Eye on Iran: Iran Deploys Warships off Yemen after US, Houthis Trade Fire
TOP STORIES
Iran deploys warships off Yemen after US, Houthis trade fire | Fox News
Iran deployed two warships off Yemen threatening to further escalate tensions after the U.S. fired Tomahawk cruise missiles destroying three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News on Thursday. Iran sent the ships to the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's most vital shipping routes, "to protect trade vessels from piracy," Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Still, analysts warn the move could ratchet up the danger to U.S. forces in the region. U.S. intelligence has linked Iran to the funding of Yemen's Shiite rebels, who have also waged a series of attacks against Saudi Arabia, a longtime U.S. ally. The U.S. official said the Houthis indeed fired missiles targeting American ships twice over just four days. The ships were not hit. The U.S. destroyed the coastal radar sites early Thursday. Fox News is told one of the Iranian ships carries the same type of anti-ship missiles the Houthis were suspected of firing this week, and the other ship carries a helicopter.
US in Yemen: If you threaten us, we'll respond | CNN
Hours after the US struck three radar installations in Yemen in response to attempted attacks on a US Navy destroyer, Pentagon officials made clear they'll hit back again if needed and Iran moved its own warships into nearby waters. "We want to make crystal clear if you threaten our forces, if you threaten our ships, we'll respond," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said Thursday. He described the missile launches against the USS Mason as "a response to direct threats to our people, to our ships and we responded to that threat and we'll respond again."
Russia Completes Delivery of S-300 Air Defense Missiles to Iran: RIA
Russia has completed the delivery of S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran, RIA news agency quoted Russia's state arms export agency as saying on Thursday. Russia's agreement to provide Iran with S-300 has sparked concern in Israel. Moscow canceled the contract to deliver S-300s to Iran in 2010 under pressure from the West.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
Senators: Iran deal providing planes for Assad aid | Washington Examiner
President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran might be making it easier for the rogue regime to fly weapons into Syria, a group of Republican senators warned. Obama's team agreed to allow major airplane manufacturers to sell almost 200 airplanes to Iran Air, an airline that had been under sanction for transporting weapons on behalf of terrorists. The company may still be doing so, given that Iran Air planes are flying the supply routes used to send military supplies to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. But it's also possible that other Iranian airlines that remain sanctioned will use the planes to transport weapons. "To date, we have seen no proof of a change in the conduct that prompted the initial sanctions on Iran Air," Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., and four other senators wrote in a letter to a senior Treasury Department official. "In fact, we have seen evidence to the contrary. Open source reports have shown that Iran Air continues to fly from known IRGC bases in Iran to Syria. While Mahan Air — which remains under U.S. sanctions — has been the primary airline for sending military supplies and personnel to Syria, Iran Air has flown dozens of similar routes."
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Bombardier will catch up despite late start to gaining access in Iran, CEO says | The Canadian Press
Bombardier's CEO says that the company was a little late on chasing opportunities in Iran but should be able to catch up with its rivals following Canada's lifting of sanctions. "We started maybe a little bit behind but I'm pretty sure we're going to be able to catch up now," Alain Bellemare said in an interview. He said Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion's move earlier this year to lift sanctions has been useful in helping to gain market access. With teams on the ground now in Iran, Bellemare said he's not concerned about winning its share of new orders, although the process is challenging. The Montreal-based plane and train maker sees opportunities to sell regional rail services along with regional jets and CSeries planes as Iranian companies look to modernize.
Iran’s first LPG cargo for Pertamina arrives in Indonesia | Jakarta Post
State-run energy giant Pertamina officially received a cargo of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran on Thursday, marking Iran’s first shipment as a new supplier of LPG to Indonesia. Pertamina president director Dwi Soetjipto welcomed the 44,000 metric tons of LPG transported from Asaluyeh Port in Iran 13 days ago by its VLGC Pertamina Gas 2 vessel, at Kalbut Port in Situbondo, East Java. According to him, the LNG shipment from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) would open up other business development opportunities between Pertamina and the NIOC, in both the upstream and downstream sectors. "It marks a new chapter of cooperation between Pertamina and the NIOC and makes trade cooperation between Indonesia and Iran more significant," Dwi said in a statement on Thursday... In addition to the LPG purchase, the two state-run companies signed an agreement to conduct a preliminary study of two giant oil fields in Iran, namely Ab-Teymour and Mansouri, which have an oil reserve of more than 5 billion barrels.
Showa Shell says buys 55 percent of Japan's Iran crude imports in H1 | Reuters
Oil refiner Showa Shell Sekiyu bought 55 percent of Japan's crude imports from Iran in January-June, said Chief Executive Officer Tsuyoshi Kameoka. Japan imported 205,871 barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian oil in the first half of 2016, trade ministry data showed, meaning Showa Shell's imports during the period would be around 113,000 bpd.
Oman, Iran sign trade MoU | Oman Observer
Ithraa, Oman’s inward investment and export promotion agency and Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to further broaden mutual co-operation in trade and investment. The MoU was signed by Dr Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, Oman’s Minister of Commerce and Industry and Eng Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade at the recent sixth meeting of the Oman —Iran Economic Joint Committee held in Tehran... In an effort to boost maritime trade links between the Sultanate and Iran, senior management at Ithraa’s Bandar Abbas office assisted Oman’s National Ferries Company (NFC) open a sales and service representative office in the southern Iran city.
IMF set to boost banking ties with Iran | Mehr News (Iran)
IMF President Christine Lagarde has promised to launch consultations with US authorities to remove barriers on cooperation between international and Iranian banks. Meeting with Iran’s Economy Minister Ali Tayebnia on the sidelines of the annual World Bank summit in Washington DC., President of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde pointed to persistence of certain barriers to cooperation between major international banks and Iranian banks asserting “negotiations will be held with US officials to remove obstacles and expedite bolstering of Iran’s ties with international monetary institutions.” She further touched upon IMF’s plan to launch a fresh round of collaborations with Iran saying “proposals for cooperation will be made to Iran over various areas like training and exchange of experience and technical knowledge with other states.”
HUMAN RIGHTS
UK urged to take Iran to international court over woman's jail sentence | The Guardian
The human rights organisation Redress has called on the UK government to consider taking Iran to the international court of justice (ICJ) over the sentencing of a British-Iranian woman to five years in jail. It comes after a UN-mandated body of human rights experts found that the ongoing detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arbitrary and that she was denied a fair trial and discriminated against as a dual national... The UN working group on arbitrary detention (WGAD), in response to a claim by Redress, ruled that the Briton’s imprisonment and her separation from her daughter, who is in the care of her Iranian grandparents, was in breach of the international covenant on civil and political rights. Redress said on Thursday that Britain should bring a case against Iran before the ICJ if it continued to refuse consular access to dual nationals held in jail... Redress and Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard, who is spearheading a campaign for his wife’s release, have been critical of the UK government’s muted response to her detention.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Obama’s Iran Missile War | The Wall Street Journal
The White House doesn’t want Americans to notice, but the tide of war is not receding in the Middle East. The Navy this week became part of the hot war in Yemen, with a U.S. warship launching missiles against radar targets after American vessels were fired on this week. Just when President Obama promised that American retreat would bring peace to the region, the region pulls him back in... But there’s more to this story because the Houthis are one of Iran’s regional proxy armies. They are fighting to control Yemen against a Saudi-led coalition that is trying to restore the former Sunni Arab government in Sana’a. The U.S. has been quietly backing the Saudis with intelligence and arms, though the Saudi coalition has been fighting to a draw with the Houthis, who are supplied by Iran. The cruise missiles used against the USS Mason are also used by Hezbollah, another Iran proxy army. Don’t expect the White House to acknowledge this because the ironies here are something to behold. Mr. Obama is backing the Saudis in Yemen in part to reassure them of U.S. support after the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal that the Saudis opposed. Mr. Obama’s Iran deal was supposed to moderate Iran’s regional ambitions, so Mr. Obama could play a mediating role between Tehran and Riyadh. But the nuclear deal has emboldened Iran, and fortified it with more money, so now the U.S. is being drawn into what amounts to a proxy war against Iran. Genius.
The Iran Paradox | Admiral James Stavridis in TIME
The inheritors of that imperial Persian tradition are today’s Shi’ite Iranians, and their present-day ambitions for the Middle East—to deepen their influence across the area—will roil the already tense region deeply over the next few years. While Iran’s path to nuclear armament has been temporarily stalled by a diplomatic agreement, the sanctions relief it negotiated as a result is pouring billions of dollars into its economy. A major part of that money will be used to increase Iranian control over Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and other fragile regional nations. They will put increasing pressure on our principal ally, Israel, and continue to collide with our Sunni allies, notably Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. The Iranians will also increase their ability to use asymmetric weapons such as cyber and terrorism to influence public opinion and increase their freedom to maneuver. And over time, the Iranian relationship with Vladimir Putin’s Russia will deepen. The next President of the United States must take a proactive approach to the Iranian challenge. Simply hoping that our allies and friends in the region will be able to resist Iran on their own, or with minimal levels of assistance, will lead to Iranian domination of the region... The paradox of Iran is that over time, by interacting with the Iranians, we have the best chance of bringing their young and dynamic population into a more responsible global position, against the desires of the aging theocracy. In the meantime, we will need a robust military and cyber deterrent posture alongside our allies in this turbulent region. That combination of deterrence and dialogue is our best hope for improving relations over time.
Boatload of Trouble: The US and Iran Set Course for a Battle at Sea | Micah Halpern in Observer
Iran and the United States are trading jabs—missile jabs—off the coast of Yemen, in the Sea of Aden. It is a dangerous game that could escalate. At stake is the main waterway that flows from Asia and Africa all the way to Europe. Here is the order of events…and a little background. Yemen is in crisis, torn apart by a civil war between Saudi-supported established traditional Sunni leadership and Shiite Houthis backed by Iran. A change in the intensity of the conflict came two weeks ago when the Houthi attacked an auxiliary naval ship sailing under a United Emirates flag. The attack took place off the coast of Yemen, in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of East Africa. This is in the area of the enormously strategic Strait of Bab el Mandeb. Bab el Mandeb links the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. The Red Sea connects the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea. Whoever controls that strait controls all shipping to Europe. Yemen sits at the mouth of that strategic strait. Iran, which already controls many of these areas along the coast Gulf of Aden, is sponsoring the challenge to take over Yemen to gain total control of the shipping lane. Get the picture? Iran is not a neighbor of Yemen or of the Strait of Bab el Mandeb. Iran is situated on the parallel gulf to the west—the Persian Gulf. But Iran wants more control in that region and they especially want control of the Strait of Bab el Mandeb. The United States and the Sunnis, each for their own reasons, cannot permit Bab el Mandeb to fall into Iranian hands, which would exponentially increase Tehran’s power.
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Fri, 10/14/2016 - 13:52