Protesters demand Belgium nix prisoner swap returning attempted bomber to Iran
Washington Examiner, July 12, 2022
Protesters in Washington, D.C., are hoping to sway the Belgian government into rejecting a bill that, if passed, would facilitate the transfer of a former Iranian diplomat serving a 20-year sentence for plotting a bombing back to Iran.
Assadollah Assadi, who was an employee at Iran’s embassy in Vienna, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February 2021 for his role in an attempted bombing at a rally held by the National Council of Resistance of Iran in France in 2018. A new bill in Belgium’s parliament would send him back to Iran to serve the remainder of his sentence.
The rally-goers, who included Iranian dissidents from all over the United States, marched around the Belgian Embassy and to the White House.
Farideh Sedighi, a protester who traveled from her California home to go to the rally, was with her husband at the 2018 rally in France, which was the target of the attempted bombing. Read More
Belgium Should Reject a Bad Deal With Iran
More must be done to thwart the passage of this bill by the Belgian parliament.
The National Interest, July 10, 2022 by Majid Rafizadeh
The Belgian government’s proposed legislation to transfer convicted terrorists back to Iran is disgraceful and dangerous. Belgian lawmakers will be voting on the bill next week.
The flawed deal has created a firestorm on both sides of the Atlantic. U.S. lawmakers, their European counterparts, former senior officials, and human rights organizations have slammed the treaty. But more must be done to thwart the passage of this bill by the Belgian parliament.
The so-called treaty between the current Belgian government and the Iranian regime is designed to secure the release of an Iranian diplomat-terrorist named Assadollah Assadi. Assadi was arrested in 2018 for plotting to bomb a huge rally outside Paris, France, organized by the main Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).Read More
Exclusive: U.S. government warns that Iran may try to kill American officials as revenge for killing top general
Yahoo News, July 13, 2022
The U.S. government believes that Iran may try to assassinate current or former senior American officials to avenge the death more than two years ago of its top military and intelligence commander, according to an intelligence report obtained by Yahoo News.
In January 2020, the Trump administration conducted a drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani while he was on a trip to Iraq. Since then, the regime in Tehran has threatened revenge against those it deems responsible and has made a series of threats and started legal proceedings against U.S. officials. Read More
Iran preparing to send ‘several hundred’ drones to Russia, Sullivan says
Training sessions are expected to begin as early as this month, he said.
Politico, July 11, 2022
The Iranian government is preparing to send “several hundred” drones, including some equipped with weapons, to Russia at some point in July, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday.
Sullivan made the announcement during an afternoon briefing at the White House, where he said he was confident that with support from the West, Ukraine’s capital Kyiv will remain under Ukrainian control.
Then he pivoted to the toll the war has taken on Russia, particularly its weapons.
“Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred [unmanned aerial vehicles], including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline,” Sullivan said. “It’s unclear whether Iran has delivered any of these UAVs to Russia already.” Read More
Exclusive: Iran escalates enrichment with adaptable machines at Fordow, IAEA reports
Reuters, July 9, 2022
VIENNA, July 9 (Reuters) – Iran has escalated its uranium enrichment further with the use of advanced machines at its underground Fordow plant in a setup that can more easily change between enrichment levels, the U.N. atomic watchdog said in a report on Saturday seen by Reuters.
Western diplomats have long expressed concern about devices this cascade, or cluster, of centrifuges is equipped with.
The use of these so-called modified sub-headers means Iran could switch more quickly and easily to enriching to higher purity levels.
While Iran is required to inform the International Atomic Energy Agency about such a switch, if it chose not to, it might escape detection for some time as there is currently a lag between Iran’s enrichment and IAEA inspectors’ verification of what is produced. Read More
Not Heard Elsewhere
News From Inside Iran
Compiled by NCRI
This informative bulletin is updated regularly
Read more
Iran arrests 3rd outspoken filmmaker in escalating crackdown
Washington Post, July 12, 2022
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran has arrested an internationally renowned filmmaker, several newspapers reported Tuesday, the third Iranian director to be locked up in less than a week as the government escalates a crackdown on the country’s celebrated cinema industry.
The arrest of award-winning director Jafar Panahi and wider pressure on filmmakers follows a wave of recent arrests as tensions escalate between Iran’s hard-line government and the West. Security forces have detained several foreigners and a prominent reformist politician as talks to revive Tehran’s nuclear accord with world powers hit a deadlock and fears grow over the country’s economic crisis. Read more
Donation
501 (c)(3) Tax deductible
Please,
Donate to Organization Of Iranian American Communities
Your donation will help OIAC advocates for a democratic, secular and non-nuclear government in Iran. Founded on the respect for human rights, gender equality, religious and ethnic tolerance, as wells as social, economic justice, and security for America. Our goal is to organize Iranian-American communities in the United States to promote these values.
Thank You,
http://www.oiac-us.com/donation/
