopping the flow of raw materials for manufacturing the narcotic fentanyl into America. @VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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NetBlocks, the international internet monitoring organization, wrote that after more than 1800 hours of internet outages in Iran, a class-based system for access has been created by the Islamic Republic. 😋 💩 Meanwhile, Mehdi Tabatabaei, Deputy of Communications and Information of Masoud Pezeshkian's office, has claimed that if a referendum were held, people in wartime conditions would prefer security over easy internet access. @VahidHeadline Etemad newspaper reported that the first meeting of the "Special Headquarters for Virtual Space Organization and Management" will be held next week under the leadership of Mohammad Reza Aref. The main goal of this headquarters is to provide the necessary groundwork for removing virtual space restrictions so that by mid-Khordad month at the latest, the possibility of citizens' reconnection to international internet will be provided. In this path, Aref intends to utilize the capacity of elites and prominent communications professors such as Hadi Khaniki and Ali Rabiee [🤨] and create synergy among governmental institutions for the return of services. @VahidOOnLine 📡 @VahidOnline

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Mehdi Shafakhah, an activist in the field of education and support for working children and residents of deprived areas, was arrested by forces from the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Intelligence. This children's rights activist was arrested on Tuesday evening, May 12, 2024, by Ministry of Intelligence agents and transferred to an unknown location. Additionally, all electronic and communication devices belonging to him and his wife have been confiscated. @ VahidHeadline There is still no accurate information available about the reasons for the arrest, the charges attributed to him, or the exact location where Shafakhah is being held, and his family's efforts to obtain information about his health condition have been unsuccessful. In recent years, Mehdi Shafakhah has volunteered in deprived and marginalized areas, working to reduce social harms including addiction and delinquency by teaching sports and social skills to working children and vulnerable adolescents. He is the brother of Reza Shafakhah, a lawyer and activist for children's rights and political prisoners. @ VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Mehr News Agency censored the Hezbollah flag in the video of the football players' send-off. FattahiFarzad Members of the football team were given a send-off on Wednesday night, May 13th, at Revolution Square in Tehran for their participation in the 2026 World Cup; competitions that will be held in June and July 2026, jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada. @ VahidOOnLine 📡 @VahidOnline

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The United Arab Emirates' Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that published reports about Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, traveling to the country are inaccurate. Earlier, the Israeli Prime Minister's office had announced that Benjamin Netanyahu secretly traveled to the United Arab Emirates during the war between America and Israel with the Islamic Republic, and during this trip met with Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE President. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that this country's relations with Israel are public and have been established within the framework of the Abraham Accords that have been publicly announced. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that these relations are not based on confidentiality and any claims about trips or undisclosed arrangements are "baseless," unless officially announced by the United Arab Emirates. Abbas Araghchi, in reaction to Netanyahu's trip to the UAE during wartime, wrote: Cooperation with Israel in this path is unforgivable. Those who cooperate with Israel to create discord will be held accountable. @VahidOOnLine 📡 @VahidOnline