Iran Focus
London, 15 Dec – All of the people accused of “looting” a credit and financial institution in Iran have been freed on bail, according to an official at Tehran’s Penal Court.
The looted institution, Samen al-Hojaj, went bankrupt and was taken over by the private Parsian Bank.
There are almost 50 complainants in Tehran who have registered that they have not been able to get their money back from Samen al-Hojaj, which was launched in 2001.
Iran Focus
London, 14 Dec – When Donald Trump declared Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel, the Iran responded by threatening violence and terrorism.
Why? Quite simply, Iran hates Israel (whom it calls the Little Satan), hates the US (whom it calls the Big Satan), and supports the terrorist group Hamas. In fact, the Regime even has a paramilitary organization dedicated to keeping Jerusalem from Israel: The Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC-QF).
Iran Focus
London, 14 Dec – The French foreign minister said that Iran is seeking to create an axis of military and political influence in the Middle East.
Jean-Yves Le Drian said, in an interview with France 2 television, that IRan is attempting to build a Shiite Crescent from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea- through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.
He said: “The Iranian presence and the desire to make an axis from the Mediterranean to Tehran, [I say] no. There is a Syria that needs to exist free [from foreign powers and influence]”.
Iran Focus
London, 14 Dec – In October, the Trump administration announced its new policy to counter Iranian expansionism in the Middle East, focusing heavily on Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.
It would target Hezbollah’s funding sources, support “legitimate state institutions” in Lebanon and expose Hezbollah’s “nefarious behaviour”.
The White House said: “Over time, we believe that by denying Hezbollah political legitimacy, it will lose the support of the Lebanese people.”
Iran Focus
London, 14 Dec – The Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen assassinated former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in a desperate scramble to save face in a war that it is losing.
Saleh was attempting to make peace with the Saudi-led coalition to reinstate the internationally recognised government in Yemen when he brutally murdered.
The Houthis killed him, likely at the behest of Iran, to stop him from revealing information about their relationship and convincing other in the Houthi camp to join the Saudi-led coalition.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Dec – Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote an op-ed for the New York Times earlier this month, arguing that Europe should work with Iran or else.
In it he claimed that Iran was a reasonable and peaceful state- despite much evidence to the contrary- and that if Europe didn’t work with Iran, then it may endanger peace in the Middle East or risk the 2015 nuclear deal.
There are many people who have rebutted Zarif’s claims of the Iranian Government as peaceful, including, ironically, Zarif himself when he threatened Europe over their continued relationship but there are those who know exactly the threat that Iran poses to the citizens of foreign powers who don’t do as the Government wants.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Dec – Every month, the women’s rights branch of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) compiles a wide-ranging report on the rights of women under the Iranian Government which often makes for depressing reading.
In November’s edition it was revealed that Iran’s overall ranking in terms of women’s equality- as categorised by the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap report– has slipped to 140th out 144 countries, placing above of only Chad, Syria, Pakistan and Yemen.
The WEF’s report measures economic participation and political empowerment to find out how equal the sexes are. Iran’s score was 0.583, meaning that women’s rights in Iran are just over half that of a man’s.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Dec – Iran’s state-run media has devolved into a frenzy over the decision of a female British diplomat not to wear a headscarf in a meeting to discuss the false imprisonment of UK charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Radcliffe.
Karen Pierce, the political director of the British Foreign Office, accompanied foreign secretary Boris Johnson to Iran this week as part of a delegation to discuss Zaghari-Radcliffe’s case and was reportedly instructed by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to put a headscarf on, in accordance with compulsory Iranian hijab laws.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Dec – The shaky platform of the Iranian Regime rests atop the twin pillars of domestic repression and the export of fundamentalist terrorism.
Now is the time to take serious action against the Regime- through international sanctions and support of the domestic Iranian Resistance forces-and destroy those pillars so that the whole dammed Regime falls.
If you don’t believe that this is not only necessary but also urgent, read on and all will be explained.
Iran Focus
London, 12 Dec – Iranian courts have long been accused of issuing politically motivated sentences by human rights advocates. Trials are often held behind closed doors, and may last only a few minutes. Charges, and even verdicts, can be left to public speculation rather than informing defense teams or family. However, the execution of Iranian-Swedish professor Ahmadreza Djalali seems inevitable according to the Free University of Brussels (VUB), where Djalali was a guest professor in the field of disaster medicine.
