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UK and Saudi Arabia Agree to Work Together to Counter Iran

Iran Focus

London, 08 Mar – The UK and Saudi Arabia have agreed that they must work together to counter Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East, according to the office of British Prime Minister Theresa May.

This came after May and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met in Downing Street on Wednesday.

They also agreed that the only way to end the crisis in Yemen, which is being exacerbated by the Iranian Regime’s support for the Houthi terrorist cell, is through a political solution that tackles both the conflict and the humanitarian suffering.

Iranian Woman Protest Mandatory Hijab Sentenced to Two Years in Prison

Iran Focus

London, 08 Mar – An Iranian woman who publically removed her headscarf in Tehran has been sentenced to two years in prison, according to Iran’s state-run news agencies.

Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said that the woman, who he did not identify, was attempting to “encourage corruption through the removal of the hijab in public.”

The Mizan Online news agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian judiciary, also didn’t name the woman in its reports, but indicated that she would appeal.

Trouble Is Brewing for Tehran

Iran Focus

London, 07 Mar – French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s visit to Iran on Monday garnered a wide range of responses, especially within Iran, because this trip was seen as highly important to the future of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.

There are just over two months until we reach Donald Trump’s final deadline for Congress and Europe to fix the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and everyone knows that, if given the ultimatum, Europe will side with the US over Iran.

This notion scares Iran, which is why the state-run media focused on the visit so closely.

Talks Between Iran and the GCC Have Stalled Due to Iran’s Dangerous Behaviour

Iran Focus

London, 07 Mar – The strategic dialogue between Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has stalled and will not resume until the Iranian Regime changes its attitude, according to the deputy foreign minister of Kuwait.

Khalid Al Jarallah told reporters on Monday: “Kuwait has told the Iranians the resumption of the dialogue depends on Iran’s initiatives and commitment to natural relations with its neighbours. As long as these requirements are not satisfactorily fulfilled, the dialogue is postponed.”

Britsh FM Condemns Iran for Supplying Houthis With Ballistic Missiles

Iran Focus

London, 07 Mar – On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson demanded an end to missile attacks on Saudi Arabia by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, stating that the use of Iranian missiles in an attack on a British ally was “unacceptable”.

Johnson said, ahead of a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Deputy Prime Minister, and the Minister of Defence, that the UK shares Saudi Arabia’s concerns over growing Iranian influence in the Middle East and insisted that Iran’s role in Yemen needs to be reined in.

Iran’s Missile Production Dramatically Increases

Iran Focus

London, 07 Mar – A senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that the country’s missile production has increased three-fold.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh is in charge of the IRGC’s aerospace division. He said on Wednesday that Iran has previously had to justify its missile production but the situation has changed and production has increased. He did not give a time-scale explaining how long the increase has taken.

Beware Iran’s Cyber Threat

Iran Focus

London, 07 Mar – It may be easy for some to underestimate Iran’s cyber threat to the US, given that most analyses describe Iran’s offensive cyber capabilities as fractured, decentralized, and inferior to other states, but make no mistake, what Iran lacks in technique it makes up for in persistence.

In a recent report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, entitled Iran’s Cyber Threat: Espionage, Sabotage, and Revenge, they assess that the majority of Iran’s espionage and sabotage campaigns have been against “soft” foreign targets, but that Iran will “strategically engage in disruptive and destructive attacks”.

Argentinean President on Trial for Covering up Iran’s Involvement in Bombing, but When Will Iranian Leaders Go on Trial?

Iran Focus

London, 06 Mar – The former Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will face trial on charges that she covered up the Iranian Regime’s role in the 1994 bombing at a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires that killed dozens, according to judicial authorities said.

In a ruling released on March 5, Argentinean judge Claudio Bonadio referred Fernandez, who was president from 2007 to 2015, and 11 senior members of her administration to a higher court for public trial on charges of cover-up and abuse of power.

UN Report Slams Iran for Human Rights Abuses

Iran Focus

London, 06 Mar – A new report from the United Nations has criticised Iran for a systematic pattern of abuse in its prisons and denial of basic rights across the country.

The report published on March 5 notes an overall crackdown on freedom of expression and access to information, as well as the torture and rape of detainees.

The Response to Anti-Hijab Protesters in Iran Was No “Soft” by Any Stretch

Iran Focus

London, 05 Mar – The leaders of Friday prayers in Tehran has slammed the Iranian Regime for what they saw as a “soft” approach to the feminist anti- obligatory hijab protests, that have formed part of the nationwide anti-regime protests that have been going on since early January.

Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami was the harshest critic, claiming that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was implicitly leading the hijab-less protests and claiming that anti-obligatory hijab protesters were European proxies.