The Houthi rebels in Yemen have continued their attacks on ships in the Red Sea, recently damaging two vessels. The crew of the Greek-owned Tutor abandoned ship after it was struck by a drone boat, the first successful use of this type of weapon by the Houthis. Similarly, the Ukrainian-owned Verbena was abandoned by its crew following Houthi missile strikes. While a U.S.-led naval coalition continues its military operation to degrade the group's capabilities, it continues to find new ways to procure weapons. The Houthis have recently opened a new smuggling route from Iran through Djibouti and have sourced Chinese drone parts from Lebanon.
News Briefs
June 16, 2024
-- Wall Street Journal
June 14, 2024
Following a formal censure by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors over its nuclear program, Iran began feeding uranium into three new cascades of advanced IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment facility. It also plans to install 18 more cascades of IR-2m centrifuges at Natanz and eight cascades of IR-6 centrifuges at Fordow.
-- Associated Press
June 6, 2024
Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a new type of solid-fuel missile called “Palestine” at Israel’s Eilat port. The Houthis claimed the weapon was locally made, but its design elements resembled those of missiles developed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the hypersonic Fattah system.
-- Associated Press
June 5, 2024
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors passed a resolution calling on Iran to increase cooperation with the agency and to reverse the barring of IAEA inspectors. Russia and China voted against the resolution, while twelve other countries abstained.
-- Reuters
June 3, 2024
Whistleblowers allegedly found billions of dollars' worth of previously undetected transactions between UK-based Standard Chartered (StanChart) and Iran-linked entities and terrorist organizations. The transactions happened between 2008 and 2013, after the bank said it would cease business with Iran in 2007. The whistleblowers made their claims in a U.S. federal court filing and highlighted transactions with a front company owned by Mohammad Bazzi, a Hizbollah financier, as well as with a Pakistani fertilizer company that allegedly sold explosive materials to the Taliban. StanChart has already paid more than two billion dollars in penalties for sanctions violations and due diligence failures.
-- Financial Times
May 31, 2024
The United States sanctioned a network of entities connected to Rayan Roshd Afzar Company for their involvement in Iran's UAV industry. These included Rayan Fan Kav Andish Co (RFKA), Kish Mechatronics Co., Fanavarihaye Hava Pishran Sazeh Sepehr Co LLC (HPSS), and Mersad Mohajer CO LLC. The United States also sanctioned Afshin Khajeh Fard, who is the chief of Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) and oversees Iran’s drone and missile production efforts.
-- U.S. Department of the Treasury
May 31, 2024
The European Union sanctioned Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters and one of its commanders for its role in coordinating Iran’s military operations, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy (IRGC-N) for involvement in weapon, missile, and UAV deliveries to Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hizballah, and Iran-based Kavan Electronics Behrad which procured and sold components for Iranian UAVs. The European Union also sanctioned Defense Minister Mohammadreza Ashtiani, IRGC Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani, and Afshin Khajifard, the director of the Iranian Aviation Industries Organization.
-- RFE/RL
May 29, 2024
Iran has provided the Houthi rebels in Yemen with the technical knowledge to produce anti-ship ballistic missiles. The Houthis had previously converted surface-to-air missiles that they had taken from the Yemeni government into surface-to-surface missiles, calling them the Qaher-2 and Qaher-2M. The Houthis' anti-ship Muhit missile is patterned after the Qaher but is equipped with an optical seeker for homing on ships.
-- Tasnim News Agency
May 27, 2024
According to a quarterly report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has added more than 20 kg to its stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity since the last report in February, for a total of 142.1 kg enriched to that level. The report also noted that the deaths of Iran's president and foreign minister have caused a pause in talks between Iran and the IAEA over improving cooperation. France and the United Kingdom have reportedly pushed to adopt a new resolution censuring Iran at the upcoming IAEA board meeting, but the United States has so far not supported the move.
-- Reuters
May 19, 2024
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian died in a helicopter crash resulting from a “technical failure,” according to Iranian state media. Raisi and Amir Abdollahian were traveling from the border of Azerbaijan when their helicopter crashed in the mountains near Jolfa. The first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, assumed the role of acting president and will organize elections for a new president within 50 days.
-- New York Times