Death of Sahar Khodayari, facing prison for trying to enter stadium, provokes outcry
An Iranian female football fan has died a week after setting herself on fire outside a courtroom, after learning she may face six months in prison for trying to enter a stadium, a news agency reported on Tuesday.
Sahar Khodayari’s death immediately ignited an outcry in Iran, where women are banned from football stadiums, although they are allowed to watch other sports, such as volleyball.
Continue reading...Israel’s opposition says prime minister’s claims are an election campaign stunt
Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled what he claims was a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility and accused Tehran of destroying the site to hide the evidence.
“This is what I have to say to the tyrants of Tehran,” Netanyahu said. “Israel knows what you’re doing, Israel knows when you’re doing it, and Israel knows where you’re doing it.”
Continue reading...Adrian Darya, previously called Grace 1, photographed near Russian navy facility
Britain is seeking to establish whether Iran has sold oil to Syria in breach of written undertakings given by Tehran to authorities in Gibraltar.
Iran’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that a tanker seized by British Marines on 9 July and released in August had reached its final destination “on the Mediterranean coast” and sold its oil – without identifying the country.
Continue reading...Adrian Darya 1, formerly the Grace 1, was only released on condition it did not discharge its load of 2.1m barrels of oil in Syria
The Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1 at the centre of a dispute between Tehran and western powers has been photographed by satellite off the Syrian port of Tartus, a US space technology company has said.
Maxar Technologies Inc said the image showed the tanker Adrian Darya 1 very close to Tartus on 6 September. The ship appeared to have turned off its transponder in the Mediterranean west of Syria, ship-tracking data showed. The tanker, which is loaded with Iranian crude oil, sent its last signal giving its position between Cyprus and Syria sailing north on Monday afternoon.
Continue reading...Move comes as president gives Europe two-month deadline to save nuclear deal
Iran has said it will free seven crew members of a British-flagged tanker seized in the strait of Hormuz in July, as the country’s president gave Europe a two-month deadline to save its nuclear deal.
The seven, who are part of a 23-member crew comprising Indian, Russian, Latvia and Filipino nationals, were allowed to leave the Stena Impero tanker on humanitarian grounds and will be able to leave Iran soon, Iranian state television reported. The vessel’s owner said it had yet to receive any official confirmation of the release date.
Continue reading...Saeid Mollaei was told to pull out of world championships to avoid possible fight with Israeli
An Iranian judo athlete could seek asylum in Germany after he ignored orders from his national federation to pull out of the world championships to avoid a potential final against an Israeli.
The International Judo Federation (IJF) said that Saeid Mollaei, the defending champion, was pressurised by Iranian authorities to drop out before his quarter-final at the world judo championships in Tokyo last week to avoid the prospect of fighting Israel’s Sagi Muki in the final.
Continue reading...Tehran says gap is closing on views after phone conversation between Macron and Rouhani
Iran and France have moved closer in their views on the future of Tehran’s nuclear deal with the west after talks between the countries’ presidents, the Iranian government has said.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, spoke for two hours by telephone, a spokesman said, as Paris continued its diplomatic initiative to salvage the deal, which has been at risk of unravelling since the US withdrew last year.
Continue reading...The US has blacklisted the Iranian tanker Adrian Darya, saying it had “reliable information” it was transporting oil to Syria in defiance of wide-ranging sanctions on the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Related: Trump tweets photo of Iran rocket site and says US 'not involved' in failed launch
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s offer to talk peace with Iran sent a shiver of alarm through Israel’s political and security establishment last week. With a too-close-to-call general election looming on 17 September, Benjamin Netanyahu is counting on his hardline anti-Tehran alliance with Washington – and fear of conflict – to win him crucial votes. A North Korea-style Trump tryst with Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, was the prime minister’s “ultimate horror scenario”, one analyst noted.
Yet after a recent series of escalatory strikes against Iran-linked forces in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, Israel’s voters may reflect that if one thing is worse than peace with Iran, it’s war with Iran. Trump’s policy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran, strongly backed by Netanyahu and fellow Tel Aviv hawks, is placing Israel squarely in the firing line. The intensifying confrontation is also sucking in regional states, notably Iraq.
Continue reading...US president’s release of high resolution photo raises concerns over disclosure of classified information
President Donald Trump has released a photograph of an apparently failed Iranian rocket launch and said the US had nothing to do with it, prompting concerns he disclosed classified information.
Tehran has made no official comment on the indications from aerial photos that a rocket exploded on Thursday on the launch pad at the Semnan Space Center in northern Iran.
Continue reading...Signs Beijing may be importing Iranian oil as Trump’s two biggest foreign policy headaches converge
In early June, a Chinese-owned supertanker abruptly went dark in the Indian Ocean, the tracking system signalling its course apparently deactivated.
It was not the first ship to vanish from the monitors. The deactivation of transponders that generate a unique ID issued to ships by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has become increasingly familiar in recent weeks to the companies that track tankers.
Continue reading...Multiple attacks in region suggest drone warfare could extend to distant battlefields
A spate of drone attacks in Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and now Lebanon has raised the spectre of a new era of conflict in the region, due to the ability of stealth-like weapons to penetrate distant battlefields and hit closely guarded targets.
Drone warfare has become an instrumental factor in the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, now being fought over both sides of the Israeli border and in skies across the region.
Continue reading...Hassan Rouhani says US must first lift sanctions before summit can take place
Iran’s president has back-pedalled on possible talks with Donald Trump, saying the US president must first lift sanctions imposed on Tehran, otherwise a meeting between the two would be a mere photo op.
Hassan Rouhani’s change of heart came a day after Trump said there was a “really good chance” the two could meet after a surprise intervention by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, during the G7 summit to try to bring Washington and Tehran together.
Continue reading...Aras Amiri and Anousheh Ashouri accused of spying as UK-Iran tensions rise
Iran has sentenced a British-Iranian man to 12 years in prison after accusing him of spying for Israel, while upholding the 10-year sentence of another UK resident.
A spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, Gholamhossein Esmaili, said on Tuesday that Anousheh Ashouri – the latest Iranian national with a western passport to be detained in Iran – had been sentenced to 12 years for ties to Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
Continue reading...The US president has accused Iran of being the world's 'number one nation of terror', saying it was 'too soon' for talks between the two countries. He said the US would be willing to 'make Iran rich again' if it halted its nuclear programme. Trump had opted not to meet Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, who made an unscheduled appearance at the G7 summit, in Biarritz, on Sunday
Continue reading...Analysts say sending a warship to patrol the Strait of Hormuz risks binding Australia to an incoherent and inflammatory US foreign policy
Australia’s announcement this week that it will join US-led freedom of navigation operations patrolling the Strait of Hormuz brings the number of American allies willing to contribute to America’s latest Middle East sortie to just three.
The increasing tensions in the narrow, but critical, strait are almost universally regarded as an avoidable, US-created crisis, the result of Washington tearing up the Iran nuclear deal.
Continue reading...Quantum Fertiliser, part of ASX-listed Incitec Pivot, says it is reviewing its operations to avoid a recurrence
The Australian multinational at the centre of an Iran sanctions scandal has offloaded a $15m shipment of Iranian cargo it says it was duped into taking, and is reviewing its operations to avoid a repeat.
A subsidiary of ASX-listed company Incitec Pivot took hold of a cargo shipment of fertiliser from Iran late last month, potentially risking a contravention of strict United States sanctions.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson also expected to discuss Iran with Donald Trump at summit in Biarritz
Britain will continue to be an “energetic partner” to its international allies after Brexit, Boris Johnson has said, as he prepared to fly to Biarritz for the G7 summit – his first major appearance on the world stage as prime minister.
Fresh from Brexit discussions in Berlin and Paris this week, Johnson will use a string of bilateral meetings with world leaders in the French resort to underline Britain’s determination to remain internationalist.
Continue reading...James Tyson decries ‘diplomatic failings’ after Iran rejects fiancee’s appeal
My fiancee is in an Iranian prison, a victim of the depravity of international relations
The fiance of Aras Amiri, a British Council employee imprisoned in Iran on spying charges, has accused the UK government of being “utterly blind to their responsibility” to try to secure her release.
An appeal against Amiri’s 10-year sentence was rejected without a hearing earlier this week, in a decision that prompted her family to call on the UK government to intervene.
Continue reading...Troops, planes and warships to help guard the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East where tensions are flaring with Iran
Australia will send troops, planes and warships to help guard the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said Australia would make a “modest and time-limited” contribution to international efforts to protect freedom of navigation in the region.
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