Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Iran: Expect Retaliation Over Seizure Of Iranian Tanker


Iran's leader vows response to British 'piracy' over detained tanker


The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they happen.



Iran’s top leader says his country will retaliate over the seizure of an Iranian tanker by British authorities.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls the seizure of the ship “piracy” in a televised speech Tuesday, saying: “God willing, the Islamic Republic and its committed forces will not leave this evil without a response.”
The Iranian supertanker, carrying 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil, was seized with the help of British Royal Marines earlier this month off Gibraltar.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Saturday that Britain will facilitate the release of the ship if Iran can provide guarantees the vessel will not breach European sanctions on oil shipments to Syria. Tensions have soared in the Persian Gulf over the past year as the Trump administration has ramped up sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, a move that led Tehran to return last month to enriching uranium beyond the 3.67% allowed under the deal.

Two-thirds of massive underground anti-tunnel wall on Gaza border completed

Workers have completed some 40 kilometers (25 miles) of a massive underground wall along the Gaza border meant to prevent Hamas and other terror groups from tunneling into Israel, Israel’s Defense Ministry says.
The wall is slated to stretch 64 kilometers (40 miles) along the border, and includes sensors that can detect existing tunnels and digging operations in Gaza, the Walla news site reports.
Construction work on the subterranean barrier has already helped unearth 18 cross-border attack tunnels, most of them uncovered since 2017.
The wall will work in tandem with a 3.5-meter-high (11.5-foot-high) aboveground border fence now under construction. The new fence is much heavier and taller than the fence it is replacing, and so will be more difficult to cross, the IDF says.


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