Iran Focus
London, 1 Dec – Yousuf Mohamed Ali, Defense Minister of the Comoros, said that his country would continue to confront the Iranian project with “determination and firmness”, as long as it tries to exploit his country’s economic needs and poverty to interfere in its internal affairs.
For destabilizing the security of the region, he also condemned Lebanese Hezbollah, stressing his country’s support for Saudi Arabia’s stance against Qatar.
Iran Focus
London, 1 Dec – After declaring the opioid crisis a national health emergency, President Trump has yet to appoint a new Drug Enforcement Administration administrator.
It has been reported that over the past decade, Hezbollah’s involvement in transnational organized crime has evolved into a multi-billion dollar global enterprise. Therefore, the president should choose a DEA chief who understands the complex and global nature of drug cartels, and should also be cognizant of the growing convergence between transnational organized crime and terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.
Iran Focus
London, 1 Dec – A Turkish-Iranian gold trader has told a US federal court how he ran a $1bn international money laundering scheme to help the Iranian Regime avoid US sanctions.
Reza Zarrab, who pleaded guilty, told the New York court, on Wednesday November 29, that this figure involved more than $50m in bribes for then-Turkish finance minister Mehmet Zafer Caglayan.
Zarrab, 34, is cooperating with US prosecutors in the trial of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a Turkish Halkbank deputy chief executive officer, who pleaded not guilty.
Iran Focus
London, 1 Dec – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently compared Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to Hitler, but far too many people are painting this comment are evidence of an escalating conflict between the two Middle Eastern countries, rather than as an accurate assessment of Khamenei and the Iranian Regime.
Let’s break it down.
The Iranian Regime, much like Nazi Germany, is hostile to both its neighbouring countries and the West. It is set on creating a superstate through its network of terrorist proxies- as the Nazis did to Eastern Europe before the Allied Forces united against them.
Iran Focus
London, 30 Nov – Iran will send a fleet of warships to the Gulf of Mexico in order to strengthen their ties to terrorist groups in several South American states, the commander of Iran’s navy said on Tuesday to Iranian state-run media outlets.
Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, who only recently assumed his post, said that the warships would be deployed to the area, via the Atlantic Ocean, despite what he claims are US objections.
He said: “[Our fleet] will berth in the friendly states in Latin America and the Gulf of Mexico in the near future by deployment in the Atlantic Ocean.”
Iran Focus
London, 30 Nov – According to several reports, the Trump administration has put a block on the country buying nuclear material from Iran. The policy started during the previous administration and was a way of trying to ensure that Iran stays compliant with the 2015 nuclear deal.
Towards the end of 2016, the Obama administration announced that the United States was going to purchase $8 million dollars’ worth of heavy water from Iran to make sure that it stays in compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal that imposes restrictions on the amount of heavy water it can have.
Iran Focus
London, 30 Nov – There are numerous foreign nationals locked up in Iran, mostly on sedition or espionage charges. They are being tortured, mistreated and denied essential medical attention.
The situation with these prisoners is getting even more delicate as US President Trump is threatening to reimpose crippling sanctions and derail the 2015 nuclear deal.
Almost two years ago, several Americans who were jailed in Iran were released when the nuclear deal came into effect. At the same time, several Iranians that were being held in the United States were sent back to Iran.
Iran Focus
London, 29 Nov – When Iranian chief of staff, General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, visited Syria, last month, it was supposed to be a show of unity between the two violent regimes, to show what dictators could achieve if they worked together to crush their people, but it now appears that Bashar Assad is getting cold feet about the partnership.
During the meeting with his Syrian counterpart General Ali Abdullah Ayoub, Bagheri presented the Iranian Regime’s list of demands for helping the Syrian dictator to destroy his own country; namely a 50-year lease on a Mediterranean naval base, the establishment of Iranian air bases in Syria, phosphate mining concessions including for uranium, and more.
Iran Focus
London, 29 Nov – Meetings between high-ranking officials from North Korea and Iran are raising concerns in the US government about the deep military ties between the two rogue nations.
The suspicious meetings began in August, when Kim Yong-Nam, North Korea’s number two political leader and head of its legislature, visited Iran. Officially, he was attending the inauguration of President Hassan Rouhani, but the length of the visit and the size of his delegation set off alarm bells in the US.
Iran Focus
London, 29 Nov – The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) think-tank has urged Donald Trump to focus on the Iranian Regime’s regional destabilisation and terrorism, rather than renegotiating the Iran nuclear deal.
It was argued that with better enforcement of the terms of the deal, it is possible to hold Iran to account as it is.
In a paper for the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) think-tank on Tuesday, Ya’alon wrote: “Reopening the [nuclear] deal is superfluous, mostly because it is possible to exercise pressure on the Iranian regime already today, without reopening the nuclear deal, on the basis of its violations of UN Security Council resolutions regarding arms sales, terror, its ballistic missiles program and human rights violations.”
