Let's talk Iran - Feb 8, 2021
TERRORISM
EDITORIAL: Belgian Court Gave Its Verdict, Now It’s Policymakers Turn
The time has come for the European Union to end the disgrace of negotiating with an individual who was involved in attempting to murder Iranian dissidents and European citizens.
Iran's embassies should be closed across Europe, and the regime’s agents, under any name and title, should be expelled. This is the only way to counter the clerical regime’s terrorism. LINK
Amb. Joseph: Judiciary Has Finished It Work, Now Governments Should Decisively Address Iran Regime’s Terrorism
The Belgian court and Belgium’s Judiciary finished their legal task, and now it is time for Western governments to “to act decisively, knowing that further concessions to the regime will only bring more injustice to the Iranian people and more criminal and terrorist acts,” as Ambassador Robert Joseph, former U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, said during an online conference on Thursday. LINK
Distinguished Policy Veterans Examine Implications of Iran Diplomat’s Terrorism Conviction, Urge a Firm Iran Policy
On Thursday, February 4, 2021, the U.S. Representative Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI-US) hosted a virtual briefing to address the policy implications of the verdict by a Belgian court, sentencing Iranian diplomat-terrorist Assadollah Assadi to 20 years for plotting to bomb a 2018 opposition rally in Paris.
US warns Yemen's Houthi rebels after terrorism delisting
The Biden administration on Sunday warned Yemen’s [Iran-backed] Houthi rebels against ongoing attacks against civilians just 48 hours after moving to strike the group from a terrorism blacklist. LINK
Iran-backed Houthis resume offensive in Yemen’s Marib
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia have resumed an offensive to seize the government’s last northern stronghold of Marib, a government source said Monday, with dozens of casualties on both sides. LINK
Arab Coalition intercepts bomb-laden Houthi drone targeting Saudi Arabia
The Arab Coalition on Monday said it had intercepted a bomb-laden drone launched by the Iran-backed Houthi militia targeting Saudi Arabia, according to an Al Arabiya reporter. LINK
Report: Ethiopia arrests 16 in Iranian cell planning attack on UAE embassy
The Israeli Embassy in Ethiopia was on high alert over the last two months due to fears of a potential Iranian attack, according to a Thursday television report.
The Kan News report also said Ethiopian authorities have arrested 16 suspects who were planning an attack against the United Arab Emirates embassy in the African nation’s capital, Addis Ababa. LINK
Centcom’s McKenzie calls Iran 'most challenging driver of instability' in Middle East
Centcom’s McKenzie calls Iran 'most challenging driver of instability' in Middle EastThe head of US Central Command, Gen Kenneth McKenzie, called Iran on Monday the main and “most challenging driver of instability” in the Middle East, arguing that Tehran and Washington are in a state of “contested deterrence.” LINK
HUMAN RIGHTS
Prison sentence of Iranian political prisoners extended for one year
Two Iranian dissidents imprisoned since 2017 were sentenced to prison by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran in connection with a new case against them while they were in prison. LINK
Iran Sentences three dissidents to 20 years in prison
Political prisoner Zahra Safaei, her daughter Prastoo Moeini and her son Mohammad Masoud Moini were handed their sentences by the Branch 23 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court presided over by judge Mohammad Mehdi Shahmirzadi. LINK
PROTESTS
The Iranian regime’s dithering on Covid-19 vaccination will backfire
Iran's dithering on procuring the coronavirus vaccine might buy it another few months, but it is only a matter of time before it has to face the wrath of the people again. And even the regime’s own officials and media are warning that the next time the people’s rage explodes, it will be beyond anything the regime can control. LINK
APOLOGOISTS/LOBBYISTS
Judge Korman Sets Feb. 10 Hearing in Criminal Case of New York Times Writer on Iranian Payroll
Kaveh Afrasiabi, who has had about a dozen articles and letters published in the New York Times, was arrested last month at his home in Massachusetts. A criminal complaint unsealed in the case said he had been paid about $265,000 by the Iranian UN mission since 2007 and had been covered by its health insurance plan. Afrasiabi acknowledged to the Algemeiner that he had received the checks from \Iran’s UN mission but insisted he had done nothing illegal. LINK
OTHER
42 years after Iran’s 1979 revolution
Forty-two years ago, Iranians, fed up with the oppression of the 50-year-old dictatorship of the Pahlavi dynasty, joined hands in hopes of gaining freedom in a revolution that overthrew the Shah in 1979. The revolution brought a new dictatorship to power. A theocracy that still rules today with an iron hand. But what has the clerical regime achieved after 42 years? LINK
Iran’s Power Struggle on Khomeini’s Anniversary
Each of the factions of the government are now using the memories of the regime’s dead founder in their own interests. These quarrels represent a higher reality that this government is futureless, and that social anger and hatred have forced the two heads of the system to use the name of the people for their unpleasant and illicit fate. LINK
Australian academic: Iran tried to use me while jailed to lure Israeli husband
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard used a jailed British-Australian academic in an attempt to lure her Israeli husband to Tehran, the Australian Herald Sun reported Sunday.
The discovery that Kylie Moore-Gilbert had an Israeli husband led to Iranian authorities stopping her at Tehran’s airport as she prepared to leave the country in 2018 after attending an academic conference. Authorities sentenced her to 10 years in prison for espionage. LINK
Iranian official: Iranians must choose between electricity and pollution
An Iranian official stated that Iranians must choose between electricity and pollution, while Iran’s Chairman of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce admitted that Chinese, Polish and Indian companies had official bitcoin mining permits. LINK