Eye on Iran: Iran Leader Rebuffs Trump's Warning on Missiles
TOP STORIES
Iran Leader Rebuffs Trump's Warning on Missiles | Reuters
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Donald Trump's warning to Iran to stop its missile tests, saying the new U.S. president had shown the "real face" of American corruption. In his first speech since Trump's inauguration, Iran's supreme leader called on Iranians to respond to Trump's "threats" on Feb. 10, the anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Trump had tried but failed to frighten Iranians, Khamenei said. "We are thankful to (Trump) for making our life easy as he showed the real face of America," Khamenei told a meeting of military commanders in Tehran, according to his website... In remarks published on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran would not agree to renegotiate its nuclear agreement. "I believe Trump will push for renegotiation. But Iran and European countries will not accept that," Mohammad Javad Zarif told Ettelaat newspaper. "We will have difficult days ahead." ... "No enemy can paralyze the Iranian nation," Khamenei said. "(Trump) says 'you should be afraid of me'. No! The Iranian people will respond to his words on Feb. 10 and will show their stance against such threats."
Trump: Iran Lost Respect for US after Nuke Deal, Is Now Emboldened | Times of Israel
US President Donald Trump charged on Sunday that Iran “lost respect” for the US in the wake of the 2015 nuclear deal signed between Tehran and the US-led P5+1 world powers, and that it now feels “emboldened” by the agreement to act confrontationally on the world stage. In a Fox News interview with Bill O’Reilly hours before the Super Bowl, Trump said the nuclear agreement that saw Tehran curb its atomic program in exchange for the lifting of punishing sanctions was “the worst deal I’ve ever seen negotiated; it was a deal that never should have been negotiated.” Stopping short of saying what precisely he would do with the deal, the president said Tehran “lost respect [for the US] because they didn’t think anyone would be stupid as to make a deal like that,” and that Iran was now “emboldened” by the agreement, citing a number of incidents last year in the Persian Gulf where US ships were surrounded and otherwise harassed by Iranian military boats. “We gave them $1.7 billion in cash which is unheard of… and we have nothing to show for it,” said Trump in reference to the revelation last September that the Obama administration had authorized the transfer using non-US currency, to settle a decades-old arbitration claim between the US and Iran.
Boeing's $17 Billion Iran Jet Deal Still at Risk as US Tensions Ratchet up with Tehran | CNBC
Boeing's agreement to sell 80 passenger jets to Iran may not be directly impacted by new U.S. sanctions on Tehran but the deal still could unravel, according to analysts... "The Trump administration is absolutely determined to ratchet up tensions and the Iranians will of course, being hardliners there, want to do the same," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis at Virginia-based industry consultancy Teal Group. In December, Boeing announced an agreement for Iran Air, the country's flag carrier, to buy 50 of its narrow-body 737 passenger jets and 30 of the wide-body 777 aircraft. The aircraft manufacturer valued at the deal at $16.6 billon, based on list prices for the planes. Industry observers suggest Tehran could pull out of the Boeing deal if tensions continue to worsen... Analysts say financing airplanes to Iran remains risky business too. That is partly due to Iran not being a signatory country to the Cape Town Treaty, which provides legal remedies for default in financing agreements as well as the repossession of capital goods such as aircraft.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Netanyahu Presses for More Sanctions Against Iran | The Wall Street Journal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday urged Western leaders to follow U.S. President Donald Trump in imposing fresh sanctions against Iran. Speaking in London, where he met with his U.K. counterpart, Theresa May, Mr. Netanyahu said responsible countries should follow the U.S.’s lead to counter alleged Iranian aggression. “Iran seeks to annihilate Israel. It says so openly. It seeks to conquer the Middle East, it threatens Europe, it threatens the West, it threatens the world. And it offers provocation after provocation,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “That’s why I welcome President Trump’s insistence of new sanctions against Iran. I think other nations should follow soon, certainly responsible nations.” ... A spokeswoman for Mrs. May said after the two leaders met that the British prime minister “was clear that the nuclear deal is vital and must be properly enforced and policed, while recognizing concerns about Iran’s pattern of destabilizing activity in the region.”
Netanyahu, Trump Align on Iran Ahead of Israeli Leader's Visit | Reuters
Seizing on an Iranian missile test, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and new U.S. President Donald Trump are nearing common ground on a tougher U.S. policy towards Tehran ahead of their first face-to-face talks at the White House. But people familiar with the Trump administration's thinking say that its evolving strategy is likely to be aimed not at "dismantling" Iran's July 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers - as presidential candidate Trump sometimes advocated - but tightening its enforcement and pressuring the Islamic Republic into renegotiating key provisions. Options, they say, would include wider scrutiny of Iran's compliance by the U.N. nuclear watchdog (IAEA), including access to Iranian military sites, and removing "sunset" terms that allow some curbs on Iranian nuclear activity to start expiring in 10 years and lift other limits after 15 years... The administration, one source said, is counting on the Europeans to eventually get on board since their companies might think twice about closing major deals in Iran for fear new "secondary" U.S. sanctions would penalize them too.
PROXY WARS
Yemeni Rebels Say They Targeted Saudi Capital with a Missile | AP
Yemen's Shiite rebels said on Monday they have "successfully" fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh for the first time, vowing more attacks on the Saudi capital. There was no immediate comment from the kingdom but the claim came exactly a week after Saudi Arabia said a "suicide gunboat" belonging to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels rammed into one of its frigates in the Red Sea, killing two crew members... The Houthis said in a statement carried by the rebel-run SABA news agency that the missile "targeted" the al-Mazahmiya army base in western Riyadh, around 1,000 kilometers (650 miles) from Sanaa... On Thursday, the UAE summoned Iran's top diplomat in Abu Dhabi and handed over a note protesting the "illegal Iranian supplies of arms to the militias in Yemen.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Senior MP: Iran to Demolish US Base in Bahrain in Case of Aggression | Fars News Agency (Iran)
A senior member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission and former Islamic Revolution Guards Corps official warned that the slightest aggression by Washington against Iran will be responded by razing to the ground the US military base in Bahrain. "The US army's fifth fleet has occupied a part of Bahrain, and the enemy's farthest military base is in the Indian Ocean but these points are all within the range of Iran's missile systems and they will be razed to the ground if the enemy makes a mistake," Mojtaba Zonour, a former advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader's Representative at the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said on Saturday evening.
Spokesman: Iran Imposes Sanctions on US Entities | Fars News Agency (Iran)
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi announced that the country will release the list of the American persons and institutions that have gone under sanction by Tehran for their assistance to the Takfiri terrorists, in retaliation for Washington's new embargos against Iran. "We have adopted special measures against the US administration's unfair and incorrect acts and we have put certain American institutions and individuals in the list of sanctions, for their aid to the Takfiris, including the ISIL, alongside the Zionist regime," Qassemi told reporters in his weekly press conference in Tehran on Monday. "The measure is in its final stages and we will release a list of them (the sanctioned entities) soon," he added.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
Paul Ryan: It Looks Like the Iran Deal Is Here to Stay | CNN
House Speaker Paul Ryan said the nuclear agreement with Iran is probably going to stay in place, despite significant Republican opposition to the deal. "A lot of that toothpaste is already out of the tube. I never supported the deal in the first place. I thought it was a huge mistake, but the multilateral sanctions are done," Ryan said on NBC's "Meet the Press" in a clip posted Friday. Elaborating further, Ryan said it would be difficult to bring back the international community to a point where many countries would isolate Iran. "I don't think you're going to go back and reconstitute the multilateral sanctions that were put in place," Ryan said... Ryan said he supported the Trump administration's approach to Iran so far and that there was broad support in Congress for further sanctions. He said the US needs to "rachet up" sanctions where it can in response to Iran's sponsoring of terrorism and testing ballistic missiles, while also "rigorously" enforcing the nuclear deal. "I think we should expend our effort where it can pay off the most," Ryan said. "What they're doing now makes a lot of sense."
U.S. Should Expand Missile Defense Due to North Korea, Iran: Lawmaker | Reuters
The United States should invest more in missile defense given missile testing by North Korea and Iran, the chairman of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee said on Monday. The comments by Republican Representative Mac Thornberry followed new U.S. sanctions against Iran after Tehran's recent ballistic missile tests. Washington is also concerned North Korea may be preparing to test a new ballistic missile... "If you look at what's happening around the world, I would mention Iran and North Korea, the importance of missile defense is increasing," Thornberry said at a roundtable discussion with reporters.
BUSINESS RISK
Company Doing Business With Iran Set to Get Billions in Tax Breaks | Washington Free Beacon
A major airline company currently engaged in business with Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism, stands to receive billions in tax breaks under a new plan being floated by a large coalition of Republican lawmakers. A new tax plan spearheaded by House Republicans includes a provision that would remove government fees on exports, meaning that Boeing—which is locked in a multi-billion dollar deal to sell the Islamic Republic planes—could receive $56.7 billion in tax breaks from the U.S. taxpayer. Boeing is currently lobbying in favor of the revamped tax plan, along with other multinational corporations. Congressional sources who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon about the plan raised concerns about the benefit it would provide Boeing at a time when Iran continues to harass U.S. interests in the Middle East and test nuclear-capable weaponry.
China Blocked $18bn of Iran's Petrodollars | Press TV (Iran)
A report by a leading Iranian newspaper says the country has at least $18 billion still blocked in China in what appears to be a result of complications related to previous sales of oil to Beijing during the years of sanctions. The report by the Persian-language newspaper Sharq said the amount had been announced by Ali Kardor, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). It added that the amount had been accumulated in China after the government of Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013) sealed a contract with Beijing in 2008 by means of which the money for oil that Iran sold to the country would be used as “bail” for exports of Chinese products to the Islamic Republic. The scheme apparently was devised after the sanctions made it impossible for Iran to transfer the money for the oil it sold to other countries to its own accounts.
Iran, Oman Reaffirm Gas Export Project, Change Pipeline Route to Avoid UAE | Reuters
Oman and Iran have agreed to change the route of a planned undersea gas export pipeline, to avoid waters controlled by the United Arab Emirates, Iran's oil minister said on Tuesday after meeting his Omani counterpart in Tehran. The planned pipeline would connect Iran's vast gas reserves with Omani consumers as well as with liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Oman that could re-export the gas. In 2013 the two countries signed an agreement to supply gas to Oman through the new pipeline in a deal valued at $60 billion over 25 years. After international sanctions on Tehran were lifted in January 2016 the two countries renewed efforts to implement the project but it has also been delayed by disagreements over price and U.S. pressure on Muscat to find other suppliers... The representatives from Shell, Total and Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) also attended the meeting in Tehran, Zanganeh said, and offered their proposals.
EXTREMISM
Iran Official: Missiles Need Only 7 Minutes to Hit Tel Aviv | Times of Israel
A senior Iranian government official on Saturday warned Tehran would swiftly retaliate against Israel if the US launched a military strike against Iran. Mojtaba Zonour, a member of Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission and a former Islamic Revolution Guards Corps official, boasted an Iranian missile could hit Tel Aviv in under seven minutes, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported. Zonour said Tehran would strike the Israeli coastal city and “raze to the ground” a US military base in Bahrain “if the enemy makes a mistake.” “And only seven minutes is needed for the Iranian missile to hit Tel Aviv,” he added.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran Sentences Professor at Belgian University to Death 'without Trial' for Alleged Espionage | The Independent
A scientist who worked for a Belgian university has been sentenced to death in Iran on suspicion of espionage. Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian national and professor of disaster medicine at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), was arrested in April 2016 while visiting family in the country. He is due to be executed in two weeks, according to VUB. Dr Djalali’s family and colleagues kept news of the arrest quiet in an attempt to avoid worsening the situation but have spoken out following the issuance of the death penalty. The university’s rector, Caroline Pauwels, said: “A scientist performing important humanitarian work, gets sentenced without public trial and is looking at the death penalty. This is an outrageous violation of universal human rights, against which we should react decisively.” ... In custody, Dr Djalali conducted three hunger strikes, according to the petition, which have cost him his health and 20kg in bodyweight. He was forced to sign a confession to an unknown offence, the petition said.
Iranian-Dutch Dual National and Dissident Imprisoned in Tehran Denied Medical Care | International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI)
The officials of Evin Prison are denying Sabri Hassanpour, an Iranian-born citizen of the Netherlands and outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic who has been imprisoned in Iran since March 2016, open-heart surgery, according to an informed source. The source told the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that prison officials continue to refuse requests by Hassanpour for hospitalization outside the prison to receive the surgery, which was recommended by a doctor. “We don’t know what the Dutch government or embassy have done for him, if anything,” said the source. Hassanpour’s wife is unable to follow up on his case because she lives in Holland with their child and can’t travel to Iran to pursue his case with the Judiciary without also risking arrest, added the source... The Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Organization arrested Hassanpour, 65, in April 2016 in the southern city of Khorramshahr while he was visiting his relatives for the Persian new year, the source told the Campaign.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Trump’s Policy Turn on Iran | Wall Street Journal Editorial
The world has been wondering if the Trump Administration will withdraw from President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran, and the answer appears to be no. That makes sense given the break it would cause with U.S. allies and the opening for Iran to make more mischief. But it does look as if President Trump may be willing to do what Mr. Obama refused to do, which is to rigorously enforce the agreement and push back against Iran’s aggression in the Middle East. That was the message Wednesday when national security adviser Michael Flynn responded to Tehran’s latest ballistic-missile test by saying the U.S. had put Iran “on notice.” Mr. Flynn cited the missile tests and Iranian arms to the Houthi militia in Yemen but he offered no details on how the U.S. might respond. Then on Friday the Treasury Department followed through with a new round of sanctions on Iran’s global procurement network. The new sanctions, which target 25 individuals and businesses, offer a revealing glimpse at the scope of Iran’s efforts to develop its missile arsenal. Beyond key Iranian figures, the sanctions hit procurement networks in China, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. Some provide Iran with ball bearings, composite fibers and other dual-use technologies; others funnel cash transfers and launder funds for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah. An array of front groups and shell companies cover the tracks... Iran’s missile launch is a deliberate effort to test the seriousness of the new U.S. Administration. Iran may now decide to test the White House again on how far it is willing to go to enforce the meaning of “on notice.” The more unequivocal the Administration’s response, the sooner Tehran will get the message that, this time, it faces a U.S. government that means what it says.
Trump's Iran Salvos | Chicago Tribune Editorial
In launching the missile, Iran presumably expected the usual round of sputtering and tut-tutting from Europe and the United Nations. What Tehran didn't know — but most certainly was seeking to gauge — was the response from President Trump. Iran's leaders — like North Korea's Kim Jong Un and, heck, every other leader in the world — have no idea what to expect from the blustering, often-contradictory Trump. Neither do most Americans, possibly including top aides. Trump harshly criticized the Obama nuclear deal but hasn't said much since taking office about tearing it up... Trump needn't tread lightly for fear that Iran will abandon the deal. Its leaders won't. The regime is vulnerable to harsh economic sanctions. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei grudgingly negotiated a pact with the Great Satan because of stifling economic sanctions. Curbs of that severity, now largely lifted, won't be revived in a hurry, or probably at all. Chicago's Boeing is already selling planes to Tehran, and European companies are piling back into the country to do business. But Trump and his Treasury Department still have power to make it hard for Iran to do business with banks and companies that want to do business with the U.S. That is, almost everyone. Any hint of a chill from Washington would spook Western companies. They already see Tehran as a risky place to hustle business. This is a regime that takes foreign hostages and extracts ransoms. A new president confronts an old adversary. Stay tuned. More fireworks guaranteed.
For Donald Trump's Team, Iran Moves atop Confrontation List | Gerald Seib in The Wall Street Journal
As Team Trump begins just its third full week in office, confrontation with Iran has clearly moved to the top of that list of early potential flashpoints. Moreover, this appears to be one of those intentional standoffs, or at least one that neither side will shy away from. The upshot is that risky times lie ahead—with Iran, inside neighboring Iraq, and with American allies in the region... The big danger is that hard-line elements in Tehran will be empowered internally by the confrontation, which they will use to vindicate their argument that the U.S. was never to be trusted in the first place. That attitude may be particularly acute as the hard-liners jockey for position in elections coming up this spring. They have plenty of weapons at their disposal, most notably unleashing terrorism, sponsoring more attacks on American troops in Iraq and pressuring the Iraqi government to scale back cooperation with the U.S. Bottom line: This won’t be a short-lived production, but rather a drama destined for a long run.
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Tue, 02/07/2017 - 15:26