Brief On Iran (BOI), Newsletter June 1st, 2015

The dissident National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) exposed Iran’s uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy water facility at Arak in 2002. Analysts say it has a mixed record and a clear political agenda.

Iran says allegations that is trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability are baseless and circulated by its enemies.

Iran and six world powers are trying to meet a self-imposed June 30 deadline to reach a comprehensive deal restricting its nuclear work. Issues remaining include monitoring measures to ensure it cannot pursue a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

Citing information from sources inside Iran, including within Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Paris-based NCRI said a seven-person North Korean Defense Ministry team was in Iran during the last week of April. This was the third time in 2015 that North Koreans had been to Iran and a nine-person delegation was due to return in June, it said.

Anbar- Thousands of families in Iraq are trapped by fighting between Islamic State extremists and government forces.

At least four Americans are being held in Yemen by rebels who toppled the US-backed government, the Washington Post reported late on Friday.

Citing unnamed sources, the report said attempts to free the Americans have failed. The Americans are believed to be imprisoned in the capital Sana’a, which Saudi Arabia has repeatedly bombed in a campaign to oust the rebels, known as Houthis, from power.

The Houthis had cleared one of the prisoners for release, but the report said members of the Houthi rebellion reversed that decision.

Three of the prisoners hold private sector jobs, and the fourth holds dual US-Yemini citizenship. None is a US government employee, the report said.

The Post report said the newspaper was withholding details about the four at the request of relatives and US officials, who cited safety concerns.

 The Iraqi Army and its Shia militia allies are gearing up for one of the defining campaigns in the war against ISIS.

Troops are gathering outside of Ramadi, the city located 80 miles from Baghdad that ISIS took on May 17th. Ramadi is majority Sunni and could serve as an ISIS foothold for an assault on the greater Baghdad area.

A successful campaign to retake the city could send ISIS into retreat. But failure would only solidify the jihadists’ hold over a sizable population center at the doorstop of the Iraqi capital.

And the attempt to retake Ramadi looks like yet another disaster in waiting.

As former US Army intelligence officer Michael Pregent explained to Business Insider, taking back Ramadi is beyond the capabilities of a diminished Iraqi army and its partners, which include Iranian-backed Shia militia groups like Kataib Hezbollah and the Badr Group.

Gerard Araud says it’s “very likely” there will be no deal in the next five weeks, or even afterward.

He says much technical work remains, meaning any understanding reached could just be “fuzzy air.”

Araud spoke Tuesday at an Atlantic Councilevent alongside the British and German ambassadors to the U.S.

The three European countries are negotiating alongside the U.S., Russia and China.

The proposed deal would freeze Iran’s nuclear program for a decade, while providing Iran tens of billions of dollars’ worth of sanctions relief.