Iran Focus
London, 22 Nov – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) should be added to the United Kingdom’s list of proscribed terrorist groups, according to a motion tabled by UK Members of Parliament.
Early Day Motion 483, tabled on 31 October 2017, “calls on the Government to include the IRGC on the list of proscribed organisations, impose punitive measures against its officials and to work with allies to expel the IRGC from Syria, Iraq and the Middle East”.
Iran Focus
London, 22 Nov – There are currently 30 dual nationals detained in Iran on false charges of plotting the overthrow of the Iranian Regime or spying for a foreign power or whatever else the mullahs have chosen to tar them with. This is 30 too many.
Since the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers was signed in 2015, the number of dual nationals arrested in Iran has actually gone up, according to Reuters, meaning that the Regime’s bad behaviour was not solved by the deal.
The Iranian Regime has a long history of taking dual or foreign nationals hostage in order to demand a ransom (of money and/or weapons) from their home country.
Iran Focus
London, 22 Nov – Federal prosecutors have announced charges against an Iranian military hacker who broke into HBO’s computer network this summer in order to extort millions of dollars from the company.
The indictment, unsealed in New York on Tuesday, said that Behzad Mesri, “had worked on behalf of the Iranian military to conduct computer network attacks that targeted military systems, nuclear software systems, and Israeli infrastructure”.
Although the document doesn’t state that the Iranian Regime told Mesri to attack HBO, it should be made clear that he is deeply tied to the Regime and would be unlikely to attack such a prominent target without their permission. He is not a lone hacker working from his bedroom, but a highly trained operative who has much experience in hacking international targets for the mullahs.
Iran Focus
London, 22 Nov – When Donald Trump refused to “recertify” Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal back in October, he received a lot of criticism from the other signatories (Europe, Russia, China) politicians in his own country and even those in his own administration, who saw this as hastening Iran’s drive to develop nuclear weapons.
However, the nuclear pact wasn’t much of a deterrent in the first place. It only deferred Iran from legally developing nuclear weapons for a matter of years. Critically, the nuclear deal did not prevent Iran’s development of ballistic weapons, which they have been eagerly developing and testing since then, and used to threaten other countries in the Middle East, specifically US allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Iran Focus
London, 21 Nov – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned in a shock conference live from the Saudi Arabian capital, earlier this month, noting that he was unable to lead a government which was infiltrated by foreign agents who were plotting to assassinate him.
Hezbollah, a terrorist organization that is backed by the Iranian Regime, controls much of the Lebanese government to the extent that Hariri felt he could no longer stop them from their destabilising actions across the Middle East.
Hezbollah, as an Iran proxy, is involved is money laundering, drug trafficking and militia financing to destabilise the Middle East and prop up a violent sectarian system.
Iran Focus
London, 21 Nov – The Iranian Regime is meddling in the sovereign affairs of the other Middle Eastern states. Indeed from the constant news reports out of Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, it seems as if Iran is trying to build a new empire.
This is no new thing. Iran’s regional ambitions have been clear to those paying attention for quite some time. That’s why in 2014, after the fall of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the Iranian Regime claimed control of four regional capitals (including Beirut, Damascus and Baghdad).
Since that time Iran’s chokehold on these cities has only tightened.
Iran Focus
London, 21 Nov – American officials have exposed a “large-scale” counterfeiting ring, orchestrated by the Iranian Regime, which was sophisticated enough to fool European regulators, on Monday, November 20.
The US Treasury officials described this counterfeiting operation as an attempt by Iran to increase its influence over the Middle East.
They subsequently sanctioned a network of individuals and businesses involved in the counterfeiting and linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and its elite Qods Force, including two based in Germany.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Nov – Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the kingdom of Bahrain, said that Iran poses a very serious threat to the whole of the Middle East. He mentioned in particular Iran’s recent missile that was aimed at the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. The ballistic missile was thankfully intercepted in time, avoiding many casualties and fatalities.
He pointed out that this is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has been the target of attacks carried out by Iran’s proxy groups and militias. The Houthis are one such example.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Nov – The Iranian regime is known for its meddling in other countries in the Middle East. Its main aim is regional hegemony and it will stop at nothing to get it. One country in particular where Iran is extensively involved is Syria.
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, Iran has had some of its own military personnel there and it has funded, trained and armed numerous proxy groups and militias.
Iran’s involvement is particularly toxic because if it had not intervened, the civil war would have ended years ago. It has effectively fuelled the war. Syrian President Bashar al Assad has been propped up by Iran too.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Nov – Foreign Ministers from across the Middle East have condemned Iran’s regional meddling and approved preliminary measures to demand international action against the Regime through the United Nations Security Council.
At a meeting of the Arab League on Sunday, the politicians agreed that Saudi Arabia had the right to defend itself against Iranian aggression, specifically after the attempted ballistic missile attack earlier this month, courtesy of the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
