Iran’s Neighbor Armenia Shuns Russian Bloc, Explores New Alliances

The report covers not only the lives of journalists and political activists but also those from other professions living abroad who feel unsafe.

Canada has a particularly serious problem with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of regime-connected officials on its soil, according to a lengthy Global News investigation. An infamous example is Mahmoud Khavari, ex-CEO of Iran’s national bank who has been wanted by Interpol and reportedly fled to Canada in 2011 after being accused of embezzling $2.6 billion.

As part of its efforts to address this issue, Canada has expanded targeted sanctions against certain members of the IRGC group and amended its Magnitsky legislation in order to allow the government to go after the assets of Iranians implicated in human rights abuses and corruption, but the dissidents say that these measures do not suffice.

Prime Minister Trudeau has refused to declare the IRGC a terror group because some Iranians are compelled to join the group as part of their mandatory military service.

Nonetheless, the diaspora contends that if the IRGC were on the terrorist list, members who have gained Canadian citizenship would be liable for crimes committed overseas and subject to much harsher penalties.

The Washington Free Beacon reported Monday that the Biden administration is set to approve a sanctions waiver that will allow Iran to access at least $10 billion in previously frozen funds held in Iraq. The acutely contested decision comes just a month after the Tehran-backed Islamist group Hamas launched an attack on Israel that left 1,400 mostly civilians dead. 

The waiver -- which would extend the sanctions relief first issued in July and set to expire Tuesday, November 14 -- allows Iraq to transfer frozen electricity payments into Iranian-owned bank accounts in Europe and Oman. 

In July, the Biden Administration announced that some of Iran’s frozen funds in Iraq will go to Oman, acting as a conduit to release the money for purchasing non-sanctionable goods under US supervision. Iraq owes Iran around $11 billion for imports of gas and electricity, but US banking sanctions prohibit dollar transactions with Iran. In June, the US agreed to make $2.7 billion available for Iran’s humanitarian needs.

The Trump administration first allowed Iraq to import electricity and gas from Iran, but only on the condition that the payments were kept in an escrow account in Baghdad. The Biden administration continued to issue that waiver, and then broadened it in July so that Iraq could move more than $10 billion outside the country, enabling Tehran to draw on the funds for its budget and humanitarian needs. In late October, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran reportedly discussed expediting Iran's access to the funds with his Omani counterpart.

In September, Washington released about $6 billion of Tehran’s frozen funds in South Korea as well as five Iranians from US prisons in exchange for five Iranian-Americans held hostage in Iran. The US-Iran agreement led to criticism of the Biden administration, as many called the scheme the largest ransom payment in history.

In October, Hamas waged its bloody war against Israel. The Iraqi waiver renewal has sparked concerns that such financial support could indirectly aid Iran's proxies. The Biden administration insists that, like the $6 billion held in Qatar, Iran can only use the $10 billion for non-sanctioned purposes. However, critics argue that since money is fungible, the access allows Iran to free up cash in other places for illicit activities.

In a US State Department briefing on Monday, spokesman Matt Miller declined to comment on the reports, saying he would not talk about “social media speculations.”

The news has prompted reactions by US lawmakers who were already pushing for tighter enforcement of sanctions on Tehran. Republican lawmakers in Congress argue that even though the money was allocated for humanitarian purposes, it helps the Islamic Republic regime divert funds into US-designated terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. They made this argument when they pressured the Biden administration to halt its $6 billion ransom payment to Iran.

Worried over the decision, Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) renewed his call on Congress Tuesday to pass his proposed Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act (S.2210), supported by 41 senators. The bill can mandate a congressional review of actions to terminate or waive sanctions imposed with respect to Iran. Representative Jim Banks (R-IN) also urged a similar motion at the House, where over 100 Republican lawmakers cosponsored the Maximum Pressure Act to codify the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran into law. 

"The world is living in a post-October 7 world, but the White House is still running an October 6 policy toward Iran," Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and sanctions expert who previously served on the White House National Security Council, told the Washington Free Beacon.

"Why should Iran have any access to more than $10 billion after sponsoring one of the worst terrorist attacks against American citizens and the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust? It would make more sense to freeze all of these accounts and keep every penny out of Tehran's hands."

In testimony before Congress late last month, Goldberg advised Congress to lock down the $10 billion as punishment for Tehran’s role in supporting Hamas’s war on Israel. He said Tuesday that the decision to release Iran’s money in Iraq is a “massive sanctions relief for Iran. It is NOT like previous waivers. It is NOT what the Trump administration did.”

Despite the headway, neither the United States nor its allies have imposed sanctions on the plant's owner, JSC Alabuga, or its associated companies, the Institute for Science and International Security said in a report report.

Iran began supplying hundreds of kamikaze drones to Russia in mid-2022 that have been extensively used against civilian targets in Ukraine.

The report said a mid-September satellite image showed that new construction at the plant "directly" correlated with a leaked building floor plan that the Washington Post shared with the institute earlier this year.

The building, according to other leaked documents, will be used for the mass production of Iran's Shahed-136 that will include improving Iranian fabrication processes "and ultimately advancing the drone's capabilities," the report said.

"With winter fast approaching ... Russia can be expected to accelerate its Shahed-136 attacks against Ukraine's vital energy infrastructure, causing brutal living conditions for the civilian population," the report said.

"A key overdue step" is for Washington to sanction Alabuga and its associated companies, the report continued. The United States and its NATO allies have already imposed sanctions on individuals and entities engaged in supplying Iranian drones to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday warned his country to prepare for Russian strikes on energy infrastructure. Last winter, Russia unleashed waves of such attacks, prompting rolling blackouts.

The plant is located 500 miles (800 km) east of Moscow in the Tartarstan Republic.

The White House in June said Russia and Iran appeared to be deepening their defense cooperation and that in addition to supplying drones, Tehran was working with Moscow to produce Iranian drones in Alabuga.

With reporting by Reuters

In an interview with Fox News, Kirby stated that in spite of over 40 attacks being carried out on US facilities in Iraq and Syria since the war in Gaza broke out, "We don't seek a conflict with Iran right now".

The US was fast to defend Israel's right to defend itself after the Hamas invasion on October 7, which saw 1,400 mostly civilians killed and around 240 taken hostage to Gaza. The US has vowed to support Israel militarily and since deployed two carriers and thousands of forces to the Middle East as Iran's proxies began to step up action not only against Israel but against US targets.

Kirby mentioned retaliatory strikes, of which so far there have only been three, aimed at deterring further attacks on US military bases in the region. He emphasized that the focus is on inhibiting the capacity of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to support their proxy groups.

Responding to questions about why President Joe Biden hasn't ordered a direct attack on Iran's key military infrastructure, Kirby stated that the government is currently focused only on targets that hinder the IRGC's support for proxy groups.

When asked about potential actions and whether Biden is waiting for American casualties before taking substantive action, Kirby emphasized the readiness to take retaliatory strikes to protect troops and facilities. He concluded, "We are not looking to escalate, but if they continue to attack our troops and put their lives in danger, we will continue to take action to protect them."

"We should make good use of the demonstrations being held in Berlin, Washington DC, London and Paris in condemnation of Israel," said Saeed Jalili, the representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the Supreme National Security Council, amid accusations about Iran's involvement in anti-Israel rallies in the UK.

"Today's enemies face not only Gaza, but the whole world,” said the hardliner.

Last month the British newspaper The Times reported that Iranian agents have been stirring up unrest in the UK through Gaza protests, and that the regime is directly involved by physically present operatives at protests and conducting online disinformation campaigns.

In a sarcastic comment, Khamenei had dismissed the accusation, saying, "They claim Iran is responsible for gathering people in England; how about the Basij of London and the Basij of Paris?"

This is while it is known that Kahmenei has affiliated centers in the United Kingdom. One such entity in London, The Islamic Center of England, was shuttered for some time following an investigation by the UK Charity Commission into the way the organization was run.

There have been repeated calls for the UK to ban Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, after the government reported threats emanating from the notorious organization. There is some pressure on the British government to intensify its campaign against Iran.