Iran Focus
London, 31 Jan – Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has blamed the current economic crisis besieging the Gulf state on the US, citing American sanctions and pressure on other countries to abide by these sanctions, complaining that these are the worst in 40 years.
Rouhani said: “Today our problems are primarily because of pressure from America and its followers. And the dutiful government and Islamic system should not be blamed,”
Iran Focus
London, 30 Jan – German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the European Union was launching a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in order to continue trading with Iran, despite US sanctions.
He said: “As far as the special purpose vehicle is concerned: it will be registered, it has not yet been registered, but I would say that the implementation of our plan is imminent.”
Iran Focus
London, 30 Jan – Iran is openly furious about an international conference on peace in the Middle East set to take place in Poland next month, with officials regarding it as a hostile act and even summoning a Polish diplomat to the Foreign Ministry in order to protest it.
Still many Iranian officials and heads of Friday prayers have attempted to downplay the importance of the conference, which Iran has not been invited to, but what is clear from their comments is the underlying fear that this conference could result in a coalition against the regime’s terrorism and regional meddling.
Iran Focus
London, 30 Jan – The EU has been working hard to uphold the landmark The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal after the Trump administration announced the US exit and re-imposition of sanctions last May. Last week, however, the EU took a harder line with Iran over its ballistic missile testing and its global support of terrorism.
France has announced that it will impose new sanctions on the Islamic Republic if it fails to make concessions regarding its ongoing ballistic missile tests, and Germany has announced that it has banned flights by Iran’s Mahan Air airlines because it continues to be involved with exporting weapons and terrorism to Syria.
Iran Focus
London, 29 Jan – Four in five Iranians will experience problems accessing clean, safe, drinking water at some point in the next two years, according to the Iranian Parliament’s Research Centre, which will provoke mass unrest among the population as they struggle to survive.
This stark warning came from a report about the drought in Iran this summer, which caused what’s been described as Iran’s “worst” water shortage, with 46% of the country (roughly 37 million people) without easy access to drinking water.
Iran Focus
London, 29 Jan – The European Union’s digital security agency said on Monday that Iran is likely to increase its cyber espionage activities as its relations with Western powers deteriorate.
The European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) said in a report: “Newly imposed sanctions on Iran are likely to push the country to intensify state-sponsored cyber threat activities in pursuit of its geopolitical and strategic objectives at a regional level.”
Iran Focus
London, 29 Jan – Prior to the US exit from the Iran nuclear deal last May, it was negotiating with the EU to coordinate pressure on Iran to fill gaps in the deal – specifically Iranian global terrorism and ballistic missile testing. There were other issues that the US wanted to address, but they were not part of the package, and the Trump administration decided to break with the EU and confront Tehran alone.
Iran Focus
London, 28 Jan – U.S. President Donald Trump exited the 2015 Iran nuclear deal last year as promised. He clearly stated that he would not allow the terrorist and criminal Mullahs ruling Iran to continue benefiting from a deal that only Iran benefitted from. Trump explained that the nuclear agreement guaranteed a nuclear arms race in the region instead of curbing the Iran threat. Trump also spoke about the people of Iran who are systematically being denied the most basic of human rights.
Iran Focus
London, 28 Jan – The Iranian government is gearing up to consolidate power in countries across the Middle East where it has influence, including Iraq, in an apparent bid to wage war against the US for sanctions imposed on Iran and its Hezbollah proxy last year.
Last November, the US reimposed sanctions against over 700 Iranian individuals and entities, including major banks, oil exporters and shipping companies, and designated the son of Iran-backed Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah a global terrorist, while in October, the US sanctioned Hezbollah and some of those who provide material, financial or technological support to the group.
Iran Focus
London, 27 Jan – This month the Dutch authorities publicly announced that it had “strong indications” the Iranian government had commissioned the murder of a prominent Dutch citizen of Iranian origin, Ahmad Mola Nissi. He was gunned down in front of his home in November of 2017. He was part of the leadership of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, an activist group that agitates for the formation of a separate state in western Iran. Iran’s government condemns the group as a terrorist organization.
