Iran Focus
London, 24 Apr – Marking the anniversary of its formation in 1979, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement on Thursday, saying that the actions of internal government figures “weaken the Guards,” and added that such criticisms “harm unity and stoke division.”
Remarks about “internal figures” were interpreted by some as its first indirect response to President Hassan Rouhani’s criticism against it.
By Jubin Katiraie
What does NCRI stand for?
The National Council of Resistance of Iran.
What is the NCRI?
A coalition of democratic opposition groups that oppose the mullahs’ regime in Iran, calls for regime change, and support the establishment of a democratic republic in Iran.
Iran Focus
London, 23 Apr – Iran has become involved in North African regions like Algeria, and has created problems they were never before experienced in North African history, such as the Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict. Iran introduced these conflicts, and is now seeking to uproot North Africa from its Arab roots.
North Africa is close to the Europeans geographically. Historically and culturally, the North Africans are closely related to Europe, as well. North Africans are well suited to warn European parliaments, organizations, and media outlets about the dangers Iran poses.
Iran Focus
London, 21 Apr – Recently in the United States it became known that Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State-designate, met with the North Korean leader. The news broke as Democrat opposition to his nomination increased.
White House officials are calling on Democrats to put politics to one side and put national security first by confirming his appointment.
Pompeo first needs to get the vote from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which will be highly unlikely as several members have already announced their intentions to deny him their vote.
Iran Focus
London, 21 Apr – Experts say that the threat of new, tougher sanctions leaves Iran’s oil industry vulnerable, even after this week’s move by Iran to replace the US dollar with the euro for its foreign currency data references.
After sanctions were frozen the Islamic Republic added nearly 1 million barrels per day (b/d) to its oil production, while it attempts to reduce its dependence on the dollar. If tougher sanctions are imposed on May 12th, the country may once again be isolated.
By Jubin Katiraie
Delphine O, MP from Paris, chairs the France-Iran friendship group in the National Assembly (the French parliament). Her activities are divided into three areas: “supporting Franco-Iranian political relations; strengthening academic and scientific exchanges between France and Iran; and promoting Iran in France. As it is difficult to show sympathy for a regime, as problematic as that of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Delphine O spares no effort to “whitewash” its detestable image due to its Islamist theocratic nature and its serious violations of human rights, as very often pointed out by the UN and important international NGOs.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Apr – The Donald Trump administration is preparing for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un in the near future. To prepare Trump’s strategy, they should learn some lessons from the shortcomings of Iran nuclear deal. Let’s look at those lessons.
Sanctions are very strong against North Korea at the moment and it will be hard to increase the pressure again after a temporary deal is struck.
When the Iran deal was struck, its major flaw was that the restrictions on nuclear weapons development were only temporary. Iran can start advanced development work as soon as 2024.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Apr – The exchange rate for Iran’s rial dropped its lowest ever price on April 9, at 61,000 to the dollar.
The following day, the Iranian govrenment artificially fixed the price at 42,000 and threatened to arrest anyone caught selling at a different price.
This was no empty threat. government arrested some money exchangers for flouting the rules, with some mullahs even calling for the death of the vendors.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Apr – On Thursday, the CHRI reported upon the latest call to action by United Nations experts regarding issues related Iran’s human rights record and its perennial abuse of the death penalty. The statement was signed by a trio of UN special rapporteurs, Agnes Callamard, Dainius Puras, and Nils Melzer, whose areas of focus are, respectively, extrajudicial and arbitrary executions, universal rights to physical and mental health, and cruel, inhumane, and degrading punishments including torture. It called attention to the case of Ramin Hossein Panahi, an Iranian Kurdish prisoner who is facing a potentially imminent threat of execution.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Apr – The instant messaging app Telegram will soon be banned in Iran, with the highest-ranking members of the Iran announcing their intentions to abandon the platform and move to domestic apps instead.
They’ve even issued a directive to Iranian government workers and school to prevent their use of foreign messaging apps.
The mullahs have claimed that the banning of Telegram is necessary to “protect national security” and would have the side benefit of promoting homegrown apps, like Soroush and Gap.
