Pro- Iran Remarks From Afghan Official May Cause Violence

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Iran Focus

London, 5 Dec – Recent comments from an Afghan Shiite leader that were complimentary to the Iranian and Syrian regimes are likely to attract regional sectarian rivalries to Afghanistan and incite further violence, according to analysts.

Deputy Afghan Chief Executive Mohammad Mohaqeq, a leader of the country’s Shiite minority, told an international summit of scholars from Muslim nations in Iran: “I thank all the warriors who cooperated in these wars from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other parts of the world.”

He was talking specifically about the war in Syria where the Iranian Regime helped to prop up the Bashar al-Assad dictatorship by sending in their Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Lebanese proxy group Hezbollah, and thousands of other fighters from across the Middle East.

Iran-Backed Hezbollah Is Divisive in Lebanon

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Iran Focus

London, 4 Dec – The Lebanese people have always been divided over support for Hezbollah, which has both a political and a military arm, but that divide has only become more pronounced following Hezbollah’s interference in regional conflicts, i.e. Iraq and Yemen, at the behest of the Iranian Regime.

This regional destabilisation, which has earned Hezbollah a terrorist designation from the US, Canada, and many Middle Eastern countries, was only exacerbated following the ballistic missile attack on the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in early November.

On November 4, the Iran-backed Houthi terror cell in Yemen launched an Iranian made ballistic missile against Saudi Arabia, which the Saudis blamed on Hezbollah and Iran because the Houthis had no way of producing the missiles themselves.

CIA Director Warned Top Iranian General That the US Would Hold the Regime Accountable for Attacks on US Interests

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Iran Focus

London, 4 Dec – CIA director Mike Pompeo said that he sent a letter to a top Iranian military official warning that the US would hold Iran accountable for any attacks it conducted on American interests in Iraq.

Pompeo, who has long been vocally critical of the Iranian Regime, said on Saturday at a defense forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Simi Valley, California, that he’d sent the letter to General Qassem Soleimani, a leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and elite Quds Force, but that Soleimani didn’t read it.

Questions Arise Regarding Airstrike on Iranian Base in Syria

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Iran Focus

London, 3 Dec – According to reports, a base or ammunition warehouse south of Damascus was hit in the early hours of December 2, by missiles from an airstrike.

This attack was conducted against a site that is well known, and foreign media has alleged that Israel is behind that strike. However, while Israel has taken credit for previous airstrikes on Syria, questions have arisen about the timing of the attack and what it was meant to achieve.

There have been warnings over this past year, that Iran hoped to construct permanent bases in Syria, laying the groundwork for the era after the defeat of ISIS.

Lord Maginnis: UK Must Defend Both Dual Nationals and Native Iranians Facing Human Rights Abuses

Iran Focus

London, 2 Dec – In April 2016, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at the Tehran airport while trying to return with her two-year-old daughter to the UK after a vacation to visit family in Iran, writes Lord Maginnis of Drumglass. The child’s passport was confiscated and she has been separated from her British father ever since. Mrs. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was deprived of due process, subjected to vague national security charges, and sentenced to five years in prison. Now the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is spearheading an effort to add new charges based on the same so-called evidence and expand her sentence by as much as 16 years, Lord Maginnis wrote on the Politics Home website on Thursday.

Iran: Former President Ahmadinejad Continues to Speak out — Risking Khamenei’s Displeasure

Iran Focus

London, 1 Dec – It appears that toward the end of former president Ahmadinejad’s first term in April 2009, his relationship with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei began to sour, after period of good relations that had defined their alliance up to that point.

When the first Minister of Intelligence, Mohammad Reyshahri, objected to Ahmadinejad’s government separating the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Khamenei told Ahmadinejad to reverse the decision. Ahmadinejad disregarded the Supreme Leader’s objections, and forced Khamenei to make them public.

Defense Minister of the Comoros: Relations With Iran “Have Been Cut Definitively”

Iran Focus

London, 1 Dec – Yousuf Mohamed Ali, Defense Minister of the Comoros, said that his country would continue to confront the Iranian project with “determination and firmness”, as long as it tries to exploit his country’s economic needs and poverty to interfere in its internal affairs.

For destabilizing the security of the region, he also condemned Lebanese Hezbollah, stressing his country’s support for Saudi Arabia’s stance against Qatar.

Trump Should Appoint DEA Head Who Understands Hezbollah’s Role in Drug Trafficking

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Iran Focus

London, 1 Dec – After declaring the opioid crisis a national health emergency, President Trump has yet to appoint a new Drug Enforcement Administration administrator.

It has been reported that over the past decade, Hezbollah’s involvement in transnational organized crime has evolved into a multi-billion dollar global enterprise. Therefore, the president should choose a DEA chief who understands the complex and global nature of drug cartels, and should also be cognizant of the growing convergence between transnational organized crime and terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.

Iran Regime’s $1bn Money Laundering Scheme

Iran Focus

London, 1 Dec – A Turkish-Iranian gold trader has told a US federal court how he ran a $1bn international money laundering scheme to help the Iranian Regime avoid US sanctions.

Reza Zarrab, who pleaded guilty, told the New York court, on Wednesday November 29, that this figure involved more than $50m in bribes for then-Turkish finance minister Mehmet Zafer Caglayan.

Zarrab, 34, is cooperating with US prosecutors in the trial of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a Turkish Halkbank deputy chief executive officer, who pleaded not guilty.

Iran’s Very Own Hitler

Iran Focus

London, 1 Dec – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently compared Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to Hitler, but far too many people are painting this comment are evidence of an escalating conflict between the two Middle Eastern countries, rather than as an accurate assessment of Khamenei and the Iranian Regime.

Let’s break it down.

The Iranian Regime, much like Nazi Germany, is hostile to both its neighbouring countries and the West. It is set on creating a superstate through its network of terrorist proxies- as the Nazis did to Eastern Europe before the Allied Forces united against them.