Iran Digest Week of February 9- February 16
/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
U.S. conducted cyberattack on suspected Iranian spy ship
The U.S. recently conducted a cyberattack against an Iranian military ship that had been collecting intelligence on cargo vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, according to three U.S. officials.
The cyberattack, which occurred more than a week ago, was part of the Biden administration’s response to the drone attack by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan and wounded dozens of others late last month, the officials said.
The operation was intended to inhibit the Iranian ship’s ability to share intelligence with Houthi rebels in Yemen who have been firing missiles and drones at cargo ships in the Red Sea, the officials said. U.S. officials say Iran uses the ship to provide targeting information to the Houthis so their attacks on the ships can be more effective.
(NBC)
On 45th anniversary of Islamic Revolution, modern-day Iran grapples with complex history with US: Reporter's notebook
As we entered an old but well-kept two-story brick building in downtown Tehran, we were greeted with a friendly "hello, welcome" with a warm smile and a thick Persian accent.
We had scheduled a tour, the details of which I'll spare you, mostly because we promised to be discreet about our tour guide's identity. He was a tall, lean, somewhat shy yet confident young man.
"Chetori," I said. This Persian greeting is one of the few words I know in Farsi, one that I leaned on heavily.
(ABC)
Nuclear Accord
The head of UN’s nuclear watchdog warns Iran is ‘not entirely transparent’ on its atomic program
The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog warned Tuesday that Iran is “not entirely transparent” regarding its atomic program, particularly after an official who once led Tehran’s program announced the Islamic Republic has all the pieces for a weapon “in our hands.”
Speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, just across the Persian Gulf, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, alluded to remarks made this weekend by Ali Akbar Salehi. Grossi noted “an accumulation of complexities” in the wider Middle East amid Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Iran, after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, has pursued nuclear enrichment just below weapons-grade levels. Tehran has accumulated enough enriched uranium to build several weapons if it chooses. However, U.S. intelligence agencies and others assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program. Israel long has been believed to have its own nuclear weapons program.
(AP News)
Women of Iran
Iranian Writer Rashno to Serve Nearly Four-Year Prison Sentence
Sepideh Rashno, an Iranian writer, poet and vocal critic of compulsory hijab, says she will go to prison to serve a three-year-and-11-month term handed to her for "publishing obscene images" on social media.
Rashno said on her Instagram account that she was also barred from traveling.
"A travel ban for someone who doesn't intend to leave," Rashno wrote.
Inside Iran
Iran's main gas pipeline hit by sabotage, oil minister says
Two explosions along Iran's main south-north gas pipeline network on Wednesday were caused by sabotage, the Iranian oil minister told state TV, without naming any suspects.
Authorities also denied reports that the incident caused gas cuts to industries and offices in some provinces, state media reported.
"This terrorist act of sabotage occurred at 1 a.m. (9.30 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday morning in the network of national gas transmission pipelines in two regions of the country," Minister Javad Owji said.
(Reuters)
Huge Explosion Hits Chemical Factory Near Tehran
A huge explosion has occurred at a chemical factory, apparently a solvent manufacturing facility, in Shahriyar, west of Tehran, Iranian state media reported Thursday night.
According to Fars news agency, the explosion took place at Salar Chemistry Company, about 30 kilometers west of the capital Tehran.
Mohsen Hamyani, the CEO of the Qods Municipality Fire Department, said that several fuel tanks exploded at the factory, adding that firefighters are currently extinguishing the fire and preventing it from spreading to other tanks.
Mahsa Amini’s uncle sentenced to five years in jail over Iran protests, rights groups say
The uncle of Mahsa Amini, the young Iranian-Kurdish woman whose death in custody sparked months of protests, has been sentenced to more than five years in jail for his criticism of the government in 2022, rights groups have said.
Safa Aeli, 30, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison by the revolutionary court in the family’s home town of Saqez in north-western Iran, the Norway-based Hengaw group and US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said.
In addition, he was punished with sanctions including a highly unusual demand to produce a written document outlining the biography of a member of the security forces killed in the protests and then submit his “own personal interpretation” of the finished document to the judicial authorities, Hengaw said.
Regional Politics
UAE restricts US ability to launch retaliatory airstrikes against Iran proxies
Some Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, are increasingly restricting the U.S. from using military facilities on their soil to launch retaliatory airstrikes on Iranian proxies, according to four people familiar with the issue.
The U.S. has long deployed thousands of troops at facilities in the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and elsewhere in the Middle East, and the Arab countries’ role in supporting U.S. military activities has come under intensified scrutiny since the Israel-Hamas war that erupted in October.
The conflict has pitted Arab governments’ interests in assuaging their citizens’ anger toward Israel against their desire to help Washington fend off Iranian-backed attacks. The restrictions on U.S. activities on their soil reflect Arab calculations on how supportive they can be — without angering Iran.
(Politico)
Global Relations
Iran-backed hackers interrupt UAE, UK and Canadian programming with fake AI news broadcast
A group of hackers linked to Iran have interrupted BBC and a host of other European TV streaming services in Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Canada, Microsoft stated in a report earlier this month, noting a marked acceleration of Iranian cyber attacks since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
The programming was interrupted with a fake news report on Gaza featuring graphic images and what appeared to be an AI-generated anchor – the first time Iran has used AI in this way in its influence operations.
According to the American IT giant, the hacker attack took place in early December and underscored “the fast and significant expansion in the scope of Iranian operations since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict”.
(France 24)
Analysis
How escalating US-Iran tensions in the Middle East could play out next
By: Giorgio Cafiero
The dangerous expansion of Israel’s war on Gaza into other parts of the Middle East adds new layers of violence and chaos to the region.
Without the Biden administration pressuring Israel into agreeing to a ceasefire, the war’s ripple effects will continue raising regional tensions and heightening the risk of new conflicts breaking out.
Between 17 October and 12 February, Iran-aligned actors waged 168 attacks against US military personnel stationed in Iraq, Jordan, and Syria. On 28 January, a suicide drone attack killed three US soldiers at Tower 22, a US drone base in north-eastern Jordan, which has recently been mostly used for reconnaissance missions in Iraq and Syria and operations against Iran-linked militias in those countries.
