Iran Focus
London, 27 Nov – Sanctions relief was expected to encourage a general trend toward moderation within the theocratic system, according to the negotiators for the Iran nuclear deal. In the preamble of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the deal is more formally known, its signatories declare that they anticipate that the agreement will contribute positively to peace and stability throughout the region.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Nov – Iran has faced international condemnation for likening Israel to a “cancerous tumour”, which has led many leaders around the world to criticize Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for making anti-Semitic remarks.
On Saturday, Rouhani called Israel a “cancerous tumour” in the Middle East during a speech.
He said: “One of the ominous results of World War Two was the formation of a cancerous tumour in the region.”
Iran Focus
London, 26 Nov – Many have criticised current U.S. President Donald Trump for his foreign policy decisions with regards to Iran. Many have slammed his decision to exit the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or 2015 Iran nuclear deal as it is known. Many have also criticised him for the crippling economic sanctions that are currently being implemented.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Nov – As the brave employees from the Haft Tapeh sugar cane mill in Shush, southwest Iran, continue their latest strike into its third consecutive week, more workers from other factories and businesses are taking part in their own protests.
Iran Focus
London, 24 Nov – Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelson said that three activists from ASMLA who are exiled in Denmark were targeted in an alleged assassination plot by the Iranian intelligence services in Denmark — and this may undermine Europe’s efforts to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran.
Danish intelligence service uncovered the plot just days after the September 22 attack by gunmen on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz that killed 29 people, including several children, and was initially claimed by the ASMLA.
Iran Focus
London, 23 Nov – The US has accused Iran of violating its commitments to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) by failing to declare chemical weapons-related activities.
US envoy Kenneth Ward told an annual meeting of the intergovernmental organization in The Hague on Thursday that the US is concerned that Iran is creating “central nervous system-acting chemicals” for offensive military use.
Iran Focus
London, 23 Nov – According to an article in the Iran Human Rights Monitor, the earthquake that shook Iran’s western provinces, damaging 10 cities and 1,930 villages, destroying more than 100,000 housing units, killing more than 600 and injuring thousands more, is more than a year past, and conditions are becoming even more difficult for the homeless survivors, as the authorities continue to fail to providing aide.
Worst hit was the cities of Qasr-e Shirin, Sarpol-e Zahab and Salas-e Babajani. According to the local governor, in Kermanshah’s Dalahu county some villages had been completely destroyed.
Iran Focus
London, 22 Nov – Iran is trying to violate the terms of the ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in order to reignite a war in the Gaza strip, according to Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in Jerusalem, he said: “There are forces out there that want to push us all into the abyss of a confrontation.”
Iran Focus
London, 22 Nov – Two Christian converts in Iran, who were planning to meet in a northern city of the Shiite-run country, were detained on Friday, November 16, in what some human rights activists are calling a rash of arrests in the area.
Behnam Ersali and Davood Rasooli, both converts from Islam who live in Karaj, had arranged to meet in Mashhad, according to advocacy organization Middle East Concern (MEC), but their calls are believed to have been intercepted by the Iranian intelligence.
Iran Focus
London, 22 Nov – The US has taken steps to disrupt an Iranian-Russian network that smuggled millions of barrels of oil to Syria with the hundreds of millions of dollars in profits being used to indirectly fund militant groups, like Hamas and Hezbollah.
In a statement on Tuesday, the US Treasury explained that the complicated arrangement between the rogue states involved a Syrian citizen using his Russia-based company to ship Iranian oil to Syria with the aid of a Russian state-owned company, violating US sanctions on Iran and Syria. After that, Syria helped to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in cash to Iran-backed militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas; both of which are on the US terrorism blacklist.
