Iran Focus

London, 23 Aug - Twitter is blocked in Iran because it poses a risk to national security, not because it threatens the morals or culture of the country, according to the newly appointed Iranian Minister of Information Technology and Communication (ITC), Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi.

Jahromi, 36, the youngest member of Rouhani’s new cabinet, also said: “ITC has not been behind filtering Twitter, therefore it is not up to the ministry to unblock it. It is not right to say that we can end filtering Twitter since the entity behind the decision has done it for [its own] considerations.”

This statement does not really make sense of course. Twitter is blocked in Iran because it threatens national security but at the same time the Regime is not blocking Twitter.

Iran Focus

London, 23 Aug - At least five political prisoners in Iran have been transferred to the prison medical clinic after going on hunger strike to protest the inhumane treatment they have received at a maximum-security prison in Karaj, Alborz province, according to Amnesty International.

At least 17 of the 53 political prisoners who were transferred to the new area of Raja’i Shahr prison in July are currently on hunger strike over the “suffocating” conditions there.

This includes Reza Shahabi, a human rights activist and trade unionist who joined the strike on August 16, after being transferred to the same section.

Iran Focus

London, 22 Aug - A protest rally in front of majlis (Iran’s parliament) in Tehran, was held on Tuesday, August 22, in which many retired teachers and other government pensioners attended, the local media reported.

Hundreds of protesters were present in today’s demonstration, several workers’ syndicates and unions stated.

Iran Focus

London, 22 Aug - Billions of dollars in investments could stop the Iranian Regime from feeling the true affects of the sanctions imposed by the Donald Trump administration.

Although it has not been quite the boon that the Iranian Regime hoped for, the 2015 nuclear deal has unlocked billions of dollars in investments from companies across the globe.

These investments, listed below, will only help the mullah’s Regime to overcome and withstand the sanctions that the US has levied against them for their ballistic missile programme, support for terrorism, and human rights abuses.

Iran Focus

London, 22 Aug - In recent weeks, it has been evident that the Israeli government has become increasingly concerned over the Iranian Regime’s involvement in Syria and a new report from an Israeli intelligence analyst appears to confirm these fears.

Ronen Salomon has been working on a project to trace the presence of Iranian forces in Syria and he has worked out that the Iranian Regime has been commanding fighters from Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran through Qasem Soleimani, the leader of its militant Qods Force, and supplying weapons and troops via air and sea transport.

Iran Focus

London, 22 Aug - The Yemeni Foreign Minister has stated that the Iranian Regime cannot be part of the peace process in the country’s ongoing civil war, because its support for Houthi Shiite rebels fuelled the civil war.

Abdulmalik al-Mekhlafi was taking part at a press conference at the United Nations in New York on August 21, when he was asked if Iran would form part of the political solution to the civil war.

He said: "Iran is the cause of the problem, Iran continues to support the Huthis, and Iranian arms are smuggled. Iran is part of the problem, not the solution."

Iran Focus

London, 22 Aug - The Iranian Regime destabilised the Middle East by allowing their Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to fire ballistic missiles into Syria earlier this year, according to an Iranian affairs expert.

Majid Rafizadeh, a Harvard scholar, told Arab News that these missile launches increased the instability of the region and risked inflaming tensions.

Rafizadeh said: “This [was] Iran’s first missile attack outside its borders in nearly two decades. It adds to the sectarianism, radicalization and militarization of the conflict in Syria.”

Iran Focus

London, 22 Aug - The meetings between Saudi Arabian and Iraqi officials late last month indicate that the Saudis are attempting to put distance between the Iranian Regime and the government in Iraq, according to a Middle East Expert.

Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and then two weeks later, he met with the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

Fanar Haddad, a research fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said: "Hosting Sadr in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi shows regional rivals and particularly Iran that KSA/UAE are capable of tapping into and influencing intra-Shia politics in Iraq."

Haddad noted that Sadr is very tempting for the Gulf monarchies.

Iran Focus

London, 21 Aug - The 2015 nuclear agreement has failed to solve Iran’s economic problems and even allowed the US to strengthen sanctions again the Regime, according to Iranian economists.

Ibrahim Razzaghi, an Iranian economist, spoke to the state-run Basij Rouz news agency about the recalling the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) contract and its consequences on Friday August 18, and called the Regime’s response to US sanctions “insignificant.”

He said: “One of the largest banking systems is in the United States, which is capable of sanctioning even the Iranian domestic banks under the new agreements such as the FATF.”

Iran Focus

London, 21 Aug - The Iranian Regime has denied the appeal of a Princeton doctoral student accused of espionage, according to a statement from Princeton University.

Back in July, Xiyue Wang, a Chinese American graduate student, was sentenced to 10 years in jail on charges of spying for the US and the UK whilst doing historical research for his degree.

According to the Regime, Wang, 37, had accessed 4,500 pages from Iran’s confidential archives for US and British institutions including the US State Department, Princeton University, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the British Institute of Persian Studies.

Iran Focus

London, 21 Aug - The pro-Iran Lobby in the US has warned against conflating the Iranian and North Korean regimes, claiming that Iran does not have access to nuclear weapons.

Reza Marashi of the National Iranian American Council. (NIAC) recently wrote: “First, conflating Pyongyang and Tehran is troublesome for an obvious reason: One has the bomb, and the other does not.”

However, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Iranian lawmakers last week, if Iran walked away from the 2015 nuclear deal it could restart its nuclear programme in mere hours and have access to a bomb in little time.

Iran Focus

London, 21 Aug - The Iranian Resistance held a memorial on Sunday for the 30,000 victims of 1988 massacre of political prisoners, mostly members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), who were slaughtered by the Iranian Regime during the 1988 massacre.

At the memorial, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran called for justice for the victims and called upon the international community to try the perpetrators of the massacre for crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court, citing the admission by several high-ranking members of the Iranian Regime as evidence of their crimes.

Iran Focus

London, 21 Aug - Heshmat Alavi wrote an article for Al Arabiya English is which he posited that the time has come for Iraq to emerge from under the thumb of the Iranian mullahs and take its rightful place as a leading figure in the Middle East.

Alavi wrote that the Iranian Regime seized power in Iraq following the 2003 invasion by the US, and destroyed what had made Iraq good.

He wrote: “Iraq was known as a melting pot where Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens lived alongside and in mixed societies for centuries. Prior to Iran gaining its disastrous way across Mesopotamia, this was a land where the majority of Shiites lived and prospered with their Sunni, Christian, Yazidi and all other religious minority brothers.”

by Jubin Katiraie

The Iranian Resistance held a ceremony to commemorate the 30,000 victims on the 1988 massacre of political prisoners on August 19, at the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) headquarters in Tirana, Albania.

This August marks the 29th anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 and the first anniversary of the movement calling for justice for the victims.

Iran Focus

London, 20 Aug - The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) in a statement called for the immediate release of the political activist, Reza Shahabi. According to the statement, the Iranian authorities were asked to stop prosecuting Reza Shahabi and Ebrahim Madadi as well. Additionally, five syndicates of workers in France requested the immediate release of Reza Shahabi. These syndicates claim that the leaders of the Iran regime are responsible for Reza Shahabi and his poor health condition. Based on the statement, Reza Shahabi's health condition is already failing since he faced poor conditions as well as the inhumane treatments during his previous imprisonment.

Iran Focus

London, 19 Aug - President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Maryam Rajavi, had a message for the participants of the Paris Int District Exhibition of the 1988 Massacre of 30,000 political prisoners during 1988 in Iran.

This exhibition was the initiative of Mr. Jean-François Legaret, the Mayor of Paris municipality District 1. It was attended by several French mayors, including Armand Jacquemin, mayor of Moussy Le Vieux, Jean-Claude Jegoudez, mayor of Grisy-Sur-Seine, and Jacky Duminy, mayor of Ors, as well as relatives of the victims and people who spent years in Iranian prisons. Additionally, Scottish politician, Struan Stevenson, President of the “European Iraqi Freedom Association” and former President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq, took part in this exhibition and supported the call by the head of the opposition.