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Questions Arise Regarding Airstrike on Iranian Base in Syria

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Iran Focus

London, 3 Dec – According to reports, a base or ammunition warehouse south of Damascus was hit in the early hours of December 2, by missiles from an airstrike.

This attack was conducted against a site that is well known, and foreign media has alleged that Israel is behind that strike. However, while Israel has taken credit for previous airstrikes on Syria, questions have arisen about the timing of the attack and what it was meant to achieve.

There have been warnings over this past year, that Iran hoped to construct permanent bases in Syria, laying the groundwork for the era after the defeat of ISIS.

Lord Maginnis: UK Must Defend Both Dual Nationals and Native Iranians Facing Human Rights Abuses

Iran Focus

London, 2 Dec – In April 2016, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at the Tehran airport while trying to return with her two-year-old daughter to the UK after a vacation to visit family in Iran, writes Lord Maginnis of Drumglass. The child’s passport was confiscated and she has been separated from her British father ever since. Mrs. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was deprived of due process, subjected to vague national security charges, and sentenced to five years in prison. Now the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is spearheading an effort to add new charges based on the same so-called evidence and expand her sentence by as much as 16 years, Lord Maginnis wrote on the Politics Home website on Thursday.

Iran: Former President Ahmadinejad Continues to Speak out — Risking Khamenei’s Displeasure

Iran Focus

London, 1 Dec – It appears that toward the end of former president Ahmadinejad’s first term in April 2009, his relationship with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei began to sour, after period of good relations that had defined their alliance up to that point.

When the first Minister of Intelligence, Mohammad Reyshahri, objected to Ahmadinejad’s government separating the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Khamenei told Ahmadinejad to reverse the decision. Ahmadinejad disregarded the Supreme Leader’s objections, and forced Khamenei to make them public.

Defense Minister of the Comoros: Relations With Iran “Have Been Cut Definitively”

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.

Trump Should Appoint DEA Head Who Understands Hezbollah’s Role in Drug Trafficking

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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 Regime’s $1bn Money Laundering Scheme

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’s Very Own Hitler

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 to Send Warship to the Gulf of Mexico

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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.”

US Tough Line on Iran Is Being Implemented

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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.

Will Western Prisoners Be Freed From Iranian Jails?

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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.