Iran sanctions eased without compensating its terror victims
November 25, 2013
A deal has been reached to lift—according to different estimates—7, 8, or 20+
billion USD in sanctions against Iran in return for modest concessions
on Iranian nuclear development. A portion of the billions of dollars in
sanctions relief could have been earmarked to compensate the victims of
Iranian-sponsored terrorism instead of letting Tehran spend it as it
pleases.
If only the P5+1 had been willing to listen to one of the lawyers representing Iran’s victims:
If only the P5+1 had been willing to listen to one of the lawyers representing Iran’s victims:
Iran Owes Terror Victims Billions of Dollars, Says Activist Lawyer
The US talks with Iran about easing sanctions, but an Israeli activist lawyer says Obama overlooks the fact that Tehran owes American terror victims billions of dollars.
By: Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu
Published: November 20th, 2013
Israeli activist lawyer Nitzana Darshan-Leitner: The US should make Iran pay off its debts to American relatives of terror victims before easing sanctions.
An Israeli lawyer who has won billions of dollars for relatives of terror victims has asked Obama administration officials why they are discussing letting Iran off the hook on sanctions while it owes American relatives colossal sums of money.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who heads the Israel Law Center, has won billions of dollars for relatives of terror victims in lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organization as well as banks and other agencies that aid terrorists or act as a pipeline for funds for them.
She wrote Under Secretary Wendy Sherman last month, “Iran must not be allowed under any circumstances to avoid making payment of reparations and due compensations to the families of those whose lives they have destroyed through terrorism…and through the terror organizations it supports: Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah.”
In a blog posted this past week on The Hill website based in Washington, Darshan-Leitner noted that Sherman did not respond, and she added, “As a result of lawsuits taken by American victims of terror in U.S. courts, the Iranian regime currently owes billions of dollars from decades of terrorist activity resulting in dozens of victims and severed families. This debt has yet to be recognized or paid by the Iranian government with no sign of an intention to do so.”
She called on Congress to ensure that the U.S. government is working to keep the interests of the terror victims’ families on the table.
Darshan-Leitner pointed out that when George W. Bush was President, he conditioned repealing of any sanctions against Libya on payment of reparations to the victims of Libyan terror. “This move resulted in the payment of $1.5 billion dollars to the victims’ families,” she wrote…
Haqqani financier with deep Gulf ties killed
November 24, 2013
The chief money man behind the Haqqani network, Nasiruddin Haqqani,
has been shot dead. He has been under U.S. sanctions since 2010; at
the time the Treasury Department said, “From at least 2005 to 2009,
Nasiruddin Haqqani collected funds for the Haqqani Network, including
during a 2008 fundraising trip to a Gulf state and during regular travel
to the (UAE) in 2007. As of mid-2007, Haqqani reportedly received
funding from donations from the Gulf region, drug trafficking, and
payments from al-Qa’ida. In 2004, he traveled to Saudi Arabia with a
Taliban associate to raise funds for the Taliban.”
Nasiruddin Haqqani used to live next door to the headquarters of ISI, the Pakistani spy agency, with whom he collaborated.
The BBC reports:
Nasiruddin Haqqani used to live next door to the headquarters of ISI, the Pakistani spy agency, with whom he collaborated.
The BBC reports:
… As the group’s main fundraiser, Nasiruddin frequently travelled to the oil-rich sheikhdoms of the Middle East to solicit donations.Shouldn’t be too hard for the ISI to anoint somebody else.
He represented the Haqqani network in last year’s efforts to set up a Taliban office in Doha for peace talks with the United States.
He was also the group’s main contact person for pro-Taliban elements in Pakistan, as well as its representative with the Afghan Taliban.
‘Well-dressed networker’
Unlike his father and many of his brothers, Nasiruddin Haqqani and two of his uncles did not live in Miran Shah in North Waziristan. He chose to base himself near Islamabad, from where he made his many journeys abroad to secure funds.
Some sources said he had major business interests in the Gulf, including a transport company.
Nasiruddin is not thought to have been publicly photographed.
Those who have met him describe a tall, educated, well-dressed man who travelled in expensive cars and networked an extensive list of contacts all the time.
They say his appearance gave no clue to his militant connections. His code name was “the doctor”, possibly because of a degree that he had studied for.
His death will be a major blow to the Haqqanis, who will need to find someone else to spearhead their efforts to secure financing…
Bitcoin helps Iranian business evade sanctions
November 22, 2013
Another loophole has materialized in Pres. Obama’s “toughest sanctions ever.” Not that it really matters when we’re offering $20 to $50 billion in sanctions relief anyway if Iran agrees to scale back on its nuclear program somewhat.
By the way, if bitcoin can help businesses in Iran to skirt international sanctions, can’t bitcoin help Hezbollah as well?
From CoinDesk on Nov. 5:
Bitcoin helps Iranian shoe store overcome international trade sanctions
Jon Southurst
An interesting e-commerce site that went online just last week is accepting bitcoin only, because most overseas customers cannot pay with anything else.
The business is Persian Shoes, an over 70-year-old business selling handmade footwear. It is located in Isfahan, the third-largest city in Iran.
The owners are happy to ship anywhere, but paying them is a problem. Thanks to the vagaries of international diplomacy and the past few decades of history, the usual e-commerce channels are blocked.
Trade sanctions against the entire country of Iran by the United Nations, United States, European Union and others mean Western Union and major credit card companies will not deal with Iranian businesses, even those in the fashion world.
The only way to pay someone in Iran is with cash carried in your pocket – or some easily transferrable, mostly unregulated, digital currency.
The bitcoin-only store sold four pairs of shoes in its first day of business. “To my standards it is a good sale!” said the CEO, Mor Roghani. The store’s success continued throughout its first week.
“We have sold ten pairs of shoes so far using bitcoin. This is way above our expectations,” he added.
Persian Shoes is currently operated by three brothers, who are keen to expand the business their father started. Roghani’s cousin, who lives in Australia, introduced them to bitcoin and helped them to set up the site.
The site currently offers leather handbags, purses and shoes for women and seven varieties of shoes for men. Prices are all listed in USD and start around US $80.
Its FAQ page explains bitcoin and guides new users to online services like Coinbase, Bitstamp and BitBargain, as well as LocalBitcoins. It also explains the trade situation:
Our business is making and selling leather products. We like to sell our products across the world and the more customers the better. The problem is we operate in Iran and most payment systems either are not willing to serve us at all or impose a huge risk on our business. Before launching this website, our international sale has been limited to a few dedicated customers who knew about the quality of our products and were prepared to go through a lot of trouble to pay us! This of course, may sound incomprehensible for people who have all sorts of electronic payments at their disposal. However, before finding out about bitcoin, receiving our money was the number one obstacle in expanding our business.As well as international trade restrictions, exchanging bitcoin back into local currency (Iranian Rials) also faces knowledge and technical barriers.
“Exchange is a bit tricky because bitcoin is not common yet. We are planing to hold onto some of the bitcoins and sell some at localbitcoins,” Roghani said. A lack of online shopping culture locally and poor internet connectivity hinders trade with other parts of Iran.
Depending on your country of citizenship or residence, you may not actually be allowed to buy these shoes even with bitcoin. Just as Americans may not spend a weekend in Havana or enjoy real Cuban cigars, they are also forbidden to engage in any trade activity with businesses or individuals located in Iran.
Despite this, Persian Shoes has taken orders from customers in the US and is waiting to see how smoothly the deliveries go before advertising the business more widely (update: all US orders have reached their destinations so far without problems.)
A query sent to United States Customs and Border Protection (part of the Department of Homeland Security) asking specifically about private e-commerce transactions for items of clothing received the following response: “Unfortunately, sanctions against Iran prohibit this”…
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