UK Minister Says Iran Guards Sanctioned, Europe Keeps Up Diplomacy

Israeli daily Haaretz wrote Tuesday that Israeli officials believe the Biden administration is still aiming to reach a nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic and has the support of the US defense establishment while the recently emerged footage showing President Biden saying the deal was “dead” has gone viral on social media.

In this video, the US President confirmed that the deal was “dead”, but he said he could not announce it officially for “a lot of reasons”.

Biden did not give a direct answer about the “reasons” why Washington refuses to officially announce this. Israeli officials say this might have been a slip of the tongue by Biden.

Israeli officials quoted by Haaretz claim that Washington knows it will be difficult for the Iranian regime to suppress the recent protests without improving the economic situation and therefore concluding the deal may be in their interest.

These officials who have been in touch with their US counterparts have also given the impression that despite the challenging situation, a significant twist in the nuclear deal was coming within in a few months.

However, an Israeli official told Haaretz that “Israel has no practical capacity to attack Iran effectively without the support and cooperation of the US, and anyone who says otherwise is willfully lying.”

Alicia Kearns, chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said Monday that the Iranian regime had shown it would “happily” arrest people as it seeks to blame foreign countries for escalating anti-government protests.

In a statement on Monday, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said that it had arrested seven people with “direct links” to Britain in the central Kerman province including some dual nationals. The IRGC also alleged that the network, which called itself ‘Zagros’, acted under the direct guidance of elements in Britain to organize and carry out “subversive conspiracies” during the ongoing protests.

Iranian state media claim that the seven people who were apprehended were arrested while trying to escape the country.

“If I was a British foreign national in Iran, I would absolutely be leaving, because there is evidence that they will use them in any game of chess they can and they will face brutal repression. I would encourage anyone who is Western to try to leave Iran as safely as they can,” added Kearns.

Iran’s foreign ministry has alleged the arrests of citizens linked to Britain proved that London has played a “destructive role” in recent protests in Iran.

The British foreign ministry said it was seeking further information from Iranian officials on reports that British-Iranian dual nationals had been detained.

Following Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s lead, Iranian officials claim that the ongoing antigovernment protests across Iran – ignited by death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini -- are instigated by foreign enemies.

This source added Monday that the names and bank account numbers that have secretly interacted with Iran have not yet been revealed, but the Biden administration has found out that a large amount of US dollars has been transferred from Iraq to some countries, including Iran.

This comes as the rate of US dollar against Iraqi dinar in the markets has risen leading to dissatisfaction of the people and politicians.

Based on the information received by Iran International from Iraqi officials, the government of Iran should buy goods from Iraq using Iraqi dinar in exchange for its gas and electricity exports to its neighbor, at the same time, any trade and commercial interaction with Iran in US dollars is forbidden.

A few weeks ago, Uruk News, a media outlet close to the Iraqi Sadr movement, revealed that “during the visit of the new Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, four billion dollars were given to Iran under an ambiguous contract.”

As Iran International sources have explained, apparently both the Iraqi government and US sources in Iraq do not want this issue to be made public as it will cause complications, and they have put pressure on the Iraqi media not to publish it.

Multiple pundits and politicians are questioning a one-sided foreign policy in favor of China and Russia and calling for balance and a resumption of the suspended nuclear talks with the West. They have also unleashed tough criticism against foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, saying that he is not capable of steering the country’s foreign relations.

The attacks began after he attended a regional summit in Jordan, where he met the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, expressing Tehran’s readiness to resume nuclear talks. No tangible results emerged from the trip.

Expediency Council member Mohammad Sadr, has harshly criticized Iran's dependency on Russia and China in an interview with the centrist Entekhab News, charging that the two countries are not Iran's strategic allies, but they solely follow their own interests. He further criticized the foreign minister and the President Ebrahim Raisi for failing to give a proper response to China putting its signature on a statement with the Gulf Cooperation Council states that questioned Iran's ownership of three Persian Gulf islands.

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In the reality of the Islamic Republic, everyone knows that these decisions are made in the office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, not at the foreign ministry or by the president.

Earlier last week, others including academic and foreign relations expert Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh also attacked Iran's ideological foreign policy and the performance of the Foreign Ministry, while former diplomat Ahmad Azizi called on Khamenei's office to take over the responsibilities of the Foreign Ministry.

Sadr also criticized Iran's policy regarding relations with Saudi Arabia, adding that Riyadh is waiting for US Republicans to win the presidency, before revealing its real intentions toward Iran. Sadr called for a realistic foreign policy that would prioritize the country's national interests. Iran, he said, should maintain relations with all countries except Israel, and seek to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, or JCPOA.

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An expert on international relations Mehdi Motaharnia told Fararu website in Tehran that if Iran continues its current foreign policy of aligning with China and Russia and considering itself an enemy of the United States and Europe, it will have no third option soon vis-à-vis the EU-US-Israeli alliance and the new alliance between Arab countries and Israel. He warned that China and Russia have also let Tehran down.

Fararu observed that the biggest political upheaval of the country in the past 43 years has paralyzed the government and asked Motaharnia if there was a third way out for Iran.

Motaharnia responded that Iran's tilt towards the Russia and China has left nothing of its initial non-alignment policy. As a result, whatever is against the West finds legitimacy. This inevitably brings about an identity crisis for the political system.

He added that Tehran not only needs to redefine its relations with the West, but it also needs to reform its internal governance. Motaharnia said that this will determine international community's approach to Iran in coming months.

Meanwhile, as some of Iran's hardliners such as the editor of Kayhan newspaper have harshly attacked Amir Abdollahian's attempts to resume talks with the West, former diplomat Fereidouin Majles has said in an interview with moderate Roiuyda24 website that the approach of some of Raisi's supporters will lead to Iran's further isolation. Majlesi said ironically that while everybody wants to determine the fate of the JCPOA in his own way, let us shut down the Foreign Ministry and let the Tehran Municipality to regulate Iran's relations with the rest of the world. Majlesi charged that the Foreign Ministry's critics have no concern about Iran's interests.

In an interview released on Saturday, Canada’s envoy to the United Nations Bob Rae told Iran International’s correspondent that organizations focused on accountability have started to gather and verify information about the current wave of antigovernment protests. 

He praised efforts by the United Nations “to get to the root of the injustices that are happening to make sure that the investigations are in place; that we are gathering the information and the evidence that will lead to accountability.” 

The Canadian diplomat underlined that there should be consequences for the criminal acts, “and many things that are happening in Iran are criminal,” he said, noting that there are “abuses of human rights and abuses of international law.”

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He urged the people of Iran to be patient to see the results of mechanisms deployed to hold the regime accountable, saying there is no tribunal yet because the Islamic Republic is not a party to the International Criminal Court. However, he said that “there will be a reckoning; there will be an accountability process for the regime in Iran.” 

"We're not going to invade Iran, but we won't ignore what's happening either. The regime isn't stable or predictable because the ground underneath the feet of the regime is shifting all the time... Dictators think they can control everything, but they can't," he stated, adding that “Canada has always been a place of refuge.”

Earlier in the month, the Islamic Republic was voted out of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for policies contrary to the rights of women and girls. Members of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted a US-drafted resolution to "remove with immediate effect the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Commission…for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term.” The CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. 

It was the second step against the Islamic Republic’s violations of human rights during the current wave of protests. The first step by the United Nations was creating a fact-finding mission by the Human Rights Council. The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council voted on November 24 to launch an independent investigation into the regime’s deadly repression of protests that has killed around 500 civilians, including about 60 children.

The Islamic Republic might become more isolated in the Middle East, as policies of intervening in other countries affairs was condemned at the “Baghdad II” summit, held December 20 in Jordan aimed at resolving regional crises, particularly in Iraq. France and the European Union play a major role in the annual gathering. The first summit was held in Baghdad last year.

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Etemad newspaper in Tehran cited Macron as talking about a regional project, supported by France, to limit Iran’s influence in the region. The daily quoted Macron as saying that he is convinced there is no solution to the problems of Lebanon, Iraq and Syria except through reducing Tehran's regional influence.

During the summit, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said, "We reject interference in its (Iraq) internal affairs, undermining its sovereignty, or attacking its lands.” At the same time, he added, "We do not accept any threat to be launched from Iraq against any of the neighboring countries or the region."

Since the beginning of the uprising in Iran in mid-September, Tehran has accused foreign countries, including regional rival Saudi Arabia – with which it has had no diplomatic relations since 2016 – of fomenting unrest as protests rage on.