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The attack on Iran in Damascus... this is a turning point — Hezbollah

"After the first six months of the events that took place following the Al-Aqsa storm - this is now a turning point. There was what was before, and that's what's after it. All senior figures... have united and agree to reject the Zionist entity and the illegitimate nature of this entity," Secretary General of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said.

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🇮🇷⚔️🇮🇱 Iran vs. Israel Military Comparison: Who’s Tougher?

Escalating tensions between Tehran and Tel Aviv following Israel’s strike on the Iranian Embassy compound in Damascus has sparked fears of an all-out conflict between the two powers.

Which nation’s military is better equipped for a conflagration?

🔺Troop Strength:

🇮🇱Israel: 169,500 troops plus 465,000 reservists in the Ground Force, Air Force and Navy.

🇮🇷Iran: 420,000 troops in the Army, Air Force, Navy and Air Defense Forces. A separate, 230,000 troop-strong force of elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) formations including ground troops, paramilitaries, IRGC Navy and IRGC Air and Air Defense units. At least 350,000 reserve personnel.

🔺 Budgets:

🇮🇱Israel: $23.4 billion (2022), including $3.18 billion in US aid.

🇮🇷Iran: $6.8 billion (2022), leveraging lower costs using asymmetric defense strategies.

🔺 Weapons:

Both nations boast robust defense industries. Israel has built up its defense sector in cooperation with the US, while Iran – subject to decades of sanctions - looked inward to produce as much of its defense needs as possible.

Israel has an important trump card: nuclear weapons. While neither confirming nor denying its possession of such arms (in a policy known as “deliberate ambiguity”) Israel is suspected of having up to 80 nukes.
Iran, by comparison, has rejected nuclear weapons –and all other WMDs, in favor of a vast conventional missile arsenal and strategic control over the Hormuz Strait, giving Tehran the power to collapse the world economy in case of foreign aggression.

🔺Combat Experience:

🇮🇱Israel: Extensive experience from numerous conflicts since 1948, though recent engagements in Gaza highlight challenges.

🇮🇷Iran: Significant experience from the 1980s Iran-Iraq War and subsequent involvement in regional conflicts, supporting allies in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria with the IRGC.

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An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 occurred near New York in the United States, as a result of which the meeting of the UN Security Council in New York was interrupted for some time.

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A court in Moscow has arrested the eleventh defendant in the case of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, Muhammad Zoir Sharipzoda, the court said

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🛢Amped-up Israel-Iran standoff could spark 'disastrous energy crisis'

Escalation of the Israel-Iran standoff could plunge the world into a “disastrous energy crisis,” Dr. Mamdouh G. Salameh, an international oil economist and global energy expert, told Sputnik.

Oil prices could reach as much as $120 a barrel, he added. The volatile situation hinged on Iran’s response to the attack on its embassy in Damascus, the pundit noted.

The cost of Brent futures for June rose by 1.5% on April 4, reaching $90.65 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures for May settled up 1.4% at $86.59 a barrel.

In the wake of the Israeli missile strike, Iran could retaliate in a manner that would possibly widen the conflict, the economist claimed. Israel and the US could then decide to use Iran’s retaliation as an excuse to attack Tehran’s nuclear installations, he added.

“In this case, Iran will definitely try to block the extremely important Strait of Hormuz by mining it, thus disrupting the shipment of an estimated 20 million barrels a day (mbd) and a big volume of Qatari LNG exports, and plunging the world into a disastrous energy crisis. This could cause oil prices to rocket, with Brent crude hitting $110-120 a barrel,” Dr Salameh said.

The oil price rise would impact global economic growth, with the EU “particularly hit,” the analyst believed.

“However, major oil exporters like Russia, Venezuela, Norway, and Brazil, whose exports don’t pass the Strait of Hormuz, will benefit handsomely from the price rise,” Dr. Salameh said.

Since Iran is a significant player in the oil market, any conflict situation would mean that the price of oil will rise, Suranjali Tandon, assistant professor at the Delhi-based National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, told Sputnik.

The volatility could lead an increase in demand for gold, with a “firming up of gold prices as well,” Tandon said.

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Sputnik International
An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 occurred near New York in the United States, as a result of which the meeting of the UN Security Council in New York was interrupted for some time. Subscribe to @SputnikInt
Russian consulate visitors in New York were temporarily evacuated amid an earthquake, the consul general said.
 
The visitors of the Russian Consulate located in New York were temporarily taken outside of the premises due to a short-term earthquake in the New York area. 
 
“We temporarily asked visitors to the Consulate General to leave the building. Now, if there is no second wave, we expect that we will be able to resume work,” Zakharov said. According to him, an assessment remains to be made to determine whether the building was damaged. 

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Scott Ritter: Attacks on consulate, aid convoy show that Israel thinks it’s ‘above the law’

“In the span of a week, the world has witnessed two wanton violations of international law and the norms and standards of civilized nations by the state of Israel,” former UN weapons inspector and international affairs commentator Scott Ritter told Sputnik, commenting on Monday’s twin attacks against the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, and World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza.

The Damascus attack appeared to target high-ranking IRGC officers, “but the fact that Israel views these officers as legitimate targets doesn’t give them the permission to violate the protections that are afforded to these structures. Diplomatic immunity is a reality, and these buildings (consulates, embassies), are afforded inviolability, protection of international law, and Israel opted to violate this,” Ritter said.

The consequences of the attack “have yet to be fully borne out…but based on Israel’s own reaction and anticipation could be quite severe. And this could throw not just the region but the world into chaos, turmoil and conflict, all because Israel decided that it could operate above the law,” the observer warned.

As for the WCK attack, Ritter alleged that the aid workers were targeted because “their work is not conducive to the overarching Israeli policy of depopulation” in Gaza.

“The consequences of this action were clear. Almost immediately, ships filled with humanitarian aid turned around and refused to offload their life-sustaining cargos in Gaza out of fear of being attacked by Israel,” he said.

“These crimes will continue so long as Israel is allowed to operate without any consequences – so long as the United States continues to provide diplomatic cover for Israel in the Security Council of the United Nations – so long as the world is willing to turn a blind eye to the crimes committed by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu,” Ritter emphasized.


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🔺What was Israel trying to accomplish by attacking the Iranian consulate in Damascus?

🔺How Iran can avoid falling into Netanyahu’s trap as Israel escalates ‘shadow war’

🔺Iran vs. Israel Military Comparison: Who’s Tougher?

🔺Amped-up Israel-Iran standoff could spark 'disastrous energy crisis'

🔺Economic consequences if war breaks out between Iran and Israel

🔺Scott Ritter: Attacks on consulate, aid convoy show that Israel thinks it’s ‘above the law’

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Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism: Putin quotes noscriptures of Russia's traditional religions

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🇮🇷 "In a written message, the Islamic Republic of Iran warns US leadership not to get dragged in Netanyahu's trap for US: Stay away so you won't get hurt. In response US asked Iran not to target American facilities," Mohammad Jamshidi, Deputy Chief of Staff for Political Affairs to I.R. Iran President posted on X.

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🤔 ‘Curious timing’: What’s behind US Security Council Resolution proposing ban on nukes in space?

“It’d be interesting to know the details of this proposed treaty by the United States,” retired US Army Lt. Col. Earl Rasmussen told Sputnik, commenting on a joint US-Japanese UN Security Council Resolution expected to be tabled next week proposing a ban on nuclear weapons in outer space.

“I’m often kind of cautious when they propose something, because the US is probably the one country that has reneged or withdrawn unilaterally from more treaties than any other country,” Rasmussen said.

The timing of the proposal is “interesting” and “curious,” and the details crucial, because there already is an international agreement banning the deployment of nuclear weapons in space – the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the observer said.

Rasmussen doesn’t rule out that the Security Council Resolution may be aimed at advanced space-based weapons which countries have developed but not fielded, with recent US diplomatic maneuvers in strategic arms control serving as a hint regarding how the US might fear other countries might behave.

“I mean if we look at the [1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile] Treaty that the US pulled out of – they were developing missile defense systems prior to doing so and then they withdrew from the treaty and deployed them,” the observer said. The same goes for the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which the US quit in 2019, resuming medium-range missile testing immediately thereafter.

“I also think that the US probably has concerns over EMP,” Rasmussen said, referring to electromagnetic pulse weapons which can knock out satellite electronics. The US military is “highly dependent on satellites” for its operations, Rasmussen emphasized. “So I’m thinking they’re probably concerned as far as not really having a good defensive capability to counter some type of satellite killer or disrupter or something.”


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🇦🇿🇦🇲 Azerbaijani media publish footage of alleged concentration of Armenian equipment near the border. No response has been made by Armenia as of yet.

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🔥 Russia's Yug Battlegroup scouts wipe out positions of Ukrainian forces near Artemovsk

On a daily basis, servicemen of reconnaissance units of the Yug Battlegroup using strike drones and ATGM systems strike manpower, hardware, and fortifications of the Ukrainian forces.

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Bold nighttime raid: Russian paratroopers' armored group neutralizes Ukrainian nationalists in stronghold

An armored Russian airborne regiment operating in the BMD-2K-AU airborne assault vehicle rapidly moved into the assigned area to destroy the targets under the cover of darkness.

The Russian paratroopers engaged in direct fire against the enemy, and in a few minutes about 500 fragmentation shells flew out of the barrel of 30-mm guns. The distance to enemy positions was no more than 1,000 meters; a quadrocopter operator with thermal imaging equipment adjusted the fire.

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Slovakia committed to humanitarian aid, not bombs, for Ukraine - foreign minister

Slovakian Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said a NATO initiative to create a Ukraine aid fund requires detailed study, but if the republic supports it, it will be in areas not related to arms supply.

"It is premature to talk about details, but our position, which we will certainly promote, is that even if we support these initiatives, [the support] will not relate to arms supplies, because we have specifically indicated that we will not support arms supplies from the Slovak army depots or from the republic's budget,” Blanar told reporters.


Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico rejected European interference in the Donbass conflict recently, urging Slovakia’s congress to pass a resolution against the sending of troops to Ukraine. The prime minister claimed there is no military solution to the Donbass conflict and urged negotiations for a peaceful settlement. He also promised the cooperation of Slovakia in efforts to provide Ukraine with humanitarian aid at the time.

“I refuse to have an iron curtain built between the EU and the Russian Federation,” said Fico in separate remarks previously.


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The United States continues to engage with Russia directly to address its concerns over Moscow's alleged effort to develop a space-based anti-satellite capability, a US Defense Department spokesperson told Sputnik.

“We continue to monitor the development of a concerning Russian anti-satellite capability," the spokesperson said. "We’ve taken a series of actions in response to this development, including coordinating with our allies and partners, and directly engaging with Russia on their irresponsible plan.”


In February a US lawmaker stated Russia is developing a space-based anti-satellite weapon that poses a serious US national security threat, a claim that was confirmed by the White House. In response to US claims the Kremlin said the White House is trying to encourage Congress to vote for a bill to allocate money to Ukraine amid Russia's special military operation in the Donbass.

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Israeli strikes in Gaza proving part of 'concerted effort to industrialize genocide'

According to a recent report, the Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using artificial intelligence (AI) targeting systems and “little human oversight.” The system is called “Lavender” and has “played a central role in the unprecedented bombing of Palestinians,” the report notes.

“It's not just the Lavender, they're also using facial recognition cameras in Gaza to pick out people who they consider to be Hamas," Carrillo said. "Because, if you go by the numbers provided by Tel Aviv, every man, adult male in Gaza who has been killed is a terrorist.”


“And we need to really keep in mind that a lot of Western tech companies are helping Israel do this. Google, Microsoft, they have contracts with the Israeli army, with the Israeli government to provide them with this technology,” said Carrillo. “This is Western aid. Just like the weapons, just like the political cover.”


The Lavender system reportedly marked as many as 37,000 Palestinians as suspected militants and usually targeted their homes for possible air strikes rather than during the course of military activity.

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