German's Bundesbank has kept a multi-billion-euro deposit facility open for Iranian banks, including two that were sanctioned by the United States in October, in an effort to push back against broad U.S. financial sanctions against Iran imposed that month. In a joint letter dated October 26, diplomats from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom argued that the new sanctions could have an adverse effect on humanitarian aid to Iran by making it "prohibitively expensive" for Iranians to purchase food and medicine. At the beginning of 2020, the Bundesbank held 3.8 billion euros in deposits for five Iranian banks, including Bank Melli.
News Briefs
November 30, 2020
Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, accused Israel's intelligence agency of orchestrating the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Fakhrizadeh died of gunshot wounds sustained during an ambush while his car was driving on a highway north of Tehran. Shamkhani also linked the attack to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a Paris-based coalition of Iranian dissidents. According to Shamkhani, Mossad and the NCRI conducted the operation "remotely" by relying on unspecified "electronic devices." Iranian news agencies have reported that the assassination was carried out using a remote-control machine gun as well as by weapons "controlled by satellite."
-- Reuters
November 19, 2020
The Israeli military claims Unit 840 of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) is responsible for planting explosives on the border between Israel and Syria. In response, Israel this week struck targets around Damascus connected to the IRGC and to divisions of the Syrian military that cooperate with Iranian forces. Israeli officials also blame Unit 840 for an earlier attempt by four armed men to plant explosives in an unmanned outpost on the Syrian border.
-- The Times of Israel
November 18, 2020
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports that Iran has begun feeding uranium gas into a cascade of 174 advanced IR-2m centrifuges installed in an underground plant at the Natanz site. The action violates an international agreement on Iran's nuclear program reached in 2015, which limits Iran to using only IR-1 centrifuges in the underground plant.
-- Reuters
November 12, 2020
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran had stockpiled 2,442.9 kilograms of enriched uranium, 12 times the limit set by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The IAEA further observed that Iran was continuing to enrich uranium to 4.5 percent, a breach of the 3.67 percent limit set by the JCPOA. The Agency is still analyzing environmental samples taken from two former nuclear sites and deems "not credible" Iran's explanation for the presence of nuclear material found at a previously undeclared site.
-- British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
November 11, 2020
Iran has transported a first cascade of advanced IR-2m centrifuges from an above-ground facility at Natanz to an underground plant at the site, according to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The transfer violates the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which limits Iran to operating only first-generation IR-1 centrifuges in the underground portion of Natanz. The cascade is installed and connected but has not been fed with uranium hexafluoride gas. Iran has also begun installing a cascade of IR-4 centrifuges, and plans to install a cascade of IR-6 centrifuges in the underground plant.
-- Reuters
November 7, 2020
During a visit to Venezuela, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif asserted that military cooperation with Venezuela would continue despite U.S. economic sanctions.
-- Middle East Monitor
November 5, 2020
In a YouTube video, Iran showcased an underground military base stocked with Emad missiles. The base features a rail system that appears to enable Iran to move multiple missiles through tunnels to positions beneath silo doors, which would allow the missiles to be fired rapidly from a protected position.
-- Popular Mechanics
November 5, 2020
Iran's Parliament approved a bill requiring the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to produce at least 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium annually at the Fordow nuclear facility. Production must begin within two months and the material must be stored in Iran. The bill also requires the AEOI to increase monthly production of enriched uranium to 500 kilograms; install and begin enrichment in at least 1,000 IR-2m centrifuges at the underground facility at Natanz; move enrichment research and development operations on the IR-6 centrifuges to Fordow; use 1000 IR-6 machines for enrichment at Fordow by March 2021; and return the Arak heavy water reactor to its "pre-JCPOA condition" within four months. Within two months, the AEOI must suspend access to nuclear sites beyond what is required by the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Additional Protocol and stop voluntary implementation of the Protocol if Europe fails to restore banking relations with Iran that allow for the sale of oil.
-- Nuclear Engineering International
October 29, 2020
The U.S. Justice Department announced two forfeiture complaints against Iran, related to the seizure of Iranian weapons intercepted on their way to Yemen and of Iranian petroleum seized en route to Venezuela. The U.S. Navy captured the Iranian weapons, including 171 guided anti-tank missiles, eight surface-to-air missiles, and other missile components, from flagless ships bound for Yemen in November 2019 and February 2020. According to the Justice Department, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) organized both the scheme to send oil to Venezuela and arms to Yemen. The United States will send the funds forfeited from the fuel sale to the United States Victims of State-Sponsored Terrorism Fund.
-- Voice of America