Iran Focus
London, 14 April – According to reports coming out of Iran, residents of the flood stricken areas in the southwestern city of Ahvaz have come out in protest over what they call the Iranian authorities’ incompetence in dealing with the floods.
In videos published on social media, locals in the Eyn-e Do region in western Ahvaz — an oil rich province of Khuzestan — marched through the streets chanting, “they wanted to dishonor us, but we will not be dishonored.”
By Pooya Stone
The World Bank (WB) and the (IMF) released new reports, saying Iran’s GDP growth is worse than what they had predicted in their last forecasts.
In their new reports, the World Bank forecasts that Iran’s GDP growth is worse than what they had predicted in their last forecasts. They believe that GDP will shrink 3.8% in 2019, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has an even a worse forecast — 6% contraction.
Iran Focus
London, 11 April – The Iraqi city of Basra is dealing with a major drug crisis that came over from Iran, but depleted police resources and overcrowded detention centres mean that the system is struggling to cope, which has led plenty of locals to protest poor services over the last year.
By Mehdi
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his deputies have visited the commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the wake of the US designation of the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
During the meeting with Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari the top commander of IRGC, Gen Qassem Soleimani the commander of the extraterritorial Qods force and others, Zarif predictably described the US decision as “stupid”, claimed it had created “unity and sympathy in the country”, and called it a sign of “desperate” US policies in the region.
By Pooya Stone
Officials from the US State Department have said that the decision to place the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs) will reduce the risk of American soldiers or citizens dying as a result of IRGC General Qasem Soleimani.
By Jubin Katiraie
A British bank has agreed to pay over $1 billion in fines and forfeited assets to the US and New York State for trading with Iran in violation of US sanctions.
Standard Charter Bank, a global financial institution, processed roughly 9,500 financial transactions worth an estimated $240 million between 2007 and 2011, through American financial bodies to benefit Iranian entities, according to federal and state prosecutors on Tuesday.
Iran Focus
London, 10 April – Many Iranian-backed fighters are returning home from the Syrian Civil War where they fought in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but they are not necessarily going to Iran.
Iran is famous for having sent thousands of undocumented Shiite Afghan refugees to fight in Syria alongside Iran-backed Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), since 2011. Why? Because it was cheaper than sending Iranians and would create less public outcry than having Iranians die in Syria.
By Mehdi
U.S. President Trump announced last year that it would be undertaking a maximum pressure campaign on the Iranian Mullahs because of its belligerence and terrorist activities that threaten peace and security in the Middle East. His administration has re-imposed crippling economic sanctions and has put restrictions on its oil exports.
