Iran Focus

London, 3 Oct - Almost five months after Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord, the countries still party to the deal are becoming increasingly desperate to find loopholes to the US sanctions on Iran.

While a second lot of US sanctions on Iran, this time targeting its oil industry and central bank, will come into place on November 5 and it doesn’t seem likely that any country or company will get the sanctions waivers they desire, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has written that he will allow the five other countries (the UK, Germany, France, Russia, and China) a “short grace period” to offset these sanctions. This came after a meeting between the six nations at the UN General Assembly.

Iran Focus

London, 2 Oct - The US has called an Iranian missile attack on supposed militant targets in eastern Syria “reckless, unsafe and escalatory”.

In a statement on Monday, Pentagon spokesperson Commander Sean Robertson said that Iran took no measures to notify other military powers in the country of the predawn missile strike, something that “professional” military forces, like the US-led coalition, would have done to ensure maximum safety.

Iran Focus

London, 1 Oct - In the past year, the average cost of buying a house in Tehran has jumped by a massive 74%, according to the Central Bank of Iran. In the past Iranian month (August 21-September 21) alone, residential unit prices have jumped by 9.4%.

The CBI reports that the one square meter of an average unit in Tehran is currently worth around 84,000,000 rials ($2,000, based on Iran’s artificial exchange rate, or $500, based on the global exchange). The latter figure is more relevant in this case, as sellers can’t get cheap dollars based on the government rate.

Iran Focus

London, 1 Oct - Over 2,200 doctors and civil rights activists have sent a letter to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the chairs of the Iranian Parliament’s Health and Cultural Commissions, voicing their concerns over the deteriorating health of Farhad Maysami, a prominent publisher, physician and cultural activist currently held behind bars.

The letter reads: “The way Mr. Maysami is treated is not only inappropriate for a teacher, publisher and physician, but it’s also unbecoming for any of the dissidents in the Shi’ite country [Iran].”

Iran Focus

London, 1 Oct - Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, Sajid Javid, will announce at next week’s Conservative Party Annual Conference the decision to proscribe the Iranian-backed, Lebanese-based terror organization Hezbollah in its entirety, following formal reconsideration of the UK’s position on the Iranian sponsored terrorist group.

In July, Stephen Crabb MP attacked the “entirely artificial distinction” between Hezbollah’s two wings. In fact, Hezbollah’s own leadership mocks the idea of two separate entities. The Home Secretary is expected to announce that he will be taking action to ban all parts of Hezbollah.

Iran Focus

London, 1 Oct - As China’s state refiner, Sinopec Corp, comes under intense pressure from Washington to comply with a U.S. ban on Iranian oil from November, people with knowledge of the matter said that the company is halving loadings of crude oil from Iran this month.

Volumes were not specifically identified, but based on the prevailing supply contract between the top Chinese refiner and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), its loadings would be reduced to about 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) — 20 percent of China’s average daily imports from Iran in 2017.

Iran Focus

London, 28 Sep - While the mullahs in Iran rage on about the “Great Satan” and scream that their people hate the US, the young people in Tehran and other major cities are enjoying Western media and culture. In fact, 60% of Iran’s 82 million people are under 30 and many of them are obsessed with Western pop culture.

Mohammadreza Azali, 31, co-founder of Iran’s tech news website Techrasa and a tech road show called Silk Road Startup, said: “We love American music. We watch American TV series and movies… Whatever is trendy in the U.S. is trendy in Iran.”

While Saeed Mohammadi, who co-founded Iran’s e-commerce platform Digikala, said: “This generation, this post-revolutionary generation, we don’t accept extremism. There are lots of us. We have the potential to revolutionize this country within a decade.”

Iran Focus

London, 28 Sep - US intelligence suggests that Iranian-backed militias and proxy forces could be planning an attack on US military forces or interests in the Middle East, according to three defence officials.

The officials said that their concern is mainly focused on the threat from Iran-backed forces in Syria and several other locations in the Middle East – something that they called ongoing and worrisome – but refused to describe the specific intelligence from the recent assessment as more information continues to be gathered through public statements from the mullahs and intercepting overhead satellites.

Iran Focus

London, 28 Sep - Another nationwide strike by Iranian truck drivers has begun in protest of rising costs. A few months ago, a trucker’s strike drew international support and caused shortages at gas stations.

On Wednesday, video clips were posted online showing trucks idle in at least six regions: Ahvaz, Ardabil, Borujerd, Qazvin, Shahreza and Urmia. It has been verified that this is the fourth consecutive day of reports of the widespread strike by truckers in Iran.

The truckers are protesting low wages, which they see as unfair in light of the rapidly rising costs for parts and supplies.

Iran Focus

London, 28 Sep - At the United Nations this week, Iran President Hassan Rouhani refused to meet with President Trump. It appears that both Rouhani and his European backers are waiting to see if Trump will force the SWIFT financial-messaging service to disconnect Iranian banks in November. Without SWIFT, Europe’s plan to sidestep US sanctions will be more likely not to succeed.

US and European supporters of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), released a think tank report a week before Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. The report outlined ways in which Europe could evade US sanctions by processing payments to Iran through European central banks. After Trump’s announcement of US withdrawal from the deal, the European Commission announced it would do exactly that.

Iran Focus

London, 26 Sep - On Tuesday 25th September, the U.S. President Donald Trump and several top officials in his administration spoke out about Iran and warned that Iran would have to deal with serious consequences if its belligerence continued.

President Trump spoke about Iran’s corrupt leadership, describing it as a dictatorship, and slammed Iranian officials for stealing wealth from the country. Trump also promised that he would continue to isolate Iran through the use of sanctions that are being put back into place after the U.S. exit from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Iran Focus

London, 26 Sep - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani predictably accused the United States of breaking the law and trying to overthrow his government during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, before rejecting bilateral talks and insulting Donald Trump, even if he was too scared to name him.

While Rouhani was still mid-speech, US National Security Adviser John Bolton issued remarks that doubled down on Trump’s decision to pull out of the nuclear deal, which Bolton called "the worst diplomatic debacle in American history", and dismissed any entreaties from Tehran.

Iran Focus

London, 26 Sep - Oil exports by Iran are declining ahead of the second round of US sanctions that is due to be imposed from November 4, which will likely lead to the Iranian economy contracting by 3% this year and 4% in 2019, according to the Institute of International Finance.

On Tuesday, the IIF, which represents major banks and financial institutions from around the world, said that exports of crude oil and condensates from Iran had dropped by 0.8 million barrels per day (bpd) from April to September 2018, according to their estimates.

Iran Focus

London, 26 Sep - Back in May, shortly after Donald Trump had pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, a senior US official told EU diplomats to stop trying to protect EU investment in Iran.

Now, just six weeks before the second wave of US sanctions hits, European diplomats are admitting that he was right, noting that the EU has failed to create a workable legal shield for its companies in Iran that will evade US sanctions.

Indeed, many companies including Total, Moller-Maersk, Peugeot, Renault, Air France, British Airways, Deutsche Telekom and Airbus have already pulled out and EU-Iranian trade is expected to fall well below its current $2.35 billion a month once sanctions on Iranian oil come into play.

Iran Focus

London, 26 Sep - Reports indicate that the Iranian currency is continuing to drop in the days following the recent incidents which Iran regime’s officials immediately blamed Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Arab Emirates for it. A video was posted on social media in which the Iranian regime threatened the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia with missile attacks on their capital cities.

The price of gold has shot right up and the value of the Rial, the national currency of Iran, has dramatically dropped. It has been reported that the dollar has hit the 150,000 Rial mark.

Iran Focus

London, 25 Sep - In a rare and bold rebuke, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been strongly criticized by the head of Iran’s Department of Environment, Issa Kalantari.

The former Minister of agriculture, Kalantari, criticized the IRGC for its meddling in the agricultural sector, as well as wasting the country’s financial resources on ineffective projects. He pointed out that Iran’s Ministry of Agriculture cannot devise and implement effective policies because it is “under the influence of military institutions.” Military leaders make key decisions on agricultural issues that are often counterproductive.