Iran Focus
London, 28 Nov – The US has three crucial objectives that it intends to meet with its reimposition of sanctions on Iran.
First, prevent Iran from ever legally building a nuclear weapon – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’s (JCPOA) restrictions run out in 2024. Second, stop Iran from supporting terrorist groups across the Middle East and beyond, while reducing its influence in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon. Third, to dismantle Iran’s ballistic missile program.
Iran Focus
London, 27 Nov – A senior Iranian official has admitted that Iran now receives little benefit from the 2015 nuclear deal since the US reimposed sanctions on the country earlier this year, which means that sanctions are working.
Speaking at a seminar on Iran-EU cooperation held in Brussels, on Monday, November 26, Abbas Araqchi, the Islamic Republic’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, said: “The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is in a ‘critical situation’… This is a reality”.
Iran Focus
London, 27 Nov – Five environmentalists arrested in Iran for “spying” in January could face the death penalty after they were charged with “sowing corruption on Earth”.
Niloufar Bayani, Taher Ghadirian, Houman Jowkar, Sepideh Kashani and Morad Tahbaz, all members of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, were focused on the conservation of different wildlife species in Iran, including the Asiatic cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus). They put camera traps down near the cheetahs’ habitat to monitor the big cats, after receiving permission from the Iranian government, but the country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) alleged that the team was spying on Iran’s missile program.
Iran Focus
London, 27 Nov – Sanctions relief was expected to encourage a general trend toward moderation within the theocratic system, according to the negotiators for the Iran nuclear deal. In the preamble of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the deal is more formally known, its signatories declare that they anticipate that the agreement will contribute positively to peace and stability throughout the region.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Nov – Iran has faced international condemnation for likening Israel to a “cancerous tumour”, which has led many leaders around the world to criticize Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for making anti-Semitic remarks.
On Saturday, Rouhani called Israel a “cancerous tumour” in the Middle East during a speech.
He said: “One of the ominous results of World War Two was the formation of a cancerous tumour in the region.”
Iran Focus
London, 26 Nov – Many have criticised current U.S. President Donald Trump for his foreign policy decisions with regards to Iran. Many have slammed his decision to exit the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or 2015 Iran nuclear deal as it is known. Many have also criticised him for the crippling economic sanctions that are currently being implemented.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Nov – As the brave employees from the Haft Tapeh sugar cane mill in Shush, southwest Iran, continue their latest strike into its third consecutive week, more workers from other factories and businesses are taking part in their own protests.
Iran Focus
London, 24 Nov – Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelson said that three activists from ASMLA who are exiled in Denmark were targeted in an alleged assassination plot by the Iranian intelligence services in Denmark — and this may undermine Europe’s efforts to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran.
Danish intelligence service uncovered the plot just days after the September 22 attack by gunmen on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz that killed 29 people, including several children, and was initially claimed by the ASMLA.
Iran Focus
London, 23 Nov – The US has accused Iran of violating its commitments to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) by failing to declare chemical weapons-related activities.
US envoy Kenneth Ward told an annual meeting of the intergovernmental organization in The Hague on Thursday that the US is concerned that Iran is creating “central nervous system-acting chemicals” for offensive military use.
Iran Focus
London, 23 Nov – According to an article in the Iran Human Rights Monitor, the earthquake that shook Iran’s western provinces, damaging 10 cities and 1,930 villages, destroying more than 100,000 housing units, killing more than 600 and injuring thousands more, is more than a year past, and conditions are becoming even more difficult for the homeless survivors, as the authorities continue to fail to providing aide.
Worst hit was the cities of Qasr-e Shirin, Sarpol-e Zahab and Salas-e Babajani. According to the local governor, in Kermanshah’s Dalahu county some villages had been completely destroyed.
