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%.
Iran Focus
London, 15 Nov – The US has said that Iran spends nearly $1 billion a year on providing support to Hezbollah, Hamas, and other allied militant groups in the Middle East.
US Ambassador Nathan Sales, a coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department, told reporters in Washington on Tuesday that Iran spends roughly $700 million a year on Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which is helping Iran provide critical support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his seven-year civil war against the opposition forces.
Iran Focus
London, 15 Nov – Two Iranians were executed on Wednesday after being convicted of financial crimes in a grossly unfair “TV show” trial.
Vahid Mazloumin and Mohammad Esmail Ghasemi were convicted of illegal currency trading during the country’s ongoing economic crisis and the vague charge of “spreading corruption on Earth” in late September. It was part of the mullahs’ crackdown on alleged financial crimes as US sanctions started to take effect and further damage the economy.
Iran Focus
London, 14 Nov – A large number of documents, images and plans seized from Iran earlier this year indicate that Iran was far more advanced in its nuclear program than what intelligence agencies in the West thought. It appears that even the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had no idea of the extent of Iran’s activities.
When the United States announced that it was exiting the 2015 Iran nuclear deal earlier this year, Iranian officials warned President Donald Trump that Iran would also exit it.
Iran Focus
London, 14 Nov – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Newsweek on Monday of helping” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif spread “lies” that the US is preparing to sanction food being imported into Iran.
Pompeo tweeted: “Shame on #FakeNewsweek for helping @JZarif spread lies. The truth is: The U.S. does not, and never did, sanction food and medicine. They are exempt from sanctions, as are financial transactions related to humanitarian needs.”
Iran Focus
London, 14 Nov – The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted four Hezbollah-affiliated individuals who lead the terrorist group’s activities in Iraq by labelling them as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
This means that Shibl Muhsin ‘Ubayd Al-Zaydi, Yusuf Hashim, Adnan Hussein Kawtharani, and Muhammad ‘Abd-Al-Hadi Farhat are now officially designated as terrorists, allowing the US to seize any of their assets in the US or its territories and making it a crime for any American to provide material support to the four. As the Iran-backed Hezbollah is already a terrorist group sanctioned by the US, it makes perfect sense that their representatives would also be sanctioned.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Nov – As the tenth day of the new round of strikes by truck drivers passed on Saturday, November 10th, Maryam Rajavi, president of the Iranian opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), hailed the strikers, saying that as long as Mullahs are in power, poverty, inflation, and unemployment will continue.
