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What is Iran's Pickaxe Mountain? UAE trade embargo could shut Iran's key economic escape route: Here's why The United Arab Emirates announced an indefinite trade embargo on Iran on Wednesday, accusing Iranian forces of firing two ballistic missiles at its territory. Iran denied launching missiles and described the reported attack as a "false flag operation" by Israel and the United States. The UAE's embargo has been described as highly significant by analysts, who say Iran is heavily reliant on its neighbour for critical imports and access to financial markets. "In many ways, the embargo being put on by the UAE is even more significant than the embargo being put on by the United States," Mark Kimmitt, a retired US general and former assistant secretary of state, told Al Jazeera, referring to US sanctions and the ongoing American naval blockade of Iranian ports. The recent developments come shortly after the June 17 memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran lapsed on Monday, with little prospect of being renewed.

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What is Iran's Pickaxe Mountain? Where does Iran stand on Saudi-Pakistan-Turkiye pact? What are the challenges facing the Mecca agreement? Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have expanded their mutual defence pact to add Turkiye, raising questions about the emergence of a new security architecture at a time when the United States and Iran have yet to reach a final deal to end their war. Under the agreement signed in Mecca on Friday, any external armed attack on either of the three countries will now be considered an attack on all.

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What is Iran's Pickaxe Mountain? Has Russia helped Iran target CIA sites in the Gulf? When US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Secretary Sergey Lavrov on Thursday in Manila, on the margins of a summit of Southeast Asian nations, Moscow's war on Ukraine was officially the top agenda item. But the meeting between Rubio and Lavrov was held under the shadow of fresh reports suggesting that Russia might be playing a more active role than it has publicly acknowledged in Iran's attacks on United States military sites in the Middle East. Three days into the war, on March 3, The Washington Post reported that a CIA station in the US embassy in Riyadh had been targeted, according to two people familiar with the matter.

What is Iran's Pickaxe Mountain? The United States military says it has launched another wave of strikes on Iran, while Tehran says it retaliated with missile and drone attacks against US military assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan. US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said it concluded an evening wave of strikes against Iran at 9pm ET on Wednesday (01:00 GMT on Thursday), targeting "Iranian command centres, air defence sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities" in an effort to reduce Iran's ability to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian air defences were activated over the capital, Tehran, as state media reported attacks across much of the country. Explosions were reported in Bandar Abbas and on nearby Qeshm island in the south, as well as in the southeastern coastal towns of Sirik, Chabahar and Konarak. Iranian media also reported attacks further inland in Rask, Khondab, Khorramabad and Semnan.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has targeted US military facilities in Bahrain, claimed it has destroyed radar systems in Oman and hit Jordan and Kuwait in its latest round of overnight retaliatory strikes against the United States. Tehran's attacks on Monday came as a response to Washington's escalating strikes as prospects of peace between the two countries recede. Where were the latest Iran attacks? The IRGC said it attacked Oman as part of its latest phase of retaliation. It said it targeted "the FPS long-range aerial radar and the vessel detection radar in Oman", adding that these radar systems were destroyed.

Iran human rights abuses against Christians draw State Department rebuke, with calls for political prisoners' release and sanctions on officials behind religious freedom violations.