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As the U.S. looks to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, recent tensions coupled with Irans history of meddling in the country could jeopardize talks between the U.S. and the Taliban to end the 18-year long conflict.

U.S. military intelligence assessments dating back to 2010 suggest Irans elite paramilitary unit, the Quds Force, has track record of providing training and lethal arms to the Taliban. The list includes portable shoulder-fired air-defense systems known as MANPADS.

While the level of that support from Tehran does not appear to be a game changer on the battlefield, the recent succession of the former head of Irans Quds Force branch in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, to be the top commander of the elite Iranian unit could amplify Irans destabilization efforts in Afghanistan.

Ghaani was chosen by Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to lead the Quds force following a Jan. 2 airstrike by the U.S. that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Phillip Smyth, a research fellow with the Washington Institute, told Military Times that the new Quds Force commander could be a spoiler for peace prospects in Afghanistan.

Following Soleimanis killing, Iran is looking to send a signal to say we are going to look eastward," Smyth said.

Flanked by flags of its various proxy forces, a recent IRGC press conference included the banners of Fatemiyoun Division, an Iran-backed Afghan Shia group fighting in Syria, and the emblem for Liwa Zainebiyoun a Shia Pakistani Iran proxy.

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The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has also for years trained and recruited from Afghanistans Shia Hazara population for use in its nebulous network of militant and proxy forces across the region.

Analysts and national security experts have expressed concern over the Taliban peace talks following the U.S. strike that killed Soleimani, and Irans retaliatory ballistic missile strike against U.S. forces at two air bases in Iraq.

But Irans sway over the Taliban is minimal. A Taliban spokesman told Voice of America that he did not expect recent tensions between Tehran and Washington to impact the negotiations.

The developments will not have negative impact on the peace process because the (U.S.-Taliban) peace agreement is finalized and only remains to be signed (by the two sides), Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Talibans negotiating team, told VOA.

In January, Reuters reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran without providing evidence of undermining U.S. talks with the Taliban.

The Talibans entanglement in Irans dirty work will only harm the Afghanistan peace process," Pompeo said, according to Reuters.

Iran has provided military aid to the Taliban, but U.S. intelligence reports, obtained by Military Times through a government records request, displays mixed reviews on the level and severity of that aid.

The majority of the intelligence reports and assessments spanned 2010 to 2012, at a time when the U.S. had nearly 100,000 troops on the ground. The reports provide a glimpse into Irans shadowy dealings with the Taliban a militant group that has long been at odds with Tehran.

Irans support to the Taliban is minimal, often aimed at harassing coalition forces and as an effort to stymie progress in Afghanistan. But the underlying relationship between Tehran and the Taliban is not enough to sway the balance of power in Afghanistan in favor of the militants.

Iranian support to the Taliban is tempered by their realization that Taliban control of Afghanistan is not in Irans best long term interest due to a history of ideological differences. Instead, lethal aid and training are used as a balancing force to counteract increased Western influence, a 2012 U.S. military intelligence assessment reads.

U.S. military intelligence assessments detailed that Irans Quds Force shelled out cash for every American soldier killed or for every U.S. military vehicle destroyed.

A report dated Oct. 15, 2010, from the Theater Intelligence Group based out of Bagram Air Base, said that Irans Quds Force was paying $1,000 for every U.S. soldier killed and $6,000 for American vehicles destroyed.

The report also highlighted that Iran was funneling small arms and SA-7 shoulder fired air-defense systems to the Taliban through a former Afghan security official.

In some instances, IRGC officials helped transport groups of 10 to 20 Taliban fighters to various locations in Iran for training on MANPADS, according to an Oct. 2010 report.

The Quds Force usually asks the Taliban commanders to send their best fighters for the training, likely due to the more advanced training involved in learning MANPADS systems or possibly to allow these fighters to become future trainers of other Taliban fighters inside Afghanistan, the Oct. 2010 report reads.

Many of the assessments appeared to conclude that Irans lethal aid was limited in nature to prevent a Taliban return to power, but also an effort by Tehran to not ratchet up tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

Reports also were contradictory at times. Some reports said Iran was directly supplying the highly lethal aid such as MANPADS and deadly explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs. Other reports suggested such deadly aid was notional and that Iran had yet to provide the support.

However, Iran has not provided more dangerous lethal aid, such as MANPADS and Explosively Formed Projectile (EFP). The introduction of this type of lethal aid would most likely signify an increase in hostilities between Iran and the United States, reads a Feb. 2012 report from Regional Command Southwest.

EFPs in Iraq and Afghanistan have a bloody and infamous track record.

A U.S. State Department report estimated that Irans IRGC was responsible for 17 percent of all deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 roughly 603 casualties. Many of those casualties were the result of EFPs that ripped through U.S. armored vehicles.

An intelligence briefing on Iranian facilitation in Afghanistan noted that between April 2007 and November 2009, four shipments of weapons and explosives of Iranian origin were interdicted that included EFPs, MANPADs.

An Aug. 2009 indirect fire attack against Camp Stone, located in Herat, Afghanistan, used 107 mm rockets that included lot numbers and dates of a previously interdicted Iranian weapons shipment, the intelligence brief said.

The brief explained that the IRGC supplied the Taliban with weapons and personnel through the western border region between Iran and Afghanistan, mostly prominently near the Iranian cities of Zabol and Zahedan.

Although CFs [coalition forces] have interdicted IRGC-QF shipments in the past, the infrequency of shipments makes interdiction operations difficult , yielding limited results, the brief reads.

Although Iranian weaponry has been used against CFs multiple times, the attacks cannot be linked back to Iranian transfer of aid, the brief stated.

The extent of Irans support of MANPADS training and systems to the Taliban is unknown. Officials from Resolute Support and the Pentagon did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

A number of reports suggested Iran had the capability to provide MANPADS, but actual material support of the systems either was so infrequent or the systems were in such disrepair that the threat was minimal.

Also in August, a Farah-based Taliban commander claimed to be in possession of six MANPADS and claimed the systems as well as the training were provided by Iran, an Oct. 2010 report reads.

The portable air-defense systems seemed to be lacking the trigger assembly and possibly the battery pack which is consistent with reporting from...previous recoveries in Afghanistan, the Oct. 2010 report said.

The U.S. and Taliban are currently amid talks to end the 18-year war and bring American troops home.

The U.S. has been pushing the Taliban for a cease-fire to jump start intra-Afghan negotiations.

The Taliban has thus far refused even a temporary cease-fire, and has stuck to its offer of a reduction of violence across the country.

Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, tweeted Jan. 12 that the Afghan government wants a cease-fire before the start of inter-Afghan negotiations.

The Afghan governments plan to launch peace talks is to secure a ceasefire. Reducing violence does not have an exact military, legal or practical meaning, Sediqqi tweeted.

Our goal of a cease-fire is like the cease-fire that was established two years ago during Eid in the country and had a clear definition, he said.

The Taliban agreed to a three-day cease-fire in June 2019 over the Eid holiday.

There are roughly 13,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

President Donald Trump and the Pentagon are considering reducing the American footprint in the country to 8,600 troops.

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Iran's support to the Taliban, which has included MANPADS and a bounty on US troops, could be a spoiler for peace in Afghanistan - Military Times

A week after millions of Iranians flooded the streets following the death of one of the country's top generals, Qassem Soleimani, a contrasting symbolic image played out in Tehran on Sunday.

Crowds of people outside Beheshti University refused to trample over giant U.S. and Israeli flags that had been painted on the ground, according to video filmed at the scene that has been verified by NBC News.

This appeared to be a symbolic gesture, given that walking on, or burning, these flags has been a feature of previous demonstrations.

Encouraging marchers to do the same may have been why they were painted in the street outside the university. And declining to comply was likely one way for the protesters to send a message to the government, according to H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London.

"Iranian protesters are likely very aware that the Iranian regime uses legitimate grievances against the United States and Israel to deflect criticism," said Hellyer, who is also a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank.

"By not stepping on their flags, they're unlikely to be showing support for the U.S. and Israel, but more just sending a message to the regime that they aren't interested in deflection," he said.

In Tehran and elsewhere, anger on the streets has been palpable. The country is in the midst of three days of angry demonstrations after the government admitted it accidentally shot down a Ukrainian International Airlines passenger jet during a military confrontation with the United States.

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After three days of denials, the Iranian government admitted Saturday that one of its missiles had downed the plane and killed all 176 people on board, mostly Iranians. The country had just fired missiles at U.S. forces in neighboring Iraq in retaliation for a drone strike directed by President Donald Trump that killed Soleimani.

Although this admission of guilt by the government appeared to be the trigger for the protests, they have since expanded into a wider call for democratic reforms and a critique of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and others.

Some of the protesters have called for Khamenei to stand down, and there have been clashes between demonstrators and security forces. One video appeared to show the aftermath of a woman being shot in Tehran, although police have denied firing at the crowds over the weekend.

Another piece of footage showed a commemorative roadside banner of Soleimani that had been set alight, and elsewhere protesters were seen ripping down and stomping on posters of the dead general.

"Our protests were about all of the irresponsibility of the regime, not just the plane. The plane was the trigger of this protest," said Elhan, 29, one of those who took to the streets in Tehran.

She asked not to publish her last name for fear of reprisals, telling NBC News by phone Monday that the demonstrators "just want a true democracy we are so angry and sad."

It's not the first time that Iranians have made a point about refusing to disrespect the U.S. and Israeli flags. In 2016, a prominent professor, Sadegh Zibakalam, went to great lengths to avoid this shimmying along an adjacent railing rather than walking on the ground on which they had been painted.

Students in particular have employed other tactics over the years to show that they are unwilling to toe the government's line.

"When regime representatives shout 'death to America! death to Israel!' over a loudspeaker, the students chant back 'death to Russia! death to China!' said Gissou Nia, a human rights lawyer and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. "It's not because the students actually want death to those nations, it's just to show the world that they are not aligned with the regime's world view. "

While refusing to walk on flags isn't new, what is significant about this weekend's protesters is that they took to the streets knowing it carried a great risk to their lives, according to Holly Dagres, a nonresident fellow also at the Atlantic Council.

It was just last November when anti-government demonstrations last broke out across Iran, with people initially angry about a hike in gasoline prices but soon calling for other political freedoms.

The U.S.'s special representative for Iran Brian Hook has said that more than 1,000 Iranian citizens may have been killed in the ensuing clashes. Although Iran has disputed any figures on the death toll as "purely speculative" and "highly inaccurate."

"Despite knowing full well that their brothers and sisters were just killed, the protesters this week are willing to take to the streets and sacrifice their lives to have their voices heard against the Iranian government," Dagres said. "That is courageous and impressive."

These demonstrations took place days after a mass outpouring of grief, or at least dissatisfaction, following Soleimani's death. The funeral procession in his hometown of Kerman was so packed that dozens of people died in a stampede.

For many experts, Iran is too often seen in the West as a simple, homogeneous entity that thinks and acts in a unified manner.

Of course the reality is far more nuanced in this nation of 82 million people that features many "diverse political strands," according to Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, a university in London.

Alexander Smith is a senior reporter forNBC News Digital based in London.

Caroline Radnofsky is a London-based reporter for NBC News.

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Iran protests: Crowds in Tehran refuse to walk on U.S. and Israeli flags - NBC News

When we arrived at the museum on the northern edge of Tehrans Shahr Park on a drizzly late October morning, we were greeted by the museums director, Mohammad Reza Taghipoor Moghadam who, I couldnt help but notice, had no legs. As he wheeled himself into the museum, my companions and I followed closely behind.

After entering the compact round building, we gathered in a small room where Moghadam introduced us to his colleagues, Mr. Mohammadi, who was wearing dark sunglasses even on the dreary morning, and Mr. Roostapour who wore no glasses but, like Mr. Mohammadi, suffered from damage to his eyes and lungs resulting from chemical warfare.

As veterans of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), all three men bore grave injuries more than 30 years after the war had ended. Today they welcome visitors to the Tehran Peace Museum where they discuss the history of the brutal war, describing how Iraq, under Saddam Hussein who was aided with intelligence and arms provided by the United States, used chemical weapons against Iranians and Kurds.

Three veterans of the Iran-Iraq war talk about the effects of war on soldiers and civilians at the Tehran Peace Museum with a group of visiting Americans.

Jon Letman

One museum display states that some 65,000 Iranian civilians and military veterans still suffer chronic health problems from those attacks. Standing before exhibits detailing how civilians were victims of the war, the three veterans spoke about the suffering caused by nuclear weapons, poison gas, nerve agents, incendiary munitions, cluster bombs, conventional rockets, missiles, mortars and artillery used in wars waged from the air, in the sea, and on the ground by militaries around the world.

As the veterans recounted the human and environmental damage caused by chemical warfare, I thought about Hawaiis own role in testing and training for war.

I recalled how in 1967 the Army conducted Operation Green Mist in which it tested the deadly nerve agent sarin in the Waiakea Forest Reserve on Hawaii Island.

That reminded me of a 2012 Civil Beat report about how some 16,000 bombs filled with mustard agent were dumped by the military in waters off Oahu during World War II.

When Moghadam spoke of the harm from depleted uranium and the environmental damage it causes, Hawaii popped into my head again, specifically the DU previously used at Schofield Barracks and Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii Island.

Although the Iran-Iraq war ended more than 30 years ago, murals depicting soldiers killed in battle are found throughout Iran today.

Jon Letman

As the three men spoke, I thought of the decades of Navy bombing carried out on Kahoolawe which, in turn, made me think of RIMPAC, the international war games Hawaii hosts every two years. I thought of the ships used as target practice in sinking exercises off Kauai, the artillery fired between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, the amphibious assaults rehearsed and the urban warfare training drills carried out across Hawaii.

When Moghadam talked about the death, destruction and squandered resources resulting from nuclear weapons, I thought of the Sandia National Laboratorys Kauai Test Site where technology is tested for use in Americas next generation of nuclear weapons, part of a $1.5 trillion modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

This comes as Iran continues to suffer under punishing U.S. sanctions, a policy of maximum pressure, and the threat of war despite Irans compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (i.e., Iran nuclear deal).

Moghadam explained how Iranian civilians, not Irans government, are the primary victims of sanctions that have greatly expanded into a complex spider web-like network that isolates ordinary Iranian citizens from global commercial and financial systems. Intensified U.S. sanctions restrict almost everything coming into Iran including life-saving medicines and medical equipment things like respirators, air purifiers, and wheelchairs that these veterans rely on.

Civilian people who are not politicians do not deserve to be affected by sanctions, Moghadam said, adding war is a great business for countries.

Indeed, war is good business. In Hawaiis case, the business of war often called defense is central to Hawaiis economy. Military, weapons and war are Hawaiis second largest sector of its economy with Hawaii ranking second in the nation for its defense spending as a percentage of state GDP, and third highest for defense spending per resident. In 2017, more than 81,000 military personnel and civilians were employed by the defense sector, reported to generate over $14 billion for Hawaiis economy.

From our congressional delegation who proudly announce securing military contracts, to our local leaders who are almost universally on board with military projects, to our families who have become dependent on military-related jobs, to our schools which cooperate with the military and are eager to expand STEM programs that will train Hawaiis youth to pursue careers in the military, intelligence, or security, Hawaii is steeped in war.

We remain complicit in the suffering of the victims of war.

We all know what war is and what it does. As former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee so crudely said in a 2016 GOP presidential debate, the purpose of the military is kill people and break things.

All too often in Hawaii, we not only support but also celebrate our own role in wars fought in someone elses country. As long as we accept or encourage Hawaii to be a place that facilitates the business of war, we will remain complicit in the suffering of the victims of war.

Even when we talk about living aloha and the cost of war, unless we are sincere in our opposition to supporting Hawaiis war industry, we are the ones who dont have legs to stand on.

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Trip To Iran Triggers Thoughts Of Hawaii's Role In War - Honolulu Civil Beat

Israel's Minister of Social Equality, Gila Gamliel says that the Islamic Revolution in 1979 in Iran forced tens of thousands of Jewish people to leave $31.3 billion of their assets and properties behind when they fled the country.

"After a two-year clandestine research, the Israeli Prime Minister's cabinet has concluded that the total wealth left behind by the Jews in Iran and Arab countries amounts to nearly $150 billion," Gamliel maintained.

Gamliel launched the classified project in 2017, teaming up with Israel's National Security Council, whose purpose was to evaluate the total sum of the property and assets that were left behind by Jews who had to flee Iran and Arab countries.

Based on the research, Israeli media report that Netanyahu is planning to force Iran and several Arab lands to pay compensation for the wealth left by the Jews.

The decision means that in any future talks with Iran and Arab governments, Israel will be obliged to table the subject and demand compensation.

According to a study by the Museum of the Diaspora, more than 700,000 Jews from Arab countries and Iran migrated to Israel, mostly in the second half of the 20th century, including nearly 400,000 from North Africa. The remainder arrived from Iraq, Yemen, and other countries.

It is hard to say how many Jews were forced out of these countries by governments, but most left because they had no choice given the prevailing anti-Semitic propaganda and serious intimidation.

It is the first time that the Israel has compiled comprehensive data on this issue, with significant historical and international political ramifications, Israel Hayom reported.

Gamliel is set to officially present the report to the government in the coming weeks.

Initially, in February 2010, the Knesset approved the Law for Preservation of the Rights to Compensation of Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries and Iran. Article 3 of the law stipulates, "Within the framework of negotiations to achieve peace in the Middle East, the government will include the issue of compensation for the lost property of Jewish refugees from Arab lands and Iran, including property owned by the Jewish communities of those lands." In the meantime, the Israeli prime minister was made responsible for advancing the provisions of the law.

"This is nothing less than the beginning of correction of the injustice of historic proportions," Gamliel was quoted as saying. "We will now be able to restore the property and wealth of hundreds of thousands of Jews, as part of the narrative of how a small state absorbed so many people after they were turned into penniless refugees."

The study breaks down the value of assets and population numbers for several of the countries, with assets including land, homes, savings, and businesses. Over 100,000 Jews lived in Iran, with assets of $31.3 billion; there were 38,000 Jews in Libya, who were stripped of $6.7 billion in assets; Yemen had 55,000 Jews, who had $2.6 billion in assets; neighboring Aden had a community of 8,000 Jews, with $700 million in assets; and in Syria, 30,000 Jews forced to leave the country left behind $1.4 billion in assets, the daily newspaper of Torah Jewry, Hamodia reports.

In the meantime, the research shows that only 10,000 Jews are left in Iran and just twenty Syria, while no Jews are living in Libya and Yemen.

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Israel Will Seek $31 Billion Compensation From Iran For Jewish Property - RadioFarda

At least 304 people have been killed, with many more wounded and thousands arrested after tens of thousands of people from all over Iran and representing all segments of society have exercised their fundamental right to freedom of assembly.... in the largest-scale unrest in 40 years, warn MEPs in the resolution adopted on Thursday by show of hands.

Nationwide protests in Iran started on 15 November, after the government announced a 50 percent increase in the price of fuel. The authorities have reacted in an unacceptable manner, MEPs say, urging Iranian authorities to disclose the total number of deaths and detainees, and inform all families where their relatives are being detained. Allegations of excessive use of force must be promptly investigated and all perpetrators must be brought to justice.

They also demand that Iran immediately release Sakharov prize laureate Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is still imprisoned serving a sentence of 33 years and 148 lashes.

Online service blockage

MEPs strongly condemn Irans decision to shut down internet access to global networks, as this is preventing communication and the free flow of information for Iranian citizens and is a clear violation of the freedom of speech.

Calling on Iranian authorities to live up to their international obligations, MEPs urge EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell to continue raising human rights concerns with Iranian authorities at bilateral and multilateral meetings.

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MEPs condemn violent crackdown on the recent protests in Iran | News - EU News