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By Pooya Stone
With the United States’ withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is known as Iran nuclear deal, and the renewal of economic sanctions imposed on Iran, trade with European economic partner states has been severely limited, causing Iran to experience a crisis within its economy.
Iran Focus
London, 25 Mar - On Sunday, the United States made a strategic port deal with Oman that will provide the US military with better access to the Gulf region and reduce the need to send ships through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, according to US officials.
This is important because, in the wake of the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement and imposing sanctions on Iran’s oil, Iran threatened to shut off the Strait of Hormuz, which is just off Iran’s coast. Given that 20% of the world’s oil supply travels through the waterway, this could mean huge delays or shortages as tankers find an alternative route, which would only increase oil prices.
By Jubin Katiraie
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that all the Lebanese authorities he met during his visit to Beirut on Friday believed that it was important to keep their country’s political power out of Iran's "meddlesome" hands.
The problem is that Iran-backed Hezbollah currently holds a lot of political power in Lebanon.
By Mehdi
In a warning to Berlin, the Trump administration announced that it may scale back intelligence sharing if Germany allows the Chinese technology company, Huawei, to build Germany’s new 5G infrastructure.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel immediately shot back, saying that Germany would “set its own security standards.”
By Pooya Stone
Iran Human Rights (IHR) has published its 11th annual report on the death penalty in Iran. The death penalty is still be used as a means of punishment in Iran and the rate of execution per capita is very worrying.
Iran is one of the few countries in the world that carries out executions in public – a practice that is ordered by the authorities and a practice that human rights organisations have constantly criticised.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Mar - U.S. President Trump said that Iran is defying a U.N. Security Council resolution by carrying out ballistic missile testing, as well as two satellite launches since December. Iran’s missile program and its regional meddling are reasons he cited when he pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions last May.
By Jubin Katiraie
Iran has finally published the sentenced of human rights lawyer and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, which states that she will serve 26 years in prison and been given 148 lashes, in addition to the five years she’s already serving for espionage.
This is the second of two verdicts against her. It was published almost a month after judicial authorities sentenced Sotoudeh.
By Mehdi
The US is urging Europe to get tougher on Iran concerning its terrorist activities and to hold the mullahs to account for their crimes, with the US counter-terror chief warning that the continent is under increased threat from Iran and will see an increase in terror attacks if Tehran is not held responsible.
By Pooya Stone
Iran’s renewed embrace of Iraq, shows that the US sanctions on Iran are working, according to political scientist Dr Majid Rafizadeh.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited Iraq last week for the first time since becoming president in 2013 and this is a clear indication of how renewed US sanctions have damaged Iran because the mullahs are now desperate to find other countries willing to do business deals with the increasingly isolated Iran.
Iran Focus
London, 18 Mar - US President Trump must soon decide whether or not to end sanctions waivers granted to several nations. US officials have affirmed that the global oil market can withstand the removal of all Iranian crude exports this year.
Four officials who spoke on condition of anonymity say that with the current oil supply, along with the potential of the US and Saudis to ramp up production, “going to zero” could happen this year, without compromising affordable crude supplies.
By Jubin Katiraie
According to Amnesty International's R. Bahreini, the situation in Iran is only getting worse. No one is safe from being detained under vague laws that criminalize most forms of expression in Iran.
She says, “At the moment there is no sign from the Iranian authorities that they intend to improve their appalling human rights record in this area. We have noticed that people are determined to claim their rights more and more including workers, students and civil society activists, who are taking to the streets and to social media to express their demands.”
By Mehdi
It has been over 400 days since a group of nine environmental activists were arrested and charged with espionage in Iran. Now, one has died under suspicious circumstances in prison and eight are facing trumped-up national security charges, some of which result in the death penalty.
By Pooya Stone
Iranian operatives are compiling “target packages” as part of their planning for prospective future assassinations and terrorist attacks, according to more than half a dozen former U.S. intelligence officials.
The assembly of these detailed dossiers is common practice for intelligence services, but Iran is the only country that uses them to plan terrorist attacks, that could be carried out if overt hostilities were to break out between Washington and Tehran.
Iran Focus
London, 15 Mar - On Wednesday the United Nations issued a shocking announcement: Iran, seen as one of the top human rights abusers in the world, was awarded a seat on the United Nations committee that oversees complaints about the global abuse of women.
By Jubin Katiraie
A top Treasury Department official told a Congressional subcommittee on Tuesday that the US has been very clear with Europe about the “significant risks” of providing Iran with a special mechanism to facilitate trade.
US Treasury undersecretary Sigal Mandelker, the head of Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services that the government continues “to maximize economic pressure on Iran to combat its weapons proliferation, terrorism, and regionally destabilizing activities”.
By Mehdi
Iranian businesses that are sanctioned by the United States for links to the Revolutionary Guards Corps have been caught unloading shipments at Syria’s Latakia port, which is raising concerns that the dormant maritime trade route has been revived and could be used to smuggle weapons.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Mar - There are increased fears over the safety of Christians in Iran following the arrest of three more worshippers in Rasht, Gilan Province, during what activists describe as an "ongoing official campaign of repression" against the religious minority.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an advocacy group, explained that some of those arrested for merely practising their faith are from the Church of Iran, one of the largest evangelical church movements.
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