Thursday, August 13, 2026

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The U.S. Central Command, CENTCOM, announced on Thursday, 22 Mordad, that it had begun forming the first multinational, multi-domain attack-drone unit. The unit, named “Task Force Falcon Strike,” will use one-way attack drones and unmanned aerial, surface, and underwater naval systems, with forces from the United States and regional partners taking part. CENTCOM said consultations and formal invitations to regional partner countries to join the unit have begun. With their participation, “Falcon Strike” will integrate attack-drone capabilities in the Middle East under a multinational, multi-domain structure. “Falcon Strike” is being launched nine months after the formation of “Scorpion Strike.” According to CENTCOM, the unit has previously used one-way attack drones in military operations against Iran, as well as unmanned attack vessels in the July attacks on Iranian port facilities. @ VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Just four days after a drone attack on the port of Jizan in Saudi Arabia, a news agency affiliated with Yemen’s Shiite Houthis reported on Thursday that another attack had targeted the Aramco refinery at the port. While Saudi news sources have yet to report on the incident, Yemen’s Saba News Agency wrote that the refinery was targeted “with two drones.” On Sunday this week, the refinery had also caught fire following a Houthi drone attack. Jizan lies on the Red Sea coast, near the Yemeni border and within range of Yemen’s Shiite Houthis, who are backed by the Islamic Republic. On 5 Mordad, Aramco suspended operations at the facility after a Houthi attack damaged its Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) complex and the refinery’s tank farm. The Houthis said at the time that they had targeted Aramco facilities in Jizan and Yanbu. The Jizan refinery can process 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day and produces refined products, including gasoline and very low-sulfur diesel. @VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. military is capable of maintaining a naval blockade of Iranian ports “indefinitely.” Hegseth said: “The U.S. Navy can continue the naval blockade of Iran indefinitely because, as we have done so far, we can rotate ships in and out, and we will continue doing so.” Majidreza Hariri, head of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce, warned this week that “life under a naval blockade will sink to a low level.” He said transporting cargo from China to Iran by land would “impose about $18 billion in additional costs on Iran’s economy.” @VahidHeadline The Wall Street Journal, citing informed U.S. officials, reported that the United States will send the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, as part of a previously scheduled plan. The Abraham Lincoln has been on deployment for more than 250 days. Its prolonged deployment and limited port stops have raised concerns among some lawmakers about the crew’s living conditions. Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called reports of poor conditions aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln “completely distorted.” @VahidHeadline 📡 @VahidOnline

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Mohammad Mokhber, adviser to Mojtaba Khamenei, wrote on the social media platform X on Thursday, 22 Mordad, that if Iran’s conditions are not met, the leadership’s “definitive strategy” is to escalate the war—a strategy that would “change the global balance of power.” The adviser to the Islamic Republic’s leader went on to claim that the United States had been unable to protect its allies in the Persian Gulf. He described implementing the “Hormuz economic-security mechanism” independently of Washington’s military guarantees as the most sustainable way to establish a new regional order. @ VahidOOnLine 📡 @VahidOnline

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🔴 Flogging is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment that is unequivocally prohibited under international law. Yet the Islamic Republic has used flogging for years—not only for ordinary crimes, but as a judicial tool to repress protesters, political prisoners, women, artists and human rights defenders. Its purpose is not merely to inflict physical pain, but also to humiliate, silence and deter people from dissenting and protesting in the future. 🔸 Since the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center has documented at least 173 protest-related cases of flogging. It is documenting the same pattern in the wake of the Dey 1404 protests. 🔸 Because judicial proceedings are not transparent, and many victims and survivors are reluctant to report such a profoundly humiliating punishment, it remains difficult to document the true scale of the judiciary’s use of flogging. Still, this work is vital to exposing the government’s patterns of repression, preserving evidence to hold perpetrators accountable, and challenging the Islamic Republic’s use of torture. @IranRights

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IRIB News Agency: “Implementation of the plan to sell gasoline at the refinery rate in Kerman has been suspended” Head of Kerman’s Oil Products Distribution Company: 🔹 Following tonight’s talks between the governor of Kerman and national officials, and given the need for further review of the fuel consumption management and anti-smuggling plan, the sale of gasoline at the unsubsidized refinery rate in Kerman Province has been suspended. 📡 @VahidOnline