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Report reveals FBI’s watchlist bias: 98% of names are Muslim

By
IFP Media Wire
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FBI

A report by a Muslim group in the US has revealed that the overwhelming majority of entries on an FBI watchlist, or over 98%, are Muslim names.

The report, titled “Twenty Years Too Many, A Call to Stop the FBI’s Secret Watchlist,” details the FBI’s use of the Terrorism Screening Database, which it said is targeting Muslims.

It was released by Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Monday.

After being provided with a 2019 version of the FBI’s list by a Swiss hacker who discovered it online following its accidental posting by a regional air carrier, CAIR conducted a comprehensive analysis of over 1.5 million entries.

“More than 350,000 entries alone include some transliteration of Mohamed or Ali or Mahmoud and the top 50 most frequently occurring names are all Muslim names,” said the report.

“Of the watchlist entries we’ve reviewed, we estimate that more than 1.47 million of those entries regard Muslims—over 98 percent of the total,” it added.

The report noted that for 20 years, the FBI’s secret list has brought hardship and fear to the Muslim community.

“But the FBI’s next million targets won’t be Muslim. With the War on Terror fog lifting, the FBI’s secret list will one day find a new target. The next targets will be our fellow Americans, and this report is meant as a warning to them,” added the report.

The Muslim group also called President Joe Biden to take action to address the watchlist.

Individuals on the watchlist encounter a range of challenges, including travel restrictions, immigration issues, encounters with the FBI, instances of police violence, difficulties obtaining permits and licenses, professional consequences, and limited access to government buildings.

In a recent incident involving access to a government building, Mayor Mohamed Khairullah of Prospect Park, New Jersey was unexpectedly disinvited by the Secret Service from the White House’s Eid al-Fitr celebration. This disinvitation was attributed to his watchlist status with the FBI.

Iran deputy FM says held talks with delegates of France, Britain, Germany in UAE

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Ali Bagheri Kani

In a tweet, Ali Bagheri-Kani, who also heads Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, said the discussions took place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in line with the Islamic Republic’s “diplomatic talks with regional and extra-regional countries.”

The three European countries are signatories to the multilateral 2015 Iran nuclear deal, JCPOA, which has been in trouble due to the US’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 under former President Donald Trump.

Talks over the revival of the deal have been at an impasse as the US President Joe Biden has been dragging its feet on lifting the anti-Iran sanctions and returning to Washington’s obligations.

The recent talks come as Iran and the US have been engaged in indirect negotiations via intermediaries on a revitalization of the nuclear agreement.

Top diplomat says Russia to respond to West in kind over Iran nuclear talks if necessary

By
IFP Media Wire
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Mikhail Ulyanov

Ulyanov said in a tweet on Tuesday that the Western parties politicized the talks to the maximum possible extent, but their approach has failed to meet their interests.

“Western countries politicized multilateral discussions in Vienna to the maximum possible extent. But now they apparently started to understand that such policy doesn’t correspond to their own interests,” he wrote.

He made clear that Russia’s position will correspond to the West’s policy, adding, “If necessary, we will respond.”

Iran proved the peaceful nature of its nuclear program to the world by signing the JCPOA, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, with six world powers. However, Washington’s exit in May 2018 and its subsequent re-imposition of sanctions against Tehran left the future of the deal in limbo.

Multilateral diplomatic efforts to revive the JCPOA have been stalled since last August, with Iran blaming the United States for failing to guarantee that it will not leave the deal again.

Former US President Donald Trump pulled out of the UN-endorsed agreement in May 2018 and imposed what he called “maximum pressure” sanctions against Iran.

Iran has repeatedly announced that the JCPOA revival is possible if the US and the European signatories to the agreement have the will to reach that aim, warning that the opportunity will not last forever.

Egypt to abandon dollar in trade with BRICS

By
IFP Media Wire
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Dollar

According to Moselhy, Egypt is seeking to use local currencies to pay for its imports from India, China, and Russia – key members of the BRICS group, which also includes Brazil and South Africa.

“Nothing of the sort has been implemented but there are discussions so that we can trade in local currencies of countries like India, Russia or China,” Moselhy told Reuters.

The BRICS group makes up 40% of the world’s population and almost a third of the global economy. The bloc members have recently outpaced the G7 in terms of economic growth.

In April, 19 countries expressed interest in joining BRICS, which is gearing up to hold its 15th annual summit in South Africa over August 22-24. The United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran are among the countries that have formally requested membership.

Egypt is currently trying to buoy its struggling economy, which has been dragged down by a notable decline in revenues from tourism and a surge in commodity prices. Geopolitical tensions have also reportedly prompted foreign investors to pull about $20 billion out of Egypt’s financial markets.

The nation has experienced a sharp surge in inflation over the last year following several waves of currency devaluations, a prolonged shortage of foreign currency, and continuing delays in procuring imports.

Egypt has recently agreed on a $3 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while its Gulf allies have also pledged to come to Cairo’s aid with billions in investments.

Bloomberg earlier reported, citing Moselhy, that India was providing Egypt with a credit line of unspecified size. However, the minister himself denied the claim in an interview with Reuters.

Aliabadi becomes Iran’s new Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Abbas Aliabadi

During a session on Tuesday, Aliabadi presented his plans for the post to the Iranian lawmakers and defended his agenda.

At the session, which was also joined by First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, 157 lawmakers voted in favor of the proposed minister and 58 against. Eight others also abstained.

Aliabadi, 62, will replace Reza Fatemi Amin, who was given a vote of no confidence by the Parliament and dismissed from office in April over his performance and poor handling of the country’s industrial development, specially over the soaring car prices.

Aliabadi holds a PhD in mechanical engineering and has been a professor in the field at various universities.

He has also overseen several developments projects in the country.

Pentagon says 22 U.S. troops injured in Syria helicopter mishap

By
IFP Media Wire
-
US Forces in ME

Twenty-two U.S. service members were injured in a “helicopter mishap” in Syria over the weekend, the Pentagon revealed late on Monday.

“A helicopter mishap in northeastern Syria resulted in injuries of various degrees to 22 U.S. service members” on Sunday, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

The service members are receiving treatment for their injuries, with 10 evacuated to higher care facilities outside CENTCOM’s area of responsibility, the command noted.

“The cause of the incident is under investigation, although no enemy fire was reported,” according to the statement, which did not include further details of the type of helicopter that was involved or time of day the incident took place.

There has been a string of military helicopter accidents in recent months, including in March, when three soldiers were killed, and another injured when two Army helicopters crashed while returning from a training flight over Alaska.

The same month, nine people were killed when two Black Hawk helicopters with the Army’s 101st Airborne Division crashed during a training exercise in Kentucky.

And a Black Hawk helicopter crashed along an Alabama highway during a training exercise in February, killing two Tennessee National Guard pilots.

Economist claims Iran inflation under Raisi set new record high since WWII

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-
Iran Economy

Saed Leylaz, also a journalist and advisor to former president Mohammad Khatami, said, in an interview with Ham-Mihan newspaper, that the inflation rate surpassed 50% in the past Persian calendar year (ended 20 March, 2023), the highest in 80 years.

The inflation rate, he added, “has broken the historical record of inflation after World War II.”

Leylaz accused the administration of having “manipulated” the figures of the inflate rate in the middle of the fiscal year to protect its image, describing the alleged conduct as “morally wrong.”

The Raisi administration says it has set the tackling of inflation and currency devaluation in Iran as priorities for the 2023-2024 budget presented to the Parliament.

Iran’s economy has been subject to draconian sanctions imposed by the US and other Western states.

President Rasi has placed a ‘look-to-the-East’ policy high on its agenda to offset the bans, and has been pushing to promote relations with neighbors, allied countries and Muslim states to that effect.

Palestinian president arrives in Beijing as China seeks larger role in Mideast

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Mahmoud Abbas Xi

State-run broadcaster CGTN said Abbas landed in the Chinese capital on Tuesday morning for a four-day state visit. It is Abbas’s fifth official visit to the world’s second-largest economy.

Official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Abbas is expected to meet China’s President Xi Jinping during the trip.

The two are set to “exchange opinions… on the latest developments on the Palestinian arena as well as on regional and international issues of mutual concern”, Wafa reported. Abbas will also meet Premier Li Qiang, the news agency added.

The longtime Palestinian leader is an “old and good friend of the Chinese people”, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said last week.

“China has always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights,” he added.

Beijing has sought to boost its ties to the Middle East, helping broker a rapprochement in March between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, and challenging long-standing United States influence.

Xi travelled to Saudi Arabia last December for the first China-Arab States Summit on a trip during which he also met Abbas and promised to “work for an early, just and durable solution to the Palestinian issue”.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, meanwhile, was in Beijing in February – the first Iranian leader to visit China in 30 years.

Beijing has also proposed an unprecedented summit with Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council, which could take place later this year.

In an interview with Chinese state news agency Xinhua published this week, Palestinian official Abbas Zaki said China and the Palestinians were “friends closer than brothers”.

“I am very pleased to see that China has been more involved in Middle East affairs after the China-Arab States Summit last year,” he added.

The US has sought to address heightened Israeli-Palestinian tension, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to undermine prospects for a Palestinian state.

Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations have been stalled since 2014.

U.S. official denies any talks with Iran on temporary deal

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Iran US Flags

“There are no talks about an interim deal,” said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

His comment went further than a U.S. denial last week, which called a report the nations were nearing an interim deal “false and misleading” and said reports of such a deal were “false” but did not deny the possibility of talks about one.

The official did not deny media reports of recent U.S.-Iranian contacts but rather stated that suggestions they were about an interim nuclear deal were inaccurate.

“We have made clear to them what escalatory steps they needed to avoid to prevent a crisis and what de-escalatory steps they could take to create a more positive context,” he added, declining to detail these but noting Washington would like to see greater Iranian cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

The spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, has also rejected reports of an interim agreement with the U.S. as media speculation.

He told reporters on Monday that no framework other than the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is being considered and all reports on an interim deal are politicized and aimed at undermining the current talks.

Iran has cautioned the United States that the window of opportunity for an agreement on reviving the nuclear deal will not remain open forever, urging Washington to adopt a constructive approach to salvage the accord.

Iran showed to the world the peaceful nature of its nuclear program by signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with six world states — namely the U.S., Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China. But, Washington’s unilateral withdrawal in May 2018 and its subsequent re-imposition of sanctions against Tehran left the future of the deal in limbo.

Negotiations between the parties to the landmark agreement kicked off in Vienna in April 2021, with the intention of bringing the U.S. back into the deal and putting an end to its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

The discussions, however, have been at a standstill since August 2022 due to Washington’s insistence on not lifting all of the anti-Iran sanctions and offering the necessary guarantees that it will not exit the agreement again.

Data show Germany has resumed petroleum imports from Iran despite US sanctions

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Iran petrochemical production

Data cited in a Monday report by Iran’s official IRNA news agency showed that Germany had taken delivery of a large petroleum shipment from Iran in March.

The report cited data from the European Union’s statistics agency the Eurostat which showed the shipment imported by Germany had contained nearly 70,000 metric tons of Iranian crude oil or petroleum products.

Germany halted imports of crude oil or petroleum products from Iran after taking delivery of a 10,000-mt shipment in October 2018 and after the US withdrew from an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program and imposed sanctions on the country’s oil exports.

Eurostat figures showed that total petroleum imports from Iran by EU countries this year have reached 66,884 mt with Germany and Bulgaria being the only tow buyers.

The figures showed that EU’s petroleum imports from Iran had reached 4,181 mt in 2022.

The figures indicate that EU states are becoming increasingly reluctant to comply with US sanctions on Iran mainly because of a crunch in the international energy markets that has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

That comes as some EU states have ignored Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine war by continuing to import crude oil and gas from the country.

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