By Christian Edwards, CNN

London (CNN) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was warned that Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein posed a “general reputational risk” ahead of his appointment as Britain’s ambassador to the United States, according to a trove of files released Wednesday by the British government.

In a due diligence report provided to Starmer by his vetting team in December 2024, officials listed what was publicly known about the veteran Labour politician’s ties to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Epstein.

“After Epstein was first convicted of procuring an underage girl in 2008, their relationship continued across 2009-2011, beginning when Lord Mandelson was Business Minister and continuing after the end of the Labour government. Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein’s House while he was in jail in June 2009,” the report said.

Starmer has faced fierce questioning about his judgment in appointing Mandelson as ambassador last year. Although Mandelson’s ties to Epstein had for years been a matter of the public record, files released by the US Department of Justice provided evidence about the depth and extent of his relationship to the financier, which continued after Epstein’s 2008 conviction.

The prime minister fired Mandelson in September following an earlier DOJ release of Epstein files. Another tranche of files released in January sparked further public outrage, prompting Britain’s Labour government to agree to spell out what it knew about Mandelson’s ties to Epstein at the time of his appointment.

The vetting documents cited a 2019 report commissioned by JPMorgan, which cited Epstein’s personal records showing that his relationship with Mandelson began in 2002 and continued throughout the 2000s.

“To note – general reputational risk,” officials wrote in the report provided to Starmer.

The documents also showed that Jonathan Powell, Starmer’s national security adviser, believed that Mandelson’s appointment had been “unusual.” In a call with Starmer’s lawyer after Mandelson was fired as ambassador, Powell said he had raised concerns about Mandelson’s “reputation” to a key aide to the prime minister, and said he found the appointment process “weirdly rushed.”

Darren Jones, a senior cabinet minister, told lawmakers in Parliament Wednesday that the files revealed “that the due diligence process fell short of what is required.”

Another document in the files showed that Mandelson’s lawyers had requested that he be paid the remainder of his four-year contract, which would have amounted to £547,201 (about $730,000). In the end, he received £75,000 (about $100,000).

British police arrested Mandelson last month on suspicion of misconduct in public office after documents released by the DOJ showed that he appeared to leak sensitive British government data to Epstein. He was released after questioning but remains under investigation. Mandelson has denied any criminal wrongdoing and has previously said he feels “utterly awful” about his friendship with Epstein and “the plight of his victims.”

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Por Nick Paton Walsh, CNN

Rusia está ayudando a Irán con tácticas avanzadas de drones empleadas en la guerra en Ucrania para atacar objetivos de Estados Unidos y de países del Golfo en Medio Oriente, según un funcionario de inteligencia occidental.

Los drones Shahed, diseñados por Irán pero producidos en masa por Moscú para su uso en Ucrania, han tenido un éxito inesperado al penetrar las defensas aéreas de los países del Golfo. Hasta ahora, el intercambio de inteligencia ruso con Irán sobre el que se ha reportado era de asistencia general para la localización de objetivos. El asesoramiento táctico específico indicaría un nuevo nivel de apoyo potencialmente letal.

“Lo que era un apoyo más general ahora se vuelve más preocupante, incluyendo las estrategias de ataque con drones que Rusia empleó en Ucrania”, declaró el funcionario, que prefirió no ser identificado por tratarse de información confidencial.

Si bien el funcionario se negó a especificar la ayuda táctica exacta, Rusia ha utilizado drones Shahed contra Ucrania en oleadas. Múltiples drones han volado juntos y cambiado de rumbo regularmente para eludir las defensas aéreas. En una noche, Ucrania puede enfrentarse a más de 1.000 drones.

El presidente de Ucrania, Volodymyr Zelensky, declaró el miércoles que “Rusia ha comenzado a apoyar al régimen iraní con drones. Sin duda, ayudará con misiles y también con la defensa aérea”. No dio detalles específicos sobre la asistencia rusa.

CNN informó el fin de semana que Rusia ha compartido imágenes de su sofisticada red de satélites aéreos con Irán. No está claro qué recibe Rusia a cambio de su apoyo.

CNN se ha puesto en contacto con el Kremlin para solicitar comentarios.

Rusia ha negado previamente compartir inteligencia con Irán. El enviado especial de Estados Unidos Steve Witkoff reiteró el martes la negación de Moscú y afirmó que Estados Unidos le toma la palabra a Rusia al pie de la letra.

Kyiv ha enviado expertos en interceptación de drones a la región del Golfo para compartir la experiencia ucraniana en la detención de los Shaheds, relativamente económicos, que pueden costar US$ 30.000. Ucrania ha desarrollado interceptores diminutos que cuestan unos US$ 5.000 cada uno y se pueden producir rápidamente.

Cuando estalló la guerra en la región del Golfo el mes pasado, parecía que el presidente de Rusia, Vladimir Putin, saldría perdiendo: Irán es un aliado de Rusia desde hace mucho tiempo. Pero Putin está aprovechando la oportunidad para perseguir su objetivo principal: desmantelar una Ucrania independiente.

Putin habló por teléfono con el presidente Trump el lunes, la primera llamada entre ambos desde diciembre, para hablar sobre el conflicto en el Golfo y en Ucrania. Trump ya ha indicado que podría suavizar las sanciones petroleras a Rusia para ayudar a bajar los precios globales de la energía.

En cuanto a la amenaza más amplia en el Golfo, el funcionario de inteligencia occidental afirmó estar “realmente preocupado” por el uso de minas por parte de Irán en el estrecho de Ormuz, así como por los ataques con drones marítimos y de baja tecnología con barcos pesqueros tradicionales contra grupos de ataque de portaaviones estadounidenses. Irán afirmó haber alcanzado el USS Abraham Lincoln al comienzo de la guerra, pero Estados Unidos lo negó. “El Lincoln no fue alcanzado”, declaró el CENTCOM en X en ese momento. “Los misiles lanzados ni siquiera se acercaron”.

El funcionario occidental afirmó que el apoyo de China a Irán era “preocupante”, pero se negó a proporcionar detalles. China ha condenado los ataques estadounidenses e israelíes contra Irán como inaceptables, pero no ha mostrado públicamente su disposición a ayudar militarmente a su aliado.

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By Max Saltman, CNN

(CNN) — Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, suffered a fractured foot and other minor injuries on the first day of the US and Israel’s bombardment campaign, a source familiar with the situation told CNN.

In addition to his injured foot, Khamenei, 56, received a bruise around his left eye, as well as minor lacerations to his face, the source said.

An Israeli source previously told CNN that Khamenei was injured in an assassination attempt last week, and rumors of his injuries have swirled for days.

Iran’s ambassador to Cyprus, Alireza Salarian, told the Guardian newspaper on Wednesday that Khamenei was injured in the same airstrike that killed his father, the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with five other members of the family.

Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public nor heard from in the days since the announcement of his appointment to the country’s highest office, a fact explained by his injuries, Salarian said.

“I don’t think he is comfortable (in any condition) to give a speech,” Salarian told the Guardian.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s son Yousef said early Wednesday that he had heard Khamenei was injured, telling the state-affiliated Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) that the new supreme leader is “safe and there are no concerns.”

Iranian state media and propaganda networks have made extensive use of the little archival footage that exists of Mojtaba Khamenei in the meantime, filling in any gaps of footage with AI-generated images.

A mysterious cleric

When Iran’s Assembly of Experts announced that he had been chosen to replace his father, state media released a four-minute documentary clip recounting his life: modest origins, seminary studies in the holy city of Qom, his time fighting in the Iran-Iraq war as a teenager and, finally, his new role as heir to his “martyred” father.

While Mojtaba Khamenei kept a low profile before becoming the most powerful person in Iran, he was nonetheless a central figure in the vast network of influence his that father, Ali Khamenei, cultivated during his decades-long tenure as supreme leader. In 2021, photos were even published on social media showing Iranians passing out posters promoting Mojtaba Khamenei as an heir to his father.

The new supreme leader, while not a high-ranking cleric, is a close associate of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) and the regime’s economic elite. Observers believe he is just as, if not more, hard-line as his father was.

Before Mojtaba Khamenei’s confirmation as supreme leader, Maha Yahya, director of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center, told CNN that his new role could be seen as a message from the regime to the United States and Israel that military pressure is “not going to get us to shift position.”

The younger Khamenei was even a focus of protesters’ rage during demonstrations against the outcome of the 2009 Iranian elections, in which the conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected to a second term.

Many in the country believe Khamenei had a hand in the widely disput

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