By Pooya Stone
During his campaign for election, US President Trump promised that his “number one priority” would be to “dismantle the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran”. So far, he has refrained from doing that. In fact, Trump certified to Congress that Iran is in compliance with the deal two times. He has also continued to waive the economic sanctions on Iran that the US agreed to lift as part of the agreement.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Sep – Zaid Raad al-Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, described Iran as one of the most alarming countries in regards to the human rights situation in that country.
On Tuesday, Mr. Hussein spoke at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where he described the severe restrictions on freedom of opinion, expression and arrest of human rights defenders, journalists and social network activists in Iran.
By Jubin Katiraie
As Iran and North Korea are collaborating closely on a number of military and nuclear issues, it only makes sense to impose equal sanctions against both nations, according to a human rights activist.
Heshmat Alavi wrote an op-ed for the Raddington Report, entitled Sanctioning the Terrible Twosome, in which he advised that their deep collaboration makes it hard to deal separately with the threats that they pose.
Iran Focus
London, 12 Sep – As the US reviews its policy towards Iran and imposes tougher sanctions on the Iranian Regime and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), some Regime apologists have been taken it upon themselves to categorise any support of regime change in Iran to mean that all-out war is on the horizon.
This is total nonsense as human rights activist and Iranian Resistance member, Ali Safavi, point out in the op-ed for The Hill.
Safavi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), wrote: “Let us be clear: The real issue is not war. There has never been any suggestion of military intervention.”
Iran Focus
London, 12 Sep – Donald Trump is currently considering a more aggressive US policy towards Iran and its proxies groups across the Middle East, according to six current and former US officials.
This policy suggestion was proposed to Trump by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other top officials at a National Security Council meeting on Friday.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that this proposal could be made public by the end of September.
Iran Focus
London, 12 Sep – Amnesty International has issued a statement calling for the immediate and unconditional release of an Iranian human rights activist who was arrested on Sunday September 10.
Three officials, who did not identify themselves but are believed to be from the Ministry of Intelligence, arrested Raheleh Rahemipour without charges and took her in for interrogation at the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.
She has not been allowed contact with her lawyer since.
Rahemipour, who was featured in Amnesty International’s recent report Caught in a web of repression, has dedicated years of her life to finding out what really happened to her brother, Hossein, and baby niece, Golrou, who ‘disappeared’ whilst in prison in the early 1980s.
Iran Focus
London, 12 Sep – A statement relating to the 1988 Iranian massacre will be submitted to António Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, during the 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which began on September 11.
The statement, entitled The 1988 Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran: Time for the Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence, was written by three non-governmental organizations in special consultative status; France Libertés: Fondation Danielle Mitterrand, Women’s Human Rights International Association, and Mouvement contre le racisme ET pour l’amitié entre les peuples.
Iran Focus
London, 11 Sep – Iranian business people are complaining that they receive a lack of support from their government, which is directly affecting their ability to stay afloat in the international market.
They state that the Regime has been so focused on its exports of oil and its derivatives (roughly 90% of Iranian exports), that they have neglected to invest in infrastructure for private sector exports (i.e. food).
This has led to Iranian businesses losing access to their neighbouring markets in the region, particularly when competing with countries like Turkey.
Iran Focus
London, 11 Sep – The Czech Republic has rejected a bill that would lift the nuclear ban against the Iranian Regime.
The Czech Parliament’s lower house (Chamber of Deputies) has rejected a proposal to abolish the ban on Czech companies selling equipment to Iran for its nuclear plant.
The main supporters of lifting the ban were the Czech Communist (KSCM) and Socialist (CSSD) Parties, while the main opponents were the Conservative parties.
In order to pass, the proposal needed 66 votes out of 130 but only achieved 47.
Iran Focus
London, 11 Sep – US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley delivered a thoughtful and impassioned speech on the threat posed by the Iranian Regime and the future of the nuclear deal, last week.
In the speech, Hayley addresses that there are three main things to consider when talking about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA); the deal itself, UN Resolution 2231, and the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (“the Corker-Cardin law”).
The Nuclear Deal
Hayley points out that the deal is flawed (for example, it does not have the capability for anywhere/anytime inspections) but that Iran has still managed to violate the lax provisions that it has.
She said: “In February 2016 – just a month after the agreement was implemented – the [International Atomic Energy Agency] discovered Iran had exceeded its allowable limit of heavy water. Nine months later, Iran exceeded the heavy water limit again.”
