1. Revolution: A sudden, complete, or marked change, often in political or social systems.

2. Proxy: A person or thing authorized to act on behalf of another.

3. Vulnerable: Susceptible to physical or emotional harm, often with a lack of protection.

4. Plausible: Seemingly reasonable or probable, likely to be true.

5. Intelligence assets: Information-gathering resources or individuals employed to gather secret information.

6. Colluding: Secretly cooperating with others, often with an intent to deceive or commit a wrongdoing.

7. Analyst: A person who examines and interprets information, often to provide insights or predictions.

8. Commencement: The beginning or start of an event or process.

9. Mausoleums: A building, especially a large and stately one, housing a tomb or tombs.

10. Sovereignty: Supreme authority or power, especially over a territory or state.

11. Burgeoning: Growing or developing quickly, flourishing.

12. Impede: Hinder or obstruct the progress or movement of something.

13. Emanate: To issue or spread out from a source.

14. Sovereign: A supreme ruler, especially a monarch.

15. Litigate: To engage in legal proceedings or a lawsuit.

16. Confess: To admit or acknowledge a belief or wrongdoing.

17. Lien: A right to keep possession of property belonging to another person until a debt owed by that person is discharged.

18. Proliferation: Rapid increase in numbers or spreading of something.

19. Default judgment: A judgment issued in favor of one party in a lawsuit when the other party fails to take action or appear in court.

20. Obscurity: The state of being unknown, inconspicuous, or unimportant.

The Islamic State terror group claims responsibility for Iran’s worst bombings since its 1979 islamic revolution. A-U-S. Analyst tells us how Iran’s proxy conflict with Israel may have left the Islamic Republic vulnerable to attack. It’s plausible that intelligence assets have maybe focused s on the threat of ISIS and therefore is might have just been able to go under the radar. An israeli lawyer tells us about her plan to sue Iran and North Korea for allegedly colluding to arm Hamas terrorists that attacked Israel in October. And we’ll ask an iranian journalist how a 73 year old fishmonger in northern Iran became an Instagram star with a viral song and dance. It’s a silly thing. It’s just a bunch of words meant to make you smile. From the voice of America, this is flashpoint Iran. Good morning. I’m Michael Lippin in Washington. Iran’s shiite Muslim islamist rulers have vowed to avenge a double suicide bombing that killed at least 91 people on January 3 in the southeastern city of Kirman. The Sunni Muslim Islamic State group released a telegram statement on January 4 claiming responsibility. They targeted Iranians attending a ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the US killing of top iranian commander Qassim Saleimani. In the six days since then, iranian officials announced the arrest of eleven suspects and identified one of the bombers as a tajik national. They have not announced any punitive action against the IS group. Washington Institute for Near East Policy analyst Aaron Zellen is the director of a project mapping Islamic State activity worldwide. I asked him by phone Tuesday what parts of the IS group were responsible for the Kirman attack. It’s most likely that the Islamic State’s Khurrasan province, which is the organization that’s based out of Afghanistan, was involved in planning and executing the attack, especially since the previous two attacks that they had done in the last year or so within Iran were also traced back to ISKP. Plus, many of the arrests that Iran has been involved with against IS locally over the last couple of years have been related to ISKP networks. You talked about the tracing. How is it possible to trace an attack like this or other attacks to the IS faction in Afghanistan? I think there’s a combination of things. One is information directly coming from the Iranian government itself and what it’s letting everybody know about it. Two, from IS’s claims as well as its media outlets, they provide a certain level of detail and information, and then also just the makeup of the ethnic background, potentially of the individual. So believe that these are Tajiks that were involved in this attack, which has been involved in many ISKP related attacks, not only in Iran, but Afghanistan, as well as elsewhere in the region. What have you learned about the motives of the Islamic State group for carrying out this attack in Karman and on that particular day when there were ceremonies happening across Iran to mark the killing of Qasim Suleimani? The group itself historically has been always extremely anti Shia, anti Iran. And then part of this ideology is that they’re against the veneration of sane sergeants, mausoleums and the like. And therefore, from an ideological perspective, it makes a lot of sense that they would target something along those lines. And then, of course, the big name of Qasim Suleimani makes it even that bigger, especially since there’s so many people that were there, thus creating such a mass casualty attack. The main commemoration ceremony that day for Qasim Soleimani was in Tehran, I believe, not in Karman, even though Soleimani is buried in the karman area. Why do you think they went after Kirman as a location rather than some other site honoring Soleimani? Likely because that’s where the actual burial was, just for strategic purposes, to send a message. Know this guy that you’re using, who previously been fighting us in Iraq and Syria, we’re getting vengeance against him and all of his supporters. Well, you made a reference to the fact that Iran has been fighting the Islamic State group in the past. How do you think this group was able to get back at Iran in such a dramatic way with the worst bombings that Iran has seen since the 1979 revolution? I think part of it is likely the fact that Iran over the last few months has been likely more focused on what’s been going on in Israel post 1007 attack by Hamas, especially with coordinating its various proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, et cetera. And therefore, it’s plausible that intelligence assets have maybe focused less on the threat of ISIS and therefore is might have just been able to go under the radar because every few months, Iran usually arrests some type of Is cell trying to conduct an attack locally. This isn’t out of nowhere. This is now. The third is attack within Iran in the last 15 months. Well, Iran has, as you said, been carrying out arrests from time to time of suspected IS members. What do you think Iran can do going forward against is beyond just continuing to carry out arrests whenever they can? I think it’s pretty limited beyond that to be know the attack didn’t emanate from Iraq and Syria, where you still have IRGC, as well as their proxy networks, fighting against ISIS on a low level, whereas next door in Afghanistan, the Taliban’s fighting ISIS also on a daily basis. And it’s unlikely that Iran would want to try and impede on the sovereignty of what the Taliban is doing, especially since they’ve had such burgeoning relations over the last couple of years, since the Taliban took power. So beyond intelligence sharing, maybe more between the Taliban and Iran related to these threats, as well as continued law enforcement locally, I think that that’s of the limits of it for now. Well, Iran does have a relationship with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers. How do you think this attack, which appears to have emanated from afghan territory, could affect that relationship? As far as I’m aware, I don’t think it will affect things that much. When there have been prior attacks from ISKP related networks in Afghanistan, nothing has changed in terms of their relationship. It’s only gotten stronger over time. Plus, in the day or two after this most recent attack, you saw the iranian ambassador in Kabul meet with the Taliban’s prime minister, and they’re talking about various issues related to their relationship. But one of the things noted in this meeting was the fact that they weren’t let a terrorist attack like the one committed by the Islamic State get between them and that they had a shared interest in fighting against IS. And independently, the Taliban media has also talked about how they’ve provided details and warnings in the past to Iran about plots and attacks. So I think that the relationship will continue to be fruitful from their perspective on both of those sides. And what about the Islamic State group itself? What do you think it’s going to do next? Do you think it will try to carry out another attack like what happened last week? I think that so long as there is an opportunity to do an attack, they’ll continue to try and plot within Iran itself. Like I said, this is now the third successful attack within the country over the last 15 months. But they’ve also plotted a number of other attacks in the last number of years. The iranian government’s just been able to stop it ahead of time. So I think that they’ll continue to do things so long as they have the assets and capabilities to do so. Whether they’re able to be successful again, obviously, I can’t predict the future, but they’ll continue to try no matter what. Well, Aaron Zellens, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, joining us on the line from here in Washington, DC. Great to have you on Flashpoint run. Great. Thanks for having me. South Korea’s spy agency has confirmed that Hamas has been using north Korean made weapons in the iranian proxy’s war with Israel. The confirmation came in a statement reported by south korean news agency Agency Yonhap on Monday. The south korean spy agency was responding to a VOA korean service story published last week showing new photos of north korean f seven rocket propelled grenades with korean lettering recently used by Hamas. VOA Korean obtained the photos through a diplomatic source. The israeli military says it has been retrieving North Korea korean weapons from Hamas since its October assault on Israel. An israeli human rights lawyer representing american victims of the Hamas terror attack is considering suing North Korea and Iran in the US court system for allegedly colluding to send the weapons to Hamas. VOA korean journalist Jiha Ham spoke with Nitsana Darshan lightner in Tel Aviv on December 27 and asked how she will make her case for Iran to get the missiles from North Korea. It’s not a problem then Iran ships or flies the weapons, the missiles to Damascus. In Damascus, Khazbala just comes to the airport, picks them up in trucks and takes them to Lebanon. This is how they wind up in the hands of Hezbollah. When we talk about Hamas, Iran just sends the money to Sudan. And in Sudan, Hamas rents trucks and brings them with trucks to the border with Egypt over Sinai and over there near, you know, there’s the point that connects between Egypt to the Gaza Strip. Hamas does not bring it as a merchandise. It just smuggles it in tunnels underneath the Rafa crossing. How serious is this whole weapons trading proliferation issue for Israel? Listen, any enemy that provides weapon to Israel is a danger to the security of the state of Israel. Hamas does not have a lot of providers. Most of the countries in the world designate Hamas and therefore will not provide her with weapon. The few countries who does are mainly Iran and North Korea. Even I would say Turkey admires Hamas and has relationship with that. They will not give them weapon. Saudi Arabia can give them money but will not give them weapon. Qatar gives them hundreds of millions of dollars a year, will not give them weapon. Only Iran and North Korea are the countries who give Hamas weapon and this is a threat to the existing of the state of Israel. Then as a lawyer, what are your legal efforts to prevent these illegal activities? I mean, North Korea is the weapons transaction and smotherdine to Ivigaza. Can you share what you’ve been doing and what we will do? So in our law center Suratadin, we’ve been filing lawsuits against North Korea from 2006. North Korea’s involvement in the Middle east is known. It started back then in 1972 in the Lord airport attack, a terror attack that was carried out by the Japanese Red army who was supported by North Korea. And we filed a lawsuit against North Korea on behalf of the victims that were killed at the attack. In 2006, in the second lebanese war, we found out that North Korea helped Kisbala to dig their underground tunnels, which Khizbala used to shoot missiles towards Israel. And again, we file lawsuit against them to have them pay for the tunnels that they digged. Today, we know that there is weapon held by Hamas that belongs to North Korea, was provided by North Korea knowingly and intentionally, because by now, after all our lawsuits, North Korea knows that its weapon goes to Iran, and Iran gives the weapon to Hamas. They never once warned Iran not to send the weapon to Hamas. Therefore, they are liable. And we are considering filing a lawsuit on behalf of american citizens that were killed in this sabbath of October 7 against those countries who supported the Hamas organization, Iran and North Korea. But don’t you have to find evidence that North Korea, directly or indirectly, even supported Hamas? But would it be hard because, for example, that Red army case, it was easy, because those people were arrested, and they probably testified that they were trained in North Korea, right? So there was some kind of connection between them. But what about this? Very, very true. Therefore, we’re using experts that know a lot about North Korea, know how North Korea’s weapon wind up in the hands of Hamas. They can draw the rope exactly how it winds up. And if the expert report is convincing enough, this is the way you usually build these cases. North Korea doesn’t come to court to confess or to litigate or even to defend itself. It totally ignores the law. So, therefore, the burden is on us, the plaintiff, to prove the case. Since most of the times in outlaw regimes, you can’t find hard evidence, you rely on expert reports to come and to prove your case. And this is what we are considering doing in this case as well. So let’s say, for example, my judge orders favorable decision to the plaintiffs. And what do you call that? It’s a default judgment. Default respect. Right. Even so, I mean, let’s say auto warmbia was awarded $500 million. To get all that. 500 million, it’s very hard. Right. What is your strategy? Or to get those. We usually look for assets that belong to North Korea that we can find in countries in the world that can honor an american judgment. Most of the westernized countries have treaties with the United States to enforce each other’s judgments. So, for instance, I found a ship that belonged to North Korea in the Gulf of Mexico. I hired mexican lawyers to come and enforce my judgment, or american judgment. In Mexico City, I found a boat that belongs to North Korea in the Panama Canal. I hired panamanian lawyer to come and enforce it. Unfortunately, in these two proceedings, the material of the boat and the merchants on it was so cheap that it wasn’t worth financially to litigate this case and to try to enforce it against the judgment. But if we find bank accounts that belong to North Korea or any transaction that North Korea is a party to any deal that North Korea is trying to make, I can come and put a lien on this deal, on this transaction, or on this third party asset and to execute the judgment against this. It’s getting harder and harder to find north korean assets. It always was hard to find north korean assets. I can tell you that with Iran, for instance, in the beginning, it was easy because there were a lot of assets frozen in the United States that belonged to the iranian regime. Bank accounts and buildings and stock portfolios. Really, like, I would say, perhaps billions of dollars worth assets, and they were all diminished. They all were executed against the judgments that american victims have against Iran. So now it’s very hard. North Korea never had assets, especially not in the United States. So this is why we keep our eyes open for anything that we learn, we know, we hear that has to do with North Korea and try to examine if we can enforce our judgment in this country against a specific asset. So how many plaintiffs do you have so far? I mean, this mule lawsuit jury consider right now we have ten people suing North Korea, I believe, and Iran, too, I guess. Iran for sure. North Korea is one of the defendants, and North Korea might be one of the defendants. This is the beginning of the process. We going to speak to our experts, speak to Bruce Bakhtol, speak to other experts that working here in Israel, and to if we can build a case against North Korea. That was israeli lawyer Nitsana Darshan Leitner speaking to VOA Koreans. Jihaham, the north korean ambassador to the UN, Kim Song, told a UN meeting in October that reports Of north korean weapons being used to attack Israel were false, but the diplomat’s office did not respond to a VOA korean request for comment on the prospect of Pyongyang being sued in the US by the israeli legal team. Iran’s UN mission also did not respond to a VOA request for comment on the issue. You’re listening to VOA’s flashpoint Iran. I’m Michael Lippin. How does a 73 year old fishmonger from northern Iran go from relative obscurity to an international Instagram influencer in just two months? Sadeg Baghari posted his first Instagram video on November 10 showing him singing and dancing in a food market in the city of rasht with onlookers cheering him on. Since then, he has amassed 1.2 million followers under the moniker Sadeg boogie with a series of additional videos, including a November 28 clip that quickly went viral. That is Baghari singing a longer version of his song at his fish shop with an accompanying musical track that he says was produced by his friends. Mariam Sinai, a correspondent for Iran International’s english website, has been following his rise to fame. I asked her by phone how it began. Mr. Bahari comes from Gilan province. His home province is on the shores of the Caspian Sea in northern Iran. And I think I should mention this, that he speaks Gilaki language, which is different from Persian. And the viral song is also in Gilaki. So someone like me, a persian speaker, is not able to understand the lyrics. So I had to find the translation of the lyrics to find out. I and probably some of our other listeners have heard this viral song that you’re referring to, and I’m personally very curious to know what exactly is he saying? Well, it’s actually, the song is a very happy, silly song with kind of like meaningless lines. Like, in one part of the song, he says, one day at sunset, I hit your auntie’s ear with my slingshot. What is that supposed to mean? I guess it’s up to the interpretation of the listener. It’s just silly thing. It’s just a bunch of words meant to make you smile, because this brings the image of a young boy playing in the street with his slingshot and just being naughty and mischievous and hitting somebody’s ear with a little stone or pebble they put in the slingshot. Well, Mr. Bughari is not a little kid. He’s not. Maybe he’s a little kid in a very grown up man’s body. Yeah. But he seems to me like a person who has kept the tribe within he has preserved that and still looks and sounds like a very lively young person to me. Well, from what I’ve read, he’s perhaps in his late 60s or maybe even early seventy s, seventy three, I think. And as I understand it, before he became this instagram sensation, he was already somewhat known in rushed in his hometown. Is that right? In his hometown? Rushed? Yes, since 1974. He says when he was 23, he became a soccer stadium chant leader, prompting spectators with verses and songs during matches. And they play this trumpet like thing at the stadium and cheer everyone. And you know that we don’t have cheerleaders in our stadiums. So you have Mr. Baghari? Yeah, they did. And just, I think maybe about a year ago or less than that, he posted some videos of himself singing outside his fishmonger shop in the vegetable and fruit market of rasht, his hometown. And since this was such a happy sounding song, it attracted a lot of people’s attention. But another reason that people became interested is that singing and dancing in public is frowned upon in Iran. And here was this rather elderly man singing and dancing in the marketplace and the fact that he was doing that in Rasht in Gilan province. Is that a coincidence or is it because there is generally less observance of this restriction on public dancing in that area? I think what you are saying is very true. The culture of Gilan is quite different from many other parts of Iran. It has some large cities, but in rural areas where they grow rice, farmers often break during the day when they are planting the know to have refreshments and to have a quick song and dance before going back to planting rice. So in rest, it is much more tolerated than in other places, I can say. Yeah, ordinarily, people, they have no objection to that. And as you can see in the videos that he has posted on his Instagram, people gather around him and encourage him by clapping and asking him to do more. That was Iran international correspondent Maryam Sinai. I’ll have more of that conversation about Sadegh Bughari in next week’s program when we will hear about how Iran, iranian authorities attempted to shut him down, only to see their efforts backfire. Until then, I’m Michael Lippin. Thank you for listening to flashpoint Iran.