The Swiss Humanitarian Trade Agreement (SHTA) completed its first transaction on behalf of a Swiss pharmaceutical company, sending a cancer drug to Iran. The company and value of the shipment was not disclosed by the Swiss government. The channel is intended to send humanitarian aid such as food and medicine to Iran without violating U.S. economic sanctions.
News Briefs
July 27, 2020
-- Reuters
July 24, 2020
A U.S. F-15 fighter jet came within 1,000 meters of an Iranian airliner over Syria, forcing the Iranian airplane to descend abruptly and injuring several of its passengers. The U.S. Defense Department said that it was conducting a visual inspection of the Mahan Air plane "in accordance with international standards" to ensure the safety of personnel at a U.S. airbase in al-Tanf. Iran described the encounter as "harassment" and claimed that the jet came within 100 meters of the passenger plane.
-- The Wall Street Journal
July 23, 2020
Javad Karimi-Ghodousi, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, asserted that a "security breach" led to an explosion at the Natanz nuclear complex. Karimi-Ghodousi also dismissed theories that "an object from outside" struck Natanz. At the same time, Iran's Foreign Ministry said that foreign governments might have conducted cyberattacks against Iranian facilities.
-- Asharq al-Awsat
July 21, 2020
An Israeli missile strike on weapons depots and military positions in Syria killed five Iran-backed militia fighters. The strike hit targets around Kiswah, a town south of Damascus associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). There were also Israeli strikes on targets in the towns of Jabal al-Mane, Muqaylabiya, and Zakiya, which allegedly killed Iranian military personnel.
-- The Times of Israel
July 21, 2020
Abolfazl Amouei, spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission in the Iranian Parliament, claimed that 1,044 first-generation centrifuges, divided into six cascades, were enriching uranium to 4.5 percent at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant. Amouei's comments followed a visit by Iranian parliamentarians to the Shahid Ahmadi Roshan (Natanz) and Shahid Ali Mohammadi (Fordow) nuclear sites. Regarding Natanz, Amouei stated that parliamentarians "observed first-, second-, and fourth-generation centrifuges in the nuclear site that were put in the enrichment chain."
-- Mehr News Agency
July 21, 2020
Karim Hemmati, chairman of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (ICRS), announced that the U.S. Treasury Department has approved a new financial channel for the transfer of humanitarian aid to Iran. The channel allows the ICRS to receive funds that U.S. economic sanctions had previously blocked. This marks the first time since the United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 that Iran can receive aid in the form of foreign exchange funds. Under the arrangement, according to Hemmati, the U.S. Treasury would not object to such donations by individuals or legal entities as long as the donors are not U.S. citizens. Charitable donations to Iran still require a special license from the Treasury Department.
-- Radio Farda
July 19, 2020
The United Nation's International Labor Organization (ILO) confirmed that hijackers had captured an oil tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and sailed it to Iran. The MT Gulf Sky is suspected of smuggling petroleum on behalf of Iran. In May, the U.S. Justice Department filed criminal charges against two Iranians alleged to have laundered $12 million in a bid to purchase the oil tanker through a series of front companies. The vessel was then operating as the MT Nautica; both Iranians remain at large. The scheme also involved the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), and the Quds Force, a military branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). An American bank froze assets involved in the planned transaction, leading the vessel's seller to file a lawsuit in the UAE to repossess it from the buyers. Emirati authorities had seized the oil tanker before the hijacking, in response to the legal action.
-- Associated Press
July 13, 2020
According to a report by Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, German police arrested a suspected operative for the Quds Force, an arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in the state of Hesse in February 2019. German authorities are also continuing an investigation launched in 2017 against 10 suspected agents of the Quds Force. According to the report, Iranian intelligence agencies operating in Germany and other Western countries focus on gathering military, science, and business information, as well as information about Iranian dissidents.
-- The Jerusalem Post
July 11, 2020
The head of Iran's armed forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, and Syrian Defense Minister Ali Abdullah Ayoub signed a military memorandum of understanding under which Iran will help Syria improve its air defense systems. The agreement followed a 2018 memorandum of understanding under which Iran pledged to support the reconstruction of the Syrian army and defense industries as well as an economic cooperation agreement covering investment in the oil, power, and financial sectors.
-- The Arab Weekly
July 11, 2020
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is attempting to take control of Khuzestan Steel Mill Company, the biggest producer of steel bars and second-largest producer of un-milled steel in Iran. The IRGC already oversees the company's management and operations and owns 49 percent of its shares, but IRGC officials developed a plan to "illegally acquire" the remaining shares, according to a confidential letter. The IRGC had managed its shares in Khuzestan Steel through Yas Holding Company, which itself operated under the IRGC Cooperative Foundation. After the 2018 dissolution of Yas Holding in the aftermath of several financial scandals, however, the IRGC continued to exercise control of the shares in Khuzestan Steel and sought to increase its holding. Reports suggest that the IRGC will transfer some of Yas Holding's other assets to the office of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei.
-- Radio Farda