Facebook announced in a July 15 blog post that an Iranian hacker group had created fake profiles on the social media service to contact military personnel and defense contractors in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other European countries in a months-long bid to infect their computers with viruses and steal data. The hackers disguised themselves as journalists, corporate recruiters, employees of defense firms and nongovernmental organizations, and workers employed in the aviation, healthcare, and hospitality industries. According to Facebook, the hackers would try "to move conversations off-platform" through the use of other "collaboration and messaging platforms," then send malware to their targets. Facebook, which removed the fake profiles and blocked related domains, described the effort as part of a "much broader cross-platform cyber espionage operation" and linked the malware to Mahak Rayan Afraz, a Tehran-based firm tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It remains unclear what information, if any, the hacker group—known as "Tortoiseshell"—succeeded in obtaining from its targets.
News Briefs
July 14, 2021
According to an unnamed diplomat, Iran told European officials that it was waiting until Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi takes office to return to negotiations meant to bring Iran and the United States back into compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The diplomat said that participants in the negotiations expect them to resume in mid-August; the last round of talks ended on June 20. The U.S. State Department confirmed that Iran had asked for more time to accommodate its presidential transition.
-- Reuters
July 6, 2021
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on July 6 that Iran had started the process of producing uranium metal enriched to 20 percent purity at the Fuel Fabrication Plant in Isfahan. Iran claims that it plans to use the enriched uranium metal as fuel for a research reactor. France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States criticized the Iranian move as a threat to ongoing negotiations to return Iran to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The JCPOA prohibits Iran from performing any work related to uranium metal, which can be used in the core of a nuclear weapon. Iran produced a small quantity of unenriched uranium metal earlier this year.
-- Reuters
July 6, 2021
On July 6, Iran accused Israel of orchestrating a failed attempt late last month to sabotage a nuclear facility in the Iranian city of Karaj. Ali Rabiei, a spokesman for Iran's cabinet, said that the attack caused a hole in a building's ceiling and a "not remarkable" level of damage to equipment, contradicting earlier Iranian claims that the alleged sabotage had resulted in no casualties or damage. Rabiei added that Iranian authorities had removed the building's roof for repairs. He alleged that the Israeli operatives were trying to undermine ongoing negotiations in Vienna to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
-- Associated Press
July 5, 2021
Mahmud Jafari, the manager of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) and deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said on July 5 that Iran had brought the BNPP back into operation a day earlier after fixing a fault in it its 1,000-megawatt reactor. Iran had shut down the BNPP, the country's only nuclear power plant, following the unspecified "technical fault" that the AEOI first mentioned publicly on June 20.
-- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
July 3, 2021
The U.S. Treasury Department announced on July 2 that it was lifting sanctions on the Iranian nationals Behzad Ferdows, Mehrzad Ferdows, and Mohammad Reza Dezfulian, whom the Treasury Department had designated in September 2020 under an executive order aimed at proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters. According to the Treasury Department press release outlining the basis for the original designation, Behzad Ferdows and Mehrzad Ferdows held shares in Mammut Industries, a company alllegedly supporting Iran's development of ballistic missiles, and Dezfulian served as managing director of the Mammut Industries subsidiary Mammut Diesel. The Treasury Department denied any connection between the removal of the sanctions and ongoing negotiations over Iran's nuclear program in Vienna.
-- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
July 1, 2021
Iran has limited the ability of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the country's primary uranium-enrichment facility in Natanz, according to Western diplomats. Iran justified the move as necessary to preserve security at Natanz after an alleged Israeli attack on the site in April. The IAEA has not reported the matter to its member states or convened an emergency meeting of its board of governors. Separately, a temporary agreement between Iran and the IAEA to preserve data from the Agency’s monitoring cameras at Iranian nuclear facilities expired last week. The IAEA said that Iran had not responded to inquiries about extending the arrangement.
-- Reuters
June 23, 2021
According to U.S. defense officials, the U.S. Defense Department monitored a failed attempt by Iran to launch a satellite on June 12. The officials said that they had yet to determine why and at what stage the launch failed. Analysts concluded that Iran likely used a two-stage Simorgh space launch vehicle, which employs engines based on North Korean designs. Meanwhile, commercial satellite images taken on June 20 show indications that Iran is making preparations for a second launch. Some analysts believe that Iran can repurpose technology from its space program for use in the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
-- CNN
June 23, 2021
Iran's state media reported on June 23 that authorities foiled a "sabotage attack" against a nuclear facility in Karaj operated by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). The report added that the assault resulted in no casualties or damage and that Iran had yet to identify the perpetrators. Karaj contains two known sites tied to Iran's nuclear program: a location for the storage of radioactive waste and the Karaj Agricultural and Medical Research Center, an AEOI-run complex launched in 1974. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) lists the waste-storage site as a "safeguard facility" and visited it in 2003. The United Nations and the United States imposed sanctions in 2007 on the Karaj Agricultural and Medical Research Center, which the U.N. Security Council linked to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
-- Associated Press
June 21, 2021
Gholamali Rakhshanimehr, an official at the Iranian state-owned electrical company Tavanir, said that Iran had shut down the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) on June 19. It was the first time the plant has been shut down in its operational life. Tavanir announced separately that the BNPP would be undergoing repairs until June 25. According to Rakhshanimehr, the shutdown could result in power outages. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitors the BNPP, said that it was aware of reports about a shutdown. In March, Iranian nuclear official Mahmoud Jafari had warned that the BNPP might stop operating because U.S. economic sanctions were preventing Iran from obtaining key components and equipment from Russia, which supplies the plant's fuel.
-- Associated Press