Iran Digest Week of April 1 - April 8
/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 associates Tony Liu and Cynthia Markarian.. Please note that the news and views expressed in the articles below do not necessarily reflect those of AIC.
US-Iran Relations
Men accused of impersonating federal agents being investigated for possible ties to Iranian intelligence
The two men accused of impersonating federal agents over the course of several years will remain in jail pending a detention hearing Friday, a federal magistrate judge ruled Thursday.
Investigators alleged Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, posed as various officers and employees of the U.S. government, including members of federal law enforcement agencies, since February 2020 and duped actual federal officers into believing their guise. They are each charged with one count of false impersonation of a federal officer and have yet to enter a plea.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed late Wednesday following the multi-agency raid on a Washington, D.C., apartment complex, the duo allegedly obtained paraphernalia, handguns and assault rifles used by federal law enforcement agencies. The FBI claimed they used their false associations with the U.S. government "to ingratiate themselves with members of federal law enforcement and the defense community" by providing gifts and favors to residents of an apartment building, many of whom were employees of the FBI, Secret service, and the Department of Homeland Security and Defense.
Taherzadeh and Ali each face a maximum of 3 years in prison if convicted, but prosecutors said in court on Thursday that they may also charge the pair as part of a conspiracy.
(CBS News)
Top US general opposes 'terror' delisting for Iran Guards elite force
The Pentagon's top general said Thursday he was opposed to removing the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards from the US terror group list, one of Tehran's conditions for restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.
Iran has pressed for the removal of the State Department's official "Foreign Terrorist Organization" designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a condition for returning to the 2015 deal that sought to control its nuclear development and prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.
The previous US administration of Donald Trump unilaterally abrogated the deal in 2018 and a year later slapped the FTO label on the Guards.
President Joe Biden has sought in negotiations to salvage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, as the 2015 deal is officially called.
But talks have stalled in the past month over a handful of final issues, including Iran's demand over the terror designation.
(France24)
Nuclear Accord
Iran nuclear chief says Tehran has given IAEA documents on outstanding issues
Iran has handed over documents related to outstanding issues to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Iranian nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said on Wednesday, as Tehran demands closure of the agency's investigation into uranium particles found at three undeclared sites.
Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month agreed a three-month plan to try to resolve a long-stalled issue over uranium particles found at old but undeclared sites in the country. Resolving the issue would remove an obstacle to the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
The agency has long said Iran had not given satisfactory answers on those issues, but in early March they announced a plan for a series of exchanges.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said last month he will aim to report his conclusion by the June 2022 (IAEA) Board of Governors' meeting, which begins on June 6.
(Reuters)
Iran moves machines for making centrifuge parts to Natanz -UN nuclear watchdog
Iran has moved all its machines that make centrifuge parts from its mothballed workshop at Karaj to its sprawling Natanz site just six weeks after it set up another site at Isfahan to make the same parts, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday.
Iran granted International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors access to Karaj in December to re-instal surveillance cameras there after a months-long standoff that followed what Tehran said was Israeli sabotage that destroyed one camera and badly damaged another, prompting Iran to remove all four cameras.
(Reuters)
COVID-19
Iran lifts COVID-related travel bans
The Iranian government Wednesday removed coronavirus-related restrictions on citizens entering the country.
The Civil Aviation Authority made the decision following a meeting with the Islamic Republic’s COVID-19 task force. There are no more travel bans from any country related to the virus. Travelers can enter Iran provided they have received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and have a negative PCR test. This applies to travelers who are more than 12 years old, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Iran has banned travel from several countries throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Last December, Iranian authorities prohibited travel from several European countries due to the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus.
Iran has been one of the hardest hit countries in the world by COVID-19. More than 140,000 Iranians have died from the virus, though some officials believe the actual number could be twice as high.
Iran’s vaccination campaign sped up following the inauguration of President Ebrahim Raisi in August. More than 75% of the population has now been vaccinated.
Economy
Sanctioned Iran and Russia Plan More Trade Shows to Boost Ties
Iran and Russia signed an agreement to host more joint trade events and exhibitions in order to expand commercial and investment ties, Iran’s state TV news reported.
A delegation of 70 Iranian businessmen and the management of the country’s main state-run exhibition center met Russian counterparts at the Expocentre in Moscow on Thursday, according to a report on the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network.
The meeting comes as the U.S. and Europe are ratcheting up sanctions on Russia’s economy over its war on Ukraine. Iran, one of the world’s most heavily sanctioned countries, sees Moscow as an important strategic ally.
Russia is a participant in stalled negotiations to revive world powers’ 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that the U.S. abandoned four years ago. The accord was designed to ease sanctions on Tehran in exchange for strict caps on its atomic activity.
In September, Moscow will host the second “Eurasia Expo,” a trade event involving Iran, Russia and other members of the Eurasian Economic Union, state TV said. The first event was in Tehran last year.
(Bloomberg)
Women of Iran
Iranian women denounce violence in film industry
Hundreds of women working in Iranian cinema have slammed “systematic” violence against women in the film industry and called for mechanisms that would make perpetrators and enablers accountable.
In a strongly-worded statement on Friday, more than 200 women – including some of the most well-known Iranian actresses locally and internationally – condemned sexual violence and harassment, which they said has become endemic in Iranian cinema.
The women also denounced financial inequality and disparity in decision-making powers with male peers, and demanded “this most basic human right, meaning working in a safe space away from bullying and violence and sexual extortion”.
They urged industry figures to mobilise through entities such as the Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds to form a female-majority committee consisting of people educated in dealing with sexual violence that would securely and privately receive and review claims of aggression.
They also proposed adding mechanisms in movie contracts to shield women and make aggressors accountable through financial penalties and suspension from future work in the industry.
(Al Jazeera)
Inside Iran
Two Iranian Clerics Killed In Knife Attack In Mashhad, A Third Injured
Three clerics were stabbed by an unknown attacker at a religious shrine in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, killing two, media reported on April 5.
The semiofficial Tasnim news agency said one of the clerics had died following the attack. Tasnim identified him as Mohammad Aslani. Meanwhile, the semiofficial Mehr news agency said a second clergyman, identified as Mohsen Pakdaman, had died after being taken to a hospital.
Astan Quds Razavi, the foundation that runs the shrine of Imam Reza, said the alleged attacker was immediately detained and taken into police custody. The motive of the attack is unclear.
It follows an April 3 incident in a mosque in the northern town of Gonbad Kavus during which two Sunni clerics were shot to death. Authorities said one suspect was arrested and that, based on evidence, “personal motives" were behind the attack.
(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Geopolitical foes Iran and U.S. to clash again at World Cup
After more than 40 years of sour relations and months of struggle to restore a nuclear deal, the United States and Iran are now set to meet on the soccer field at this year's World Cup, having landed together in Group B in Friday's draw.
The Iran and U.S. coaches sidestepped the political fracas, saying they were focused on the tournament and its ability to bring people together. England and the winners of a European playoff - Ukraine, Scotland or Wales - complete the group.
Despite the serious nature of the U.S.-Iran rivalry, Washington's diplomatic Twitter sphere erupted with jokes after the World Cup draw held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center in Qatar on Friday.
"I am thinking only about football and not exterior things," Iran's coach Dragan Skocic said.
"I hope that football makes a good contact and good relationship between people and that is what people expect of sport," added Skocic, who is Croatian.
Team USA last faced Iran at the World Cup when they lost 2-1 to the Gulf nation in 1998 in France.
(CNN)
Analysis
It’s Time to Give the Revolutionary Guards a Concession
By: Anchal Vohra
Over the last few weeks, diplomats have shifted from saying the revival of the Iran nuclear deal was coming in a matter of days to admitting it was entirely uncertain whether it would go through at all. Negotiations in Vienna began nearly a year ago, but time is of the essence from the West’s perspective: In less than a month, Iran could possess uranium capable of making a nuclear bomb. But sensing its advantage, Iran has been engaging in last-minute haggling.
After then-U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018, Iran began enriching uranium to 60 percent, close to the 90 percent threshold required for nuclear weapons. Iran has now agreed to dial back its uranium enrichment to 3.67 percent, as established in the original deal.
Iran had demanded in turn that the United States formally state that future U.S. governments will abide by the deal, but that request was summarily denied. Iranians had been feeling nervous about the longevity of the deal given Republican opposition; former Vice President Mike Pence has said a revived deal would be ripped apart by Republicans if and when they return to the White House. Iran, however, has reportedly been put at ease by an apparent agreement that would allow it to avoid completely destroying its advanced centrifuges (although it’s not yet clear whether Iran would merely disconnect these centrifuges or dismantle them and send them to a third country for safekeeping).
(Read More)
