Eye on Iran: Iran Condemns Extension of Nuclear-related Sanctions by Senate
TOP STORIES
Iran condemns extension of nuclear-related sanctions by Senate | The Washington Post
Iranian officials and clerics vowed retaliation Friday against the United States for congressional approval of an extension of nuclear-related sanctions, but Middle East analysts say they expect no substantive response from Iran in the waning weeks of the Obama administration... In Tehran, the government officially referred the issue to a committee charged with implementing the agreement. But denunciations of the extension rang out from the legislature, mosques and government offices. Leaders of Friday prayers called the vote a clear violation of the nuclear deal signed between Tehran and six world powers, including the United States... “If you are to tear down the JCPOA, we will set it afire,” said Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani, a prayer leader in Tehran.
Iran says it won't walk away from the nuclear deal that Trump has threatened to 'dismantle' | Los Angeles Times
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized U.S. lawmakers on Sunday for, in his view, undermining a landmark nuclear agreement but said Tehran had no intention of abandoning the deal. In a speech to parliament, Rouhani slammed a Senate vote last week to extend for 10 years a longstanding package of trade, energy, defense and banking sanctions against Iran... The moderate president’s speech was aimed mainly at pacifying hard-line domestic critics who say the nuclear accord has not delivered the economic benefits he promised... “The benefits of the nuclear deal are clear for everybody,” Rouhani said. “We can now, under the nuclear deal, export as much oil as possible. International transportation and shipping are much less inexpensive, and many trade and foreign investment contracts and agreements have been signed.” ... Iranian media reported Sunday that 145 lawmakers — half of the 290-member parliament — have signed a petition to boycott all American-made products. If enacted, it could imperil a reported $25-billion agreement with Boeing to upgrade Iran’s passenger airline fleet, the biggest U.S.-Iran business deal since Washington cut diplomatic ties with Tehran following the 1979 Islamic revolution. When Rouhani said a special committee of Iran’s national security council would issue a report on implementation of the nuclear deal, chants of “Death to America!” echoed through the chamber.
U.S.-Iranian, wife in Iran jail, no charges since July: rights group | Reuters
An American-Iranian dual national and his wife have been in detention in Iran without charge or access to lawyers since their arrest by elite Revolutionary Guards in July, a New York-based rights group said on Friday. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) said Karan Vafadari and his wife Afarin Niasari, who run an art gallery in Tehran, were being held in Tehran's Evin Prison. The Islamic Republic does not recognise dual nationality, a position that prevents Western embassy officials from visiting such detainees. "Yet another case of a dual national snatched and held without charge or access to a lawyer represents an alarming continuation of a judicial system run by intelligence agencies with no respect for the law and no accountability," said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the human rights group. The statement said families of the arrested couple decided not to publicize their cases, hoping it would be resolved. "Then when the family started receiving anonymous phone threats and demands for money, they decided to go public and write a letter to Iran's supreme leader," the statement said.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Iran vows 'firm response' unless Obama stops sanctions renewal | Reuters
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani demanded on Sunday that Barack Obama block an extension of sanctions passed by the U.S. Congress, saying Tehran would otherwise "firmly respond"... "America's president is obliged to exercise his authority by preventing its approval and particularly its implementation ... and if this gross violation is carried out we will firmly respond," Rouhani said in the speech, carried live by state television. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law, the White House said on Friday... On Sunday, 264 lawmakers in Iran's 290-seat parliament issued a statement calling on the government to implement counter measures, including relaunching nuclear enrichment halted under the atomic deal, the official news agency IRNA reported.
Iran says extension of sanctions act shows U.S. unreliable | Reuters
A U.S. Senate vote to extend the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) for 10 years shows the world that Washington cannot be relied upon to act on its commitments, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday... "To the world community, the extension of sanctions against Iran shows the unreliability of the American government," state broadcaster IRIB quoted Zarif as saying on arriving in India for an official visit. "America is acting against its commitment."
Iran: US Threatens Nuclear Deal, Warns of 'Strong Reaction' | AP
A senior Iranian official has warned the U.S. of a "firm and strong reaction" if it persists in actions he says are endangering a nuclear deal aimed at curbing programs Tehran could use to make atomic arms. Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi is alluding to a bill before President Barack Obama that would extend U.S. sanctions by 10 years. The bill was submitted to Obama after the U.S. Senate voted to extend it last week... Speaking at a nuclear security conference, Salehi urged Washington on Monday to desist from "irrational and provocative" moves.
Trump Team Wants You to See the Iran Nuke Documents Obama’s Kept From View | The Daily Beast
The private files outlining hidden agreements in the Iran nuclear deal may be released in one of President Donald Trump’s first actions in office. Senior officials who will be part of the Trump administration are already discussing what so-far-unseen information about the Iran agreement they will be able to make public after January, according to an individual who has participated in those conversations. Releasing Iran nuclear deal documents would be cheered on by hawkish lawmakers who have opposed the agreement, and bolstered by cabinet appointees who have long called for transparency about it. Michael Flynn, who has been tapped for national security adviser, and Mike Pompeo, who has been picked for CIA director, have both long been bullish on providing transparency on internal information regarding Iran.
China warns against obstruction of Iran nuclear deal | AFP
Implementation of the Iran nuclear deal should not be "affected by any changes in the domestic situations" of countries involved, China's foreign minister warned Monday, as US president-elect Donald Trump threatens to abandon it... The agreement's implementation is the "joint responsibility and duty of all parties" and "should not be affected by any changes in the domestic situations of the countries concerned", Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told a press conference after meeting his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. "What is important is to honour commitments and place emphasis on good faith when it comes to differences or possible differences" over the deal, he said.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
Congress Issues a Warning to Iran and a Rebuff to the Obama Administration | Foreign Policy
The Senate’s vote to renew sanctions against Iran for another 10 years has delivered a symbolic warning to Tehran and a bipartisan snub of the White House, which worries the move could raise tensions with Iran. Secretary of State John Kerry and other officials had discreetly lobbied lawmakers to drop the measure, arguing that the U.S. president already has sweeping authority to reimpose sanctions that were lifted under a nuclear agreement with Iran. American officials also unsuccessfully warned that even threatening to revive sanctions could undercut the more moderate elements of the clerical regime, led by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is pressed to show his public the benefits of the nuclear deal before elections in 2017. But lawmakers who backed the legislation on Thursday — including Democrats who supported the Iran nuclear agreement signed last year — said it was vital to convey that Tehran would be held accountable if it violated the terms of the nuclear deal. And they emphasized that extending the Iran Sanctions Act, which was first adopted in 1996, did not violate the nuclear accord. “Congress’ action today should send a signal to the Iranian government and to the world that the United States is serious about enforcement of the nuclear agreement,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement after Thursday’s 99-0 vote.
EXTREMISM
Iran's Mashhad Municipality Opens Military-Religious Amusement Park – To Reinforce Revolutionary Values For Children | Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
On September 24, 2016, the Iranian news agency Raja News, which is close to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), published an interview with Child and the Future Cultural Center director Hamid Sadeghi about an event held during the second half of September that is a military-religious amusement park, called The City of Games for Revolutionary Children. Sadeghi, who operates under the aegis of the Mashhad municipality and also runs the Sharbehesht.ir website, said that his center had set up and inaugurated the City of Games park, and that it is open free of charge to children aged eight through 13. It should be noted that this is the second City of Games event held by the Mashhad municipality; the first was last summer.
TERRORISM
Iran urges Kenya to free two Iranians facing terrorism charges: Tasnim | Reuters
Iran urged Kenya on Friday to immediately release two Iranians charged with collecting information for a terrorist act after filming the Israeli Embassy in Nairobi, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The two Iranian nationals and their Kenyan driver were arrested in a car belonging to the Iranian Embassy on Tuesday. The diplomatic status of the two Iranians was unclear. Tasnim said the Kenyan ambassador to Tehran was summoned on Thursday by the Iranian Foreign Ministry over the arrest and that the "necessity for the immediate release of the two Iranians was underlined during the meeting". A Foreign Ministry spokesman denied any wrongdoing by the arrested men, saying they were university teachers in Tehran.
SAUDI-IRAN TENSIONS
Saudi Central Bank Systems Said to Be Struck by Iran Malware | Bloomberg News
State-sponsored hackers who unleashed a digital bomb in key parts of Saudi Arabia’s computer networks over the last two weeks damaged systems at the country’s central bank, known as the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, according to two people briefed on an ongoing investigation of the breach... The attacks, which afflicted at least eight government entities, used a computer-killing malware known as Shamoon that is linked to Iran, the two people said. They had the potential to inflict damage on targets across several critical sectors, including finance and transportation... The Shamoon malware used in the attacks is the same one that was used in a devastating attack on Saudi Aramco in 2012 that destroyed 35,000 computers within hours. U.S. officials have said Iran was behind that attack.
HUMAN RIGHTS
A jailed Iranian musician texts from his hospital bed: Don’t forget me | The Washington Post
An Iranian musician serving a three-year jail term in Iran bemoaned his sentence and the deplorable conditions of his imprisonment. Since June, Mehdi Rajabian, 27, has been jailed in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison along with his brother, Hossein, a 31-year-old filmmaker, after they were found guilty of “spreading propaganda against the system” and “insulting the sacred” in 2015. For more than a month, the brothers went on a hunger strike in protest over their treatment. Rajabian’s medical condition deteriorated to the point that authorities released him on furlough and let him be hospitalized in his home province of Mazandaran. He is expected back at Evin on Sunday, but managed to contact the outside world using a smartphone in the hospital. Rajabian communicated with WorldViews via a messaging app, detailing the physical and mental hardship he has endured in recent months. Starting at the end of October, he and his brother commenced a hunger strike that, despite a few interruptions, goes on. They drink water but refuse food in prison. Rajabian claims to have lost 33 pounds and “40 percent of his vision” during this time. Rajabian says his brother, who is still in prison, is suffering from a kidney infection. In the hospital, Rajabian was treated for internal bleeding in his stomach, among other aliments.
EU urged to clarify if states are funding mass executions in Iran | The Independent
The European Union has been urged to urgently clarify whether it is helping to fund Iranian anti-narcotics programmes linked to mass executions. In a letter seen by The Independent, human rights charity Reprieve raises concerns that as part of a “new page” in EU-Iran relations announced earlier this year, the EU and member states could be actively seeking to fund UN programmes linked to support for Iran’s drug police – a body responsible for hundreds of executions in the country. Reprieve has called for “urgent clarification of the European Commission’s policy on funding counter-narcotics operations in Iran”, following “deeply concerning” reports in the Iranian media that a senior official in the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said the EU was actively seeking to provide support for Iranian drug enforcement operations.
DOMESTIC POLITICS
Iran's Rouhani proposes budget rise as Trump election threatens growth | Reuters
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani proposed on Sunday a state budget of about $100 billion for next year, loosening the purse strings to support economic growth as Donald Trump's election threatens to put renewed pressure on Tehran... Rouhani announced a draft budget for the Iranian year that will start on March 21 of 3,200 trillion rials ($99.7 billion at the official exchange rate), excluding state enterprises. That is up 9 percent from the plan for the current year. "Maintaining the growth rate that was launched in the (current) year is the main economic issue for the country and all economic policies should be designed around this axis," Rouhani told parliament in a speech carried live by state television.
Iran upholds oil fraud death sentence | Financial Times
Iran’s supreme court has upheld the death sentence of a billionaire businessman who was involved in a high-profile fraud case, but overturned the sentences of two others who were convicted alongside him. Babak Zanjani, an Iranian oil billionaire, who had accumulated astronomical sums thanks to his connections to Iran’s powerful elite, was sentenced to death for economic crimes in March, after failing to repay the government €2.7bn ($3bn) accumulated by selling crude oil on behalf of the authorities. Domestic media reported on Saturday that the Supreme Court had confirmed his death sentence, but overturned those of Mehdi Shams and Hamid Fallah Heravi... The Zanjani case is part of president Hassan Rouhani’s pledge to fight corruption and investigate multi-billion-dollar corruption scandals that proliferated under the fundamentalist government of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad. The government had repeatedly called for Zanjani not to be hanged because his death would bury many of his secrets, protecting the identity of the powerful elite who helped him accumulate wealth through circumventing sanctions.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
New controversy hits Israel sub deal over Iran link | AFP
Israel was embroiled in fresh controversy on Sunday over its purchase of submarines from German company ThyssenKrupp after reports that the country's arch-enemy Iran holds a stake in the firm... Israel sees Iran as its main enemy in the region, and suggestions that the Islamic republic would benefit from the Jewish state's defence purchases have made headlines... Media reported that Iranian holding company IFIC continues to own a 4.5 percent stake in the German firm. "Israeli money, Iranian profits," a headline in the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said Sunday. ThyssenKrupp told AFP that IFIC owned around seven percent of the company until May 2003, when it fell below five percent, without providing details on the size of its current stake, if any.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
James Mattis’ 33-Year Grudge Against Iran | Politico
The military officials I spoke with say that Mattis is the quintessential Marine; it defines everything he does and believes, from how he treats his soldiers and disciplines his commanders to how he views the world. Most critically, perhaps, for the United States and its future, Mattis has embraced the Marine Corps’ longstanding grievance against Iran, one that goes back to the 1980s. In fact, Mattis’ anti-Iran animus is so intense that it led President Barack Obama to replace him as Centcom commander. It was a move that roiled Mattis admirers, seeding claims that the president didn’t like “independent-minded generals who speak candidly to their civilian leaders.” But Mattis’ Iran antagonism also concerns many of the Pentagon’s most senior officers, who disagree with his assessment and openly worry whether his Iran views are based on a sober analysis or whether he’s simply reflecting a 30-plus-year-old hatred of the Islamic Republic that is unique to his service. It’s a situation that could lead to disagreement within the Pentagon over the next four years—but also, senior Pentagon officials fear, to war. “It’s in his blood,” one senior Marine officer told me. “It’s almost like he wants to get even with them.”
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Mon, 12/05/2016 - 15:33