This story starts—“Just a few decades ago, Iran boasted the greenest government in the Middle East. An expansive national park network protected species found almost nowhere else in the world. The nation’s rivers delivered potable water; air pollution was minimal. But now, the parks are being subsumed by development. The country’s waterways are withering away, in no small part because neither conservationists nor campaigners dare voice their concerns about the environment for fear of retribution. Many top wildlife biologists languish behind bars, and so some of Iran’s unique species are endangered only decades after a previous generation of conservationists had brought them back from the brink. “Highly respected conservationists in Iran face torture, unfair trials on fabricated charges, and prolonged arbitrary detention,” says Richard Pearshouse, head of crises and environment at Amnesty International. “Iran’s revolutionary guards and courts have effectively obliterated the civic space required for legitimate wildlife conservation.””  See “How Iran is destroying its once thriving environmental movement,” Peter Schwartzstein, National Geographic, November 12, 2020.

“Tehran behind cyberattacks against Israeli power grid, Iranian scholar says,” i24NEWS and Israel Hayom, November 12, 2020.  In a sermon on Nov. 6 and aired on Khorasan Shomali TV, “Iman Rahim Mahdavipour claims the Islamic republic … targeted desalination plants inside Israel in early April, in what was a failed attempt to poison the water supply delivered to several central Israeli cities.”  He said, “The first, at the beginning of the year, was against the desalination plants inside Israel, in that occupied land. Similarly, a few days ago, it carried out a cyber attack against some Israeli electricity plants, and disabled most of them.”  These events were in the Israel news at the time.

How did Chaab (based in Sweden) end up in Iran?  “Iran captures Arab separatist leader linked to military parade attack – state TV,” Reuters, November 12, 2020.

“From Satellite to Internet, Iran’s Regime Fears ‘Freedom’,” Pooya Stone, Iran Focus, November 12, 2020.

“Check Point unveils new Iranian cybercrime, ransoming companies’ data,” Hagay Hacohen, Jerusalem Post, November 12, 2020.  “Seven Israeli companies and one Italian company were victimized by Iranian hackers who created a new method for hacking into systems and holding their contents for ransom. The method is called “Pay2Key.” The IT security company Check Point Software Technologies reported the attacks on Thursday. The crime was given its name because victims pay for a “key” to get their data back. “They actually have a sort of ‘gentlemen’s understanding’ that if you pay hackers in one crime-family they won’t touch you again,” head of Cyber Intelligence at Check Point Lotem Finkelstein told The Jerusalem Post. “Some criminals even have support telephone lines for victims who agree to pay but can’t get the key to work and regain access to their data.””