Iran Focus

London, 03 Apr – European countries are now considering how to impose sanctions on Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), but this is too little, too late, according to Iranian-American political scientist Dr. Majid Rafizadeh.

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh wrote an op-ed on Arab News about the proposed sanctions that, if implemented, would be the first punitive action against Iran by the EU since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was agreed between the P5+1 countries and Iran and sanctions were lifted.

He argued that whilst the sanctions were welcome, they were long overdue as Iran’s foreign policy had become far more “offensive and belligerent” since the nuclear agreement was reached in 2015.

Iran Focus

London, 31 Mar – Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s high-profile visit to the White House is significant because his discussions with US President Trump were tied to the upcoming quarterly deadline to assess whether Tehran is complying with the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Trump made his opposition to the JCPOA a central position in his presidential campaign, and it is uncertain whether the US will pull out of the agreement.

Following the Crown Prince’s visit, in a move that received widespread international condemnation, Yemen’s Houthi militia launched seven ballistic missiles targeting civilian areas in Saudi Arabia. In Washington, the attacks are viewed as an Iranian attempt to escalate the war in Yemen as part of a strategic effort to undermine the growing US-Saudi relationship.

Iran Focus

London, 31 Mar – As more foreign policy ‘experts’ try to defend the Iran nuclear deal, they actually strengthen the case for scrapping the deal altogether.

Those decrying the appointment of Mike Pompeo and John Bolton as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor respectively, are under the impression that it would be horrible for the US and the world in general if these two allow Trump to pull out of the nuclear deal in May.