Iran Focus

London, 22 Nov - Iran is trying to violate the terms of the ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in order to reignite a war in the Gaza strip, according to Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

Speaking on Wednesday at the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in Jerusalem, he said: “There are forces out there that want to push us all into the abyss of a confrontation.”

Iran Focus

London, 22 Nov - Two Christian converts in Iran, who were planning to meet in a northern city of the Shiite-run country, were detained on Friday, November 16, in what some human rights activists are calling a rash of arrests in the area.

Behnam Ersali and Davood Rasooli, both converts from Islam who live in Karaj, had arranged to meet in Mashhad, according to advocacy organization Middle East Concern (MEC), but their calls are believed to have been intercepted by the Iranian intelligence.

Iran Focus

London, 22 Nov - The US has taken steps to disrupt an Iranian-Russian network that smuggled millions of barrels of oil to Syria with the hundreds of millions of dollars in profits being used to indirectly fund militant groups, like Hamas and Hezbollah.

In a statement on Tuesday, the US Treasury explained that the complicated arrangement between the rogue states involved a Syrian citizen using his Russia-based company to ship Iranian oil to Syria with the aid of a Russian state-owned company, violating US sanctions on Iran and Syria. After that, Syria helped to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in cash to Iran-backed militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas; both of which are on the US terrorism blacklist.

Iran Focus

London, 21 Nov - According to Reuters, on Monday European diplomats agreed to consider targeted sanctions on Iranians after representatives from France and Denmark traveled to Brussels this week to brief foreign ministers on foiled attacks by the hardline regime in France and Denmark. This meeting could set the course for a more unified West-ern policy toward Tehran's non-nuclear threats, according to a regional expert.

Iran Focus

London, 21 Nov - Toby Dershowitz, the Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Strategy, and Serena Frechter, Government Relations Analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), asserted in a report published Monday that the ongoing trial in Paris of fifteen defendants who are linked to Hezbollah is a sign that Europe needs to “cease minimizing the threat” from the Iran-backed terror group.

Iran Focus

London, 21 Nov - The US has placed sanctions on six people and three entities involved in smuggling Iranian oil shipments to Syria to evade US sanctions, according to the Treasury Department on Tuesday.

The individuals listed include two Iranian nationals, a Russian, a Syrian, an Iraqi and a Lebanese person, while two of the entities are based in Russia and one in Iran.

US officials reported that Iranian officials had been working with Russian companies to ship "millions of barrels of oil to Syria”, something that violates recently imposed US sanctions on Iran and benefits the Bashar al-Assad Government in Syria.

Iran Focus

London, 21 Nov - A senior US official has said that US sanctions on Iran, reimposed on November 5, have been effective and have received "almost entire compliance" from the world at large.

During an interview with VOA's Arabic-language sister network Alhurra in Dubai on Monday, Brian Hook, the US Special Representative for Iran, said: "We have seen almost entire compliance with our sanctions regime. And we don't anticipate having to sanction any major companies, because we haven't seen any evidence that these companies want to choose the Iranian market over the United States market."

Iran Focus

London, 20 Nov - The Iranian government has targeted members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, or MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq) for the past 40 years, but they have proven exceptionally resilient.

Today, Iran’s ministry of intelligence uses lobbyists, PR firms, and social media for a subtler character assassination of the MEK. Well-crafted editorials placed by PR firms and front groups posing as human rights or social justice organizations appear in publications in the US and Europe. Members of the Iranian government, intelligence, and academic sectors who have ensconced themselves in American and European institutions, including serving as government staffers and subject matter analysts, appear on cable news shows.

Iran Focus

London, 20 Nov - Hospitals in Iran are currently dealing with a shortage of nearly 100,000 nurses, according to Parliament’s Health Commission Speaker Heidarali Abedi, which is having disastrous impacts on patient health.

On Sunday, Abedi told the commission that healthcare management experts recommend a nurse-to-bed ration of 2.5, but Iran’s current ratio is closer to 1.7.

Iran Focus

London, 19 Nov - The human rights situation in Iran is further deteriorating amid the domestic content that has resulted in a large number of people taking to the streets to condemn the leadership for its corruption and to call for regime change.

Iran’s behaviour abroad is also worsening with terrorist attacks being plotted in Europe. The government cannot take control of the situation at home so it is lashing out at dissidents abroad.

Iran Focus

London, 19 Nov - Protests at the Haft Tappeh (Tapeh) sugar mill, once a source of national pride that has been struggling financially since it was privatized in 2015, continued as workers stayed with their strike on Saturday, according to reports by labor rights groups in Iran. Periodic strikes and workers’ demonstrations have become a fixture of life at the mill. Workers say they are often not paid their salaries for months at a time and their wages and benefits have been cut since privatization.

Families accompanied the workers as they marched in Shush, southwestern Iran, to draw attention to their demands, ending the march near the governor's office.

Iran Focus

London, 19 Nov - Iran has been condemned by the 3rd committee of the United Nations General Assembly for its blatant human rights violations. Thursday’s condemnation marks the 65th time that Iran has been called out for its human rights record at the international level.

A draft resolution, which was introduced by Canada was adopted by the committee following a vote of 85 to 30. However, 68 countries abstained from voting. There will be a general vote at the UNGA in December.

Iran Focus

London, 18 Nov - As protests and demonstrations rage across Iran, involving people from all walks of life, according to a statement by Coordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates in Iran (CCTSI) on November 15th, teachers in the country have been arrested or summoned to courts. “At least thirty teachers' rights activists have been summoned and interrogated and more than fifty others have received threatening text messages, so far," CCTSI disclosed.

Iran Focus

London, 16 Nov - Iran has recently created a fourth crisis that has prevented the forming of a government in Iraq, with a row breaking out over the two men appointed to the interior and defence ministries.

The nomination for the interior minister is Falih Alfayyadh, a member of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, who was previously ousted by Prime Minister Abadi, because of his loyalty to Iran. Muqtada al-Sadr has officially objected to this appointment for this reason, but it is believe he will eventually approve his nomination based on previous evidence.

Iran Focus

London, 16 Nov - On November 6, the US government reimposed sanctions against Iran, but bizarrely excluded Iran’s Chabahar port, something that Iran has seized on as a victory.

Iran claims that the US was forced to exempt Chabahar port from the sanctions, after issuing waivers to several countries, because it is helping the economy of Afghanistan, but what are the real reasons?

Iran Focus

London, 15 Nov - The price of food has increased by almost 50% in Iran reports Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Tasnim also cited Iran’s Statistical Center, who said that the inflation rate for food, beverages, and tobacco grew by 11.4% compared to the previous month and put the current inflation rate of food at 47.5%.