Iran

A Dutch ship rescued the crew of one of two burning oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, the Dutch shipping company Acta Marine from Den Helder confirmed to NOS after reports in the Telegraaf. There were explosions on two oil tankers in the Gulf region on Thursday. The cause of the explosions has not yet been officially confirmed, but the general belief is that they were attacks. 

The Dutch military training mission in Iraq was suspended due to an increased threat in the region. The nature of the threat is unknown. The commander of the international coalition that coordinates training in the region ordered the mission to stop, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense said to NU.nl.

This temporary halt applies to all international allies who provide training in the area. Some 50 to 60 Dutch soldiers were ordered to cease their work "until further notice" due to an increased threat. 

The European Union placed two Iranians and Iran's military intelligence service on the European terrorism list after it was revealed that Iran was likely responsible for two murders in the Netherlands, NU.nl reports.

Iran is almost certainly behind the assassination of two persons of Iranian descent in the Netherlands, Ministers Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs and Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs wrote in a letter to parliament on Tuesday.

The Iranian government called the Dutch ambassador in the country to account after an attack on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz on Friday morning. One of the groups that claimed the attack, the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Al-Ahwaz (ASMLA) can be found on the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and is based in Delft, NOS reports.

Donald Trump withdrew the United States from an agreement with Iran that limits the Middle Eastern country's nuclear program in exchange for sanction relief. Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs calls this decision bad news for Dutch and European safety.

The Iranian embassy released a statement saying that they are very upset about 50Plus leader Henk Krol throwing away a Christmas present the ambassador sent him. Krol threw the bag of pistachio nuts in the dustbin during a broadcast of PowNews, saying that the ambassador only sent gifts to male parliamentarians and that he found this so offensive that he can't accept his gift, NU.nl reports.

A shooting in the Bezuidenhout district of Den Haag left one man dead Wednesday evening, police said. Sources close to the victim said he was Ahmad Mola Neissi, the leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, an Omroep West report stated.

A spokesperson for the separatist movement confirmed the victim's identity to newspaper AD, saying Neissi fled Iran in 2005. He had been living in the Netherlands with his wife and five children for about ten years, the report added. Police did not confirm the man's identity in a report published hours after the incident.

The Netherlands is an interesting "supermarket" for countries that want to make weapons of mass destruction, director Onno Eichelsheim of military intelligence service MIVD said in an interview with ANP. According to him, the Dutch intelligence services annually block a "significant number of attempts" of "countries of concerns" trying to acquire knowledge or materials for such weapons from the Netherlands. 

On Friday Iranians are voting in the first election since the country agreed to limit its nuclear program. In the Netherlands Dutch-Iranians can vote at the Iranian embassy in The Hague.

The two presidential candidates in this election are currently ruling moderate president Hassan Rouhani and lesser known candidate Ebrahim Raisi. According to ABC news Rouhani faced staunch challenge from Raisi over his outreach to the West in the nuclear deal.

On Tuesday the Dutch police arrested six persons in connection with the discovery of 1,100 kilograms of heroin in a container from Iran, the police said in a statement. The drugs' street value is around 34 million euros, according to the police. More arrests may follow.

The arrests were made after the Dutch authorities and Belgian authorities jointly searched a container from Iran in the port of Antwerp on Monday. In it they found the drugs hidden in two baking machines. The drugs were removed and the container was sent on to its destination.