With respect to my return from Iran to the UK (British-Iranian academic detained in Iran since April returns to UK, 25 December), it should be pointed out that, during my detention and confinement, my family and I neither sought nor received any consular support from the UK government. In addition, the Foreign Office was only informed about my return to the UK by Imperial College London, where I work.

وزارت امور خارجه بریتانیا نقشی در بازگشت من از ایران نداشته است

در ارتباط با بازگشت من از ايران به انگلستان (مقاله پاتريك وينتور در گاردين ٢٥ دسامبر ٢٠١٨) باید خاطرنشان کرد که من و خانواده ام در طول دوره بازداشت در ایران نه هيچگونه حمايت كنسولي از دولت بريتانيا درخواست كردیم و نه هیچگونه حمایتی دريافت كرديم.

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The BBC Persian article published on 25 December, 2018 has a lede that says the British government has "confirmed" the release and return of Professor Abbas Edalat. But it omits the crucial fact that this was a confirmation of a statement that first appeared on CASMII website on Dec. 22.

*** گزارش بی بی سی فارسی در مورد پروفسور عدالت گمراه کننده است‌ ***

بی بی سی فارسی در روز ۲۵ دسامبر ۲۰۱۸ گزارشی منتشر کرد که در قسمت ابتدایی آن آمده: "دولت بریتانیا تایید کرده است که عباس عدالت، استاد ریاضی و علوم کامپیوتری دانشگاه امپریال کالج لندن، که در ایران زندانی بود آزاد و به بریتانیا بازگشته است." ...

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U.S. sanctions on Iran do not only affect U.S. trade with Iran, but they also extend to U.S. allies that trade with Iran. Iraq is one of those countries caught between the two, having been given a 45-day exemption period by the United States before it is expected to halt trade with Iran. The exemption sets an unrealistic target for Iraq to extricate itself from long-standing trade ties and disengage from its neighbor. Iraq, despite being an oil-rich country, relies heavily on Iranian natural gas to power its electrical generators. Even with Iranian natural gas, Iraq still suffers from frequent power cuts, making heat waves unbearable. ››read more

Professor Abbas Edalat, the founder of CASMII, returned to the UK this week. It increasingly appears, as we had suspected, that his detention in Spring in Iran was a case of misinformation and misunderstanding by the Iranian security apparatus. In the context of the multi-pronged attacks and open threats of the US, Israel and their allies to destabilise the Islamic Republic of Iran --including massive spending on economic warfare, espionage, and psychological operations against Iranians-- the tensions are rising again and the potential for such misinterpretations is very real. CASMII continues to demand that the US call off its threats, destabilisation campaigns and sanctions on Iran and rejoin the internationally recognised UN endorsed 2015 nuclear deal with Iran (JCPOA).

*** بازگشت بنیانگذار "کسمی" به انگلستان ***

پروفسور عباس عدالت٬ بنیانگذار "کمپین ضد تحریم و مداخله نظامی علیه ایران" این هفته به انگلستان بازگشت.

همانطور که ما در اعلامیه های پیشین تصور می نمودیم٬ اکنون هر چه بیشتر به نظر میرسد بازداشت وی در بهار امسال در ایران به دلیل سوء تفاهم و اطلاعات غلط از سوی دستگاه امنیتی ایران بوده است.

در فضایی که حملات و تهدیدهای چند جانبه ایالات متحده٬ اسراییل و متحدانشان برای بی ثبات کردن جمهوری اسلامی ایران٬ از جمله تخصیص منابع عظیم برای جنگ اقتصادی٬ خرابکاری و عملیات روانی علیه ایرانیان رواج دارد٬ امکان شکل گیری اینگونه سوء تفاهمات بیش از پیش است.

کمپین ضد تحریم و مداخله نظامی علیه ایران (کسمی) کماکان از ایالات متحده می خواهد تهدیدها٬ برنامه های بی ثبات کننده و تحریم ها علیه ایران را کنار گذارد و به توافق چند جانبه بین المللی برجام که در سال ۲۰۱۵ توسط سازمان ملل متحد به رسمیت شناخته شد بازگردد.

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At a Security Council meeting on Iran, Chinese Permanent Representative to the UN Ma Zhaoxu said the deal as a major multilateralism achievement serves the common interest of the international community. He noted the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA has confirmed in 13 consecutive reports that Iran continues to implement its nuclear-related commitments under the deal, and urged its full and effective implementation as its worth has been affirmed through practice. Currently, the implementation of the deal is undergoing a critical phase, he cautioned, expressing appreciation for its participants' efforts in delivering on their commitments. He expressed regrets that the United States pulled out of the deal and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, and urged all parties to properly address the difficulties they face in economic and trade cooperation with Iran as a result.
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Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has said US sanctions were "economic terrorism", as he sought to foster a united front from visiting regional officials. "America's unjust and illegal sanctions against the honourable nation of Iran have targeted our nation as a clear instance of terrorism," Mr Rouhani told a conference in Tehran attended by officials from Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey. "Economic terrorism is designed to create panic in the economy of a country and fear in other countries in order to prevent investment in the target country," he added. ››read more

Rahmdel Bameri, a provincial official, said a suicide attacker driving a vehicle loaded with explosives drove up to the police headquarters. Officers blocked the vehicle and started firing at the driver, who then detonated his explosives. Footage showed smoke rising over the city.
The authorities did not identify who was behind the attack, but Iranian media initially blamed it on Ansar al-Furqan, a Sunni jihadi group. Ansar al-Furqan is known to operate in Iran’s south-eastern Sistan and Baluchistan province, which sees occasional attacks by Baluch separatists and drug traffickers. A year ago the group claimed to have blown up an oil pipeline in Iran’s southern Khuzestan province. Chabahar is on Iran’s south-eastern coast near the border with Pakistan,. ››read more

The Reuters piece conflates ground launched ballistic missiles with air-to-air missiles that the air force commander wants to develop. The U.S. does not care about Iran's air-to-air missiles. It itself has far superior ones. The U.S. does care about Iran's ballistic missiles. But the Iranian general did not talk about those at all. The quote Reuters attributes to the Iranian general it is taken out of context and used to propagandize a non-issue. ››read more

Trump’s policy of not just exiting JCPOA, but of going that ‘mile’ further in seeking to overthrow the Islamic Republic as well, through sanctions will – we suggest – eventually become seen as ‘the Albatross’ which Trump injudiciously – and without compelling need – hung about his own neck. It will not work, and America’s credibility in the Middle East will be gone when that failure becomes apparent. ››read more

Tehran has repeatedly delivered on its promises, while Washington has fallen short and backed Riyadh’s disastrous regional adventures ››read more

“It is essential that Iran continues to fully implement those commitments,” he added, confirming the findings of a confidential report to IAEA member states last week. Amano did not comment on the broader impact of U.S. sanctions, the latest round of which took effect on Nov. 5. Iran has warned it could scrap the deal if signatories France, Britain and Germany and their allies fail to preserve the economic benefits promised by its terms. The European powers have been working on setting up a so-called special-purpose vehicle that would act as a kind of clearing house matching Iranian exports with EU exports in what amounts to a barter arrangement to circumvent U.S. sanctions. ››read more

American militarism has gone off the rails — and this middling career officer should have seen it coming. Earlier in this century, the U.S. military not surprisingly focused on counterinsurgency as it faced various indecisive and seemingly unending wars across the Greater Middle East and parts of Africa. Back in 2008, when I was still a captain newly returned from Iraq and studying at Fort Knox, Kentucky, our training scenarios generally focused on urban combat and what were called security and stabilization missions. We’d plan to assault some notional city center, destroy the enemy fighters there, and then transition to pacification and “humanitarian” operations. ››read more

Giuliani and RajaviThe fact that a group as dubious as the Mujahedin-e Khalq figures so prominently in the Trump administration’s policy on Iran demonstrates the bankruptcy of that policy. ››read more

A new Pentagon report released this week has revealed that U.S. humanitarian aid repeatedly ended up in the hands of terror groups, including Al Qaeda, over the past year. The report identified “numerous instances” in which U.S. aid was “knowingly diverted” to terror groups in Syria, including one of the strongest in the region, a Pentagon Lead Inspector General report exposed Monday. The report said, “Since late 2017, USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] OIG investigations have uncovered numerous instances of possible or confirmed diversions to armed groups in Idlib Governorate in northwestern Syria, including Ha’yat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.” HTS surfaced as a new terror group over the past two years and has quickly grown to be a major threat in the region, becoming one of the most powerful terror groups in Idlib, Syria, according to Reuters. In August, Turkey designated HTS as a terror group, citing their ties to Al Qaeda and ISIS. It was previously designated a terror group by the U.S. in early 2018. ››read more

The U.N. atomic watchdog says Iran continues to stay within the limitations set by the nuclear deal reached in 2015 with major powers, aimed at keeping Tehran from building nuclear weapons in exchange for incentives. In a confidential quarterly report distributed to member states Monday and seen by The Associated Press, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran has stayed with key limitations set in the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. The issue has grown more complicated since the U.S. withdrew unilaterally in May from the deal and then re-imposed sanctions. Iran’s economy has been struggling ever since and its currency has plummeted in value. The other signatories to the deal — Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China — are continuing to try and make it work. ››read more

Mr. Nader’s and Mr. Zamel’s plan dates to the beginning of 2016, when they started discussing an ambitious campaign of economic warfare against Iran similar to one waged by Israel and the United States during the past decade aimed at coercing Iran to end its nuclear program. They sketched out operations like revealing hidden global assets of the Quds Force; creating fake social media accounts in Farsi to foment unrest in Iran; financing Iranian opposition groups; and publicizing accusations, real or fictitious, against senior Iranian officials to turn them against one another. Mr. Nader is an adviser to the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, a country that, along with Saudi Arabia and Israel, has identified Iran as the primary threat to stability in the Middle East. ››read more

Voices Against SanctionsWhile states communicate through politics, people seek empathy, peace, and friendship.The history of the arts and culture has chronicled the joys and pains of people and communities. As artists, as civil activists of Iran, we speak to you above politics: Once again, the United States has imposed sanctions against Iran. Such measures have never brought to the people of Iran what politicians proclaim they will: human rights, freedom, and a better life. Every Iranian will personally pay the price for these sanctions. ››read more

Patrick CockburnThe US sanctions will put strong pressure on Iran, but the temporary waivers granted to eight importers of Iranian crude shows the difficulty the US is having in imposing an economic siege. Trump’s demonstration of US strength could easily turn into a demonstration of weakness. ››read more

At an event at the conservative Hudson Institute on Oct. 29, French Ambassador to Washington Gerard Araud said US European allies “are expecting our American friends to make some gestures. For instance, the humanitarian goods. Of course, humanitarian goods are not sanctioned. But the fact is that the banks are so terrified by the sanctions that they don’t want to do anything with Iran.” Araud added, “There is a strong risk in a few months that there will be a shortage of medicine in Iran if we don’t do something positive to solve this problem.” Already, some Iranians are having difficulty finding life-saving medications in the market. One Iranian charity told the Christian Science Monitor that it has run out of four imported drugs used to treat cancer in children and is having difficulty receiving monetary donations from Europe. ››read more

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has said Moscow will support Iran to counter US oil sanctions. ››read more