Ali Rabiei, a spokesman for Iran's government, announced on June 15 that Iran had produced about 6.5 kilograms of uranium enriched to 6.5 percent fissile purity since April and 108 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 percent purity over the previous five months. Uranium becomes fit for use in nuclear weapons at 90 percent purity.
News Briefs
June 11, 2021
On June 11, Iran paid $16.2 million in late dues to the United Nations, thereby regaining its U.N. voting rights. The United Nations had suspended Iran's voting ability after Iran's earlier failure to pay its dues. Iran obtained the money from a bank account in South Korea that had previously been frozen due to U.S. financial sanctions. The U.S. Department of the Treasury ultimately allowed Iran to withdraw the funds, a potential signal to Iran as nuclear negotiations continue.
-- The New York Times
June 10, 2021
Unnamed current and former Middle Eastern and U.S. officials allege that Russia is taking steps to sell the Kanopus-V spy satellite to Iran. The officials said that the Kanopus-V could be launched from Russia within months and that its high-resolution camera would enable Iran to continuously surveil sites such as military sites in Israel, oil refineries in the Persian Gulf, and bases used by U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The officials added that leaders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) traveled to Russia several times since 2018 to negotiate Iran's acquisition of the spy satellite and that Russian specialists made a trip to Iran to train Iranian ground crews to operate the satellite from a new facility in Karaj. According to a Middle Eastern official, Iran can use the Kanopus-V to maintain "an accurate target bank" for potential missile and drone strikes. Last year, Iran launched its own, allegedly less-capable Noor-1 military satellite following earlier failures.
-- The Washington Post
June 10, 2021
On June 10, the U.S. Department of the Treasury lifted sanctions on three former officials of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and several Iranian energy companies. The United States called the move routine and denied any connection to ongoing negotiations over Iran's nuclear program in Vienna, saying that the Treasury removed sanctions on the former officials because they no longer worked at blacklisted entities. Nonetheless, analysts view the action as a signal that the United States is capable of following through with the administrative process of removing sanctions. The Treasury first designated the former officials in 2013 for evading sanctions and designated the energy companies last year for their involvement in Iran's petrochemical industry, which the United States has targeted with sanctions.
-- The Wall Street Journal
June 4, 2021
Unnamed U.S. officials allege that Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have used dive-bombing drones to launch at least three attacks against Iraqi military bases used by the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Special Operations Forces in the last two months. The episodes included an April 14 strike on a covert CIA hangar at an airport in Erbil, a May 8 attack on the Ayn al-Asad air base in Anbar Province, and a May 11 strike on an airfield in Harir used by U.S. special forces. Analysis of the drones' debris indicated that they could carry 10-60 pounds of explosives and that they used technology similar to that provided by Iran to Houthi rebels in Yemen. The attacks went unclaimed and caused no injuries; according to Iraqi and U.S. officials, Iran engineered the operations to minimize casualties. The drones flew low enough to evade U.S. defenses designed to counter artillery, mortars, and rockets. U.S. analysts have speculated that the militias were targeting U.S. facilities housing surveillance aircraft and U.S. MQ-9 Reaper combat drones.
-- The New York Times
June 2, 2021
Iran's largest naval vessel sank near the Iranian port of Jask in the Gulf of Oman on June 2 after a fire broke out on board. The Kharg, a 207-meter vessel that was built in the United Kingdom in 1977, served to resupply other Iranian warships and participated in military exercises. It also had the capacity to launch helicopters, lift heavy cargo, and sail as far as the Mediterranean Sea. Iranian officials announced an investigation into the fire but did not give a cause. According to Iran's state-owned media, 400 sailors evacuated the Kharg, with 33 sustaining injuries. Also on June 2, an oil refinery near Tehran operated by Tondgooyan Petrochemical Co. caught fire; the cause of that fire also remains unclear. The episodes followed incidents in April 2021, when the MV Saviz, an Iranian ship reportedly used as a base by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Red Sea, became the target of a suspected Israeli attack, and in 2019, when an Iranian naval support ship was struck by friendly fire in a training accident.
-- Associated Press
May 31, 2021
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on May 31 that Iran had failed to explain traces of uranium discovered by the IAEA months earlier at three undeclared nuclear sites in the country. In a separate report, the IAEA said that Iran's stock of enriched uranium had reached 3,241 kilograms, an increase of 273 kilograms from the previous quarter. The IAEA estimated that Iran had produced 2.4 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent fissile purity and 62.8 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 percent purity. The second report also noted that Iran was using 20 cascades of centrifuges to enrich uranium at its Natanz nuclear facility as of May 24; according to an unnamed senior diplomat, Iran had been using between 35 and 37 cascades for that purpose before an explosion at Natanz in April that Iran blamed on Israel. The IAEA added that Iran had produced 2.4 kilograms of uranium metal, a material with uses in nuclear weapons. Iran had produced only 3.6 grams of uranium metal when the IAEA last reported it three months earlier.
-- Reuters
May 24, 2021
May 24: After discussions between Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), and Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran agreed to a one-month extension of a deal allowing the IAEA to maintain surveillance cameras at Iranian nuclear facilities. However, the AEOI has continued to deny the IAEA access to the cameras' recordings until the United States lifts economic sanctions on the country. The AEOI and the IAEA struck the initial three-month deal in February, after Iran's parliament passed a law curtailing Iranian compliance with the IAEA's Additional Protocol, an agreement that enhances the IAEA's ability to inspect Iranian nuclear sites. Iran had threatened to delete the recordings from the cameras after the end of that three-month window. Grossi described the arrangement as "not ideal" and likened it to "an emergency device."
-- Associated Press
May 19, 2021
Bahrain's public prosecution office referred the Central Bank of Iran, Bank Melli Iran, Bank Saderat Iran, and other Iranian banks for criminal trial after accusing them of laundering $1.3 billion through Future Bank, a Manama-based financial institution that Bahrain shuttered in 2016. According to Bahraini authorities' investigation of Future Bank's activities between 2008 and 2012, the Central Bank of Iran instructed Future Bank on how to exploit an illicit alternative transfer system to hide the origin and movement of money, so as to circumvent sanctions on Iranian entities. Additional investigations into similar violations involving Future Bank and the Iranian banks are ongoing and are expected to identify more suspect entities, according to Bahraini authorities.
-- Asharq Al-Awsat
May 15, 2021
Unnamed Western intelligence officials assert that Iran helped the Palestinian militant group Hamas develop weapons used to strike Israel. The officials believe that Hamas commanders routinely traveled to Iran to receive training in the production and operation of weapons and to tour the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC's) own rocket-production facilities. According to the intelligence officials, Iran has also provided Hamas with technical advice for building weapon-production facilities in the Gaza Strip. One official said that Iranian support, which increased after Hamas' 2014 war with Israel, has led to "significant improvements in terms of range, precision, and the extent of destruction" of Hamas' weapons. Israeli defense officials have also concluded that Hamas' medium-range M-75 and J-80 rockets, while manufactured in Gaza, are based on Iranian designs.
-- The Daily Telegraph