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Iran News in Brief – March 18, 2022

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THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS

UPDATE: 11:00 PM CET

IRGC Will Hit Iraq Again, Spokesman Threatens

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“If Iraq doesn’t do anything to dismantle these Zionist bases, Iran will respond again,” said Ramazan Sharif, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, responding to Iraqi and international outrage following the IRGC missile attack on Erbil. “It is our natural right to destroy any point that attacks Iran’s security and this is our red line.”

The IRGC-run Javan news agency quoted its spokesman as saying: “Our ambassador to Iraq stated that he had warned the Kurdistan Region of Iraq several times about the existence of the same Mossad headquarters as well as two other headquarters.”


Ted Cruz: Republicans Will Use ‘Host of Tools’ to Kill Biden’s Iran Deal

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The forthcoming agreement to bring the U.S. back into the Iran nuclear deal will “to a metaphysical certainty” grant Tehran billions of dollars that “will be used to carry out the murder of Americans,” Senator Ted Cruz told National Review while pledging that congressional Republicans will employ a range of options meant to quash it.

“I think we could see a host of tools employed by multiple senators to stop this deal,” Cruz said in an interview Wednesday. “We still don’t know the specifics of the deal, but everything we hear keeps getting worse and worse by the day. At this point, it is a complete surrender to the ayatollah. It is complete surrender to Russia and Putin.”

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Sen. Cruz Introduces Legislation to Ban the Biden Administration From Waiving Sanctions on Iran Nuclear Activities

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today introduced legislation to prohibit the Biden administration from waiving Congressional sanctions that prohibit cooperation on Iran’s nuclear program, originally issued under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Cotton (R-AR), Cassidy (R-LA), Cramer (R-ND), Ernst (R-IA), Braun (R-IN), Rubio (R-FL), Rick Scott (R-FL), Hoeven (R-ND), Tillis (R-NC), Blackburn (R-TN), Hagerty (R-TN), and Inhofe (R-OK). Last month, the Biden administration notified Congress it was giving Iran and its international partners—including Russia—a waiver for seven civil nuclear activities, which Iran uses to build its nuclear program. Sen. Cruz fought to rescind those waivers, and the Trump administration did so in 2019 and 2020.

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Iran: Un Must Take Action on Institutional Impunity

article19-logoARTICLE 19 and Amnesty International made a short version of this statement during the interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran at the 49th Session of the UN Human Rights Council.

The authorities continue to crush protests using unlawful, including lethal, force with complete impunity. The violent suppression of 2021 protests in Khuzestan province and the city of Isfahan, in a context where thousands continue to be denied justice for violations committed during November 2019 protests, is a tragic reminder of how impunity for the unlawful killing and torturing of protesters and bystanders facilitates further cycles of bloodshed. These acts further demonstrate the disregard the Iranian authorities have for the right to life. This is also evident in their continued use of the death penalty, including as a tool of political repression, as well as their deadly and deliberate denial of medical care to prisoners.

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UPDATE: 8:30 PM CET

Iraqi Commission Dismissed IRGC Claims About Targeting Mossad in Erbil Attack

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According to the Akhbar Al-Khaleej newspaper, a fact-finding commission, selected to investigate the March 13 missile attack on Erbil, dismissed the allegations made by the Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards it was targeting Israeli Mossad compounds.

The Bahraini newspaper wrote on March 18: “A source in the fact-finding commission that has been appointed by the Iraqi government in coordination with the parliament revealed some facts related to the Iranian regime’s rocket attack against the city of Erbil. According to the source, a committee consisting of security officials, deputies, and ministers from Baghdad and Erbil visited the site and listened to the testimony of witnesses, and continued to hear the statements of all parties and experts involved in the case.

A statement issued by the office of Hakim al-Zamili, deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament said that the commission would issue its recommendations which would be binding on all parties. According to the source, the information obtained by the commission are as follows:

  • The targeted building belongs to a Kurdish investor who went to a farm on the outskirts of Erbil with his family that night.
  • Riber Ahmad Khalid, the interior minister of the Kurdistan Region, provided evidence that all of the Iranian regime’s missiles had targeted Kurdish citizens’ homes and a Kurdish television station.
  • The Iranian regime has failed to provide evidence of the existence of an Israeli Mossad base in Erbil.
  • The Revolutionary Guards has refused to answer a number of questions from the Iraqi side about the Iranian regime’s attacks on the capital of Kurdistan.

The fact-finding commission instructed the Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister in charge of Iran’s case to inform the Iranian Foreign Ministry of Iraq’s final position on the attack on Erbil and to issue a final warning to Tehran to refrain from actions that violate Iraqi sovereignty and soil.”


Clandestine Finance System Helped Iran Withstand Sanctions Crush, Documents Show

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WASHINGTON—Iran established a clandestine banking and finance system to handle tens of billions of dollars in annual trade banned under U.S.-led sanctions, enabling Tehran to endure the economic siege and giving it leverage in multilateral nuclear talks, according to Western diplomats, intelligence officials and documents.

The system, which comprises accounts in foreign commercial banks, proxy companies registered outside the country, firms that coordinate the banned trade, and a transaction clearinghouse within Iran, has helped Tehran resist the Biden administration’s pressure to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal, buying it time to advance its nuclear program even while negotiations were underway. Officials say they are closing in on a deal, with the release of two British women in recent days foreshadowing a potential agreement within days.

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Report: 10,000 Iranian Militants Killed in Syria

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) documented the death of 499,657 people since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising.

The Observatory also announced that the death toll included 1,712 Lebanese Hezbollah members and 8,628 others from non-Syrian militiamen backed by Iran and Russia.

Last year, the United Nations Human Rights Office announced that it compiled a list of 350,209 identified individuals killed in the conflict in Syria between March 2011 to March 2021.

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UPDATE: 9:30 AM CET

Senators in Both Parties Tie Iran to Russian Invasion of Ukraine Amid Nuclear Deal Talks

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Republican and Democratic senators on Wednesday tied the Iranian regime to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, noting the hard-line regime’s support of Russian President Vladimir Putin — and linking the struggle for freedom in Iran to Kyiv’s resistance to Moscow’s invasion.

The Senate briefing, organized by the Organization of Iranian-American Communities (OIAC), saw Democratic senators including Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. join Republican Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas and John Cornyn, R-Texas, offer their support to resistance groups in Iran in their push for a democratic, secular Iran.

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Iran’s Youth Protest the Regime During the Annual Fire Festival

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Despite threats from the regime’s so-called judiciary and state police, brave youth in Tehran and cities across Iran celebrated their traditional Fire Festival marking the last Tuesday night of the Persian calendar year before Nowruz on March 21 by setting fire to images and effigies of regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, first regime supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini, and current President Ebrahim Raisi.

Reports from 75 cities across 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces indicate people and rebellious youth were in the streets in large numbers celebrating, hurling homemade sound grenades, setting fire to images of Khamenei and Khomeini, and chanting

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Iran: 14 Executions in Several Cities Across the Country

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Iranian regime authorities have recently executed 14 prisoners in several cities across the country.

According to a report wired by the HRANA news agency, four inmates were sent to the gallows in the early morning hours of March 16 in Gohardasht Prison of Karaj, west of Tehran, and Dastgerd prison of Isfahan, central Iran.

One of the victims in Isfahan was an Afghan national by the name of Zobeid. The three inmates hanged in Gohardasht prison were Gholam-Ali Khargir, Abbas Khargir, and Mohsen Jandaghi.

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Nowruz, Hope, and Prosperity for the Iranian People

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The history of Nowruz is rooted in the 3,000-year-old tradition of Zoroastrianism. In harmony with the rebirth of nature, the Persian New Year Celebration, or Nowruz (new day), always begins on the first day of spring. This reawakening symbolizes the triumph of good over the evil forces of darkness, symbolically represented by winter. Nowruz ceremonies are symbolic representations of two ancient concepts – the End and the Rebirth, or Good and Evil. Among the people of Iran, Nowruz is considered the most significant national holiday that is accompanied by a host of customs and traditions. Visiting the elders, getting together, giving presents to children, planning for a prosperous new year, and strengthening family and friendship bonds,… are embedded in the spirit of Nowruz, both in philosophy and practice.

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At Least 14 Prisoners Executed in Iran in Four Days

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The Iranian Judiciary executed at least 14 prisoners from March 12 to 16, 2022.

The executions of at least 14 prisoners took place in the prisons of Gohardasht (Karaj), Shiraz, Isfahan, Urmia, Bushehr, Zahedan, and Khash.

Two brothers, Behnam Gholam-Ali and Abbas Khargir, and another inmate by the name of Mohsen Jahangiri were among the 14 prisoners executed in recent days. The three prisoners were hanged in Gohardasht Prison (aka Rajaishahr) in Karaj, on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

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Read more: Iran News in Brief – March 17, 2022