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Iran Tag

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on January 17, 2019 12 Comments
German army has caught an Iranian spy working in its ranks. A 50-year-old German-Afghan man has been arrested on charges of spying for Iran's Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). The man, named by the state prosecutor as Abdul Hamid S., has been passing on sensitive military intelligence to the Iranian spy agency for many years, the local newspaper reports said.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 13, 2019 15 Comments
Israel's Operation Northern Shield continues to uncover Hezbollah attack tunnels dug from Lebanese civilian areas under the border into northern Israel. The purpose of the tunnels was to surprise Israel in the next war by infiltrating special Hezbollah commando units who have been tasked with capturing an Israeli town or border community. While such a capture would be temporary, it would be a large propaganda victory.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on January 12, 2019 2 Comments
Trade between Iran and the European Union is in sharp decline, official Iranian figures show. The drop comes despite EU's ongoing efforts to bypass the U.S. sanctions. In November, President Donald Trump imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran's oil, shipping and banking sectors.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 26, 2018 9 Comments
Israel continues to rollout Hezbollah attack tunnel discoveries, each to much fanfare for the media and diplomats. Although Israeli likely knows about almost all the tunnels, it waits a few days between discoveries in order to maximize the exposure and keep the news cycle going.

Posted by Miriam Elman on December 21, 2018 7 Comments
On December 21, 1988—30 years ago today—Pan Am Flight 103 dropped from the night sky killing 270 people, including all 259 of its passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground in the small town of Lockerbie, Scotland, which lies 120km southwest of Glasgow. It was the deadliest terror attack ever on UK soil.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on December 19, 2018 9 Comments
An Iranian activist jailed for 'insulting Islam' on social media has died after a prolonged hunger strike, media reports say. Vahid Sayadi Nasiri, a 37-year-old Iranian blogger, was arrested in 2015 and received an eight year jail sentence for "insulting Islamic sanctities" and criticizing Iran's Shi'a Islamist regime, the U.S.-based watchdog Iran Human Rights Monitor said. He began his hunger strike in October protesting the inhumane prison conditions and frequent beatings by fellow inmates.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on December 04, 2018 19 Comments
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been working behind the scenes to prevent European Union member countries from recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the newspaper Jerusalem Post reported. The revelation was made by Tomas Sandell, the director of the European Coalition for Israel in Brussels. Chancellor Merkel made a series of calls to European leaders in April while "many of the nations were seriously considering moving their embassies." Sandell said. "This is not the Germany we once knew. This is not the even Angela Merkel we once knew when she was elected."

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on November 26, 2018 1 Comment
Amid rising antisemitism and anti-Israel activism in Europe, over 3000 members of Jewish diaspora and supporters of Israel gathered in Frankfurt, Germany, for the 5th German Israel Congress this weekend. Widely regarded as the biggest pro-Israel event in Europe, the conference was attended by leading politicians, government officials, and public figures from Germany and Israel. Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan took the opportunity to urge the German government to take a tougher stance on Iran. "Germany should take a more aggressive stance against the Iranian regime," Minister Erdan said. "It was only yesterday that President Rouhani called Israel metastatic cancer. History has taught us that anti-Semitic threats from fanatical leaders, and exporters of terror who have hegemonic aspirations, must be taken seriously."

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on November 16, 2018 15 Comments
The European Union may switch to non-dollar transactions to protect its trade with Iran in the wake of the latest U.S. sanctions, Reuters news agency reports. The news comes as Iran's European trading partners are working to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle, which is a payment clearance house where Iran's proceeds from oil and gas sale could be offset against the country's purchases -- much like a transnational barter system without financial transactions. The move is in response to crippling sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump against Iran's energy, banking, and other sectors earlier this month.

Posted by Mary Chastain on November 05, 2018 2 Comments
President Donald Trump's administration has officially restored sanctions on Iran that went away with the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. At the same time, SWIFT, a financial messaging service based in Belgium, announced it will suspend "some unspecified Iranian banks’ access to its messaging system in the interest of the stability and integrity of the global financial system," but did not mention the US sanctions.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 03, 2018 26 Comments
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that America will terminate the 1955 treaty of amity with Iran after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) used the treaty to force the US to ease some sanctions against Iran. This treaty "regulates and promotes economic and diplomatic ties between the two countries." You can read the full text of it here.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on September 16, 2018 8 Comments
India, the second biggest oil customer for Iran, has begun cutting Iranian crude oil imports ahead of the November deadline set by the Trump administration, Indian newspapers report. The United States is expected to impose a fresh round of crippling sanction on Tehran in early November, targeting the country's oil industry -- Islamic Republic's main source of revenue.

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 15, 2018 77 Comments
Former Secretary of State John Kerry recently admitted that he has had meetings with officials from Iran since leaving office. One of the points Kerry relayed to them was that they should wait out the Trump presidency. It's nearly impossible to imagine the firestorm this would set off among Democrats and the media if a former Bush official had done this to Obama.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on August 30, 2018 21 Comments

With US sanctions biting deep into Iran's economy, country's theocratic leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has admitted that European countries cannot to save the 2015 nuclear deal, Reuters news agency reported.

"There is no problem with negotiations and keeping contact with the Europeans, but you should give up hope on them over economic issues or the nuclear deal," Khamenei told President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet on Wednesday.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 25, 2018 5 Comments
On August 25, 1988, a tragedy struck in Iran, one that most people do not know about. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa that led to the execution of 30,000 Iranian political prisoners. That fatwa led to "the biggest massacre of political prisoners since World War II." Khomeini targeted members and those loyal to the opposition group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK).

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on August 14, 2018 29 Comments
With the Turkish currency in free fall, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced a boycott of US-made electronic goods. Showing defiance in the wake of the recent US sanctions imposed in a dispute over the detention of an American pastor, Erdogan accused US President Donald Trump of waging "economic warfare" against the country.
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