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UPDATE: 8:00 PM CET
Greek Shipper Pleads Guilty To Smuggling Iranian Crude Oil and Will Pay $2.4 Million Fine
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Greek shipping company has pleaded guilty to smuggling sanctioned Iranian crude oil and agreed to pay a $2.4 million fine, newly unsealed U.S. court documents seen Thursday by The Associated Press show.
The now-public case against Empire Navigation, which faces three years of probation under the plea agreement, marks the first public acknowledgment by U.S. prosecutors that America seized some 1 million barrels of oil from the tanker Suez Rajan.
The saga surrounding the ship further escalated tensions between Washington and Iran, even as they work toward a trade of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets in South Korea for the release of five Iranian Americans held in Tehran. The court filings also shed light on the covert world of Iranian crude oil smuggling in the face of Western sanctions since the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal — an operation that has only grown in scale over this year.
Belgium’s Release of Iranian Bomb Plotter Assadollah Assadi After Tehran Regime Took Charity Worker Hostage Will Lead To More Terrorist Attacks in Europe – Struan Stevenson
Last month, the shameful humiliation of European justice was broadcast on the Iranian regime’s state-controlled media. President Ebrahim Raisi, dubbed ‘the Butcher of Tehran’, visited the home of the convicted bomb-carrying diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, and honoured him as a national hero. Assadi was a senior officer of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) who functioned under the guise of a registered diplomat in the Iranian embassy in Austria. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Belgium court for the crime of directing the attempted bombing of an Iranian opposition rally in Paris in June 2018.
U.S. Seized Iranian Oil Over Smuggling Incident That Escalated Tensions in Gulf
The United States government has seized nearly one million barrels of Iranian crude oil that it says was being smuggled to China in violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran, after it raised the threat of prosecution to get the tanker brought to American waters, newly unsealed court papers show. The seizure of the oil from the vessel, the M/T Suez Rajan, is part of a larger and shadowy conflict with Iran. After the tanker began to steam toward the United States last spring, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps seized two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting the U.S. military to increase patrols and deploy additional assets to protect shipping lanes. In July, Iranian state news media said the Guards’ navy commander had warned that Tehran would hold Washington responsible if the tanker’s oil was unloaded, without giving further details. On Wednesday, a high-ranking Israeli defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the seizure raised new fears that Iran could hijack more tankers in an effort to deter the United States from repeating the move.
UPDATE: 7:30 AM CET
The Unyielding Spirit of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran
As we mark the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), it is a moment to reflect on the organization’s remarkable journey. For almost six decades, the PMOI has weathered the storms of relentless onslaught from the Shah and mullahs’ dictatorships. These tyrannical regimes used their vast financial, propaganda, military, political, and diplomatic resources to annihilate the PMOI. But the organization stands today and thrives as the main and most organized Iranian opposition movement, consistently challenging the mullahs’ dictatorship. The question that then arises is: What is the secret to the PMOI’s glorious persistence?
Iran’s State-Run Broadcaster Facing an Eroding Audience
The Iranian regime’s media has acknowledged a concerning development: the global Jam-e Jam network, which catered to Iranians abroad, is teetering on the brink of closure. The state-run newspaper, Etemad, has even stated that this network currently lacks an ‘audience.’
The regime’s confidence has suffered a blow as the manager of Jam-e Jam confirmed a significant decline in the network’s viewership during a press conference last year. Hassan Maleki, who assumed the role of Jam-e Jam’s manager by directive of Morteza Mirbagheri, vice president of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), in the previous year, attributed the waning audience to ‘budget reductions’ during a press briefing. Nonetheless, these remarks led to the amalgamation of the three channels within Jam-e Jam’s global network into one, with the other two being shut down.
August 2023 Report: Dismissal of Professors across 150 Iranian Universities
The summoning and expulsion of students, which started months ago, have now escalated to the dismissal of professors in August. This action, occurring on the eve of the first anniversary of the nationwide uprising in 2022 and the reopening of schools and universities in Iran, reflects the Mullah regime’s fear of another uprising. They seek to suppress the leaders of last year’s uprising, the students, and silence the center of protests, the university. During last year’s nationwide movement, universities played a significant role as protest hubs. Up to now, numerous university students and professors have faced arrests, summonses, bans from entry, suspensions, and terminations. In August, the pace of dismissal of professors picked up, particularly those who supported protesting students or joined nationwide protests.
Vancouver: Freedom-Loving Iranians and MEK Supporters Held an Exhibition, Commemorating Political Prisoners and Iran’s 1988 Massacre Victims
Vancouver, Canada—September 2, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held an exhibition, commemorating political prisoners and Iran’s 1988 massacre victims. This exhibition was held on the occasion of Political Prisoners’ Day in Canada.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – September 6, 2023