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Reuters:
"Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria to join a major
ground offensive on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad's government,
sources said on Thursday, a further sign of the rapid
internationalization of a civil war in which every major country in the
region has a stake. Russian warplanes bombed a camp run by rebels
trained by the CIA, the group's commander said, putting Moscow and
Washington on opposing sides in a Middle East conflict for the first
time since the Cold War. The U.S. and Russian militaries will hold
talks at 11 a.m. EDT via video link to seek ways to keep their
militaries apart as they wage parallel campaigns of air strikes in
Syria, a U.S. defense official said. Russian jets struck targets near
the cities of Hama and Homs in western Syria on the second day of their
surprise air campaign, which they launched on Wednesday. Moscow said it
had hit Islamic State positions, but the area where it struck is held
by a rival insurgent alliance, which unlike Islamic State is supported
by U.S. allies including Arab states and Turkey... Two Lebanese sources
told Reuters hundreds of Iranian troops had reached Syria in the past
10 days with weapons to mount a major ground offensive. They would also
be backed by Assad's Lebanese Hezbollah allies and by Shi'ite militia
fighters from Iraq, while the Russians would provide air support. 'The
vanguard of Iranian ground forces began arriving in Syria: soldiers and
officers specifically to participate in this battle. They are not
advisers ... we mean hundreds with equipment and weapons. They will be
followed by more,' one of the sources said." http://t.uani.com/1L6YcOa
CNN:
"Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged for the first time
that the U.S. is having talks with Iran that could include a possible
prisoner swap, in an interview with CNN's Elise Labott that aired
Wednesday. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also recently told CNN that
the two countries are talking, and laid out his terms for such a deal.
Iran and the U.S. recently struck a nuclear agreement meant to curb the
country's nuclear ambitions. Asked if talks on the Americans being held
were making progress, Kerry said he has 'raised them in all of our
sessions. We've had a lot of conversations. We are continuing those
conversations now.' Kerry did not reject the idea of a swap, though he
would not discuss the details of the ongoing conversations, saying
only, 'I am hopeful that the day will come soon -- obviously sooner
rather than later -- but soon when all of our citizens can come
home.'" http://t.uani.com/1O5FlE1
AP:
"A ship carrying illicit arms believed to be from Iran was
intercepted last week off the southern Arabian Peninsula by a member of
a U.S.-backed naval coalition and was not registered with any country,
the U.S. Navy said Wednesday... The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, based in
Bahrain, said a member of the Combined Maritime Forces, a longstanding
multinational coalition, intercepted the vessel in international waters
last Friday. An American guided missile destroyer, the USS Forrest
Sherman, arrived to assist once the weapons were found aboard the dhow,
a type of vessel commonly used in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. A
search of the ship determined that it was 'stateless,' or not formally
registered to any country, although it appears to have been coming from
Iran, according to the U.S. Navy. 'Based on statements from the dhow's
crew, the port of origin of the dhow and its illicit weapons cache is
believed to be Iran,' the Navy said, adding that the weapons included
anti-tank arms thought to be of Iranian and Russian origin. The dhow's
crew alleged that the vessel was bound for Somalia, which sits just
across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen. They were allowed to depart once
the weapons were confiscated, the U.S. said. Most of the weapons were
dumped into the sea, though some were retained for further analysis by
sailors aboard the American warship... According to the Saudi
coalition, the ship was carrying 18 pieces of one type of anti-tank
missile and 54 of another, as well as launchers and other equipment.
Fourteen crew members aboard the ship were arrested, including the
captain, identified as Bakhsh Jakal, it said. The ship was registered
to an Iranian named Hogan Mohammed Hout. It was licensed as a fishing
vessel and was carrying papers indicating it was checked by port and
customs officials in Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan
province, according to the Saudi-led coalition." http://t.uani.com/1KWdu3G
Military
Matters
Reuters:
"Iran's supreme leader called on the armed forces on Thursday to
increase their capabilities in order to protect the Islamic Republic's
influence in the Middle East and deter would-be attackers. 'The armed
forces must urgently increase their readiness, so that the enemy dare
not think of attacking,' Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was
quoted as saying by Iranian agencies in a meeting with army commanders...
'The future of the country is in the hands of its youth, who must
recognise their strength and help tomorrow's Iran be more capable,
powerful, and influential in the region and the world,' Khamenei
said." http://t.uani.com/1OJk7NN
Congressional
Action
Al-Monitor:
"A key Iran bill under discussion on Capitol Hill is being toned
down considerably amid criticism that its original version would doom
the international nuclear agreement. The legislation from Sen. Ben
Cardin, D-Md., no longer conflicts with US commitments to lift
sanctions on certain Iranian banks, according to a recent draft
obtained by Al-Monitor. The latest version also removes an aggressive
commitment to renew all sanctions on Iran and sweeps away an offer to
provide Israel with bunker-busting super-bombs known as massive
ordnance penetrators. While the revised version is all but certain to
leave Iran hawks wanting more, defenders of the deal still think it
still goes too far. In particular, they argue that its explicit call
for 'expedited consideration' of terrorism-related sanctions appears to
violate the letter and spirit of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA) signed July 14... Cardin is the top Democrat on the Foreign
Relations panel and was one of four Senate Democrats to vote against
the deal. As such, his legislation is one of the few post-deal Iran
bills that's seen as having a good chance of becoming law because of
its potential to garner bipartisan support." http://t.uani.com/1JsiOen
Times of Israel:
"Republican lawmakers renewed a push this week to designate the
Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization.
Senator Ted Cruz introduced a Senate bill - the IRGC Terrorist
Designation Act - that serves as companion legislation to Rep. Michael
McCaul's House bill, both of which call attention to the fact that the
Iranian military organization is not considered a foreign terrorist
organization under current State Department designations. Such a
designation provides US law enforcement with enhanced tools to
prosecute individuals or groups supporting the organization. Charges
can be brought against anyone providing 'material support or resources'
to the group, including money, identification documents, lodging,
training, weapons and transportation. Any foreign member of such an
organization can be deported from the United States even if they are in
the country legally, and banks are required to freeze any funds tied to
designated organizations... The bill's sponsors believe it will offset
some of the benefits the IRGC is expected to receive under the deal...
While Iran is considered by the US to be a state sponsor of terror, and
the Quds Force, which operates under the auspices of the IRGC, is a
designated terror organization, the IRGC is not itself a designated
organization. The bill's sponsors say that distinction is artificial...
'The United States must call the IRGC what it is: a terrorist
organization committed to killing Americans and our allies all over the
world,' asserted McCaul." http://t.uani.com/1OapLIL
AP:
"The House votes Thursday on a bill aimed at blocking
implementation of the Iran nuclear deal until Tehran pays more than $43
billion in damages that U.S. courts have awarded to victims of
Iranian-sponsored terror. The White House said Wednesday that President
Barack Obama would veto the bill, saying that the Iran nuclear deal
addresses only nuclear issues. It said the bill would result in the
collapse of the international agreement aimed at preventing Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons. The bill, written by Pennsylvania Republican
Rep. Patrick Meehan, would prohibit the president from lifting
sanctions on Iran until it pays the victims billions in compensation.
'Not one cent has been paid by Iran toward those damages,' Meehan said.
The bill legislation has more than 100 co-sponsors in the House. Its
prospects are uncertain in the Senate where Democrats stood behind the
president and recently blocked a vote to disapprove of the deal.
Kenneth Stethem, a former Navy Seal and brother of U.S. Navy diver
Robert Stethem, who was killed by Hezbollah during the 1985 hijacking
of TWA Flight 847, gave an impassioned plea Wednesday in favor of the
bill." http://t.uani.com/1L6SxHK
Sanctions Relief
CSM:
"Iran says it is ready for a gold rush, as trade delegations flock
to Tehran to be first in line when sanctions are lifted under the
landmark nuclear deal agreed in July. And there is real hope and
opportunity in a well-educated country of 80 million with massive
deposits of oil and gas, one that investors see as an untapped market
emerging from years of isolation. But cashing in will not be easy and
is fraught with risk, experts say. One major brake is US sanctions on
terrorism and human rights that will continue - with strict enforcement
and steep penalties. Another is the uncertainty inherent to Iran's
opaque political system.... 'Sanctions are just the tip of the iceberg
when it comes to risks in Iran,' says Jonathan Friedman, an assistant
director with the global risk management firm Stroz Friedberg." http://t.uani.com/1O5D3Vp
Press TV (Iran):
"Indian media say the country's major oil companies have paid the
first installment of outstanding oil dues to Iran. The payment of the
installment at a total value of $700 million was made by Essar Oil,
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) and other Indian refiners
on Wednesday. Essar Oil paid $335 million while MRPL paid about $300
million. The remainder of the payments was made by HPCL-Mittal Energy
(HMEL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL). Nine more installments
remain to be paid over the next months... According to what Iran and
the P5+1 agreed in July, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets
Control (OFAC) would approve the banking mechanism for payment of $1.4
billion by Indian refiners in two equal installments to Tehran. The
Indian media say the refiners had deposited the rupee equivalent of
$700 million in Kolkata-based UCO Bank which transmitted the money to
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The RBI will accordingly make
arrangements for its onward remittance to Iran. A second installment of
$700 million will be paid in October/November, sources said." http://t.uani.com/1O5AmDs
FT:
"Iran will issue Islamic Treasury Bills, its version of short-term
sovereign debt, for the first time on Monday in an attempt to provide a
fresh fiscal stimulus for its cash-strapped economy, according to
people involved in the move. About $300 million-worth of the Treasury
Bills - a sharia law-compliant way for the government to raise money -
will be offered to investors at a steep discount to their face value in
a sign of how nascent capital markets are developing in Iran. The
public offering will test the international community's reaction to
Iran's risks following a breakthrough nuclear agreement with world
powers that is expected to partially lift sanctions on the country next
year. The government issues the one-year bonds to contractors in lieu
of paying them and the securities are now being offered to investors via
Iran's Fara Bourse, its small over-the-counter market. Crucially, the
effective interest rate on the bills is expected to be higher than the
official bank deposit rate, which is about 20 per cent." http://t.uani.com/1OaqAS0
Terrorism
Reuters:
"Bahraini security forces have discovered a large bomb-making
factory and arrested a number of suspects linked to Iran's
Revolutionary Guards, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. The
report comes as part of campaign by security forces to crack down on
militants behind recent bomb attacks on security forces that had killed
or wounded several people this year. Last July a bomb killed two
policemen and wounded six others in the worst attack of its kind in
months. The interior ministry said that the bomb-making facility in
Nuweidrat, a residential district south of the capital Manama,
contained more than 1.5 tonnes of high-grade explosives, making it one
of the biggest finds in the kingdom. 'The facility had been adapted to
accommodate an elaborate network of hidden underground bunkers and an
above-ground manufacturing operation,' the statement said. Chief of
Police Major-General Tariq Al Hasan said Iran was responsible for the
plant. 'This significant discovery marks yet another disturbing
incident in which relentless Iranian actions are attempting to
undermine security and stability within Bahrain and the wider region,'
he said in the statement. 'The sophistication of terrorist-related
incidents in Bahrain has increased markedly during 2015, and the
professionalism with which these materials are manufactured, concealed,
and deployed is a clear indication of international support and
sponsorship,' he added." http://t.uani.com/1Vs77LB
Reuters:
"The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider whether
Iranian funds worth $1.75 billion must be turned over to families of
the victims of the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in
Beirut. The high court agreed to hear an appeal filed by Bank Markazi,
the Iranian central bank. The bank is contesting a July 2014 ruling by
the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the
money, currently held in a trust account in New York, should be handed
over. The money would be used to pay off a $2.65 billion judgment the
victims' families won in a U.S. court against Iran in 2007. The
families accused Iran of providing material support to Hezbollah, the
Shiite Muslim militant group that carried out the attack that killed
241 U.S. servicemen. The lawsuit was filed in 2010 after the U.S.
Treasury Department uncovered the funds at Citibank, part of Citigroup
Inc." http://t.uani.com/1L6Qu6L
Anti-Americanism
RFE/RL:
"Tehran has said that negligence and mismanagement by Saudi
organizers caused last week's hajj stampede that left at least 464
Iranians dead... And according to the head of Iran's paramilitary Basij
force, there is one main culprit -- the United States. 'The Americans
are behind the Mina disaster. From their propaganda, we can understand
that they're aiming at turning away people from the principle of hajj,'
Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naghdi was quoted as saying by Iranian
media on September 29. Naghdi, who has a record of blaming the United
States for many of the world's problems, added that Washington wanted
'to put hajj under question' and 'give Islam an ugly face.' ... His
claim is one of several conspiracy theories related to the tragedy that
have been pushed by Iranian hard-line media and officials as Saudi
Arabia investigates the deadly incident... The deputy chief of staff of
Iranian Brigadier General Massud Jazayeri suggested that the September
24 stampede and the deadly Mecca crane collapse on September 11 may
have been deliberately orchestrated by Israel and the Saudi government.
'Given the oppressor Zionist regime's infiltration and influence on the
Al-Saud, there is a growing possibility that the two incidents -- the
crane-crash incident at the Grand Mosque [in Mecca] and the death of
thousands of people in Mina -- were deliberate,' Jazayeri told the
semiofficial Fars news agency on September 28." http://t.uani.com/1OamWri
Human Rights
Guardian:
"An Iranian man who was on death row for allegedly insulting the
prophet Muhammad has had his sentence commuted to reading 13 religious
books and studying theology for two years. Soheil Arabi, 31, was
arrested by members of the Iranian revolutionary guards in November
2013 in connection with Facebook postings which the Iranian judiciary
deemed insulting to the founder of Islam. He was convicted of blasphemy
and sentenced to death. A higher court annulled his death penalty, and
his new sentence, which includes a 90-day jail term, emerged this week.
Arabi will not be coming out of prison time any time soon, as he is
also serving a separate seven-and-a-half-year sentence for allegedly
insulting the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, alongside similar
charges." http://t.uani.com/1FKBrPw
Foreign Affairs
Reuters:
"Iran is unlikely to normalize relations with the United States
despite a landmark nuclear deal reached with America and other major
powers and the first handshake between a U.S. president and a
high-ranking Iranian official in more than 30 years... But analysts and
officials say this improvement will go no further than an exchange of
intelligence between the two nations through back-channels and that
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has no intention of restoring
diplomatic ties... Khamenei has continued to denounce the United States
publicly, suggesting that antagonism prevailing between Iran and the
United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Tehran will not
abate because of the nuclear deal. Iran and the United States severed
diplomatic ties shortly after the revolution... Khamenei has backed
Rouhani's efforts to reach the deal, under which Iran will curb its
nuclear work in return for the lifting of sanctions which have severely
damaged the economy. 'But he will never accept normalization of ties
with America,' a senior Iranian diplomat, who declined to be named,
said. 'For the leader it is just a non-negotiable red line.'" http://t.uani.com/1KW1FdQ
Reuters:
"Iran and Saudi Arabia sought to tone down a war of words over
last week's haj disaster, with Riyadh offering condolences to its
regional rival over what Tehran said on Thursday were 464 Iranians
killed in the crush near Mecca. Saudi and Iranian media said the
message of sympathy was delivered on Wednesday at a meeting between the
two countries' health ministers in the Saudi Red Sea port city of
Jeddah. 'The meeting was positive and the Saudi Minister announced the
King's condolences to the Supreme Leader, and the government and people
of Iran,' Iranian Health Minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi was quoted
as saying by state news agency IRNA. Iran has been vocal in its
criticism of Saudi Arabia for the Sept. 24 disaster at the annual
Muslim pilgrimage, with officials accusing the kingdom of lack of
cooperation over identifying the victims and transferring their bodies
back home." http://t.uani.com/1FKzfaE
Opinion &
Analysis
Emanuele
Ottolenghi in The Hill: "Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) is the regime's top exporter of terrorism and chief
enforcer of repression at home. Regrettably, it is the IRGC that will
benefit most from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)
nuclear agreement that world powers signed with Tehran in July... The
JCPOA dismantles most of the international nuclear sanctions against
the Islamic republic, creating a giant stimulus package for Iran's
economy. Although the U.S. retains the legal edifice of sanctions
against the IRGC, it is insufficient to exclude it from the post-deal
windfall. First, on Implementation Day, just months from now, the JCPOA
will lift or suspends sanctions against entire sectors of the Iranian
economy. The IRGC is active in each, and its companies will get the
lion's share of new business opportunities in them. Second, the lifting
of sectoral bans will provide the IRGC easier access to dual-use
technology in the aerospace, defense and nuclear sectors. Third, the
JCPOA will delist companies that assisted the IRGC's nuclear and
missile procurement efforts, as well as its support for Hamas,
Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria. A change of behavior was not a
condition for their delisting. Fourth, most IRGC companies were never
identified as such by EU or U.S. authorities. The U.S. Treasury has
listed only 19 IRGC individuals, 23 companies, four military entities
and two academic institutions. The European Union has listed just 25
companies... Moreover, as documented in my recent congressional
testimony, the IRGC controls or owns hundreds of companies that should
have been targeted for sanctions. The global business community looks
to the U.S. Treasury in assessing risk, and firms seeking to re-enter
Iran will assume that what is not explicitly forbidden is allowed. One
of these companies is Iran Aluminum Company (or IRALCO), Iran's largest
aluminum producer. The EU sanctioned the company in 2012 over links to
Tehran's nuclear procurement, including a contract to supply aluminum
to the U.S.-, UN-, and EU-sanctioned Iran Centrifuge Technology
Company. The EU will delist IRALCO on Implementation Day along with all
other entities under nuclear-related sanctions. Washington,
inexplicably, has never designated it, even though it is partially
owned by Mehr Eghtesad Iranian Investment Company, a U.S.-sanctioned
IRGC investment firm. To redress such shortcomings, the administration
should dramatically increase U.S. designations against the IRGC because
of its unequivocal role in terrorism and an array of illicit activities.
If Congress and the Treasury were to designate hundreds of IRGC firms
before Implementation Day, it would send a strong message to the
international business community as it contemplates Iranian
contracts... Congress should also instruct the State Department to
designate the IRGC as a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization.' Such a
designation would demonstrate that the Guard cannot be decoupled from
the U.S.-designated Quds Force, the Guards' extraterritorial arm that
has shed the blood of hundreds of American troops in Iraq and continues
to prop up the Assad regime in Syria. They are one and the same... A
more aggressive approach to countering the IRGC is crucial to
compensate for the nuclear agreement's shortcomings. Signing the
nuclear deal is by no means the end of countering the Guard's ambitions
- in many ways, it is just the beginning." http://t.uani.com/1iOlhds
David Albright
& Andrea Stricker in ISIS: "President Hassan
Rouhani has on several recent occasions tried to raise the notion of
swapping U.S. prisoners held in Iran, such as Washington Post
correspondent Jason Rezaian and at least three others, with some 10-20
Iranian prisoners held on charges of violating U.S. trade controls on
sales of military and other equipment to Iran's military, nuclear, ballistic
missile, and terrorism-related programs. Most recently he
suggested the possibility on 60 Minutes, again on CNN, and then to a
group of reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General
Assembly. But there is no equivalence between the two groups
arrested by Iran and the United States and equating them would be
misguided policy that would only encourage further prisoner taking by
Iran." http://t.uani.com/1OJsmtk
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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