The death Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following joint US-Israeli airstrikes has thrust Iran political and religious hierarchy into the process of selecting a new supreme leader.Under Iran’s constitution, the supreme leader is appointed by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body elected by the public every eight years.Candidates for the Assembly are first vetted by the Guardian Council, tightly controlling who can run.When the position becomes vacant, the Assembly convenes to deliberate and select a successor.The decision requires a simple majority vote.In the interim, a provisional three-member leadership council assumes the supreme leader’s duties until a replacement is formally appointed.It…

By Staff Writer The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader and Minister of Defence decapitates the ownership chain of Iran’s largest digital company, co-owned by the MTN Group and now operated by an IRGC veteran as a wartime weapons platform. Israeli strikes on Tehran on Saturday killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Defence Minister Amir Nasirzadeh, according to Israeli officials briefed on the operation and confirmed by multiple Western intelligence sources. The significance of these deaths for the future of the Iranian state will be analysed extensively in the days ahead. But there is a corporate dimension to the killings that has received almost no…

By Staff Writer The regime’s second total communications shutdown in eight weeks is now operated by a terrorist veteran — installed after his predecessor was fired for not cutting the network fast enough. Iran’s internet connectivity collapsed to approximately four per cent of normal levels on Saturday morning as US and Israeli forces struck targets across Tehran, including the Office of the Supreme Leader, the Ministry of Intelligence and the Ministry of Defence. NetBlocks confirmed a near-total shutdown of internet, mobile and SMS services nationwide. At the operational centre of the blackout sits MTN-Irancell, Iran’s largest mobile network with more…

The United States and Israel have launched a pre-emptive air campaign against Iran striking targets across the country in what the US President said was a “massive and ongoing operation”.President Donald Trump said the bombing attacks were aimed at destroying Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities, thwarting Tehran’s support to proxies and the destruction of its theocratic government.The operation called “Epic Fury” is expected to last several days with multiple military, nuclear and political institutions being targeted.The attacks spurred a furious Iranian retaliation, with multiple barrages striking Israel, Bahrain, Dubai, Qatar and Jordan.The attacks began with Israeli strikes Saturday morning, a…

By Ben Farmer Ethiopia, Eritrea and Tigray are once again massing forces on the Horn of Africa, raising fears that one of the bloodiest African wars of recent years could resume. Diplomats have warned that Ethiopian federal and Tigrayan troops have deployed in strength along the border of the country’s northern Tigray region. The Tigray civil war is estimated to have killed around 600,000 people between 2020 and 2022, when Ethiopian troops, backed by local militias and the Eritrean army, fought rebels from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Ethiopia and Eritrea emerged victorious, but the peace deal has not…

By Sean Rayment Royal Navy submarine HMS Anson arrived in Western Australia today, marking a major milestone in the AUKUS partnership, which supports security and stability in the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic and delivers good jobs and growth in the UK, Australia and the US. AUKUS is the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK and the United States to build new attack submarines and develop advanced military technology that will help protect all three nations, drive growth and support security in a new era of threat. In a significant step for the AUKUS programme, Australian personnel will work alongside UK engineers to…

By Sean Rayment Russia is losing more troops than the country’s armed forces can recruit for the first time since the Kremlin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian army has been sustaining almost 40,000 casualties a month since November, while recruiting up to 35,000 troops to sustain the invasion, Western officials said. Ukraine’s intense counter-attacks have pushed Russia’s casualties to more than 1.25 million since the war began four years ago. The figure is also higher than the total sustained by the United States during the Second World War. Al Carns, the UK’s Armed Forces minister, said Russia’s effort…

By Andre Pienaar Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the shadowy former police officer who built the Jalisco New Generation Cartel into one of the most violent and far-reaching criminal enterprises in history, is dead. The Mexican Army confirmed on Sunday that “El Mencho” was fatally wounded during a special forces operation in the mountain town of Tapalpa, Jalisco, and died while being airlifted to Mexico City. The operation, supported by US intelligence channelled through the newly established Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, represents the most consequential blow against Mexican organised crime since the arrest of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán a decade ago.…

Iran and the US will hold a third round of nuclear talks on Thursday in Geneva, in a bid to avoid a military conflict between the two adversaries.The US has spent several weeks building up its military forces in the Middle East, with President Donald Trump warning on Thursday that “really bad things will happen” if no deal is reached to solve a longstanding dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.Detail of the latest round of talks were revealed Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who announced that Iran was will to continue talking to avoid war.“Pleased to confirm US-Iran negotiations are now…

The Miami summit presents an historic opportunity to turn the fight against illicit wildlife trafficking into a pillar of economic security — but only if the G20 holds its own members to account. By Dr Dion George When President Trump announced that South Africa would not be invited to the 2026 G20 summit in Miami, a chorus of outrage followed. Multilateralists called it a breach of norms. African Union diplomats protested. Editorial pages warned of precedent-setting exclusions. But those who understand what has been happening inside South Africa’s governing structures and what those structures have allowed to happen to the…

By Sean Rayment Russian soldiers are using “invisibility cloaks” to hide from heat-seeking Ukrainian drones capable of locking on to individual thermal signatures. The cloaks are designed to prevent troops from being attacked by drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras and high explosives. The cameras allow drone operators to target Russian soldiers in all weather conditions, both by day and by night, because they can identify heat emitted by the body. To help protect themselves from attack, Russian troops have begun wearing £60 cloaks and ponchos often used by hunters to stay warm in winter or bad weather. The thermal…

By Sean Rayment Britain will send a Carrier Strike Group back to sea in 2026 in a major show of force across the Euro-Atlantic and High North, reinforcing NATO’s deterrence at a time of rising Russian threats in the region. Known as ‘Operation Firecrest’ and led by HMS Prince of Wales, the largest warship in the Royal Navy, the UK will deploy the strike group across the North Atlantic and Arctic. It will include world-class Royal Navy warships and RAF fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets to bolster defence and security. The move comes as Russia’s military activity in the North Atlantic…