How to Challenge the Iranian Regime11 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 11 Sep - If Donald Trump really wants to challenge the Iranian Regime, then he must support the Resistance, bring the Regime back to the negotiating table and end the destabilisation of the Middle East, according to a human rights activist.
Hamid Bahrami, a former political prisoner from Iran, wrote an op-ed for the American Thinker, in which he laid out how Trump and the US could challenge the Regime, rather than bow to their manipulations.

Iran Nuclear Deal: The Role of the People in the Fall of the Religious DictatorshipNuclear 30 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 30 Sep - The future of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated by former US President Barack Obama is on shaky ground. During his first ever United Nations General Assembly speech, President Donald Trump made quite a statement. He called the nuclear deal an “embarrassment” to his country because it is so one-sided.
He added: “The Iranian government masks a corrupt dictatorship behind the false guise of a democracy. It has turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed, and chaos. The longest-suffering victims of Iran’s leaders are, in fact, its own people.”

Days Before Certification Due, Ambassador Haley Implies Russia Shielding Iran From IAEA InspectionsNuclear 30 September 2017

Iran Focus
Washington, 30 Sep - Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, said “some countries” are shielding Iran from inspections by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It’s believed Haley was targeting Russia, as several diplomats say that Russia has been trying to restrict the IAEA's role by arguing it has no authority to police a broadly worded section of the deal.
These inspections are specifically mandated under the landmark 2015 Nuclear Deal with six major powers that restricted Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Haley said that the IAEA should widen the inspections to include military sites.

Iran Files Charges Against Telegram CEO27 September 2017


Iran Focus
London, 27 Sep - The Iranian Regime has filed charges against the CEO of the encrypted messaging app Telegram.
Tehran’s prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, claimed that Telegram is popular with the so-called Islamic State, child pornographers, human traffickers and drug smugglers, which is why they’ve levied charges against CEO Pavel Durov, who lives in Russia.
Durov tweeted his surprise at the charges.
He said: “We are actively blocking terrorist and pornographic content in Iran. I think the real reasons are different.”

Trump May Let Congress Decide on Future of Nuclear DealNuclear 29 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 29 Sep - President of the United States Donald Trump has a deadline of 15th October in which he is legally obliged to inform Congress about Iran’s compliance, or non-compliance, with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
His decision is eagerly awaited because it could have a profound impact on the future of the nuclear deal. If he decides that he will not certify Iran compliant with the deal, which he has hinted that he may do, the next step will be up to Congress.
Congress will have sixty days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions that were in place before the nuclear deal was signed. They were sanctions that were truly crippling the country’s economy.

Iran and North Korea Still Pose Threat to US SecurityNuclear 28 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 28 Sep - Iran and North Korea pose as much of a threat today as they did when George W. Bush announced them as part of the Axis of Evil in 2002, along with Iraq, and we must stop pretending otherwise, according to one legal expert who specialises in terrorism cases.
Gary M. Osen, who litigates terrorist financing, state-sponsored terrorism and U.S. anti-terrorism law cases in federal courts, wrote an op-ed for News Max in which he asserted that because we didn’t listen at the time, Iran and North Korea still pose a threat to the world.
He noted that although Bush had been mocked at the time for evoking a relationship between the three states that many believe did not exist, he was ultimately proven right.

Stop Calling Rouhani a Moderate and Advocate for Regime Change28 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 28 Sep - There are many things that you could call Iranian President Hassan Rouhani but “moderate” is not among them, according to a leading expert on the Iranian Regime.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, a Harvard-educated political scientist, wrote an op-ed for Eurasia Review in which he broke down that Rouhani is not a moderate and that moderates do not exist in the Iranian Regime.
After Rouhani’s desperate and deceptive speech to the UN last week, in which he attempted to paint the Regime as a democracy, many in the West fell hook, line and sinker for his lies. Rafizadeh was determined to right this wrong with indisputable facts about Rouhani and the Regime.

SYRIA
Iran's Role Is Syria Needs to Be AddressedSyria 29 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 29 Sep - Officials from the Trump administration have been saying for a long time that Iran is a huge issue when it comes to its Syria policy. They have said that it is essential that Iran is stopped from expanding its power, especially as the Islamic State falls.
Syrians agree with this, as do other nations such as Israel and Jordan.
However, questions are now being asked about whether it is too late to act on any intentions.
On Monday, Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster spoke at the Institute for the Study of War and it became quite clear that the policy and the rhetoric were not exactly working together.
McMaster pointed out the Trump administration really wants to prevent Iran and Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy, from taking a strategic advantage while the Islamic State is being defeated in Syria. He was not able to elaborate on how this would happen, but he reiterated that a strategy is currently being implemented.

Iran's New Missiles Looks an Awful Lot Like North Korea'sNuclear 25 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 25 Sep - Over the weekend, the Iranian Regime revealed a never before seen video showing a successful test of their new Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic missile.
The missile, revealed during a military parade on September 22, bears remarkable similarities to the North Korean BM-25 Musudan / Hwasong-10 missile, sparking fresh rumours that the two countries are collaborating.
Though Iran claims that this missile is a domestic effort, it has made the same claims about many other weapon systems that appear derived from foreign designs like its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missiles (based on North Korea’s Hwasong-7).
It is worth noting that this footage does not have a time and date attributed to it and it could be a secondary video from their January launch.
While it is impossible to be certain that the two rogue regimes are working together, their timelines have been linked for a while now.
Joseph Trevithick wrote on The Drive: “It seems very possible that we could see a flurry of ballistic missile developments in Iran and among its allies in the near future. It also will be interesting to see if new Iran announcements continue to come soon after similar displays in North Korea.”

Iran Regime Is Not a Leader in the Muslim World and Will Not Be Until They Abandon Extremism25 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 25 Sep - Following some absurd comments by the Supreme Leader of Iran about his and the Regime’s status in the Muslim world, one political scientist is telling the Regime to take their cues on peaceful co-existence from Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, wrote an op-ed for Arab News in which he dismissed claims on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website in which he is described as the “leader of the Islamic World”.
Rafizadeh highlights that a leader of the Islamic world should at least show some qualities of Islam, like uniting the Shiite and Sunni worlds and building bridges between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds.
He said that nothing in the Iranian Regime suggests that religion has been used to unify but everything suggests that it has been corrupted to divide.

Trump's Policy on Iran Should Focus on a Better Deal, Not an Abandonment of the DealIran (General) 26 September 2017


Iran Focus
London, 26 Sep - The US should definitely get tough on Iran for its violations of the 2015 nuclear accord, but the deal should not be removed without a proper strategy in place, according to two national security experts.

Iran Working With North Korea on NukesNuclear 26 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 26 Sep - There is ever-growing speculation that the Iranian Regime is providing North Korea with the funds to develop its nuclear programme, in spite of the heavy sanctions against the rogue Asian country, and Donald Trump appears to confirm this.
On Saturday, September 23, Trump tweeted: "Iran just test-fired a ballistic missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea."
This collaboration on nuclear and missile technology has not been announced by either Iran or North Korea but many in the Western intelligence community see this as an "unquestionable fact".
Similarities
Back in July, Jeffrey Lewis, director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, wrote: "The second stage of North Korea's Hwasong-14 missile is similar to the upper stages designed for the Iranian space launch vehicles."
This type of cooperation between the two countries is nothing new. They are believed to have started collaborating in the 1980s, when Iran created the Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile which is incredibly similar to North Korea's Nodong.
The missile that Iran claimed to have successfully tested on Saturday is highly reminiscent of North Korea's Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile.
Mutual Benefits
Yuri Fedorov, an expert on the Russian military, said that it is likely that Iran and North Korea are still working together because different restrictions on each country mean that it would be hard- if not impossible- for them this nuclear technology alone.
He said that whilst Iran is explicitly forbidden from developing nuclear weapons under the 2015 deal with the US and five other world powers, they are subverting the restrictions by conducting research in North Korea.
North Korea is struggling under heavy financial sanctions and would be unable to fund this research unless they were receiving a cash injection, perhaps from a country that had billions of dollars in foreign accounts unfrozen as part of the nuclear deal. They also needed access to nuclear research that Iran already held in order to have such a vast improvement in their technology in such a short amount of time.
Kim Yong Nam, chairman of the Supreme Assembly of North Korea, and a delegation of military experts recently visited Iran, which raises the question of why?
Russia
There is some speculation that Russia may be helping Iran and North Korea in nuclear development - or at the very least offering approval- in order to counter the US.
Fyodor Lukyanov, a well-known Russian commentator on diplomatic issues, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to use the North Korean conflict to change global politics which skew in favour of the West. However, given his close relationship with Trump, it is possible that Putin may not be involved.

Iran Regime Is Not a Leader in the Muslim World and Will Not Be Until They Abandon ExtremismIran (General) 25 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 25 Sep - Following some absurd comments by the Supreme Leader of Iran about his and the Regime’s status in the Muslim world, one political scientist is telling the Regime to take their cues on peaceful co-existence from Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, wrote an op-ed for Arab News in which he dismissed claims on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website in which he is described as the “leader of the Islamic World”.
Rafizadeh highlights that a leader of the Arab News world should at least show some qualities of Islam, like uniting the Shiite and Sunni worlds and building bridges between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds.
He said that nothing in the Iranian Regime suggests that religion has been used to unify but everything suggests that it has been corrupted to divide....MORE

Iran's New Missiles Looks an Awful Lot Like North Korea'sNuclear 25 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 25 Sep - Over the weekend, the Iranian Regime revealed a never before seen video showing a successful test of their new Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic missile.
The missile, revealed during a military parade on September 22, bears remarkable similarities to the North Korean BM-25 Musudan / Hwasong-10 missile, sparking fresh rumours that the two countries are collaborating.
Though Iran claims that this missile is a domestic effort, it has made the same claims about many other weapon systems that appear derived from foreign designs like its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missiles (based on North Korea’s Hwasong-7)....MORE

French Businesses Are Risking Far Too Much in Deals With IranEconomy 29 August 2017

Iran Focus

London, 29 Aug - French companies are risking their money and their reputation by doing business with the Iranian Regime, according to Mohammad Amin.

Ever since the 2015 nuclear deal was implemented last year, various companies across the globe have been seeking out deals with the Iranian Regime but could it all be in vain?

On August 7, the Renault Group agreed to terms with Iranian state company IDRO (Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran) to take hold of 60% of the company shares in order to increase the production of Renault vehicles in Iran to 150,000 units per year.

Photographic Evidence Reveals Iran Violating the Nuclear DealSyria 29 August 2017


Iran Focus
London, 29 Aug - On Friday, a shocking report was published about Iran’s activities in Syria, which was based on a report by the Mossad, Israel’s external intelligence service, and detailed the buildup of Iranian troops in Syria.
70,000 Shiite combatants have joined the Syrian army, forming a long-term existential threat to Israel, according to Israeli analyst Zvi Barel.
Further, the report said that Iran is using civilian airplanes from the Iranian companies Mahan Air and Iran Air to transfer military equipment and troops to Syria. The Iranian carriers are airlifting these reinforcements during the night to avoid satellite tracking, in violation of the nuclear deal that six world powers made with Iran in 2015.

US Must Provide Aid to Middle East Following Removal of ISIS to Prevent Iran Regime From Taking OverIraq 30 August 2017


Iran Focus
London, 30 Aug - The US must provide aid in the Middle East following the removal of ISIS to prevent Iran from seizing power and further destabilising the region, according to an ex-CIA operative.
Frank Archibald, who was Director of the National Clandestine Service an assignment in which he led all of CIA's operations worldwide, wrote an op-ed for the Cipher Daily, in which he assessed the liberation of Mosul presented the US with an opportunity to stabilise the region and challenge the Iranian Regime.
There is a tough fight ahead for peace in the Middle East, as acknowledged by Lt. General Stephen Townsend, the senior U.S. Commander in Iraq, as he congratulated the Iraqi government for their victory in Mosul.....MORE

What Happens If Trump Decertifies Iran Compliance With the Nuclear Deal?Nuclear 23 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 23 Sep - When President Obama was negotiating the nuclear deal with Iran and other world powers, he assured critics that it was the only way to curb the nuclear threat from Iran. He said it was the only way to prevent Iran from pursuing its nuclear program.
He gave the Iranian regime numerous concessions and failed to address some peripheral issues such as the oppression of people at home and its spread of terrorism across the Middle East.
Obama’s years in office, with reference to this treatment of Iran, have been named by some as the “golden years”. The regime knew that it could get away with anything and the Obama administration would not dare to so much as comment......MORE

Change in Iran Will Come From the People Says UN Special Rapporteur on Human RightsHuman Rights 25 September 2017



Iran Focus
London, 25 Sep - Asma Jahangir, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, gave an interview with Al Arabiya in which she described how the human rights situation in Iran as appalling across the board and that although she welcomed the Regime’s “tiny steps” on improvement, it has not gone far enough.

She said: “In every sector, starting from rule of law, starting from defective prosecution, denial of due process, to laws that are also discriminatory to people being discriminated against on religious and ethnic grounds, to torture, there are serious human rights violations in Iran that the Iranian government is beginning to look into and is beginning to take very tiny steps-very tiny- to address them. The fact that there is a charter for rights is an acknowledgement by the government that these problems do need to be addressed but they can’t drag them on for so long because people’s awareness in every part of the world is rising. You cannot tell people that you are not violating their rights when they can read, they can see and they can listen for themselves [to how things are done elsewhere].”More

Iraq's Changing Politics on Iran

Iraq

14 September 2017

 

Iran Focus

London, 14 Sep - Human Rights activist and former political prisoner in Iran, Hamid Bahrami, wrote a piece for Al Arabiya on how the changing balance of power in Iraq could be detrimental to the Iranian Regime’s bid to take over the Middle East.