Hoplite Group

#Iran - Iran summons Australian ambassador over "offensive" LGBTQ+ social media post. Murray Watt ‘concerned’ at reaction from Iranian government to an Instagram photo of embassy staff in Tehran celebrating Wear it Purple day - from The Guardian: Iran has summoned the Australian ambassador in Tehran over a “disrespectful” photo celebrating an annual LGBTQ+ awareness day posted to the embassy Instagram page, a state-run news agency reported. The head of the Regional Affairs Office of the Foreign Ministry condemned the Australian embassy’s “offensive” post as disrespectful and contrary to Iranian and Islamic culture and international norms, Islamic Republic News Agency reported. A photo of Ian McConville, the ambassador to Tehran, and two colleagues wearing purple was posted on Monday commemorating Wear it Purple Day in Australia, to celebrate allyship with the LGBTQ+ community. The caption read: “Celebrating ‘Wear it Purple Day’ with a splash of purple in every corner, and some delicious cupcakes made with love. “Today, and every day, we’re dedicated to creating a supportive environment, where everyone, especially LGBTQIA+ youth, can feel proud to be themselves.” The unnamed foreign ministry official said the post contravened international law and the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, mandating respect for the host country’s laws and regulations. Homosexuality is illegal in Iran and punishable by death under the sharia penal code. Under a religious decree issued 30 years ago transgender people are allowed to seek gender transition surgery. The IRNA report said McConville had responded by saying Australia had no intention of insulting Iran or Iranian culture and the post made no reference to Iran. As of Wednesday morning the post was still up on Instagram. The federal workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, told ABC News Breakfast on Wednesday he was “concerned to see this reaction from the Iranian government to the activities of the Australian embassy”. “We’re very proud about the fact that our embassies promote Australian values internationally. And I’m very concerned to see an overseas government seemingly take action against an Australian embassy that is upholding Australian values.” The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have been contacted for comment. https://lnkd.in/gEkRPvT7

Afghanistan: U.S. voices impatience with Taliban over morality law targeting Afghan women - from Voice of America: An American diplomat has condemned the Taliban’s new morality law in Afghanistan, warning that it “aims to complete the erasure of women from public life.” Rina Amiri, the United States special envoy for Afghan women, girls, and human rights, posted on social media late Tuesday that she raised concerns about the law during her recent meetings with counterparts in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. “My message was clear: Our support for the Afghan people remains steadfast, but patience with the Taliban is running out,” Amiri wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The way to legitimacy domestically & internationally is respecting the rights of the Afghan people.” The U.S. warning comes days after the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, enacted the contentious decree that orders Afghan women not to speak aloud in public and cover their bodies and faces entirely when outdoors. The 114-page, 35-article law also outlines various actions and specific conduct that the Taliban government, called the Islamic Emirate, considers mandatory or prohibited for Afghan men and women in line with its strict interpretation of Islam. The legal document empowers the Ministry for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, which the Taliban revived after coming back to power in August 2021, to enforce it strictly. Enforcers are empowered to discipline offenders, and penalties may include anything from a verbal warning to fines to imprisonment. The law requires them to prevent “evils” such as adultery, extramarital sex, lesbianism, taking pictures of living objects and befriending non-Muslims. Official Taliban media quoted Akhundzada this week as ordering authorities to “rigorously enforce” the new vice and virtue decree across Afghanistan “to bring the people closer to the Islamic system.” The law was enacted amid extensive restrictions on Afghan women's education and employment opportunities. Since regaining power three years ago, the Taliban have prohibited girls ages 12 and older from continuing their education beyond the sixth grade and restricted women from seeking employment, except in certain sectors such as health. Afghan females are not allowed to visit parks and other public places, and a male guardian must accompany them on road trips or air travel. The United Nations promptly responded to the new law last month, condemning it as a “distressing vision" for the impoverished country's future and urging de facto authorities to reverse it. The Taliban government, which is officially not recognized by any country, has dismissed U.N.-led foreign criticism as offensive. Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesperson, asserted that “non-Muslims should first educate themselves about Islamic laws and respect Islamic values” before expressing concerns or rejecting the law...

#Russia / #ColdWarII - Lavrov warns US not to mock Russia's 'red lines' - from Reuters News Agency: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, responding to a question about the potential delivery of long-range U.S. missiles to Ukraine, warned the United States on Wednesday not to joke about Russia's "red lines". Lavrov said the U.S. was losing sight of the sense of mutual deterrence that had underpinned the balance of security between Moscow and Washington since the Cold War, and that this was dangerous. He was commenting on a Reuters report that the U.S. is close to an agreement to supply Ukraine with long-range JASSM cruise missiles that could reach deep inside Russia - for which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been lobbying. "I won't be surprised by anything - the Americans have already crossed the threshold they set for themselves. They are being egged on, and Zelenskiy of course sees this and takes advantage of it," Lavrov told a Russian TV interviewer. "But they should understand - they are joking about our red lines here. They shouldn't joke about our red lines." President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned the West since launching what he called his "special military operation" in Ukraine in 2022 not to try to thwart Russia, which has the world's biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons. But Washington and its allies have increased military aid to Ukraine, including by providing tanks, advanced missiles and F-16 fighter jets. That has prompted some Western politicians to suggest Putin's nuclear rhetoric is a bluff and that the U.S. and NATO should go all-out to help Ukraine win the war. Zelenskiy has said Ukraine's incursion into Russia, launched on Aug. 6, makes a mockery of Putin's red lines. Lavrov said Washington knew where these limits lay but was wrong if it believed the consequences of any escalation of the war in Ukraine would be suffered mainly by Europe. "They have a genetic conviction that no one will touch them," Lavrov said. This, he said, undermined all the principles that had underpinned strategic stability with Washington since Soviet times. "This feeling of mutual deterrence - for some reason they are starting to lose it. This is dangerous," he said. Story continues: https://lnkd.in/giSvkxgD

#Ukraine / #Russia - War Update - Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Kuleba resigns as Russian strikes kill 7 people in Lviv - from The Associated Press: Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, one of Ukraine’s most recognizable faces on the international stage, submitted his resignation Wednesday ahead of an expected major government reshuffle. Russian strikes, meanwhile, killed seven people in a western Ukraine city, a day after one of the deadliest missile attacks since the war began. Kuleba, 43, didn’t give a reason for stepping down. His resignation will be discussed by lawmakers at their next session, parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said on his Facebook page. Four other Cabinet ministers tendered their resignations late Tuesday, making the Cabinet reshuffle likely the biggest since Russia’s February 2022 invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated last week that a reshuffle was imminent, with the war poised to enter a critical stage and as its 1,000-day mark looms in November. He said Wednesday that Ukraine needs “new energy, and that includes in diplomacy.” He said during a Kyiv news conference with visiting Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris that he couldn’t announce any replacements yet because he didn’t know whether the candidates would accept his invitation to join the government. Zelensky needs to keep up Ukraine’s morale amid the grinding war of attrition with its bigger neighbor and steel the country’s resolve for what will be another hard winter. Russia has been smashing Ukraine’s power grid, knocking out some 70% of generation capacity and rupturing heat and water supplies. And Wednesday’s deadly attack on Lviv — a city near the border with NATO member Poland and far from the front lines — underscored how all of Ukraine is at the mercy of Moscow’s long-range capabilities. The Ukrainian army’s risky incursion almost a month ago into Russia’s Kursk border region raised Ukrainian sprits and countered months of grim news from the front line in eastern Ukraine. The incursion’s ultimate goals are unclear, though Zelenskyy says Ukraine wants to create a buffer zone there that would prevent cross-border Russian attacks. Story continues: https://lnkd.in/gVUwJnjc

#Iran / #Israel - As Iran threatens Israel, the danger of Tehran’s long-vaunted missile program remains in question - from The Associated Press: As Iran threatens to attack Israel over the assassination of a Hamas leader in the Iranian capital, its long-vaunted missile program offers one of the few ways for Tehran to strike back directly, but questions loom over just how much of a danger it poses. The program was behind Iran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel in April, when Iran became the first nation to launch such a barrage since Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein lobbed Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War. But few of the Iranian projectiles reached their targets. Many were shot down by a U.S.-led coalition, while others apparently failed at launch or crashed while in flight. Even those that reached Israel appeared to miss their marks. Now a new report by experts shared exclusively with The Associated Press suggests one of Tehran’s most advanced missiles is far less accurate than previously thought. The April assault showed “some ability to strike Israel,” said Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies who worked on the analysis. But “if I were supreme leader, I would probably be a little disappointed.” If Iranian missiles are not able to hit targets precisely “that recasts their role,” Lair added. “They’re no longer as valuable for conducting conventional military operations. They may be more valuable simply as terror weapons.” As an example, he recalled the harassing missile fire seen on cities in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, when Iran could fire a variety of missiles at a large city and hope some got through. Iran has repeatedly said it will retaliate for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh. Israel is widely suspected of carrying out the assassination, though it has not claimed it. The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tacitly acknowledged the country’s failure to strike anything of importance in Israel. Story continues: https://lnkd.in/eGe6W3rq

#Afghanistan / #Kabul - At Least 6 Killed In Suicide Blast In Kabul, Afghan Officials Say - from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: At least six people were killed and 13 injured in a blast in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on September 2, representatives of the de facto Taliban rulers said. Witnesses said the incident took place near the Attorney General's Office in the capital, with some residents telling RFE/RL's Radio Adazi that at least 15 people had been killed. Police officials declared it a "suicide attack," but details remain scarce. Residents near the emergency hospital in the Shahr-e Naw neighborhood told Radio Azadi they saw bodies and injured being taken by ambulance to the hospital. No group immediately claimed responsibility, but the Sunni-led Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) branch has carried out numerous attacks since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, often targeting Taliban officials, foreign nationals, and the Shi'ite Hazara community. https://lnkd.in/e5yjAfWW

#Russia / #Mongolia - Russian leader Putin visits Mongolia and defies an international warrant for his arrest - The Associated Press: Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting Mongolia on Tuesday with no sign that the host country would bow to calls to arrest him on an international warrant for alleged war crimes stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The trip is Putin’s first to a member country of the International Criminal Court since it issued the warrant about 18 months ago. Ahead of his visit, Ukraine called on Mongolia to hand Putin over to the court in The Hague, and the European Union expressed concern that Mongolia might not execute the warrant. A spokesperson for Putin said last week that the Kremlin wasn’t worried. The warrant puts the Mongolian government in a tough spot. Member countries are required by the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, to detain suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued. But Mongolia, a landlocked country bordering Russia, is highly dependent on its much larger neighbor for fuel and some of its electricity. The court lacks a mechanism to enforce its warrants. The Russian leader was welcomed in the main square in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, by an honor guard dressed in vivid red and blue uniforms styled on those of the personal guard of 13th century ruler Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire. He and Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa walked up the red-carpeted steps of the Government Palace and bowed before a statue of Genghis Khan before entering the building for their meetings. A small group of protesters who tried to unfurl a Ukrainian flag before the welcome ceremony were taken away by police. Sitting down for talks with Khurelsukh, Putin said that relations between their two countries “are developing in all areas.” He invited the Mongolian president to attend a summit of the BRICS nations — a group that includes Russia and China among others — in the Russian city of Kazan in late October. Khurelsukh accepted, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Story continues: https://lnkd.in/emijyWvf

#Turkey / #Military - U.S. soldiers assaulted in western Turkey - Reuters News Agency: A nationalist Turkish youth group on Monday physically assaulted two U.S. soldiers in western Turkey, the U.S. Embassy in Turkey and the local governor's office said, adding that 15 assailants had been detained over the incident. In a statement, the Izmir governor's office said members of the Turkey Youth Union (TGB), a youth branch of the nationalist opposition Vatan Party, "physically attacked" two U.S. soldiers dressed in civilian clothes in the Konak district. It added that five U.S. soldiers joined in after seeing the incident, and that police intervened. All 15 attackers had been detained and an investigation was launched into the matter, it said. A White House spokesperson said on Monday Washington was "troubled" by the assault but added it was "appreciative that Turkish police are taking this matter seriously and holding those responsible accountable." The U.S. Embassy to Turkey also confirmed the attack and said the U.S. soldiers were now safe. "We can confirm reports that U.S. service members embarked aboard the USS Wasp were the victims of an assault in Izmir today, and are now safe," it said on social media platform X. Earlier, the TGB posted a video on X showing a group holding down a man on the street and putting a white hood over his head, while shouting slogans. The group said the man was a soldier on board the USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara had said earlier on Monday that the ship was carrying out a port visit to the Aegean coastal town of Izmir this week. "U.S. soldiers who carry the blood of our soldiers and thousands of Palestinians on their hands cannot dirty our country. Every time you step foot in these lands, we will meet you the way you deserve," TGB said. Story continues: https://lnkd.in/ezfkh6v5

#Mali and #Niger rebels met to ‘strengthen’ ties amid political turmoil - Al Arabiya News Channel: A delegation from the Nigerien rebel group the Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL) met the Malian rebel movement the Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP) in late August to “strengthen” ties, a CSP spokesman told AFP Monday. The two rebel groups are fighting the respective juntas in Bamako and Niamey which seized power in recent coups. Mali and Niger, along with military-led Burkina Faso, have broken away from former colonial power France and regional bloc ECOWAS, turning politically and militarily towards Russia. “A delegation from the CSP led by its president Alghabass Ag Intalla met a mission from Niger's FPL led by commander-in-chief Barka Taher Hamit from August 25 to 29 in Tinzaouatene,” a town in northern Mali, said CSP spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadan. The CSP is a coalition of mainly Tuareg-led armed separatist groups. Tinzaouatene, located near the Algerian border, was the site of a major late July battle in which separatists and jihadists claimed to have inflicted a serious defeat on the Malian army and the Russian paramilitary group Wagner. On August 25, drone strikes on the town killed around 20 civilians, including several children, according to the separatists, a local elected representative and an official from a local NGO. The Malian army said it had destroyed “terrorist targets” and killed “around 20 armed individuals” during the operation. Speaking of the late August meeting, CSP spokesman Ramadan said “the exchanges were fruitful, covered subjects of common interest and helped to strengthen our relations.” “At a time when the juntas have decided to carry out ethnic cleansing, we must organise ourselves to defend our territories and our people,” he added. The FPL, which is fighting for the release of Niger's ousted president Mohamed Bazoum, confirmed the meeting on its social media. “Discussions focused in particular on the need to sign a mutual assistance pact in the event of aggression by the states of the AES,” a new confederation made up of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, the FPL said on its Facebook page. https://lnkd.in/embPvst9

#Yemen - 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗖𝗿𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗢𝗶𝗹 𝗧𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 - from U. S. Central Command (USCENTCOM): On the morning of Sep. 2, the Iranian-backed Houthis attacked two crude oil tankers, the Panama flagged/owned, Greek operated MV BLUE LAGOON I and the Saudi flagged, owned, and operated MV AMJAD, with two ballistic missiles and a one-way attack uncrewed aerial system, hitting both vessels.  Both vessels are laden with crude oil. The MV AMJAD is carrying approximately two million barrels of oil, almost twice the amount onboard the Greek-owned MV DELTA SOUNION, which the Houthis attacked on Aug. 21. Currently, salvage efforts are underway in the Southern Red Sea for the disabled MV DELTA SOUNION, which is still on fire and threatens the possibility of a major environmental disaster.   These reckless acts of terrorism by the Houthis continue to destabilize regional and global commerce, as well as put the lives of civilian mariners and maritime ecosystems at risk..    U.S. Central Command will continue to work with international partners and allies to protect commerce and mitigate potential impacts to the environment despite the irresponsible and careless actions of the Iranian-backed Houthis. https://lnkd.in/eAi9PjBB