Foreign relations of Iran

The US confiscated Iranian oil on a tanker at sea in recent days in a sanctions enforcement operation, three sources said, and days later Iran seized another oil-laden tanker in retaliation, according to a maritime security firm.

The vessel is managed by Greece-based Empire Navigation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday that Israel would continue its "fight" to prevent arch-foe Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, during a Holocaust ceremony attended by Iran's exiled crown prince.

Israeli media report that high-ranking officials in their country have pointed to the Quds Force, one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence, is behind the foiled plot to bomb a Jewish restaurant and an attached cultural and religious center in Athens.

Last year saw escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war.  However, it is expected that the biggest crisis the world will face this year will arise in the Middle East. 

Late last month, as part of its monitoring of Iran's nuclear program, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported trace amounts of uranium at 84% enrichment. That's important, because 90% enrichment is required to produce a nuclear weapon.

A top Iranian diplomat insisted Wednesday that the Islamic republic was willing to cooperate over its atomic programme, even as western powers slammed a "dangerous nuclear escalation".

Iranian officials said drones struck a munitions manufacturing facility in the central Iranian city of Isfahan overnight in what U.S. officials on Sunday said was an Israeli operation, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Germany's foreign minister is calling for European Union entry bans and asset freezes against those responsible for what she described as brutal repression against anti-government protesters in Iran.

The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against three companies & one individual involved in drones used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Blinken: JCPOA must meet our bottom line * Eisenkot: mistake to exit agreement in 2018