By Pooya Stone
In less than a month, the second round of US sanctions against the Iranian Regime will come into force and Europe’s countermeasure initiative doesn’t appear as if it can actually help evade these sanctions, which could mean that the Regime walks away from the 2015 nuclear deal altogether.
By Jubin Katiraie
The Iranian economy was expected to grow this year, but thanks to US sanctions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that the country has now entered a recession.
The IMF World Economic Outlook report, released on Monday, predicted that Iran’s economy will contract by 1.5% in 2018 and 3.5% in 2019.
Iran Focus
London, 12 Oct – The Iran Action Group released its findings on the rogue country’s malign actions in a 45-page report at the end of September, focusing on Iran’s role in destabilising the Middle East, particularly their arming and supporting the Houthi militia in Yemen.
Iran Focus
London, 9 Oct – The US has called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday to dismiss a claim made by Iran to recover $1.75 billion in frozen bank assets.
Iran brought a lawsuit before the Hague tribunal, which is the United Nations top court, to recover funds that were frozen during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when the mullahs stole power from the Iranian people.
Iran Focus
London, 9 Oct – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that the Iranian economy fell into recession this year, thanks to renewed US sanctions, something that will only get worse next year.
The IMF released its World Economic Outlook late on October 8, which stated that Iran’s oil-driven economy is expected to decrease by 1.5% this year, as a result of falling oil exports, something that will only continue to drop in 2019, leading to a shrinkage of 3.6% in the Iranian economy next year.
Iran Focus
London, 6 Oct – When Iranian security agents arrested women’s rights advocate Maryam Azad at Tehran’s Khomeini Airport on September 25, she became the fourth activist to be arrested in a month.
Azad, 31, a theatre graduate, had boarded a plane to Istanbul when she was arrested and it is not yet clear what she is being charged with. She also requires medical care for an unknown ailment, but the Iranian Regime often denies medical care to prisoners.
Iran Focus
London, 5 Oct – Iran failed on Wednesday to persuade the highest court in the United Nations to overturn the punishing economic sanctions from the US that are bringing the Iranian economy to a grinding halt.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, whom Iran appealed to in July, has left most of the nuclear sanctions in place, only ordering the US to lift sanctions that affect imports of medicine, food and civilian aircraft parts.
Iran Focus
London, 5 Oct – Reports are surfacing the value of the Iranian rial is on the rise, after several months of declines, but that fifty Iranian economists are calling for Iran to end “the secondary forex market,” an arrangement that has “pushed millions of Iranians below the poverty line” and could lead to at least one million job losses.
In a letter to the heads of three branches of government, the economists explain that the creation of a secondary market has lifted control on the foreign exchange rates and brought 60% inflation.
Iran Focus
London, 4 Oct – Every month, Iran Human Rights Monitor releases a report in the situation of human rights in Iran and it always makes for uncomfortable reading. The September version was no different, with an unprecedented crackdown on human rights advocates, several official reports of cruel and inhumane punishments, and at least 33 executions.
We’ve produced a summary of the report here, but, as always, we encourage you to download the full PDF and learn more. When reading either piece, please remember that because of the closed and insular nature of the Iranian government, the figures given may be much smaller than in reality.
Iran Focus
London, 4 Oct – The Iranian currency unexpectedly rose in value on Tuesday, following months of depreciation triggered by US sanctions, but caused overall by government corruption and mismanagement.
At one point, exchange shops in Tehran were offering one US dollar for 135,000 rials (compared with highs of 190,000 just the day before). This led many Iranians to rush to exchange their rials for dollars to beat the inevitable drop in value that will happen when further US sanctions are applied next month.
