Iran Focus
London, 31 Oct – Iran’s economy continues to plummet, which has led to a growing economic crisis — unprecedented rates of unemployment, poverty, and inequality plague the country.
On May 5th, state-run Eqtesad website published a story titled “Broken backs under the weight of unemployment” that said, “Two-thirds of the Iranian people live under the poverty line! Maybe this statistic has not been written anywhere but it is a sad truth that rarely any official dares to reveal.”
Iran Focus
London, 30 Oct – The Iranian inflation rate has risen to 15.9% in October, the Central Bank of Iran reported. They also noted that the inflation rate has soared by 36.9% compared with the same month from 2017.
This announcement came just one week before US sanctions targeting Iran’s international banking and oil export sectors come into force.
Iran Focus
London, 30 Oct – Just days before US sanction on Iran’s oil sector are due to go into effect, China and India – the two biggest importers of Iranian oil – are fighting America’s push to fully stop the flow of Iranian oil, claiming that there are not enough supplies available elsewhere to make up the shortfall.
The US announced these sanctions back in May, when it withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, but China remains a party to the deal and has vowed to keep importing the oil, despite American threats to ban Chinese companies from the US financial market. China imports about $1.5 billion worth of oil every month from Iran and may be less concerned about US sanctions because it has the world’s second largest economy and it working with EU partners to bypass the sanctions by not using dollars.
Iran Focus
London, 30 Oct – During the annual United Nations General Assembly meetings, the American Iranian diaspora that stands against the Mullahs in Iran came to New York. Rudy Giuliani, former New York City Mayor, and attorney for US President Trump, gave his ninth address to them.
Iran Focus
London, 29 Oct – In a speech on Sunday to officials in charge of cyber defense, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called for the stepping up of efforts to fight enemy “infiltration”, according to reports on state television. “In the face of the enemy’s complex practices, our civil defense should … confront infiltration through scientific, accurate, and up-to-date … action,” he told civil defense officials, including those involved in cyber defense.
Western cultural influences, such as entertainment, social media, and the Internet are seen as a threat against Islamic and revolutionary values by officials.
Iran Focus
London, 29 Oct – There is a battle brewing between Donald Trump and Iran hawks in Congress over the next round of US sanctions on Iran, with many conservative lawmakers believing that the sanctions returning on November 5 do not go far enough.
These sanctions, originally lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump exited earlier this year, will target Iran’s central bank and oil industry, but Republican lawmakers fear that they are not strong enough to fulfil Trump’s promise of putting “maximum pressure” on Iran.
By Jubin Katiraie
Once Iran is free from the mullahs, Maryam Rajavi, leader of the Iranian Resistance, has outlined a ten-point plan for how the new democratic Iran will be governed, which includes gender equality, a reform of the justice system, and equality for all ethnicities and nationalities, among others.
In this piece, we will explore why the equality of all nationalities and ethnicities is so important to Maryam Rajavi, using excerpts from speeches she has made over the years.
Iran Focus
London, 28 Oct – More than 2,500 AK-47 rifles and other guns that were seized by the crew of a U.S. destroyer off the coast of Yemen are being examined by UN inspectors to determine whether the weapons originated in Iran or Somalia.
The UN inspectors were invited on board by US authorities on October 25th. They are there to determine whether or not the weapons provide proof that Iran is smuggling arms to allied Shi’ite Houthi rebels, which Iran denies. But the United Nations has repeatedly charged Iran with illegally smuggling weapons to the Houthis, in violation of UN resolutions.
Iran Focus
London, 27 Oct – An intelligence agency, carried out a raid in Iran at the beginning of the year. It collected a number of photographs, satellite images and documents that have now been analysed by the Institute of Science and International Security.
Four researchers with extensive nuclear knowledge from the agency studied the data and compiled a report with an emphasis on the Parchin military base.
The experts say that Iran used the Parchin military base to conduct research and develop the country’s nuclear weapons program.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Oct – Donald Trump promised that all US sanctions against Iran will be in place on November 5, as he signed a bill that would impose strict sanctions on Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah.
Trump said: ” On November 5th, all US sanctions against Iran lifted by the nuclear deal will be back in full force, every sanction that we had on their originally, which would have if they would have just left it a little bit longer, would have been so much easier than what we’ve been through over the last number of years.”
