TOP STORIES
Iran Says Crew Of Israel-Linked Ship Freed | Reuters
Iran has released the crew of a seized Portuguese-flagged ship linked to Israel, but remains in control of the vessel itself, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the container ship MSC Aries, with a crew of 25, in the Strait of Hormuz on April 13, days after Tehran vowed to retaliate for a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus. Iran had said it could close the crucial shipping route.
U.S. Shuffles Military Assets In Middle East After Gulf Pushback | Wall Street Journal
The Pentagon is shifting jet fighters, armed drones and other aircraft to Qatar, repositioning its forces to get around restrictions on conducting airstrikes from an air base long used by the U.S. in the United Arab Emirates. The U.A.E. informed the U.S. in February that it would no longer permit American warplanes and drones based at Al Dharfa air base in Abu Dhabi to carry out strike in Yemen and Iraq.
New York State's last Republican governor condemned President Biden Thursday for his relative inaction on antisemitic protests enveloping college campuses in the Empire State and warned Iran is using images of the chaos as propaganda. Former Gov. George Pataki, who left office at the end of 2006 upon the election of Eliot Spitzer, told Fox News the protests constitute "acts of anarchy" at this juncture and should have been halted on "day one." "This is just disgusting and it shouldn't be tolerated. These are not acts of free speech or protest," he said on "The Story."
UANI IN THE NEWS
Iran’s Oil Exports Robust In April But Sanctions May Yet Bite | Lloyd’s List
…The US Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned 25 tankers totalling about 3.4m dwt since January for Iran links, far surpassing the number of tankers blocked in all of 2023 under the same auspices. But preliminary figures from US lobbying group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) indicate Iran exported almost 1.7m bpd of crude and condensates in April, continuing its robust start to the year despite US regulators’ renewed focus on Iran’s commodity exports. UANI’s chief of staff Claire Jungman said several factors are behind Iran’s export resiliency, but that sanctions could start biting in the coming weeks, when banned tankers conclude their voyages and return to Iran. “Iran has been adept at circumventing these sanctions by acquiring new tankers to replace those that have been designated, thereby maintaining their export capabilities,” she told Lloyd’s List. “Additionally, some of the contracts and purchase orders for oil were fulfilled despite the sanctions because they had been placed prior to the implementation of these sanctions.”
Iran Bans 5 US Entities, 7 Individuals Over Supporting Israel | Iran International
…Also included is Brad Cooper, a US Navy vice admiral, Gregory J. Hayes, the CEO of RTX defense corporation, and Jason Brodsky, Policy Director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), who has been a vocal critic of Tehran.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
The historic Kashan bazaar in central Iran once sat on a major caravan route, its silk carpets known the world over. But for the weavers trying to sell their rugs under its ancient arches, their world has only unraveled since the collapse of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers and wider tensions with the West. Rug exports, which exceeded $2 billion two decades ago, have plummeted to less than $50 million in the last year in the Persian calendar that ended in March, according to government customs figures. With fewer tourists coming and difficulties rising in making international transactions, Iranian rugs are going unsold as some weavers work for as little as $4 a day.
MISSILE PROGRAM
CNN Got A Look At Iran’s Drones And Missiles, What Did It Show? | The Jerusalem Post
Iranians boasted to CNN about their missile and drone program recently, providing a tour of an exhibit that shows off Iran’s capabilities. The goal for Tehran is to showcase the weapons it used against Israel in the April 13-14 attack. This is also a way for Iran to show it has the ability to launch missile and drone attacks on other countries, with virtual impunity. Iran, now in the fifth decade of its regime, believes it is at a turning point and on the verge of becoming a premier military-technology power in the region.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
USCIRF Urges US Government To Support Iranian Protesters | Iran International
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urged the US government to assist Iranians amid worsening crackdowns on minorities and dissidents. In its annual report, the USCIRF stated in Iran, “officials systematically harassed, arrested, detained, sexually assaulted, raped, and tortured protesters, including minors.” The USCIRF also emphasized the increased enforcement of compulsory hijab laws throughout 2023, along with increased surveillance and secret funding of a morality patrol to “harass uncovered women.”
Campus Protests Give Russia, China And Iran Fuel To Exploit U.S. Divide | The New York Times
An article on a fake online news outlet that Meta has linked to Russia’s information operations attributed the clashes unfolding on American college campuses to the failures of the Biden administration. A newspaper controlled by the Communist Party of China said the police crackdowns exposed the “double standards and hypocrisy” in the United States when it comes to free speech. On X, a spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanaani, posted a cartoon of the police arresting a young protester in the guise of the Statue of Liberty. “Imprisonment of #freedom in the U.S.A.,” he wrote.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Rapper Toomaj Salehi Became An Icon In Iran. It Could Cost Him His Life. | The Washington Post
In the video posted to Telegram, a banner emblazoned with the face of rapper Toomaj Salehi hangs from a highway overpass in Tehran. “Forced officer, forced executioner, one who just follows orders, go find a rat hole,” says a woman off camera, quoting lyrics from Salehi’s 2021 breakout hit. On April 24, the day before the video was shared online, Salehi was sentenced to death on charges of “spreading corruption on the Earth” in connection with his support for the anti-government uprising that erupted in the fall of 2022. A rare and unapologetic voice of defiance inside Iran, Salehi was an inspiration for the protest movement, and among the most high-profile figures to be caught up in the state’s brutal crackdown.
Iran Charges Journalists After BBC Report On Teen Protester's Death | BBC
Iran's judiciary has filed charges against "a number of journalists and activists" after the publication of a BBC report alleging men working for the security forces sexually assaulted and killed a 16-year-old protester. The judiciary-run Mizan news agency described the BBC Eye investigation into Nika Shakarami's death in 2022 as "fake, incorrect and full of mistakes.” It did not identify the individuals summoned for allegedly "disrupting the psychological security of society".
Iran's Judiciary Makes New Claims About Murdered Teen In Latest Denial | Iran International
In a bid to deny the latest revelations about the state murder of teenager Nika Shakarami, Iran's judiciary released new pictures and claims about her death. On Thursday, the judiciary's news agency, Mizan, released pictures of a woman's torso, concealing the head, without specifying the exact location, and claiming it belonged to Nika Shakarami. The so-called report cited the judge assigned to the case, who said that a day after Shakarami went missing, they got a call about a body found in a courtyard.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
The Latest | Hamas Will Send A Delegation To Cairo To Keep Up Cease-Fire Talks | Associated Press
Hamas said Thursday it will send a delegation to Cairo as soon as possible to keep working on cease-fire talks, in response to Egypt’s latest proposal. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said he spoke to Egypt’s intelligence chief and “stressed the positive spirit of the movement in studying the cease-fire proposal.” His statement did not say when the delegation would travel. Across the United States, tent encampments and demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war have spread across university campuses in a student movement unlike any other this century. More than 2,000 protesters have been arrested over the last two weeks as students rally against the war’s death toll and call for universities to separate themselves from any companies that are advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza.
CONGRESS & IRAN
Senators Press Biden Administration On Iran Crypto Mining | The Hill
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Angus King (I-Maine) pressed the Biden administration for information Wednesday on how it is addressing Iran’s use of cryptocurrency mining to evade sanctions. “Iran has raised millions of dollars through mining crypto—a steady revenue source that allows it to purchase imports, move funds domestically and internationally, and fund Hamas and other terrorist organizations,” the senators said in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iran's Axis Of Resistance Claims New Front Against Israel | Newsweek
A militia based in the Arab island nation of Bahrain has claimed its first-ever attack on Israel, marking what would be a fifth front opened by forces of the Iran-aligned Axis of Resistance coalition since the beginning of the nearly 7-month-old war in the Gaza Strip. The group, known as the Al-Ashtar Brigades and styling itself as the Islamic Resistance in Bahrain, issued a statement Thursday announcing that it had targeted the headquarters of the Israeli company Trucknet Enterprises—said to be "responsible for land transportation in the Zionist entity"—in the southern Israeli port city of Eilat, also called Umm al-Rashrash, last Saturday with a drone.
In the past couple of weeks enormous billboards were seen around Israel showing an hourglass with the flag of the Islamic Republic and promising that the end of the Ayatollah regime in Iran is nearing – setting the date for a mysterious October 28, 2028. Some of the billboards also featured a plight reassuring that “hundreds of millions of evangelicals have Israel’s back,” signed by a mysterious “Jerusalem Prayer Team.” The billboard reminded many in Israel of the reminiscent of the well-known countdown clock placed in Palestine Square in Tehran which counts the days left until Israel’s alleged “fall” in 2040. Nevertheless, while Israelis attempted to decipher the meaning of the messages and guess who was behind them, the billboard gained much traction in Persian-speaking outlets, especially those that oppose the Islamic Republic regime, such as Iran International and Radio Farda, which shared its images with hundreds of thousands of followers and stirred heated debates.