Iran Focus
London, 1 Aug – An Iranian human rights activist has praised the new US sanctions on Iran, claiming that they succeed, where the nuclear deal failed.
Amir Basiri, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, in which he referred to the most recent sanctions as a “milestone achievement in countering the Iranian regime’s belligerence and fixing some of the key flaws contained in the [2015] nuclear deal”.
Iran Focus
London, 1 Aug – Heshmat Alavi, a human rights activist specialising in Iran, wrote an analysis of the Iranian Regime’s aggressive attitude surrounding their ballistic weapons programme for Al Arabiya in which he assessed that despite their posturing, the Iranian Regime is ready to collapse under pressure from the international community and their own people.
Iran Focus
London, 1 Aug – The Iranian Regime is now subject to new sanctions following the recent launch of a satellite into space; as many speculate that this was not part of a peaceful space programme but in fact a test for their long-range ballistic missile programme.
Michael Tomlinson, wrote on Iran Lobby, that this was similar to the way in which North Korea developed its programme, which now poses a threat to the US.
Iran Focus
London, 1 Aug – Online retailer Amazon is under investigation for potentially breaking US sanctions on Iran by selling over $30,000 worth of goods to people working on behalf of the Iranian Regime in the past five years, according to its own US Security and Exchange Commissions filing.
The reports notes that between January 2012 and June 2017 Amazon processed and delivered orders from individuals and organisations outside of Iran that were subject to the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act (ITRA), i.e. embassies, people affiliated with the Iranian Regime, and entities potentially owned by members of the Regime.
Iran Focus
London, 1 Aug – A member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), wrote an op-ed for The Gatestone Institute in which he criticised the US’s decision to certify the Iranian Regime as compliant with the nuclear deal despite clear evidence to the contrary.
He did, however, praise the White House for its warnings to the Regime that this certification was “reluctant” and would be backed up by further sanctions against the Regime’s non-nuclear crimes like ballistic missile development and support for terrorism, and for quickly following through with those sanctions.
Iran Focus
London, 31 Jul – The Iranian Regime is threatening to use its ballistic missiles again and we should believe them, according to an Iran expert.
Michael Tomlinson wrote on Iran Lobby that he can see direct parallels between North Korea and Iran with their use of ballistic missiles, which Iran has been steadily increasing its production of for some time now.
He wrote: “For the mullahs in Tehran, their ballistic missile fleet represents their ace in the hole; a weapon platform that can reach far away enemies, threaten its neighbours and provide the ultimate leverage by carrying nuclear or chemical warheads. You don’t build a weapon system unless you are prepared to use it and the mullahs are prepared.”
Iran Focus
London, 31 Jul – The founder of encrypted messaging service Telegram has denied any plans to install servers in Iran, despite claims from the Iranian Regime.
Telegram Founder and CEO Pavel Durov explained on Twitter that “no Telegram servers will be moved to Iran”. In his post, he linked to an earlier post which explained Telegram’s position in more detail.
Mahmoud Vaezi, Iran’s communications and information technology minister, said on Sunday that some Telegram servers will be moved to Iran following recent meetings between the Iranian Regime and Telegram managers.
Iran Focus
London, 31 Jul – The Iranian Regime has vowed to press ahead with its ballistic missile programme at “full power” despite US Sanctions.
Bahram Ghasemi, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, said that the Regime saw these sanctions as “an effort to weaken the nuclear deal,” which was signed between Iran and the P5+1 countries (the US, the UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia).
Ghasemi called the sanctions “hostile, reprehensible and unacceptable”, claiming that Iran had proven its compliance with the nuclear deal, which was supposed to lift some sanctions against Iran in favour of stopping Iran from working on nuclear weapons technology.
Iran Focus
London, 31 Jul – It is a weird partnership that exists between the Shiite Iranian Regime the Muslim Brotherhood but the two are united on their bastardisation of functioning democracies.
Despite their partnership being in place for over 40 years, Track Persia reports that Iran “does not have a clear and coherent policy towards the Muslim Brotherhood,” which is mainly due to the differing regional goals of the different factions of the Brotherhood.
Track Persia writes that Hamas, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Iran have an unsteady relationship but that there are many links between the two groups; not least their hatred for Israel.
By: Jubin Katiraie
For many associated with the Iranian lobby and appeasers of the clerical regime in Tehran, the best way to prop up the regime is to discredit any alternative options presented to the international community. In addition, the lobby and appeasers continue to stress that regime change will lead to war. As an example, they point to the struggles of the Iraq government since the removal of Saddam by the U.S. and its allies.
However, history teaches us that any regime’s existence is limited when it begins with a violent upheaval. The current Iranian regime was born out of a revolution to end the rule of the Shah, but that revolution’s goal was to create a secular, pluralistic, and democratic Iran. However, the mullahs hijacked the revolution, creating a theocracy and suppressing any alternative political voices, including the MEK/PMOI.
