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Iran Focus
London, 25 Apr - The 2015 Iran nuclear deal was made with the Islamic Republic, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, France and Russia – the five permanent members of the United Nations Security. Germany and the European Union were also involved.
The deal was seen as the main foreign policy achievement of former president Barack Obama but it has been highly controversial – both at the time of negotiations and now.
Iran Focus
London, 24 Apr - During last fiscal year, which ended on March 20th, the statistics of Energy Ministry’s annual report indicates that Iran has increased minimal power generation capacity by 3% to around 78.9 GW, denoting that the power generation — the actual capacity — is below 68.5 GW. This shows the debilitation and fatigue of the country’s aging power plants.
Iran has fulfilled only about half of last year’s power generation growth plan, especially for its renewable power projects. To avoid summertime’s power outages, when the electricity demand soars, Iran needs at least 5 percent growth annually.
Iran Focus
London, 24 Apr - Iranians hackers targeted at least 23 German universities as part of a global cyber-attack. On Friday, the magazine Der Spiegel reported that they stole unpublished research, dissertations, and conference reports.
The report further stated that the cyber-attacks started in 2014, and can be traced back to the Tehran Mabna Institute, a private company linked to Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The statement also said, “They hacked the computer systems of approximately 320 universities in 22 countries. 144 of the victims are American universities. The defendants stole research that cost the universities approximately $3.4 billion to procure and maintain.”
By Edward Carney
On Sunday, the CBS News program Face the Nation aired an interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, leading to widespread reporting upon his comments regarding the 2015 nuclear deal, as it faces a crucial deadline. In January, US President Donald Trump renewed the sanctions waivers put into place by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but announced that he would not do so again unless Congress and the European signatories to the nuclear deal agreed upon a plan for fixing its “terrible flaws.” Progress toward such an agreement has been slow, but the American waivers must be renewed by May 12.
Iran Focus
London, 24 Apr - Marking the anniversary of its formation in 1979, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement on Thursday, saying that the actions of internal government figures “weaken the Guards,” and added that such criticisms “harm unity and stoke division.”
Remarks about “internal figures” were interpreted by some as its first indirect response to President Hassan Rouhani’s criticism against it.
By Jubin Katiraie
What does NCRI stand for?
The National Council of Resistance of Iran.
What is the NCRI?
A coalition of democratic opposition groups that oppose the mullahs’ regime in Iran, calls for regime change, and support the establishment of a democratic republic in Iran.
Iran Focus
London, 23 Apr - Iran has become involved in North African regions like Algeria, and has created problems they were never before experienced in North African history, such as the Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict. Iran introduced these conflicts, and is now seeking to uproot North Africa from its Arab roots.
North Africa is close to the Europeans geographically. Historically and culturally, the North Africans are closely related to Europe, as well. North Africans are well suited to warn European parliaments, organizations, and media outlets about the dangers Iran poses.
Iran Focus
London, 21 Apr - Recently in the United States it became known that Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State-designate, met with the North Korean leader. The news broke as Democrat opposition to his nomination increased.
White House officials are calling on Democrats to put politics to one side and put national security first by confirming his appointment.
Pompeo first needs to get the vote from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which will be highly unlikely as several members have already announced their intentions to deny him their vote.
Iran Focus
London, 21 Apr - Experts say that the threat of new, tougher sanctions leaves Iran's oil industry vulnerable, even after this week’s move by Iran to replace the US dollar with the euro for its foreign currency data references.
After sanctions were frozen the Islamic Republic added nearly 1 million barrels per day (b/d) to its oil production, while it attempts to reduce its dependence on the dollar. If tougher sanctions are imposed on May 12th, the country may once again be isolated.
By Jubin Katiraie
Delphine O, MP from Paris, chairs the France-Iran friendship group in the National Assembly (the French parliament). Her activities are divided into three areas: "supporting Franco-Iranian political relations; strengthening academic and scientific exchanges between France and Iran; and promoting Iran in France. As it is difficult to show sympathy for a regime, as problematic as that of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Delphine O spares no effort to "whitewash" its detestable image due to its Islamist theocratic nature and its serious violations of human rights, as very often pointed out by the UN and important international NGOs.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Apr - The Donald Trump administration is preparing for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un in the near future. To prepare Trump’s strategy, they should learn some lessons from the shortcomings of Iran nuclear deal. Let’s look at those lessons.
Sanctions are very strong against North Korea at the moment and it will be hard to increase the pressure again after a temporary deal is struck.
When the Iran deal was struck, its major flaw was that the restrictions on nuclear weapons development were only temporary. Iran can start advanced development work as soon as 2024.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Apr - The exchange rate for Iran’s rial dropped its lowest ever price on April 9, at 61,000 to the dollar.
The following day, the Iranian govrenment artificially fixed the price at 42,000 and threatened to arrest anyone caught selling at a different price.
This was no empty threat. government arrested some money exchangers for flouting the rules, with some mullahs even calling for the death of the vendors.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Apr - On Thursday, the CHRI reported upon the latest call to action by United Nations experts regarding issues related Iran’s human rights record and its perennial abuse of the death penalty. The statement was signed by a trio of UN special rapporteurs, Agnes Callamard, Dainius Puras, and Nils Melzer, whose areas of focus are, respectively, extrajudicial and arbitrary executions, universal rights to physical and mental health, and cruel, inhumane, and degrading punishments including torture. It called attention to the case of Ramin Hossein Panahi, an Iranian Kurdish prisoner who is facing a potentially imminent threat of execution.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Apr - The instant messaging app Telegram will soon be banned in Iran, with the highest-ranking members of the Iran announcing their intentions to abandon the platform and move to domestic apps instead.
They’ve even issued a directive to Iranian government workers and school to prevent their use of foreign messaging apps.
The mullahs have claimed that the banning of Telegram is necessary to “protect national security” and would have the side benefit of promoting homegrown apps, like Soroush and Gap.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Apr - A senior Middle East analyst has said that the best thing Washington could do is to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal on May 12.
Michael Pregent of the Hudson Institute said: “Iran is the biggest threat to the US interests and its allies in the region, including Israel, due to its activities in the region.”
These activities are the same ones that Donald Trump mentioned when he declared Iran not in compliance with the nuclear deal in late 2017.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Apr - Since United States President Donald Trump took office, he has maintained harsh rhetoric against Iran. His actions have been firm and he is taking steps to address Iran’s belligerence. Trump also wants to strengthen the 2015 nuclear deal and has warned the other signatories of the agreement that he will not keep the United States in the deal if he is not satisfied that it is effective enough.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Apr - When it was announced that John Bolton would be taking up the position of national security adviser in the Trump administration, many claimed that this was increasing the likelihood of another US war in the Middle East.
However, the US is already caught up in several conflicts in the region and the threat to international security is real. Stability in Iraq is uncertain and the Taliban looks set to re-emerge in Afghanistan. The United States has a necessary presence in Syria where is it trying to minimise the damage caused by Bashar al Assad. US allies are facing a threat with the civil war in Yemen.
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