Putin plays with f ire in his new doctrine
Of late Vladimir Putin has shifted Russia’s nuclear doctrine to a more directly and openly retaliatory posture in response to any attack by Ukraine or any NATO country using longer-range US missiles.
Internet services were disrupted in parts of Iran amid reports that it was being cut off ahead of the planned anti-government protests on Thursday.
BBC Persian audiences reported outages, while internet monitoring service NetBlocks confirmed a drop in usage.
The semi-official Iranian news agency quoted an unnamed official as saying the action had been officially ordered.
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Thursday’s agitation comes amid calls for demonstrations in memory of those killed in the protests that began mid last month after the government’s decision to raise the price of gasoline between 50 and 300 per cent.
On Friday, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and urged him to stick to the commitments made under the 2015 nuclear agreement, of which the US withdrew last year.
Tensions have escalated between Tehran and Washington since President Donald Trump’s decision last year to withdraw from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal.
The meeting between Abe and Rouhani follows the one the Japanese prime minister had in Tehran when he visited the city in June, during attempts for Tokyo to mediate the easing of tensions between Washington and Iran.
As protests escalated, access to the internet was almost completely shut down, the BBC reported.
Mobile phone footage which eventually reached the outside world appeared to show security forces shooting at unarmed demonstrators.
(With inputs from agency)
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