Iran Focus
London, 28 Jul – Hackers believed to be working for the Iranian government have impersonated a young female photographer on social media for more than a year, luring men working in industries strategically important to Tehran’s regional adversaries, Reuters repoorted on Thursday.
The so-called Mia Ash persona has been active on sites including LinkedIn, Facebook Inc, WhatsApp and Blogger since at least April of last year, according to research published Thursday.
By Jubin Katiraie
The U.S. Senate voted almost unanimously on Thursday to pass new sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran.
The officials of Iranian regime are already afraid of the consequences of the new sanctions. In addition to economic implications of the sanctions, what worries them the most is the actions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. Designating and imposing sanctions on the IRGC was long overdue because the IRGC serves as the guarantee to preserve the entirety of the regime ruling Iran and is the main entity responsible for domestic suppression, the export of terrorism and extremism, and obtaining weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
Iran Focus
London, 28 Jul – Fouad Izadi, an Iranian international expert in an interview with the state television, admitted to the scope of sanctions and terrorist designation of the Revolutionary Guards in the US Congress.
In this interview that was broadcasted on July 26, 2017, in response to the question that why they say that the law is the mother of sanctions, said “Because the military institutions of the country are subjected to terrorist groups designation”.
Iran Focus
London, 27 Jul – James Carafano, Deputy director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation, declared that Iran’s expansionist ambitions in the Middle East will be met with regional and international opposition.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat, “I believe that the Iranians will soon discover that they have stretched themselves thin in the region and they will be confronted with a wall of opposition.”
Iran Focus
London, 27 Jul – The new U.S. president, Donald Trump, is focusing on health care and tax reform at home, while his administration is prepares for conflict, as North Korea’s missile are alarming the U.S., Japan and South Korea; NATO responded to Russia’s military incursions into eastern Ukraine and the Baltic region; and Iran’s attempts to extend its influence across the Middle East have continued.
Seemingly less imminent now, is a military clash in Northeast Asia. Major U.S. naval and air power was deployed to the region, pressure was put on China to rein in its Korean ally, and tensions have cooled.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Jul – The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday placing new sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia. This follows a similar version adopted overwhelmingly by the Senate in a 98-2 vote last month.
The House resolution, however, faced a more peculiar road even riddled with obstacles, according to an opinion piece published on the Forbes website on July 26. Fortunately, the overwhelming 419 to three vote in favor of this bill, the bipartisan Countering Adversarial Nations Through Sanctions Act (H.R.3364) has made it veto proof, wrote political and human rights activist Heshmat Alavi.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Jul – Iranian authorities confess that the greatest threat to theocracy is not a foreign enemy, like the US, but popular protests, especially by the disenfranchised poor people and youth, according to an article on Tuesday by freelance journalist Hamid Bahrami in Al Arabiya English.
The nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has been in effect for two years.
The Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei decides all foreign policy in Iran, even the nuclear deal, and before and during the negotiations, Khamenei said that Oman played a key role in the negotiations between Iran and the U.S. That said, President Hassan Rouhani was not the one who changed the 10-year-long stalemate.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Jul – A propaganda campaign is being run by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to highjack the victory in Mosul and the broader war against the Islamic State as their own, in an attempt to play down the impact of the U.S. military support, which has been critical in the campaign.
The IRGC coordinated directly or indirectly with the U.S. during the war, but Iran continues to reject the presence of the U.S. in the Middle East.
Iran Focus
London, 25 Jul – On the second anniversary the nuclear deal with Iran, that was repeated criticized by President Trump during his campaign for the White House, he continues to voice his displeasure with Iran’s dangerous behavior.
On Tuesday, The State Department announced new sanctions on 18 Iranian entities and individuals for their support of Iran’s ballistic missile program and involvement with the nation’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Although the Islamic Republic was certified to be in compliance with the letter of its agreement to limit its nuclear weapons program, the State Department said Iran is violating the spirit of the agreement, and that the U.S. “remains deeply concerned about Iran’s malign activities across the Middle East which undermine regional stability, and prosperity.”
Iran Focus
London, 25 Jul – While we know that Iran monitors Christians and other religious group within the country, a worldwide Christian ministry warns that this observation continues even after members of the faith have moved to the West.
“In Iran, Christians are monitored closely and their activities filmed. When the authorities decide to crack down on Christians, they are beaten up, arrested or sometimes they just disappear. One of the main organizations responsible for this is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Iranian constitution gives the IRGC a specific responsibility for protecting the Islamic revolution ideology in Iran and exporting it to other countries. Closely associated with the IRGC is the Basij, which has a similar ideological basis but whose members, recruited from school age, hold other full-time jobs,” officials with Barnabas Fund report.
