Iran Opens Consulate In Armenian Region Desired By Baku, Ankara

According to these reports the Softqloud GmbH company in the city of Meerbusch, near Dusseldorf, is helping Iranian regime to run its intranet known as the national information network.

The research by Taz and Netzpolitik as well as Correctiv research center said that Softqloud GmbH is a branch of Arvancloud or Abr Arvan, an Iranian company which helps to disconnect the internet in Iran. It is not even clear if Softqloud has any other contracts in Germany or is simply a front company.

In an interview on Thursday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called the case “very surprising” and said security officials would investigate the matter.

The German foreign minister said that if the allegations are true, it could have punitive consequences.

According to this joint research, Softqloud GmbH is one of the four digital connection gates that connect Iran to the global Internet.

This company has set up several data centers in Europe which can guarantee the operation of the intranet in Iran in case of internet shutdown by Iran’s government.

In the past years, Abr Arvan was criticized by many people on social networks due to signing an agreement with the Iranian government to censor the Internet.

The reported project is about the Iran Cloud project, which is intended to help build the national Intranet and further isolate the country from the global network. That would mean that Abr Arvan is involved in setting up internet censorship and surveillance in Iran.

However, Arvancloud has rejected its involvement in the censorship saying that “A cloud service provider is not able to play a role in censorship of the Internet, neither in Iran nor in any other part of the world.”

It further said that the German company was an “international partner”, and this contract was terminated by Softqloud on September 30, 2022.

Arvancloud did not provide any further information on the reasons of termination and the German company Softqloud is yet to respond.

If these accusations are true, it could mean that European firms have facilitated the oppression of Iranian citizens.

While this report could have wide repercussions around the world, the Iranian regime keeps using the Internet to launch disruptive acts to hack information.

The FBI on Thursday announced it has obtained information that an Iranian cyber group called Emennet Pasargad has conducted hack-and-leak cyber operations.

The FBI says since at least 2020, Emennet targeted entities primarily in Israel with cyber-enabled information operations that included an initial intrusion, theft and subsequent leak of data, followed by amplification through social media and online forums, and in some cases the deployment of destructive encryption malware.

Although Emennet’s latest attacks have primarily targeted Israel, the FBI warns the company could attack US entities like in 2020 when Emennet targeted the US Presidential election.

In another development, The US Department of State released a statement on Thursday condemning Iran’s restrictions to internet access during nationwide protests over the death of Mahsa Amini last month.

“The United States is pleased to join the Freedom Online Coalition’s consensus Joint Statement on Internet Shutdowns in Iran,” reads the statement.

The Freedom Online Coalition is made up of 34 governments that collaborate to advance internet freedom worldwide.

The October 20-21 meeting of the European Council, the EU policy-making body made up of its 27 heads of state, will review Iran’s involvement in the Ukraine war after disagreements yesterday over proposals to price-cap Russian energy exports in the face of spiraling prices.

Among ideas circulating is a proposal made Friday by Estonian Prime Kaja Kallas to establish as special tribunal to consider Russian “aggression.” But it is unclear if the EU will take further action against Iran or Russia over the alleged supply of Iranian drones (UAVs, unmanned aerial vehicles).

After Josep Borrell Monday said the EU needed evidence before acting, a closed-door United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting Wednesday reviewed available information.

The EU and the United Kingdom Thursday sanctioned three Iranian military commanders and a defense company over allegedly supplying drones to Russia. This followed the US imposition of sanctions in September on four companies it said were either involved in supplying Russia or in copying US and Israeli drones.

US, French and British officials have argued that any supply of Iranian drones to Russia violates UNSC Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). While the US left the JCPOA in 2018 and while State Department spokesman Ned Price said Thursday the agreement’s revival was “largely academic at the moment,” the US argues that Resolution 2231 precludes Iran from exporting drones until October 2023. Price said Thursday that Washington considered it “important that the UN and every responsible UN member state stand by the various Security Council resolutions.”

‘All means…to confront’

US officials argued Thursday not just that Iran had sent military personnel to train Russia in using Iranian-made drones. In a separate media briefing, John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, said Russian military personnel remotely piloting drones used in Ukraine were based in Crimea. Kirby said the US would use “all means” to “confront Iran’s provision of these munitions against the Ukrainian people.”

“We assess that Iranian personnel, Iranian military personnel, were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations,” Price said at a separate media briefing. “Russia has received dozens of these UAVs…. some of ..[the] proof was put on display before the UN Security Council yesterday.”

Price claimed that Moscow “may also seek to acquire advanced conventional weapons from Iran that includes potentially surface-to-air missiles.” He also warned China it would incur “costs” if it chose to provide security assistance, military assistance, or otherwise to systematically help Russia evade sanctions.”

Ukraine can use the issue of Iranian drones to ask for more Western military assistance, so far totaling around $17 billion from the US, including 1,400 Stinger missiles, and $3.1 billion from the EU, including howitzers. Washington has refused to supply more advanced weapons so as not to escalate the conflict, believing its current approach can drain Russia’s ability to conduct the war. Drones, while of limited military value, are far cheaper than missiles.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Thursday he had discussed with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid a request for missile defense assistance. Israel has so far refused to aid Ukraine militarily so as not to upset its relations with Russia.

In an exclusive report on Thursday, our correspondent also cited several witnesses as saying that the number of prisoners killed in this incident was way more than eight people officials claimed.

One of the witnesses, identified as Mosayyeb Raisi Yeganeh -- a political prisoner who was imprisoned in Ward 8 of Evin prison on charges of insulting the Supreme Leader and propaganda against the regime – said he saw with his own eyes that in one case, 10 to 15 young prisoners of Ward 7 under the age of 25 were gunned down during the night.

According to him, the authorities had plotted to use the fire as a pretext to pretend that prisoners were trying to escape and kill whoever they wanted during the mayhem, adding that several of the prisoners who were reported to be hospitalized in the jail’s infirmary are not there at all.

He also claimed that Hassan Mirkazemi -- one of the regime’s insiders and one of those who led the crackdown on people during 2009 protests, and was serving a term for economic corruption – was transferred from the prison before the chaotic night.

Following the blaze, some journalists and people on social media accused the Islamic Republic of setting the prison on fire intentionally, citing an early and extended furlough to Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani, son of former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, as evidence to support their claim. The prison authorities had furloughed several other important and well-connected prisoners in the days leading to the fire. The son of senior conservative lawmaker Mostafa Mir-Salim – imprisoned over connections with exiled Albania-based opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) organization -- was also let out before the incident.

Two other witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said the government planned the fire and the fake escape plan of prisoners to suppress the protests that have been growing in solidarity with the nationwide protests, that convulsed Iran since mid-September when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody of hijab police.

Six sources told Reuters on Thursday that two days before the fire ripped through a section of the notorious prison, a riot police unit arrived at the compound and began to patrol the corridors, shouting "God is Greatest" and banging batons on cell doors.

The patrols at the jail began without any apparent provocation by inmates, the sources said. These patrols continued from Thursday to Saturday when some prisoners reacted by shouting for the downfall of the Supreme Leader. "Then we heard shots and chants of 'Death to Khamenei' by prisoners in other wards," said an inmate inside Ward 8.

According to unconfirmed reports, three busloads of political prisoners were also taken to a prison near Tehran, known to be a slaughterhouse for prisoners.

Tasnim news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard quoted a judicial official after midnight on October 15 that a riot had started in the wards where common criminals were kept and sections holding political prisoners were separate.

The prison has been the main site for holding prominent Iranian political prisoners as well as foreigners and dual nationals. It also holds inmates convicted of ordinary crimes and is now receiving a stream of dissidents arrested in the continuing wave of unrest sweeping the country. The prison is known as "Evin University" because of the many antigovernment intellectuals and academics held there.

In his first visit to Armenia, Amir-Abdollahian is scheduled to meet with his counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan as well as some other officials in the country to discuss the latest regional developments.

This week, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) held a large-scale military drill in the northwestern region of Aras along the borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In mid-September, Iran warned that it would not tolerate any seizure of territory from Armenia by Azerbaijan after military clashes broke out between its two northern neighbors.

Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of attacking its towns to avoid negotiations over the status of the mainly Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, an enclave which is inside Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.

Iran has to an extent supported Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan and has warned that it would not allow any seizure of territory from Armenia proper by Baku. Tehran in the past has also expressed alarm at alleged Israeli military presence in Azerbaijan.

Iran’s ally Russia, itself engaged in the military invasion of Ukraine, is a key power broker in the region and an ally of Yerevan through the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Turkey backs Azerbaijan.

These included Tom Tugendhat, Minister of State for Security, Commodore Don Mackinnon, British naval commander in the Persian Gulf, and Steve McCabe, member of parliament ad Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, as well as media outlets and their owners including BBC Persian and Iran International. Iran also cited the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the intelligence center known as ‘GCHQ.’

During recent unrest, Iranian officials have complained about foreign media and social media operators, including those in Britain reporting on protests and airing interviews with Iranian pundits based abroad, including state-funded media. The clerical regime in Iran has taken exception to news and commentaries it claims are justifying attacks on government employees and ambulances, while it does not allow the media in Tehran to report on the protests.

The government has also often cut off access to the Internet or slowed down cyber traffic for more than a month to prevent news and images of the protests from being shared among the people.

The official news website IRNA said the named individuals would not be allowed to enter Iran and that any assets held under Iranian jurisdiction would be confiscated. It said the measure did not preclude criminal prosecution and that Iran still considered the British government “accountable for supporting terrorists and human rights violators who organize and incite riots and terrorist acts in Iran from its soil.”

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also said Wednesday Iran would designate 19 US and European officials and entities over sanctions and “incitement to violence.”

Iran has been persecuting journalists working for the BBC, US funded international broadcasters Voice of America and Radio Farda, as well staff at Iran International and other media organizations. Family members have been harassed for more than a decade and direct threats made against journalists.

Iran’s 83-year-old ruler Ali Khamenei and other officials have blamed the protests on “foreign enemies” and “their media”, while pundits and some politicians in Iran have been warning for months that the social and political atmosphere was ripe for popular demonstrations and unrest.

In fact, protests have been going on almost continuously since December 2017, when rising prices first led to nationwide disturbances. In November 2019, a sudden government hike in gasoline prices also led to widespread protests during which security forces killed at least 1,500 civilians.

The current protests that started on September 16 were triggered by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested three days earlier for her "improper hijab." Women and young people have led the protests demanding regime change, with their favorite slogan being "Death to the dictator."