Let's talk Iran - March 19, 2021
NUCLEAR
Iranian weapons stockpile poses ‘major threat’ to Middle East and beyond, NCRI conference hears
NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee spokesperson Ali Safavi, former Italy Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi and Walid Phares, the co-secretary general of the Transatlantic Parliamentary Group on Counterterrorism, said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as the Iran nuclear deal, has failed to curb Iran’s militant attacks through proxy militias in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.
The officials argued that US President Joe Biden and European leaders need to take a “tougher stand” against Tehran and its ongoing nuclear and ballistic missile program. LINK
Republican Pressure Mounts to Stop Biden’s Return to Iran Nuclear Deal
Republican foreign policy leaders in Congress filed two new bills that would increase economic sanctions on Iran as part of an effort to handicap the Biden administration's attempts to pursue a revamped nuclear deal. LINK
Iran says to cold test redesigned Arak nuclear reactor
Iran will cold test its redesigned Arak nuclear reactor as prelude to fully commissioning it later in the year, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said on Friday.
Iran has recently accelerated its breaches of the 2015 international nuclear deal in an apparent bid to pressure U.S. President Joe Biden to reverse his predecessor’s abandonment of the agreement. Both sides are locked in a standoff over who should move first to save the deal. LINK
IRGC Builds Ballistic Missiles, as People Grapple With Poverty
As Iranian are deprived of celebrating Nowruz due to extreme poverty, Iran's regime has unveiled a new ballistic missile town. The economic crisis and regime’s actions have turned the society into a powder keg. State-run media warn of another uprising. LINK
China Buys More Iranian and Venezuelan Oil, in a Test for Biden
China sharply increased its imports of Iranian oil, undermining leverage the US needs to bring Iran to the negotiating table. China is expected to import 918,000 barrels a day in March, the highest volume since the US imposed an embargo two years ago. LINK
TERRORISM
'Israel has attacked Iranian ships dozens of times in recent years'
The Israeli attacks against Iranian vessels have led to an approximately $1 billion loss to Hezbollah over the last three years.
According to the story by veteran military correspondent Tal Lev-Ram, a recent story in the Wall Street Journal about a dozen Israeli attacks against Iranian ships ferrying oil to Syria was only “partial” and that Israel’s naval operations against Iran are “deeper and more thorough” than previously reported. LINK
Dubai man arrested in Vancouver for allegedly helping terror-linked Iranian airline evade sanctions
Seyed Abood Sari landed at Vancouver airport on Jan. 17, 2019, and told border agents he was visiting his sons, but he was flagged and detained.
At a hearing four days later, a Canadian official disclosed that Sari was under investigation for his alleged role in an Iranian airline under sanction “for providing service to terrorist organizations.”
Mahan Air was sanctioned a decade ago for allegedly transporting weapons and personnel for the Quds Force branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard. LINK
HUMAN RIGHTS
Another woman hanged in Iran after 8 years of imprisonment
The mullahs' regime hanged yet another woman in the Prison of Taybad in eastern Iran on Sunday, March 14. More than 4300 people have been executed in Iran during the "moderate" President Hassan Rouhani’s tenure. As of now, they include 116 women. LINK
Iran Wants To Execute Another Juvenile Offender
According to human rights defenders in Iran, juvenile offender Aydin Delaei Milan is at imminent risk of execution in Iran. The authorities detained him two years ago in Tehran. He is currently 20 years old. LINK
Police shoot and kill man, injure another in W Iran
Iranian police and security forces carry out these shootings with impunity. At least 204 Iranian civilians were directly or indirectly killed or wounded by Iran’s state security forces in 2020, of which 74 lost their lives. LINK
IRAN LOBBY
Congress demands to see if Iran is paying Americans to help influence Biden policy
New Mexico Republican Rep. Yvette Herrell, and eight of her colleagues, sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking that it ferret out and prosecute any Americans who are secretly paid to parrot Tehran's line. LINK
