Month: August 2024

The Pentagon confirmed that the United States is sending the USS Georgia guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is speeding up the arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, equipped with F-35C fighters “in light of escalating regional tensions.”  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered the dispatch of the USS Georgia guided missile submarine to the region, and further ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to accelerate its ongoing transit to the area.

The moves came amid mounting fears that Iran might soon respond to the assassination of Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran last month after attending the inauguration ceremony for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Both Iran and Hamas blamed Israel for the killing, and while Israel has remained quiet on the matter it is widely believed to have carried out the assassination.

As Israel braces for retaliatory attacks from Iran and its proxies after the assassination of senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement Monday: “We’re following Hezbollah and Iran and ready. We’re at highest alert.”

According to a readout of the Pentagon conversation, in a conversation with Israeli Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant,” Secretary Austin reiterated the United States’ commitment to take every possible step to defend Israel and noted the strengthening of U.S. military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle East.”  The two defense officials “also discussed Israel’s operations in Gaza and the importance of mitigating civilian harm, progress towards securing a cease-fire and the release of hostages held in Gaza” as well as efforts to deter Iran, Hezbollah, and other Iran-allied groups in the region.

On Monday, the leaders of the U.K., Germany and France released their own joint statement calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, the release of the hostages and the “unfettered” delivery of aid to Gaza, and urged Iran and its proxies, like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, to refrain from attacks that could further escalate the conflict in the region.  The joint statement read: “They will bear responsibility for actions that jeopardize this opportunity for peace and stability. No country or nation stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed “severe punishment” for the assassination, but it remains unclear exactly how Iran plans to retaliate.

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Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign says that its email messages were hacked, and suggested Iranian actors were involved in stealing and distributing sensitive internal documents.

Politico was the first to report on the hack, with the outlet stating that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source — an AOL email account identified only as “Robert” — passed along what appeared to be a research dossier the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. The document was dated Feb. 23, almost five months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blamed the hack on “foreign sources hostile to the United States… these documents were obtained illegally and intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process. These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process. The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House.”

The campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran’s involvement, but the claim comes a day after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents’ attempts to interfere in the U.S. campaign in 2024. In its report, Microsoft cited an instance of an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sending “a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.” The analysis continued: “Iranian cyber-enabled influence operations have been a consistent feature of at least the last three U.S. election cycles. Iran’s operations have been notable and distinguishable from Russian campaigns for appearing later in the election season and employing cyberattacks more geared toward election conduct than swaying voters. Recent activity suggests the Iranian regime — along with the Kremlin — may be equally engaged in election 2024.”

Cheung pointed to the Microsoft report issued Friday and its conclusions that “Iranian hackers broke into the account of a ‘high ranking official’ on the U.S. presidential campaign in June 2024, which coincides with the close timing of President Trump’s selection of a vice presidential nominee.”  Said Cheung: “The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House … any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.”

A National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement: “As we have said many times, the Biden-Harris Administration strongly condemns any foreign government or entity who attempts to interfere in our electoral process or seeks to undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.”

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A police officer in Ferguson, Mo. was critically injured after clashing with demonstrators at the city’s police headquarters on the 10th anniversary since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.

Several people were arrested at the protest and five are facing charges, CBS News affiliate KMOV reported, with Ferguson police chief Troy Doyle telling reporters at a press briefing that Officer Travis Brown suffered a severe brain injury Friday after being knocked to the ground by protesters during clashes along a fence surrounding the station, adding: “he is in an area hospital right now fighting for his life.” Two other officers also were hurt, one sustaining an ankle injury and another an abrasion. Both were treated at the scene.

The unrest came following day of peaceful tributes and memorials marking the death of Brown, a Black 18-year-old whose fatal shooting by a White Ferguson police officer on Aug. 9, 2014. Doyle said demonstrators gathered at the police station after dark and began shaking a security fence surrounding the building. After the fence was broken by the shaking, a team of officers were sent out to make arrests on charges of criminal damage to property at which time a protester “assaulted” the officer, who fell and his head after being shoved backwards. Said Doyle: “As a result one of my police officers suffered a severe brain injury. He is in an area hospital right now fighting for his life.”

St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell told reporters that Elijah Gantt, 28, of East St. Louis, Ill., has been charged with first-degree assault, resisting arrest, first-degree property damage and two counts of fourth-degree assault. Police say Gantt was one of many who pulled on and damaged a section of fencing around the police station. Police said body camera footage showed officers ordering Gantt to stop and telling him he was being arrested. He is being held on $500,000 bond.

Doyle stated that city officials have reformed the department in the decade since Brown’s slaying and that Friday’s disturbances were unjustified: “The Ferguson Police Department since 2014 has been a punching bag for this community. We don’t even have those officers here anymore, so what are you protesting? Everything that the activist community has advocated for — body-worn cameras, crisis intervention training, all of it — we have done it all. Ten years later I have an officer fighting for his life. It’s enough.”

Doyle added that Officer Brown, who is Black, started with the department in January and previously worked for the St. Louis County Police Department: “He wanted to be part of the change. He wanted to make an impact in our community. He’s the type of officer that we want in our community. And what happens? He gets assaulted. I had to look his mother in the eye and tell her what happened to her son. I’m never going to do that again, I promise you that.”

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