Iran's Nuclear Chief Defends Reducing 2015 Deal Obligations

Former Standard Chartered executive turned whistleblower Julian Knight claims, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, that US authorities either overlooked or concealed "damning evidence" of the bank's involvement in "billions of dollars in banking transactions for Iran, numerous international terror groups, and front companies for those groups."

The court documents filed in New York by Knight allege that from 2008 to 2013, Standard Chartered conducted thousands of transactions worth over $100 billion, violating sanctions against Iran.

SCB has admitted to breaching sanctions against Iran and other countries twice, once in 2012 and again in 2019, reportedly paying fines totaling over $1.7 billion. However, according to the BBC, it has not admitted to conducting transactions for “terrorist” organizations.

In 2012, the British bank – one of the country’s oldest – avoided prosecution for money laundering after then-Chancellor George Osborne reportedly intervened secretly. Three months later, the US Department of Justice chose not to prosecute the bank. It is unclear if the British government was aware of these actions then.

Knight contends that the transactions conducted by SCB far exceeded those admitted to during the settlement of the criminal case in 2012, occurring well after the bank claimed to have ceased all Iranian operations in 2007.

According to the BBC, an independent expert identified $9.6bn of foreign exchange transactions with individuals and companies designated by the US government as funding “terror groups”, including Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.

The confidential bank spreadsheets that showed the transactions were handed to US authorities in 2012 by Knight and another whistleblower, who both claim that the US government agencies made false statements to a court to have their claim for a whistleblower’s reward dismissed.

Knight has asked the US Federal Court in New York to reinstate his claims, saying that the government had committed a “colossal fraud” on the court by denying he had provided “damning evidence” that the bank facilitated many billions of dollars in banking transactions for Iran.

The whistleblower claims that the US government either falsely stated that it conducted a thorough investigation into his claims or that it knew about the transactions he reported and lied to hide them. Knight believes the government's statements indicate that they were aware of the transactions and chose to conceal this information.

In its report, the BBC said US authorities investigating the bank successfully applied to have their case dismissed in 2019. US authorities argued the whistleblower’s allegations “did not lead to the discovery of any new … violations” and the court dismissed the case as “meritless”.

Standard Chartered has reportedly disputed the claims put forward by the whistleblowers, saying their previous allegations had been “thoroughly discredited” in the US.

An independent expert David Scantling, who reportedly has decades of CIA experience, contradicts this. In a court filing, Scantling says that over half a million "cloaked" transactions by SCB between 2008 and 2013 were easily recognizable using a simple technique, the BBC report said.

Separately, the Times reported earlier this year that SCB helped Iranian petrochemical companies circumvent international sanctions. The bank reportedly facilitated trades between a Chinese company and Iran's Arak Petrochemical and Bandar Imam Petrochemical, both sanctioned by the US, citing leaked transaction data.

Significant as the ruling is symbolically, it is not expected to benefit the plaintiff financially, since Iran has no assets in the United States and funds may not be recovered from blocked Iranian assets. This has been confirmed by similar rulings in recent years, where individual lawsuits have been filed against the Islamic Republic under the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act.

Previous cases include that of the late Siamak Pourzand (d. 2011), whose wife and two daughters were awarded $34 million in damages by a US federal court in September 2022, after the judge heard reports of Pourzand’s abduction, detention and torture by the authorities in Iran.

More recently, in September 2023, the two daughters of former diplomat and deputy prime minister, Abbas Amirentezam (d. 2018), were awarded $6.5 million each in damages by a US District Court, after the judge ruled that Iran’s government and the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) were “liable for torture” of Amirentezam –who served almost 40 years of incarceration and house arrest for “for fabricated charges of espionage”. Amirentezam was the longest-serving political prisoner after the 1979 Revolution in Iran.

All these cases –including that of Issa Saharkhiz– have been defended by Ali Hersichi of Herischi Human Rights Law Center. In his statement following the latest ruling, Herischi said the verdict on Saharkhiz was issued against the Islamic Republic, its Supreme Leader, and the IRGC.

The case took more than three years, according to Herischi, who wrote that the judge affirmed that “Saharkhiz was indeed tortured” in prison. “The court attributed responsibility for this torture to the Islamic Republic of Iran, citing systematic torture practices in its prisons,” Herischi said.

Issa Saharkhiz is a veteran journalist and former official who for five years in the 1990s ran the New York office of Iran’s official news agency (IRNA). He returned to Iran in the late 1990s and took charge of the press department at the Islamic Republic’s Culture Ministry. Saharkhiz was arrested and jailed after Iran’s disputed elections in 2009. He faced further imprisonments in 2015 and 2017, before being released in 2018.

“Throughout his imprisonment, Saharkhiz was subjected to various forms of torture,” according to the statement released by Herischi Human Law Center, “including beatings, denial of medical care, solitary confinement under inhumane conditions, and forced confessions without legal representation.”

The statement calls the ruling an “irrefutable evidence of illegal behavior and torture in Iranian prisons” which may help international courts “to prove the occurrence of torture” in prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Iranian government dismisses all such cases and chooses not to have representation in courts.

In a joint letter to the International Labor Organization (ILO), Reza Shahabi and Davoud Razavi, held in Tehran's Evin Prison, emphasized the regime's use of arrests, harassment, and imprisonment for advocating workers' rights, as a tool to quash unrest.

“We and many other workers were fired, harassed, and imprisoned because we believed in labor activism and independent labor organizations."

Shahabi and Razavi's letter, released ahead of the 112th Session of the International Labor Conference, said the Iranian labor rights community's calls for international support are being ignored. The letter also detailed the sham charges and prison sentences imposed on Shahabi and Razavi, amid Iran's brutal suppression of dissent.

Last month the Iranian Writers' Association (IWA) called for the unconditional release of all imprisoned workers and labor activists. They pointed out that over 1,600 strikes and protests occurred last year across the country from a range of industries, emphasizing that "such a large number of demonstrations shows both the extent of the looting of the labor force and the rampage by those in power."

Amid the worst recession since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, the IWA stressed the hardships being faced by workers on low salaries and enduring horrific working conditions as at least one third of Iranians are now living below the poverty line.

Organized by the New York-based nonprofit, Human Rights Foundation, the three-day event brings together a diverse array of human rights defenders and civil activists from across the globe with this year’s theme being “reclaiming democracy”.

Since its inception in 2009, the OFF has become a global platform for human rights advocates worldwide to share their efforts in challenging repression, advocating against injustice, and promoting liberal democracy.

Speakers this year include the likes of Venezuelan human rights activist, Olga González, Russian politician and opposition figure, Anastasia Shevchenko, Ugandan journalist and digital activist, Agather Atuhaire, Co-founder of Twitter, and Jack Dorsey amongst other renowned authors and activists from various parts of the globe.

Among the speakers on Monday were Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad and activists Sima Moradbeigi, Kosar Eftekhrai, and Zaniar Tondro — three protestors who were injured during Iran’s nationwide Woman Life Freedom uprising in 2022 sparked by the killing of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in police custody.

The Iranian Struggle at Center Stage

Iran has been a focal point at the Oslo Freedom Forum for several years, reflecting the ongoing repression and human rights abuses in the country. This year, Masih Alinejad, accompanied by the three injured activists, brought the audience face-to-face with the brutal realities faced by protestors.

During her speech, Alinejad shared the stage with Moradbeigi, Eftekhari, and Tondro.

“I am here to ask you to pick a side… to call for action to your leaders, the leaders of democratic countries, the policymakers of the free world whether they want to stand with the killers or the freedom fighters… so hear their stories and make your decision…whether you want to be united with the true people who say that there is one solution for peace in the middle east and the solution is revolution,” stated Alinejad.

Moradbeigi spoke about the sacrifices made by Iranian citizens, including leaving her young daughter at home to protest for freedom and a better future.

Eftekhrai detailed the Iranian regime's deliberate targeting of protestors' eyes, urging attendees to empathize with the pain of being blinded.

Speaking to Iran International following their speech, Kosari further shed light on Iranian protestors who lost both of their eyes as a result of being shot at by state security forces during the protests in Iran.

“People like Hossein Naderbeigi, Ali Taouneh, Matin Manani, and Farideh Salavatipour. These are some of the people who the Islamic Republic shot at and blinded both of their eyes for the crime of being a protestor. Despite this, we stand firm until the end…and we will tell the world that the Islamic Republic is a terrorist,” Kosari stated.

Tondro, who lost his right eye at 16 and still has eight pellet bullets in his head, shared his harrowing experience and mentioned his cousin's killing at the hands of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) by being shot at with a DShK machine gun, motivating him to represent the voices of Kolbars - Iranian cross-border porters.

Alinejad emphasized the strength and resilience of these young activists, calling on the international community to support their fight against the Islamic Republic's gender apartheid regime.

Artistic Expression as Resistance

Atena Farghadani, an Iranian cartoonist and human rights activist, work is also at OFF 2024. Her installation, "We Are Products of the Same Factory," celebrated the power of creative expression in the face of repression. Farghadani, who has been arrested and tortured for her critical cartoons of the Iranian regime, received the 2016 Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent.

Havel Prize Honors Imprisoned Iranian Rapper

This year, the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent includes Iranian rapper and activist Toomaj Salehi among its winners. Toomaj, known for his powerful lyrics against the Iranian regime, remains imprisoned and faces a death sentence. The prize will be presented to Negin Niknaam, a friend and campaigner for Toomaj's freedom, in his honor on Tuesday.

The Oslo Freedom Forum will continue until Wednesday, June 5.

Though the attacks, often from hundreds of miles (kms) away, are not seen by western officials and Israeli experts as posing the same level of threat to Israel as point-blank strikes by Hamas and Hezbollah, they have increased in number and sophistication.

At least two have hit their targets and many have had to be shot down by U.S. and Israeli defenses, according to U.S officials and public statements by the Israeli military.

New weaponry such as cruise missiles have been regularly used since May and are harder for air defenses to destroy.

"Overall, the intensity and the types of weapons systems used have steeply escalated," said Mike Knights, a fellow at the U.S.-based Washington institute for Near East Policy, where he tracks the attacks. "It complicates the Israeli task and is an increased financial cost," he said.

Reuters spoke to more than a dozen people, including sources in Iraqi armed groups and other factions in Iran's network of regional allies known as the Axis of Resistance, alongside U.S. and other regional officials, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to give candid assessments of a sensitive issue.

They said the attacks by Iraqi factions, including Kataib Hezbollah and Nujaba, were a cause for rising concern for Washington and also viewed with unease among some in Iran and its powerful Axis ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has carefully calibrated its own engagements with Israel to prevent all-out regional conflict.

"They could get the Axis involved in something it does not currently want," a senior figure in the Axis of Resistance said, describing the view among pro-Iran groups on condition he not be identified.

Iran and Hezbollah, the most organized members of the network, have in the past struggled to rein in Iraqi factions.

Hussein al-Mousawi, a spokesperson for Nujaba, one of the main armed Shi'ite factions in Iraq participating in strikes on Israel, told Reuters the strikes were a natural evolution of the role of Iraqi groups and aimed to increase the cost of the war in Gaza. They intend to strike from anywhere, for as long as is necessary.

"The operations carried out by the Resistance are not bound by temporal or spatial boundaries," Mousawi said. "We, as a resistance, do not fear the consequences as long as we are in the right and we represent the popular and official will."

The Iraqi government, which carefully balances its alliances with both Washington and Tehran, does not officially approve of the strikes but has been unable or unwilling to stop them.

Critics say this shows the limits of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's power in a coalition government that includes Iran-backed armed groups, and may undermine efforts to rebrand Iraq as stable and open for business.

Iraq does not recognize Israel and a 2022 law punishes those trying to normalize ties with death or life in prison. Israel views Iraq as an Iranian vassal state and main corridor for weapons from Iran to other armed groups including Hezbollah.

The Israeli and Iraqi governments did not respond to requests for comment. The U.S. State Department declined to comment.

ESCALATING THREAT

The Iraqi groups trace their roots to the fight against U.S. troops in Iraq after the toppling of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. They have since grown their regional reach, mirroring the evolution of other Iranian allies such as the Houthis in Yemen who have launched strikes on shipping in the Red Sea.

Iraqi groups joined the Syrian civil war in support of Iran's ally President Bashar al-Assad, gaining a foothold in territory near the border with Israel. A shadowy Iraqi group claimed drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in 2021 and 2022.

The attacks by Iraqi groups on Israel are launched from areas south of Baghdad and in the Iraqi-Syrian border area where Iran-backed factions hold sway, according to Knights.

To get from Iraq to Israel, projectiles must fly over Syria, Jordan or Saudi Arabia.

While Iran has been keen to have Iraqi factions contribute to the regional battle against Israel, their propensity to miscalculate was a constant cause for concern, the senior figure in the Axis said.

He noted that the Iraqi groups had already unwittingly caused a major regional escalation in January, when they killed three U.S. troops in a drone attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan.

That attack - which crossed multiple U.S. and regional red lines by hitting a neighboring Arab state and killing Americans - led to a deadly campaign of U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.

So serious was the risk of escalation then, that the commander of Iran's elite Quds Force travelled to Baghdad to tell the factions to dial down their attacks, Iranian and Iraqi sources told Reuters at the time.

Attacks on U.S. forces stopped. There was a brief lull. Then, they turned their attention to Israel.

A senior Iranian official who asked not to be identified to discuss sensitive matters said this shift in focus was part of a plan to keep the pressure on Israel over the Gaza war.

A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the attacks on Israel jeopardized the stability of Iraq and the region by increasing the risk of military action, including potentially by the U.S. and Israel.

"The sophistication and frequency of these attacks highlight the escalating threat posed by these groups" the official said.

"The U.S. military will not hesitate to act to protect our forces and support the defense of our allies."

'FREE HAND'

Iraq has posed a threat to Israel before - notoriously during the 1991 Gulf War when Saddam fired barrages of Scud missiles at Tel Aviv and Haifa.

At the time, Washington prevailed upon Israel not to retaliate to avoid an escalation that could undermine a U.S.-led coalition, including Arab armies, which had been pulled together to eject Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

After Hamas militants launched their attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year precipitating the war in Gaza, Iraqi Shi'ite armed factions, like other pro-Iranian groups, pledged to carry out attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians.

They initially targeted mainly U.S. forces based in Iraq and Syria. But on Nov. 2 they claimed their first ever attack on Israel.

A handful of other claimed attacks on Israel followed in the next few months, including four in February, even after the groups had publicly halted attacks on U.S. forces, according to public claims of responsibility by the Iran-backed groups.

The number of claimed attacks shot up to 17 in March, and doubled again in May, averaging more than one a day, though U.S. officials and the source in the pro-Iranian Axis said they are not certain all the claimed attacks were genuine.

Reuters was not able to determine exactly how many attacks have been launched nor how many hit their intended target.

The attacks are frequently accompanied by video released on social media purporting to show the projectiles being fired from remote Iraqi desert sites as militants shout the names of holy figures revered mainly by Shi'ites. Reuters was not able to verify the date or location of the videos.

While Israel rarely comments on its operations in neighboring states, it is thought to have struck pro-Iran groups in Iraq before, in 2019, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had given the military "a free hand" to act "to thwart Iran's plans".

Asked to provide information on launches by Iran-backed factions in Iraq, the Israeli military declined to comment.

Israeli authorities have publicly confirmed at least two impacts on the coastal city of Eilat that Israeli media said came from Iraq, on a school in November and a naval base in April.

Additionally, the military has announced many interceptions of projectiles coming "from the east", widely seen as a reference to Iraq. No injuries or deaths have been reported as a result of the attacks.

Amos Yadlin, a retired Israeli air force general who formerly headed military intelligence, said he would rate the level of threat the attacks pose to Israel as "one step down" from Hezbollah or the Houthis.

The U.S. defense official said projectiles fired from Iraq had been intercepted by U.S. forces operating "from various locations in the Middle East, as part of our commitment to Israel's defense and regional security."

"The frequency of these actions has increased in response to the rising number of threats," the official said.

SOURCE:REUTERS

By Timour Azhari and Laila Bassam