Iran news in brief, April 26, 2019

Iran news in brief, April 26, 2019

Four Men Executed in Iran Prisons

In recent days, Iranian authorities executed four prisoners in Babol, Mashhad, Ardebil and Kermanshah prisons.

The regime executed a 26-year-old man on Wednesday, April 24, at Babol Prison, north of Iran, the state-run ROKNA news agency reported. He was identified only as A.Gh.

The same media reported the execution of a 30-year-old man on Monday, April 22. the execution appears to has been carried out in the central prison of Mashhad.

In another developement on April 18, a prisoner identified as 45-year-old Vali Zandian, was hanged at the Central Prison of Ardebil.

The same day another prisoner identified as Jafar Hosseini was executed in Dizelabad Prison in Kermanshah, western Iran.

Iran Regime: MEK Activities Were Extensive and 60 Were Arrested in East Azerbaijan

Director-General of Intelligence Ministry’s Office in East Azarbaijan province, northwest Iran, says sixty individuals, who had contacts with the Mojahedin Khalq Organizations, have been arrested in the past year.

The intelligence official introduced as Qodtrat Diyalameh said on Wednesday, April 24, that the MEK members have expanded their activities during last Iranian year.

On April 19, 2019, Mahmoud Alavi, the Minister of Intelligence said: "Over the past year, 116 teams related to MEK have been dealt with."

Mrs Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, once again called for the immediate action of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the international human rights organizations to release the arrested and to appoint delegations to visit the regime's prisons and meet with political prisoners.

UK Dismisses Iran Prison Swap Offer as 'Vile'

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Thursday dismissed the suggestion of a prisoner swap for a British-Iranian mother being held in Tehran as a "vile" diplomatic ploy, while her husband told AFP the idea was "almost impossible".

In New York, Iran Regime Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday suggested a swap between Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Negar Ghodskani, an Iranian woman held in Australia on a U.S. extradition warrant.

Hunt said there was a "huge difference" between the two women.

"The woman in jail in Australia is facing due process, a proper legal procedure, and she is alleged to have committed a very serious crime," he told reporters in London."Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is innocent -- she has done nothing wrong."

He added: "What is unacceptable about what Iran is doing is that they are putting innocent people in prison and using it as leverage.

U.S. Sanctions Cost French Automaker 10 Percent in Lost Sales

The 2019 first quarter sales of the French automaker Peugeot Citroen declined 15.7 percent to 884,000 vehicles, mainly due to U.S. sanctions which have stopped sales to Iran.

According to an official statement released by the Groupe-PSA, the main corporation, two-thirds of the decline was due to lack of exports to Iran. In the first quarter of 2018, Peugeot Citroen sold 108 units to Iran. The vehicles were sold in kits and partner companies in Iran assembled the cars.

In 2017, before the U.S. decision to pull out of the nuclear agreement with Iran and reimpose economic sanctions, the company sold 444,000 units to Iran.

Iraq Says It Has Enough Oil Capacity to Meet Customer Needs

Iraq’s oil minister said on Thursday his country had the capacity to increase its oil production to 6 million barrels per day if needed, but it was committed to OPEC-led output cuts and would not take unilateral action to boost supply.

Thamer Ghadhban also said there were no acute oil shortages for the time being, but Iraq would continue to monitor the market to assess any need for additional barrels at the next OPEC meeting, due in June.