Iran Focus
London, 23 Jul – Iran has been arresting Westerners, mainly dual citizens, allegedly to use them as bargaining chips to advance objectives and politics in negotiations. In fact, Ellen R. Wald recently reported in Forbes that, “On July 16, news came out that an American graduate student at Princeton University named Xiyue Wang had been sentenced to 10 years in an Iranian prison for ‘espionage’.”
Iran Focus
London, 21 Jul – According to Iran’s state run television, Mohammad Ali Jafari responded to the new U.S. sanctions over Iran’s ballistic missile program by warning, “If the United States wants to pursue sanctions against Iran’s defenses and the Guards, then it has to move its regional bases to a distance of about 1,000 km (620 miles) around Iran.” He said additionally, that the U.S. should also “be aware that it would pay a high price for any miscalculations.”
Iran Focus
London, 21 Jul – Joint Comprehensive Program of Action nuclear weapons accord is lauded by some as a means to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and to keep America and its allies safe for the next decade. It was signed two years ago, and has been the subject of controversy and disagreement since that time. American President Trump hates the deal, and said he would “rip it up” while in the campaign trail.
Iran Focus
London, 21 Jul – Saudi Media reported on Wednesday, July 19, 2017,”The Special Court for Terrorism and National Security has tried two Iranians in Riyadh on charges of espionage for the Iran regime.
According to the indictment issued against the defendants, the two convicts exchanged information with Iran about the 1200-kilometer oil pipeline between the Abqaiq City (on the Persian Gulf Coast) and Yanbu (on the Red Sea Coast). According to the figures, 5 million oil barrels are transferred through this pipeline daily.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Jul – In a new report on Wednesday, the Trump administration said that Iran continues to be the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. The report also noted that between 2015 and 2016 the number of terrorist attacks has declined, globally.
The State Department’s annual “Country Reports on Terrorism” said that Iran was firm in its backing of anti-Israel groups as well as proxies that have destabilized conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Additionally, Iran continues to recruit in Afghanistan and Pakistan for Shiite militia members to fight in Syria and Iraq, and Iranian support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement remains unchanged.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Jul – Human Rights Watch said today that the Iranian government should immediately halt all executions for drug-related offenses while parliament debates amendments to reform the country’s drug law. In two weeks Parliament is expected to vote on an amendment to the drug law that will drastically raise the bar for a mandatory death penalty sentence.
Iran Focus
London, 20 Jul – The wife of the Princeton graduate student who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran for espionage has called on authorities to release him as he is “unjustly imprisoned”.
Xiyue Wang was arrested in August 2016, while on a research trip to Iran for his PhD in late 19th and early 20th-century Eurasian history, but his imprisonment was only reported on Sunday following his sentencing.
Wang’s wife Hua Qu described the 36-year-old as “one of the kindest, most thoughtful, and most loving men I have ever known.”
Iran Focus
London, 20 Jul – Donald Trump wanted to declare Iran as noncompliant with the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal but was talked out of it by national security aides shortly ahead of the midnight deadline, according to administration officials.
Trump agreed to drop the issue of Iranian breaches to the international agreement, after taking advice from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, but only for a few more months and only after a solution was found to distance Trump from the deal.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Jul – The health of a Lebanese man held prisoner in Iran for almost two years in rapidly deteriorating after three weeks on hunger strike, according to his family.
Nizar Zakka, 50, was rushed to hospital on Sunday, but refused an IV.
His brother Ziad said that Zakka is prepared to die unless he is released from Iranian custody and is refusing to sign documents in Farsi, a language he does not speak.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Jul – A British politician has written an op-ed for Al Arabiya to explain why the Iranian Regime should have no part in the rebuilding of Mosul after the expulsion of ISIS.
Struan Stevenson, president of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA), advised that although Western governments will be wary of sending foreign aid into a country with a weak and corrupt government, they should know that without Western help the government may only help the Shia community and leave the Sunnis to rot.
