By Jubin Katiraie
German authorities arrested an Afghan-German dual national for spying on behalf of an Iranian intelligence agency last January.
German authorities also arrested four individuals and the mastermind of a plot to set off explosives at a large gathering organized near Paris by the Iranian opposition.
High-ranking Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi was extradited to face charges in Belgium along with the operatives to whom he had provided the explosives.
Iran Focus
London, 6 Feb – While the Iranian regime denies the use of torture, reports confirm its use. Numerous instances of torture and human rights abuses were reported by the Iran Human Rights Monitor for the month of January.
Following a labor activist’s Instagram post alleging that he was tortured while in the custody of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry, human rights activists have been publishing reports about detainees being tortured during interrogations under the Farsi hashtag of “I was tortured too”.
Iran Focus
London, 6 Feb – Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani claimed that there are no political prisoners in Iran, during a meeting with Judiciary officials in Tehran on Monday.
Iran plans to pardon 50,000 prisoners to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, but the Regime has faced growing calls to free political prisoners, so Larijani claimed that there were none.
Iran Focus
London, 6 Feb – Iranian environmental activist, Niloufar Bayani, who has been held for more than a year by IRGC intelligence, alleged in a court session headed by Judge Salavati that she was repeatedly threatened and attacked by authorities, and was forced to make confessions. She said the ‘confessions’ were made under physical torture and intense psychological pressure, and that she had retracted all of them after the first round of investigations.
Iran Focus
London, 5 Feb – A conference was held in Brussels on Monday discussed the Iranian state terrorist activity that is posing a great threat to Europe.
The event was moderated by a former European Parliament Vice President Dr. Alejo Vidal Quadras. He stressed the involvement of high-level officials in Iran who are clearly coordinating terrorist attacks in Europe.
By Jubin Katiraie
The EU announced the establishment of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to handle trade between EU countries and the Iranian regime on January 31, but this received significantly less positive media attention than some of its defenders would have liked. In fact, many in the media questioned why INSTEX was even created and what good it would do. This is far from the miracle cure that Iran was hoping for and more akin to putting a band-aid on a bullet hole.
Why was INSTEX created?
Iran Focus
London, 4 Feb – Donald Trump has vowed to keep US troops in Iraq to watch Iran, according to comments he made in a CBS “Face the Nation” interview but denied wanting to strike or go to war with Iran.
Trump said: “One of the reasons I want to keep [the military base] is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem… This is what a lot of people don’t understand. We’re going to keep watching and we’re going to keep seeing and if there’s trouble, if somebody is looking to do nuclear weapons or other things, we’re going to know it before they do.”
By Jubin Katiraie
In 1979, the anti-monarchical revolution by the Iranian people was usurped by the theocratic regime that still holds power in Iran today. But how long can this regime remain in power before the mullahs, like the Shah, are deposed?
Currently, Iran is facing several crises on domestic and international levels that are limiting the mullahs’ power. First, increased economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation from the US are reducing the flow of money and political legitimacy that Iran relies on to expand its influence across other countries in the Middle East. Second, and more importantly, the Iranian people’s uprising, which began in December 2017 and continues despite a violent crackdown, is showing the world that the mullahs and their malign behaviour are not supported by the Iranian people, thus increasing the countries that wish to join the US in sanctioning and isolating the regime.
By Pooya Stone
The head of Iran’s Atomic Agency has bragged about violating the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, by never fully dismantling their nuclear sites.
Ali Akbar Salehi told state news agency IRNA on Wednesday that the country had not filled its reactor with cement, but had instead only destroyed the tubes that the fuel goes through, having already bought replacement tubes that they hid from the West.
By Jubin Katiraie
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), or 2015 Iran nuclear deal as it is commonly known, has been in place for three years now. The aim of the deal was to curb the nuclear threat from Iran, but it has ended up being one of the most controversial deals ever negotiated in recent years.
Even during the negotiations, there were those that were strongly for it, and those that were strongly against it. Obama argued that it was absolutely essential to have this deal in place and he promised that it would lead to the belligerent Iranian regime becoming more moderate.
