<ul class="summary-list"><li>Legendary wrestler The Iron Sheik has died, aged 81. </li><li>Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri's death was announced on the wrestler's Twitter page.</li></ul>Wrestling legend The Iron Sheik, whose real name was Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, has died at 81, <a href="https://twitter.com/the_ironsheik/status/1666462933604265990" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to a statement shared on his Twitter page</a>."Today, we gather with heavy hearts to bid farewell to a true legend, a force of nature, and an iconic figure who left an incredible mark on the world of professional wrestling," the statement said."It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of The Iron Sheik, but we also take solace in knowing that he departed this world peacefully, leaving behind a legacy that will endure for generations to come," the statement added.It remains unclear when exactly he died, and the cause of death is unknown.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1666462933604265990">June 7, 2023</a></blockquote>The Hall-of-Fame, Iranian-born wrestler was a longtime heel and star in the World Wrestling Federation, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment.He was known as a rival of iconic wrestler Hulk Hogan.But after losing a championship to Hulk Hogan, he engaged in a rivalry with Sgt. Slaughter before teaming up with Russian wrestler Nikolai Volkoff to win the first WWE World Tag Team Championship at the 1985 Wrestlemania, <a href="https://www.wwe.com/article/wwe-hall-of-famer-the-iron-sheik-passes-away">according to WWE.</a>According to WWE, Vaziri left the WWE in 1988, though he briefly reappeared in for a storyline in 1991."With his larger-than-life persona, incredible charisma, and unparalleled in-ring skills, he captivated audiences around the globe," the statement shared on his Twitter said. "He was a trailblazer, breaking barriers and paving the way for a diverse range of wrestlers who followed in his footsteps."Representatives for Vaziri did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.The WWE paid tribute to Vaziri in a statement on Wednesday, saying: "The Iron Sheik's larger-than-life personality and natural gift for inciting crowds across the globe helped him become one of the greatest villains in sports-entertainment history.""WWE extends its condolences to The Iron Sheik's family, friends and fans," the organization said.

The Iron Sheik, wrestling legend and Hulk Hogan's rival, dead at 81

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/52782381.cms" style="width: 800px; height: 600px;" /> 
 
At 24, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=iran&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Iranian</a> power-lifter <keyword id="3422265" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sajad-Gharibi">Sajad Gharibi</keyword> weighs 175 kgs and if rumours are to be believed, he may just be the biggest man you may ever see. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=powerlifting&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Power-lifting</a> is a sport that consists of lifting heavy weights in 3 positions and is practised by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=bodybuilders&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">bodybuilders</a> all over the world. 
 
<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/52782592.cms" style="width: 800px; height: 600px;" /> 
 Little is known about Gharibi, who has become an international sensation and been dubbed ‘the <keyword id="3422263" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Iranian-Hulk">Iranian Hulk</keyword> and ‘Persian Hercules’ but gauging from the pictures he puts on his Instagram, it’s safe to assume that he loves to lift. 
 
<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/52782653.cms" style="width: 800px; height: 600px;" /> 
 
One look at Gharibi and you know that he’ll put all our pehelwans to shame with his towering body. 
 
In his free time, he also likes to take pictures with objects that look infinitely smaller when placed next to him. Take this fanta can for example. 
 
<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/52782540.cms" style="width: 800px; height: 600px;" /> 
 
His Instagram account has more than 50,000 followers and Gharibi loves posting pictures of his daily life there. To follow him there, click <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sajadgharibii/">here</a>.

Meet Sajad Gharibi, the Iranian power-lifter who might be the biggest man in the world

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In April 1988, the US attacked <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword> in the <keyword id="386457" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Persian-Gulf">Persian Gulf</keyword> in retaliation for the mining of a US ship.</li><li><keyword id="11146575" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="operation-praying-mantis">Operation Praying Mantis</keyword>, the largest US naval action since World War II, was brief but deadly.</li><li>Thirty-three years later, the weapons each side would use have only gotten more destructive.</li></ul>Just before 8:00 a.m. on April 18, 1988, members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) stationed on the Sassan and Sirri oil platforms in the Persian Gulf received a warning from US Navy ships several thousand yards away."You have five minutes to abandon the platform. I intend to destroy it at 0800," the warning said.Some Iranians boarded ships and fled, but others began manning gun emplacements. Shortly after 8:00 a.m., the platforms were hit with barrages of gunfire from US destroyers, frigates, and a guided-missile cruiser.They were the opening shots of <a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1989/may/surface-view-operation-praying-mantis" target="_top">Operation Praying Mantis</a>, retaliation for Iran's mining of the Persian Gulf, which had damaged the guided-missile frigate <keyword id="11146574" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uss-samuel-b-roberts">USS Samuel B. Roberts</keyword> days earlier.It would be the US's largest naval action since World War II and the first time warships engaged one another with anti-ship missiles.<h2>A tense Gulf</h2><div type="image" title="Navy helicopter tanker war" height="1333" width="2000" msid="82216301" hostid="261"></div>Tensions were extremely high in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s. Iran had been fighting a brutal war with Iraq since September 1980, and although Iran reclaimed territory lost early in the war, by 1983 it was a stalemate.In 1984, Iraq began attacking Iranian oil tankers and facilities in an attempt to damage Iran's economy. Iran responded in kind, and eventually foreign vessels became targets in what is known as the <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-018/h-018-1.html" target="_top">Tanker War</a>.Iran was particularly aggressive, as Iraq was receiving financial and material support from other Gulf States, namely Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.The IRGCN's swarms of Boghammers and other small, armed fast-attack boats, along with sea mines and attacks from Iranian Navy frigates, were taking their toll. (By the end of the war, Iran had <a href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/media/3423" target="_top">attacked</a> some 190 ships from 31 countries, killing at least 63 sailors.)At the request of Kuwait, the US Navy began escorting tankers, reflagged as American ships, through the Gulf. Unwilling to attack the US Navy directly, the IRGCN increased its mine-laying.The US Navy tried to stop these efforts with a number of actions.On September 21, 1987, the Navy <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/23/world/26-iranians-seized-with-mine-vessel-more-us-shooting.html" target="_top">forcibly seized</a> the Iranian minelayer Iran Ajr while it was on a mission, killing five and capturing 26 sailors and 10 mines. In two engagements the following month, the Navy <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-09-mn-8588-story.html" target="_top">sank three</a> IRGCN boats and <a href="https://www.navybook.com/no-higher-honor/timeline/operation-nimble-archer/" target="_top">destroyed</a> two oil platforms used as IRGCN bases.<h2>A military response</h2><div type="image" title="Navy Samuel B. Roberts Iran mine Persian Gulf" height="1301" width="2000" msid="82216308" hostid="261"></div>But the Iranians continued laying mines, and on April 14, 1988, the guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck one. Ten sailors were injured, four with serious burns. The blast left a 15-foot hole in the hull and broke the keel of the warship.Serial numbers from nearby unexploded mines matched those on mines captured aboard Iran Ajr. With this evidence, President Ronald Reagan ordered a military response, which was carried out by three Navy Surface Action Groups (SAGs) named Bravo, Charlie, and Delta.Bravo, with two destroyers and an amphibious transport dock and four Sea Cobra and two UH-1 Iroquois attack helicopters, would attack the Sassan platform.Charlie, with two frigates and a guided-missile cruiser, would attack the Sirri platform.Delta, with a frigate and two destroyers, was tasked with sinking the Iranian frigate Sabalan - which was known for particularly aggressive attacks - or any other Iranian frigate it could find.SAG Bravo and SAG Charlie would land a team of Marines and Navy SEALs on Sassan and Sirri, respectively, who would clear the platforms and collect anything of value before destroying them.The ships of SAG Delta would operate in the Strait of Hormuz, waiting for Iranian frigates to leave Bandar Abbas naval base. They were supported by <a href="https://www.navyhistory.org/2017/04/operation-praying-mantis-an-enterprise-combat-mission/" target="_top">aircraft from the carrier USS Enterprise</a>, which was sailing in the Gulf of Oman.<h2>Operation Praying Mantis</h2><div type="image" title="Iran Sassan Praying Mantis" height="1547" width="2000" msid="82216312" hostid="261"></div>At 8:04 a.m., SAG Bravo's ships opened fire on Sassan. Fifty airburst rounds from their 5-inch guns tore into the platform, and a ZSU-23 anti-aircraft was destroyed almost immediately after it tried to return fire. The US ships ceased fire to let more Iranians evacuate, then opened fire again with naval guns and from helicopters.At 9:25 a.m., a team of Marines fast-roped onto the platform, securing it within 30 minutes. Two hours later they evacuated, destroying the platform with over 1,000 pounds of plastic explosives detonated remotely.SAG Charlie opened fire on Sirri at 8:15 a.m. after its warning was sent and some Iranians evacuated. The platform erupted in flames, incinerating the remaining defenders. The fire was so intense that the SEAL Team landing was called off.About three hours later, IRIS Joshan, an Iranian patrol vessel, approached SAG Charlie. Joshan ignored repeated warnings, the last of which said "Stop and abandon ship. I intend to sink you." The Iranian ship fired a single Harpoon anti-ship missile, which was defeated by US countermeasures.<div type="image" title="Marine Corps Marines Zu-23 Iran Sassan Praying Mantis" height="1329" width="2000" msid="82216315" hostid="261"></div>Joshan was then hit by five missiles from SAG Charlie, destroying it in what was the first missile duel between warships. Joshan's burnt hulk was then sunk by US gunfire. An Iranian F-4 fighter jet approached but withdrew after it was hit by an anti-aircraft missile from USS Wainwright.SAG Delta, meanwhile, was looking for the IRIS Sabalan. Five IRGCN Boghammers had attacked the Mubarak offshore oil field in retaliation, damaging some tankers and drilling rigs. In response, aircraft from Enterprise, using coordinates from SAG Delta, attacked the boats, sinking one and damaging the other four.IRIS Sahan, another Iranian frigate, was then detected heading toward Mubarak. After firing at Enterprise's aircraft, it was torn to shreds by bombs and missiles from A-6 attack aircraft and the guided-missile destroyer USS Joseph Strauss. Sahan sank later that night.IRIS Sabalan finally showed up two hours later and was hit by a single 500-pound bomb that went directly into its smoke stack, seriously damaging it and bringing it to a halt.SAG Delta requested permission to finish Sabalan off, but the Navy decided to de-escalate and allowed it to be towed back to Iran.<h2>A different future</h2><div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO: Four Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) vessels, some of several to maneuver in what the U.S. Navy says are &quot;unsafe and unprofessional actions against U.S. Military ships by crossing the ships’ bows and sterns at close range&quot; is seen next to the guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton in the Gulf April 15, 2020. U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS " height="1125" width="1688" msid="82216316" hostid="261"></div>By the end of the day, the Navy had destroyed two IRGCN bases, sunk three Iranian vessels, and seriously damaged five more, killing over 50 IRGCN and Iranian Navy personnel in the process.American casualties were one SeaCobra and its two-man crew, who crashed while on a reconnaissance mission.Operation Praying Mantis provides a glimpse of what a future naval conflict with Iran in the Persian Gulf could look like.The use of small armed speedboats to attack critical oil infrastructure and tankers, the fortification of offshore oil platforms, the mining of important trading lanes, and the use of Iranian Navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman are widely expected to be the primary tactics.But a future conflict is unlikely to go as smoothly for the US as Operation Praying Mantis did, mainly due to Iran's <a href="https://www.dia.mil/Portals/27/Documents/News/Military%20Power%20Publications/Iran_Military_Power_LR.pdf" target="_top">military modernization and expansion</a>.<div type="image" title="Iran mockup aircraft carrier Bandar Abbas" height="1660" width="2500" msid="82216318" hostid="261"></div>Iran's Navy has gotten larger and more capable, with more vessels able to launch anti-ship missiles and at least three Russian-built Kilo-class attack submarines in service.Last year, an Iranian Navy exercise included an attack on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fake-aircraft-carrier-shows-iranian-plans-to-fight-us-2020-7" target="_top">a barge designed to look like a US aircraft carrier</a>. In January, Iran <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/38673/iran-commissions-its-massive-oil-tanker-turned-sea-base-into-service" target="_top">unveiled the Makran</a>, a "forward base ship" capable of carrying drones and helicopters.The IRGCN has also been <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hisutton/2020/06/17/analyzing-irans-claimed-112-new-naval-vessels/?sh=47d52c677d48" target="_top">expanding</a> its numbers and capabilities, including recent reports that it is <a href="https://news.usni.org/2021/03/29/irans-new-missile-corvette-could-reshape-irgc-naval-doctrine" target="_top">building large missile-laden catamarans</a>.Iran's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-faces-a-huge-liability-in-countering-irans-use-of-sea-mines-2018-8" target="_top">sea mines remain potent</a>, but the biggest threat comes from <a href="https://missilethreat.csis.org/country/iran/" target="_top">Iran's missile arsenal</a>, which is considerably larger and more advanced than it was in the 1980s.In recent years, Iranian missiles have been used to <a href="https://breakingdefense.com/2021/03/saudi-air-defense-stops-most-houthi-strikes/" target="_top">attack</a> Saudi oil facilities and civilian sites, as well as <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/5448/images-show-a-badly-damaged-hsv-2-swift-following-attack-off-yemeni-coast" target="_top">ships</a>. In January 2020, Iranian cruise missiles <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGP7hZQuTL0" target="_top">hit US bases in Iraq</a>, injuring over 100 service members.Iran's missiles failed to hit their targets during Operation Praying Mantis, but things could be very different in the future.

A deadly fight 33 years ago shows just how destructive a war between the US and Iran could get

<ul class="summary-list"><li>"United States of Al" will premier on April 1 on CBS. </li><li>The odd-couple sitcom is about a U.S. Marine who helps his Afghan interpreter come to America. </li><li>The author of this review, Ali Latifi, is based in Kabul and got an advance look at two episodes.</li></ul>Kabul - Last week a tweet appeared in my timeline criticizing the trailer of a new CBS sitcom about a US Marine who brings his Afghan interpreter to America."This is a real TV show. Actually made by human people. On Planet Earth. In 2021," it read.I watched the 30-second trailer and was horrified to see that the show -- the first sitcom I knew of where a central character is from Afghanistan -- seemed to rely on tired tropes about a hulking, heroic white man coming to the rescue of his bumbling brown sidekick. Reza Aslan, the Iranian-American author who serves an executive producer on the show, <a href="https://twitter.com/rezaaslan/status/1373382720370266114?s=21">asked</a> that we give the show a chance.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">-Saeed Taji Farouky (@saeedtaji) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1372949606204649483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 19, 2021</a></blockquote>"United States of Al" premieres April 1 on CBS. But as an Afghan-American journalist <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-afghanistans-fearless-gen-z-influencers-2021-3">based in Kabul</a>, I was recently invited to a Zoom screening of the pilot and 5th episode.I tried to hold out hope it would be good. It wasn't. In fact, the original tweet from Saeed Taji Farouky, an Arab-British filmmaker, was spot-on. Rather than bringing nuance to an Afghan-American pairing, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gina-yashere-on-how-she-diversified-her-cbs-writers-room-and-cast-2021-3">Chuck Lorre production</a> is a show from another era: it's all flat characters, and cheap, uninspired jokes.It's also a missed opportunity. The show tries to win points for putting <a href="https://www.insider.com/covid-19-hasnt-left-afghanistan-in-kabul-people-ignore-it-2020-12">Afghanistan</a> at the center of a heavily-promoted mainstream sitcom, but then puts in none of the work.It's as if Blackish, Fresh Off the Boat and Rami, all of which offer interesting, funny observations about the lives of non-white protagonists, never happened, and Hollywood (or at least CBS) has learned nothing since I first arrived in the United States in the late-1980s.To be clear, this is a sitcom and not a prestige TV treatise on cultural imperialism and post-Cold <keyword id="6363794" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="war">War</keyword> politics -- and it doesn't pretend to be something it's not. But as someone who will happily spend hours cycling through clips of Amy Farrah Fowler and Sheldon Cooper from Chuck Lorre's The Big Bang Theory, this show is cringe.Afghanistan is a real place with complex problems, many of which have been exacerbated by nearly four decades of invasions and interference by foreign powers. Among the things Al never says to this nice family in Ohio is that last year more than <a href="https://www.voanews.com/episode/3000-civilians-killed-afghanistan-2020-despite-doha-peace-talks-4563041#:~:text=Afghanistan%20Independent%20Human%20Rights%20Commission,Sarwan%20reports%20from%20Kabul%2C%20Afghanistan.">3,000 civilians were killed</a> in Afghanistan. After the credits, we get a glance of Awalmir and Riley working together, or rather fleeing enemy fire in a Humvee through nondescript desert meant to be Helmand. It's played for laughs as a wild bonding experience. But the truth is that for Afghan interpreters who worked alongside US and NATO forces were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-refugees-visas/2020/12/30/572c00fc-3e4f-11eb-9453-fc36ba051781_story.html">seen locally as collaborators</a> and became targets for the Taliban. Dreams that they would become refugees in America often didn't materialize.But here we're told it's Riley who heroically spent three years filling out paperwork to get Awalmir to America.In a recent Clubhouse chat, my friend Mariam Wardak, an Afghan-American who splits her time between DC and Kabul, put it well: "Rather than showing Afghan interpreters as brave men who are putting their lives on the line and are risking being ostracized in their community, we have a short, scrawny awkward brown man standing next to this GI Joe."<div type="image" title="USofA standing" height="2000" width="3000" msid="81725581" hostid="261"></div>The first clue of what we were in for came with the pairing: Riley (Parker Young), the buff, tattooed, Marine, towers over Awalmir (Adhir Kalyan), the squat, skinny brown man with a funny accent. While Riley gets to flirty banter with an attractive female bartender, and show off his physique boxing in the garage, Awalmir plays the wide-eyed, non-threatening Asian man staring in wonder at the bounty of Cleveland's grocery store aisles.Then there's the dialogue.The pilot opens with Riley and his sister, Elizabeth (Elizabeth Alderfer), at an airport awaiting the titular character's arrival to the United States. Riley passes the time telling the story of the time Al greeted Riley at an airport in Afghanistan with a bowl of pacha. (American troops don't arrive in Afghanistan in this manner, but that's perhaps for another time.)Elizabeth, badly butchering the word, asks what pacha is. When Riley describes it as sheep's head soup, Elizabeth is clearly revolted and the studio audience erupts in laughter. Personally, pacha is not my cup of tea. But surely, the writer's room could have done better than tired jokes about weird, foreign foods.The inane jokes continue. At one point, when Al recalls a memory from Kabul, Elizabeth makes a seemingly nonsensical reference to spring break, leading to an eventual punchline about confusing Kabul with Cabo. At another, Awalmir compares his awkward attempt to reunite Riley and his estranged wife to negotiating with warlords, and something about enemy fire in Helmand.Now granted, it could be worse. Al is not a terrorist, unlike the Arab and Muslim characters who populated shows like 24 (which, by the way, aired on Afghan TV for years). When he prays, it is to find solace from his loneliness, not because he's about to blow himself up.As a friend of mine, who also attended the advance screening, said: "It's a hell of a lot better than him being another Afghan terrorist on TV."But if you're going to go to the trouble of making this show, and airing it on a network that has faced years of criticism for its white, homogeneous presentation of the world, why not endow Al with at least a smattering of complexity? If the creators had allowed Afghanistan to be a real place (and not just the vague origin story for another odd couple buddy comedy), have some faith that American viewers just might be able to follow along.But, the worst part is that I desperately wanted this terrible show to be great.You see, I grew up on sitcoms.My family fled the Soviet occupation and ended up in Fremont, California, a city that would come to be known as 'Little Kabul.'As a kid, I would often sit on the floor of my parents' bedroom, a bowl of cumin and saffron-scented palow in front of me, and follow the ups and downs of the home lives of the Winslows, the Taylors, the Bundys, the Banks and the Conners. It was my first introduction to what I thought was American life.Most of my social interactions in Fremont were with my large, extended Afghan family. Even in school, all of my friends were Afghan, Arab, Desi, Filipino, or Latino. I would watch American sitcoms, wondering why the children had so few cousins around, why their homes were never full of dozens of family members gathering for a meal and, most importantly, what exactly meatloaf, fruit cakes and French toast were. These shows educated me on the lives of the 'Amrikaya,' as we called them.Still, I longed for a TV show about people who sounded, acted and looked like me.<div type="image" title="Usofa interp" height="2538" width="3786" msid="81725584" hostid="261"></div>In college, I interned at the Center for Asian American Media, which ran the nation's largest Asian-American film festival. Around the office, there was a lot of excitement about the coming Harold and Kumar sequel, and I was confused as to why a dumb stoner movie was receiving so much praise from the 20 and 30-something Filpino, Chinese, Korean and Japanese-Americans cinephiles I worked with."Because, Ali, it's about them being dumb stoners, not a Korean and an Indian," they said to me. I rewatched the first movie and saw their point. Yes, Harold and Kumar were Asian, but they were also American. And more importantly, John Cho went from just being "that Asian guy from American Pie" and Kal Penn from "that Indian guy in Van Wilder" to genuine stars.Which brings me back to The United States of Al.I'm back in Afghanistan, where I work as a journalist and spend a lot of my time trying to demonstrate to a global audience that people who come from here <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-afghanistans-fearless-gen-z-influencers-2021-3">are just as compelling</a> and layered as the Rileys and Elizabeths of Cleveland.To be sure, I'm going to watch the rest of United States of Al.And if it gets better, I'll be the first to cheer it on.

You Searched For "Iranian Hulk" and got 4 results

The Iron Sheik, wrestling legend and Hulk Hogan's rival, dead at 81

Kelly McLaughlin

Meet Sajad Gharibi, the Iranian power-lifter who might be the biggest man in the world

Poulomi Das

A deadly fight 33 years ago shows just how destructive a war between the US and Iran could get

Benjamin Brimelow

I sat through Chuck Lorre's cringe new Afghan War sitcom in Kabul so you don't have to

Ali Latifi