Iran Focus
London, 24 Jul – Top Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi has urged the people of Iran to show solidarity with Iranian teachers who braved a government clampdown earlier this week to rally outside the Iranian Parliament demanding the release of fellow teachers in detention.
Writing in the Christian Post on Thursday, Ambassador Ken Blackwell, a former Mayor of Cincinnati and a former US Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, called for a new US policy towards Iran:
Paris, July 23, 2015 (AFP) – More than 200 teachers were arrested on Wednesday during a protest outside the parliament in Tehran, an activist group said. The teachers were demanding the release of their colleagues from jail.
Authorities launched a crackdown after over 2,000 teachers from across Iran gathered outside parliament carrying placards and chanting “Free those arrested,” the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said.
Jeddah, 22 Jul – US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said after talks in Saudi Arabia that Iran’s “potential for aggression” was a shared concern as he moved to bolster defence ties with Riyadh following a nuclear agreement with its arch-foe, Reuters reported.
The conservative, mainly Sunni Muslim kingdom is engaged in a contest for power with Shi’ite Iran stretching across the region. It fears the nuclear deal will free Tehran from international pressure and sanctions, giving it more room to back allies in conflicts from Syria to Yemen.
London, 22 Jul – While the world’s attention has been fixed on the weak nuclear agreement signed in Vienna last week, a humanitarian crisis is brewing for thousands of Iranian refugees in Iraq, former Scottish Euro-Parliamentarian Struan Stevenson wrote on Wednesday in Euractiv.com.
Struan Stevenson was a Conservative MEP for Scotland in the European Parliament from 1999 until 2014. During this time, he was president of the Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq. He is now president of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA).
Tehran, 21 Jul – The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) objected on Monday to the United Nations Security Council resolution that is part of the landmark nuclear agreement, asserting it crossed some “red lines” concerning Iranian defences.
The objection, by Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, appeared to open a new point of contention within Iran’s political hierarchy.
General Jafari’s remarks, reported in an interview with Iran’s state-run Tasnim news agency, appeared to be primarily concerned with the restrictions in the Security Council resolution on the Iranian regime’s missile capabilities.
Iran Focus
New York, 20 Jul – The United Nations Security Council on Monday endorsed a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, but it will be able to re-impose UN penalties during the next decade if Tehran breaches the historic agreement.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Jul – Three former United States, European and United Nations officials with strong backgrounds in Iraq have condemned a food and fuel siege imposed since last week on several thousand Iranian dissidents in Camp Liberty in Iraq.
The dissidents are all members of Iran’s main opposition group People’s Mojahedin (Mujahedin-e-Khalq, PMOI, MEK).
Iran Focus
Tehran, 18 Jul – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday a nuclear deal reached this week with world powers would not affect Iran’s relationship with the United States or its policies in the Middle East.
Khamenei, who has the last word on high matters of state and had given his blessing to the nuclear talks, moved to dampen any speculation it would lead to a broader rapprochement with the US.
Iran Focus
London, 16 Jul – British politicians on Thursday condemned a food and fuel blockade on a camp of Iranian dissidents in Iraq and called on the United States government and the United Nations to urgently press Baghdad to lift the blockade.
