March 19, 2024

Blinken says Ukraine sanctions on Russia not linked with Iran nuclear talks

Reuters
March 6, 2022
WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) – The sanctions imposed on Russia over its Ukraine invasion have nothing to do with a potential nuclear deal with Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday, after Russia’s demand a day before on written guarantees from Washington that its punitive measures won’t harm cooperation on […]

UN human rights experts urge Iran to abandon restrictive internet bill

GENEVA (1 March 2022) – UN human rights experts have called on the Government of Iran to abandon its efforts to enact a new law that would effectively isolate the country from the global internet.
The Iranian Parliament may soon ratify the “Regulatory System for Online Services Bill” – more commonly referred to as the “User […]

Iranian Americans welcome support from U.S. lawmakers, await matching policies

Foreign Policy News
Dr. Majid Sadeghpour
It is rare to see America’s policymakers set aside party affiliations or agree to join one another in support of a cause, yet last week, more than 50 members of congress found an exception. From across the U.S. these political figures took part in a virtual conference last week, organized by […]

A growing challenge for Iraq: Iran-aligned Shiite militias

by Associated Press
QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and ZEINA KARAM
Wed, March 31, 2021

BAGHDAD (AP) — It was a stark message: A convoy of masked Shiite militiamen, armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, drove openly through central Baghdad denouncing the U.S. presence in Iraq and threatening to cut off the prime minister’s ear.
The ominous display underscored the growing […]

EU to sanction Iran militia, police, three entities over 2019 protests, diplomats say

By Robin Emmott, John Irish

BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) – The European Union will target eight Iranian militia and police commanders and three state entities with sanctions next week over a deadly crackdown in November 2019 by Iranian authorities, three diplomats said on Wednesday.
The travel bans and asset freezes will be the first time the EU has imposed sanctions on […]

Belgian Court Hands Iranian Diplomat 20 Years for Terrorism Plot

By Jamie Dettmer
February 04, 2021

Police patrol during the trial of four persons, including an Iranian diplomate and Belgian-Iranian couple at the courthouse in Antwerp, Belgium, Feb. 4, 2021.

An Iranian who claimed diplomatic immunity from prosecution was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Belgian court on Thursday for an attempted 2018 bombing in Paris.
The court […]

Khamenei deprives Iranian people of COVID-19 vaccines

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneiis banning highly effective coronavirus vaccines from Iran because they are made in the United States and other Western countries.
“I really do not trust” them, Khamenei said January 8, announcing the ban on two widely used vaccines produced in the United States and the United Kingdom, the Associated Press reports. “Sometimes […]

Biden Plans Renewed Nuclear Talks With Russia While Punishing Kremlin, Adviser Says

The New York Times

By David E. Sanger

Jan. 3, 2021

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s incoming national security adviser said on Sunday that the new administration would move quickly to renew the last remaining major nuclear arms treaty with Russia, even while seeking to make President Vladimir V. Putin pay for what appeared to be the largest-ever hacking […]

U.S. undertook cyber operation against Iran as part of effort to secure the 2020 election

Ellen Nakashima
November 3, 2020 at 6:29 p.m. EST
U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency have taken recent actions to ensure that foreign actors do not interfere in the 2020 election, including an operation in the past two weeks against Iran, U.S. officials said.
The move against Iranian hackers working for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps […]

Arrests, torture and executions: Iran’s autumn of discontent

Analysts believe the hanging of wrestling champion Navid Afkari last month was meant to deter future protests
Spiraling economic crisis could spur more repression and violence as regime confronts widespread discontent

LONDON: In the face of the Middle East’s worst COVID-19 outbreak and economic ruin, Iran’s violent crackdown and persecution of anti-government activists is an attempt to deter […]