US Iran Sanctions –

To whom do these sanctions regulations apply?
		All U.S. persons and entities (companies, non-profit groups, government agencies, etc.) wherever located.

What related guidance does OFAC have on these sanctions?
	Sanctions Brochures
		Overview of Sanctions
		Overview of Sanctions (text)
	Frequently Asked Questions
		OFAC Frequently Asked Questions
		Questions Regarding Executive Order 13599 (Blocking Property of the Government of Iran and Iranian Financial Institutions)
		Questions Regarding the NDAA (Section 1245 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012)
		Questions Regarding the Executive Order 13606
		Questions Regarding the FSE Executive Order (Prohibiting Certain Transactions with and Suspending Entry into the United States of Foreign Sanctions Evaders with Respect to Iran and Syria)

Crisis Guide Iran OVERVIEW Council on Foreign Relations

 

Ahmadinejads Frau wählt….

Drug addiction death toll on rise in the most Islamic city of Iran!

Legal medicine organization of Qom province warned against the increase of deaths caused by drug addiction in Qom, the most religious city of Iran, where the offices of most of the senior Islamic clerics and seminaries are based.

Mohabat News ) – According to government supported Fars news service, the public relations office of legal medicine of Qom province stated that 54 people died from overdosing on drugs in Qom alone last year.

Based on the report, this represents a 500% growth since the year before last year. Only 9 people were reported to have died because of drug overdoses in Qom in the previous year.

Last year, 51 men and three women died because of overdosing on drugs, while only eight men and one woman died the year before last.

It is noteworthy that Qom is the most religious city of Iran, located 132 KMs south-west of Tehran. As Iranian regime officials claim, this city is the spiritual and intellectual capital of the world of Islam and all religious committees of Iran are formed there.

Source: Mohabat news

kookoo Sabzi

Le Koukou (également écrit Kookoo ) est une spécialité de la cuisine iranienne. Ce plat fait à la base d’œufressemble à une omelette avec une différence: alors que dans la préparation de l’omelette, l’œuf est l’élément principale du plat, dans la préparation du Kookoo l’œuf est un élément secondaire qui a le rôle de tenir les autres ingrédients ensemble. Ça existe des variétés différents de ce plat qui sont tous très délicieux mais aujourd’hui, je vous donne la recette de ‘kou kou Sabzi’ ( Sabzi en persan signifie l’ensemble des herbes aromatiques).

recette pour 6-8 personnes, temps de préparations: 15 min, temps du cuisson 30 min

3 botte d’Oignon nouveau (on utilise juste les feuilles et on laisse ‘l’oignon à côté)

1 botte de persil

1/2 botte de coriandre

1/2 botte d’aneth

8 œufs

1 CS de farine

4 CS d’huile de tournesol

3 à 4 noix concassés

Sel et poivre

Rincer à l’eau, essorer et Hacher à l’aide d’un couteux bien aiguisé les feuilles des oignons nouveaux, du persil, de la coriandre et de l’aneth. (Astuce : passer les feuilles au mixeur écrase les herbes et fait sortir le jus et convient pas à ce plat. Alors, je vous conseille vivement de les hacher au couteau).

Casser les œufs dans un bol et saler et poivrer, puis ajouter la farine. Bien mélanger l’ensemble. (Battre le mélange avec une fourchette pour 2-3 minutes.)

Ajouter le mélange d’herbe aromatique au bol. Ajouter les noix concassées. Et bien battre avec une fourchette (pour 7 à 8 minutes).

Faire chauffer l’huile dans une casserole, une fois l’huile est bien chaude, ajouter le mélange, égaliser avec un couteau la surface, poser le couvercle.

astuce: le mélange avant d’être ajouter à la pôele devrait être un peu liquid , si ce n’est pas le cas, vous pouvez ajouter encore un oeuf.

Faire cuire pendant 15-20 minute jusqu’à ce que les œufs soit un peu cuits ( pourqu’on puisse retourner le plat) et le kookoo semble bien pris ( avec l’aspect d’un gâteau) ).

astuce: si vous touchez le kookoo, ça ne doit pas coller à votre doit.

Couper le plat comme indiqué sur la photo etTourner chaque quartier.

(astuce : pour cela, vous pouvez sortir un quartier, le touner et le poser sur une assiette, vous allez avoir la place pour déplacer et tourner les autres, à la fin, poser le dernier). Faite dorer le quartier encore pour environ 5 minutes sans couvercle. Le Kookoo sabzi est prêt !

Ce plat peut être dégusté, comme entrée avec du pain ou dans un sandwich avec une feuille de salade et de la mayonnaise en préférence avec du pain Libanais ou Lavash.

variation: vous pouvez utiliser que des oignons nouveaux ou de poireau pour préparer ce plat!

Source: MES PETITES RECETTES DE CUISINE

tehranbureau: Cuisine | A Persian Staple with a Twist

Embracing the cauliflower.

In college, at the end of my occasional weekend visits, my father would send me back to the dorm with a warm kuku sabzi, wrapped in foil to keep in my mini-fridge as a healthy study snack.

For those unfamiliar with the dish, kuku is a Persian frittata and sabzi means green (as in the color) or greens (as in vegetables). Kuku sabzi is made by finely chopping a mountain of fresh herbs and cooking them with spices and just enough eggs to bind them into an aromatic green sponge.

It tastes much better than it sounds. The difference, I often tell my friends, is the proportion of eggs to other ingredients. While omelets are mostly eggs filled with stuff, kuku is mostly filling held together by eggs, a subtle but crucial difference.

Skeptical at first, my hallmates learned to love kuku sabzi, placing orders when I went home to bring back “more of that good spongy stuff.”

Like its egg-based cousins the tortilla, omelet and frittata, kuku can take infinite forms. Until my twenties, however, I had only ever tasted kuku sabzi. Similarly, when it came to khoresht, Persian stews served over rice, I could list only a handful of the most classical dishes.

In a diaspora, the collective imagination defines the homeland. And that definition tends to be strict.

The people making Persian food for me — my father and his sister, my empathetic American mother, the small cluster of Iranian families in their social circle — cooked to fulfill nostalgia, to evoke a sense of home in smells and in tastes. They craved the food their mothers (and mothers-in-law) had prepared, holiday meals, the standards.

An Iranian-American friend once told me that while visiting family in Tehran, she had sampled traditional dishes made with low-cal, low-fat substitutions. “People are modern. They change it up!” she said. “They make khoresht with ground turkey instead of lamb.”

I have never been to Iran and therefore have never tasted such progressive variations. I’ve had plenty of accelerated versions — rice quick steamed rather than soaked overnight, broiled chicken in lieu of an elaborately prepared stew. But never radical departures from the established palette.

The diaspora craves not variety.

At the end of my freshman year, my father retired and decided to move back to his country. My steady kuku connection gone, I spent the rest of my academic career grazing strange processed foods when up all night studying. Just like everybody else.

Years went by, during which I had kuku maybe once a year, often for Persian New Year. As cookbook author, Najmieh Batmanglij, points out in her recipe, “The green herbs symbolize rebirth, and the eggs, fertility and happiness for the year to come.”

Eating kuku always made me miss my father, as the unique scent and flavor combination triggered sensory recall. This, too, might be why I never considered the existence of alternative kuku: loyalty to childhood memories; the sense that my Iranian-ness had been jettisoned when my father left and might be further diluted by any departure from the orthodox.

Then one evening a few years ago, my Farsi teacher hosted a Shab-e Yalda party, to celebrate the longest night of the year. She invited students and friends and served dried fruit and nuts. We stayed up late and, as is the tradition, told each other’s fortunes by opening a book ofHafez poems and letting the opening lines illuminate the year to come.

She also served a cauliflower kuku. Cauliflower! It had never before occurred to me that one could stray so far from the herb sponge. Timidly I tried a piece. There has been no looking back, and no end to the variation since. I know now that cauliflower kuku is nothing new, just a recipe never served in my home where we stuck to the absolute classics. I’ve grown to think of it less as a betrayal of kuku sabzi and more as a distinct dish possessing a flavor combination all its own.

Today, cauliflower and feta kuku (with tons of cumin) is one of my favorite dishes to make for a dinner party or potluck. This weekend I hosted a brunch and made two, one with half cauliflower, half Brussels sprouts — a suggestion I discovered online.

There are several tricks I’ve learned from practice, consulting the experts, online research and Najmieh Batmanglij’s phenomenal book New Food of Live: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking Ceremonies, which boasts a number of excellent kuku recipes, gorgeous photos and interesting historical tidbits.

These include:

Adding baking soda. For an extra fluffy kuku, add one teaspoon of baking powder and one tablespoon of flour for every six eggs or so.

Starting on the stove and finishing in the oven. It’s not done unless the top is golden brown.

Being creative. Don’t be rigid in your definitions!

Enjoying the dish with friends and family. Persian food is meant for social gatherings.

And, finally, saving the leftovers. Kuku is great the next day as a room temperature snack. As my dad would stay, you never know who might drop by.

Homepage photo: Mes Petites Recettes de Cuisine blog, which also provides the classic recipe in French.

Source: Tehran Bureau

Ties Grow Between Iran and China

The following is an excerpt from a new report by Alireza Nader and Scott Harold entitled “China and Iran: Economic, Political, and Military Relations” issued May 3, 2012 by the Rand Corporation. The full link is at the bottom.

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s possible pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability presents a serious challenge to U.S. interests in the Middle East. The U.S. strategy to dissuade Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability has relied heavily on international sanctions, in addition to diplomatic engagement with the Islamic Republic.

No other country is as critical in this effort as the People’s Republic of China. Winning China’s cooperation on sanctions has been difficult, in large part due to the broad and deep partnership between China and Iran. In the past decade, China has become Iran’s number one trading partner. Collaboration between Beijing and Tehran centers on China’s energy needs and Iran’s abundant resources but also includes significant non-energy economic ties, arms sales and defense cooperation, and geostrategic balancing against the United States.

Understanding the nature and range of Chinese-Iranian cooperation is important to crafting a successful U.S. strategy toward Iran. China’s policies have hampered U.S. and international efforts to shape Iran’s decisions on its nuclear program, and continued ChineseIranian cooperation will hinder U.S. attempts to pressure Iran.

The United States has limited options to influence China’s relationship with Iran. Some observers have proposed that the United States use positive inducements to reduce Chinese cooperation with Iran, such as significantly enhancing bilateral relations with China or trading key U.S. interests. However, these policy moves would involve costly trade-offs and are probably politically unfeasible. The United States could also use negative inducements, such as sanctions against Chinese firms, though such measures are also of limited use given China’s economic power. A third approach has been to build a broad international sanctions coalition against Iran, which has raised the diplomatic pressure on China to stop doing business with Iran but increased Iran’s incentive to reach out to Beijing. While China may decrease business ties with Iran, it will nevertheless continue to see Iran as a central actor shaping Chinese interests in the Middle East. The increasing U.S.-Chinese competition in the Pacific region will also have a direct impact on China’s willingness to cooperate with the United States on Iran.

Nevertheless, China and Iran face divergent interests across a number of issues, which could provide opportunities to contain their growing relationship. While some in China see value in leveraging Iran to tie the U.S. down strategically, China is generally reluctant to embrace Iran too tightly for fear of precipitating an open break in ties between China and the United States. Many Iranians perceive China to be exploiting Iran economically while backing an increasingly brutal and repressive regime.

Finally, neither country is destined to remain an authoritarian state forever. Democratic forces in either country could precipitate the emergence of regimes less hostile to the United States—a more democratic Iran that may not pursue nuclear weapons or a China less interested in balancing against the United States. Given that such changes may be far in the future, the United States should continue to forestall an Iranian nuclear weapons capability and pressure China to reduce ties to Iran.

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2012/RAND_OP351.pdf

 

Alireza Nader, coauthor of Coping with a Nuclearizing Iran (RAND, 2011), is a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit institution that improves policy and decision-making through research and analysis.

Source: UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE

The Latest from Iran (5 May): The Threat of Inflation

0719 GMT: Elections Watch. The superficial — and misleading headlines are now in the “Western” media: “Ahmadinejad Rivals Cement Hold on Iran Parliament“; “Ahmadinejad Rivals Score in Election“. The articles proclaim, “Ahmadinejad’s opponents won 20 while the president’s supporters got only 8 seats. Independents won 11, according to the state media early Saturday.”

Some reminders:

1. The leading factions in the campaign, such as the Unity Front, the Islamic Constancy Front, and the Steadfastness Front, are not simply “pro-Ahmadinejad” or “anti-Ahmadinejad”.

2. No faction will hold a majority in the next Parliament.

3. Some winning candidates were on the list of both the Unity Front (superficially portrayed as “pro-Supreme Leader”) and the Islamic Constancy Front (superficially portrayed as “pro-Ahmadinejad”).

4. A large number of independents have won seats. Their loyalties are unknown, although some analysts such as Tehran University’s Sadegh Zibakalam, believe the majority may be supporters of the President.

0533 GMT: Elections Watch. Fars has posted the results of Friday’s second-round Parliamentary elections, except for Tehran. The outcome is a mix for the leading factions, with none of them taking a large share of the seats.

The head of Iran’s Elections Commission, Deputy Minister of Interior Solat Mortazavi, has claimed the turnout was “magnificent“. The number in Mehr is less so, with the report of 1.2 million people in Tehran — less than half the official figure for the first round — casting a ballot.

0515 GMT: This may be the most notable passage in the Tehran Friday Prayer, delivered by the “hard-line” Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami:

I swear to everything sacred that raising this issue [of rising prices] is talking of a palpable and painful reality, and it should not be called political. We don’t want to blame anyone, but this situation is not worthy of the Islamic Republic of Iran….The sources of emulation, the Assembly of the Professors at the Theological Seminary of Qom, and the people are all complaining about the chaotic situation of inflation.

So while putting out the important proviso “Don’t blame us” — or, in Khatami’s words, “[this] should not be called political” — the Ayatollah made the stark declaration of a serious and growing issue for the Iranian people.

He is not alone. For all the political tensions and divisions within the establishment, leaders — bar the significant exception of President Ahmadinejad — have been united in recent weeks in their warning of the damage of inflation, officially estimated at 21% but unofficially acknowledged inside and outside Iran to be far higher. The Supreme Leader may have declared in March that this was the “Year of National Production”, but he has focused this week on the problem standing in the way.

And despite Khatami’s insistence, this is very political. Amid the headlines yesterday about Iran’s “glorious” second round in the Parliamentary election, the rippling news was Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani’s challenge to Ahmadinejad — gas prices were about to rise 300%, Larijani said, all for the sake of funding the second round of the Government’s subsidy cuts

Source: EA World

Iran Special: Photoshop Propaganda With Lots of Missiles (and Jar Jar Binks!)

Hat tip to The Atlantic for the find….

You never know when your past propaganda efforts are going to rear up and bite you on the backside.

Indeed, the editors of the prominent Iranian website Mehr may still not know this.

On Friday, Mehr illustrated a reassuring story about Iran’s missile programme — “French official: No Threat of Europe” — with an archive photograph of lots of those missiles.

First problem? The image is a Photoshop. In fact, it’s not just a Photoshop, it’s a Photoshop of a Photoshop.

In 2008, to big up its strong (if not threatening) military, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards added an extra missile to an image of a test:

With the belief, “If You are Going to Add One, Why Not Add Lots?”, the website What the Crap? updated the photograph:

This is the photograph that, probably at the hands of a Mehr editor rushed for time, became “news” once more for Friday.

Which brings us to the second problem — this was not just an ordinary Extra Missile Photoshop.

Take a good look at the bottom of the picture. A Really Good Look — just left-of-center. Notice a happy intruder amongst the missiles?

Still wondering?

That’s right — perhaps the best-loved of all Star Wars characters, Mr Jar Jar Binks.

Perhaps we’re being too hard on Mehr. As The Atlantic notes, 4 May is not just any old day for thoughts about missiles. It is Star Wars Day, 35 years after the first of the films was first released. Perhaps a staffer at Mehr wanted to pay tribute?

OK, perhaps not. Still, I for one can’t wait to see Princess Leia alongside the Supreme Leader in the near-future.

WDR3: Die Bombe um jeden Preis – Montag, 7.5.2012, 22 Uhr

Aluminiumrohre – warum sollten sie nicht exportiert werden, auch in den Iran? Der deutsche Zoll, der die Lieferung stoppte, weiß warum: Sie wären perfekt für den Bau von Zentrifugen geeignet, mit deren Hilfe der Iran sein Atomprogramm immer schneller vorantreibt. Von der Zentrifuge bis zur Präzisionskamera, mit der man Atomexplosionen abbilden kann – immer wieder sind Bestandteile des Atomprogramms in Deutschland geordert worden.
“die story” zeichnet diese Spuren nach, lässt die zuständigen Staatsanwälte und Zollbeamten zu Wort kommen, aber auch ehemalige iranische Atomunterhändler und Inspektoren der Vereinten Nationen. Die Geschichte des iranischen Atomprogramms ist auch die Geschichte von Mordanschlägen auf Atomwissenschaftler und von raffinierten Hackerangriffen auf iranische Computer.
Besonders eindrücklich ist die Befragung des Atomschmugglers Yadegari durch die kanadische Polizei, die der Film ebenfalls dokumentiert hat.

CIVICUS: Iran must revoke harsh sentences against human rights defenders

Serious violations of the fundamental rights of women human rights defenders are continuing unabated in Iran, says CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation.

In the latest instance, Mansoureh Behkish was sentenced to four and a half years in jail for her human rights work on 3 April 2012. Mansoureh was sentenced to four years for colluding against the Republic through the Mourning Mothers Group and an additional six months for instigating propaganda against the government.

The Mourning Mothers Group, of which Mansoureh is a member, campaigns against unlawful killings, arrests, torture and enforced disappearances of Iranians. The group is composed of women whose children have been murdered, detained or disappeared in Iran since June 2009, and also includes family members of victims of serious human rights violations perpetuated by the Iranian government.

Mansoureh has long been subjected to arbitrary arrest and interrogation stemming from her campaigning work against violations of the rights of Iranians. She was first arrested in August 2009 and detained and interrogated at the notorious Evin Prison for three days. She was re-arrested on 11 June 2011 and released on 8 July. Her passport was also confiscated and a travel ban imposed to prevent her carrying out legitimate human rights activities. Her trial began on 24 December 2011 and she was notified by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran of her sentencing on 4 April 2012. She is in the process of lodging an appeal against the sentence.