An Argentine federal judge ordered the seizure of a Venezuelan-owned Boeing 747 at the request of the United States due to the aircraft's suspected links to terrorism. The plane, which the Iranian company Mahan Air had sold to Venezuelan airline Emtrasur, has been grounded in Buenos Aires since June. Both airlines are sanctioned by the United States. Agents from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations reportedly inspected the plane the same day that the order was issued.
News Briefs
August 9, 2022
A Russian rocket placed a Russian-built but Iranian-owned remote-sensing satellite called Khayyam into low-earth orbit. The Iranian Space Agency said the satellite, which has a higher resolution than Iranian-made satellites, will be used for civilian purposes such as environmental monitoring. It also said the satellite will be fully under Iranian control "from day one" and that no other country will have access to the information it gathers, rebutting earlier reporting that Russia may first use it for surveillance in Ukraine.
-- Al Jazeera
August 8, 2022
U.S. and European officials announced that negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal had finished and that there would be no further changes to the text of the proposed agreement. They said that Iran must now make a final decision whether to accept or reject the deal. Iranian officials, however, said they had conveyed an initial response to the draft and would return with additional views later.
-- Wall Street Journal
August 4, 2022
Negotiations aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal resumed in Vienna, although this round of talks appeared not to include high-level delegations from all the countries that were part of the original deal. According to Iranian state media, Iran still demands that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) be removed from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations as a precondition to a deal. Further, Iran wants the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to abandon its investigation into traces of uranium found at previously undeclared sites.
-- Associated Press
August 3, 2022
According to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report, Iran has completed the installation of three cascades of IR-6 centrifuges at its Natanz fuel enrichment plant. Iran also plans to install an additional six cascades of IR-2m centrifuges at a new operating unit in the same location.
-- Reuters
July 27, 2022
The Iranian-flagged oil tanker Lana (formerly Pegas) will retrieve part of its cargo and return home following a ruling of the Greek Supreme Court in Iran's favor. The United States had confiscated the cargo after the tanker was impounded by the Greek authorities more than two months prior. In response, Iranian forces had seized two Greek tankers in the Persian Gulf, which have not yet been released.
-- Reuters
July 26, 2022
In an essay in the Financial Times, Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, wrote that he had put forth a new draft proposal to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. He did not give details about his proposal, but he wrote that "the space for additional significant compromises has been exhausted." Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran's lead negotiator, responded that Iran would share its own ideas about how to restore the agreement.
-- Reuters
July 25, 2022
Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said that Iran would not reactivate 27 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitoring cameras at its nuclear sites until the United States returns to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran had removed the cameras in June in response to a resolution criticizing it at the June IAEA Board of Governors meeting. Eslami also said that Iran would not cooperate with an IAEA probe investigating traces of uranium found at three undeclared sites, stating that the 2015 deal had already addressed all issues related to "possible military dimensions" of Iran's nuclear program.
-- Reuters
July 17, 2022
Kamal Kharrazi, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, said on Al Jazeera TV that "Iran has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one." Kharrazi also noted that Iran could "easily" produce uranium enriched to 90% purity.
-- Reuters
Exclusive: Russians Have Visited Iran At Least Twice in Last Month to Examine Weapons-Capable Drones
July 15, 2022
According to U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, a Russian delegation visited an airfield in Kashan, Iran in June and again in July to examine a showcase of Iranian drones. The delegation was shown Shahed-129 and Shahed-191 models, both of which are capable of carrying precision-guided missiles.
-- CNN