Iran Digest Week of April 14- April 21
/AIC’s Iran digest project covers the latest developments and news stories published in Iranian and international media outlets. This weekly digest is compiled by associate Samuel Howell. Please note that the news and views expressed in the articles below do not necessarily reflect those of AIC.
US-Iran Relations
Iran says its navy forced US submarine to surface in Gulf waters
An Iranian official says Iran’s navy obliged a US submarine to surface as it entered the Gulf “violating its border” in the latest report of an apparent confrontation between Iranian and US forces in the region.
“The US submarine was approaching while submerged, but the Iranian submarine Fateh detected it and carried out … manoeuvres to force it to surface as it went through the Strait [of Hormuz]. It had also entered into our territorial waters but … it corrected its course after being warned,” navy commander Shahram Irani told state television on Thursday.
“This submarine was doing its best, using all its capacities, to pass in total silence and without being detected,” Irani said. “We will certainly reflect to international bodies the fact that it had violated our border.”
FBI Says Iran, China Using New Tactics To Harass Critics On US Soil
Iran and China are becoming increasingly brazen in their attempts to silence dissidents on American soil and influence US policy, the FBI warned Wednesday.
In a news briefing with reporters about transnational repression, FBI counterintelligence officials urged victims to come forward, saying the bureau is tracking a growing trend of foreign authoritarian regimes breaching US laws to intimidate certain communities.
The officials said the governments have at times resorted to using private investigators to conduct surveillance on dissidents and that several criminal cases have been brought by federal prosecutors involving their use.
Women of Iran
Congress forms bipartisan House committee on Iranian women
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) announced the formation of a bipartisan caucus of nearly 20 lawmakers on Thursday, which focuses on the women of Iran.
The caucus, named the Iranian Women Congressional Caucus, will serve as a forum in which members of Congress can address issues and developments relating to women’s freedom and democracy in Iran. The committee's first move was a joint resolution condemning the chemical attack on Iranian school girls.
“So many Iranian women are showing their bravery and resiliency in the face of challenges in their fight for equality and human rights," Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner. "As we have witnessed, women and youth have displayed tremendous courage in leading the protests in Iran over the past five months, calling for social freedom and political change. We will be on the side of freedom and oppose the oppression of women, in the United States, Iran, and around the globe.”
Economy
US imposes sanctions on network supporting Iran's drone, military programs
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a procurement network it accused of supporting Iran's drone and military programs, targeting companies and suppliers in China, Iran and elsewhere in the fresh action aimed at increasing pressure on Tehran.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on the head of Iran’s Pardazan System Namad Arman (PASNA), which was already under U.S. sanctions, and the entity's front companies and suppliers in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China that Washington said have enabled PASNA's procurement of goods and technology.
It marks the latest move by Washington targeting Iran's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry.
(Reuters)
Inside Iran
Iran Marks Army Day With Large Display Of Men And Weapons
Iran marked its army day April 18, with a massive display of troops, missiles, submarines, armored vehicles and Russian-supplied S-300 air defense system.
President Hassan Rouhani presided over the parade, with armed forces brass accompanying him.
The official IRNA news agency also said that a domestically produced fighter jet Kowsar also flew over the parade. The Islamic Republic announced last November that Kowsar is ready for mass production.
Iran protests: LGBTQ community rises up
"Are you a degenerate," asked the security officer interrogating a young bisexual woman arrested during the recent anti-government protests in Iran.
The interrogator had searched the woman's phone and come across her intimate conversations with her girlfriend.
"What the hell are these chats? Are you a degenerate?" repeated the interrogator, his voice laced with disgust and using an offensive and derogatory Persian word which describes any form of same-sex attraction.
(BBC)
Iran’s top leader rules out referendums on divisive issues
Iran’s supreme leader on Tuesday ruled out the holding of popular referendums on state policies.
Iran faced calls for a referendum on the Islamic Republic itself during anti-government protests last year, and a moderate former president recently suggested such votes should be held to decide major policies as a way of reducing divisions.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say over such policies, rejected the idea when asked about it during a meeting with university students.
(AP News)
Regional Politics
Israel's new embassy in Turkmenistan sends message to Iran
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen visited Turkmenistan on Thursday to inaugurate Israel’s embassy in Ashgabat, as the country considers opening an embassy in Israel.
Cohen arrived to Turkmenistan Wednesday evening after a two-day visit to Azerbaijan, and was received at the Ashgabat airport by Turkmenistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Berdyniyaz Myatiev. It was the first visit in 29 years by an Israeli minister. The first and last such visit took place in 1994, a year after the two countries established diplomatic ties, when then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres traveled to the country.
Pressured by Iran, Turkmenistan had refused to approve the nomination of an Israeli ambassador for several years until 2013. Since then, the Israeli ambassadors have been stationed in the Turkmen capital, but operated from hotel rooms, awaiting the construction of a permanent embassy. Cohen inaugurated the building on Thursday. In the region, Israel has two other permanent embassies: in Kazakhstan and in Uzbekistan.
Global Relations
Belgium requests Iran transfer imprisoned Belgian aid worker
Belgium submitted a request to Iran on Tuesday that jailed aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele be sent back to his country, which has agreed a prisoner transfer treaty with Iran.
Belgian Vandecasteele was arrested on a visit to Iran in February 2022 and sentenced in January to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes on charges including spying.
Belgium's justice minister has said he was convicted "for a fabricated series of crimes" and in retribution for a 20-year jail term given to an Iranian diplomat in 2021 over a foiled bomb plot.
(Reuters)
Analysis
What the Russia-Iran Arms Deals Mean for the Middle East
By: Grant Rumley
In the emerging arrangement between Russia and Iran to supply each other with weapons, the former has received hundreds of Iranian drones to rain on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure, while the latter looks set to get Russia’s advanced Su-35 fighter jet. On top of that, Moscow has reportedly funneled captured U.S. and other Western weaponry to Tehran. The White House has noted that Iran could also receive access to “advanced military components” and further weapons, such as helicopters and air defense systems. Indeed, one Iranian parliamentarian claimed in January that Iran had already ordered these systems and was just waiting on delivery.
The addition of one of Russia’s premier multirole fighter jets, as well as collaboration on military training and weapons development, is a significant step in the deepening of the Moscow-Tehran security relationship. It also marks a change from the past: In recent years, Moscow has carefully calibrated its arms sales to Iran with its other military and diplomatic relations in the region. The most notable transaction in the past decade was Iran’s acquisition of the Russian S-300 air defense system in 2016. The last time Russia supplied Iran with combat aircraft was in the early 2000s, when it delivered just six of its Su-25 ground attack aircraft. These transfers were a far cry from the final years of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union sold Iran substantial numbers of fighter jets, bombers, tanks, submarines, and air defense systems.
