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The appeal that the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) heard on Wednesday was filed by the IranJudo Federation against a protective suspension imposed by the International Judo Federation (IJF) one year ago.

The ban, which prevents Iranian judoka from competing in any IJf-sanctioned events, was imposed just weeks after an incident at the 2019 World Judo Championships in Tokyo, when defending champion Saeid Mollaei deliberately lost his semifinal bout in order to avoid a possible match with an Israeli opponent.

Mollaei, who didn't return to Iran following the tournamentbut moved to Germany instead, said he had chosen to throw the fight following a a couple of phone calls and a video call from high-ranking officials with the Iranian regime that his coach received prior to the bout.

He said thatthrough his coach, the officials warned him against winning his semifinal, as an Israeli judoka was favored to win the other semi raising the possibility of the Iranian meeting the Israeli in on the mat. This is something that the Islamic Republic has effectively banned through an unwritten rule for more than four decades.

Shortly after arriving in Germany last year, Mollaei, champion in the 81-kilogram class at the 2018 World Championships in Baku, told DW that he had no choice but to avoid winning his semifinal in Tokyo, whether by throwing the bout, or feigning an injuryas he had done on previous occasions.

"I had to comply with the orders," Mollaei said. "Not only I, but the whole world knows what sort of consequences there would have been had I refused. So I complied with the law to avoid any problems for myself or my family."

Saeid Mollaei deliberately lost his semifinal at the 2019 World Championships in order to avoid facing an Israeli opponent

For its part, the Iran Judo Federation has rejected the accusation.

"The Iran Judo Federation states that Mr. Saeid Mollaei has never been instructed by the Iranian authorities and the Iran Judo Federation to withdraw from competing to avoid a potential contest against an Israeli athlete," the International Judo Federation noted in its statement from October 2019 announcing that the suspension had been finalized.

Now Mollaei is one of three Iranians who are in Lausanne to testify at Tehran's appeal hearing in which the Islamic Republic is seeking to get its ban on competing in international judo events overturned.

The others areMohammad Mansouri, the former coach of Iran's national judo team,and former Iranian judoka Vahid Sarlak, who is now the coach of Tajikistan. Like Mollaei, Sarlak was ordered by the Islamic Republic to avoid facing an Israeli opponent, causing him to choose not to return to his country from the Netherlands following the 2009 World Championships.

Mollaei and Sarlak are by no means alone in this regard. In recent years several other top Iranian athletes have chosen not to return to the Islamic Republic over the unwritten rule against competing against Israelis.

"The athletes are saying: 'We don't want that anymore and we and don't want to support the autocratic mullah regime,'" said German-Iranian journalist Farid Ashrafian, who works for DW's Persian service. "But they always emphasize their Iranian identity, which has nothing to do with the Islamic Republic."

Sarlak, who has known Mollaei from a young age, was at the worlds in Tokyo and heard the calls from Tehran to the Iranian coach ordering Mollaei not to win his semifinal. Speaking to DW's Persian service, Sarlak said as someone who had also suffered under this policy while still an active wrestler, he decided to testify against Iran's appeal to try to help bring an end to Tehran's policy of preventing its athletes from competing against Israelis.

Vahid Sarlak chose not to return to Iran after the 2009 World Championships

"Iranian athletes want to be able to compete against athletes from all other nations, including Israelis," Sarlak said.

Prior to Wednesday's hearing, Sarlak, Mollaei and Mansouri had all been placed under police protection at a secret location in the Lausanne area.

"In recent weeks the Iranian regime has stepped up pressure on me not to testify at the appeal hearing, not to tell the truth about what happened, saying that if I did so I would be a traitor to my country," Sarlak told DW.

However, the former judoka, who is now a naturalized German citizen, said that not only would he not be intimidated, but that he was also convinced that the Iranian side didn't stand a chance of winning its case in court.

"The evidence is so clear that I see no chance at all that the Court of Arbitration for Sport will overturn the Iranian Judo Federation's suspension," Sarlak said. "This will end in a fiasco for the Islamic Republic and the Iranian taxpayers, as they are certain to lose this appeal and then be forced to pay the court costs."

The hearing was completed in just one day, on Wednesday. A verdict is expected in about a month's time.

DW's FaridAshrafian contributed to this report.

Continued here:
Iran appeals to CAS to get ban from international judo overturned - Deutsche Welle

Both men are wanted by the FBI.

The case was filed on Tuesday in federal court in New Jersey, and several of the alleged targets were based in that state. Numerous others are spread across the country and abroad, including in Israel, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

The targets of the attacks include higher education institutions, human rights activists, telecommunications and media agencies and defense contractors, according to the indictment. The attacks go as far back as at least 2013, it said.

One allegedly targeted group was a New York-based international organization that promoted the nonmilitary and safe use of nuclear technology. Heidarian and Farhadi hacked sensitive nuclear information in the lead-up to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, in 2015, according to the indictment.

Another target was a government agency in Afghanistan that allowed the hackers to access internal communications going up to the Afghan president, the indictment said.

We will not bring the rule of law to cyberspace until governments refuse to provide safe harbor for criminal hacking within their borders, John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement. Todays defendants will now learn that such service to the Iranian regime is not an asset, but a criminal yoke that they will now carry until the day they are brought to justice.

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Iranian nationals indicted in hacking of U.S. networks - POLITICO

Members of an Irish group arrested on terrorist charges after seeking arms from Hezbollah met with officials at Irans Dublin Embassy, security sources have told The National.

It can also be disclosed that the former members of the Provisional IRA have reactivated Hezbollah contacts to get finance and weapons for the New IRA terror group (NIRA).

The Irish terrorists have been seeking advanced bomb-making technology developed in Iran and Lebanon that would allow them to successfully penetrate police armoured vehicles in Northern Ireland, intelligence sources said.

Nine members of the NIRA, including three women, were arrested last week following a long-running undercover operation run by MI5, the British security service.

Among those who appeared in court after the arrests was Dr Issam Hijjawi Bassalat, a Palestinian, who was held on remand by a court this week charged with a single count of preparatory acts of terrorism. He reportedly travelled to a NIRA meeting where he was alleged to have briefed the accused about the situation in Palestine.

Security sources have disclosed that at least two people now in custody were at a commemoration ceremony in the embassy following the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani who was killed in a January drone strike by America.

It appears that they were forging the links between the New IRA, Iran and Hezbollah, said an intelligence source. No weapons from Hezbollah had been received although they were on the verge of concluding some form of agreement but now the whole thing has been shattered.

It is understood the embassy event also commemorated the death of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, who has a street named after him in Tehran.

Following Soleimani's death the political wing of NIRA, Saoradh, put out a statement saying they were "outraged at the murder".

There are warnings of a bombing campaign in Europe by Hezbollah after US intelligence disclosed that caches of ammonium nitrate had been hidden in several countries including France, Italy and Spain.

Going into an Iranian Embassy just shows that the links are strong because that's not been done on a whim, said Doug Beattie, an Ulster Unionist politician. Its a deliberate move to show that the New IRA have allegiance to the Iranian regime and Hezbollah and thats of great concern. It's clear that without a shadow of a doubt that the links between the new IRA and Hezbollah are increasing. They are getting ever more sophisticated in their technologies and passing on their bomb-making technology.

Mr Beattie, a decorated former British soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, warned if the political situation in Northern Ireland deteriorated over Brexit or Covid there was a real fear that experienced former Provisional IRA terrorists might join NIRA.

There was also a concern that contacts with Hezbollah might improve NIRAs ability to detonate bombs via remote control or other methods. There is higher level of sophistication that NIRA might be looking bring in from Hezbollah and that is a serious danger to police.

MI5 moved in on the terror group after it was established NIRA were close to securing weapons from Hezbollah following a visit to Lebanon in 2018 by the Irish dissidents.

Much of the information was gathered from covert bugging devices placed behind a private bar set up at a house in Scotland used by the undercover agent after taking the NIRA members to Celtic football matches in Glasgow.

Former police Detective Superintendent Dr Bill Duff, an intelligence academic, warned of shipping containers being used to bring in weapons and explosives from the Middle East. If Iran or Hezbollah were to load up a container with AK47's and plastic explosives in say, Karachi, bound for Dublin via several other container hubs then it is possible that it will get through."

He added that while the dissident republicans were mad, desperate and pathetic people that did not make them any less dangerous because if they manage to establish links with groups like Hezbollah who will certainly be inclined to support them".

Colin Breen, a former police officer and author, said that it appeared the Hezbollah connection had been made by old campaigners from the Provisional IRA.

They are making connections with Hezbollah for arms and cash but also because Hezbollah has international status as a terrorist group and that's a status the New IRA don't have.

In the past the IRA got weapons and other support from the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Libya, the Colombian insurgents FARC and Spanish terror group ETA.

Updated: September 19, 2020 01:02 AM

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Irish terrorists in Hezbollah weapons sting met with Iranian embassy officials - The National

BAGHDAD An explosive device blew up late Thursday night inside the American Institute for English Learning in the holy city of Najaf, adding to concerns about an increase in such attacks in the country.

The blast damaged the facade of the institute without causing any casualties, Iraqi police said in a statement, noting that an investigation has been launched into the incident.

The American Institute is an educational centre that teaches English language. It is not formally affiliated with any institution in the US and all of its employees are Iraqis.

Shia militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr warned against targeting cultural and diplomatic sites in Iraq, which he said could lead the country to a dark tunnel and into a spiral of violence.

Whoever is behind the attack exposes Iraq and Iraqi to danger, he added.

Iran-backed militias are suspected of targeting the US presence in Iraq.

Hours before the attack on the English-language site Thursday, a roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi convoy transporting equipment destined for the US-led coalition in the Babylon governorate without causing any casualties.

Over the past few weeks, attacks targeting the US presence and forces of other countries in the international coalition against ISIS have been on the rise.

Washington accuses armed Iraqi factions linked to Iran of being behind the attacks. Such factions have previously targeted the US embassy and military bases where American soldiers are deployed.

Analysts see that these attacks as part of efforts to embarrass the US administration before the November presidential elections, while others see them as aimed at pressuring the Iraqi government to follow through with an earlier vote in parliament demanding the withdrawal of US forces.

Armed Shia militia, including the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, threatened to target American troops in the country if they did not withdraw, in compliance with the Iraqi parliaments decision.

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Pro-Iran militias suspected of attack on US school in Iraq | | AW - The Arab Weekly

Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said in a televised address that Iran will expand its nuclear program and will not negotiate with the United States, doubling down on his defiance of the Trump administrations maximum pressure policy.

In a Friday speech for the Eid al-Adha holiday, Ayatollah Khamenei said that entering talks with Washington over Irans nuclear program, as President Trump has urged Tehran to do, would only improve Mr. Trumps chances of being re-elected in November. That, the ayatollah said, was Mr. Trumps reason for suggesting such talks in the first place.

He is going to benefit from negotiations, Ayatollah Khamenei said. This old man who is in charge in America apparently used negotiations with North Korea as propaganda, he added a reference to Mr. Trumps high-profile nuclear diplomacy on another front, which to date has been mostly fruitless.

Ayatollah Khamenei also said that Iran would maintain its close alliances with militia groups in the region that it uses as proxies, defying another demand from the Trump administration.

The Iranian leader was not the first to connect the possibility of talks with the United States to the presidential election. Last month, Mr. Trump said on Twitter that Iran could make a better deal if it did so before November. Dont wait until after U.S. Election to make the Big deal, he wrote. Im going to win. Youll make a better deal now!

The United States has continued to tighten sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, which have had a crippling effect on the Middle Eastern countrys economy. On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the State Department would expand the sanctions to cover 22 materials believed to be used in Irans nuclear, military and ballistic missile programs.

Ayatollah Khamenei said that Iran would not try to negotiate its way out of the sanctions and that it would be better off relying on its own industrial development. He said the Americans were targeting his countrys economy in the hope that Iranians would rise up against their government, which the ayatollah dismissed as pipe dreams.

Mr. Khamenei said that developing the nuclear program was an absolute necessity for Irans future. He dismissed the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and several world powers, which Mr. Trump abandoned in 2018, as very damaging, saying that Iran had suffered economic setbacks because of it.

Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is meant exclusively for peaceful purposes, but the United States and other countries believe it is pursuing the capacity to build a nuclear weapon.

The Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, who was in charge of the negotiations for Iran, said as recently as last month in Parliament that the negotiating team had Ayatollah Khameneis full support and blessing to reach a deal.

The ayatollah, who recently directed his closest economic advisers to cement a 25-year military and economic partnership with China, said in his speech that European countries involved in the nuclear deal were unreliable, and that their attempts to salvage the pact such as creating a secure financial channel so that Iran could maintain a limited amount of trade were useless games.

Some Iranian officials and analysts have said that Irans strategy was to wait out the remainder of Mr. Trumps term in hopes of a Democratic victory that could revive the deal, which was reached under President Barack Obama.

Khamenei has always believed that accommodating to one U.S. demand would bring about another demand and another, said Sina Azodi, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington. For him, every solution would bring about another problem.

But analysts, entrepreneurs and businessmen inside Iran have warned that the economy risks collapse if the current situation continues.

Since the United States pulled out of the nuclear deal in May 2018, Irans currency has dropped sharply and inflation has surged. The government said it faced a budget deficit of nearly 30 percent this fiscal year. Oil sales have plummeted from 2.5 million barrels a day to about 300,000, nearly eliminating Iran from the global crude oil market.

Original post:
Iran Will Expand Nuclear Program and Wont Talk to U.S., Ayatollah Says - The New York Times