Israel spent years cultivating former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a potential intelligence asset and possible leader in a post-regime Iran.

As part of the effort, Israeli intelligence met with him abroad, including in Hungary, using academic events as cover for secret meetings.

The plan culminated during the 2026 Israel-Iran war, when Mossad operatives extracted Ahmadinejad from Tehran following an Israeli airstrike on his compound and took him to a safe house inside Iran as part of a broader regime-change operation.

The operation ultimately failed after Ahmadinejad left the safe house under unclear circumstances.

According to Iranian officials, he is now under house arrest after authorities uncovered his alleged contacts with Israel.

Source: NYT

BREAKING: Houthis say Saudi airstrikes hit Sanaa International Airport and warn the attack "will not go unanswered."

French President Macron:

Peace is our goal. We cherish freedom and law.

We are ready to fight to defend these principles, always and forever, and to pay tribute in blood if necessary.

French President Macron:

Last year, in this very same place, I said we needed to go faster and stronger in order to be free.

We needed to be feared. We needed to be strong, not out of pleasure, but out of necessity.

We're not doing this because we want to, but because that is our duty.

French President Macron:

It is today's wars that we have to win. We need to hold the line on the Ukrainian front. We need to stand by our partners in the Middle East.

French President Macron:

Patriotism, yes. But nationalism, never.

French President Macron:

FCAS was perhaps not a success, but we should not stop here.

New competitors will appear and we need to move forward when it comes to advanced technologies... We need to make sure that Europe becomes an active industrial military reality.

The UK has officially designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.

Membership, attending its meetings, or publicly displaying its symbols is now a criminal offense in Britain.

Israeli "settlers" attacked a CNN crew, journalists and activists visiting Sinjil in the occupied West Bank, smashing a vehicle's windshield, throwing stones and attempting to slash a tyre.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev:

Türkiye and Azerbaijan are probably the closest two countries in the world.

No other two countries in the world are so close to each other, so supportive of each other, and so friendly toward each other as Türkiye and Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev:

We are not only brothers and friends with Türkiye—we are allies.

And if something unfortunate or bad happens to one of us, the other will stand by us with all its potential, including military capabilities, to defend its brother.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev:

Of course, we will never forget what Armenians did to our people, how they destroyed our cities, how they killed innocent women and children, committed genocide in Khojaly. We will never forget it.

But at the same time, we understand that peace is the ultimate objective. So I think there'll be many implications—psychological, emotional, attempts to fight back, to take revenge.

My message to our neighbors is to be responsible and to stop as soon as possible, and to try to normalize relations and not to escalate this process to a global conflict.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev:

We started to supply gas to a market which we could not even foresee, which is Syria.

And we can expand from Syria towards the neighborhood, where there is a big demand.

So, for us, it is very important in relations with our European partners to have long-term contracts and also to work jointly on the expansion of the existing gas transportation system.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev:

Azerbaijan unilaterally lifted all the transit restrictions to Armenia, and now, since we did it, more than 40,000 tons of different cargo was transported to Armenia from Russia, from Kazakhstan and from other destinations.

Moreover, Azerbaijan itself started to supply oil products to Armenia, and it's already, as far as I remember, more than 10,000 tons.

Especially now, when many countries are suffering from access to fuel, Armenia has a reliable source.

If not for that, probably today they would have been looking for gasoline and diesel all over the world.

The EU is expected to approve new rules that would require Ukrainians seeking temporary protection to provide proof from the Ukrainian government that they are exempt from military mobilization.

Those eligible for conscription would no longer qualify for temporary protection under the new system.

The rules would apply only to new applicants, not people already protected, and are expected to take effect in March 2027.

Source: Rzeczpospolita

Britain will spend £250 million over the next three years to increase security for Jewish communities.

The money will fund 500+ additional police officers, boost patrols around schools, synagogues, and community centres, and strengthen counter-terrorism efforts, with much of the funding going to London and Greater Manchester.

Source: Reuters

Russia released footage showing a 3-ton FAB-3000 glide bomb striking the front-line town of Orikhove in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

The heavy guided bomb, which carries around 1.4 tons of explosives, was launched from a Russian aircraft roughly 40 km away using a glide kit that allows it to travel long distances after release.

An Iranian Mahan Air plane landed in Houthi-controlled Hodeidah, marking a further escalation in tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis.

Iran and its allies hailed the landing as a symbolic victory over the Saudi-led blockade.

Trump on Iran:

We are going to keep the strait. We will probably run it.

We will become the guardian of the strait, and when we do that, we will be reimbursed for it.

We guarded the strait for 50 years, and we never got paid for it. We guarded it for nothing, but now we will make money.

Trump:

5.2% of presidents are killed, and 8.5% are shot.

Being the president is dangerous.

Trump:

Obama went to Iran's side, and because of that, they became more powerful.

They became much more powerful because of Obama and Biden, but Biden probably had nothing to say because he was stupid.