July 7 – Iran became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), this week, which Iran’s President Ibrahim Raisi said would support security, expand ties and strengthen unity among the member states.
The organization is the world’s largest in terms of geographical scope and population.
Its full members include Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The British government announced a new set of sanctions which would give it more powers to target Iran officials for hostile activities in the UK and globally.
In a UK first, the new regime will allow the implementation of wholly geographical, autonomous sanctions.
The move is likely to anger lawmakers who have repeatedly asked the UK to sanction Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) instead of singling out individuals within the organization. The government said it was concerned that listing the IRGC could fracture diplomatic relations with Iran.
And a United Nations fact finding mission confirmed that it would investigate threats made to journalists in the UK reporting about Iran.
The mission, which was set up to investigate “the deteriorating situation of human rights in Iran, especially with respect to women and children,” told the UN Human Rights Council that its work would include an analysis of journalists being targeted by Iranian officials in and out of Iran, as well as their families.
Outlets such as BBC Persian reported that their journalists had been repeatedly harassed for their coverage of Iran’s nationwide anti-government protests which began in September.
