After pleading guilty to violating the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations and federal criminal law, James Meharing, owner of Turbine Resources International, LLC in Pensacola, Florida was sentenced to 40 months in prison for conspiring to ship a Solar Mars 90 S turbine core engine to Dubai for an Iranian energy company. Meharing falsified documents used to legally export items from the United States and received a payment of $250,000 in laundered funds from a conspirator in the United Kingdom. The turbine was seized by law enforcement authorities before it reached the Iranian company.
News Briefs
January 25, 2020
Iran announced that it has stockpiled 1,200 kilograms of enriched uranium, surpassing the 202.8 kilogram limit set by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Ali Asghar Zarean, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) chief, stated that Iran is increasing its enriched uranium stockpile at "full speed". The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not verified the claims, but reported that Iran’s stockpile reached 373.2 kilograms in early November.
-- The Associated Press
January 23, 2020
The United States sanctioned four companies for facilitating Iran’s petrochemical and petroleum exports: Hong Kong-based Triliance Petrochemical Co., Hong Kong-based Sage Energy HK Ltd., Shanghai-based Peakview Industry Co., and Dubai-based Beneathco DMCC. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the companies transferred the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars to National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) as payment for Iranian exports. The Treasury Department is authorized to impose secondary sanctions for activity related to state-run NIOC, which it accuses of financing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
-- Wall Street Journal
January 22, 2020
Iran’s Expediency Council failed to endorse legislation aimed at combatting terrorism financing in advance of a February 2020 deadline set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) before it imposes counter-measures on the country. Passing the Combating the Financing of Terrorism bill would have allowed Iran to join the U.N. conventions against money laundering and funding terrorism. Iran’s Parliament ratified the bill in 2018, but the Guardian Council withheld the endorsement needed for legislation to become law, and the issue was referred to the Expediency Council for arbitration.
-- Radio Fara
January 14, 2020
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (the E3) triggered a dispute resolution mechanism within the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after Iran announced that it will no longer respect limits on its uranium enrichment. The E3 states that it aims to save the deal through constructive diplomatic dialogue, and that the process has not reached a stage where U.N. sanctions could be reimposed. The signatory countries of the JCPOA will meet to discuss the issue within 15 days. Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, accused the E3 of succumbing to U.S. coercion.
-- Financial Times
January 10, 2020
In response to an attack on two of its military bases in Iraq, the United States blacklisted eight senior Iranian officials and imposed sanctions on Iran’s metals, construction, manufacturing, textiles, and mining sectors. The new metals sanctions target the top steel, aluminum, copper, and iron producers in Iran as well as foreign purchasers and transporters of Iranian steel. The Treasury Department also announced sanctions waivers to allow the United States and foreign countries to investigate the downing of a commercial Ukrainian airplane in Tehran.
-- Bloomberg
January 8, 2020
Iran retaliated for the U.S. killing of General Qassem Soleimani by attacking two Iraqi military bases that house U.S. troops. The strikes were carried out using short-range ballistic missiles likely of the Qiam model and a variant of the Fateh-110. Elevan missiles landed at the Al Asad base and one struck the base at Erbil. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, tents, taxiways and a helicopter were damaged. No American or Iraqi personnel were killed in the strike.
-- Wall Street Journal
January 5, 2020
President Rouhani announced that Iran will further scale back its compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by surpassing limitations placed on the number of its uranium enrichment centrifuges. The regime indicated that these steps could be reversed if the United States lifted sanctions.
-- CNBC
January 2, 2020
The United States killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top general and head of the Quds Force. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, it killed General Soleimani because he was actively planning to attack American diplomats and service members in the Middle East. The airstrike was conducted by an armed drone that struck Soleimani’s vehicle on an access road near the Baghdad International Airport. The attack also killed six others, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq.
-- Associated Press
December 29, 2019
The United States conducted airstrikes against five areas controlled by the Iranian proxy group Kataib Hezbollah in response to rocket attacks that killed an American contractor in Iraq. The operation targeted the group’s weapons storage facilities and command posts at two locations in Syria and three in Iraq. According to a Hezbollah military spokesman, 24 were killed and over 50 were wounded.
-- New York Times