WDBD FOX 40 Jackson MS Local News, Weather and Sports

WDBD Television for Jackson, MS

    fox-news/politics/finance/sanctions

    US sanctions ISIS financial facilitators, in effort to ‘expose and disrupt’ extremist network

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    The United States on Monday sanctioned five individuals participating in an ISIS network of financial facilitators operating across Indonesia, Syria and Turkey in an effort to “expose and disrupt” the network of “violent extremists.” 

    The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated a network of five Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) financial facilitators operating across Indonesia, Syria and Turkey. The five individuals had played a “key role in facilitating the travel of extremists to Syria and other areas where ISIS operates.” 

    PENTAGON: ‘NO QUESTION’ AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL MAKES IDENTIFYING TERROR THREATS MORE DIFFICULT

    The Treasury Department said the network has also conducted financial transfers to support ISIS efforts in Syria-based displaced persons camps by collecting funds in Indonesia and Turkey, some of which were used to pay for smuggling children out of the camps and delivering them to ISIS foreign fighters as potential recruits.

    The designation comes amid the 16th meeting of the Counter ISIS Finance Group of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. The U.S., Italy and Saudi Arabia co-lead the CIFG, which comprises nearly 70 countries and international organizations, and coordinates efforts against ISIS financial support networks worldwide.

    FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen at the United States Department of the Treasury headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 29, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo)

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that by designating them, the Biden administration aims “to expose and disrupt an international ISIS facilitation network that has financed ISIS recruitment, including of vulnerable children in Syria.”

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks after viewing the “Burma’s Path To Genocide” exhibit at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, Monday, March 21, 2022. ((Kevin Lamarque, Pool via AP) )

    Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said Monday that the U.S., as part of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, “is committed to denying ISIS the ability to raise and move funds across multiple jurisdictions.”

    According to the Treasury Department, residents of “displaced persons camps” in Syria include those who have been displaced by ISIS, as well as ISIS members, supporters and their families.

    “ISIS sympathizers in over 40 countries have sent money to ISIS-linked individuals in these camps in support of ISIS’s future resurgence,” the Treasury Department said Monday, noting that Al-Hawl is the largest displaced persons camp in northeast Syria, and it holds up to 70,000 people, most of whom are women and children.

    U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a news conference with Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe at Government buildings in Dublin, Ireland, Nov. 1, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne (REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne)

    ISIS ‘BEATLE’ MEMBER SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR TERROR BEHEADINGS

    “In al-Hawl alone, ISIS supporters have received up to $20,000 per month via hawala, an informal transfer mechanism; the majority of those funds transfers have originated outside Syria or passed through neighboring countries such as Turkey,” Treasury said Monday.  “Additionally, since 2019, ISIS has been smuggling its associates out of al-Hawl largely to Idlib, Deir ez-Zor, and Raqqa Governorates in Syria. ISIS is particularly focused on smuggling children out of displaced persons camps for recruitment as fighters.” 

    The individuals designated Monday include Dwi Dahlia Susanti, who has been an ISIS financial facilitator since at least 2017; Rudy Heryadi, who advised extremist associates about potential travel to “ISIS-dominated areas, including Afghanistan, Egypt, and other parts of Africa and Yemen;” and Ari Kardian, who has been charged by Indonesian authorities with facilitating the travel of Indonesians to Syria to join ISIS.

    The Treasury Department said the individuals are being targeted “for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, ISIS.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    In addition, Susanti’s “accomplices and financial facilitators” were also designated, including Muhammad Dandi Adhiguna and Dina Ramadhani. They are being targeted “for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Susanti.”

    The sanctions against the five individuals ensure that all property of those individuals are blocked and reported.

    Czech Republic in talks on EU oil embargo exemption, PM says

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    The Czech Republic will seek an exemption period to the European Union’s proposed embargo of Russian oil, gaining time for pipeline capacities to be increased, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday.

    “We are ready to support this decision (on sanctions including oil), given the Czech Republic will have some postponement until capacity is increased in oil pipelines which can deliver oil to the Czech Republic,” Fiala said.

    GERMANY WILL SUPPORT RUSSIAN OIL EMBARGO AFTER SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCING DEPENDENCE: REPORT

    “We are trying to get that postponement for two, maybe three years.”

    The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a phased oil embargo on Russia, along with other tough measures to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. The measures include phasing out supplies of Russian crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of 2022.

    European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, April 20, 2016. (REUTERS/Francois Lenoir)

    The Czech Republic has been seeking an increase to capacity of the TAL pipeline – running from Italy via Austria to Germany – which is waiting for the approval by Bavarian authorities.

    Fiala said he would debate the issue with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a visit to Berlin on Thursday.

    SLOVAKIA SAYS IT WILL SEEK EXEMPTION FROM ANY EU EMBARGO ON RUSSIAN OIL

    The Czech Republic joins others EU countries seeking a longer transition to introduce the ban. Slovakia, which gets nearly all its crude imports from Russia, wants a three-year transition period.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Hungary also said it could not support measures in their current form.

    German climate activists shut off oil pipelines to protest North Sea drilling

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Environmental activists shut down crude oil pipelines throughout Germany on Wednesday to protest the country’s renewed interest in oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. 

    The group, which bills itself as the “Last Generation,” activated shut-off valves at emergency stations for pipelines in Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Greifswald and Koblenz. 

    “We are in a climate emergency! The federal government is not only ignoring this, it plans to fuel it further. Wanting to drill for oil in our North Sea now – that’s madness that you have to stop, Mr. Habeck,” activist Edmund Schulz said in a statement Wednesday, referring to Robert Habeck, the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. 

    A member of the “Last Generation” activates the emergency shut-off at pipeline in Germany.  (Last Generation)

    Germany is not granting any new permits for oil and gas drilling the North Sea under a coalition agreement between the country’s top parties, but some officials have suggested they may need to rethink that amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has driven up energy prices around the world. 

    GERMANY TO AUTHORIZE TANK SHIPMENT TO UKRAINE, BENDING TO INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE

    “We have to question the decision in the coalition agreement,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told the Tagesspiegel newspaper last month. “Due to global market prices developments, this looks more economical.”

    • Industrial facilities of PCK Raffinerie oil refinery are pictured in Schwedt/Oder, Germany, March 7, 2022. The company receives crude oil from Russia via the ‘Friendship’ pipeline. Picture taken March 7, 2022.  (REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke)

    • (REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke)

    Germany buys more than half of its gas from Russia and about a third of its oil imports. 

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Habeck cut Germany’s growth forecast for this year to 2.2% from 3.6% projected in January, and raised its inflation forecast to 6.1%. 

    Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom cut off gas to Poland and Bulgaria this week over their refusal to pay in rubles, and threatened to do the same to other countries. 

    Reuters contributed to this report. 

    Sanctioning Putin’s rumored girlfriend Alina Kabaeva would deal a heavy blow to the Russian leader: Expert

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rumored girlfriend, Alina Kabaeva, would deal a heavy blow to the Russian leader and should be considered as the U.S. continues to weigh responses to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, Russian-born former U.S. intelligence officer Rebekah Koffler said on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

    U.S. officials reportedly decided against sanctioning the 38-year-old Russian gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Kabaeva citing concerns that it was too drastic, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

    LOOMING HOLIDAY, KREMLIN COMMENTS POINT TO DRAMATIC RUSSIAN ESCALATION IN UKRAINE: KOFFLER

    Koffler, a former U.S. DIA intelligence officer focused on Russia and the author of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America,” told Jesse Watters on Monday that the move would “certainly hurt” Putin, both from a personal and financial standpoint.

    Vladimir President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine only eight months after TIME magazine billed President Biden as ready to take on the Russian leader.  (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

    “Unfortunately, she is not capable of stopping Putin from waging war on Ukraine. But, it will certainly hurt,” Koffler said. “It will make her life miserable, and it will definitely, definitely [cause] some damage to his holdings, his wealth that is stashed away in all kinds of tax havens including spread among his relatives and family.”

    Koffler said the reasoning for U.S. officials not to sanction Kabaeva – who is believed to be the mother of at least three of Putin’s children – makes “no sense.”

    “The Treasury and the State Department have put together a Draconian sanctions package, but then the Biden Administration has backed out at the last minute, and this is completely ridiculous because they have already done so much rhetoric that it is perceived by the Russians as a total war on Russia, believe it or not,” Koffler said. Putin is portraying himself as the victim, so not sanctioning [Kabaeva] makes no sense.”

    Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly has multiple children with rumored girlfriend Alina Kabaeva. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Watters said freezing Kabeva’s bank accounts, while “unorthodox,” could be the proper course of action to hit Putin close to home.

    “She can’t get her beef Wellington, she can’t get her massages, she can’t go skiing, she can’t even fill up her little car with petrol as they call it over there,” the “Jesse Watters Primetime” host said. “That is the move, I think that’s a big move we should seriously consider and deploy because right now, it is just destruction in that country. We have to try something unorthodox.”

    Life in Russia under sanctions may parallel what one reporter found in Iran

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Russians are proud people. So are Iranians. That’s not all they have in common. 

    Theirs are the two most sanctioned countries in the world. Russia has just pushed past the Islamic Republic into first place. When Russia first launched its war in Ukraine, many Russians said they feared they would soon join the ranks of Iran and North Korea. So, Russian journalist Alexei Pivovarov traveled to Tehran to learn what life is like in a rogue state. His dispatch on YouTube got over 4 million views.

    “Hi, friends,” he said in the opening sequence. “We’re in Tehran, the capital of Iran. I think you understand why we’re here.”

    U.S. INTEL OFFICIALS SAY PUTIN IS BEING MISLED BY ADVISERS ON UKRAINE WAR

    Alexei Pivovarov in Iran. (Credit: Redakstia)

    Pivovarov and his camera crew moved through the streets of the city, visiting outdoor markets, indoor markets, talking to people. He said he learned one could pretty much find anything desperately needed, but explained much of it probably took a circuitous trip to get to Iran. For luxury goods not available in stores, Iranians with means but no visas to travel abroad employ designated “buyers” who have filled suitcases with special orders on trips abroad.

    Pivovarov discovered that even though Iran managed to acquire some new desperately needed airplanes in that little window of sanctions reprieve after the Iran nuclear deal was signed but before former President Trump pulled out of it, the county won’t be able to get them serviced now that things have slid backwards. So, Iran has resorted to a sort of aviation organ donor system: When one plane gets taken out of service, whatever parts remain viable are used for the next plane in need.

    Pivovarov talked to TASS’ man in Tehran, Nikita Smagin, who said sanctions made Iran start refining its own gasoline, something ironically it hadn’t done much before and apparently doesn’t do well.

    “A very big smog appeared over Tehran,” he told Pivovarov. “That’s because the gasoline is of very bad quality, and this is one of the big environmental problems in Iran.”

    One of the most striking moments of Pivovarov’s travels: a stop at the money changer who gave him 37 million rials for $150, he said, holding the huge stack of notes up to the camera. Russia’s ambassador to Iran said at least the two countries were looking forward to expanding mutual cooperation in the current environment, but admitted Russia probably won’t be a lifeline for Iran’s beleaguered tourism industry largely because of the prohibition on drinking.

    If Pivovarov is pondering what Russia‘s future could look like, Maxim Trudolyubov is analyzing its past, and lessons that were not learned.

    Trudolyubov is editor-at-large at Meduza, one of Russia’s most popular independent news organizations, labeled a “foreign agent” by the Kremlin and functioning in exile. He also has served as senior fellow at the Kennan Institute for Russian studies. Trudolyubov said the fact that Russia never fully dealt with and apportioned blame for crimes committed under Soviet rule meant it never has moved past a reality of lies and KGB management of state.

    EU SLAMS ‘WAR CRIMES’ IN UKRAINE BUT NEW SANCTIONS UNLIKELY

    “What we see now in Ukraine is almost every single crime of the Soviet state resurrected, in a way, out of the grave. We’ve seen murder. We see attitudes towards our neighboring countries as some kind of buffer states that don’t have any right to sovereignty,” Trudolyubov told Fox News.

    He said Russia and Russians have long crafted their image on something easier than digging into the darker aspects of the past, and that has been their victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. 

    “It was sort of an all-encompassing ticket to goodness in a way for many, many Russians. And it’s gone. What Putin has done, essentially, is that he has killed, eliminated this narrative of Russia’s goodness and being on the right side of history, the moral standing that derives from that. He still pretends that he’s fighting Nazis, but everybody understands that this is a lie. This is a pretense, a smokescreen for him to feel good.”

    Fox News asked Trudolyubov whether he thought Putin‘s deputies, such as his urbane Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, actually believe what they are saying about this war that they won’t call a war. TrudolyIubov said he believes the propagandists have made some sort of mental shift and that their posture was in the same category as the government’s failure to deal with bad parts of the past. 

    “Blaming the state essentially kills the state. It’s against Russia, it’s anti-Russian, it’s Russophobia, as they like to point out. So, my understanding is, Lavrov and all the propagandists, particularly those who believe partly what they say, subscribe to this kind of notion,” he said.

    But, he added that he still thought they knew the truth.

    IRAN’S PRESIDENT VOWS TO CONTINUE NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES

    Russia and Iran have both been defiant about the sanctions they faced, often arguing they strengthened domestic production, made them truly independent countries. But, even the TASS correspondent in Tehran said: Make no mistake; nobody wanted them. 

    “Iranians hope they won’t stay under sanctions. There is a consensus in Iran. No matter whether the forces are conservative or reformist, everyone says that sanctions need to be lifted and that normal development under them is not possible,” he said.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Pivovarov finished his piece with roughly the following thought: There is always a way around sanctions, a wheeling, dealing work-around. But, what’s important for citizens to consider is whether the reason behind the sanctions is something worth the sacrifice.

    Biden insists Russia sanctions never meant to deter Putin from invading Ukraine despite prior messaging

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    President Biden suggested Thursday that sanctions were not meant to deter the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling reporters now that “sanctions never deter.” 

    “Sir, deterrence didn’t work. What makes you think Vladimir Putin will alter course based on the action you’ve taken today,” Biden was asked by CBS reporter Christina Ruffini during a press conference at a NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium.

    “Let’s get something straight. You remember if you covered me from the very beginning, I did not say that, in fact, the sanctions would deter him. Sanctions never deter. You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter,” Biden responded.

    U.S. President Joe Biden attends a European Union leaders summit, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium March 24, 2022. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

    Ruffini repeated the question, asking whether these actions could make Putin change course.

    “That’s not what I said. You’re playing a game with me. The answer’s no,” Biden snapped back.

    “The maintenance of sanctions, increasing the pain and the demonstration [is] why I asked for this NATO meeting today, is to be sure that after a month, we will sustain what we’re doing, not just next month, the following month, but for the remainder of this entire year,” Biden said.

    Biden said the “single most important thing is for us to stay unified” and for the world to “continue to focus on what a brute [Putin] is, and all the innocent people’s lives are being lost and ruined.”

    “We have to stay fully, totally thoroughly united,” he added.

    Speaking with Fox News Digital just minutes after Biden’s NATO speech, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said, “Of course sanctions deter.”

    “But they must be structured to be impactful in order to work,” he added, saying Biden should have taken tougher action against Putin prior to his invasion of Ukraine.

    Biden’s remarks come after weeks of messaging from key Biden administration officials – including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken – who claimed the sanctions placed on Russia were meant to deter the actions of Putin.

    Asked in February whether she believed sanctions would deter Putin, Harris said at the time, “Absolut- — we strongly believe — and remember also that the sanctions are a product not only of our perspective as the United States but a shared perspective among our Allies.  And the Allied relationship is such that we have agreed that the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one, especially because – remember, also – we still sincerely hope that there is a diplomatic path out of this moment.”

    US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a joint press conference with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda on the occasion of their meeting at Belwelder Palace, in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, March 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

    Harris also said in February that the “purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence.”

    Prior to Russia’s invasion, during an interview with CNN, Blinken insisted that the “purpose of the sanctions in the first instance is to try to deter Russia from going to war.”

    Similarly, in February, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said “sanctions can be a powerful tool” and that the overall goal of imposing sanctions on Russia was to “have a deterrent effect.”

    “Sanctions can be a powerful tool,” Psaki said. “They have been in a lot of moments throughout history. And what we view them as — or how we’re viewing them as we’re starting high, as Daleep just conveyed here, in terms of the significance and the severity of the sanctions that were announced today — yes, our intention is to have a deterrent effect.”

    White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Friday, March 18, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

    During that same briefing, Daleep Singh, deputy national security adviser for International Economics, said sanctions “serve a higher purpose” and that is to “deter and prevent.”

    “Sanctions are not an end to themselves. They serve a higher purpose. And that purpose is to deter and prevent,” Singh said. “They’re meant to prevent and deter a large-scale invasion of Ukraine that could involve the seizure of major cities, including Kyiv. They’re meant to prevent large-scale human suffering that could involve tens of thousands of casualties in a conflict.”

    During an appearance on ‘America’s Newsroom’ in February, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the administration wanted the sanctions “to have a deterrent effect.”

    “We want them to have a deterrent effect, clearly,” Kirby said. “And he hasn’t invaded yet. […] So look, if you punish somebody for something they haven’t done yet … they might as well go ahead and do it.”

    A Twitter account managed by the Republican National Committee highlighted remarks from officials in the Biden administration who, at one point, claimed that the sanctions were meant to deter Putin.

    Also in February, Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said “the president believes that sanctions are intended to deter.”

    “And in order for them to work — to deter, they have to be set up in a way where if Putin moves, then the costs are imposed,” Sullivan added. “We believe that that is the right logic both on its own merits, but equally importantly, we believe that the most important fundamental for anything that unfolds in this crisis, whether through diplomacy or as a result of military action, is that the West be strong, be united, and be determined to operate with common purpose.”

    Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick and Kelly Laco contributed to this article.

    Putin’s miscalculation: Russia underestimated the Ukrainians’ resolve and Western backlash, experts say

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Russian President Vladimir Putin underestimated the strength of the Ukrainian resistance as well as the harsh backlash from the United States and Western allies when he invaded Ukraine last month, experts tell Fox News. 

    The U.S. continued piling sanctions on Russia Tuesday, implementing a ban on oil imports from the country in what President Biden called “another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine.”

    “Putin miscalculated the Ukrainians’ willingness to fight, the leadership style and willingness to die for the cause of [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy,” Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer and author of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America,” told Fox News Digital. She said he also miscalculated “the backlash of Western audiences, Europeans, Americans, and even a segment of the Russian population who are anti-war.”

    RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES

    Zelenskyy, who has already survived three assassination attempts, vowed to stay in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as Russian forces lay siege to the city, even going so far as to reveal his location in a defiant message on Monday. 

    “On Bankova Street,” Zelenskyy said Monday, referring to where presidential offices are located. “Not hiding, and I’m not afraid of anyone.”

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law legislation that could punish journalists with up to 15 years in prison for reporting so-called “fake” news about his military invasion of Ukraine.        (Yuri Kochetkov/Pool via AP )

    Unarmed Ukrainian civilians have confronted Russian soldiers as thousands of foreigners have traveled to Eastern Europe to help the Ukrainian army defend the country. 

    RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: INTEL OFFICIALS PREDICT ‘UGLY’ WEEKS AHEAD AS PUTIN DOUBLES DOWN

    As the Russian military attempts to take Ukrainian cities, unprecedented sanctions on Russian banks, oligarchs, and industries could challenge Putin domestically. 

    “The sanctions could make it very difficult to govern Russia, in the sense that people’s savings have been wiped out, factories will start to close, and there are fewer high-tech imports that are needed for the Russian economy. And obviously, the financial elite has taken a real beating,” Timothy Frye, the professor of post-Soviet foreign policy at Columbia University, told Fox News Digital. 

    In this March 8, 2022, image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office and posted on Instagram, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Kyiv, Ukraine.  (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

    Companies started pulling out of Russia almost as soon as Putin invaded, both due to Western sanctions and to their disapproval of the war. Food giants Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi joined the withdrawal on Tuesday. 

    “At some point, Putin, who has long been averse to any kind of domestic political instability, might fear the reaction from the elite and from the mass public, and begin to look for a way out of this situation, but we’re not there yet,” Frye said. “It could take a while before we get there.”

    PUTIN MAINTAINS 95% OF AVAILABLE COMBAT POWER IN UKRAINE AS WAR PERSISTS, DOD OFFICIAL SAYS

    Putin, a former KGB officer known for his ruthless information warfare tactics, also failed to take into account how a war would play out in 2022. 

    “[Putin] didn’t anticipate how technology has brought this conflict into the homes of ordinary people all over the world, by virtue of it unfolding on our TVs and on our computer screens,” Koffler said. “He was counting on the fact that he could keep it hidden, not only from the Russian people, but also from the rest of the world. Well, it’s no longer the case.” 

    • A Ukrainian tank rolls along a main road on March 8, 2022.  (ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

    • A semi-conscious woman is attended to by Ukrainian soldiers after crossing the Irpin river as fleeing the city in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

    • Natali Sevriukova reacts next to her house following a rocket attack the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

    Russian authorities have cracked down on dissent over the last two weeks, blocking independent and foreign news outlets while shutting off access to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. 

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    While Putin still has control over the flow of information at home and it is difficult to get a pulse on public opinion in Russia, Frye said the tide could turn. 

    “The message will slowly get through, particularly if the military gets bogged down significantly,” Frye said. “This is an extraordinarily volatile time, I think, in Russian public opinion towards the war.”

    Iran expert warns Tehran regime’s provocations ‘going to get worse,’ show value of ‘snapback’ sanctions

    Recent provocations by Iran show that the United States should reimpose sanctions on the Middle Eastern theocracy, Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Pregent told “Your World” Thursday.

    This week, Iran unveiled two new cruise missiles — including one that Iranian state media claimed could bypass enemy defense systems, likely a reference to Israel.

    “It’s basically what the regime’s been doing for 40 years,” Pregent told host Neil Cavuto. “It’s going to get worse … That’s why snapback sanctions are so important. And that’s why it’s important for our allies to work together and for more countries to probably sign onto this peace deal with Israel,” he said, referring to the recent agreement between the Jewish state and the United Arab Emirates.

    TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO TRIGGER ‘SNAPBACK’ OF UN SANCTIONS ON IRAN: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

    Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has asked the United Nations Security Council to reimpose sanctions removed under the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

    “[The sanctions] have been temporarily paused because of the ridiculous nuclear deal. And the world will be a safer place,” Pompeo told Fox News on Wednesday.

    Last week, the Security Council rejected a U.S. resolution to extend a thirteen-year-old arms embargo on Iran that was due to expire in October as part of the nuclear deal. Russia and China voted against the resolution, while France, Germany and the United Kingdom abstained, a move Pompeo called “really unfortunate.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “Russia and China want Iran to stay in the nuclear nonproliferation treaty,” Pregent explained. “The United States wants Iran to stop spreading terrorism and funding proxies and launching ballistic missiles. The two missiles that you talked about earlier are also violations of existing U.N. Security Council resolutions, and it’s also a reason for the U.S. to trigger snapback.

    “This is a sign to China and Russia that you cannot just jump into Iran’s economy without reprecussions, and that’s what snapback is all about.”

    Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

    Iran’s leader points to coronavirus as reason for US to lift sanctions

    President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, in an open letter, urged Americans to call on their government to end the “dark chapter” of sanctions against his country as it fights the growing coronavirus pandemic.

    The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran last week, blacklisting five international companies from doing business with the country, Reuters reported.

    “Our policy of maximum pressure on the regime continues,” Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iranian affairs, told reporters, according to Reuters. “U.S. sanctions are not preventing aid from getting to Iran.”

    But in his letter, Rouhani wrote, “Even under the circumstances of the pandemic, the U.S. government has failed to abandon its malicious policy of maximum pressure; and is thus in practice aiding the spread of this virus with its sanctions.”

    A person dies of coronavirus every 10 minutes in Iran, health ministry says

    He said the “war” on the virus can be won only if every nation pulls together.

    Rouhani also wrote to a number of world leaders last week, asking them to ignore U.S. sanctions that have “hampered” Iran’s response to coronavirus, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who claimed the sanctions show “utter contempt for human life.”

    Iran has been hit the hardest of any other Middle Eastern country by the virus, with one person dying every 10 minutes, according to the country’s health ministry.

    Over the past 24 hours, 123 people died, raising the country’s death toll to 1,556, according to healthy ministry spokesperson Kianush Jahanpoor. It has had 20,610 cases.

    CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE 

    The U.S. sanctions are meant to pressure Iran into abandoning its nuclear ambitions after President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Obama-era nuclear agreement in 2018.

    Sens. Cruz, Shaheen propose sanctions against Lebanese officials over American prisoner

    Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have introduced a biting new sanctions bill aimed at senior Lebanese officials involved in the holding of U.S. citizens — in response to the detention and torture of 57-year-old American citizen Amer Fakhoury.

    Fakhoury is believed to be the only U.S. citizen currently being held by Lebanon.

    The sanctions legislation — “The Zero Tolerance for Unlawful Detentions of U.S. Citizens in Lebanon Act” — seeks to impose sanctions against Lebanese officials “who are involved in the unlawful detainment, arrest or abuse of any United States citizen in Lebanon.”

    While no names are mentioned in the legislation, U.S. officials have been in contact with Lebanese counterparts over Fakhoury’s case, as Fox News has previously reported. The bill brings together Shaheen, a strong backer of the U.S.-Lebanon relationship, and Cruz, an outspoken skeptic of giving financial assistance to the Lebanese government due to Hezbollah’s influential role there.

    Amer Fakhoury is pleading the Trump administration to work to get him back from Lebanon.
    (Fakhoury Family)

    LEBANESE-AMERICAN BEING HELD IN BEIRUT NOW RISKS DEATH SENTENCE AFTER MURDER CHARGE, JUDGE SAYS

    In a press release announcing the new bill, Shaheen who has worked with White House and State Department officials to get Fakhoury released, stated: “The U.S. Government has provided ample opportunity for Lebanese officials to free Amer Fakhoury. However, Amer is fighting for his life and time is running out. Lebanon’s officials know that their behavior – which is motivated by Hezbollah’s desire to sow discord in Lebanon – are illegal even under their own laws. There must be consequences for this flagrant disregard of international norms and human rights.”

    Since his detention, he has developed stage 4 lymphoma cancer.

    Fakhoury was arrested in his native Lebanon during a trip last September to visit relatives he had not seen in 20 years — after he was accused in a pro-Hezbollah publication of torturing Hezbollah and Palestinian prisoners while he served with the South Lebanon Army (SLA) at Khiam prison. The SLA was a predominantly Christian force allied and supported by Israel during its proxy war against Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups in the 1980s and ’90s.

    Upon arrival, he had his U.S. passport confiscated and was later arrested. He was attacked by Lebanese security officials, tortured and forced into signing a fake confession at gunpoint.

    After he was held without charges for nearly six months, the Associated Press reported that Fakhoury was charged earlier this month by a military judge with murder and attempted murder of prisoners at a jail run by the SLA. He was also charged with kidnapping and torture.

    FAMILY OF AMERICAN HELD IN LEBANON CLAIMS HE’S A HOSTAGE, US SENATOR THREATENS SANCTIONS

    In a call last week with reporters, a senior adviser to Shaheen said they had done a deep dive into the charges against Fakhoury and concluded they did not add up.

    Shaheen’s statement addressed those inconsistencies.

    “Anytime a U.S citizen is wrongfully arrested, detained or abused by a foreign government, we must use every tool at our disposal to bring that person home and ensure they are not used as pawns in political games. That’s why today I’m introducing bipartisan legislation with Senator Cruz to impose visa bans and asset freezes against those culpable in Amer’s illegal imprisonment,” Shaheen stated.

    Fox News has learned that the sanctions would also apply to associates, friends and family of those directly targeted.

    Bill co-sponsor Cruz also said in a statement: “Protecting American citizens both at home and abroad is the most fundamental responsibility of our government, and there is nothing I take more seriously.”

    He concluded: “The taking of American hostages is completely unacceptable, and I’m committed to doing all that is necessary to ensure that this vital bipartisan legislation is signed into law.”

    Celine Atallah, Fakhoury’s lawyer, echoed both senators’ statements and told Fox News that there was not one shred of evidence to substantiate the charges against him during his time at Khiam prison while serving with the SLA.

    In this May 2019 file photo provided by Guila Fakhoury, her father Amer Fakhoury, second right, gathers with family members at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H.
    (AP/Guila Fakhoury)

    DAUGHTER OF AMERICAN HOSTAGE IN LEBANON CALLS ON TRUMP TO ACT

    “There had never been an accusation against Amer of torture, murder, or abuse at Khiam prison, and the first time we ever heard about such accusations, was in an article published by Al-Akhbar newspaper, the same day Amer was illegally detained and tortured.”

    With Lebanon in the middle of a dire financial and social crisis, Atallah said the Lebanese people need U.S. support and called on authorities to set her client free.

    “It is not the right time for Lebanon to be on bad terms with the United States, and this is their opportunity to do the right thing and release Amer immediately. We also stand by the Lebanese people, who are calling for an impartial judiciary, and we also call on the Lebanese Judges handling Amer’s case to stand up, be brave, not to bow to any political pressure, abide by their own rule of law, and release Amer immediately,” Atallah said.

    The plight of the New Hampshire resident caught the attention of his U.S Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who has threatened to sanction individuals involved in his imprisonment.
    (Fakhoury Family)

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Fakhoury’s daughter Guila thanked both senators for their help. “Currently the family is undergoing a lot of stress, and in constant fear for our father’s life. We don’t know if he will make it back home under these circumstances,” she said.

    She also noted that the family’s business, a restaurant, has been closed, leaving them not only emotionally drained but also financially strapped in supporting the costly efforts to free and get medical treatment for her father. Friends of the family in New Hampshire just recently set up a GoFundMe page to help the family with their mounting costs.

    Lebanese authorities have not yet responded to Fox News’ questions over the continued holding of Fakhoury.

    Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich and the Associated Press contributed to this report.