World
Iran's national airliner accused of flying weapons to Beirut airport for terror proxy Hezbollah: Report
An explosive report from the Iranian dissident group the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) alleges that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s domestic airline, Iran Air, is providing support to the U.S. designated terror organization Hezbollah.
Citing a former Hezbollah member, the MEK said that flights between Iran and Beirut Airport in Lebanon often transferred Hezbollah personnel to Iran for training courses and “smuggle[d] food [and] light and medium weapons” into Lebanon.
That transfer was alleged to have delivered advanced light weapons from Iran to Lebanon, particularly through runway 17, which it claims “exclusively” belongs to Hezbollah. In January 2021, a Hezbollah member alleged that shipments arriving at runway 17 included anti-aircraft missiles.
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An Iran Air plane parked at an airport terminal in Europe. (Photo by Vodjani/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Jason Brodsky, policy director for United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital that “Iran Air has a history of enabling procurement of Western products, particularly dual-use goods, for use by the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] IRGC and Iran’s Defense Ministry, through Europe to Iran routes.” Brodsky explained that Iran Air gets away with these transfers by using “carry-on luggage in European airport stopovers which do not require another security check.” Brodsky said that “Iran purposely uses such civilian flights as a shield to avoid kinetic targeting by its adversaries.”
The MEK also stated that public information and intelligence obtained from inside the IRGC and Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) shows that the MOIS “has systematically used Iran Air to move MOIS agents and their equipment for terrorist activities outside of Iran.” The MEK elaborated that Iran Air had transferred “shipments and packages necessary for activities of the MOIS in Europe to Austria” while “terrorist diplomat” Asadullah Assadi who was the MOIS station chief for Europe between 2015 and 2018.
Assadi was sentenced to 20 years in a Belgian prison for his plot to bomb a National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) gathering in 2018. He was released in exchange for a Belgian aid worker, a Danish citizen and two dual Austrian-Iranian citizens in May and June 2023, according to Yahoo News.
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According to a former Hezbollah member, runway 17, circled in red, of Beirut Airport is used exclusively by Hezbollah. Iran Air uses the runway to transport small and medium arms and basic supplies into Lebanon. (Courtesy of PMOI/MEK)
MEK sources also issued a reminder of Iran Air’s historic ties to terror. As MEK reported, “most” of the 12 terrorists sent to Geneva to participate in an operation to assassinate Professor Kazem Rejavi, a human rights defender and member of the NCRI, on April 24, 1990, “were transported by Iran Air,” as were their weapons. The MEK alleges that the return Iran Air flight after the assassination had a “delayed departure from Geneva…so the terrorists could make the flight.” The Washington Post’s reporting from 1990 corroborates this claim.
The Treasury and State Departments sanctioned Iran Air on Sept. 10 on the basis of the shipments of equipment and aircraft parts it has provided to Russia. In its press release, the Treasury Department noted Iran Air’s “history of transporting goods on behalf of Iran’s [IRGC] and Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech during a program held following the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli attack and subsequent Iranian strikes at the Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah in Tehran, Iran, on Oct. 2, 2024. (Photo by Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Treasury and State Departments did not respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiry about any known ties between Iran Air and Hezbollah. A spokesperson from the Treasury Department did emphasize that, per the new sanctions, “all property and interests in property of the persons above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to [the Office of Foreign Assets Control.]”
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Following U.S. sanctions, France, the United Kingdom and Germany announced that they would likewise “cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran,” and “will also work towards imposing sanctions on Iran Air.”
Ali Safavi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Paris-based NCRI, told Fox News Digital that “the clerical regime in Iran has strategically utilized the nation’s resources and recognized civil entities, including its national airline, to further its goals of domestic suppression and the international proliferation of terrorism and extremism.”
The MEK notes that senior IRGC-Qods Force Commander Brigadier General Rostam Ghasemi, who is subject to U.S. sanctions, appointed IRGC Brigadier General Shamseddin Farzadipour to be the head of Iran Air on April 25, 2022. Prior to this role, Farzadipour was the IRCH Air and Space Force aviation operations commander.
Israeli troops display Hezbollah weapons found in south Lebanon. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)
Safavi said that Farzadipour’s appointment demonstrates “the airline’s alignment with [the IRGC’s] oppressive objectives,” which “blatantly contravenes established international laws and norms.”
Safavi has urged the international community to prohibit Iran Air from flying to its major hubs across Europe, and to designate the IRGC as a terror organization. He also called on the United Nations Security Council to reinstate sanctions against Iran.
When asked about the Hezbollah member’s allegations, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations told Fox News Digital that “The Islamic Republic of Iran remains actively involved in the provision of humanitarian assistance to Lebanon via multiple channels and has formally expressed its preparedness to extend medical aid and receive the wounded – a proposition duly accepted by the Government of Lebanon.”
The spokesman claimed that “Lebanon is not in need of military support. The foremost and urgent priority must center upon the establishment of a ceasefire and the facilitation of relief efforts.”
World
Pope leaves Spain on plane offered by king after technical glitch
Pope Leo XIV left the Canary Islands for Rome on Friday in a Falcon plane offered by Spanish King Felipe VI after his original aircraft suffered a technical glitch, according to reporters at the scene.
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The flight took off just after 6:00 pm and is expected to arrive in Rome at around 11:00 pm. The pope wrapped up a week-long visit to Spain on Friday.
The pontiff’s departure from Tenerife was delayed earlier on Friday by a technical problem with the plane which led him to disembark, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
Spain’s King Felipe VI, who had just said goodbye to the pontiff on the runway, boarded the Iberia airline plane and both disembarked and returned to the terminal.
About 80 journalists remained on the jet, along with Vatican officials and members of the clergy.
“The departure of the papal flight has been delayed by half an hour due to a technical problem with the aircraft,” the communications service for the papal trip in Spain said in a brief statement.
The pilot initially told passengers there was a technical fault but later specified a “startup failure of the engine,” which he said was likely caused by wind conditions.
“Our maintenance team suggests towing the aircraft, positioning it into the wind, and attempting a new engine start,” the pilot told those on board.
“We will try this. If it is successful, we can depart.”
The glitch marked an unusual end to an otherwise successful trip to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.
Pope Leo XIV pressed his migration message and also inaugurated the new tower of the Sagrada Familia basilica.
It was the first time in decades that a papal flight had experienced a problem so serious that it required the pope to change planes.
Veteran Vatican reporters, some of whom were on the Iberia plane, recalled a few plane-related incidents during the pontificate of St. John Paul II.
During a 1986 return trip from India, John Paul II’s plane was forced to land in Naples because of a snowstorm in Rome. The passengers and pope took a special train back to Rome.
In 1988 en route to Lesotho, bad weather forced the late pope’s plane to land in South Africa, a country he had excluded from his African trip at the time because of apartheid. He was later driven into the kingdom.
Typically on papal trips, the Italian national carrier ITA Airways brings the pope to his destination and that country’s national carrier brings him home, with ITA sometimes doing the round trip if the voyage is particularly long or to a place that doesn’t have the capacity.
The flights are charters, with the pope, Vatican delegation and security occupying the front of the plane and the 70 or so journalists seated in coach.
Iberia had proudly provided video earlier in the trip of Pope Leo XIV seated in the cockpit, smiling broadly as the plane carried him from Madrid to Barcelona and then Barcelona to the Canary Islands.
In both cases, Spanish military aircraft provided an airborne escort, a sign of respect for visiting dignitaries and in one clip of the video the pope is seen waving to the escorting pilot.
Additional sources • AP, AFP
World
War, latest news. Trump: agreement with Iran to be signed soon. Tehran media: approval likely from top officials
Oxfam: ‘Over 540 settler attacks in the West Bank in the first few months of 2026’
A new analysis by Oxfam highlights the exponential rise in attacks by Israeli settlers and military forces in the occupied West Bank: in the first few months of 2026 alone, there were over 540 incidents and “in three years, the number of Palestinian civilians killed has exceeded that of the previous 17 years”, mainly children. According to the report, based on an analysis of data provided by the United Nations, “it is clear that Israel’s annexation plan is accelerating, with mass forced displacements, increased restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement and an unprecedented escalation of violence by settlers and the army”. A plan of ethnic cleansing and annexation that, since 2023, has caused over 46,000 people to be displaced, the construction of over 925 barriers that impede the movement of 3 million people, and an unprecedented wave of violence that has claimed over 1,200 lives, including nearly 270 children. In particular, between 2006 and 2022, Oxfam points out, there were 1,036 victims, including 225 children, whilst since 2023 alone, 1,244 have been recorded, with 268 children killed. This means that, over the last 20 years, one in five killings involved a child, around 22 per cent. By contrast, in the first 17 years under review, 86 Israeli settlers were killed by Palestinians, including 12 children, whilst there were 43 victims, including 10 children, between 2023 and 2025. “The massacre of civilians we are witnessing is painful and disturbing,” said Paolo Pezzati, spokesperson for humanitarian crises at Oxfam Italia – “Whilst the eyes of the world were rightly focused on the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, following the atrocities committed by Hamas and other armed groups in 2023, an unprecedented wave of violence was unfolding across the West Bank, which has now escalated into a systematic plan of ethnic cleansing. In this context, we are therefore launching an urgent appeal for all necessary diplomatic pressure to be brought to bear on Israel to halt the ongoing annexation plan,” concludes Pezzati.
US: third Iranian oil tanker breaching the blockade neutralised
The US Central Command stated on X that it had intercepted an oil tanker, the third in a week, accused of violating the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command says it struck the M/T Jalveer, flying the flag of Guinea-Bissau, “as it attempted to transport oil from Iran through the Gulf of Oman”. “A US aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles at the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly refused to obey orders from US forces,” Centcom said.
Meloni: the Council should reflect on the direction of relations between the EU and Israel
“Not only because of what is happening in Lebanon, but also given the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, it is clear that the European Council will need to reflect on the direction of relations between the European Union and Israel.” This was stated by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Chamber of Deputies, in her address ahead of the EU Council meeting. “On this,” she added, “I would like, for once, to see a debate here that goes beyond the emphasis on facile polemics, which certainly yields an immediate return in terms of visibility, but does not reflect the strategic importance that the issue holds for Italia.”
World
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to 30 years over North Korea drone flights
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A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison Friday in a case that accused him of ordering drone flights over North Korea in an effort to justify his declaration of martial law.
Yoon, 65, was sentenced alongside former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun by the Seoul Central District Court.
The ousted president was previously sentenced to life in prison for leading an insurrection following his declaration of martial law in December 2024.
North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets on three occasions in October 2024.
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South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Feb. 11, 2025. (Lee Jin-man/AP)
Then-Defense Minister Kim initially issued a vague denial before South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it could neither confirm nor deny the allegations.
Although tensions between the two Koreas escalated following the incident, the drone flights did not lead to any military clashes.
Prosecutors accused Yoon of attempting to create a crisis with North Korea while plotting an authoritarian power grab aimed at removing political opponents and consolidating control.
SOUTH KOREAN COURT RULES EX‑PRESIDENT YOON SUK YEOL GUILTY IN INSURRECTION TRIAL
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally outside the Seoul High Court in Seoul on April 29, 2026. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
Before declaring martial law, Yoon delivered a televised address accusing liberal lawmakers of sympathizing with North Korea.
Yoon has argued that he possessed the constitutional authority to declare martial law and said the move was intended to draw attention to what he viewed as obstruction by opposition parties.
His attempt to impose martial law lasted roughly six hours before lawmakers voted to overturn it amid mass public protests.
Yoon was arrested in July 2025 and continues to face multiple criminal proceedings.
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South Korea’s ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives at Seoul Central District Court in Seoul to attend his trial on charges related to declaring martial law on Dec. 3, 2025. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
The insurrection verdict has been appealed by both Yoon and prosecutors, who had sought the death penalty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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