{"id":330560,"date":"2025-04-16T05:46:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T04:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=330560"},"modified":"2025-04-16T20:42:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T19:42:32","slug":"iran-news-in-brief-april-16-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-news-in-brief-news\/iran-news-in-brief-april-16-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran News in Brief \u2013 April 16, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Protest
Protest by supporters of the Iranian Resistance outside the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo against the clerical regime\u2019s brutal executions \u2013 April 12, 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS<\/h3>\n

UPDATE: 9:30 PM CEST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moskowitz, Baumgartner Bill to Sanction the Taking of American Hostages Passes House Foreign Affairs Committee<\/h3>\n

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WASHINGTON, DC\u00a0\u2014 Congressmen Jared Moskowitz (D-FL-23) and Michael Baumgartner (R-WA-05) announced that their bipartisan\u00a0No Paydays for Hostage-Takers Act<\/em><\/a>\u00a0recently\u00a0cleared the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on a 45-6 vote, overcoming a key hurdle that gets it one step closer to becoming law. The bill strengthens U.S. deterrence of state-sponsored hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of U.S. nationals, particularly against the government of Iran.<\/p>\n

Moskowitz previously introduced the\u00a0No Paydays for Hostage-Takers Act<\/em>\u00a0during the 118th<\/sup>\u00a0Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cForeign adversaries like Iran can\u2019t be allowed to take Americans hostage and get away with it. My bipartisan\u00a0No Paydays\u00a0for Hostage-Takers Act\u00a0<\/em>sends that message loud and clear,\u201d\u00a0said Congressman Moskowitz.\u00a0\u201cI applaud my colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee for joining Congressman Baumgartner and me to advance this bill, and I encourage the rest of the House to pass it and ensure that bad actors, hostile governments, and terrorist groups will face action from the United States if they wrongfully detain one of our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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UN Watchdog Chief Says Iran ‘Not Far’ from Nuclear Bomb<\/h3>\n

Tehran (AFP) \u2013\u00a0<\/em>The United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi warned on Wednesday that Iran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear bomb, shortly before he arrived in Tehran for talks.<\/p>\n

Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.<\/p>\n

“It’s like a puzzle. They have the pieces, and one day they could eventually put them together,” Grossi told French newspaper Le Monde in an interview published on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“There’s still a way to go before they get there. But they’re not far off, that has to be acknowledged,” he said.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a Mistake to Think the Biggest Problem With Iran Is Nuclear Weapons<\/h3>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

President Trump said on Monday that he will \u201csolve the Iran problem\u201d and that \u201cit\u2019s almost an easy one.\u201d\u00a0Almost.<\/p>\n

What is \u201cthe Iran problem\u201d? Trump seems to think it\u2019s Iran\u2019s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons, which, he has said, \u201cthey can\u2019t have.\u201d Iran has enriched uranium to 60 percent purity \u2014 close to weapons grade \u2014 and \u201cmight be able to enrich enough uranium for five fission weapons within about one week and enough for eight weapons in less than two weeks,\u201d according to the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. It would take additional time to make the parts needed to turn this fissile material into a bomb, but this could be done in small, secret facilities.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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UK Adds Two New Designations to Its Iran Sanctions List<\/h3>\n

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) – The British government on Monday imposed sanctions on an organization and an individual under its Iran sanctions regime, citing involvement in hostile activity backed by the Iranian government.<\/p>\n

An update to the government website showed new sanctions, including asset freezes and director disqualifications, against the Foxtrot Network and Rawa Majid over \u201cactivity which aids or facilitates serious organized crime in the United Kingdom or any other country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move comes a month after US sanctions on Foxtrot and Majid. The US government statement from March referred to the group as a criminal gang based in Sweden and called Majid its \u201cfugitive leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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US Issues New Sanctions Targeting Chinese Importers of Iranian Oil<\/h3>\n

WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday issued new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports, including against a China-based “teapot” oil refinery, as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to ramp up pressure on Tehran.
\n“Teapot” is an industry term for small independent oil refiners.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement the action would increase pressure on Chinese importers of Iranian oil as Trump seeks to restore his\u00a0“maximum pressure”<\/a>\u00a0campaign on Iran, which includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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How To Denuclearize Iran<\/h3>\n

\"Washington-times-logo\"<\/p>\n

An emerging view is that the outcome of the\u00a0Iran<\/a>\u00a0negotiations should be the same as that achieved with\u00a0Libya<\/a>: the complete, irreversible dismantlement of\u00a0Iran\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0nuclear program. In December 2003,\u00a0Libya<\/a>\u00a0agreed to the total elimination and removal of all associated equipment and materials, as well as its longer-range SCUD missiles. Within four months, everything had been taken to the United States.<\/p>\n

Iran<\/a>\u00a0is not\u00a0Libya<\/a>.\u00a0Iran<\/a>\u00a0is a much larger country in almost every way.\u00a0Iran\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0nuclear program is far more advanced to the point of being a virtual nuclear weapons state, and the negotiation history could not be more different. The U.S. has been in on-and-off public negotiations with\u00a0Iran<\/a>\u00a0for more than 15 years across four administrations. With\u00a0Libya<\/a>, it was one day of secret talks in London, preceded by several months of U.S.-British-Libyan intelligence contacts, that produced what can serve as perhaps the only meaningful outcome with\u00a0Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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UPDATE: 6:30 AM CEST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Khamenei Deflects Blame as Economic Crisis and Warnings of Social Unrest Grip Iran<\/h3>\n

\"Assessing<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the new Persian year (March 20, 2025), amidst escalating social tensions and a deepening livelihood crisis, Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei shamelessly deflected responsibility, stating, \u201cThe leadership does not interfere in economic planning; meaning, it doesn\u2019t even have the right to interfere. This is part of the government\u2019s duties; the government must do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the few weeks that have passed since the new year began, not a day has gone by without the regime\u2019s media, officials, and experts warning about the consequences of the people\u2019s economic hardships and the danger of social protest eruptions for the crisis-ridden clerical regime.<\/p>\n

Referring to the consequences of \u201cchronic and prolonged inflation\u201d for the regime, the state-affiliated Ham-Mihan newspaper wrote on April 9, 2025, \u201cThe country\u2019s situation is not good at all, and sanctions are not just pieces of paper. People are dissatisfied, the ruling system is worried, and chronic, long-term inflation persists.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Nuclear Talks Expose Deep Crisis Within Iran\u2019s Regime<\/h3>\n

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The announcement of a new round of nuclear negotiations between the Iranian regime and the United States has plunged the clerical establishment in Tehran into a maelstrom of internal and external crises. This turmoil is not confined to any single faction but has engulfed the entire regime, with every indication that the crisis will only intensify over time.\u00a0Clear signs of this escalating instability can be found in the sermons of Friday prayer leaders, statements by parliamentarians, and the increasingly contradictory remarks of regime officials.<\/p>\n

From its inception, the Islamic Republic has anchored its identity in revolutionary rhetoric, the formation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the export of extremism and conflict. Anti-Western slogans\u2014branding the United States as the \u201cGreat Satan\u201d and calling for its destruction\u2014have long served to legitimize the regime\u2019s external hostilities. Yet, the act of negotiating with such a sworn enemy poses a fundamental challenge to the ideological foundations upon which the regime stands.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Iran Faces New Surge in Medical Costs as Preferential Currency Policy Ends<\/h3>\n

\"Shocking-Statistics_-10000-Medical-Staff\"<\/p>\n

April 15, 2025<\/em> \u2014 As Iran grapples with rising inflation and economic hardship, a new wave of price hikes in the medical sector is compounding the public\u2019s burden. The elimination of the preferential exchange rate for importing medical equipment has triggered concern among officials and healthcare providers alike, with many warning that the cost of essential medicines and devices is becoming unaffordable.\u00a0Mehdi Pirsalehi, head of the Food and Drug Administration, announced that the government has officially discontinued the 4,200 tomans exchange rate previously used for importing medical equipment. Speaking to the Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Tasnim News Agency on Sunday, April 13, Pirsalehi stated that the rate will now be adjusted to 28,500 tomans \u2014 a sevenfold increase.<\/p>\n

According to Pirsalehi, the Central Bank will allocate $3.5 billion at the new preferential rate of 28,500 tomans, along with an additional $1.5 billion at a negotiated rate, for the import of medicine and medical equipment this year. However, this shift in policy is already being felt in the healthcare system.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Iran: New Tape Exposes Shocking Crimes Against Women in the 1988 Massacre<\/h3>\n

\"cage<\/p>\n

In a powerful new statement issued on April 15, 2025, the Judiciary Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) responded to the release of a previously unheard audio recording from Ayatollah\u00a0Hossein-Ali Montazeri<\/a>\u2014Khomeini\u2019s former designated successor\u2014shedding further light on the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran.\u00a0The newly released tape (BBC \u2013 Monday night, April 14, 2025), a partial and edited recording of Montazeri\u2019s second meeting with members of the infamous \u201cDeath Committee,\u201d reveals even more damning evidence of the Iranian regime\u2019s mass executions\u2014especially its\u00a0shocking treatment of female prisoners<\/a>, including supporters of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK).<\/p>\n

The recording confirms the depth of planning and ideological cruelty behind one of the worst atrocities of the clerical regime in Iran, revealing how even women and foreign nationals were targeted in the systematic extermination.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Paris Exhibition Reveals Iran Regime\u2019s Brutality, Calls for Global Response<\/h3>\n
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April 12, 2025 - Paris Exhibition Reveals Iran Regime\u2019s Brutality, Calls for Global Response.<\/div><\/div>
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