Good article capturing what appears to be an Iranian attack on Dimona via missile from Syria, and the article also provides context of the conflict. “Israel says it struck targets in Syria after missile attack,” AP, 4-21-21.
“Iran added two more cascades of IR-4 centrifuges and six clusters of IR-2m at its underground facility. The IAEA also confirmed that some of the centrifuges were in use and said the Islamic Republic plans to install another four cascades of the IR-4 at Natanz.” See “UN atomic agency: Iran has installed additional advanced centrifuges at Natanz,” Times of Israel, April 21, 2021.
“Iran Adds Machines at Enrichment Plant Struck by Blast: IAEA,” Francois Murphy, Reuters, April 21, 2021.
“Israel says Iranian missile could have 5,000 km range,” Jeremy Binnie, Janes, April 21, 2021. A ballistic missile based on Iran’s new Zoljanah satellite launch vehicle would be able to carry a 1 tonne warhead 5,000 km, according to an estimate of the rocket’s capabilities that Israel’s ambassador to the UN submitted to the Security Council in a letter dated 7 April. This capability would make the missile by far the most powerful in Iran’s arsenal as the longest range it can currently achieve is 3,000 km with the Khorramshahr liquid-propellant missile, fitted with a 750 kg warhead, according to a European estimate submitted to the Security Council in March 2019. A 5,000 km range would ostensibly enable Iran to target every European country, including Iceland. The Zoljanah was unveiled with a suborbital flight test on 1 February 2020, when it was described as having two solid-propellant motor stages with 1.5 m diameters and a smaller liquid-propellant third stage that enables it to put a 220 kg payload into a 500 km orbit. A spokesman said at the time that the Zoljanah could use a mobile launcher to reach different orbits. “Mobile launchers make prelaunch detection more complex and are typically used for the rapid deployment of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles,” the Israeli letter said. “This activity casts further doubt as to whether Iran’s space programme is really for peaceful purposes, as the regime claims.” “These latest technological advancements point once again to the close link between Iran’s space and military programmes, which work in tandem to develop its capacity to carry nuclear warheads,” it added.
“Iran’s support for Yemen’s Houthi movement is “quite significant and it’s lethal” and there is no real evidence that Tehran wants to support a constructive resolution to the conflict, U.S. special envoy on Yemen Tim Lenderking told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday.” See “U.S. says Iran support to Yemen’s Houthis ‘significant, lethal’,” Reuters, April 21, 2021.
Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Fallahzadeh. “Iran appoints new deputy for Quds Force,” Middle East Monitor, April 21, 2021.
When you torture and execute your own athletes, and require them to throw matches when competing against Israelis. “Activists call for IOC to sanction Iran Olympic program,” AP, News & Observer, April 21, 2021.
The difficulties in differentiating among the three “buckets” of sanctions is quite easy—Iran needs to stop its nuclear program and terrorism. “US outlines possible sanctions relief for Iran in nuke talks,” Matthew Lee, AP, April 21, 2021.
“Jailed Dual-Nationals In Iran Become Pawns On Sidelines Of Nuclear Talks,” Dominc Dudley, Forbes, April 21, 2021.
“Iran’s Obsession with its Imperial Past and Israel,” Peter Brampton Koelle, International Policy Digest, April 21, 2021.
“How a fact check led to a rare retraction from Iran’s supreme leader,” Harrison Mantas, Poynter, April 21, 2021. Toward the end of his speech last week celebrating the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei made a stark admission — he’d misled the public. “It’s probably the first time in the past three decades that Ayatollah Khamenei admitted to a mistake and corrected himself,” said Farhad Souzanchi, editor at the Iranian fact-checking organization FactNameh. The admission came after two of the organization’s fact checks of claims made by both Khamenei and Iran’s state media went viral and spurred criticism of the government in the broader Persian diaspora. The initial fact check was prompted by a claim Khamenei made during his March 20 Nowruz speech. Seeking to rebut claims about Iran’s struggling economy, the supreme leader cited statistics from the World Bank that he claimed ranked Iran’s economy 18th largest in the world. “(The economy) is probably the worst thing in Iran, and he’s saying ‘Oh, it’s actually good,” Souzanchi said. “For the leader to say this was very strange.” FactNameh’s fact check tried to give Khamenei the benefit of the doubt — that he may have misspoken or may have been referring to a different set of statistics. “We looked into the IMF (rankings) as well, and it wasn’t true. We looked at Iran’s GDP (purchasing power parity),” Souzanchi said. “In no scenario Iran was 18th.”