THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 8:00 PM CET
Iran Nearing Nuclear Bomb Yardstick as Enriched Uranium Stock Grows
VIENNA, March 3 (Reuters) – The stock of enriched uranium amassed by Iran in breach of its 2015 nuclear deal is growing to the point that its most highly-enriched material is most of the way to a common bomb yardstick, a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog showed on Thursday.
The amount in the quarterly International Atomic Energy Agency report to member states seen by Reuters comes as negotiators at talks on salvaging the 2015 deal say they are in the final stretch. Western powers have warned time is running out before Iran’s nuclear progress makes the talks pointless.
UPDATE: 1:00 PM CET
Saudi Arabia Says Cracking Down on Illegal Captagon Drug
Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) – On a table covered in a green sheet, two Saudi officers pour out thousands of white amphetamine pills they have just seized from a neighborhood in the kingdom’s Red Sea city of Jeddah. An AFP crew accompanied the anti-narcotics agents on their raid Tuesday when police officers arrested three people carrying 28,000 Captagon tablets.
The operation — during which AFP was requested to turn off its cameras for security reasons — as part of the country’s efforts to crack down on dealers and smugglers of the amphetamine-type stimulant.
U.S., Bahrain Defense Leaders Discuss Global, Regional Concerns
U.S. and Bahrain’s defense officials discussed a range of issues from global problems like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to regional problems in Iran during a meeting at the Pentagon today.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III hosted Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa for these wide-ranging discussions. Austin noted that the American-Bahraini relationship is longstanding and deep, and the United States appreciates and welcomes these contacts.
UPDATE: 8:30 AM CET
Amid Nuclear Talks Deadlock, Regime-affiliated Expert Warns About Serious Consequences
Warning about repercussions if the Iranian regime fails to cave in during the nuclear talks, Ali Bigdeli, a state-affiliated expert on nuclear issues, forecasts grim consequences.
“If Mr. Grossi reports to the United Nations that the Islamic Republic has blocked the inspection of nuclear sites and Iran is condemned by the IAEA Board of Governors, he will send the report to the Security Council,” Bigdeli told the state-run website ‘Dideban’ on March 2. “In the Security Council, even if Russia and China stand behind Iran, more sanctions will be imposed. Under these circumstances, Iran will be put under the Chapter Seven of the UN Charter again.
He added: “If the Vienna talks fail to bear fruit, the dollar will hit over 40,000 tomans in just a week… These conditions are very dangerous for the Islamic Republic and we will return to a much worse situation than in the years before 2015. We are more concerned about domestic unrest.”
Tehran’s Support for the Invasion of Ukraine Backfires
After days of Iranian regime officials openly supporting the Russian war of occupation against Ukraine, regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei tried to soften his regime’s position and justify his support for a war that has been condemned worldwide.
In a speech, on Tuesday, March 1, Khamenei said, “I think that Ukraine is a victim of American policies. We are of course against the destruction of nations, the killing of people, and the destruction of the infrastructure of nations. We do not approve that.”
Outbreak of Crises and Conflicts Within Iran’s Regime
The state of the Iranian regime is so precarious, that addressing any issue it faces quickly turns into open wrangling within the ranks of the ruling elite, who ironically belong to the supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s principlist faction.
By engaging in a major purge of the rival so-called moderate faction, Khamenei sought to consolidate his grip on power and enable the regime as a whole to deal with the brewing protests and uprisings by different sectors of the Iranian society.
The infighting was evident when the parliament was deciding on the fate of the preferred currency exchange rate of 42,000 rials to a dollar. After initially approving it, the regime decided to put off implementing the measure.
Iranian Spies Face Jail Over Abduction Bid in Turkey’s Van
Prosecutors are seeking prison terms of up to 30 years for 11 defendants, including Iranian spies, on charges of an attempt to abduct a defecting Iranian military commander in the eastern province of Van, which shares a border with Iran.
M.A., a pilot with the rank of major in the Iranian army, had filed a criminal complaint last year, claiming that unknown people had tried to abduct him. Eight people were arrested in September 2021 in connection with the incident in a joint operation by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and police.
Un Nuclear Watchdog Will ‘Never Abandon’ Iran Probe
VIENNA: The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that it would “never abandon” its attempts to get Iran to clarify the previous presence of nuclear material at several undeclared sites there.
Iran has said the closure of the probe is necessary in order to clinch a deal to revive the 2015 deal with world powers on its nuclear program. However, on Wednesday International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi insisted that it would “never abandon a process… because of a political reason.”
Amnesty International: Tortured Kurdish Men at Risk of Execution
According to Amnesty International, Anwar Khezri, Ayoub Karimi, Davoud Abdollahi, Farhad Salimi, Ghassem Abesteh, Kamran Sheikheh, and Khosrow Basharat, all from Iran’s Kurdish Sunni minority, are at risk of execution at Raha’i Shahr prison, near Tehran. They were convicted of “corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel-arz) and sentenced to death in grossly unfair
trials marred by claims of torture to extract “confessions”.
Brave and Resilient, Iranian Women Lead the Fight for Freedom and Equality
On the eve of International Women’s Day, the NCRI Women’s Committee publishes its Annual Report 2022, reviewing the past year as Iranian women lead the fight for freedom and equality in Iran. The recent beheading of Mona Heydari, a child bride, shocked the world. The heartless murder of this 17-year-old mother by her husband was the culmination of an incessant wave of honor killings and femicides in Iran over the past few years.
Read more: Iran News in Brief – March 2, 2022
