TOP STORIES
US Threatens Fresh Resolution Against Iran At IAEA Over Nuclear ‘Stonewalling’ | Times Of Israel
The United States is threatening future action against Iran at the UN nuclear watchdog if Tehran keeps “stonewalling” the watchdog by denying it the cooperation and answers it seeks on issues including long-unexplained uranium traces. At a quarterly meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors, Washington again tells Iran to cooperate with IAEA inspectors who for years have been seeking explanations from Tehran on the origin of uranium particles at undeclared sites. The United States has stopped short, for now, of seeking a resolution against Iran, however. Diplomats have cited the US presidential election in November as a reason Washington has been reluctant to do that. Tehran bristles at such resolutions and often responds by stepping up its activities.
UN: Iran Committed Crimes Against Humanity During Protest Crackdown | The Guardian
The Iranian regime’s human rights violations during its brutal suppression of protests in 2022 amount to crimes against humanity, a UN fact-finding mission (FFM) has said. Established by the UN human rights council in November 2022 – two months after the Woman, Life, Freedom protests swept the country in response to the death in custody of Mahsa Amini – the FFM has released a report concluding the regime carried out widespread and sustained human rights violations against its own people, which broke international laws and specifically targeted women and girls. The report also investigated and corroborated accounts published in the Guardian that female protesters had been specifically targeted because of their gender and were shot at close range in the face and genitals – actions the report cites as evidence of crimes committed by the state against the civilian population.
Iran is responsible for the “physical violence” that led to the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 and sparked nationwide protests against the country’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, laws and its ruling theocracy, a U.N. fact-finding mission said Friday. The stark pronouncement came in a wide-ranging initial report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council by the Fact-Finding Mission on Iran. It also found that the Islamic Republic employed “unnecessary and disproportionate use of lethal force” to put down the demonstrations that erupted following Amini’s death, and that Iranian security forces sexually assaulted detainees. The monthslong security crackdown killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. There was no immediate comment on the report from Iran. Iranian officials did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press on the mission’s findings.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Three sailors have been killed and four seriously wounded after the Houthis attacked the True Confidence merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden this week. According to US forces in the region, the 183-metre long ship was hit by a missile launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen. It’s clear already that the fingerprints of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – the Iranian regime’s paramilitary force – are all over this attack. For starters, the Islamic Republic of Iran had a clear motive. Until a few days ago, the True Confidence was owned by Oaktree Capital Management, a US based asset-management firm – and also the previous owner of the Suez Rajan tanker, which was seized by the US last year after being caught carrying Iranian oil. This latest attack was intended to send a message to the US after the Suez Rajan was confiscated. There are other clues, too, that Iran’s regime was involved in this strike. In the Gulf of Aden at the same time as the Houthi attack was the spy ship of the IRGC, the Behshad, which has been providing the Houthis with intelligence.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Oil Tanker Caught Up In Iran-U.S. Dispute Over Sanctions | Radio Free Europe
When Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker last year, Tehran said the transporter had collided with and damaged an Iranian vessel in the Gulf of Oman. Now, nearly one year later, Tehran said it will confiscate the cargo of the Advantage Sweet, which was transporting oil from Kuwait to the U.S. state of Texas, in retaliation for crippling American sanctions against the Islamic republic. The Mizan news agency, which is affiliated with Iran's judiciary, reported on March 6 that a Tehran court had ruled in favor of confiscating the oil, which is valued at around $50 million. The 55th branch of the Tehran Court of Justice said funds from the sale of the oil will be used to compensate patients suffering from epidermolysis bullosa, a rare skin disease. The court ruled that U.S. sanctions have prevented a Swedish company from selling medicine to Iran that is used to treat the disease and caused Iranian “patients severe emotional and physical damage.” EB Home, an Iranian nongovernmental organization representing over 300 epidermolysis bullosa patients, had brought a case against the United States in the Tehran court. In a statement following the court ruling, the NGO described U.S. sanctions as “criminal and unilateral.”
Iran To Unload Crude From Seized Tanker Advantage Sweet | The New Arab
Iran will unload about $50 million worth of crude from a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker seized last year, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday, in a tit-for-tat action against the United States. Advantage Sweet is a Suezmax crude tanker that had been chartered by US firm Chevron and was seized in April 2023 by Iran's army following an alleged collision with an Iranian boat. The unloading of the cargo follows a Tehran court order in favour of Iranian patients of Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a rare skin disease, who had filed a lawsuit against the "severe physical and mental harm" caused by the non-provision of Swedish-made medicine, which is said to be caused by U.S. sanctions according to the lawsuit. The report did not specify whether Iran's seizure of the tanker's oil will contribute to the EB patients. In August 2023, a cargo of Iranian oil was unloaded off the coast of Texas from the Suez Rajan, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker seized by the US.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
Iranians Campaign To Oust Princeton Professor For Alleged Terror Ties | Iran International
Princeton University controversial academic, Hossein Mousavian, who is currently being investigated by the US Congress for his pro-Iran regime activities, now faces a grassroots Iranian-American campaign to secure his dismissal. The campaign Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) wrote in its Wednesday statement that “In the seven years Mousavian served as IRI’s ambassador in Germany, more than 23 Iranians were killed in terrorist attacks on European soil orchestrated by IRI...These heinous acts underscore the direct involvement of the IRI embassy in Bonn and Mousavian’s role in Iran's state-sponsored terrorism and orchestrating violence against innocent civilians.” AAIRIA presented statements from a witness of the Mykonos restaurant assassination in Berlin in 1992 and victims of the Iranian regime’s persecution of dissidents. Parviz Dastamalchi, who witnessed the assassination, said Mr. Abolghasem Mesbahi, known as 'Witness C,' was one of the founders of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In February 1997, Misbahi, under oath, testified, before the German court regarding the role of Seyed Hossein Mousavian in the assassination of Kurdish leaders at the Mykonos restaurant.
Sweden Supreme Court Upholds Life Sentence Of Former Iran Official | Jurist
The Swedish Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday the guilty verdict and life sentence of Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian official convicted for his involvement in a mass execution of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. Nouri was previously arrested in 2019 at a Swedish airport on charges of grave violations of international law and 24 counts of murder. Under Swedish law, Swedish courts can try foreign citizens for crimes against international law that are committed abroad. Usually, the Supreme Court only grants appeals if their judgment could establish an important precedence and provide guidance on how similar cases should be assessed. In a brief order, the Supreme Court stated it would not hear Nouri’s appeal. Instead, the court upheld the Svea Court of Appeal’s December 2023 ruling, which upheld Nouri’s life sentence. Nouri has been imprisoned in Sweden since his 2019 arrest, sparking concern from the Iranian government. In December 2023, an Iranian spokesperson stated the country would seek Nouri’s release, calling the verdict against Nouri “illegal” and “cruel.”
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
US Slams Iran For Destroying Graves Of Minority Baha'is | Iran Wire
The United States has denounced the desecration of over 30 graves of the Baha'i religious minority in a Tehran cemetery, condemning the Islamic Republic's persecution of the community. "We condemn the destruction of 30 graves by authorities at the Khavaran Cemetery near Tehran this week. Baha'is in Iran continue to face violations of funeral and burial rights," the State Department Office of International Religious Freedom said on March 7. "We have also seen the regime dramatically increase Baha'i property seizures and use sham trials to subject Baha'is to extended prison sentences. We will continue to use all available tools to confront the regime's human rights abuses," it added. According to a statement issued by the Baha'i International Community (BIC) on March 5, the Islamic Republic's authorities removed grave markers and used bulldozers to flatten the resting places, effectively erasing any evidence of the burials.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
Biden Only Briefly Touches On Iran In Congressional Address | Iran International
President Joe Biden avoided the subject of Iran almost entirely in his State of the Union address on Thursday, focusing on issues that may be more advantageous for him in an election year. In what largely sounded like an early campaign speech, Joe Biden mentioned the word Iran only once –and the word nuclear not even once, as Iran is now on the verge of a nuclear breakout. “Creating stability in the Middle East also means containing the threat posed by Iran,” he said, "that's why I built a coalition of more than a dozen countries to defend international shipping and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. I’ve ordered strikes to degrade Houthi capabilities and defend US Forces in the region.”
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
New Threats From Iran’s IRGC Quds Force Chief | Jerusalem Post
IRGC Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani threatened Israel on March 7. It is the latest threat by the Iranian regime and follows messaging from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad that threaten to try to inflame tensions in the region in the next weeks. Qaani directed his threats at Israel and other countries linked to Israel, a reference to the US apparently. The IRGC Quds Force commander “stressed that the resistance front has yet to exhibit the maximum of its capabilities in terms of military and deterrent power,” Iranian pre-government Fars News media said. Qaani also openly bragged that this is already a regional war in which the “regional resistance” is threatening Israel as a “front.” Iran has operationalized numerous fronts, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. He spoke about an “integrated set that has a lot of capabilities and capacities.”
An Iranian state-backed hacking group recently infiltrated a company that makes academic administration software and used that access to intimidate other Israeli organizations, analysts said on Thursday. The overall goal of the operation appeared to be hacktivism and not necessarily financial gain, according to OP Innovate, the Israeli company that investigated the incident. In November, the attackers breached Rashim Software and then appeared to use credentials obtained in that incident to “infiltrate several of the company’s clients, including numerous academic institutes,” OP Innovate said. Israeli cybersecurity companies have been closely monitoring Iranian state-backed hackers since the country’s war in Gaza began in October 2023. Iran is a supporter of the Palestinian group Hamas. OP Innovate is calling the group Lord Nemesis, given some of its graphic design choices.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Mystery Blast Hits Oil Refinery In Iran’s Bandar Abbas | Al-Monitor
Two people were injured in an explosion at an oil refinery in southern Iran on Thursday, state media reported after initially saying several people had been killed in the blast. The semi-official Mehr news agency reported that a fire began in a furnace at the Aftab oil refinery in Bandar Abbas shortly before noon local time. Two personnel were lightly injured and the facility was not seriously damaged, according to the outlet.
CONGRESS & IRAN
Iran Has Put Middle East Into ‘Convergence Of Crises,’ CENTCOM Commander Tells Senate | USNI News
Iran has thrown the Middle East into “a convergence of crises” with its military support of Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen, Army Gen. Michael Kurilla told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday. Calling it “the most volatile situation in 50 years,” Central Command’s top commander said Tehran has “every proxy operationalized” to include militias in Syria and Iraq, who have launched missile and drone attacks killing three American service members, and Hezbollah in Lebanon engaged in cross-border shelling with Israel. In the Middle East, to help finance these militia operations, ran is selling 90 percent of its oil to China, Kurilla said. Despite backing militias, Iran does not want war with the United States, Kurilla said. Tehran remains on “the threshold” of becoming a nuclear power. That is the second prong of Tehran’s strategy to be the dominant regional power.
U.S. strikes in early February on Iranian proxies in the Middle East have deterred militant groups in Iraq and Syria from attacking American forces but have not been as effective against Houthi rebels in Yemen, the top U.S. general in the region said Thursday. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria, including those responsible for the Jan. 28 drone attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. soldiers, have not fired at American troops in more than a month, Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He credited the retaliatory strikes on some 85 targets in Iraq and Syria, including a drone strike on a top Kataib Hezbollah commander, with restoring an informal cease-fire in those countries. “Iran has to understand there are consequences to their actions. I think that on that last attack that we did … our messaging matched our actions … and I think that sent a very strong deterrent message, and we have not had an attack in 32 days in Iraq or Syria,” said Kurilla, who leads U.S. Central Command and is responsible for American forces in the Middle East and central Asia. “But I will tell you deterrence is always temporary.”
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
US: Stopping Iran’s Resupply Of Houthis ‘Most Important’ To Secure Red Sea | Voice Of America
As attacks by Iran-backed Houthis continue in the Red Sea, the commander in charge of U.S. military operations in the Middle East says the U.S. needs to stop Iran from providing the militants with weapons. "The most important thing is to deny their ability to resupply from Iran. The Houthis are not building. They're putting it all together and assembling, but they don't create inertial navigation systems. They don't create medium-range ballistic missile engines," Gen. Erik Kurilla, the chief of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. The U.S. and British militaries have launched multiple combined operations against weapons facilities, radars and launch sites in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The U.S. has also continued near-daily strikes to take out weapons that were prepared to launch and shoot down incoming Houthi weapons, including strikes late Wednesday against two Houthi drones. An anti-ship ballistic missile launched earlier Wednesday from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen killed three crew members of the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier True Confidence in the Gulf of Aden, CENTCOM said in a statement. It was the first fatal strike by Iran-backed Houthi militants since the onslaught on international shipping lanes began in mid-November.
IRAQ & IRAN
Iranian MP Warns Of Losing Iraq Market Share To Turkey, Saudi Arabia | Iran International
Mohammad Javad Asgari, the head of the Agriculture Committee of the Iranian Parliament, expressed concerns over Iran's diminishing agricultural exports to Iraq as regional competition sidelines the regime. "Currently, Turkey is easily replacing Iran in Iraq, and even Saudi Arabia is seizing markets in agricultural production, which poses a serious threat," he told ILNA on Thursday. Asgari also highlighted the urgency of creating better market conditions for agricultural production, stating that failure to do so could result in the loss of vital markets. He also noted a worrying trend of Iran losing market share, particularly in products like nuts and dried fruits. Iran has long sought to expand its influence and economic interests in neighboring countries like Iraq and Syria. With cultural, historical, and religious ties, Iran views these countries as crucial markets for its goods and services. However, despite its aspirations, Iran has faced disappointment in its attempts to gain a significant share in their markets.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Yerevan Looks To Bolster Military Ties With Iran | Asbarez
As part of an effort to bolster military cooperation with Tehran, Armenia’s Defense Minister Suren Papikyan on Thursday met with President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran. In addition to discussing issues related to regional security, the two leaders also discussed cooperation in the defense sector. “On the sidelines of my official visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran, I met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The meeting centered on discussions regarding Armenian-Iranian cooperation, including in the defense sector. We shared our approaches to regional security issues,” Papikyan said in a social media post. On the first day of his visit, Papikyan met with his Iranian counterpart, Reza Ashitani, who told the visiting Armenian dignitary that the Caucasus region should not become the site of competition for other powers, presumably referring to the efforts by the West to forge closer relations with Armenia. Ashitani and Papikyan agreed to strengthen relations between the two neighboring countries.