Apple Bans Iran from the App Store 3/16/2018 4:56:59 PM Iranian users have not been able to access Apples App Store    March 15, 2018--  Iranian users have not been able to access Apple's App Store all day today, in what appears to be a ban put in place by the US company. According to reports and sources who spoke with Bleeping Computer, the ban appears to have been put in place earlier today, around noon, GMT. Users were not able to connect to the Apple App Store to install or update applications. When visiting the App Store, they were instead greeted with the message 'The App Store is unavailable in the country or region you’re in'. This ban appears to be IP-based. Meysam Firouzi —an Iranian security researcher— told Bleeping Computer that he successfully connected to the App Store while using a VPN, despite having Iran-related details set on his account. Apple previously banned Iranian-made apps In August 2017, Apple removed all apps creat...

Iran’s tech meddling, now on the App Store  Under watch   (STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES) BY TOM RIDGE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, March 3, 2018, 5:00 AM The recent downing over Syria of an Iranian drone that turned out to have been modeled on captured U.S. technology confirmed what intelligences services and their partners have been saying for years: Iran is actively stealing western technological know-how and fashioning tools of repression and terror. A new report this month by the National Council of Resistance to Iran (NCRI) makes a sensational new claim that apps offered on Google Play and Apple’s App Store are being co-opted, mimicked or otherwise misappropriated by Iranian intelligence services to monitor the activities of their people and to export malware for cyberattacks against the American people. This matters not only because it represents an escalation of domestic surveillance by the Iranian regime, but because the U.S. military and intelli...

Trump prepares to wound Iran deal — and then save it A reasonable approach to the Iran deal, (JCPOA), the United States, Brian Katulis of the Center for American Progress, Katulis et al. worry, Katulis et al. worry, cyberattacks, IRGC,  Trump’s team plans to work with Congress and European allies to apply new pressure on the Iranian regime, according to a strategy developed in an Iran policy review led by national security adviser H.R. McMaster. But the strategy assumes the nuclear deal will remain intact for now. The deliberations ahead of an Oct. 15 deadline to certify Iran’s compliance with the deal, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy agenda, were described by a half-dozen sources inside and outside the administration who have participated in the internal debate. As a candidate, Trump described the agreement as “catastrophic” and “the worst deal ever.” But the strategy represents a   nuanced approach to one of the most important foreig...

A reasonable approach to the Iran deal I vigorously opposed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) because I believed then — as I believe now — that the Obama administration, in its desperation for a legacy-creating deal, negotiated a weaker deal than we could have obtained. The JCPOA did not deliver anywhere/anytime inspections as promised or constrain Iran’s ballistic missile program. The JCPOA provided sanctions relief up-front and contains a highly troubling sunset clause. Nevertheless, the agreement is in place now, and the question is whether to stay in or exit. Circumstances have undeniably changed, both because of the new president and the operation of the deal itself. Here I part company with many who opposed the deal and now want the United States to exit. Both supporters and opponents of the original deal rightly point out the unworkability of a U.S. withdrawal. I would not recommend pulling out of the deal now — not when the International Atomi...

A reasonable approach to the Iran deal I vigorously opposed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) because I believed then — as I believe now — that the Obama administration, in its desperation for a legacy-creating deal, negotiated a weaker deal than we could have obtained. The JCPOA did not deliver anywhere/anytime inspections as promised or constrain Iran’s ballistic missile program. The JCPOA provided sanctions relief up-front and contains a highly troubling sunset clause. Nevertheless, the agreement is in place now, and the question is whether to stay in or exit. Circumstances have undeniably changed, both because of the new president and the operation of the deal itself. Here I part company with many who opposed the deal and now want the United States to exit. Both supporters and opponents of the original deal rightly point out the unworkability of a U.S. withdrawal. I would not recommend pulling out of the deal now — not when the International Atomic ...

A reasonable approach to the Iran deal I vigorously opposed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) because I believed then — as I believe now — that the Obama administration, in its desperation for a legacy-creating deal, negotiated a weaker deal than we could have obtained. The JCPOA did not deliver anywhere/anytime inspections as promised or constrain Iran’s ballistic missile program. The JCPOA provided sanctions relief up-front and contains a highly troubling sunset clause. Nevertheless, the agreement is in place now, and the question is whether to stay in or exit. Circumstances have undeniably changed, both because of the new president and the operation of the deal itself. Here I part company with many who opposed the deal and now want the United States to exit. Both supporters and opponents of the original deal rightly point out the unworkability of a U.S. withdrawal. I would not recommend pulling out of the deal now — not when the International Atomic Ene...