Cook Islands-flagged tankers scrubbed for alleged sanctions-busting

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Admin

Two tankers flying the flag of the remote Pacific archipelago are alleged to have been involved in subterfuge shipping of Iranian oil

Two tankers flying the flag of the Cook Islands have been scrubbed from the islands’ shipping registry after allegations the vessels were sanctions-busting, transporting Iranian crude oil while concealing their movements.

US sanctions on Iran’s oil and gas sector have, somewhat improbably, caught up the tiny Cooks archipelago on the other side of the world.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in court in Tehran on second set of charges

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Admin

Lawyer for British-Iranian dual national held since 2016 ‘very hopeful’ she will be acquitted

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian dual national detained since 2016, faced a second set of charges on Sunday in Iran’s revolutionary court in Tehran.

She was freed from house arrest last Sunday at the end of a five-year prison sentence, but because she had been summoned to court again on the other charge, she has not been allowed to leave the country to return to her family.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe ‘in urgent need of psychiatric support’

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Admin

Detained UK-Iranian dual national has been victim of torture, says psychiatrists’ report

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe “is in urgent need of psychiatric support” and has been the victim of torture, a report prepared by psychiatrists has found after examining her mental health.

The detained British-Iranian dual-national’s healing “can be only provided in the UK in the presence of her family after reunification”, the report says.

Israel ‘bombed a dozen ships carrying Iranian oil or weapons in past two years’

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Admin

Unconfirmed attacks would suggest opening of new front in semi-covert conflict between arch-foes

Israel has bombed at least a dozen ships en route to Syria during the past two years, most of which have been carrying Iranian oil, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US and regional officials.

The attacks, which the article said included water mines in the Red Sea and other areas of the region, would, if confirmed, suggest a new front in the semi-covert conflict between arch-foes Israel and Iran.

PM demands Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s return in call to Iran president

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Admin

Boris Johnson tells Hassan Rouhani the British-Iranian dual national must be allowed home immediately

Boris Johnson has told Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, in a phone call that the British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe must be allowed to return home to be with her family.

“The prime minister raised the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other British-Iranian dual nationals detained in Iran and demanded their immediate release,” a statement from Johnson’s office said on Wednesday.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert says Australian government should have gone public with her case earlier

Posted on March 9, 2021 by Admin

British-Australian academic also talks about impact of solitary confinement, saying it was like a ‘prolonged anxiety attack’

Kylie Moore-Gilbert believes she never would have been sentenced to 10 years jail on spying charges in Iran if the Australian government had gone public with her case earlier to pressure Tehran.

The British-Australian academic – who was released after a little more than two years in a complex prisoner swap involving four countries – said the Australian government’s strategy of “quiet diplomacy”, deliberately shielding her case from the media, while pursuing negotiations with Iran’s government, was flawed.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe saga nearing its end, says former Foreign Office chief

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Admin

Lord McDonald says UK has been looking at repaying debt to Iran via humanitarian route due to sanctions

Long-running efforts to get Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe back to the UK are nearing their endgame, the recently retired head of the Foreign Office has said.

Lord McDonald, permanent undersecretary at the FCDO until the summer, said for the first time that the UK had been looking at repaying a historical £400m debt to Iran through humanitarian payments that would not be subject to sanctions against the country.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe freed but may face new charges

Posted on March 7, 2021 by Admin

Five-year sentence in Iran is complete but lawyer says she will have to go to court to face new charges

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released from house arrest in Iran on the completion of her five-year sentence, but the British-Iranian dual national will have to go to court to face a second set of charges on 14 March, according to her lawyer.

The new charges, long threatened by the Iranians, include involvement in propaganda activity against the Islamic Republic including by attending a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in London in 2009 and speaking to BBC Persian.

Netanyahu accuses Iran of attacking Israeli-owned ship in Gulf

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Admin

Israeli PM says explosions on board MV Helios Ray cargo ship were work of Tehran and that ‘we are hitting it in the entire region’

Israel’s prime minister has accused Iran of attacking an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman last week, a mysterious explosion that further raised security concerns in the region.

Without offering any evidence, Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli public broadcaster Kan the incident “it was indeed an act by Iran, that is clear”.

Iran threatens to quit IAEA pact over censure from west

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Admin

US seeking resolution to express ‘deepening concern’ over Tehran’s cooperation with UN nuclear agency

Iran has threatened to pull out of a deal struck with UN weapons inspectors last weekend if western countries go ahead with plans to censure it over its failure to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Western leaders are planning to table a motion at the IAEA next week condemning Iran for pulling out of the overarching agreement with the UN body giving inspectors access to its nuclear sites.

US carried out airstrikes against Iran-backed militia in Syria

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Admin

Operation, which was approved by Joe Biden, comes after a series of attacks against US targets in Iraq

The United States has carried out airstrikes in Syria targeting facilities near the Iraqi border used by Iranian-backed militia groups.

The Pentagon said the strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a US service member and other coalition troops.

Iranian officials should be charged over shooting down of Ukrainian plane, UN expert says

Posted on February 23, 2021 by Admin

In letter to Tehran, human rights advocate outlines six-month investigation into disaster

Many high level Iranian officials should be charged for the shooting down of a Ukrainian commercial airliner in January 2020, a UN human rights expert has said, describing the killing of the 176 people aboard as a “profound and serious indictment” of the country’s civil and military authorities.

Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, delivered a 45-page letter to the Iranian government which was made public on Tuesday, outlining her findings from a six-month investigation into the disaster, and complaining about the lack of Iranian cooperation, which has left many of her questions unanswered.

IAEA and Iran strike three-month deal over nuclear inspections

Posted on February 21, 2021 by Admin

Agreement paves way for diplomatic talks between Tehran and the US over sanctions

The UN’s nuclear inspectorate has struck a three-month deal with Iran giving it sufficient continued access to verify nuclear activity in the country, opening the space for wider political and diplomatic talks between Tehran and the US.

Iran will go ahead with its threat to withdraw this week from the additional protocol, the agreement that gives inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) intrusive powers.

Iran nuclear deal: US agrees to join talks brokered by EU

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Admin

Tehran yet to answer European invitation seeking reinstatement of 2015 agreement torn up by Donald Trump

The US has agreed to take part in multilateral talks with Iran hosted by the EU, with the aim of negotiating a return by both countries to the 2015 nuclear deal that is close to falling apart in the wake of the Trump administration.

The state department spokesman, Ned Price, said the US would accept the invitation of the EU high representative for discussions with Iran and the five other countries that agreed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), by which Iran accepted strict constraints on its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.

Iran nuclear deal hangs in balance as Tehran turns screw on US

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Admin

Western foreign ministers to discuss response to Iranian plan to ban snap intrusive inspections

The future of the Iran nuclear deal is hanging in the balance as the west prepares its response to Iranian plans to increase pressure on Washington by banning snap intrusive inspections of its nuclear sites.

The German, French and British foreign ministers are to confer urgently with the US secretary of state, Tony Blinken, on how to respond to Iran’s plans, which it is expected to implement on Tuesday.

After rocket attack, Biden faces first real test on Iran

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Admin

Analysis: Fiery rhetoric of Trump era is gone, but flare-up in northern Iraq is a microcosm of tension to come

Joe Biden faces his first real test with Iran. A barrage of 15 rockets in northern Iraq that struck a US base, killing a military contractor and wounding a soldier, were likely aimed as much at testing the new president’s mettle as they were at causing damage.

In the hours after the attack on Erbil airport, where much of the remaining US presence in Iraq is based, a Shia group loyal to Iran felt emboldened enough to claim it. Although the boast was from a hitherto unknown group, it left no doubt who was behind the first such barrage since Biden’s inauguration.

Rocket attack on US airbase in Iraq kills civilian contractor

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Admin

Eight others injured in blast that is expected to be first serious test of Joe Biden’s Iran policy

A rocket attack on a US airbase in the Kurdish region of Iraq has killed one civilian contractor and injured nine other people, sparking fears of escalation in the first serious test of Joe Biden’s policy towards Iran.

A volley of approximately 14 rockets was fired at the base hosting US troops next to the airport in the region’s main city of Erbil late on Monday, which witnesses told local television appeared to come from an area to the south.

Huge blasts on Afghanistan-Iran border spotted from space

Posted on February 13, 2021 by Admin

At least 60 injured in explosions at Islam Qala crossing that consumed 500 natural gas and fuel trucks

A fuel tanker exploded on Saturday at the Islam Qala crossing in Afghanistan’s western Herat province on the Iranian border, injuring at least 60 people and causing a massive fire that consumed more than 500 trucks carrying natural gas and fuel, according to Afghan officials and Iranian state media.

Two explosions at the border crossing were powerful enough to be spotted from space by Nasa satellites. One blast erupted around 1.10pm Afghan time (8.40am GMT), the next around a half hour later at 1.42pm local (9.12am GMT).

British-Iranian anthropologist who fled Iran accused of sexual abuse

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Admin

Women say Kameel Ahmady, who recently told of his escape from Iran, harassed and sexually assaulted them

A number of women have accused a prominent British-Iranian anthropologist who recently fled Iran of being a sexual predator who should not be allowed to continue working with women or with the vulnerable groups that are a focus of his research.

Kameel Ahmady, known for work on child marriage, female genital mutilation and LGBT communities in Iran, denies the allegations of sexual assault and harassment, which have led to his suspension from Iran’s Sociology Association.

Biden policies the same as Trumpism, says Iran’s only presidential candidate

Posted on February 11, 2021 by Admin

Hossein Dehghan criticises continuing sanctions by US and says Tehran’s approach to nuclear issue will change

The only declared candidate in Iran’s presidential elections this June has accused Joe Biden of continuing Donald Trump’s international policies, and warned that Tehran is preparing retaliatory measures to force the US to change its diplomatic trajectory.

In an interview with the Guardian, Hossein Dehghan, a military adviser to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Washington was not in a position to set preconditions for Iran’s return to the 2015 nuclear deal and called for guarantees that the US will not leave the agreement again.

Roundup Newswires

Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network

Category Archives: Iran

Cook Islands-flagged tankers scrubbed for alleged sanctions-busting

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in court in Tehran on second set of charges

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe ‘in urgent need of psychiatric support’

Israel ‘bombed a dozen ships carrying Iranian oil or weapons in past two years’

PM demands Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s return in call to Iran president

Kylie Moore-Gilbert says Australian government should have gone public with her case earlier

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe saga nearing its end, says former Foreign Office chief

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe freed but may face new charges

Netanyahu accuses Iran of attacking Israeli-owned ship in Gulf

Iran threatens to quit IAEA pact over censure from west

US carried out airstrikes against Iran-backed militia in Syria

Iranian officials should be charged over shooting down of Ukrainian plane, UN expert says

IAEA and Iran strike three-month deal over nuclear inspections

Iran nuclear deal: US agrees to join talks brokered by EU

Iran nuclear deal hangs in balance as Tehran turns screw on US

After rocket attack, Biden faces first real test on Iran

Rocket attack on US airbase in Iraq kills civilian contractor

Huge blasts on Afghanistan-Iran border spotted from space

British-Iranian anthropologist who fled Iran accused of sexual abuse

Biden policies the same as Trumpism, says Iran’s only presidential candidate