Iranian businessman Seyed Sajjad Shahidian was sentenced to 23 months in prison for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. A U.S. district court in Minneapolis sentenced the 33-year-old to time served. Shahidian used a company that he founded and led, Payment24, to circumvent U.S. sanctions between 2009 and 2018. Payment24 relied on fake passports and other forged documents to register accounts with Payoneer and PayPal and process millions of dollars in transactions. Shahidian also flouted trade restrictions on Iran by falsifying the destination of U.S.-origin goods. British authorities arrested Shahidian in London in November 2018, and extradited him to the United States in May 2020. He pleaded guilty on June 18, 2020.
News Briefs
October 15, 2020
-- The Star Tribune
October 10, 2020
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), assesses that Iran has yet to amass a "significant quantity" of enriched uranium, which he defined as "the minimum amount of enriched uranium or plutonium needed to make an atomic bomb." However, he noted that Iran continues to accumulate enriched uranium "to a much higher degree than they have committed themselves to" under the 2015 nuclear agreement.
-- Reuters
October 2, 2020
The intelligence agency for the German state of Hesse reports that Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and Syria tried to "acquire and distribute" weapons of mass destruction technology using transport routes via "third countries that are not subject to special embargo regulations." According to the report, which covers events in 2019, these countries might have obtained expertise in uranium enrichment and biological and chemical processes by exploiting research and academic cooperation. The report also alleges that China, Iran, and Russia might have conducted cyber operations targeting financial institutions in the city of Frankfurt. According to the report, Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and an intelligence service run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) remain active in Germany.
-- The Jerusalem Post
September 30, 2020
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspected the second of two sites in Iran suspected of involvement in the country's pre-2003 nuclear activities, when Iran had a coordinated nuclear weapons program. The IAEA will send environmental samples from the site to a lab to scan for traces of nuclear material. Iran blocked IAEA access to both sites for seven months, only relenting in August.
-- Al Jazeera
September 29, 2020
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) held an exhibition featuring 15 types of missiles, including the Dezful, Emad, Fateh, Khorramshahr, Nazeat, Qadr, Ra'ad 500, Sajil, Scud, Shahab, and Zlfiqar models. The exhibition also included mobile missile launchers, radar units, and the Ababil, Karar, Shahed, and Saegeh families of Iranian drones as well as captured U.S.-made drones, such as a RQ-170 Sentinel that Iran shot down in 2011.
-- The Jerusalem Post
September 28, 2020
The Forest, one of three Iranian oil tankers in a flotilla delivering hundreds of thousands of barrels of fuel to Venezuela, entered Venezuelan waters on its way to the El Palito refinery port. The other two oil tankers, the Faxon and the Fortune, appeared set to arrive in Venezuela in several days. General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, a military advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, claimed that Venezuela had repaid Iran by sending gold bars by plane.
-- Bloomberg
September 24, 2020
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) inaugurated the Shaheed Rahbari military base near the Iranian city of Sirik, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz. Major General Hossein Salami, the head of the IRGC, attended the ceremony. Iran's state-owned media reported that the base, which was under construction for six years, would give Iran "full control" of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the IRGC also flew a drone over the U.S.S. Nimitz, an aircraft carrier transiting the Strait.
-- Bloomberg
September 24, 2020
According to intelligence reports, Iran is procuring advanced engine technology used in drones from Chinese manufacturers. The technology is smuggled from Xiamen, in China, to Mombasa, Kenya, then sent to Salalah, Oman, from where the technology is sent on to Houthi strongholds in Yemen. This procurement pattern is a shift from previous efforts by Iran to obtain miniature engines from small German manufacturers, including the successful procurement of 42 twin-cylinder propeller motors in 2015 that were routed through Athens to Tehran. Such engines were found in drones used by the Houthis in attacks on Saudi Arabia. Their sale to Iran was subsequently banned by the German government. Iran has used a range of Dutch and German engines in its drones to boost domestic production.
-- The National
September 23, 2020
Rear Admiral Ali Reza Tangsiri, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy, said that the IRGC Navy had received 188 new drones and helicopters. The drones included the Sepehr vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone, the Hodhod-4 VTOL drone, the Shahab-2, and the Mohajer-6, which has a range of 200 km and can carry a payload of four missiles. The drones can take off from naval ships and surveil maritime targets. According to Tangsiri, the IRGC Navy now uses drones in all its operations. The IRGC Navy also unveiled two new amphibious helicopters and four new combat helicopters equipped with missiles.
-- Tasnim News Agency
September 21, 2020
A new executive order authorizes the United States to freeze the assets of any company or individual helping Iran obtain conventional weapons – a means of unilaterally enforcing a U.N. arms embargo. In addition, the United States imposed sanctions and trade restrictions on 27 organizations and individuals connected to Iran's nuclear program or its ballistic missile and conventional arms activities. The sanctioned entities include the Iranian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), the Defense Industries Organization (DIO), three subunits of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, for his role in conventional weapons deals with Iran.
-- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty