Iran Focus
London, 21 Jan – On Thursday, a multi-story building in Iranian capital Tehran collapsed following a fire. The 17-story Plasco building was completely destroyed. Firefighters were inside the building at the time it collapsed. Teams of rescuers spent the whole night and much of Friday trying to rescue the firefighters and anyone else trapped inside the building.
State news said on Thursday that 30 people have died in the tragedy, but it is not known if this figure has increased.
Iran Focus
London, 21 Jan – In September 2015, Donald Trump said that the Iran nuclear deal was a “bad” deal. He said that if he was elected president he would renegotiate with Iran to make it better. But it must be recognised that the Iranian regime’s plans are not just with regards to nuclear weapons. It is developing ballistic missiles and technology transfers and the nuclear deal does not include these.
The Iran nuclear deal was laid out by John Kerry Secretary of State and was validated by the UN Security Council. It is thus improbable that Britain, France, Russia and China will agree to changing the deal. These countries have already started to do business with Iran worth billions of dollars. Boeing in the US has also started doing business with Iran meaning that if the deal was scrapped or amended, sanctions would be applicable again meaning the US and allies would be economically damaged.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Jan – In an article on the Diplomat’s website, Hossein Abedini – a member of the Iranian resistance and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – has given his take on the death of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the number two man in the ruling theocracy.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Jan – Bana al-Abed a seven year-old Syrian girl and her mother Fatemeh have used Twitter to update the international community about the horrors of being in Syria. At the height of the siege their account went silent. Given their frequent posting, followers became very worried, especially because the last few messages had a dark tone suggesting the two had become resigned to death. Thankfully we know the pair have since been safely removed from Aleppo and they are back to using social media to raise awareness about the Syrian war.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Jan – In her January 18 article for Reuters, Michelle Nichols reported that outgoing U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said on Wednesday that Iran needs a push by the United Nations Security Council, to abide by an arms embargo, amid U.N. concerns that Tehran has supplied weapons and missiles to Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Jan – In their January 18 article for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Toby Dershowitz, vice president for government relations and strategy at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Gardner Lange, research assistant, write about Argentine terrorism prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head in what was almost certainly murder, not suicide, two years ago, on January 18, 2015.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Jan – Maryam Rajavi, the distinguished leader of the Iranian Resistance, addressed the French Parliament over the threat that the mullahs’ Regime still poses to the middle east, on Tuesday, January 17.
She noted that the death of former Iranian President Rafsanjani, the Regime became imminently more fragile, and in response, would become more defensive and more extreme. They will up their terrorist activities, their oppression of their own people and their quest for a nuclear bomb in the coming months.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Jan – A bipartisan group of former US officials have urged the Trump Administration to be tough on the Iranian Regime and begin a dialogue with their organised democratic resistance.
They wrote a three-page letter to the incoming President, asking him to begin talks with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (PMOI/MEK).
Iran Focus
London, 18 Jan – The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) is pleading with Iran, not to execute a man convicted as a child.
Sajad Sanjari was just 15 when an Iranian court sentenced him to death for the fatal stabbing of a man in 2012.
