Blog-Archive
Human Rights Watch|Witness: Iran, Where Your Shoes Can Get You Deported
In the end, the family was deported to Afghanistan over pink sneakers and platform sandals.
Zohrah, 17, and her sister Hasina, 15, sounded furious, in a teenager kind of way, when they talked about their arrest and how it led them, their father, and Zohrah’s boyfriend to a dusty reception center on the Afghan side of the Iran-Afghanistan border.
They were waiting for a bus to drive them across the arid land further into Afghanistan, a country neither girl had ever seen – Hasina was born in Iran, and their parents had settled in Iran when Zohrah was still an infant. But because their parents were Afghans, none of the family had Iranian citizenship. Dozens of other Afghans sat with them in the hangers of the reception center. Like Zohran and Hasina’s family, a number of them had papers showing they lived in Iran legally, but this didn’t stop Iranian officials from deporting them.
The girls had been arrested only three or four days earlier – that’s how long the entire deportation process took. They had traveled about 35 kilometers from their home to make a religious pilgrimage to Qom, a holy city for Shia Muslims. Zohrah wore high-heeled platform sandals, while Hasina wore pink sneakers. In Qom, a police officer stopped them, offended that they chose to wear bright shoes when visiting a holy city. He also criticized them for wearing makeup. The girls argued with the police officer, and he arrested them on charges of not sufficiently complying with Iran’s strict Islamic dress code for women. Lies den Rest dieses Beitrags
Election: US Reacts to Results
In two separate statements, the United States called on the Iranian government to heed its people’s will after the surprise election of Hassan Rouhani in the first round of presidential elections. The Obama administration also “remains ready to engage with the Iranian government directly” to reach a diplomatic solution in the long standoff over Tehran’s controversial nuclear program.
Regarding Significant Reductions of Iranian Crude Oil Purchases
Press Statement
The United States and the international community stand shoulder to shoulder in maintaining pressure on the Iranian regime until it fully addresses concerns about its nuclear program. That is why today I am pleased to announce that China, India, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Taiwan have again qualified for an exception to sanctions outlined in section 1245 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012, based on additional significant reductions in the volume of their crude oil purchases from Iran or for reducing those purchases to zero and remaining there. As a result, I will report to the Congress that exceptions to sanctions pursuant to Section 1245 of the NDAA for certain transactions will apply to the financial institutions based in these jurisdictions for a potentially renewable period of 180 days.
Today’s determination is another example of the international community’s strong and steady commitment to convince Iran to meet its international obligations. A total of 20 countries and economies have continued to significantly reduce the volume of their crude oil purchases from Iran or have completely eliminated such purchases. This determination takes place against the backdrop of other recent actions the Administration has taken to increase pressure on Iran, including the issuance of a new Executive Order on June 3. The message to the Iranian regime from the international community is clear: take concrete actions to satisfy the concerns of the international community, or face increasing isolation and pressure.
US Sanctions Iran Leadership
On June 4, the United States sanctioned a major network of front companies for hiding assets on behalf of Iranian leaders. The Treasury targeted The Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order and 37 ostensibly private businesses under it. Many are front companies involved in real estate, construction, banking, and other sectors of Iran’s economy. “While the Iranian government’s leadership works to hide billions of dollars in corporate profits earned at the expense of the Iranian people, Treasury will continue exposing and acting against the regime’s attempts to evade our sanctions and escape international isolation,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen. The Obama administration has implemented four rounds of sanctions in the past week alone. The following are excerpts from the press release, including a link to the full text at the end.
Iran’s Medical Shortages: Who’s Responsible?
by Jasmin Ramsey
Press reports about medical supply shortages in Iran, some of which have described devastating consequences, have been surfacing in the last two years, while debate rages on about who’s responsible — the Iranian government or the sanctions regime. Siamak Namazi, a Dubai-based business consultant and former Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, admits the Iranian government shares responsibility but says sanctions are the main culprit. Humanitarian trade may be exempted from the sanctions, says Namazi, but that isn’t enough when the banking valve required to carry out the transactions is being strangled. “[I]f [sanctions advocates] maintain the sanctions regime is fine as it is, then how come they try to promote substitution from China and India?” asks Namazi. The following Q&A with Namazi was conducted in Washington, DC.
Q: You recently authored a policy paper published by the Woodrow Wilson Center where you essentially blame medical shortages in Iran on Western sanctions. How did you reach this conclusion?
Siamak Namazi: We concluded that the Iranian government deserves firm criticism for mismanagement of the crisis, poor allocation of scarce foreign currency resources and failing to crack down on corrupt practices, but the main culprit are the sanctions that regulate financial transactions with Iran. So, while Tehran can and should take further steps to improve the situation, it cannot solve this problem on its own. As sanctions are tightened more and more, things are likely to get worse unless barriers to humanitarian trade are removed through narrow adjustments to the sanctions regime.
My team and I reached these conclusions after interviewing senior officers among pharmaceutical suppliers, namely European and American companies in Dubai, as well as private importers and distributors of medicine in Tehran. We also spoke to a number of international banks. None of us had any financial stake in the pharmaceutical business, whatsoever, and we all worked pro bono. Lies den Rest dieses Beitrags
US Sanctions Iran Currency, Auto Industry
On June 3, the United States imposed sanctions for the first time on Iran’s currency, the rial. Foreign financial institutions may now face penalties if they “knowingly conduct or facilitate significant transactions” involving the rial― which has already lost half its value since January 2012. The executive order’s objective is to render the currency unusable outside of Iran, a senior administration official said during a conference call. Iran conducts very little trade in the rial. So the measure may also be aimed at further depreciating its value and making Iranians feel more uneasy about holding their own currency. The executive order also authorizes new penalties on Iran’s automotive industry. And it allows the sanctioning of any individuals who help Iranians and others previously blacklisted by the Treasury.
