KOENIG

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will "soon" visit Russia for his first summit with President Vladimir Putin, state media reported Tuesday, confirming a Kremlin announcement.

Kim "will soon pay a visit to the Russian Federation at the invitation" of Putin, North Korea's official KCNA news service said.

"They will have talks during this visit," the brief dispatch added.

KCNA did not specify when or where the pair would meet.

The Union of Right-Wing Parties is demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commit to annexing all Israeli settlements in the West Bank in exchange for the faction sponsoring legislation that would grant the premier immunity from prosecution, a spokesman for a senior party lawmaker confirmed to The Times of Israel on Monday.

The party is expected to officially kick off negotiations with Netanyahu’s Likud party next week, but has begun to publicly press for a long list of demands, ranging from high level ministerial portfolios to legislation that will blunt the power of the Supreme Court to act as a check on the Knesset.

‘If we are barred from using it, we will shut it down,’ Revolutionary Guard navy commander says about strategic marine passageway, as Tehran vows oil sales will continue

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the decision by US President Donald Trump to end waivers for energy companies that deal with Iran “is a decision of major importance.”

Netanyahu, who was visiting Capernaum with his wife Sara, said “this is the way to confront Iranian aggression, this is the way to prevent it,” the Office of the Prime Minister said in a press release.

The White House officially announced Monday the intention to end sanctions waivers to eights countries that are still trading oil with Iran, increasing the "Maximum pressure" campaign on the Islamic Republic.

Current exemptions are set to expire in early May. "This decision is intended to bring Iran’s oil exports to zero, denying the regime its principal source of revenue," the White House said in a statement.

WASHINGTON - The White House officially announced Monday the intention to end sanctions waivers to eights countries that are still trading oil with Iran, increasing the "Maximum pressure" campaign on the Islamic Republic. 

Current exemptions are set to expire in early May. "This decision is intended to bring Iran’s oil exports to zero, denying the regime its principal source of revenue," the White House said in a statement.

Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said in a press conference that the US will not retract these sanctions until the Iranian regime changes its behavior. "With the announcement today we made clear our seriousness of purpose," he said. 

"We are going to zero," he said. "How long we remain at zero, depends solely on the Islamic Republic of Iran's senior leaders. We've made our demands very clear to the Ayatollah and his cronies: end your pursuit of nuclear weapons. Stop testing and proliferating ballistic missiles, stop sponsoring and committing terrorism."

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shuffled the top ranks of the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Sunday, appointing the deputy chief of the hardline force as its top leader.

Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami was made commander of the IRGC, replacing Maj. Gen. Mohammed Ali Jafari, who has headed the military force since 2007, according to Iranian media reports.

Salami has frequently vowed to destroy Israel and “break America.” Iran was “planning to break America, Israel, and their partners and allies. Our ground forces should cleanse the planet from the filth of their existence,” Salami said in February. The previous month, he vowed to wipe Israel off the “global political map,” and to unleash an “inferno” on the Jewish state.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is poised to tell five nations, including allies Japan, South Korea and Turkey, that they will no longer be exempt from US sanctions if they continue to import oil from Iran, officials said Sunday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to announce on Monday that the administration will not renew sanctions waivers for the five countries when they expire on May 2, three US officials said. The others are China and India.

It was not immediately clear if any of the five would be given additional time to wind down their purchases or if they would be subject to US sanctions on May 3 if they do not immediately halt imports of Iranian oil.

According to Syria’s SANA news agency, Israeli jets fired the missiles from Lebanese airspace at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday. The airstrike targeted a possible Iranian surface-to-surface missile factory in a Syrian base in the country’s Masyaf region. Satellite images released by Israeli intelligence firm ImageSat Intl. (ISI) showed the complete destruction of the factory.

As the twitter post stated, the factory was under the protection of an advanced Russian S-300 missile defense system. Satellite images released by ISI have showed three out of the four systems erected in Masyaf, with one launcher covered by a camouflage net.

The Rampage, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Israel Military Industry Systems (IMI),  is 4.7 meters long missile and weighs 570 kilograms. It is guided by a GPS system, making it an all-weather day/night long-range air-to-ground assault missile. It carries a warhead designed for optimal penetration capabilities, allowing for the destruction of targets inside bunkers. Its rocket engine and advanced navigation suit allow for precision targeting at a range of hundreds of kilometers. The missile features an ability to control and monitor the extent of its shrapnel, which will make its strike surgical, accurate and with minimum collateral damage despite the fact the missile spends a lot of time in the air from the minute it is launched until it strikes its target. It supersonic capability makes the Rampage difficult to intercept.

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani called on Middle East states on Thursday to “drive back Zionism,” in an Army Day tirade against the Islamic republic’s arch-foe Israel.

Speaking flanked by top general as troops paraded in a show of might, Rouhani also sought to reassure the region that the weaponry on display was for defensive purposes and not a threat.

“The region’s nations have lived alongside each other for centuries and never had a problem… If there is a problem, it is caused by others,” he said in the speech broadcast live on state television. “Let us stand together, be together and rid the region of the aggressor’s presence.”

The Israeli Air Force conducted successful live-fire tests of its Patriot and Iron Dome missile defense systems on Tuesday, the military said.

The exercise had been subjected to the military censor until Wednesday evening.

“Air defense soldiers from the Israeli Air Force conducted successful interceptions of targets at various heights and ranges,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

The Patriot air defense system is meant to intercept both incoming aircraft and long-range ballistic missiles, while the Iron Dome is designed to shoot down short-range rocket and mortar attacks, as well as some aircraft.

The new commander of the IDF’s Ground Forces said Thursday the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah was still planning to carry out a surprise invasion of northern Israel, despite the recent Israeli operation to uncover and destroy an extensive network of cross-border attack tunnels dug by the Iran-backed militia.

Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick was tapped to lead the military’s Ground Forces in February, amid increased criticism charging that Israeli troops were not prepared for war. His comments came less than four months months after the IDF concluded its anti-tunnel operation along the Lebanese border.

“Hezbollah still has plans to invade the Galilee,” he told the Ynet news site in an interview, referring to entering Israeli territory through a cross-border tunnel network. “Of course we won’t allow that to happen, we will thwart these plans.”