Tag: Iran

Exclusive: Biden task force investigating how US tech ends up in Iranian attack drones used against Ukraine | CNN Politics

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Washington
CNN
—

The Biden administration has launched an expansive task force to investigate how US and western components, including American-made microelectronics, are ending up in Iranian-made drones Russia is launching by the hundreds into Ukraine, multiple officials familiar with the effort tell CNN. 

The US has imposed tough export control restrictions and sanctions to prevent Iran from obtaining high-end materials, but evidence has emerged that suggests Iran is finding an abundance of commercially-available technology. 

Last month, the UK-based investigative organization  Conflict Armament Research examined  several drones that had been downed in Ukraine and found that 82% of their components were manufactured by companies based in the US. 

Among the components found in some of the drones are processors built by the Dallas-based technology company Texas Instruments, according to an investigation by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a source familiar with the US inquiry, as well as an engine made by an Austrian firm owned by Canada’s Bombardier Recreational Products. Both companies have condemned any use of their technology for illicit purposes. 

Their apparently unintentional ensnarement in Iran’s drone manufacturing industry underscores how inexpensive products intended for civilian use can be easily retrofitted for military purposes, and often fall just outside the bounds of sanctions and export control regimes.  

Texas Instruments said in a statement to CNN that “TI is not selling any products into Russia, Belarus or Iran. TI complies with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, and partners with law enforcement organizations as necessary and appropriate. Additionally, we do not support or condone the use of our products in applications they weren’t designed for. ”

Bombardier Recreational Products  said in a statement that it was launching an investigation into how the engines ended up in the drones.

The investigation has intensified in recent weeks amid intelligence obtained by the US that the Kremlin is preparing to open its own factory for drone production inside Russia as part of a deal with Iran, the officials said. 

Iran has already begun transferring blueprints and components for the drones to Russia to help with production there, CNN has reported, in a dramatic expansion of the countries’ military partnership. 

Agencies across Washington are involved in the task force, including the departments of Defense, State, Justice, Commerce and Treasury, with one official describing the inquiry as an “all hands on deck” initiative. The effort is being overseen by the White House National Security Council as part of an even bigger, “holistic approach” to dealing with Iran, a senior administration official said, from its crackdown on protesters and its nuclear program to its deepening role in the war in Ukraine.

But the drone issue is particularly urgent given the sheer volume of US-made components, many of them manufactured in the last couple years, that have been found in the Iranian drones Russia has been deploying across Ukraine against civilians and critical infrastructure. 

Conflict Armament Research found that the Iranian drones they examined in Ukraine in November had “higher-end technological capabilities,” including tactical-grade sensors and semiconductors sourced outside of Iran, demonstrating that Tehran “has been able to circumvent current sanction regimes and has added more capabilities and resiliency to its weapons.”

National Security Council official John Kirby told reporters earlier this month that the US would be sanctioning three Russian companies involved in acquiring and using the Iranian drones, and is “assessing further steps we can take in terms of export controls to restrict Iran’s access to sensitive technologies.” 

Much of that work has fallen to the task force, officials said, and among its first tasks has been to notify all of the American companies whose components have been found in the drones. Congressional staffers briefed on the effort told CNN that they hope the task force provides lawmakers with a list of US companies whose equipment is being found in the drones in an effort to force greater accountability by urging the companies to monitor their supply chains more closely.

The task force is also having to coordinate with foreign allies, since the components being used in the drones are not limited to those produced by American companies.  Conflict Armament Research also found that “more than 70 manufacturers based in 13 different countries and territories” produced the components in the Iranian drones they examined.

In October, CNN obtained access to a drone that was downed in the Black Sea near Odesa and captured by Ukrainian forces. It was found to contain Japanese batteries, an Austrian engine and American processors. 

Iran may also be acquiring near-exact replicas of western components from China, according to a study published last month by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security. “China plays a larger role than previously assessed in enabling Iran to manufacture and supply drones to Russian forces,” the report found. “It appears that Chinese companies are supplying Iran with copies of Western commodities to produce UAV combat drones.”

The White House believes it is successfully driving home the scale of the issue with allies. The senior administration official told CNN that there was “growing broad and deep international consensus on Iran, from the EU to Canada to Australia and New Zealand, which is being led by US diplomacy.”

There is no evidence that any of the western companies are knowingly exporting their technology to be used in the drones, and that is partly why the task force’s job has been so difficult, officials said. 

The task force has its work cut out for it in tracing supply chains for the microelectronics industry, which relies heavily on third party distributors and resellers. The microchips and other small devices ending up in so many of the Iranian and Russian drones are not only inexpensive and widely available, they are also easily hidden. 

Iran also uses front companies to buy equipment from the US and EU that may have a dual use, like the Austrian engines, that Tehran can then use to build drones, according to the Treasury Department, which sanctioned several of those companies in September. 

 That makes supply chain monitoring a challenge, though experts say US and European companies could be doing a lot more to track where their products are going. 

“American companies should be doing a lot more to track their supply chains,” said Dmitri Alperovitch, the former chief technology officer at the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. 

Keeping better track of resellers is a first step, he said, but the task is admittedly difficult because so many of these companies’ products are so commoditized and available off-the-shelf and online for civil purposes. Ultimately, neutering some Iranian front companies with sanctions and cutting off their supply from some western companies will be akin to “a game of whack a mole,” Alperovitch said, noting that they “can easily find another supplier.”

He added that the real “weak underbelly” of US policy when it comes to export controls is enforcement—and prosecuting the specific individuals involved in the illicit transactions. 

“We have to beef up the resources for enforcement of our sanctions to achieve the desired effect,” Alperovitch said.

“You can put companies on the [sanctioned] entities list,” he added, “but if you don’t actually go after the people involved, it doesn’t mean a whole lot.” 

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December 21, 2022
An Iranian masterwork opens with its director behind bars

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NEW YORK — After being arrested for creating antigovernment propaganda in 2010, the Iranian director Jafar Panahi was banned from making films for 20 years. Since then, he’s made five widely acclaimed features.

His latest, “No Bears,” opens soon in U.S. theaters while Panahi is in prison.

In July, Panahi went to the Tehran prosecutor’s office to inquire about the arrest of Mohammad Rasoulof, a filmmaker detained in the government’s crackdown on protests. Panahi himself was arrested and, on a decade-old charge, sentenced to six years in jail.

Panahi’s films, made in Iran without government approval, are sly feats of artistic resistance. He plays himself in meta self-portraitures that clandestinely capture the mechanics of Iranian society with a humanity both playful and devastating. Panahi made “This is Not a Film” in his apartment. “Taxi” was shot almost entirely inside a car, with a smiling Panahi playing the driver and picking up passengers along the way.

In “No Bears,” Panahi plays a fictionalized version of himself while making a film in a rural town along the Iran-Turkey border. It’s one of the most acclaimed films of the year. The New York Times and The Associated Press named it one of the top 10 films of the year. Film critic Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times called “No Bears” 2022’s best movie.

“No Bears” is landing at a time when the Iranian film community is increasingly ensnarled in a harsh government crackdown. A week after “No Bears” premiered at the Venice Film Festival, with Panahi already behind bars, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died while being held by Iran’s morality police. Her death sparked three months of women-led protests, still ongoing, that have rocked Iran’s theocracy.

More than 500 protesters have been killed in the crackdown since Sept. 17, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. More than 18,200 people have been detained.

On Saturday, the prominent Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti, star of Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning “The Salesman,” was arrested after posting an Instagram message expressing solidarity with a man recently executed for crimes allegedly committed during the protests.

In the outcry that followed Alidoosti’s arrest, Farhadi — the director of “A Separation” and “A Hero” — called for Alidoosti’s release “alongside that of my other fellow cineastes Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof and all the other less-known prisoners whose only crime is the attempt for a better life.”

“If showing such support is a crime, then tens of millions of people of this land are criminals,” Farhadi wrote on Instagram.

Panahi’s absence has been acutely felt on the world’s top movie stages. At Venice, where “No Bears” was given a special jury prize, a red-carpet walkout was staged at the film’s premiere. Festival director Alberto Barbera and jury president Julianne Moore were among the throngs silently protesting the imprisonment of Panahi and other filmmakers.

“No Bears” will also again test a long-criticized Academy Awards policy. Submissions for the Oscars’ best international film category are made only by a country’s government. Critics have said that allows authoritative regimes to dictate which films compete for the sought-after prize.

Arthouse distributors Sideshow and Janus Films, which helped lead Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Japanese drama “Drive My Car” to four Oscar nominations a year ago, acquired “No Bears” with the hope that its merit and Panahi’s cause would outshine that restriction.

“He puts himself at risk every time he does something like this,” says Jonathan Sehring, Sideshow founder and a veteran independent film executive. “When you have regimes that won’t even let a filmmaker make a movie and in spite of it they do, it’s inspiring.”

“We knew it wasn’t going to be the Iranian submission, obviously,” adds Sehring. “But we wanted to position Jafar as a potential best director, best screenplay, a number of different categories. And we also believe the film can work theatrically.”

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences declined to comment on possible reforms to the international film category. Among the 15 shortlisted films for the award announced Wednesday was the Danish entry “Holy Spider,” set in Iran. After Iranian authorities declined to authorize it, director Ali Abbasi shot the film, based on real-life serial killings, in Jordan.

“No Bears” opens in New York on Dec. 23 and Los Angeles on Jan. 10 before rolling out nationally.

In it, Panahi rents an apartment from which he, with a fitful internet signal, directs a film with the help of assistants. Their handing off cameras and memory cards gives, perhaps, an illuminating window into how Panahi has worked under government restrictions. In “No Bears,” he comes under increasing pressure from village authorities who believe he’s accidentally captured a compromising image.

“It’s not easy to make a movie to begin with, but to make it secretly is very difficult, especially in Iran where a totalitarian government with such tight control over the country and spies everywhere,” says Iranian film scholar and documentarian Jamsheed Akrami-Ghorveh. “It’s really a triumph. I can’t compare him with any other filmmaker.”

In one of the film’s most moving scenes, Panahi stands along the border at night. Gazing at the lights in the distance, he contemplates crossing it — a life in exile that Panahi in real life steadfastly refused to ever adopt.

Some aspects of the film are incredibly close to reality. Parts of “No Bears” were shot in Turkey just like the film within the film. In Turkey, an Iranian couple (played by Mina Kavani and Bakhiyar Panjeei) are trying to obtain stolen passports to reach Europe.

Kavani herself has been living in exile for the last seven years. She starred in Sepideh Farsi’s 2014 romance “Red Rose.” When nudity in the film led to media harassment, Kavani chose to live in Paris. Kavani was struck by the profound irony of Panahi directing her by video chat from over the border.

“This is the genius of his art. The idea that we were both in exile but on a different side was magic,” says Kavani. “He was the first person that talked about that, what’s happening to exiled Iranian people outside of Iran. This is very interesting to me, that he is in exile in his own country, but he’s talking about those who left his country.”

Many of Panahi’s colleagues imagine that even in his jail cell, Panahi is probably thinking through his next film — whether he ever gets to make it or not. When “No Bears” played at the New York Film Festival, Kavani read a statement from Panahi.

“The history of Iranian cinema witnesses the constant and active presence of independent directors who have struggled to push back censorship and to ensure the survival of this art,” it said. “While on this path, some were banned from making films, others were forced into exile or reduced to isolation. And yet, the hope of creating again is a reason for existence. No matter where, when, or under what circumstances, an independent filmmaker is either creating or thinking.”

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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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December 21, 2022
Iranian authorities say 2 killed, 2 arrested after attack

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CAIRO — Iranian authorities said Wednesday that two suspects were killed and two more were arrested in connection with a shooting that left seven people dead at a bazaar last month in the country’s southwest.

IRNA, Iran’s official state news agency, said the two suspects killed were among the perpetrators of the market shooting in the Iranian city of Izeh last month. The report said two others accused of being involved in the attack were arrested in the same operation, led by the Revolutionary Guard and the Country’s Intelligence Ministry.

Iranian authorities provided no further details about when the operation took place. They offered no evidence that the four men were involved in the attack. News of the security operation was first announced by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in a statement published on Tuesday.

It remains unclear what motivated the gun attack in Izeh, or if it is linked to the nationwide protests that have rocked the country since late September. Iranian authorities labeled the incident a ”terrorist” attack but have not accused any particular group of being behind the shooting.

Iranian state TV has in the past said that two gunmen on motorbikes opened fire at Izeh’s Bazaar on the evening of Nov. 16. Around the same time, protesters had gathered in different areas of the city, chanting anti-government slogans and throwing rocks at the police, it reported.

Nationwide demonstrations ignited across Iran in late September after the death of a 22-year-old woman who was being held by the country’s morality police. The protests have since morphed into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s ruling clerics and an end to the theocracy established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

At least 506 people have been killed in the countrywide demonstrations amid the government crackdown, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the protests since they began.

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December 21, 2022
Iran and Russia were too distracted to meddle in midterm elections, US general says | CNN Politics

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CNN
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Domestic unrest in Iran and Russia’s war in Ukraine may have distracted Tehran and Moscow from making more of an effort to influence or interfere in the 2022 US midterm election, a top US military cyberofficial said Monday.

“We collectively saw much less focus from foreign adversaries, particularly the Russians” in targeting the 2022 election compared to previous elections, Maj. Gen. William J. Hartman, who leads the Cyber National Mission Force of US Cyber Command, the military’s offensive and defensive hacking unit, said at a press briefing at Fort Meade, home to Cyber Command and the National Security Agency.

Hartman said he was “surprised” by the relative lack of activity from the Russians and Iranians during the midterm election. The US military’s cyber forces have taken a more active role in defending US elections from foreign interference since 2018 by targeting computer networks used by Russia and others to try to sow discord.

Gen. Paul Nakasone, the head of Cyber Command, confirmed to reporters this month that the command conducted offensive and defensive cyber operations in an effort to protect the midterms from foreign interference and influence.

Nakasone declined to go into details on the operations, but said the command focused on taking down the computer infrastructure used by foreign operatives “at key times.”

“There was a campaign plan that we followed and it wasn’t just November 8. it covered before, during and until the elections were certified,” said Nakasone, who also leads the National Security Agency.

Foreign governments tend to use established agencies to meddle in elections rather than create new organizations to do that on the fly, Hartman said. And the security services in Russia and Iran were preoccupied in the weeks and months before Americans went to the polls in November.

Iranian security forces carried out a bloody crackdown on protesters this fall after a woman died in the custody of the so-called morality police. Russia’s military, meanwhile, pummeled Ukrainian cities with drone and missile strikes to try to turn the tide of the war.

As they have since they were caught flat-footed by Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, US officials prepared for a range of foreign actors to try to influence voters or interfere with the vote in 2022.

Asked in July whether the war in Ukraine would distract Russia from interfering in the US midterm election, FBI Director Christopher Wray said he was “quite confident the Russians can walk and chew gum” and that US officials were preparing accordingly.

But foreign operatives from Iran and Russia generally reused old tactics and tools in their influence operations during the US midterms rather than try anything brand new, Nakasone told reporters this month.

While there weren’t any reports of high-impact foreign interference activity during the midterm elections, there were attempts by Russian, Iranian and Chinese operatives to influence voters, according to researchers.

Suspected Russian operatives used far-right media platforms to denigrate Democratic candidates in battleground states just days before the elections, according to Graphika, a social media analysis firm. For their part, alleged Chinese operatives showed signs of engaging in more “Russian-style influence activities” that stoke American divisions ahead of the midterm vote, according to the FBI.

On Election Day, pro-Russia hackers took responsible for a cyberattack that knocked the website of the Mississippi secretary of state’s website offline. The incident didn’t affect the tallying of votes.

“It is likely that a primary objective of the identified pro-Russia actors was to build the perception of influencing the elections—potentially in hopes of supporting future narratives that would undermine the credibility of the election results,” Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by Google, said in an analysis published Monday.

Mandiant said it had “moderate confidence” that whoever ran that Russian hacktivist group’s channel on the Telegram messaging app was coordinating their operations with actors sponsored by Russia’s military intelligence agency.

“This year some [foreign groups] seemed most interested in reinforcing the notion that they still posed a threat, even if they didn’t push too hard to actually affect outcomes” of the election, John Hultquist, Mandiant’s vice president of intelligence analysis, told CNN.

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December 20, 2022
US and Iran clash over Russia using Iran drones in Ukraine

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UNITED NATIONS — The United States and its allies clashed with Iran and its ally Russia over Western claims that Tehran is supplying Moscow with drones that have been attacking Ukraine — and the U.S. accused the U.N. secretary-general of “yielding to Russian threats” and failing to launch an investigation.

At a contentious Security Council meeting Monday on the resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers, the United States and Iran also accused each other of responsibility for stalled negotiations on the Biden administration rejoining the agreement that former President Donald Trump pulled out of in 2018.

Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani insisted Iran’s negotiating team exercised “maximum flexibility” in trying to reach agreement and even introduced an “innovative solution to the remaining issues to break the impasse.” But he claimed the “unrealistic and rigid approach” of the United States led to the current stalled talks on the 2015 agreement, known as the JCPOA.

“Let’s make it clear: pressure, intimidation and confrontation are not solutions and will get nowhere,” Iravani said.

Iran is ready to resume talks and arrange a ministerial meeting “as soon as possible to declare the JCPOA restoration,” Iravani said. “This is achievable if the U.S. demonstrates genuine political will … The U.S. now has the ball in its court.”

Speaking before Iravani, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said “the door to negotiations remains open” for a mutual U.S.-Iranian return to full implementation of the JCPOA. But he said, “Iran’s own actions and stances have been responsible for preventing that outcome.”

In September, a deal that all other parties had agreed to was “within reach” and “even Iran prepared to say yes,” Wood said, “until at the last minute, Iran made new demands that were extraneous to the JCPOA and that it knew could not be met.”

He said Iran’s conduct since September — notably its failure to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, and the expansion of its nuclear program “for no legitimate civilian purpose” — has reinforced U.S. skepticism “about Iran’s willingness and capability of reaching a deal, and explains why there have been no active negotiations since then.”

At the end of the council meeting, Wood asked for the floor to refute Iravani, saying it’s “a fact” that Iran’s extraneous demands and rejection of all compromise proposals are the reason why there has not been a return to mutual compliance with the JCPOA.

“So let me just simply say, The ball is not in the U.S. court,” Wood said. “On the contrary, the ball is in Iran’s court.”

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward, whose country remains a party to the JCPOA, told the council Iran’s nuclear escalation is making “progress on a nuclear deal much more difficult.”

“Today, Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile exceeds JCPOA limits by at least 18 times, and it continues to produce highly enriched uranium, which is unprecedented for a state without a nuclear weapons program,” she said.

In addition, Woodward said, “Iranian nuclear breakout time has reduced to a matter of weeks, and the time required for Iran to produce the fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons is decreasing.” She said Iran is also testing technology that could enable intermediate and intercontinental range ballistic missiles to carry a nuclear payload.

U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the council “the space for diplomacy appears to be rapidly shrinking.”

She pointed to an IAEA report that Iran intends to install new centrifuges at its Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant and to produce more uranium enriched up to 60% at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant — a level close to that needed for a nuclear weapon. Iran also removed all IAEA equipment monitoring JCPOA-related activities.

DiCarlo called on Iran to reverse all steps outside JCPOA limits, and on the United States to lift sanctions on Iran outlined in the nuclear deal, and extend waivers on Iranian oil trading.

Iran’s Iravani emphasized that all of Iran’s nuclear activities “are peaceful” and said Iran is ready to engage the IAEA to resolve outstanding issues on nuclear safeguards.

As for what he called the “unfounded allegation” that Iran transferred drones to Russia in violation of the 2015 resolution, Iravani stressed that all restrictions on transferring arms to and from Iran were terminated in October 2020. So he said Western claims that Tehran needed prior approval “has no legal merit.”

Iravani also insisted that drones were not transferred to Russia for use in Ukraine, saying “the misinformation campaign and baseless allegations … serve no purpose other than to divert attention from Western states’ transfer of massive amounts of advanced, sophisticated weaponry to Ukraine in order to prolong the conflict.”

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called allegations of Iranian drone deliveries to his country for use in Ukraine “patently concocted and false.” Russia is well aware that Ukrainian representatives “have been unable to provide Tehran bilaterally any documentation to corroborate the use by Russian military personnel of Iranian-origin drones,” he said.

Wood, the U.S. envoy, told the council that Ukraine’s report of Iranian-origin drones being used by Russia to attack civilian infrastructure has been supported “by ample evidence from multiple public sources” including a statement by Iran’s foreign minister on Nov. 5.

He insisted that Iran is barred from transferring these types of drones without prior Security Council approval under an annex to the 2015 resolution.

For seven years, Wood said, the U.N. has had a mandate to investigate reported violations of the resolution, and he expressed disappointment that the U.N. Secretariat, headed by secretary-general Guterres, has not launched an investigation, “apparently yielding to Russian threats.”

Russia’s Nebenzia reiterated Moscow’s contention that investigations are “an egregious violation” of the resolution and the U.N. Charter “and the U.N. Secretariat should not bow to pressure from Western countries.”

Guterres told a news conference earlier Monday, when asked about criticism that the U.N. hasn’t launched an investigation of Iranian-made drones in Ukraine, that “We are looking into all the aspects of that question and in the broader picture of everything we are doing in the context of the war to determine if and when we should” conduct an investigation.

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December 19, 2022
German police arrest Iranian man suspected of planning chemical terror attack

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German police arrested a 32-year-old Iranian man suspected of plotting a chemical attack.

The Iranian national was arrested in the town of Castrop-Rauxel, near Dortmund, on suspicion of procuring toxins including cyanide and ricin in order to commit a terror attack inspired by Islamic extremism, German authorities said on Sunday. Another person was detained during the operation, they said.

The Iranian’s house was cordoned off and searched in order to secure further evidence, with German media reporting that several officers and emergency workers in full protective suits were present at the scene.

A joint statement by Düsseldorf’s public prosecutor and the police forces of the cities of Recklinghausen and Münster said that the arrest was the result of an investigation by the region of North Rhine-Westphalia’s anti-terrorism office. German tabloid Bild reported that Germany’s law enforcement was tipped off by a foreign intelligence agency about the man’s plan.

Preparing a serious act of violence is punishable with a prison sentence of six months to 10 years under German law, according to the police statement.

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Gian Volpicelli

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December 19, 2022
Iran authorities arrest actress of Oscar-winning movie

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CAIRO (AP) — Iranian authorities arrested one of the country’s most renowned actresses Saturday on charges of spreading falsehoods about nationwide protests that grip the country, state media said.

The report by IRNA said Taraneh Alidoosti, star of the Oscar-winning movie “The Salesman,” was detained a week after she made a post on Instagram expressing solidarity with the first man recently executed for crimes allegedly committed during the protests.

The announcement is the latest in a series of celebrity arrests, that have included footballers, actors and influencers, in response to their open display of support for anti-government demonstrations now in their third month

According to the report published on the state media’s official Telegram channel, Alidoosti was arrested because she did not provide ”any documents in line with her claims.″

It said that several other Iranian celebrities had also ″been summoned by the judiciary body over publishing provocative content,″ and that some had been arrested. It provided no further details.

In her post, the 38-year-old actress said: ″His name was Mohsen Shekari. Every international organization who is watching this bloodshed and not taking action, is a disgrace to humanity.”

Shekari was executed Dec. 9 after being charged by an Iranian court with blocking a street in Tehran and attacking a member of the country’s security forces with a machete.

In November, Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi, two other famous Iranian actresses, were arrested by authorities for expressing solidarity with protesters on social media. Voria Ghafouri, an Iranian soccer player, was also arrested last month for ’’insulting the national soccer team and propagandizing against the government.” All three have been released.

Since September, Alidoosti has openly expressed solidarity with protesters in at least three posts on Instagram. Her account, which had some 8 million followers, has been suspended.

Last Week, Iran executed a second prisoner, Majidreza Rahnavard, in connection with the protests. Rahnavard’s body was left hanging from a construction crane as a gruesome warning to others. Iranian authorities alleged Rahnavard stabbed two members of its paramilitary force.

Both Shekari and Rahnavard were executed less than a month after they were charged, underscoring the speed at which Iran now carries out death sentences imposed for alleged crimes related to the demonstrations. Activists say at least a dozen people have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings. Iran is one of the one the world’s top executioners.

Iran has been rocked by protests since the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by the morality police. The protests have since morphed into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy installed by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Alidoosti had previously criticised the Iranian government and its police force before this year’s protests.

In June 2020, she was given a suspended five-month prison sentence after she criticized the police on Twitter in 2018 for assaulting a woman who had removed her headscarf.

At least 495 people have been killed in the demonstrations amid a harsh security crackdown, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the protests since they began. Over 18,200 people have been detained by authorities.

Other well-known movies Alidoosti has starred in include “The Beautiful City” and “About Elly.”

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December 18, 2022
Iran authorities arrest actress of Oscar-winning movie

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CAIRO — Iranian authorities arrested one of the country’s most renowned actresses Saturday on charges of spreading falsehoods about nationwide protests that grip the country, state media said.

The report by IRNA said Taraneh Alidoosti, star of the Oscar-winning movie “The Salesman,” was detained a week after she made a post on Instagram expressing solidarity with the first man recently executed for crimes allegedly committed during the protests.

The announcement is the latest in a series of celebrity arrests, that have included footballers, actors and influencers, in response to their open display of support for anti-government demonstrations now in their third month

According to the report published on the state media’s official Telegram channel, Alidoosti was arrested because she did not provide ’’any documents in line with her claims.″

It said that several other Iranian celebrities had also ″been summoned by the judiciary body over publishing provocative content,″ and that some had been arrested. It provided no further details.

In her post, the 38-year-old actress said: ”His name was Mohsen Shekari. Every international organization who is watching this bloodshed and not taking action, is a disgrace to humanity.”

Shekari was executed Dec. 9 after being charged by an Iranian court with blocking a street in Tehran and attacking a member of the country’s security forces with a machete.

In November, Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi, two other famous Iranian actresses, were arrested by authorities for expressing solidarity with protesters on social media. Voria Ghafouri, an Iranian soccer player, was also arrested last month for ‘’insulting the national soccer team and propagandizing against the government.” All three have been released.

Since September, Alidoosti has openly expressed solidarity with protesters in at least three posts on Instagram. Her account, which had some 8 million followers, has been suspended.

Last Week, Iran executed a second prisoner, Majidreza Rahnavard, in connection with the protests. Rahnavard’s body was left hanging from a construction crane as a gruesome warning to others. Iranian authorities alleged Rahnavard stabbed two members of its paramilitary force.

Both Shekari and Rahnavard were executed less than a month after they were charged, underscoring the speed at which Iran now carries out death sentences imposed for alleged crimes related to the demonstrations. Activists say at least a dozen people have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings. Iran is one of the one the world’s top executioners.

Iran has been rocked by protests since the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by the morality police. The protests have since morphed into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy installed by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Alidoosti had previously criticised the Iranian government and its police force before this year’s protests.

In June 2020, she was given a suspended five-month prison sentence after she criticized the police on Twitter in 2018 for assaulting a woman who had removed her headscarf.

At least 495 people have been killed in the demonstrations amid a harsh security crackdown, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the protests since they began. Over 18,200 people have been detained by authorities.

Other well-known movies Alidoosti has starred in include “The Beautiful City” and “About Elly.”

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December 17, 2022
Iran authorities arrest actress of Oscar-winning movie

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CAIRO — Iranian authorities arrested one of the country’s most famous actresses on charges of spreading falsehoods about nationwide protests that grip the country, state media said Saturday.

The report by IRNA said Taraneh Alidoosti, star of the Oscar-winning movie “The Salesman,” was arrested a week after she made a post on Instagram expressing solidarity with the first man recently executed for crimes committed during the nationwide protests.

According to the report published on the state media’s official Telegram channel, Alidoosti was arrested because she did not provide ’’any documents in line with her claims.″

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December 17, 2022
How the Arab world’s most populous country became addicted to debt | CNN Business
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Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in today’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, CNN’s three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.

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Egypt has dug itself a massive hole of debt. On Friday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will extend a $3 billion loan to the country, a fourth aid package in six years, as its financial tailspin continues.

The loan, along with billions of dollars in cash inflows from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, are Band-Aids, experts say, designed to keep the Arab world’s most populous country afloat. Without proper reforms, however, Egypt may never be able to shake off its chronic financial woes and break its growing debt addiction.

In recent months, the Egyptian pound has plummeted, losing 14.5% of its value against the US dollar in October. The prices of vegetables, dairy products and bread skyrocketed. Some families are restricting their diets as their purchasing power shrinks, while others struggle to find imported products once available at their local stores.

In a country with a long history of political tension and a fast-growing population – currently 104 million people – the repercussions of economic pain can be far-reaching. When millions of Egyptian protesters toppled former President Hosni Mubarak during the 2011 Arab Spring, “Bread, freedom and social justice” was among the most popular chants.

Egypt’s main Gulf Arab backers recognize what’s at stake here. Billions of dollars from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh have poured into the Egyptian economy in recent years. Both the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia saw giant windfalls on the back of this year’s high oil prices. They’ve used some of that money to bolster the economies of their allies in the Middle East.

In August, Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADQ), one of the emirate’s wealth funds, announced a number of investments in publicly listed companies in Egypt, “building on its long-term commitment to investing in the country’s economic growth through its $20 billion joint strategic investment platform,” it said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) also launched the Saudi Egyptian Investment Company (SEIC) in August, a company dedicated to investments in several vital sectors of the Egyptian economy. SEIC has bought $1.3 billion dollars’ worth of shares in four Egyptian businesses.

Still, the Egyptian economy has struggled to shake off its economic woes. Inflation is at a five-year high, making food and other basic goods unaffordable to tens of millions of vulnerable Egyptians.

The North African state now owes more than $52 billion to multilateral institutions, at least 44.7% of which is owed to the IMF alone.

Its foreign debt “has more than tripled between June 2013 and March 2022, raising the external debt-to-GDP ratio from 15% to approximately more than 35%,” writes Stephan Roll, head of the Africa and Middle East Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin.

“And there is no end in sight,” he adds.

But how did Egypt get here? The problem, analysts say, lies in Egypt’s apparent inability to change the way its economy works, including easing the tight control exerted by the military and its many enterprises. This is a problem, the experts say, that stunts private sector competition and drives away investment.

Egypt has been on the path to debt-addiction for several years. In 2016, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi sealed a deal with the IMF granting a $12 billion loan. The bailout was granted on condition of Egypt’s currency floating freely, which ultimately slashed its value by half in a matter of weeks and pushed up inflation. Harsh austerity measures – including cuts to subsidies on fuel and electricity – were enforced to try to restore government finances.

Despite the bailout, Egypt struggled to fully pick itself back up, with analysts attributing the repeated failures to revitalize the economy to loose agreements and the mismanagement of loans.

“Not only are they [loans] temporary Band-Aids, they’re not conditioned in a manner that would actually push for the reforms necessary to ever allow the Egyptian economy to recover,” said Timothy Kaldas, a policy fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.

“Recently they [the multilateral lenders] seem to have started to finally notice that, and seem to want to see some of those reforms, but they haven’t successfully gotten the Egyptians to agree to them,” he added.

The cash-strapped country also spends much of its funds on luxury megaprojects that critics call “unnecessary” when other sectors seem to be in dire need of support, including education and health care. Data pertaining to state spending on these projects is not available to the public.

“Loans were not primarily used to improve the economic framework conditions but to protect the revenues and assets of the armed forces, to finance major projects in which the military could earn significant money, and to pursue an expansive military build-up,” Roll told CNN.

Authorities have repeatedly defended the state megaprojects, arguing that they improved infrastructure, transportation and telecommunications.

“These are projects that cannot be put to the side, as they are projects needed by the Egyptian citizen,” said Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly in a May press conference. He blamed the Covid-19 pandemic and the effects of the Ukraine war for exacerbating Egypt’s financial problems.

Close to 30% of Egypt’s population is below the poverty line, authorities say. The World Bank in 2019 estimated that “some 60% of Egypt’s population is either poor or vulnerable,” highlighting a growing disparity between the rich and poor.

Authorities insist they are making progress. Sisi has repeatedly called on military-owned companies to be listed on the stock exchange, but few concrete steps have been taken to liberalize those enterprises.

In September 2019, brief and rare demonstrations broke out across Egypt, despite a strict ban on protests. They were driven primarily by economic grievances. Protesters also decried the military’s alleged influence over finances. Security forces quickly quelled the demonstrations and more than 4,000 people were arrested.

Irish soldier killed in south Lebanon by ‘hostile mob’

An Irish soldier on a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon was shot and killed on Wednesday when his UN convoy was attacked by a “hostile mob,” according to Irish Defense Minister Simon Coveney. Seán Rooney, 23, was shot and killed in the incident, and another Irish soldier was seriously injured.
Background: The convoy was conducting a “standard administrative run” between southern Lebanon and Beirut, Coveney said. The group then came under small arms fire, social media footage showed. Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati has vowed to hold the culprits accountable. According to multiple official statements, the injured troops were taken to Raee Hospital, near the city of Sidon. Rooney was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Why it matters: The United Nations has maintained a multinational peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon since 1978, to bolster security in the tense border area between Lebanon and Israel. Irish peacekeepers have been in the country since the start of the mandate. According to Coveney, Rooney’s death was the first Irish fatality in the country in two decades. There are long-simmering tensions between the peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL, and locals in the region where Iran-backed Hezbollah dominates.
Iran expelled from UN women’s rights body

In an unprecedented move, UN member states on Wednesday voted to remove Iran from a UN women’s rights body for violating the rights of women and girls amid ongoing protests across the country.
Background: Twenty-nine members of the UN’s Economic and Social Council voted in favor of the resolution to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women, which was proposed by the United States. Eight member states voted against the resolution with 16 abstentions. Iran condemned the move, calling it an “illegal request” that weakens the rule of law in the UN.

Why it matters: Iran had just started a four-year term on the 45-member Commission on the Status of Women, which aims to promote gender equality worldwide. Women in Iran have played a vital role in nationwide demonstrations that erupted in September, but have also allegedly been a target of state violence. Last month, CNN revealed covert testimonies by protesters documenting sexual assault and rape in Iranian detention centers.
Istanbul’s mayor sentenced to jail and faces possible political ban

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu – the most popular rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – was sentenced to nearly three years in jail on Wednesday for insulting public officials. He could face a political ban if the conviction is upheld by an appeals court.
Background: After the court convicted Imamoglu to two years, 7 months and 15 days in prison, his first response to the ruling was defiant. “A handful of people cannot take away the authority given by the will of the people,” the mayor said. “With God’s will, our struggle begins even stronger.” Imamoglu won a rerun election for Istanbul mayor in June 2019 after the first election was canceled due to irregularities.

Why it matters: The decision could bar him from running in the 2023 presidential elections, where he would compete with Turkey’s long-time president. Thousands protested the ruling on Thursday, chanting slogans against Erdogan and his AK party, Reuters reported.
Defending champion France ended Morocco’s 2022 World Cup dream on Wednesday after a 2-0 victory at the Al Bayt Stadium.

Theo Hernández scored on five minutes with an acrobatic finish, with substitute Randal Kolo Muani tapping home late on as France reached its fourth World Cup final just four years after winning in Russia.

But Morocco, the first African team to reach the semifinal stage of the World Cup, can go home with its head held high after running France close before Kolo Muani’s decisive strike.

Having captured the hearts and minds of the footballing world, it was a sad end to Morocco’s aspirations. But it gave reigning champion France a run for its money. Morocco leaves the competition knowing it has achieved more than just success on the pitch.

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A Kenyan security guard who reportedly fell while on duty at Qatar’s Lusail Stadium has died in hospital, his family and officials have confirmed to CNN. His employer had notified the migrant worker’s family on Saturday that 24-year-old John Njau Kibue had fallen from the 8th floor of the stadium while on duty. His sister Ann Wanjiru told CNN: “We don’t have the money to get justice for him, but we want to know what happened.”
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December 16, 2022
Woman admits to unwittingly funding Iran critic kidnap plot

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NEW YORK — A California woman pleaded guilty on Thursday in connection with her unwitting role in a foiled plot to kidnap a prominent Iranian opposition activist living in New York City and take her back to Tehran.

U.S. prosecutors have not accused Niloufar Bahadorifar of participating in the plot to abduct Masih Alinejad, a journalist and vocal critic of the Iranian government for its treatment of women and other issues.

But authorities said four Iranians who plotted to kidnap the activist paid an American private investigator to watch her used Bahadorifar as a go-between.

Bahadorifar pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to violate U.S. economic sanctions on Iran by helping channel money to the investigator.

Her lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, told The New York Times that Bahadorifar was herself a victim of a “cancerous” Iranian regime.

“When Iran’s terrorist leaders aren’t slaughtering their own people,” he said, “they’re traveling the globe trying to kill their critics, including the despicable manipulation of Ms. Bahadorifar by an old family friend.”

Bahadorifar said in court she was unaware the money was used to pay the investigator to conduct surveillance. She told the judge she had sent the funds to the investigator via PayPal on behalf of a government official in Iran who was a longtime family friend.

An Iranian intelligence officer and others were charged in New York last year with attempting to kidnap Alinejad and take her back to Iran. The Officials in Iran have denied the charge.

The private investigator, who also was unaware his employers were actually Iranian agents, later cooperated with the FBI and has not been charged.

Alinejad became a U.S. citizen in 2019 after working for years as a journalist in Iran. She fled the country after its disputed 2009 presidential election and has become a prominent figure on Farsi-language satellite channels abroad that criticize Iran.

U.S. authorities are investigating whether Alinejad was the target of a second plot after the first one was disrupted.

Last summer, police arrested a man near her Brooklyn home with a loaded assault rifle and dozens of rounds of ammunition. Alinejad said a home security video had recorded the man outside her front door.

Bahadorifar will be sentenced April 7.

Iran has conducted a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters who took to the streets in September after the death of a 22-year-old woman taken into custody by the morality police.

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December 15, 2022
Iran expelled from UN commission on women | CNN

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CNN
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United Nations member states have removed Iran from a key UN women’s rights group just months after it joined. The unusual reversal comes as Iran is rattled by an ongoing protest movement sparked by the death of a young woman in the custody of the country’s so-called “morality police”

Twenty-nine members of the UN’s Economic and Social Council voted Wednesday in favor of a resolution proposed by the United States to “remove with immediate effect the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term.”

Eight member states voted against the resolution, and 16 abstained.

Addressing the council on Wednesday, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that “women and activists have appealed to us, the United Nations, for support.”

“They made their request to us loud and clear: remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women.”

“The reason why is straightforward. The Commission is the premier UN body for promoting gender equality and empowering women. It cannot do its important work if it is being undermined from within. Iran’s membership at this moment is an ugly stain on the Commission’s credibility,” Thomas-Greenfield added.

Iran condemned the US resolution, calling it an “illegal request” and said it weakens the rule of law in the United Nations.

Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Irvani, said the resolution to remove Iran was built on “baseless claims and fabricated arguments using fake narratives,” according to state news agency IRNA on Wednesday.

Iran had only just begun its four-year term on the 45-member Commission on the Status of Women – which was created to advocate for gender equality globally – after being elected to the body in April.

In recent months, the country has been gripped by mass protests sparked by the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained in Tehran by a police unit that enforces strict dress codes for women, such as wearing the compulsory headscarf.

Iran’s demonstrations, often led by women, have since coalesced around a range of grievances with the regime. Authorities have unleashed a deadly crackdown on demonstrators, with reports of forced detentions and physical abuse being used to target the country’s Kurdish minority group.

Another representative from Iran’s delegation to the UN responded to the vote, saying, “My delegation condemns any politicization of women’s rights and rejects all accusations made in particular by the US and certain EU members.”

She also described Iran’s “efforts to promote and protect women’s rights” driven by the country’s “rich culture and well-established constitution.”

Iran is “a progressive society that takes into consideration the needs and listens to the voices of its women and girls eagerly and strives toward a better future for and with its women and girls,” she said.

A UN report released in March 2021 described Iranian women and girls as treated like “second class citizens.” The report cited widespread child marriage involving girls between the ages of 10 and 14, weak protections against domestic violence, and lack of legal autonomy for women, among other issues.

“Blatant discrimination exists in Iranian law and practice that must change. In several areas of their lives, including in marriage, divorce, employment, and culture, Iranian women are either restricted or need permission from their husbands or paternal guardians, depriving them of their autonomy and human dignity. These constructs are completely unacceptable and must be reformed now,” said the report’s author Javaid Rehman at the time.

Following months of protests, Iran’s Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said in early December that the country’s parliament and judiciary were reviewing the law that requires women to wear a hijab in public, according to pro-reform outlet Entekhab.

But there is no evidence of what, if any, changes could be forthcoming to the law, which came into effect after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Reacting to news of Iran’s removal from the body, Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch said it was a “welcome step,” but remained a “far cry” from true accountability.

In a statement to CNN, Charbonneau added, “What’s needed is urgent coordinated pressure on Iran to end its campaign of violence, credible prosecutions of individuals who are directly responsible for these appalling violations of human rights, and an end to the severe discrimination against women.”

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December 14, 2022
Iran executes second man for alleged crime during nationwide protests

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Iran on Monday executed a second prisoner detained and convicted amid nationwide protests challenging the country’s theocracy, airing footage on state television it claimed showed him stabbing two men to death and running away.

The public hanging of Majidreza Rahnavard, less than a month after he allegedly carried out the fatal stabbings of two security officials, shows the speed at which Iran now carries out death sentences handed down for those detained in the demonstrations the government hopes to put down.

Activists warn that at least a dozen people already have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings. At least 488 people have been killed since the demonstrations began in mid-September, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the protests. Another 18,200 people have been detained by authorities.

Frame grab from video taken by an individual who isn’t employed by The Associated Press and that was obtained by the AP outside Iran shows people blocking an intersection during a protest in Tehran on Oct. 26, 2022 to mark 40 days since the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

AP Photo

Iran’s Mizan news agency, under the country’s judiciary, alleged Rahnavard stabbed two security force members to death Nov. 17 in Mashhad and wounded four others.

Footage aired on state TV showed a man chasing another around a street corner, then standing over him and stabbing him after he fell against a parked motorbike. Another showed the same man stabbing another immediately after. The assailant, which state TV alleged was Rahnavard, then fled.

The Mizan report identified the dead as “student” Basij, paramilitary volunteers under Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The Basij have deployed in major cities, attacking and detaining protesters, who in many cases have fought back.

A heavily edited state television report aired after Rahnavard’s execution showed clips of him in the courtroom. In the video, he says he came to hate the Basijis after seeing video clips on social media of the forces beating and killing protesters.

The Mizan report offered no motive for Rahnavard’s alleged attack. The report said Rahnavard was trying to flee to a foreign country when he was arrested.

Mashhad, a Shiite holy city, is located some 460 miles east of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Activists say it has seen strikes, shops closed and demonstrations amid the unrest that began over the Sept. 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly breaching the country’s strict hijab dress code for women.

The nationwide protests have expanded into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Mizan said Rahnavard was convicted in Mashhad’s Revolutionary Court. The tribunals have been internationally criticized for not allowing those on trial to pick their own lawyers or even see the evidence against them.

Rahnavard had been convicted on the charge of “moharebeh,” a Farsi word meaning “waging war against God.” That charge has been levied against others in the decades since the revolution and carries the death penalty.

Iran is one of the world’s top executioners and typically executes prisoners by hanging. It executed the first prisoner detained during demonstrations last Thursday.

Afterwards, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Oslo-based activist group Iran Human Rights wrote that the “execution of #MohsenShekari must be me with STRONG reactions otherwise we will be facing daily executions of protesters. This execution must have rapid practical consequences internationally.”

Amnesty International has said it obtained a document signed by a senior Iranian police commander asking that the execution for one prisoner be “completed ‘in the shortest possible time’ and that his death sentence be carried out in public as ‘a heart-warming gesture towards the security forces.'”

Amnesty says “Iranian authorities use the death penalty as a tool of political repression to instill fear among the public and end the popular uprising.”

Amid the unrest, Iran is also battered by an economic crisis that has seen the national currency, the rial, drop to new lows against the U.S. dollar.

Iran: Crisis In The Middle East

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December 11, 2022
Second known protest-related execution carried out in Iran | CNN

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Iran has executed a second man allegedly involved in the nationwide anti-government protest movement after he was convicted of fatally stabbing two security officials last month, Mizan Online, a news agency affiliated with Iran’s judiciary, and the semi-official Tasmin news agency reported on Monday.

Mizan Online named the man as Majidreza Rahnavard. He was convicted of “waging war against God” for reportedly killing two members of the Basij paramilitary force, and injuring four others on November 17, the outlet said. The charge of “waging war against God” carries the death penalty under the theocracy of the Islamic Republic since 1979.

Rahnavard was hanged in a public execution in the northeastern city of Mashhad early Monday morning, it said.

He is the second known person to be executed in connection to the 2022 protests. His death comes less than a week after Mohsen Shekari – the first known protester to be executed – who was hanged last Thursday.

Several more Iranians have been sentenced to death by execution during the nationwide protests, which were sparked by the case of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being apprehended by the state’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.

Public anger over Amini’s death has combined with a range of grievances against the Islamic Republic’s oppressive regime to fuel the demonstrations even in the face of harsh punishments, and possibly the death sentence.

CNN cannot independently verify the number of people facing executions in Iran, or the latest arrest figures or death tolls related to the protests – precise numbers are impossible for anyone outside the Iranian government to confirm.

Last week, Amnesty International said it had identified at least 17 others, in addition to Rahnavard and Shekari, who are at risk of execution in connection to the recent protests.

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December 11, 2022
Second Iranian detainee executed over alleged protest crime

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran said Monday it executed its second prisoner detained amid the nationwide protests now challenging the country’s theocracy.

Iran’s Mizan news agency, under the country’s judiciary, identified the man executed as Majidreza Rahnavard. He had been convicted over allegedly stabbing two security force members to death Nov. 17 in Mashhad and wounding four others.

Iran executed the first prisoner detained amid the demonstrations Thursday.

The protests have expanded into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Activists warn that others could also be put to death in the near future, saying around a dozen people so far have received death sentences over their involvement in the demonstrations.

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December 11, 2022
Full interview: The Shargi family on

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Full interview: The Shargi family on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” – CBS News

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Watch the full version of an interview with the family of detained Iranian-American Emad Shargi that aired on Dec. 11, 2022, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”

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December 11, 2022
This is

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This is “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Dec. 11 – CBS News

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This week on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” President Biden reaches a deal with Vladimir Putin to free an American, but where does this high-stakes diplomacy lead? We’ll speak to Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California and the family of another American held in Iran. Plus, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Fiona Hill and Chris Krebs join us.

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December 11, 2022
Iran’s currency falls further against the dollar amid unrest

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CAIRO — Iran’s currency fell to a record low against the dollar on Sunday, with nationwide anti-government protests now in their third month. A breakdown in negotiations to restore Tehran’s nuclear deal has also hurt the value of the rial.

Traders in Tehran were exchanging the rial at around 370,000 to the dollar on Sunday, up from 368,000 on Thursday. Iran’s currency was trading at 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of the 2015 nuclear accord that dropped international sanctions in exchange for tight controls on Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran has been gripped by nationwide protests since September. Demonstrations broke out following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police. She was detained by the force for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women. The status of the morality police remains unclear after Iran’s chief prosecutor, Mohamed Jafar Montazeri, said last week that the force had ‘’closed down.” Iranian state media has distanced itself from Montazeri’s claim.

Protesters have focused much of their anger on the country’s heavy-handed policing and the deep-rooted power of its Islamic clergy. But the poor state of Iran’s economy is also another factor driving the protests, with soaring prices, high unemployment and corruption a common complaint among protesters.

Iran’s government for months has been trying to argue that foreign nations are driving the unrest but has offered no evidence to support this claim.

So far, at least 485 people have been killed and over 18,200 others arrested in the protests and the violent security force crackdown that followed, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group monitoring the demonstrations. On Friday, Iran said it executed the first person convicted of a crime allegedly committed during the protests. At least 12 other protesters have been handed death sentences by Iranian courts since the demonstrations began, according to data recorded by HRNA.

Efforts to revive Iran’s nuclear deal stalled months ago. The United States and European Union have since imposed further sanctions on Tehran for its crackdown on the demonstrators and its decision to supply Russia with hundreds of drones for its war against Ukraine.

Last week, Iran began construction on a new power plant. Last month, Iranian authorities said they had begun producing enriched uranium at 60% purity, one short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

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December 11, 2022
U.S. accuses Russia of providing weapons, fighter jets to Iran

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The Biden administration is accusing Russia of moving to provide advanced military assistance to Iran, including air defense systems, helicopters and fighter jets, part of deepening cooperation between the two nations as Tehran provides drones to support Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Friday cited U.S. intelligence assessments for the allegations, saying Russia was offering Iran “an unprecedented level of military and technical support that is transforming their relationship into a full-fledged defense partnership.”

Kirby said Russia and Iran were considering standing up a drone assembly line in Russia for the Ukraine conflict, while Russia was training Iranian pilots on the Sukhoi Su-35 fighter and Iran could receive deliveries of the plane within the year.

“These fighter planes will significantly strengthen Iran’s air force relative to its regional neighbors,” Kirby said.

The U.S. allegations are part of a deliberate effort by the U.S. to drive global isolation of Russia, in this case targeted at Arab nations who have looked to contain Iran’s regional malevolence and who have not taken a strong stance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

As Russia’s military resources are being taxed by the Ukraine invasion and sanctions against it because of the war, Western powers are providing military equipment to Ukraine to defend itself, upping the cost to Putin, reminiscent of the draining of resources which occurred during the “Star Wars” competition between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, when Moscow saw its military coffers depleted.

A Sukhoi Su-35 military fighter jet at the International Military-Technical Forum at Kubinka military training ground in Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 18, 2022.

Pavel Pavlov/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Earlier this year, the Biden administration accused Saudi Arabia of siding with Russia in the conflict by shepherding cuts by the OPEC+ cartel to boost the price of oil, crucial to funding Moscow’s war effort. Saudi Arabia and Iran have been on opposite sides of a yearslong proxy war in Yemen.

Kirby said the arms transfers were in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, and that the U.S. would be “using the tools at our disposal to expose and disrupt these activities.”

Concerns about the “deepening and a burgeoning defense partnership” between Russia and Iran come as the Biden administration has repeatedly accused Iran of assisting Russia with its invasion of Ukraine.

The administration says Iran sold hundreds of attack drones to Russian over the summer. Kirby on Friday reiterated the administration’s belief that Iran is considering the sale of hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia, but acknowledged that the U.S. doesn’t have “perfect visibility into Iranian thinking on why” the deal hasn’t been consummated.

Russia – because of the biting sanctions – is turning to Iran for weapons, including military drones, that are being using to kill civilians, Britain’s U.N. ambassador, Barbara Woodward, told the U.N. Security Council Friday. Woodward called for a U.N. investigation, arguing that both countries are breaking international law with the rogue partnership.

Woodward accused Russia of attempting to obtain more weapons from Iran, including hundreds of ballistic missiles, in return for “an unprecedented level of military and technical support” to Tehran.

“We are concerned that Russia intends to provide Iran with more advanced military components, which will allow Iran to strengthen their weapons capability,” she said. “So it is imperative that the truth about Iran’s supply to Russia is exposed, and is investigated by the U.N. as soon as possible.”

“Ukraine demands that Iran immediately cease the shipments of weapons to Russia that are used to kill civilians and destroy critical infrastructure, and comply with Security Council resolutions,” Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukrainian ambassador to the U.N., told CBS News correspondent Pamela Falk Friday.

At a U.N. Security Council meeting Friday called by Russia to assess the impact of Western weapons pumped into Ukraine, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia again denied that Iran is supplying weapons to Ukraine.

“The military industrial complecx in Russia can work perfectly fine and doesn’t need anyone’s assistance, whereas the Ukrainian military industry does not basically exist and is being assisted by the Western industry and Western companies,” he said.

At the meeting, Richard Mills, U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N., told fellow diplomats Friday that “what we are seeing is – frustrated on the battlefield, Russia has resorted to destroying Ukraine’s critical and energy infrastructure from afar, causing immense suffering to civilians as we heard just three days ago, and defying the international community’s call to end its aggression,” Falk reported.

Russia attacks Ukraine energy infrastructure, weaponizing winter to cripple the freezing country

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“It is Russia that has cynically called for this meeting, alleging an illicit conspiracy of weapons transfers from Ukraine. When in fact, as others around this table have noted, it is Russia that is complicit in Iran’s illegal transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia,” Mills added.

The White House says Russia has also turned to North Korea for artillery as the nine-month war grinds on. North Korea has denied the claim.

The White House has repeatedly sought to spotlight Russia’s reliance on Iran and North Korea, another broadly isolated nation on the international stage, for support as it prosecutes its war against Ukraine.

U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called the Iran-Russia collaboration a “desperate alliance.”

“Iran is now one of Russia’s top military backers,” he said. “Their sordid deals have seen the Iranian regime send hundreds of drones to Moscow, which have been used to attack Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and kill civilians.

“In return, Russia is offering military and technical support to the Iranian regime, which will increase the risk it poses to our partners in the Middle East and to international security.”

The Biden administration recently unveiled sanctions against Iranian firms and entities involved in the transfer of Iranian drones to Russia for use in Ukraine. It all comes as the administration has condemned the Islamic republic’s violent squelching of protests that erupted throughout Iran after the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while she was held by the morality police.

Even as the White House has accused Iran of backing Russia’s war effort, the administration has not abandoned the possibility of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — scuttled by the Trump administration in 2018. The pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, would provide Tehran with billions in sanctions relief in exchange for the country agreeing to roll back its nuclear program to the limits set by the 2015 deal.

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December 9, 2022
US: Russia, Iran moving toward full defense ‘partnership’

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is accusing Russia of moving to provide advanced military assistance to Iran, including air defense systems, helicopters and fighter jets, part of deepening cooperation between the two nations as Tehran provides drones to support Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Friday cited U.S. intelligence assessments for the allegations, saying Russia was offering Iran “an unprecedented level of military and technical support that is transforming their relationship into a full-fledged defense partnership.”

Kirby said Russia and Iran were considering standing up a drone assembly line in Russia for the Ukraine conflict, while Russia was training Iranian pilots on the Sukhoi Su-35 fighter and Iran could receive deliveries of the plane within the year.

“These fighter planes will significantly strengthen Iran’s air force relative to its regional neighbors,” Kirby said.

The U.S. allegations are part of a deliberate effort by the U.S. to drive global isolation of Russia, in this case targeted at Arab nations who have looked to contain Iran’s regional malevolence and who have not taken a strong stance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration accused Saudi Arabia of siding with Russia in the conflict by shepherding cuts by the OPEC+ cartel to boost the price of oil, crucial to funding Moscow’s war effort. Saudi Arabia and Iran have been on opposite sides of a yearslong proxy war in Yemen.

Kirby said the arms transfers were in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and that the U.S. would be “using the tools at our disposal to expose and disrupt these activities.”

Concerns about the “deepening and a burgeoning defense partnership” between Russia and Iran come as the Biden administration has repeatedly accused Iran of assisting Russia with its invasion of Ukraine.

The administration says Iran sold hundreds of attack drones to Russian over the summer. Kirby on Friday reiterated the administration’s belief that Iran is considering the sale of hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia, but acknowledged that the U.S. doesn’t have “perfect visibility into Iranian thinking on why” the deal hasn’t been consummated.

Britain’s U.N. ambassador, Barbara Woodward, on Friday accused Russia of attempting to obtain more weapons from Iran, including hundreds of ballistic missiles, in return for “an unprecedented level of military and technical support” to Tehran.

“We are concerned that Russia intends to provide Iran with more advanced military components, which will allow Iran to strengthen their weapons capability,” she said. “So it is imperative that the truth about Iran’s supply to Russia is exposed, and is investigated by the U.N. as soon as possible.”

At a U.N. Security Council meeting called by Russia to assess the impact of Western weapons pumped into Ukraine, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia again denied that Iran is supplying weapons to Ukraine.

“The military industrial complex in Russia can work perfectly fine and doesn’t need anyone’s assistance, whereas the Ukrainian military industry does not basically exist and is being assisted by the Western industry and Western companies,” he said.

The White House says Russia has also turned to North Korea for artillery as the nine-month war grinds on. North Korea has denied the claim.

The White House has repeatedly sought to spotlight Russia’s reliance on Iran and North Korea, another broadly isolated nation on the international stage, for support as it prosecutes its war against Ukraine.

U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called the Iran-Russia collaboration a “desperate alliance.”

“Iran is now one of Russia’s top military backers,” he said. “Their sordid deals have seen the Iranian regime send hundreds of drones to Moscow, which have been used to attack Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and kill civilians.

“In return, Russia is offering military and technical support to the Iranian regime, which will increase the risk it poses to our partners in the Middle East and to international security.”

The Biden administration recently unveiled sanctions against Iranian firms and entities involved in the transfer of Iranian drones to Russia for use in Ukraine. It all comes as the administration has condemned the Islamic republic’s violent squelching of protests that erupted throughout Iran after the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while she was held by the morality police.

Even as the White House has accused Iran of backing Russia’s war effort, the administration has not abandoned the possibility of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — scuttled by the Trump administration in 2018. The pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, would provide Tehran with billions in sanctions relief in exchange for the country agreeing to roll back its nuclear program to the limits set by the 2015 deal.

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Lederer reported from the United Nations. AP writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

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December 9, 2022