Iran Focus
London, 6 Nov – U.S. President Donald Trump announced earlier this year that the United States was exiting the nuclear deal and that crippling economic sanctions would be re-imposed. The first batch of sanctions have already taken effect and they have had a major impact on the Iranian economy.
Yesterday, Sunday 4th November, the next batch of sanctions were reinstated by President Trump.
Iran Focus
London, 5 Nov – Iran’s Guardian Council has rejected a bill on joining the UN convention against financing terrorism (CFT), just weeks after it was passed by the Iranian Parliament.
Joining the CFT is one of the requirements for removing Iran from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) blacklist.
Iran Focus
London, 5 Nov – Iranian political prisoner Mohammad Ali (Pirouz) Mansouri has written an open letter to gain the attention of human rights defenders, especially the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, after learning of new charges against him that will extend his prison sentence by another five years.
Mansouri, who has been imprisoned at Rajai Shahr for eleven years, has just been accused of “gathering and conspiring against the government” through his hunger strikes, his support for Mohammad Ali Taheri, and his condemnation of the execution of a Sunni prisoner.
Iran Focus
London, 3 Nov – On Wednesday, economic expert close to Iran, Davoud Mirzaie, said that as the country’s currency, the rial, continues to plummet, Iran’s workers have lost 80 percent of their purchasing power.
In an interview with the state-run ISNA news agency, Mirzaie continued. “The 19.5 percent wage increase has not shown itself in the workers’ lives, meaning the value of their wages in March 2018 is far below its value in March 2016. In other words, the workers’ purchasing power has decreased between 50 to 80 percent. This is causing numerous problems for the families of the country’s workers.” He added, “Such conditions have left the workers unable in providing for their basic needs. Therefore, labor unions have time and again called on the Ministry of Labor to see into this issue. Unfortunately, this remained unresolved.”
Iran Focus
London, 2 Nov – Iranian security forces have violently attacked two female Azerbaijani activists in an attempt to extract false confessions, leaving one in the hospital with broken teeth and injured fingers.
In late October, agents arrested Nasim Sadeghi and Hakimeh Ahmadi without explanation and sources close to the women reported that the pair were severely beaten.
Ahmadi’s husband Gholamreza Ghorbani posted a video on October 30, where he explained that she had been severely injured – agents broke her fingers and two of her rib bones – and has now been moved to the hospital. He said that the authorities had refused to tell him which hospital she was in, forbade him from visiting, and said that he would be liable for the cost of the medical treatment.
Iran Focus
London, 2 Nov – This week alone, the Iranian government has sentenced several people to prison on religious or political grounds, dressed up as national security charges.
Zabihollah Raoufi, 69, a member of the persecuted Baha’i religious minority in Iran was sentenced to one year in prison and one year in exile for “propaganda against the state” and “assembly and collusion against national security by promoting Baha’ism” by Iran in July, a sentence upheld on appeal in October.
Iran Focus
London, 2 Nov – Protests and strikes across in Iran and growing in number and size by the day and with each new demonstration the government loses more control, so let’s take a look at some of the rallies from this past week.
Iran Focus
London, 1 Nov – Roughly 50 people are killed and 650 injured in road traffic accidents every day in Iran, according to the police chief of Khorasan province, but when even the health minister admits that the crash rate in Iran is 100 times the world average, how long can we continue calling these accidents?
Iran Focus
London, 1 Nov – Denmark’s Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen accused Iran on October 30 of plotting to assassinate an Iranian Arab opposition leader in Denmark.
Samuelsen explained that Denmark would urge the EU to bring in new sanctions against the mullahs. Denmark recalled its ambassador from Tehran later that day.
Of course, this is not the only act of terror that Iran has committed (or attempted to commit) in Europe. (The US State Department published a comprehensive list of Iran’s attacks on Europe over the past 40 years.) It’s not even the first one this year.
Iran Focus
London, 31 Oct – The US is currently evaluating potential sanctions relief for countries that significantly reduce their imports of Iranian oil, according to a source in the State Department on Tuesday.
A spokeswoman, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The US is in the midst of an internal process to consider [significant reduction exemption] waivers for individual countries. Our goal remains to get to zero oil imports from Iran as quickly as possible. We are prepared to work with countries that are reducing their imports on a case-by-case basis.”
