Iran Digest Week of January 7 - January 14
/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 Communications Associate Elizabeth Kos. Please note that the news and views expressed in the articles below do not necessarily reflect those of AIC.
US-Iran Relations
Iran Sanctions More US Officials Over Soleimani Assassination
Iran has imposed sanctions on dozens of United States officials, many of them from the military, adding to its blacklist of individuals whom it says played a role in the 2020 assassination of its top general, Qassem Soleimani.
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, Central Command chief Kenneth McKenzie, Pentagon officials, and commanders in several US bases across the region are among individuals targeted by the sanctions.
The sanctions are largely symbolic as the named individuals are not thought to have assets which could be seized by Iranian authorities.
Pentagon Says Iran is Behind MuddyWater Hacking Group
The United States military identified Iranian intelligence as being behind a group of hackers widely known as MuddyWater on Wednesday, confirming previous reports by private cybersecurity groups.
MuddyWater has reportedly attacked both government and private enterprise networks in the Middle East, but has also targeted organizations in the United States.
The group, also believed to be known as Seedworm, Static Kitten, TEMP.Zagros and MERCURY, has reportedly targeted government, telecom and NGO organizations in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Georgia as far back as 2017.
Nuclear Accord
Iran, US Lock Horns Over Sanctions Relief, Nuclear Curbs in Vienna Talks
Iran and the United States are displaying little flexibility on core issues in indirect nuclear talks, raising questions about whether a compromise can be found soon to renew a 2015 deal that could dispel fears of a wider Middle East war, diplomats say.
After eight rounds of talks the thorniest points remain the speed and scope of lifting sanctions on Tehran, including Iran's demand for a U.S. guarantee of no further punitive steps, and how and when to restore curbs on Iran's atomic work.
The nuclear deal limited Iran’s uranium enrichment activity to make it harder for it to develop nuclear arms - an ambition Tehran denies - in return for lifting international sanctions.
(Reuters)
Iran Rules Out Prospect of Interim Nuclear Agreement During Talks in Vienna
Iran's foreign ministry on Monday ruled out the possibility of settling on an interim nuclear deal, as Tehran continues talks with world powers in Vienna aimed at returning to the 2015 agreement.
"Iran is seeking a sustainable and reliable deal and any agreement that doesn’t meet these requirements won’t be on the agenda," said Saeed Khatibzadeh, foreign ministry spokesperson, as quoted by Bloomberg.
"The US return to the nuclear deal should come with necessary assurances and verifications and a chain of sanctions must be lifted. It can't happen through an interim deal."
COVID-19
Pressure Mounts on Iran’s Health Minister Amid Personal Vaccine Saga
A number of lawmakers in Iran's conservative parliament are advancing an impeachment bid against the country's health minister, marking the first such attempt against the government of hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi.
Earlier this month, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi proudly declared, "Many of the cabinet members, inducing myself, have received the domestic vaccines." The minister was making the remarks at a ceremony inaugurating the clinical research phase of one of five Iranian vaccines.
The claim, however, was brought under serious questioning a week later, as a picture of the minister's vaccination certificate went viral, bearing his identity details, while indicating that he had been jabbed with the imported Russian Sputnik vaccine.
Inside Iran
Report: Iran Launched Solid-Fuel Satellite Rocket into Space
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard last week launched a solid-fuel satellite carrier rocket into space, the country’s official IRNA news agency reported Thursday.
The report quoted Gen. Amirali Hajizadeh, chief of the Guard’s aerospace unit, as saying the test was successful. He said it marked the first time Iran used a solid-fuel rocket rather than a liquid-fuel one. He said Iran will produce lighter rocket engines in further space projects.
According to the general, the satellite carrier was made of a composite material instead of metal — something he claimed was “cost-efficient.” Hajizadeh spoke to a group of clerics in the city of Qom, the seat of seminaries in Iran. He said Iran strongly pursues its goals in aerospace and satellite industry.
Regional Politics
Iran Navy Port Emerges as Key to Alleged Weapons Smuggling to Yemen, U.N. Report
Thousands of rocket launchers, machine guns, sniper rifles and other weapons seized in the Arabian Sea by the U.S. Navy in recent months likely originated from a single port in Iran, according to a confidential United Nations report that provides some of the most detailed evidence that Tehran is exporting arms to Yemen and elsewhere.
The draft report prepared by a U.N. Security Council panel of experts on Yemen said small wooden boats and overland transport were used in attempts to smuggle weapons made in Russia, China and Iran along routes to Yemen that the U.S. has tried for years to shut down. The boats left from the Iranian port of Jask on the Sea of Oman, the U.N. report said, citing interviews with the boat’s Yemeni crews and data from navigational instruments found on board.
Iran, Venezuela and Sudan Lose UN Voting Rights with 5 More
Iran, Venezuela and Sudan are in arrears on paying dues to the United Nations’ operating budget and are among eight nations that will lose their voting rights in the 193-member General Assembly, the U.N. chief said in a letter circulated Wednesday.
Also losing voting rights are Antigua and Barbuda, Republic of Congo, Guinea, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the letter to General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid.
The suspension takes effect immediately.
Woman Jailed in Iran Has Returned to U.K.
A British cultural organization said on Wednesday that one of its employees from Iran had been acquitted of espionage charges by that country’s Supreme Court and was back in Britain after spending more than three years in prison.
While visiting her grandmother in Iran, the woman, Aras Amiri, was arrested in March 2018 along with other Iranians with British connections, in what was thought to be an attempt by the authorities to gain leverage in an old dispute with Britain over more than $400 million in undelivered weaponry.
Ms. Amiri, an art student employed for five years by the British Council to facilitate “greater appreciation of Iranian culture in the U.K.,” is an Iranian citizen who had lived in Britain for about 10 years before she was detained. Iran’s Supreme Court acquitted her in August, the council said, and she returned to Britain this week after the travel ban associated with her original detention was lifted.
Analysis
Biden Can No Longer Ignore Growing Iran-China Ties
By: Bradley Bowman and Zane Zovak
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will visit China on Friday to deepen the “comprehensive strategic partnership” the two countries signed last year. Growing Sino-Iranian security cooperation represents a serious threat to core U.S., Israeli, and Gulf Arab security interests. To address them, the Biden administration needs to take several urgent steps now.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin confirmed Tuesday that Amir-Abdollahian will visit China on Friday, reiterating that “China is ready to work with Iran to further deepen the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership.”
