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Senator Chuck Grassley released FBI records on Thursday showing that Iranian-backed plotters sought to assassinate former President Donald Trump and other prominent American political figures in relation to the killing of Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was the head of the Quds Force, part of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC). The records, provided to Grassley through legally protected whistle-blower disclosures, reveal that Iran potentially targeted "politicians, military people or bureaucrats" including President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and former candidate Nikki Haley.
The Biden-Harris State Department is slated to host a senior Iraqi official allegedly involved in "industrial-scale sanctions evasion on behalf of the regime in Iran," prompting Congress to demand the administration revoke his American visa. On Monday, the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources will hold an event at Rice University in Houston with Iraqi oil minister Hayyan Abdul-Ghani, who has helped convert Baghdad’s energy sector "into a powerful and endemic means by which Iran-Aligned Militia Groups (IAMGs) and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) generate terrorist financing," according to five GOP House lawmakers, who are investigating the Iraqi official’s ties to Tehran.
War Within A War: Israel Takes Aim At Hamas Militants In Lebanon | The Washington Post
Hamas operative Nidal Hleihel was sitting in his car last month outside an apartment block in this Lebanese port city when he heard a loud crack above him. Spooked, he said, he scrambled out of the vehicle. He had just reached a nearby stairwell when the Israeli missile struck. His sport utility vehicle went up in flames as a crowd began to gather. Hleihel, cut deeply by shrapnel but still alive, was rushed from the scene.
UANI IN THE NEWS
The Vietnamese owner of a US-blacklisted Aframax tanker is trying to sell it for scrap. But no ship recycler will touch it…Pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran earlier claimed the Abyss had transshipped more than 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil into a Euronav tanker in the Malacca Strait. The Belgian tanker owner said it had believed the Abyss was carrying Iraqi crude.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Outcry As Iran’s Stock Exchange Officials Secure Cheap Personal Loans | Iran International
Exposing Iran’s ruling elite, the pro-reform Shargh Daily has revealed a letter detailing how five officials appointed under President Ebrahim Raisi granted themselves loans totaling 105 billion rials ($175,000). The officials, members of the Supreme Council of the Stock Exchange, orchestrated the generous loans with lenient repayment periods and minimal interest rates while Iran’s economy remains on the brink of collapse.
Sanctions Complicate Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project | Voice Of America
Pakistan Federal Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik said Wednesday that international sanctions have caused complications for the Iran-Pakistan cross-border natural gas pipeline project. Media outlets reported that Iran had warned Pakistan to complete its part of the project or face an $18 billion penalty — news that sparked a debate days later in Pakistan's lower house, the National Assembly. Responding to a question by a lawmaker on the floor of the house regarding Iran's final notice, Malik said, “This is a deeply complicated matter and involves international sanctions."
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
US Tightens Export Controls On Quantum Kit And Chips For China, Iran, Russia | The Register
The US has tightened export controls on quantum computing and semiconductor technology to address national defense and foreign policy concerns posed by foes including China, Iran, and Russia. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on Thursday published an interim final rule (IFR) in the Federal Register describing the restrictions, which apply worldwide and are intended to fit with similar export restrictions from like-minded governments.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
As Iran approaches the point of no return—becoming a nuclear-armed state—it is time for the West to weigh military action. There remains only a brief window for action. Iran is a more than worthy target. That's because Iran's 45-year-old theocracy is loathed by the majority of its people, actively foments terrorism and aggression in its region, and destabilizes the world by insisting on a nuclear weapons program. The past days' killing by its proxy Hamas of six hostages, including a U.S. citizen, provides a stark illustration of the murderous nature of this cabal. There is extreme reluctance in the West toward further misadventures with Islam, but the risk aversion must be weighed against the risks of doing nothing, given the extreme nature of Iran's skullduggeries.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran’s Leaders Call For Action As Urban Youth Fall Out Of Love With Marriage | Financial Times
At age 27, Neda, a personal trainer living in Tehran, is wondering whether she should bother to get married. Like many younger, urban Iranians, she reckons the loss of her liberty would be too high a price to pay. “People in my social circle keep telling me it’s not worth giving up my freedom to get married, and they encourage me to continue living happily single,” said Neda, who has an eclectic range of tattoos and regularly appears in public without the mandatory headscarf. Marriage appears to be an institution in decline in Iran, and the average age at which people wed is on the rise. Similar trends are evident in other countries, but here it has triggered concern among the Islamic Republic’s leaders about declining religious observance, the loss of tradition and ultimately the threat of a falling population.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iran Warns Russia Against Siding With Azerbaijan In Border Dispute | The Guardian
Iran’s new reformist government has warned Russia against siding with Azerbaijan in a border dispute as concerns in Tehran persist over its relations with Moscow. The Iranian foreign minister, Sayeed Abbas Araghchi, took the unusual step of upbraiding Russia after Moscow sided with Azerbaijan over its calls for a land corridor along the Armenia-Iran border that Tehran fears could limit its access to Europe and the wider world.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Military commanders have publicly dissented from the Pentagon over the U.S. military's response to the Houthis' threat in the Red Sea, calling for a stronger response. "The U.S. clearly needs to conduct more aggressive actions on Iran for supplying and supporting the Houthis. Until the U.S imposes costs on Iran, these Houthi attacks will continue," Retired RADM Mark Montgomery, senior director for the Center on Cyber and Tech Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, told Fox News Digital. "The Biden administration is not pursuing an effective deterrence strategy against the Iranians, and by extension, the Houthis, because the administration is overly concerned with provoking Iran and not concerned enough with shaping Iranian behavior," Montgomery said.
CYBERWARFARE
US Calls On Big Tech To Help Evade Online Censors In Russia, Iran | Reuters
The White House convened a meeting with representatives of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Cloudflare, and civil society activists on Thursday in a bid to encourage U.S. tech giants to offer more digital bandwidth for government-funded internet censorship evasion tools. The tools, supported by the U.S.-backed Open Technology Fund (OTF), have seen a surge of usage in Russia, Iran, Myanmar and authoritarian states that heavily censor the internet.