British PM tells Trump Ukraine peace deal must not reward Iran

Xuanyu Harry Pang, 38, of North Chicago, pleaded guilty on Nov. 5, 2024, to conspiracy and attempted destruction of national defense facilities, but his case was unsealed on Thursday.

"In the summer of 2021, Pang communicated with an individual in Colombia about potentially assisting with a plan involving Iranian actors to conduct an attack against the United States to avenge the death of Qasem Soleimani ," the US Justice Department said in a press release.

Soleimani, a commander of IRGC's Quds Force was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport in January 2020, a move ordered by US President Donald Trump.

An undercover FBI employee, posing as an affiliate of the IRGC's foreign operations arm the Quds Force, later engaged with the Colombian contact, who connected the agent to Pang.

While stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes, Pang discussed possible attack targets, including the base and other locations in the Chicago area.

Pang met with an undercover FBI operative three times in late 2022, including in downtown Chicago and Lake Bluff, Illinois. During these meetings, he provided images and videos of the naval base, US military uniforms, and a cell phone that could serve as a test detonator.

Pang remains in custody and faces up to 20 years in prison. His sentencing date has not been set.

A total of 108,138 people claimed asylum, marking an 18% increase from the previous year and surpassing a record set in 2002.

Iranian nationals ranked third in asylum claims in the UK in 2024 with 8,099 claims. Pakistan had the highest number of claims with 10,542, followed by Afghanistan with 8,508.

A further analysis of the data suggests a notable increase in asylum applications from Iranians, particularly in 2022, with the highest surge occurring in Q4 of that year, with 3,686 applications.

The spike likely may reflect growing migration pressures driven by the nationwide protests and state repression on demonstrations following the death in morality police custody of Mahsa Amini in September 2022.

The nationwide protest movement dubbed the Woman Life Freedom movement was met with increasingly violent government crackdowns, prompting many Iranians to seek asylum abroad.

During the protests, security forces killed at least 550 protesters, including children, and imprisoned over 20,000 people.

From Q1 2023 onwards, while there was some fluctuation but asylum applications remained relatively high at consistently above 1,500 per quarter for non-unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) and over 100 for UASC.

The continued upward trend through Q3 and Q4 of 2024 shows sustained asylum-seeking activity, though the surge in Q4 2022 remains the most significant increase in recent years.

However, despite the rise in applications, the number of decisions granting protection has not kept pace. Of 3,686 applications made by Iranians in Q2 2024, only 1,324 were granted protection.

The highest number of grants occurred in Q3 of 2023, when 4,647 Iranians were granted protection.

This disparity between grants of protection compared to applications suggests the lengthy immigration processing times are contributing to a backlog.

ISNA reported that Iran and Brazil reached the agreement during a meeting between Deputy Central Bank Governor Asghar Abolhasani and Tatiana Rosito, Brazil's Secretary for International Affairs at the Ministry of Finance, held at a BRICS meeting in South Africa.

The nature of the agreement, whether written or a memorandum of understanding, was not specified.

Both sides highlighted the potential for increased trade and pointed to the need for leveraging BRICS mechanisms to enhance banking and financial ties.

Iran also held separate talks with Russia, India, South Africa, and the UAE, advocating for expanded financial collaboration within the BRICS bloc.

Last January, Iran officially became a member of the China-led BRICS economic organization, as it seeks to overcome the impact of US sanctions and overcome it isolation.

The entities, the treasury said, acquire parts for US-sanctioned Iranian firm, Pishtazan Kavosh Gostar Boshra, and its subsidiary company Narin Sepehr Mobin Isatis, which it said supplied Iran's drone and ballistic missile programs.

The two Iranian companies were hit by US sanctions last year.

“Iran continues to try to find new ways to procure the key components it needs to bolster its UAV weapons program through new front companies and third-country suppliers,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.

The US state department said Washington was determined to thwart the program.

"We will continue to act against the complex schemes Iran employs to conceal its acquisition of sensitive technology for its missile and UAV programs," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

"These programs produce missiles and drones that Iran uses against our allies and exports to its terror proxy groups and Russia."

The newly sanctioned entities helped procure millions of dollars worth of Western-origin technology for Iran's drone program.

Western powers accuse Iran of providing drones and missiles to Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia launched 267 attack drones overnight on Saturday, marking the largest single assault since the use of Iranian-made projectiles began.

Iranian drones have repeatedly been deployed in attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure and other civilian targets. The Shahed 136 drone is typically launched alongside cruise and ballistic missile attacks to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses.

Hunt, operating under aliases including Abdolrahman Hantoosh, Rahman Hantoosh, and Rahman Natooshas, pleaded guilty in July 2024 to charges under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Court documents show that Hunt, through his company Vega Tools LLC, engaged in a systematic effort to supply equipment for Iran's oil, gas, and petrochemical industries.

From at least 2015 until his arrest in November 2022, he worked with two Iranian companies based in Tehran to help them circumvent sanctions.

Hunt's scheme involved a complex network of third-party transshipment companies located in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), designed to obscure the true destination of the exported goods.

He also used UAE-based banks to conceal financial transactions.

Hunt deliberately provided false information to shipping companies about the value of his exports, thereby avoiding the mandatory filing of Electronic Export Information with US authorities.

He also misrepresented the intended recipients of the equipment, falsely claiming they were destined for Turkey and the UAE, while fully aware they were ultimately bound for Iran, according to the US Department of Justice. 

He also provided false statements to US Customs and Border Protection officers regarding his business operations during questioning following a 2020 trip to Iran.