Iran Focus
London, 27 Oct – According to Bloomberg’s report, the US House of Representatives passed new sanction bills this week that target Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for Hezbollah.
The nearly unanimous vote of 423-2, displayed bi-partisan support from Congress against Iran — the first such, since US President Trump refused to certify Iran’s compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), earlier this month.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Oct – Ms Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, compiled a report for the seventy-second session of the General Assembly.
She raised some very troubling issues regarding the behaviour of the Iranian regime and made suggestions on how this can be resolved.
The report covers the period from January to June 2017 and is based on sources inside and outside the country.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Oct – Many people will dismiss the idea of a pact between the Iranian Regime and al-Qaeda because of the Shiite/Sunni divide but Iran has often sided with Sunni terror groups against the enemy it calls “the big Satan”; the US.
In fact, many of the commanders in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) believe that they would be able to persuade al-Qaeda to fight alongside them in any future conflict against the West by simply offering them money or weapons or access to the IRGC’s network of terrorist groups across the world (including Hezbollah).
Iran Focus
London, 26 Oct – The Iranian Regime may be beginning the process to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal by filing a claim to the European Union that the US has violated the deal on 18 separate occasions, including continued sanctions and withholding revenue.
If the claim is accepted, then Iran could leave the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and save face by laying the blame on the Donald Trump administration.
Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, an Iranian member of parliament, told state-run media: “The recent report is specifically about the Americans’ efforts to derail the JCPOA, so much so that the foreign ministry has delineated 18 blatant cases of breach of the agreement made by the US.”
Iran Focus
London, 26 Oct – The United States Navy now has three aircraft carriers and their assorted missile-carrying vessels deployed to the western Pacific Ocean for the first time in a decade, as tensions with rogue nuclear states North Korea and Iran continue to rise.
On Wednesday October 25, the USS Nimitz and its strike group entered the Western Pacific region, fresh from deployment in the Middle East, according to a press release from the Navy.
This deployment, which the US Navy says is part of a previously planned cycle, coincides with Donald Trump’s visit to Asia next week.
Iran Focus
London, 25 Oct – There is one clear winner in the Syrian Civil War, the Iran-backed Lebanese terror cell Hezbollah, which has made significant advances in its military capabilities.
This, along with the Iranian Regime’s destabilising efforts, poses a serious threat to stability and security of the Middle East. If the international community does not constrain this threat, they could soon be faced with a third Lebanon war, far worse than those that have come before.
Since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Hezbollah, which now takes pride of place among Iran’s terrorist proxy groups, has been vying to show itself as a feasible military force in Lebanon by suppressing the Lebanese people and infiltrating the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).
Iran Focus
London, 25 Oct – Seventy percent of American voters believe that the 2015 nuclear deal (between the US, Iran and five other world powers) should be renegotiated, according to a recent poll.
The respondents were also overwhelmingly in favour (81 percent) of the new deal being approved by the Senate and verified by Congress- in the same way that treaties are- rather than by executive order.
The Harvard-Harris survey found that 85 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of independents and 57 percent of Democrats, were in favour of renegotiation and Congress ratification.
Iran Focus
London, 25 Oct – Syria and Iraq are currently seeing a huge shift due to rapid political developments out of Iran (who are controlling the Iraqi government and helping the Bashar Assad dictatorship to massacre their own people) and the USA (who are working with the Syrian opposition and the Iraqi Kurds in order to defeat ISIS).
One of the biggest and most recent developments is the withdrawal of the Peshmerga (Kurdish) forces from the Kirkuk region in Northern Iraq, when it was announced that Iraqi troops (backed up by Iran) were heading to reclaim the disputed area after the Kurdish Independence Referendum. There were even accusations that the Jalal Talabani Kurdish group were working with the Iranian Regime (against their best interests) in order to gain control over the other Kurds.
Iran Focus
London, 25 Oct – The Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel Al-Jubeir, has stated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia supports the new US position on the Iranian Regime, as put forth by Donald Trump, noting that the 2015 nuclear agreement contains several problems.
Al-Jubeir made these comments at a panel on the future of worldwide turbulence, organised by the Royal Institute of International Affairs (commonly known as Chatham House), on October 25.
During the London conference, Al-Jubeir said that the Iranian Regime’s policy of supporting terrorism and terrorist activity around the world was unacceptable and would have dire consequences.
Iran Focus
London, 24 Oct – The Iranian people are yet again rising up against the corrupt Regime and gathered in front of the country’s parliament to protest the plundering of their country’s wealth and the crooked policies of the Regime.
The Regime’s main opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), released a report and video showing over 2,000 people protesting outside the parliament in Tehran.
They shouted slogans like “Shame, shame on the police force”, “Death to the dictator”, and “Death to the demagogue”, whilst being accosted by the police force.
