Iran Focus
London, 14 Apr – Ray Takeyh, an Iranian-American Middle East scholar, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and former United States Department of State official, gave his opinions and assessment of the stability of Iran before the Subcommittee on National Security of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government. He also advised what the US can do to weaken the regime and to counter its influence in the region.
Iran Focus
London, 14 Apr – The past few weeks has been eventful for the United States’ relations with Syria. First, the United States put Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad on notice so that he cannot attack his own people with chemical weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction again. And second, it became very clear that President Trump is not actually one of Vladimir Putin’s puppets as has been suggested many times in past months.
Iran Focus
London, 14 Apr – On Thursday, the Treasury Department in the United States announced that it would be imposing sanctions on an Iranian prison company and its former leader. The sanctions are being imposed because of beatings that were carried out on dozens of political prisoners in 2014.
Iran Focus
London, 14 Apr – Former president of Iran from 2005 to 2013, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has just entered the country’s presidential election and it has caused somewhat of a stir. In fact, the race has turned into a crisis.
The election process in Iran has been rocky for decades. Democracy is a distant memory for many Iranians. The last time there was true democracy was when Dr. Mohammad Mosaddeq was Prime Minister. During his short time in this position, from 1951 to 1953, he was regarded as a champion of secular democracy and resisted foreign domination. In 1953 he was ousted from power following a coup d’état that was backed by the government of the United Kingdom and the United States.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Apr – In a reaction to the missile attack by the United States following the horrifying chemical attack in Syria which led to the death of dozens of civilians, the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, said that his country was prepared to join Vladimir Putin in using force against Donald Trump if their “red lines” are crossed.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Apr – With the Iranian presidential election fast approaching, it is safe to say that this one will be just as much of a sham as the previous ones. Rather than the public voting for its next president, the Islamic Republic chooses candidates, and then just disregards public opinion anyway.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Apr – The Islamic Republic of Iran has been reaching out to some of its Arab neighbours recently in an attempt to repair relations. Quite understandably, some nations have shrugged off any attempt at a reconciliation – sceptical about the real intentions of the Iranian regime – and have in turn been criticised for their scepticism.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Apr – In 2015, the P5+1 countries (the UK, the US, France, Germany, Russia, and China) made a deal with Iran in order to contain the Gulf nation’s nuclear programme.
The agreement imposed nuclear restrictions on Iran and asked that Iran’s nuclear facilities be independently inspected by the IAEA. In return, the six other nations (as well as the EU and the UN), would provide the mullah’s regime with some sanctions relief, which would supposedly help the Iranian economy.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Apr – Several Republican lawmakers have come together to encourage the Trump administration to investigate a company which may be helping Iran to evade sanctions regulations, as Chinese mobile-phone maker ZTE Corp, has previously done.
Last month, ZTE pled guilty to shipping US products to Iran in violation of American sanctions against selling American technology to Iran. ZTE was ordered by the court to pay $1.2 billion in fines.
Iran Focus
London, 13 Apr – This Tuesday, the European Union voted to extend sanctions against Iran until April 2018, in response to “serious human rights violations”, according to Reuters.
This move has been welcomed by politicians, organisations and members of the general public who advocate for human rights.
