TOP STORIES
Iran Seeks To Expand Russia Ties Following Putin Election Victory – Analysis | The Jerusalem Post
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week and called for closer ties between Tehran and Moscow. The countries already have warm ties, and Iran has supplied Russia with drones that it has used in deadly attacks in Ukraine. Their phone call took place after Putin was reelected in an election that was never in doubt. Raisi praised Putin for his reelection and expressed “hope that [Putin’s] new term would provide a suitable ground for the promotion of relations between Tehran and Moscow,” Iran’s Fars News Agency reported. Raisi highlighted “the significance of joint bids in regional organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS, as well as ongoing projects such as the Rasht-Astara railway connecting two Iranian and Russian cities to enhance economic ties,” the report said.
Bid At UN To Keep Pressure On Iran Over Crackdown On Mahsa Amini Protests | The National
Five countries including the UK and Germany are pushing to keep up pressure on Iran’s regime by renewing a UN fact-finding mission that accused it of violently repressing protests. A draft resolution would express “deep regret” at Iran’s failure to co-operate with human rights inspectors after a woman’s death in police custody triggered mass unrest. UN investigators were denied access to Iran but, based on interviews and public sources, said the crackdown on protests by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and others amounted to “serious human rights violations”.
US Sanctions Three Iran Weapons-Procurement Networks | Iran International
The United States on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on three procurement networks that are supporting Iran’s ballistic missile, nuclear and defense programs, the Treasury Department said in a statement. It said the networks — based in Iran, Turkey, Oman and Germany – had procured carbon fiber, epoxy resins and other missile-applicable goods. “Through complex covert procurement networks, Iran seeks to supply rogue actors around the world with weapons systems that fuel conflict and risk countless civilian lives,” said Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. “The United States will continue to use our tools to disrupt these networks and hold accountable those countries that would help proliferate Iran’s drones and missiles.”
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran Must Brace For 67% Inflation In Coming Year | Iran International
Hassan Sadeghi, the head of the Union of Veteran Workers, has predicted a 67% inflation rate in the coming year (beginning March 20) as the economy spirals downward. He warned of the likelihood of intensified protests as a result of the economic crisis unless salaries are increased and policies more suited to Iran are implemented. "In the past year, the prices of consumer goods in Iran have skyrocketed several times, but wages have remained stagnant,” he pointed out as more and more Iranians fall below the poverty line.
An influential cleric and the representative of the country's supreme leader in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi has called those who didn't vote in recent elections "inconsequential," even though they comprised almost 60 percent of the electorate as turnout hit a record low. Ahmad Alamolhoda, who serves as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative in the city of Mashhad, a significant Shi'ite center, was quoted by the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), as criticizing the 59 percent of voters who did not cast ballots in the elections for not adhering to the "orders and command" of Khamenei. Senior leaders pleaded with Iranians to show up en masse at the polls as Iran's theocracy is scrambling to restore its legitimacy in the wake of the 2022 repression and amid deteriorating economic conditions.
CONGRESS & IRAN
Iran and its terror proxies continue to threaten the U.S., including assassination attempts on U.S. leaders and residents, according to a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing Wednesday. "The security threats from Iran and their proxies have metastasized even more. These threats include assassination plots on former Trump administration officials, targeting and attacking U.S. service members abroad, disrupting trade and commerce and endangering maritime security in the Red Sea, and attempting to coordinate external terror operations in Europe and South America," Chairman Mark Green, a Republican from Tennessee, said during the hearing.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Canada Expels Iran’s Former Deputy Interior Minister | Global News
Canada’s immigration tribunal ordered the deportation Wednesday of Iran’s former deputy interior minister. Seyed Salman Samani is the second senior member of the Iranian regime to face removal from Canada under sanctions adopted in 2022. The Immigration and Refugee Board decision followed a deportation order issued Feb. 2 against Majid Iranmanesh, a technology advisor to Iran’s vice-president.
Berlin Summons Iran Ambassador Over 2022 Synagogue Plot | AFP
Germany on Wednesday said it had summoned the Iranian ambassador over an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in 2022 that Berlin believes was planned with the help of Tehran. A German Iranian national was sentenced in December to two years and nine months in prison in the plot to attack a synagogue in the western German city of Bochum. The 36-year-old, identified only as Babak J., had planned to target the synagogue but ended up throwing an incendiary device at an adjacent school building. No one was injured.
CYBERWARFARE
White House Warns About Iranian Ceyberattack On Infrastructure | Iran International
Iran may be attempting cyberattacks on US water infrastructure, the Biden administration warned state governors Tuesday, in yet another sign that US deterrence is inadequate to limit the Iranian regime's aggression beyond its borders. In a letter bearing the names of National Security adviser Jake Sullivan and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan asked governors to help the administration take measures to “secure water systems against the increasing risks from and consequences of these attacks.” In the past few years, Iran has grown more aggressive in its relations with the United States, targeting American forces and bases through its proxies in the Middle East, and even plotting to assassinate former US officials on American soil.
US Warns Hackers Are Carrying Out Attacks On Water Systems | Reuters
…The letter singled out alleged Iranian and Chinese cyber saboteurs. Sullivan and Regan cited a recent case in which hackers accused of acting in concert with Iran's Revolutionary Guards had disabled a controller, opens new tab at a water facility in Pennsylvania. They also called out a Chinese hacking group dubbed "Volt Typhoon" which they said had "compromised information technology of multiple critical infrastructure systems, including drinking water, in the United States and its territories."