IRAN'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE BAHA'I CONTINUES
A Revolutionary Court in Iran's Golestan Province has sentenced twenty four members of the Baha'i faith to a maximum of eleven years in prison for their religious beliefs. The sentencing comes more than three years after the individuals were detained in Golestan. According to Simin Fahandezh, a spokeswoman for the Baha'i faith based in Geneva, the individuals convicted had not actually been responsible for any wrongdoing. "They're innocent," Fahandezh said. "They haven't committed any crime as the only charge against them is their membership in the Baha'i community." (Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertyi>, January 28, 2016)
[EDITORS' NOTE: The Islamic Republic has an extensive history of persecuting those of the Baha'i faith.A 2006 report by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, a New Haven, Connecticut-based watchdog group, chronicled that "Baha'i religious practice has effectively been criminalized inside Iran." And while that study documented official abuses against the Baha'i during the tenure of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the situation has remained largely unchanged. Persecution of the Baha'i remains both prevalent and officially sanctioned by the Iranian regime - despite the repeated pledges of current president Hassan Rouhani to ameliorate human rights conditions within the country.]
BAHRAIN IN THE CROSSHAIRS... AGAIN
Fearful of renewed unrest instigated or inspired by Iran, the Gulf Kingdom of Bahrain has instituted new counterterrorism measures. The new steps, announced by Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Al-Khalifa, include travel curbs and greater scrutiny of financial transfers into the kingdom. They are intended, according to Al-Khalifa, as a response to the "dangers of Iran's interference in the internal security" of the country. The new measures follow the January discovery of a "terrorist cell" that authorities in Manama have said is linked to both Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia. The cell, led by twin brothers Ali and Mohammad Fakhrwari, reportedly received financial aid from both Hezbollah and Tehran to carry out terrorist attacks within Bahrain. (Naharnet, January 6, 2016; Gulf Times, February 22, 2016)
IRANIAN ATTITUDES, POST-JCPOA
The Obama administration and its diplomatic partners in Europe have championed the new nuclear agreement concluded last summer between Iran and the P5+1 as a vehicle to moderate Iranian behavior and draw Tehran closer to the West. That, however, has not happened. A new survey of Iranian public opinion by the University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland has found that strikingly anti-Western attitudes continue to predominate throughout the country. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of the more than 1,000 people polled expressed unfavorable views of the United States. Unfavorable ratings for the United Kingdom were similarly high (70%), while those of France were a bit better (only 51%), although still negative. (University of Maryland CISSM, January 2016)
TEHRAN'S FOREIGN LEGION
Iran is becoming increasingly public about its training and indoctrination of Shi'a youth throughout the Middle East. For what is perhaps the first time, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Ali Jafari, has openly acknowledged the Iranian regime's role in training "tens of thousands" of Shi'a youth for jihad in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. According to Jaffari, these cadres represent "the armed revolutionary generation" which will help Iran export its ideology globally. (LondonAsharq Al-Awsat, January 14, 2016)
IRAN MAKES NEW NUCLEAR PLANS
Fresh off the implementation of its nuclear deal with the West, the Islamic Republic is already making new plans for nuclear development. The head of Iran's atomic energy organization has declared that it will begin construction on two new 1,000 MW nuclear power plants in the near future. According to Ali Akbar Salehi, the new plants will be built in cooperation with Russia and China. This, moreover, appears to be just the tip of the iceberg. In the post-sanctions era, the Iranian regime is anticipating the expansion of nuclear ties to a host of new nuclear partners. "Certain European and Asian states, including China, Japan and South Korea, are ready for cooperation, and conditions have changed compared with the past," Salehi has told reporters.
Indeed, such contacts are already underway. Recent negotiations between Iran and Hungary have yielded plans for a joint pilot project to design first a 25-megawatt pilot reactor and subsequently a larger, 100-megawatt reactor in a venture that will open the Islamic Republic up to the transfer of nuclear technology and know-how from the European Union. (Washington Free Beacon, January 19, 2016; Tehran Times, February 20, 2016)