TOP STORIES Western Intelligence Says Iran Is Rearming Despite UN Sanctions, with China’s Help | CNN Iran appears to be stepping up the rebuilding of its ballistic missile program, despite the reintroduction last month of United Nations sanctions that ban arms sales to the country and ballistic missile activity. European intelligence sources say several shipments of sodium perchlorate, the main precursor in the production of the solid propellant that powers Iran’s mid-range conventional missiles, have arrived from China to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas since the so-called “snapback” mechanism was triggered at the end of September. Iran Close to Nuclear Bomb Before US Strike: Trump | Newsweek “I ended eight wars in eight months—the most of any president in history," Trump said, speaking to troops” . . . “They took out that nuclear capability. Iran would have had a nuclear weapon within two months. Not anymore,” the president stated. Mossad Reveals Foiled Iranian Terror Plots in Australia, Greece, and Germany | i24 News The Mossad announced on Sunday that it had uncovered the mechanisms behind several Iranian-led terrorist plots thwarted in Australia, Greece, and Germany between 2024 and 2025. Israeli intelligence said multiple terror cells linked to these operations have been dismantled and their members arrested. . . . One of the key figures named in the revelations is Sardar Amar, a senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and head of the 11th Brigade under Quds Force chief Esmail Qaani. Mossad claims Amar led a network tasked with striking Israeli and Jewish targets abroad and was directly connected to the foiled operations in Greece, Australia, and Germany. UANI IN THE NEWS Iran, Russia, China: the Rising Axis Threatening Britain | UANI Director of IRGC Research Kasra Aarabi in the Jewish Chronicle Imagine acquiring an Iranian Shahed-136 drone from Ukraine, then presenting it in the UK Parliament to spotlight the sinister military partnership between Putin and the Ayatollah. Well, I did exactly that—and doing so really brought to life the threat we face from this new axis of terror. Russian Mobsters Sentenced to 25 Years for Foiled Plot to Assassinate Iranian Dissident Journalist | Associated Press Two purported Russian mobsters were each sentenced to 25 years behind bars Wednesday for hiring a hitman to kill Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad at her Brooklyn home three years ago on behalf of the Iranian government. . . . Outside the courthouse afterward, Alinejad appeared at a bank of microphones with [UANI Senior Advisor] Barry Rosen, one of more than 50 Americans who were seized in Iran in 1979 and held hostage for more than a 14 months. “Justice is beautiful,” Alinejad said as she held a yellow sunflower someone had given her. She said Rosen, who had a gun held to his head when he was a hostage, “is here to stand by my side to see justice.” Rosen called Alinejad “one of the most important people in the world” for her efforts to give voice to the voiceless in Iran and elsewhere around the globe. Diplomatic Exchange: Sikorski vs. Iran over Drones for Russia | Super Express (translated from Polish) The source of the dispute is an exhibition organized in the British Parliament by the American activist organization United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). During the presentation, which took place on Tuesday, the Shahed-136 drone was presented, which, according to the organizers, was used against Ukraine. The exhibition was intended to draw attention to Tehran’s role in supporting Moscow's military campaign. NUCLEAR DIPLOMACY & NUCLEAR PROGRAM Iran Isn’t Actively Enriching Uranium but Movement Detected Near Nuclear Sites, UN Official Tells AP | Associated Press Iran does not appear to be actively enriching uranium, but renewed movement has been detected recently at the country’s nuclear sites, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog told The Associated Press on Wednesday. SANCTIONS, SHIPPING, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS US Restores India Waiver for Operations at Iran’s Chabahar Port | Iran International The United States has reinstated a sanctions waiver allowing India to operate Iran’s Chabahar Port, weeks after Washington revoked the exemption as part of its so-called maximum pressure campaign on Tehran. . . . The renewed approval lets India proceed with its 10-year agreement signed last year with Tehran to develop and manage the port, viewed by New Delhi as a vital trade corridor linking India with Afghanistan and Central Asia while bypassing Pakistan. For Iran, whose economy remains under heavy US sanctions, the waiver offers a rare opening. Chabahar remains one of the few international projects connecting the country to global trade routes. Iranian Oil Discounts to China Widen on Sanctions, Quota Shortage | Reuters The discounts on Iranian oil offered to China have hit their widest in more than a year, as tightening sanctions on Russia and Iran squeeze buying from independent refiners already constrained by a shortage of crude import quotas, trade sources said on Wednesday. Iran Takes over Major Private Bank to Prevent Collapse | Financial Times Iran has mounted one of the largest interventions in the country’s financial system in decades after taking over a major privately owned lender that had been pushed to the brink of collapse by years of spiralling debt and alleged mismanagement. The central bank has reassured the 7.6mn depositors with Ayandeh Bank that their funds remain safe, seeking to calm a financial system already under severe strain. Ayandeh has been folded into state-owned Bank Melli Iran (BMI), whose white banners now cover its branches. Iran, Russia and the New Zealand Insurer That Kept Their Sanctioned Oil Flowing | Reuters Last Christmas, the tanker Yug cruised out of the Chinese port of Qingdao after offloading 2 million barrels of sanctioned Iranian oil. Near the Arctic, a vessel carrying Russian crude churned through icy seas, bound for India. Six thousand miles away, a third ship unloaded its cargo of Iranian oil off the coast of Malaysia. The three tankers had different owners, different operators and different clients. But they shared one thing: a small insurer headquartered in New Zealand, backstopped by some of the world’s biggest reinsurance firms. Iran Demands $170m from Owner of Seized Israel-Linked Ship | Agence France-Presse Iran has demanded a $170 million fine from the owner of a cargo ship that it seized in Gulf waters last year and accused of having ties to Israel, a judicial official said Tuesday. The Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, intercepted the MSC Aries in April of 2024 and detained its 25 international crew members. Financial Watchdog Keeps Iran on Blacklist Citing Insufficient Cooperation | Iran International The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said on Friday Iran will remain on its list of high-risk countries for failing to fully accept the body’s rules days after Iran's conditional accession to a UN convention against terror financing. ASSASINATION PLOTS 2 Men Face Sentencing in Plot to Kill Iranian American Journalist | ABC News A plot to assassinate Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad at her Brooklyn home came “chillingly near success,” prosecutors told a judge who will sentence two purported Russian mobsters. Prosecutors are seeking 55-year prison terms for Rafat Amirov, 46, and Polad Omarov, 41, at their sentencing on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors said Amirov, of Iran, and Omarov, of Georgia, were crime bosses in the Russian mob. PROTESTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS Repression in Iran Worsened After 12-Day War with Israel in June, UN Probe Finds | Agence France-Presse United Nations factfinders denounce Iran’s intensification of oppression since the country’s 12-day war with Israel in June, noting more than 21,000 arrests and mistreatment of minorities and journalists. ‘If You Don't Confess, We'll Kill Your Father’: Iran Tortures Family Over Distant Relative’s Alleged Crime | IranWire Interrogators hung Amir Hassan Akbari Monfared upside down for two hours and repeatedly kicked his stomach. When that failed to extract a confession, they brought in his disabled father, placed him in a wheelchair, held a gun to his head, and told him: confess, or your father dies. The 23-year-old accounting graduate still refused to admit any role in smuggling weapons to a distant cousin accused of murdering two Iranian judges. Nine months later, he remains in detention, along with his 58-year-old father, despite both being acquitted of the murder charges. MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS Turkish Nationals Charged over Plot to Smuggle Firearms from Iran into Israel | Jerusalem Post Three Turkish nationals were charged in Nazareth with plotting to smuggle pistols from Iran into Israel through Jordan, including one accused of aiding terror. LEBANON, HEZBOLLAH & IRAN Hezbollah Is Rearming, Putting Cease-Fire at Risk | Wall Street Journal Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is rebuilding its armaments and battered ranks, defying the terms of a cease-fire agreement and raising the prospect of renewed conflict with Israel, according to people familiar with Israeli and Arab intelligence. The intelligence shows Iranian-backed Hezbollah is restocking rockets, antitank missiles and artillery, the people said. Some of those weapons are coming in via seaports and weakened but still functional smuggling routes through Syria, some of the people said. Hezbollah is manufacturing some new weapons itself, one of the people said. | 
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