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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier safely transited on Friday through the Strait of Hormuz, the worlds most important chokepoint for oil shipments, the U.S. Navy said, as tensions with Iran continue to simmer.

In a scheduled maneuver, the U.S. sent the carrier and several other warships through the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, according to the U.S. Navys Bahrain-based 5th fleet. The Nimitz, Americas oldest carrier in active service, carries some 5,000 sailors and Marines.

American aircraft carriers have for decades sailed through the international oil shipping route in what the U.S. describes as defensive operations aimed at keeping the strait open.

The show of force follows months of escalating incidents in the crucial waterway, which led earlier this year to an American drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad. Tehran responded to that strike by firing ballistic missiles that wounded dozens of American troops in Iraq.

The Nimitzs arrival in the Mideast saw Iran conduct a live-fire drill targeting a mockup aircraft carrier resembling it, underscoring the lingering threat of military conflict between the countries.

The Nimitz strike group is at the peak of readiness, said Rear Adm. Jim Kirk, its commander.

The Nimitz, whose homeport is Bremerton, Washington, has patrolled the Arabian Sea since late July. It replaced the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which had spent months in the Arabian Sea on its deployment, breaking the Navys previous at-sea record. Navy officials have limited port calls due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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US carrier transits Strait of Hormuz amid tensions with Iran - Yahoo News

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) For the third straight day, federal prosecutors have announced criminal charges accusing Iranian nationals with conducting cyberattacks in the U.S., with the charges this time targeting a member of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.

The most recent charges announced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, accuse a member of the Revolutionary Guard and two others of stealing the identities of individuals working in aerospace and satellite technology. The hackers would then use those identities to launch phishing campaigns on the tech workers' peers in order to launch malware and commandeer sensitive data and intellectual property, officials said.

The accused Revolutionary Guard member is Said Arabi, 34. The other two are Mohammad Reza Espargham, 25, and Mohammad Bayati, 34, all Iranian nationals residing in Iran. Espargham is identified in a leader in the Iranian Dark Coders Team, described in the indictment as a notorious group of Iranian hackers responsible for numerous computer intrusions worldwide.

All three are living in Iran. Court records do not list an attorney for any of the men.

The use of malware, the theft of commercial data and intellectual property, and the use of social engineering to steal the identities of United States citizens to accomplish unlawful acts will not be tolerated," said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia G. Zachary Terwilliger, whose office is prosecuting the case.

Prosecutors say the conspiracy stretched from 2015 through 2019. The indictment spells out one phishing attack that uses the name of an unidentified college professor who purportedly was seeking help on a project related to the processing of satellite images. The email asks recipients to click on a link to assist with the project.

Earlier this week,prosecutors in Boston obtained indictmentsagainst an Iranian national and a Palestinian national for allegedly defacing websites across the U.S. in retaliation to thetargeted killingof Iran Gen. Qassem Soleimani, replacing the websites' content with pictures of the top Iranian general and messages such as Down with America.

And on Wednesday, the department announced charges against two Iranian nationals accused of stealing hundreds of terabytes of data in a hacking campaign targeting institutions in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced sanctions against an Iranian cyber threat group known as Advanced Persistent Threat 39 (APT39) and 45 individuals associated with the group. In a statement, Pompeo called Iran one of the worlds leading threats to cybersecurity and human rights online.

We will continue to expose Irans nefarious behavior and impose costs on the regime until they turn away from their destabilizing agenda. Pompeo said.

Excerpt from:
More Iranian Nationals Charged with Hacking Crimes - Manufacturing.net

Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the NCRI

Maryam Rajavi: Human rights for all the Iranian people, comprehensive sanctions against the religious dictatorship, and recognizing the Iranian peoples resistance and struggle for freedom

Maryam Rajavi: The 1988 massacre and the November 2019 killings must be referred to the U.N. Security Council. The time has come to remove impunity for Khamenei and the regimes officials. They must face justice

On the brink of the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly, an online international summit, entitled Trans-Atlantic Summit on Iran Policy, Time to Hold the Iranian Regime Accountable, brought together Iranians in various countries around the world from 10,000 locations.

Among the personalities who addressed the summit were 30 bipartisan U.S. lawmakers from the House and the Senate, including Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Roy Blunt, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Bob Menendez, and dignitaries like Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor, General James Jones, National Security Advisor to President Obama (2009-2010), Newt Gingrich, 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Joseph Lieberman, former U.S. Senator, as well as a delegation of U.K. lawmakers, and Amb. Giulio Terzi, former Foreign Minister of Italy.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the keynote speaker of the summit, paid tribute to Navid Afkari, a rebellious national hero recently executed by the regime and said: Faced with executions and massacres, the people of Iran urge the United Nations, and the U.N. Security Council, in particular, to restore snapback sanctions stipulated in the six U.N. resolutions against the clerical regime in Iran. Otherwise, Khamenei will continue to ravage the nation as his regimes survival depends on murder and suppression. If Khamenei were to stop executions, he would lose control of the situation, and uprisings simmering in the depths of Iranian society would erupt and overthrow the mullahs religious fascism.

Mrs. Rajavi emphasized Khameneis role in the heartbreaking deaths of over 105,000 people who had lost their lives to the Coronavirus, ranking Iran as the country with the highest number of fatalities per capita in the world, and added: No one initially believed that the clerical regime had deliberately shot down the Ukrainian airliner when it first happened. Likewise, it is hard to believe that Khamenei and Rouhani are deliberately sending people to their deaths by exposing them to the Coronavirus. But they have, infact, adopted the strategy of causing mass human casualties to protect their regime from the Iranian peoples protests and from the danger of being overthrown.

Mrs. Rajavi added: The value of assets amassed by institutions and foundations controlled by Khamenei amounts to more than one trillion dollars. All these properties, assets, and resources belong to the people of Iran but so far, not a cent of it has been allocated to their health and medical care The Coronavirus is the mullahs strongest ally; imprisonment and executions are their most essential instruments of power, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the most reliable killing machine to prop up their rule If you do not intend to crack down on the public, stoke wars and export terrorism, one army should be sufficient for you. Do not impose the astronomical expenses of the IRGC on the people of Iran. Dissolve the IRGC and spend the money used for its expenses on health and medical care instead, and pay the salaries of nurses, workers, teachers, and public sector employees.

Mrs. Rajavi recalled the uprisings of 2017 and 2019, pointing to the escalation in suppression and murder of MEK supporters and protesters, including the massacre of 1,500 young people and teenagers during the November 2019 uprisings. She also mentioned the mass arrests, torture, and recent death sentences for detainees on charges of moharebeh (waging war on God) and said: The clerical regime is at war with the people of Iran and with the world community. The wrong international policies that aid the murderers of the people of Iran, allowing the religious fascism to violate the rights of the people of Iran and spread war and terrorism in the Middle East, must be stopped.

The NCRI President-elect outlined a three-pronged policy approach vis-a-vis the mullahs regime, comprised of: human rights for all the people of Iran, comprehensive sanctions against the religious dictatorship, and recognition of the Iranian peoples Resistance and struggle for freedom in Iran.

Mrs. Rajavi added: It is a mistake to think that a reduction of international sanctions will result in the regime abandoning its belligerence. Ironically, it was under the auspices of the JCPOA that the Iranian regimes terrorism ravaged Europe.

The Trans-Atlantic Summit on Iran Policy featured hundreds of distinguished political personalities from the U.S. and Europe. Some of the dignitaries who either directly addressed the summit or sent messages of support included: Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former U.S. National Security Advisor General James Jones, General Jack Keane, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Senator Robert Torricelli, Senator Kelly Ayotte, former Albanian prime minister Pandeli Majko, Chairman of Albanias Republican Party Fatmir Mediu, Chair of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Socialist Movement for Integration and former Minister of European Integration of Albania Klajda Gjosha Ambassador Robert Joseph, former Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi, British parliamentarian and former Brexit Minister David Jones, senior Member of British Parliament Bob Blackman, US Senate Rules Committee Chairman Roy Blunt, ranking member of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Menendez, Chairman of Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on The Judiciary and member of Foreign Relations Committee Ted Cruz, member of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jeanne Shaheen, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Chairman of subcommittees such as human rights and womens issues Marco Rubio, Chairman of Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and member of Foreign Relations Committee Rob Portman, member of Senate Armed Services Committee and Chairwomen of Subcommittee on Water and Power Martha McSally, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel, Rep. Ted Yoho, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, Rep. Tom McClintock, Rep. Raul Ruiz, Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Lance Gooden, Rep. Janice Schakowsky, Rep. Kathleen Rice, Rep. Tom Emmer, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Rep. David Joyce, Robert Aderholt, Rep. French Hill, Rep. Brad Schneider, Rep. Don Bacon, Rep. Glenn Grothman, Rep. Jody Hice, as well as representatives Mikie Sherrill Rob Woodall who sent written declarations of support for the gathering.

The global virtual gathering started on Friday at 17:00 European Central Time and continued until 22:00.

Speakers in the summit demanded justice for over 30,000 MEK and other activists, political prisoners massacred in 1988. They urged an end to the policy of appeasement and demanded those who ordered and carried out this great crime, who currently occupy high positions in the regime, to be brought to justice.

Speakers also pointed to the criminal execution of champion wrestler Navid Afkari and urged international intervention to stop the wave of executions and death penalties for anti-regime protesters and especially those detained during the November 2019 uprising.

The summit was broadcast live by satellite into Iran and was also available on social media, including Twitter and Facebook, airing live on the internet in five different languages.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

September 18, 2020

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Policy on Iran: The Imperative of Sanctions and Holding the Regime to Account - NCRI - National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

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