Iran, Azerbaijan Discuss Escalating Tensions In Nagorno-Karabakh

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) says the network has been instrumental in facilitating shipments and financial transactions aimed at supporting the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA), which is already designated by the US.

The moves follow several actions this week to further sanction individuals connected to the regime, including a former president, in the wake of a prisoner exchange between Iran and the US, which saw the release of $6bn of Iran's frozen funds unblocked from South Korea, in what critics suggest is a way for the Biden administration to pacify those who say the deal has only paved the way for more hostage diplomacy from the regime.

HESA is known for manufacturing UAVs, including the Ababil and Shahed series, and has previously faced US sanctions due to its affiliations with Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics and its support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

In an attempt to circumvent US sanctions and export controls, HESA has used alternative names, such as Shahin Co.

Among the designated individuals are Mehdi Gogerdchian, Hamidreza Noori, and Husayn A'ini, who have been acting on behalf of HESA, the China-based Shenzhen Jiasibo Technology Company and its owner Su Chunpeng, and Guilin Alpha Rubber and Plastics Technology Company, represented by Dong Wenbo.

Several Russian entities, including Delta-Aero Technical Service Center LLC, have supplied propellers, tires, and conducted tests and overhauls for HESA's aircraft.

Turkish money exchangers Mehmet Tokdemir and Alaaddin Aykut have facilitated financial transactions in US dollars and euros to support HESA's procurement activities from various suppliers.

The sanctions dictate that all property and interests in property belonging to the designated individuals and entities within US jurisdiction must be blocked and reported to OFAC. Any transactions involving the assets of the blocked individuals or entities are strictly prohibited.

The family of retired FBI agent Bob Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007, and the daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd, who is on death row in Iran, issued separate statements after the regime freed five American citizens in exchange for $6 billion and five Iranians detained in the US. The other American resident that was not included in the deal was Shahb Dalili, an Iranian citizen with permanent residence status in the United States who remains imprisoned in Iran.

Dalili, a former captain of Iran Shipping Company and a US resident, was arrested during a trip to Tehran in 2016 for his father's funeral, after which he was apprehended by Iranian security forces. His family held several rounds of sit-ins outside the White House, the latest of which was in August. Darin Dalili, Shahab Dalili's son, has repeatedly pointed out the apparent contradiction with the Robert Levinson Law, which addresses the return of hostages, including US permanent residents. Highlighting a discrepancy between policy and practice, he underlined that despite this law, a green card holder remains imprisoned in Iran without clear resolution or intervention from US authorities.

Levinson, a former FBI agent, was taken prisoner by Iran’s intelligence apparatus while conducting an unauthorized freelance investigation on Kish Island, off Iran’s southern coast. Iranian officials have never explicitly acknowledged detaining Levinson, while US officials believe he was held as a possible bargaining chip.

During an interview with CBS in 2012, former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not deny that Levinson was being held and implied there had been talks of a prisoner exchange. His family announced that he was presumed dead in March 2020, on the advice of US officials.

The Levinsons said in their statement, “We will never stop demanding that Iranian leaders answer for what happened to Robert Levinson, the greatest man we have ever known. His abduction on Iranian soil in March 2007, his years of imprisonment with a total lack of any human rights or decency, and ultimately his murder, are on their hands.”

They described the release of the Americans as part of the new deal as “good news,” saying, “Today is a great day because American hostages unjustly held by the government of Iran have been returned to their families... But make no mistake: Today’s good news does not end our family’s nightmare and ongoing pain. Nor does it mask or excuse the shameful cruelty and unending lies of the Iranian regime.”

They also expressed gratitude to the Biden Administration for sanctioning former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) "for their involvement in the constant promotion of lies about Robert Levinson’s whereabouts that still persist to this day.”

Immediately after the release of the hostages – at least three of whom are Iranian-Americans -- President Joe Biden announced fresh sanctions on the hardline former Iranian president and the country’s notorious intelligence ministry over the still undetermined fate of Levinson.

Sharmahd, who holds German and Iranian citizenship and is a US permanent resident, was abducted by Iranian agents in Dubai in 2020, smuggled to Iran, and sentenced to death in February. He was convicted of heading a pro-monarchist group named Tondar accused of a deadly bombing incident that occurred in 2008 at a religious center in Shiraz, killing 14 and injuring 215 more.

Having actively sought US officials' attention through sit-in protests outside the State Department to advocate for her father's case to no avail, Sharmahd's daughter, Gazelle, urged Biden – and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz -- to explain how they are going to ensure her father "will be safe and alive and not murdered."

"The last American patriot left behind in a hostage release in 2015 was Bob Levinson, and we all know that cost him his life,” she stated. “At this point, President Biden and Chancellor Scholz owe our family an explanation of how they will redouble their efforts to make sure this horrific hostage-abandonment deal will not cost my dad his life and get him out of the torture chamber to rejoin our family, and what do they plan to do about this in weeks, not months or years."

Referring to her father’s death sentence, Gazelle said her father “was left behind to die.”

Musk, who owns SpaceX and the Starlink satellite internet service, shared a letter from the regime's leadership during his meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister in California on Monday.

During their one-on-one conversation, the American tycoon said it happened at the time when Starlink satellite internet was connected in Iran in a bid to give widespread internet access to the millions affected by state shutdowns.

After the nationwide protests began in Iran last year, triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in detention, the Iranian government severely restricted internet access for its citizens. In response to the restrictions, which included complete and periodic internet shutdowns and slowing down internet speeds, the US government lifted some restrictions on exporting internet services to Iran, allowing SpaceX to provide satellite internet services in Iran.

In response to the support from US authorities for activating satellite internet in Iran, the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the action a "violation of Iran's sovereignty" and threatened that such "efforts will not go unanswered."

However, Iran had not previously disclosed it had gone directly to Elon Musk himself to cut off Starlink services. The move was ignored, and after a year, there is still no news of Starlink being cut off in Iran.

In December, the head of the Union of Communication and Telecommunications Devices in Tehran confirmed the entry of 800 Starlink internet receiver devices into Iran and spoke of the "significant growth in the potential use of the devices" in the future.

Iran typically keeps the size of its presidential delegation for UN General Assembly visits secret, with previous trips having brought controversy when it was revealed that family members accompanied the president's delegation.

During the current UN General Assembly session, delegation members refused to answer Iran International's correspondent, Arash Aalaei's questions on the makeup of the delegation, instead pushing away the camera and insulting Aalaei.

Last year, when Raisi and his extensive entourage departed from the United States, they did so with a substantial amount of goods, in spite of ordinary Iranians struggling to make ends meet amid a 50-percent annual inflation rate.

On a separate occasion, Iran International correspondent Maryam Rahmati confronted Raisi before a meeting in New York on Tuesday, asking, "Mr. Raisi, are you aware that 520 people have been killed on the streets of Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini? Have you inquired with the security forces about the reasons behind these street killings?" However, Raisi remained silent and did not provide a response.

Raisi arrived in New York on September 18 to participate in the 78th UN General Assembly. Alongside his trip, a prisoner exchange took place between Iran and the United States.

Earlier on Monday, the US and E3 (The United Kingdom, France and Germany) issued a statement condemning Iran's move a few days after the IAEA announced that Iran has withdrawn the designation of several UN inspectors assigned to conduct verification activities in Iran under the Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement. 

According to conservative website Alef in Tehran, Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of the Kayhan daily which is funded by Khamenei's office, wrote: "The United States has currently under no obligation about the JCPOA. At the same time, Europe has neither acknowledged nor fulfilled any one of its commitments under the nuclear deal. It is only Iran that has made so many concessions and brought its nuclear facilities on the brink of destruction despite enduring decades of economic and political pressure and is also expected to accept further commitments if it continues its presence in the JCPOA."

Shariatmadari further claimed that "the Raisi administration has heroically resisted against powerful countries and the United States' arrogance and has even humiliated them at times." He referred to the recent comments by the Iranian foreign minister in which he said, "Iran will not leave any hostile act by the United States without a response."

He added that "Iran's presence in the NPT is detrimental to Iran and provides an opportunity to the enemies to blackmail Tehran and hinder its progress." He asked: "Why should Iran remain in the Non-Proliferation Treaty while the United States refuses to fulfil its commitments and China and Russia have no objections to Iran's withdrawal from the treaty?"

Shariatmadari's comments came hours after the US and three European allies condemned Iran’s move to bar IAEA inspectors, considering it another step in the wrong direction. IAEA Director Rafael Grossi characterized Tehran's move as non-constructive, adding that it was not a step in the right direction.

Grossi emphasized that the only way that Iran could dispel any doubts about its nuclear program is to allow the IAEA to inspect, noting that “If they allow us to work, then there will be confidence; otherwise, it will be very complicated.”

Meanwhile, Iranian analyst Ali Bigdeli warned that barring the IAEA inspectors would pave the way for the issuance of a UN Security Council resolution against Iran. He added that Iran's move will not lead to the revival of the JCPOA, as the next meeting of the agency is likely to issue a warning to Iran and send the case to the UN Security Council. 

Bigdeli noted that in the previous cases, Iran used to show some flexibility and offer concessions to the IAEA to prevent the issuance of a resolution. Last week, 24 countries that are members of the IAEA in a statement assessed Iran's cooperation with the agency as "insufficient." In response, the Iranian Foreign Ministry branded IAEA experts as "illiterate" and denied that Tehran had refused to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog.

Media expectations suggest that President Ebrahim Raisi is likely to face tough questions in New York during the UN General Assembly, as politicians and reporters will certainly ask him about this development and its timing, especially after some of Iran's frozen assets abroad have been released.