Unidentified warplanes launched airstrikes against Iranian positions near the Syrian city of Albukamal, which borders Iraq, according to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The area hosts the Imam Ali military base, where pro-Iranian militias operate. The militias maintain other outposts that extend to the nearby city of Deir Ezzor, including the T-2, T-3, and T-4 bases. Airstrikes have hit these locations every month for over a year. The most recent airstrikes targeted Imam Ali, the area of al-Sekka, and the desert around Deir Ezzor, resulting in the deaths of fifteen militiamen and the destruction of weapons.
News Briefs
July 30, 2020
The United States expanded the scope of sanctions on Iran's metals sector to include those who knowingly transfer materials on a 22-item list to Iran, including aluminum powder with a purity above 98 percent. These materials may be used in Iran's military, nuclear, or ballistic missile programs, according to the U.S. State Department. The United States may also sanction those who knowingly transfer certain materials to Iran's construction sector because it is controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). These materials include graphite and raw and semi-finished metals.
-- Reuters
July 28, 2020
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force and Navy began the "Great Prophet 14" military exercise in the province of Hormozgan. The drill involves drone, missile, and radar units from the IRGC Aerospace Force and units specializing in drones, missiles, and ships from the IRGC Navy. The Noor 1 military satellite, which the IRGC put into orbit in April using a three-stage Qased launch vehicle, will monitor the exercise.
-- Mehr News Agency
July 27, 2020
The Swiss Humanitarian Trade Agreement (SHTA) completed its first transaction on behalf of a Swiss pharmaceutical company, sending a cancer drug to Iran. The company and value of the shipment was not disclosed by the Swiss government. The channel is intended to send humanitarian aid such as food and medicine to Iran without violating U.S. economic sanctions.
-- Reuters
July 24, 2020
A U.S. F-15 fighter jet came within 1,000 meters of an Iranian airliner over Syria, forcing the Iranian airplane to descend abruptly and injuring several of its passengers. The U.S. Defense Department said that it was conducting a visual inspection of the Mahan Air plane "in accordance with international standards" to ensure the safety of personnel at a U.S. airbase in al-Tanf. Iran described the encounter as "harassment" and claimed that the jet came within 100 meters of the passenger plane.
-- The Wall Street Journal
July 23, 2020
Javad Karimi-Ghodousi, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, asserted that a "security breach" led to an explosion at the Natanz nuclear complex. Karimi-Ghodousi also dismissed theories that "an object from outside" struck Natanz. At the same time, Iran's Foreign Ministry said that foreign governments might have conducted cyberattacks against Iranian facilities.
-- Asharq al-Awsat
July 21, 2020
An Israeli missile strike on weapons depots and military positions in Syria killed five Iran-backed militia fighters. The strike hit targets around Kiswah, a town south of Damascus associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). There were also Israeli strikes on targets in the towns of Jabal al-Mane, Muqaylabiya, and Zakiya, which allegedly killed Iranian military personnel.
-- The Times of Israel
July 21, 2020
Abolfazl Amouei, spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission in the Iranian Parliament, claimed that 1,044 first-generation centrifuges, divided into six cascades, were enriching uranium to 4.5 percent at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant. Amouei's comments followed a visit by Iranian parliamentarians to the Shahid Ahmadi Roshan (Natanz) and Shahid Ali Mohammadi (Fordow) nuclear sites. Regarding Natanz, Amouei stated that parliamentarians "observed first-, second-, and fourth-generation centrifuges in the nuclear site that were put in the enrichment chain."
-- Mehr News Agency
July 21, 2020
Karim Hemmati, chairman of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (ICRS), announced that the U.S. Treasury Department has approved a new financial channel for the transfer of humanitarian aid to Iran. The channel allows the ICRS to receive funds that U.S. economic sanctions had previously blocked. This marks the first time since the United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 that Iran can receive aid in the form of foreign exchange funds. Under the arrangement, according to Hemmati, the U.S. Treasury would not object to such donations by individuals or legal entities as long as the donors are not U.S. citizens. Charitable donations to Iran still require a special license from the Treasury Department.
-- Radio Farda
July 19, 2020
The United Nation's International Labor Organization (ILO) confirmed that hijackers had captured an oil tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and sailed it to Iran. The MT Gulf Sky is suspected of smuggling petroleum on behalf of Iran. In May, the U.S. Justice Department filed criminal charges against two Iranians alleged to have laundered $12 million in a bid to purchase the oil tanker through a series of front companies. The vessel was then operating as the MT Nautica; both Iranians remain at large. The scheme also involved the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), and the Quds Force, a military branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). An American bank froze assets involved in the planned transaction, leading the vessel's seller to file a lawsuit in the UAE to repossess it from the buyers. Emirati authorities had seized the oil tanker before the hijacking, in response to the legal action.
-- Associated Press