Iran Focus
London, 17 Aug – A prominent human rights activist has written an op-ed for Forbes in which he warned the international community against appeasing the Iranian Regime
Heshmat Alavi, an activist who specialises in Iran and the Middle East, advised the Donald Trump administration against listening to the Iran Lobby who are still trying to protect the 2015 nuclear deal.
In Alavi’s opinion, that deal is not worth saving and he advises Trump to find Iran in violation of the deal.
Iran Focus
London, 17 Aug – A Saudi official announced that they have never requested Iraqi mediation in its affairs with the Iranian Regime and that any claim to the contrary was just fake news.
In a statement on Wednesday, the SPA official said: “Saudi Arabia affirms its strong stance which rejects any association in any shape or form with the Iranian regime which spreads terrorism and extremism in the region and internationally, and interferes in other countries’ matters.”
Earlier this month, comments attributed to the Iraqi Minister of Interior, Qassem al-Aaragi, suggested that during the recent visit of Iraqi Prime Minister, Haydar al-Aabadi, to Saudi Arabia, Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had asked Aabadi to mediate with the Iranian Regime for them.
Iran Focus
London, 17 Aug – The extremist ideology exhibited by the Iranian Regime is medieval and poses a threat to nation states in the Middle East, according to a Saudi Journalist.
Mohammed Al Shaikh wrote an op-ed for Al Arabiya, entitled “Extremist ideologies bane for nation states”, in which he assesses that prior to the 1979 Iranian revolution the countries in the Middle East lived in relative harmony.
He wrote: “Since the advent of this clerical regime, sectarian strife among members of the same religious community, both in the Arab and Islamic countries, has increased. The ongoing sectarian conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen prove my statement… It is a historical fact that before Khomeini’s revolution in Iran, Arab societies lived in peace and harmony.”
Iran Focus
London, 17 Aug – The Iranian Regime colluded with Russia in order to violate UN sanctions with regard to the 2015 nuclear deal, according to reports by German media and state intelligence agencies.
Iran and Russia used a secret smuggling route to transfer illegal weapons in violation of UN Resolution 2231, according to German’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
Their report, published on Sunday, read: “In June, two aeroplanes from Iran flew directly to the Khmeimim Air Base [southeast of Latakia] – the most important Russian military base in Syria – in order to bring the military equipment for transport to Russia.”
Iran Focus
London, 16 Aug – The US Navy has warned that Iranian provocation in the Persian Gulf ‘creates an unnecessary risk of escalation’ between the two states, but that the US will not be backing down.
Commander Bill Urban, spokesman for the US Naval Central Command (NAVCENT), in Bahrain spoke to Al Arabiya English to confirm that the US Navy will continue to operate as normal despite increasing tensions in the area as vehicles under the command of the Iranian Regime continue to engage in unsafe or unprofessional interactions.
Iran Focus
London, 16 Aug – The Iranian Regime is building a long-range rocket factory in Syria, according to a report on Israeli television.
The Channel 2 television news report, which aired on Tuesday, showed satellite images of the site under construction in northwest Syria near to the Mediterranean coastal town of Baniyas.
It said that the construction indicated that explosives would be stored there and compared images of buildings that it said were of a rocket factory near Tehran to structures at the Syrian site to showcase the strong resemblance between them.
Iran Focus
London, 16 Aug – The BBC has criticised the Iranian Regime for its asset freeze on BBC Persian staff resident in London; the latest attack from the Regime on the BBC’s Iranian correspondents.
The Iranian judiciary issued a court order that imposed sanctions against more than 150 BBC Persian journalists and former journalists. The sanctions prevent the people listed from conducting financial transactions (including selling their homes) in Iran because of their ties to the BBC.
Iran Focus
London, 16 Aug – Amnesty International called on the Iranian Regime to halt the execution of a man who was sentenced to death as a juvenile.
Mehdi Bohlouli was just 17 when he was sentenced to death by an Iranian criminal court in November 2001 for fatally stabbing a man during a fight, according to the human rights group.
Bohlouli’s execution was due to take place on Wednesday August 16. As this story was filed in the early hours, it is not known if Amnesty’s calls for a stay of execution was successful.
Iran Focus
London, 16 Aug – Iranian Mullahs chanting “Death to America” recently voted to increase its budget for funding terrorism and its ballistic missiles programme by a total of $609 million.
This staggering increase in military funding will reportedly be divided equally between the Iranian Regime’s militant Quds Forces, which is at the centre of virtually all of Iran’s proxy wars in the Middle East, and the ballistic missile programme, which is one of their major disputes with the US right now.
Iran Focus
London, 16 Aug – The Iranian Regime, like so many other authoritarian regimes, has recruited a popular music star to spread Islamic values to the youth as part of its propaganda machine against Western values, but this has backfired completely with many Iranians now boycotting the star.
Amir-Hossein Maghsoud¬loo, a 33-year-old rapper better known as “Tataloo”, was twice imprisoned by the Regime for “encouraging [moral] corruption” with his music videos but now produces music and related content with nationalist and reli¬gious themes.
