Iran Focus
London, 17 Oct – Just one day after the US Department of Treasury designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has made the bizarre claim that the IRGC represent all Iranians.
Zarif tweeted: “Today, Iranians–boys, girls, men, and women–are ALL IRGC; standing firm with those who defend us & the region against aggression & terror.”
This is, of course, completely untrue.
Iran Focus
London, 17 Oct – According to the reports, an athlete has been under arrest since August 2017 in Iran. He has been arrested for receiving an invitation from the Bodybuilding Federation of Israel and expressing interest in participating in the tournament. The athlete Mohammad Kahkesh was shortly detained in the ward of the Ministry of Intelligence and is currently in the general ward of Evin Prison.
In a letter, Mohammad Kahkesh emphasizes his innocence writing that he is the official trainer of the Iranian Fitness Federation, the sports consultant for more than 10 sports clubs in Khuzestan Province, and sports coach and consultant of the Iran national junior football team.
Iran Focus
London, 16 Oct – America should clarify that Donald Trump’s decision to decertify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal does not mean that sanctions will be swiftly reimposed, but that the Iranian Regime will be given a chance to properly curb their nuclear and military activities according to an expert in the Middle East.
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, the former general manager of Al Arabiya news channel, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, wrote an op-ed for Arab News in which he said that America should lay out the terms before the Iranian Regime’s PR campaign has further painted the US as the Great Satan.
Iran Focus
London, 16 Oct – Donald Trump’s decertification of the Iranian Regime as compliant in the 2015 nuclear deal and the potential for new sanctions against the Middle Eastern country caused oil prices to rise dramatically on Monday.
The international benchmark for oil prices was valued at $57.82 at 01.56 GMT on Monday, October 16, up 65 cents, or 1.1 percent, from the previous close.
Many traders are concerned because they do not know which sanctions will be levied against Iran in the coming weeks by the US Congress and if sanctions are imposed, there may be an oil shortage which would lead to a much sharper price increase.
Iran Focus
London, 16 Oct – Following Donald Trump’s decision to decertify the Iran nuclear deal he received much criticism from Western powers who ignored the real threat that the Iranian Regime posed.
Baria Alamuddin, the editor of the Media Services Syndicate and a foreign editor at Al-Hayat, wrote an op-ed for Arab News in which she assessed that the Iranian Regime’s nuclear programme may indeed be the least of our concerns at the moment.
She wrote: “Iran-backed militias such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen and a plethora of paramilitaries in Syria are now deciding issues of war and peace in these states — on behalf of Tehran.”
Iran Focus
London, 15 Oct – United States President Donald Trump announced on Friday that a new strategy for dealing with Iran was being initiated. He refused to recertify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal which is no surprise because he has criticised it on a number of occasions. At the recent United Nations General Assembly, he said it was an “embarrassment” and described it as “one-sided”.
He has been critical of the former administration’s treatment of the deal, pointing out that many of Iran’s dangerous actions are not addressed. Trump has even said that the nuclear deal, instead of curbing Iran’s nuclear program, actually paves the way.
Iran Focus
London, 14 Oct – On Friday, Defense Secretary James Mattis said he supports President Trump’s newly unveiled strategy regarding Iran, following the president’s announcement of his decision not to certify Tehran’s compliance with the The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal, which is an international agreement reached in Vienna in 2015, between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States—plus Germany, (the P5+1).
Iran Focus
London, 14 Oct – A cyber-attack on the email accounts of dozens of MPs occurred in June, and according to an unpublished assessment by British intelligence, Iran is to blame.
Disclosure of the report comes at an awkward juncture, as Donald Trump made it clear on Friday that he wants to abandon the Iran nuclear deal. However, European leaders, including Theresa May, want to retain it.
Initial suspicion for the attack fell on Russia, but according to the intelligence assessment, the evidence amassed is pointing to Iran.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Oct – Nazanin Ratcliffe is a British citizen who worked as a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s charitable section. As she attempted to board a plane to return home after a visit with her family in Iran, she and her infant daughter had their passports confiscated by Iranian authorities.
Ratcliffe is now in prison on charges such of orchestrating a “soft overthrow” of the Iranian government. Her trial was conducted without due and fair process.
The number of Westerners imprisoned in Iran has increased since the nuclear deal. The US State Department has acknowledged the increasing threat against Americans, and issued a travel warning in March, “Iran has continued to harass, arrest, and detain US citizens, in particular dual nationals.”
Iran Focus
London, 13 Oct – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are watching from the sidelines as U.S. President Trump prepares to make his announcement regarding U.S. policy toward Tehran and the fate of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). This is because, reportedly, Trump is also expected to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization.
While individuals and entities associated with the IRGC are already on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO), the IRGC itself is not.
Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, said on October 8th, “If the news is correct about the stupidity of the American government in considering the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American Army to be like Islamic State all around the world.”
