Tag: Iranian peoples

TEHRAN, Iran — A prominent Iranian cleric on Friday threatened two Israeli cities with destruction if the Jewish state “acts foolishly” and attacks its interests again, while thousands of protesters demonstrated against President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal with world powers. The comments by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami followed a week of escalating tensions that threaten to spill over into a wider conflict between the two bitter enemies, who have long fought each other through proxies in Syria and Lebanon. It was the most serious military confrontation between the two rivals to date. “The holy system of the Islamic Republic will step up its missile capabilities day by day so that Israel, this occupying regime, will become sleepless and the nightmare will constantly haunt it that if it does anything foolish, we will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground,” he said, according to state television. His remarks drew chants of “Death to America!” from those gathered for Friday prayers in Tehran. It called on the other parties to the agreement — especially Britain, France and Germany — to safeguard the accord, adding that no provisions or timeframes in the 2015 agreement “are negotiable in any manner.” At the same time, the government said it has tasked the president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran with “taking all necessary steps in preparation for Iran to pursue industrial-scale enrichment without any restrictions.” After Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the deal on Tuesday, Rouhani warned that Iran would resume uranium enrichment at an even higher rate if the accord collapses. The 2015 nuclear deal imposed restrictions on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of most of the U.S. and international sanctions against Tehran. However, the deal came with time limits and did not address Iran’s ballistic missile program or its regional policies. “Or do we want to say we have our economic interests, we consider we will continue to do trade with Iran?” European governments tried for months to persuade Trump to stick with the deal but failed, and now fear it will raise the risk of conflict in the region. And European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini insisted that it’s not up to the U.S. to determine the deal’s future anyway.

The Trump administration has announced criminal charges and sanctions against nine Iranians accused of participating in a government-sponsored hacking scheme to steal sensitive information from hundreds of universities, private companies and US government agencies. The nine defendants, accused of working at the behest of the Iranian government-tied Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, hacked the computer systems of about 320 universities in the United States and abroad to steal expensive research that was then used or sold for profit, prosecutors said. 'It's become a monster': is Iran's revolutionary guard a terror group? The Department of Justice said the hackers were affiliated with an Iranian company called the Mabna Institute, which prosecutors say contracted since at least 2013 with the Iranian government to steal scientific research from other countries. Also on Friday, the treasury department targeted the Mabna Institute and 10 Iranians – the nine defendants and one charged in a separate case last year – for sanctions. But the grand jury indictment – filed in federal court in Manhattan – is part of the government’s “name and shame” strategy to publicly identify foreign hackers, block them from traveling without risk of arrest and put their countries on notice. “People travel. “Having your name, face and description on a ‘wanted’ poster makes moving freely much more difficult.” According to the indictment, the Iranians broke into universities through relatively simple, but common means: tricking professors to click on compromised links. “Just in case you’re wondering, they’re not admiring our work,” Bowdich said. “They’re stealing it, and they’re taking credit for it, and they’re selling it to others.”