US Ambassador Richard Allen Grenell gets in his car after an accreditation ceremony for new Ambassadors in Berlin, Germany, on May 08, 2018. (AFP) February 21, 2020 Richard Grenell, a Trump ally and staunch Iran critic, has been named US Acting Director of National Intelligence. The US Ambassador to Germany Grenell has little experience [...]
King Salman welcomes US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (SPA) February 21, 2020 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited American troops in Saudi Arabia Thursday after talks with King Salman on the second day of a visit focused on countering Iran. The United States began building up its military presence at the Prince Sultan [...]
Guardian Council member Ahmad Jannati (C) speaking during a session of Assembly of Experts in 2015. (IRNA) February 20, 2020 The United States on Thursday slapped sanctions on five Iranian officials in charge of vetting candidates for this week's parliamentary elections, in which thousands have been barred from running. The targeted officials include Ahmad [...]
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks at the Asia Society in New York, April 24, 2019. (AP) By Faramarz Davar February 20, 2020 Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has resorted to conspiracy theories to try to justify Iran’s unwillingness to cooperate with International Civil Aviation Organization procedure regarding airplane crashes — behavior that could not [...]
Revolutionary Guard hackers at work. (IRIB) By Davey Winder February 19, 2020 Ever since the 2010 Stuxnet worm attack on the Natanz nuclear plant that was eventually attributed to the U.S. and Israeli governments, Iran has been taking "cyber" seriously. Although the notion of Iran initiating a cyberwar scenario has been largely dismissed, there has [...]
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (Reuters) February 19, 2020 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said authorities in Washington were prepared to talk to Iran “anytime,” but that it needed to “fundamentally” change its behavior and that a campaign of maximum pressure against it would continue. “We are not rushed, [...]
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh talks to reporters, September 27, 2016. (Reuters) February 19, 2020 Iran has had to reduce oil production projects because of a lack of funds and income from oil exports has decreased, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Tuesday, according to the official IRNA news agency. “All attacks [...]
The first FATF Plenary meeting under the US Presidency in Paris. October 19, 2018. (FATF) February 18, 2020 A Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting which has started in Paris is expected to review the situation of Iran's commitment to international regulations against money laundering and financing terrorism also called the AML/CFT. The [...]
Eight Iranian environmentalists in a spying case — Sam Rajabi, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Hooman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Niloofar Bayani, Taher Ghadirian and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh. (IranWire) February 18, 2020 Iran sentenced eight environmentalists to prison terms of between four and 10 years for spying for and collaborating with the US, the spokesman for the [...]
Iran foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi. (AFP) February 18, 2020 Iranian news agencies on Monday reported that an Iranian citizen detained in Germany for violation of sanctions and facing extradition to the United States was freed and returned to Iran with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday evening. Ahmad Khalili was arrested [...]
