Oct. 10 – China has found a way to bypass U.S. oil sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran which allows it to pay for the fuel, according to western officials familiar with the matter.
The system, which is able to sidestep the international banking system in part by using secretive financial entities owned by the Chinese state, has enabled up to $8.4 billion in oil payments through the channel.
The Trump administration has tried to push Iran’s oil exports to zero in recent months to cripple the country’s main source of revenue, following failed discussions about its nuclear program, which Washington wants to see dismantled.
Australia confirmed that its government would be introducing a bill allowing foreign state entities to be listed as “state sponsors of terrorism” after the Australian Security Intelligence Organization found that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was behind two anti-semitic attacks in Australia.
The government said the legislation would make it harder and more costly for bad actors to carry out such attacks in the future.
Several countries have already proscribed the IRGC, which is one of Iran’s most powerful and influential military units, including the U.S., Canada and Saudi Arabia.
And the Islamic Republic has sentenced three prisoners of conscience to death, including one woman, under the charge of ‘waging war against God.’
Nasimeh Eslamzehi, a Baloch woman, her Kurdish husband Arsalan Shekhi, and another prisoner identified as Hassan were accused of bombing a bus resulting in the death of an 18-month-old child. All three defendants denied the charges.
Human rights organizations have accused the government of targeting the defendants due to their ethnic background.
