An Iranian oil tanker seen at a port terminal in August 2021
After the US-Iran hostage release deal, a report said Monday that Tehran boosted its oil exports to levels not witnessed since 2017, when there were no sanctions.
TankerTrackers.com that monitors global oil shipments, reported that in the initial 20 days of August, Iran dispatched an average of over two million barrels of oil daily, marking a more than 30-percent surge compared to the past few months.
Bloomberg and others who reported on the developmentdid not offer a specific reason, but except the agreement announced in mid-August that the United States allowed the release of $6 billion of Iran’s money frozen in South Korean banks in exchange for five American hostages, no particular event or decision can be cited.
Iran’s oil exports began to decline in 2018 when former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA nuclear accord in May 2018 and imposed third-party sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and international banking. By 2019, Iran was barely shipping 250,000 barrels per day and according to some of its senior officials at the time, it was earning less than $10 billion a year.
Changes started in late 2020 when Joe Biden won the US presidential election. In September of that year, he declared in a CNN op-ed that he aimed to reverse Trump’s decision and resurrect the Iran nuclear deal. China immediately increased Iranian oil purchases, pushing exports to about 700,000 barrels per day by mid-2021. During this period, Tehran engaged in indirect negotiations with Washington concerning the JCPOA, which persisted for 18 months without yielding any results.
After Washington announced last October that it was no longer pursuing the revival of the Obama-era deal, secret talks apparently continued with Iran, eventually resulting in the hostage release agreement. However, numerous media reports have indicated that the deal with Tehran goes far beyond the cash-for-hostages deal and the Biden administration has also agreed not to enforce sanctions in return for Iran slowing down its uranium enrichment.
The news of shipping 2 million barrels of oil per day appears to be the first indication that US oil sanctions on Iran are virtually defunct.
Although Iran is selling the oil with discounts to China and possibly to others now, even a $50/barrel price tag will bring in more than $100 million a day for Iran’s cash-strapped regime.
The only thing standing on the way of a $40 billion annual cash revenue for Tehran now is the US banking sanctions. So far, Iran has been unable to repatriate a significant part of the oil revenues in cash US dollars or other hard currencies. If Chinese and other third-country banks feel the US will look the other way, that restriction will also disappear.
Iran has shown no indication of having changed its anti-West foreign policy, or its malign behavior in the region. As a matter of fact, the United States has beefed up its naval and air powerin the Persian Gulf in recent months, concerned that Tehran can continue threatening commercial shipping.
US Republican lawmakers and others who have already voiced serious concern with the hostage deal will see Iran’s oil export data as a vindication of their warnings that President Biden has made a secret deal with Tehran, with no Congressional oversight, as the law requires.
Controversy has erupted within the legal community in Iran as attorney license authority moves away from independent bar associations to the government.
During an open session of parliament on Monday, a new clause was passed into the resolution, compelling bar associations to adhere to decisions made by the Regulatory Board of the Ministry of Economy.
Lawyers across the country are outraged at this decision. Hassan Safadoust, head of the Central Bar Association, said, "The parliamentary resolution granting authority to the Ministry of Economy for issuing, extending, and revoking attorney licenses runs contrary to international legal norms, documents, and agreements."
In defiance, the board of directors of the Alborz Bar Association unanimously announced the cancellation of its scheduled activities.
Numerous lawyers have highlighted that the "parliamentary resolution pertaining to bar associations contradicts overarching judiciary policies."
Ali Pazouki, head of the Zanjan Bar Association, warned that the resolution could have irrevocable implications for the country, transforming the judicial system into a "commercial enterprise" and lawyers into "illicit traders and delinquents."
Mohammad Shivaei, a lawyer and member of the Central Bar Association, expressed his concerns on the social networking site X (formerly known as Twitter), stating that the parliamentary resolution relinquishes the authority of the legal profession and the right to defense to the government and the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The Bar Association, as a long-standing professional and legal institution in Iran spanning four decades, has consistently encountered pressures from governmental bodies and the judiciary, resulting in gradual diminishment of its autonomy and authority through the enactment of various laws.
The process of releasing US prisoners held in Iran will take up to two months, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Monday during a press conference.
"A specific time frame has been announced by relevant authorities, and it will take a maximum of two months for this process to take place," Kanaani said.
Earlier this month, Tehran and Washington reached an agreement whereby five US citizens held hostage in Iran would be freed while $6bn of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea would be released.
Iranian assets that had been frozen in South Korea were transferred to Switzerland's central bank last week for exchange and transfer to Iranian bank accounts in Qatar, South Korean media reported on Monday.
The deal foresees the funds remaining in Qatar to be spent on Iranian imports of food, medicine and other “non-sanctionable” goods. The US insists it will have oversight to make sure that the funds are not used for other purposes, however, Iran has said it has full control over the money.
Washington would also release some Iranians from US prisons, Iran said.
Iran allowed four detained US citizens to move into house arrest from Tehran's Evin prison, a lawyer for one said. A fifth was already under home confinement.
The deal has led to criticism in the United States by those who say the $6 billion is essentially a ransom paid for the hostages and it will only encourage Iran and other actors to detain Americans and demand money or concessions. Twenty-six Republican Senators have written to President Joe Biden demanding clarifications. Critics also argue that the money will provide Iran with the ability to spread its terror activities and other malign acts.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a statement highlighting the positive improvement of diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The statement, released on Monday, referenced a telephone conversation between China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, discussing the ongoing efforts to foster better relations. Wang Yi underscored China's unwavering support for Tehran's core interests, leading to what he termed a "wave of reconciliation" in the Middle East.
The mediation by China resulted in a notable détente between Iran and Saudi Arabia earlier this year. Wang Yi commended Iran's initiatives in fortifying its relationship with Saudi Arabia, which included a significant meeting between Amir-Abdollahian and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah.
"China appreciates the correct decision made by the Iranian side," Minister Wang Yi noted, reaffirming China's steadfast commitment to encouraging diplomacy in the region. He also emphasized the urgency of reinstating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to comprehensively address the Iranian nuclear issue.
In recent years, Iran's nuclear program has sparked international debates. While Iranian authorities have expressed a willingness to engage with the West, certain elements within Iran have signaled a more assertive stance. A report released in March, suggests that Iran has been producing uranium enriched to 60% purity — a level for which experts say Tehran has no civilian use.
Negotiations to revive the JCPOA commenced in 2022 and have faced several obstacles. Despite international diplomatic efforts, Iran continued to augment its enriched uranium stockpile, raising concerns over its nuclear ambitions and its capability to weaponize nuclear materials.
A recent report by Middle East Forum (MEF) delves into Amin family's US pistachio business, uncovering its role in advancing Islamic Republic's agenda.
The shocking six-month investigation of the Philadelphia-based MEF revealed “The Amin family’s activities in Iran… have involved collaboration with Iranian institutions sanctioned by the US government or which are linked to violent regime entities, such as the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist group under United States law.”
MEF sounded the national security alarm bells, urging that the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) unit launch investigations into Amin’s questionable business practices and the family’s alleged pro-Iran regime network.
The origin of the Amin’s family pistachio empire started with Ali Akbar Amin who moved to the US in 1952. According to the MEF investigation, “Around 2002, he established the Anar branch of Iran’s Azad University, which analysts today consider an important component of Tehran’s ‘soft power’ efforts. University faculty members stand accused of working on the regime’s nuclear and missile programs.”
The Amin family’s charities-- Maximum Difference and the Amin Foundation—have also pumped significant funds into the National Iranian American Council (NIAC)—an American-based organization widely viewed by many Iranians as a lobby entity for the Islamic Republic, although NIAC says it is a non-profit and non-partisan advocacy organization.
The Amin Family (source: Focus on Western Islamism)
According to MEF, “Since 2015, for instance, both foundations have handed over $400,000 to the National Iranian American Council.”
The authors of the MEF investigation, Kara Hashemi and Sam Westrop, listed a lengthy bill of particulars against the Amin family business dealings with sanctioned Iranian banks and IRGC entities.
According to MEF’s research, the pistachio giant Amin Padidar, founded and run by the Amin family, works with the US-sanctioned Iranian conglomerate Bonyad Mostazafan. The Iranian multi-billion company Mostazafan, according to the US government, is controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the IRGC.
The US Department of Treasury sanctioned Iran’s Bank Sina, which is “Bonyad Mostazafan’s holding company in the investment and financial services industry, “according to the US government.
The EU classified Bank Sina in a list of “Persons and entities involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities and persons and entities providing support to the Government of Iran.”
The brother of former Iranian president Akbar HashemiRafsanjani, whose family comes from the Kerman province, where pistachios are cultivated, referred to the Amin family as his blood relations. Rafsanjani was born into a family of opulent pistachio farmers. The Amin family hails from Rafsanjan in Kerman.
Fatemeh Amin in Tehran being honored by regime officials
Amin family members live both in California and in Iran. The Amins are one of the giant pistachio producers in the US.
The MEF report said, “Amin Padidar’s parent company, Golrang, is closely involved with the regime and its paramilitary force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.”
An additional startling finding of the MEF report is Amin Padidar, collaborates through a trade group known as the Iran Pistachio Association (IPA).
According to the MEF report, “The IRGC-linked company Arian Milan is listed as a financial sponsor of the IPA, alongside Sirjan Bonyad, the primary pistachio subsidiary of the regime’s Bonyad Mostazafan. The Sirjan Bonyad website states that the organization serves to ‘[implement] the policies of Mostazafan Foundation of the Islamic Revolution.’”
In addition to financing NIAC, the Amin family had donated to who’s who of largely pro-Iran regime NGOs in the United States.
MEF wrote, “In 2019 and 2020, the Amin Foundation appeared to split the $50,000 it had given NIAC in previous years, instead now giving $25,000 each year to both NIAC and Quincy. In total, Quincy has received $75,000 from Mark and Reza Amin’s foundation.”
MEF revealed that “The Amin Foundation has also given thousands to the Ploughshares Fund, a left-leaning grant-making foundation that Hassan Dai writes has ‘financially supported groups and individuals who advocate for a friendlier policy with Iran and the lifting of economic sanctions.’”
Ploughshares has worked tirelessly to promote the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran and has funded accused regime apologists such as Iran’s former ambassador to Germany, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who was accused of complicity in Iran’s killing of four Iranian dissidents in Germany in 1992 in Berlin, noted the MEF report.
Iran International previously reported that Mousavian, who teaches at Princeton University, was under fire for bragging about the Iranian regime’s revenge for the US assassination of the US and EU-designated IRGC’s Qassem Soleimani, who coordinated militant groups throughout the region to attack Israel and US interests.
Amin family members have also faced criminal proceeding, including a conviction for illicit transport of $17 million from Iran to the US.
In 2015, Ali Amin (who has the same name as his grandfather) “pleaded guilty to transporting $17 million illegally through unlicensed means from Iran to the United States, using family members and family businesses to effect the transfers. Other Amin family members, including Ali’s brother, as well as his cousins, Fatemeh Amin and her unnamed brothers, were also implicated in the prosecution’s case. Fatemeh was found guilty in a US District Court of having filed a false tax return.”
Fatemeh is a cousin of Ali Amin who is the son of Ali Akbar’s other brother, Hossein Amin, who died in the US in 2008.
Ali Amin’s brother, Michael Amin (also known as Mahmood Michael Amin) is the founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based Primex Worldwide. Primex is major owner of pistachio farms.
MEF also disclosed that ”In 2012, Michael Amin, Mark Amin, his brother Reza Amin, and several others settled with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for nearly $2 million after the agency charged them with insider trading concerning a company named DuPont Fabros Technology.”
According to MEF, “Ideologically, several members of the family are openly radical. Michael Amin regularly posts a wide variety of extremist rhetoric on his social media, citing both far-Left and far-Right sources regularly. His posts include wildly anti-Semitic claims about Jewish genetics and alleged Jewish control over the media and the government.”
The Amin family declined to provide a comment to MEF before the publication of its report.
The Former Deputy Chief of Iran's anti-narcotics police has issued a warning about the emerging challenge of increased Captagon abuse nationwide.
In a recent interview with Etemad daily, Mohammad Masoud Zahedian said abuse cases of Captagon, a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant known by its trademark name, have spiked in recent monthys, since the discovery of an illegal production center in Iraq.
Zahedian expressed the necessity for heightened vigilance in response to this concerning trend, saying that the wave of Captagon consumption has only just begun.
Speaking about the local drug landscape, Zahedian pointed out that while affluent individuals in Tehran are known to consume cocaine, the overall prevalence of cocaine consumption in Iran is limited due to the high associated costs.
He further noted that whilst Captagon consumption is widespread in Arab and African nations, the narcotic is now more widely used in Iran.
Current statistics from 2021 report that Iran has over 12 million drug abusers, with 4.5 million classed as permanent users. Among these, 10% are women and a significant number are children.
Iran, long recognized as a major global conduit for drug trafficking to European markets, allegedly facilitated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
One of the key reasons for the Iranian government's opposition to the ratification of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) bills is its reluctance to open itself up to international audit regarding the role of the IRGC in drug trafficking and the potential laundering of illicit proceeds.
