Man Filmed Iran International's Headquarters, London Prosecutors Say

The European Council – the EU’s governing body - has implemented the new set of stringent measures against six individuals and five outfits engaged in Iran's development and production of the drone.

This represents the first application of measures within a newly established framework aimed at restricting Iran's military support for Russia's unjust war of aggression against Ukraine. The measures align with earlier sanctions against Iranian drone-related activities.

The new measures target Iranian company Shakad Sanat Asmari, its CEO, deputy CEO, and chief scientist. Also engaged in the production of UAV components are Baharestan Kish Company and its managing director, Saad Sazeh Faraz Sharif and its CEO, while Sarmad Electronic Sepahan Company provides aerospace engineering services. Kimia Part Sivan Company assists Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) in advancing the UAV program. All have now been subjected to the measures.

The sanctions encompass asset freezes and travel bans within the European Union. Any supply of funds or economic resources, whether directly or indirectly benefiting those listed, is strictly forbidden.

The Council has strongly criticized and declared as unacceptable any type of military assistance from Iran, encompassing the transfer of UAVs to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. The arms provided by Iran have been employed indiscriminately by Russia, leading to extensive destruction and human suffering among Ukraine's civilian population and infrastructure.

In a statement on X, Hussein al-Ezzi, deputy foreign minister of the Iran-backed Houthis, said that their navy forced the vessel "sailing towards occupied Palestine" to change its course and return.

The claim has not been confirmed and the account is unverified.

The Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, have escalated their activities amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

The group has targeted Israel with missiles and drones and carried out attacks on ships in the Red Sea, including the seizure of an Israeli-owned vessel in November.

On Sunday, the Houthi information minister threatened to target all US and Israel shipping in the region.

Jon Finer, Deputy US National Security Adviser, recently said the Biden administration has not excluded military action against the Houthis as an option. However, the priority for now is establishing a maritime coalition to safeguard the Red Sea, a critical route accounting for 12% of global trade and a significant portion of energy supplies from the Middle East to Europe.

The Houthi rebels, aligned with other Iran-backed militant groups, have been effectively at war with Saudi Arabia since 2015. They have voiced support for Palestinians, especially following the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7. While Iran supports Hamas, it denies any involvement in the recent Red Sea vessel attacks. Tehran also supports Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group with strong connections to both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian faction in Gaza also backed by Iran.

Iran's present strategy includes the use of proxy forces to target Israel, Israeli assets, and US military installations in the region.

The Central Bank of Iran issued a statement Monday rejecting reports that the bank bought foreign currency at a higher rate and sold it to a cabal of insider businesspeople. The government’s foreign currency policy has been one of the chronic problems in Iran’s economy. The central bank allocates discounted foreign currencies supposedly for essential goods, but they end up at the hands of regime insiders who mainly sell them in the black market for profit.

The parliament's research center released an analytical report on the recently submitted budget bill of President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration, inadvertently revealing that in the first seven months of the Iranian year (started March 21), the government has spent $4.5 billion more than the foreign currencies obtained from oil revenues, but giving out cheap dollars for the import of five essential goods.

The current exchange rate for the US dollar against Iran’s national currency rial is about 500,000 rials. According to the report, the government has taken $4.5 billion with the rate of Iran’s National Currency and Gold Exchange Center – at about 400,000 rials per dollar -- and given to its cherrypicked businessmen at the rate of 285,000 rials per dollar.

According to calculations by Iran’s leading economic daily Donya-e Eqtesad, the difference between these two rates amounts to about 600 trillion rials (about $1.2 billion at current rate at free market) that has been added to the country’s monetary base, further feeding soaring inflation. Essentially the government printed money to buy the dollars at a higher rate and sell it cheaper to importers. The daily predicted that the current trend will lead to an annual rise of about one quadrillion rials ($2 billion), whose inflation will affect the entire society. 

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“It seems that the insistence of policymakers on promoting welfare policies through currency policies is still in force, with no significant changes in sight. This is happening while currency fluctuations and corruption in the currency allocation process are among the most recognized consequences of welfare-driven currency policies,” Donya-e Eqtesad said. “These policies not only fail to achieve welfare goals but as seen in the tea industry's foreign currency corruption case, they lead to a multitude of damages to society.”

In fact, 'welfare' is just a buzz word, justifying the provision of cheap dollars to people with influence in the political system. Prices for essential goods such as foodstuff continue to rise despite the discounted dollars provided to importers. The justification for cheaper dollars is to keep prices low and prevent higher inflation, but that has not worked as food price inflation stands at around 70 percent.

Iranians are still in shock about recent revelations about a huge corruption case involving nearly $3.5 billion and key Islamic Republic figures. Whenever such cases are revealed, the authorities usually cope out of responsibility by blaming former administrations or officials from the opposing political camp. However, the $3.5 billion embezzlement case of Debsh Tea Company involves officials from both the current and the previous presidential administrations -- including ministers of agriculture, industry as well as the governors of the Central Bank of Iran and the chiefs of Iranian Customs Administration. It has also led to discord between the judiciary and the presidential administration as well as the parliament.

The head of the Organization for Planning and Budget, Davoud Manzour, was speaking as a deepening cost-of-living crisis had left workers hoping for a pay rise of at least 30%.

But Manzour said: “Despite the anticipated rise in salary expenses, actual income fails to materialize, leading to a deepening imbalance in the government's budget.”

Dashing hopes for a giveaway, he warned that dependence on the Central Bank and banks “triggers excessive withdrawals, an expansion of the monetary base, and an exacerbation of inflation”.

In the wake of the economic concerns, with inflation above 46%, Iran's government has put forth a proposal for a pay rise of just 20% for civil servants in the upcoming calendar year.

Iran has been rocked by waves of anti-regime protests and workers' strikes since 2017, fueled by discontent among young people, primarily attributed to the ongoing economic crisis.

Local media reports underscore the severity of the situation, noting that prices for some food items have doubled in 2023 compared to the previous year. Statistical data from the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) reveals alarming increases, with the prices of mutton and beef soaring by 151% and 132%, respectively, in the current year.

The persistently high inflation has taken a severe toll on the poor and the middle class. Their struggle to afford basic necessities, particularly in terms of food and housing, has intensified as salary and wage increases have failed to keep pace with inflation.

Johan Floderus, 33, is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison ahead of a trial on charges of spying for Israel and "corruption on earth," a crime punishable by death.

Speaking on Monday, Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson said the charges against Floderus are “completely without factual basis”.

He told a press conference in Stockholm: “We demand his immediate release.

We have very intensive work we are showing Iran on this issue. But I will not be going into anything of the contents of that work.”

Floderus was arrested while on holiday in Iran last year. His family insists that the detention lacks justifiable cause or due process.

The situation has sparked concerns among human rights organizations and Western governments, who allege that Iran is leveraging arrests on security charges for political motives. Despite the accusations, Tehran claims that such detentions adhere to its criminal code and are devoid of political motivations.

Diplomatic tensions between Sweden and Iran have risen since 2019, stemming from Sweden's arrest and subsequent life sentence of former Iranian official Hamid Nouri. He was convicted of participating in mass executions and torture of political prisoners in the 1980s. In response, Iran protested by recalling its envoy to Sweden.

In May, Iran carried out the execution of a Swedish-Iranian dissident accused of leading an Arab separatist group. The dissident was alleged to be implicated in attacks including one on a 2018 military parade that claimed 25 lives.