US/Iran: Nuclear talks on track as hardliner Raisi takes helm; US seizes IRGC-backed websites
Talks aimed at rescuing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (‘JCPOA’ or ‘the Iran deal’) appear to be on track, despite the success at the polls of Iranian hardliner Ebrahim Raisi. President-elect Raisi has been condemned for his role in human rights abuses, including ordering mass executions, imprisonment, and torture, and is himself under US sanctions.
The election result is generally regarded to have been engineered, moderate candidates having been barred from standing.
On 22 June, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the US Iran policy ‘is designed to advance U.S. interests, and that is the case and will be the case regardless of who sits at the helm as president in a process that we have called premanufactured.’
He said that the sixth round of talks had just concluded, the US expected to participate in seventh round, ‘chiefly because it is manifestly in our interest to once again see to it that Iran is permanently and verifiably prevented from obtaining a nuclear weapon.’
And he pointed out that ‘the key decision maker in Iran is the same person today [Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei] as he was before the elections, as he was in 2015 when the JCPOA was consummated for the first time, and in January of 2016 when the JCPOA was implemented for the first time.’
Web ban
In other US/Iran news, on 22 June the US Department of Justice (‘DoJ’) said that the US government had ‘seized 33 websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU) and three websites operated by Kata’ib Hizballah (KH), in violation of U.S. sanctions.’
DoJ said: ‘On Oct. 22, 2020, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated IRTVU as a Specially Designated National (SDN) for being owned or controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC). SDNs are prohibited from obtaining services, including website and domain services, in the United States without an OFAC license.
‘OFAC’s announcement explained that components of the government of Iran, to include IRTVU and others like it, disguised as news organizations or media outlets, targeted the United States with disinformation campaigns and malign influence operations. Thirty-three of the websites seized today were operated by IRTVU. The 33 domains are owned by a United States company. IRTVU did not obtain a license from OFAC prior to utilizing the domain names.
‘Three additional websites seized were operated by KH. On July 2, 2009, OFAC designated KH an SDN, and the Department of State designated KH a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The announcements described KH as an Iraqi terrorist organization that committed, directed, supported or posed a significant risk of committing acts of violence against Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces. OFAC further explained that the IRGC provides lethal support to KH and other Iraqi Shia militia groups who target and kill Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces. The three domains operated by KH were owned by a United States company. KH did not obtain a license from OFAC prior to utilizing the domain names.’
