Four men have been arrested in the United Kingdom on suspicion of spying for Iran after an investigation into suspected surveillance of locations and individuals in London’s Jewish community.
Detectives said one of the men was Iranian, while three had dual British-Iranian nationality, and they had been taken into custody after the arrests were made in Barnet, north London, and Watford, a town north of London.
British lawmakers and domestic spy agencies have been warning for years of the threat to Britain from Iran.
Australia has also linked antisemitic attacks to Tehran.
London Metropolitan Police commander Helen Flanagan said on Friday the arrests were part of a long-running investigation.
The arrested men were aged between 22 years-old and 55 years-old and the police said they arrested six other men as part of the operation on suspicion of assisting an offender.
Reuters
Iran fired a barrage of missiles and drones targeting countries across the Persian Gulf in the last twelve hours, in a war that’s entered a seventh day with no end in sight.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain were among those that came under renewed attack from the Islamic Republic, while Israeli airstrikes hit Tehran and Beirut.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has now left at least 1,332 people dead in Iran so far, and dozens of others have been killed elsewhere in the region in retaliatory strikes.
Six US troops have been killed, all in the first two days of fighting.
President Donald Trump said the US continues to “totally demolish” Iranian forces, telling NBC he wanted to “clean out” Iran’s leadership structure and he had names in mind to take over.
Iran has “no air force, they have no air defence,” Trump said. “Their navy is gone — 24 ships in three days.”
Fears of a protracted war around the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world’s oil supplies transit, are roiling markets. Crude is headed for its biggest weekly surge since 2022.
Emerging markets, in particular, are seeing a sell-off of their assets. Turkey has spent $12 billion, equal to roughly 15 per cent of its foreign-currency reserves, to keep the lira stable this week.
Bloomberg
Israel has said it has carried out 26 strikes in its latest round of attacks in Lebanon, as Hezbollah declares it is targeting Israeli army vehicles.
The Israeli airstrikes on Friday, Australian time, sent thousands of families fleeing their homes in the south of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.
Fighting between Israel and Iran-allied Hezbollah militants in Lebanon has erupted again since Saturday.
In a statement on X, Israel Defence Forces said it was targeting Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure, and made attempts to “mitigate the risk of harm to civilians” before striking.
“Among the targets were an executive council’s command centre and a facility storing UAVs used for attacks against Israel,” it said.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced it was targeting Israeli army vehicles advancing towards the southern Lebanese town of Khiyam.
It follows the terrorist group issuing a message in Hebrew on its Telegram channel early on Friday, warning Israelis to leave towns within five kilometres of Israel’s border.
“Your military’s aggression against Lebanese sovereignty and safe citizens, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the expulsion campaign it is carrying out will not go unchallenged,” Hezbollah said.
Earlier today, Israel carried out 26 strikes on Lebanon aimed at Hezbollah assets, sending thousands fleeing from their home.
With AP
Limited commercial flights will leave the UAE for Sydney and Melbourne from today, Etihad Airways has announced.
The airline has taken to social media platform X to say: “Guests with previous bookings will be accommodated on these flights as soon as possible. Tickets are also available for sale on www.etihad.com.”
“Guests and members of the public should not travel to the airport unless they have been contacted directly by Etihad or hold a confirmed booking on one of these new flights.”
Etihad, one of the major carriers in the Middle East, had previously suspended all commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi until 2pm this afternoon (AEDT).
Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East. This blog will run overnight on Friday and continue into Saturday.
Here’s what you need to know.
- The US-Israeli war has left at least 1,332 people dead in Iran since it began on February 28. Dozens of others have been killed in Lebanon and Israel.
- Limited commercial flights will leave the UAE for Sydney and Melbourne from today, Etihad Airways has announced. Airlines remain hamstrung, with the number of cancelled flights to Middle East hubs surpassing 23,000 since fighting began. Thousands of passengers remained stranded in the Gulf region.
- Israeli airstrikes pounded the capitals of Iran and Lebanon and the US has apparently struck an Iranian drone carrier at sea, intensifying its campaign targeting the Islamic republic’s fleet of warships. In Beirut, 500,000 people fled the densely-populated area the IDF attacked.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed three Australian people were aboard a nuclear-powered US submarine that sank an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka.
- Albanese has also been trying to reassure voters that while there will be an economic hit from the war in Iran, Australia is in a relatively strong position to ride it out. He said the country’s fuel reserves are at their highest level in 15 years.
- The conflict has now wiped more than $120 billion from Australia’s share market in a week. Meanwhile, Australia’s consumer watchdog has warned largest petrol retailers their fuel price movements would be closely monitored as markets respond to the unfolding conflict in Iran.
- Iran has not requested talks with the US to bring an end to the widening war, Iran’s ambassador to Egypt told Associated Press on Thursday.
Read more on the unfolding conflict in the Middle East:
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
