Iran, Afghanistan Tensions Rise As Migrant Wave Continues

An unnamed senior State Department official said on Monday that “We have two separate negotiations underway with Iran: one for a mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA and one on the release of all four US citizens unjustly detained in Iran”, noting that “At this stage, neither negotiation has been successfully concluded”.

“Any reports otherwise, including reports about the transfer of Iranians funds are false. Our partners have not released these restricted funds to Iran, nor has US authorized transfer,” the source said.

Warning of Iran’s propaganda campaign that regularly suggests progress on agreements to prop up its currency, the source said that such reports usually appear whenever the Iranian rial is under strong market pressure, adding that there is “no reason to think any different this time”

Iran’s currency hit a new low against the US dollar in over two months, as nuclear talks remained deadlocked.

“Given the sensitivity, we urge caution in relying on anything other than official" US confirmation on this topic, the source added.

“We are continuing to approach these negotiations with the utmost urgency and urge Iran to do the same. Iran must allow US citizens Baquer (Bagher) and Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi, and Morad Tahbaz to return home to their loved ones”.

Iran official government news website, IRNA reported Monday that a senior foreign official would visit Iran on Tuesday to conclude a deal to free the frozen funds. The foreign ministry immediately denied the claim.

The Guardian quoted Iranian-backed Iraqi militias and regional intelligence services Tuesday as saying that the undercover networks were used in the past month to supply rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), anti-tank missiles and Brazilian-designed rocket launcher systems.

The RPGs and anti-tank missiles were in the possession of Hashd al-Shaabi, the most powerful Shiite militia umbrella group, and were transported to Iran through the Shalamcheh border crossing since March 26, where they were received by the Iranian military and taken on to Russia by sea, a commander of the militia branch that controls the crossing told the British newspaper.

A source within Ḥashd al-Shaabi said the organization also sent in pieces two Brazilian-designed Astros II rocket launcher systems, known in Iraq as the license-built version Sajil-60, to Iran on April 1.

The equipment was loaded on three cargo ships – two Russian flagged and one Iranian flagged – and crossed the Caspian Sea from Iran’s port of Bandar Anzali to Astrakhan in southern Russia.

A source who helped organize the transport said the Iranian authorities had also donated an Iranian-made Bavar 373 missile system, which is similar to Russia’s S-300, to Moscow. Tehran also returned an S-300 to Russia, the source said.

Last Friday, The Telegraph reported that Russia is running out of some weapons because critical parts were made in Ukraine, including Kh-55 nuclear capable cruise missiles that are also used by Iran and China.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh called on Taliban officials to ensure the security of Iran’s embassy in Kabul and its missions across Afghanistan. He warned of efforts on social media to whip up anti-Iranian sentiment over alleged mistreatment of Afghan immigrants in Iran.

Sectarian tensions have risen since last week’s killing of two Shia clerics in Imam Reza shrine, Mashhad, attributed to Sunni extremists. Many Afghans are in Iran unofficially, with numbers increasing since the Taliban took Kabul last year as the United States ended its 20-year military presence.

A conservative newspaper in Tehran claimed Thursday that 8 million Afghans were in Iran, and that the Mashhad knife attack reflected Iranian authorities’ lax approach in allowing violent extremists amid refugees. Jomhuri Eslami reminded readers of the Taliban’s past anti-Shia animosity and said there was no difference between the group and Isis-Daesh, the Islamic State group.

Earlier on Monday, demonstrators outside Iran’s embassy in Kabul held banners with pictures of refugees and the words "Isn't Afghan a human being?"

Ambassador Bahador Aminian met in recent days with Afghan acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and former president Hamid Karzai, presumably to further Iran’s hopes of a broad-based government.

The border crossing is north of Iran’s oil center Abadan and close to Iraq’s Basra province.

The move came after Iraqis stormed the crossing and removed barriers. With around a quarter of Iraq’s population below the poverty line − around double that in Basra province − and the Iranian rial relatively low, hundreds had gathered on the Iraqi side to protest against the authorities barring the import of competitively priced items including potatoes, tomato, eggplants and carrots.

Following the protests, an official in Iraq’s customs administration ordered staff to expedite procedures at the crossing for the entry of agricultural and food products.

Iran’s policy of subsidizing food products and gasoline has long encouraged their export to neighboring countries with higher prices, whether through ‘legitimate’ channels or smuggling. Iraq has just announced a new electronic system aimed at monitoring border trade, including at the five official crossings along its 1,600km frontier with Iran.

During a ceremony on Iran’s southern island of Kish Monday, Iranian road minister Rostam Ghasemi and Qatari transport minister Jassim bin Saif Al-Sulaiti inked documents over accommodation, and air and maritime transport for those attending the soccer tournament.

Qatar is expecting 1 million visitors. Iran and Qatar plan 400 direct flights between Kish and Doha, as well as four cruise liners linking Iranian and Qatari ports, during the event. Kish island, off the southern coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf, is 270km from Doha, only 40 minutes by plane and five or six hours by sea. It expects to host nearly 100,000 soccer fans.

Last week President Ebrahim Raisi spoke by telephone with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to discuss Iran’s role in the World Cup through Kish and other islands nearby.

Iran’s team has been drawn in Group B of the competition along with England, the United States, and the winner of European playoffs between Ukraine, Scotland, and Wales. Iran beat the US 2-1 in the 1998 World Cup in France, its first ever victory in the competition.