• Slack Is Banning Some Users With Links To Iran Even If They’ve Left The Country
This morning, many Slack users with ties to Iran discovered their accounts had been abruptly deactivated. The bans affected users living as far as Finland, Canada and the United States, many with few remaining ties to Iran in either citizenship or physical presence. “In order to comply with export control and economic sanctions laws…Slack prohibits unauthorized use of its products and services in certain sanctioned countries,” the notice from Slack read.
Source: The Verge
• The EU’s Misguided Policy On Iran
Many EU policymakers are deeply resentful of President Trump’s decision to leave the Iran nuclear deal. This resentment has fueled several shortsighted proposals that will only harm EU businesses and institutions. This approach to Iran, championed by High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Frederica Mogherini, is increasingly discordant with the direction taken by national governments in Europe. Foreign ministers in the Council have said that they will examine imposing sanctions on the Iranian regime, while the Danish government has called for stronger action. Furthermore, the implementation of these misguided schemes has been stifled by unenthusiastic European business leaders, whose consent and cooperation are necessary to put most of the plans into motion.
Source: UANI President David Ibsen For Asharq Al-Awsat
• Iran’s Persian Rug-Makers Suffer As US Unravels Nuclear Deal
As the Trump administration works to unravel Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with word powers, the producers of the country’s famed Persian carpets fear they will lose vital markets. Before the U.S. withdrew from the deal and began restoring crippling sanctions earlier this year, the $425 million a year industry preserved an ancient tradition while providing much-needed income to Iranians as well as Afghan refugees, who create much of the more luxurious hand-woven pieces. Iran produces some 400 tons of carpets a year and exports 80 percent of them.
Source: Associated Press
• Iraq Receives 90-Day Extension To Iran Sanctions Waiver
The U.S. has granted Iraq a 90-day Iran sanctions waiver to allow it to continue to import electricity from Tehran. Iraq’s power sector is in disrepair and does not generate enough electricity to meet domestic demand. U.S. sanctions that went into effect in November have threatened to cut the country off from its chief supplier, Iran. The U.S. initially granted Iraq a 45-day waiver to allow it carry on buying electricity and gas from its neighbor while arranging for new suppliers.
Source: Associated Press
• Iran Is Facing A Lot More Than Just Sanctions | Oil Price
Despite being home to massive oil and gas reserves, Iran’s energy sector has been far from steady over the past few decades. Iranian energy has had more than its fair share of ups and downs thanks to extended periods of political turmoil following the major upset of the Iranian Revolution of 1978 and 1979, but even since the premiership of Mohammad Mossadegh in the 1950s patterns of volatility can be seen in the nation’s energy history.
Source: Associated Press
• Was Iran Behind Lockerbie Bombing? Terrorist’s Daughter Insists Tehran Ordered Destruction Of Pan Am Flight 103 Not Gaddafi’s Libya
Palestinian terrorists in the pay of the Iranian regime committed the Lockerbie atrocity, it has been claimed. The daughter of a former terrorist has said her father admitted to relatives that his cell leader, Ahmed Jibril, led the 1988 plot to down Pam Am 103, which was blown up 30 years ago today by an explosive stored in a suitcase in the hold. Her claim adds credence to the long-held theory that Tehran ordered the attack on the New York-bound flight, transporting mainly American civilians, as payback after a missile from a US Navy cruiser shot down Iran Air flight 655 five months earlier, killing 290 civilians.
Source: Daily Mail
• Here’s How Protests And Strikes Are Leading Change In Iran
What do farmers in Esfahan, unemployed youth in Rafsanjan, teachers and students in Hamadan, and fraud victims in Kerman all have in common? On the face of it, not much other than being Iranian. But there is another commonality: They all staged protests on the same day, December 12. Reporting on Iran tends to focus on the country’s nuclear program or squabbling of its leaders, while the diverse array of protests that regularly erupt across the country go underreported.
Source: Atlantic Council
• Iran Blames US, Israel After Albania Expels Diplomats
Iran is blaming the United States and Israel for Albania’s expulsion of two Iranian diplomats accused of engaging in criminal activities that threatened the small European country’s security. The official IRNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as saying “Albania has become an unintentional victim of the United States, Israel and some terrorists groups.”
Source: Associated Press
• Trump Thanks Albania For Iran Envoy Expulsion
U.S. President Donald Trump has thanked Albania for expelling the Iranian ambassador and another diplomat for allegedly engaging in illegal activities that threaten Albania’s security. Trump’s letter to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, dated Dec. 14, thanked him “for your steadfast efforts to stand up to Iran and to counter its destabilizing activities and efforts to silence dissidents around the globe.” The U.S. Embassy in Tirana published the letter on its Facebook page Thursday.
Source: Associated Press
• A Sinior Mullah Says Many Iran Parliamentarians Are Ignorant
The 91-year-old chairman of Iran’s conservative watchdog says some members of parliament are not sufficiently literate and have not read the constitution “even once”. Ahmad Jannati who has long served as the head of Iran’s Guardian Council (GC) accused some members of parliament of ignorance about “the most basic issues”, at a gathering on December 19. He proposed that elected person receive training before assuming their office.
Source: Radio Farda
• Iran’s School In London Told To Shape Up
A private school in London founded by the Iranian government has been given a formal warning by the Department for Education after Ofsted found several failings, including in its policies for spotting radicalisation. The School of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in Maida Vale, received an “inadequate” Ofsted rating in September. This year the government has sent 126 warning notices to private schools after critical reports from inspectors.
Soucrce: | The Times