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Reuters:
"Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday banned
any further negotiations between Iran and the United States, putting the
brakes on moderates hoping to end Iran's isolation after reaching a
nuclear deal with world powers in July. Khamenei, the highest authority
in the Islamic Republic, already said last month there would be no more
talks with the United States after the nuclear deal, but has not
previously declared an outright ban. His statements directly contradict
those of moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who says his
government is ready to hold talks with the United States on how to
resolve the conflict in Syria, where the two countries back opposing
sides. 'Negotiations with the United States open gates to their economic,
cultural, political and security influence. Even during the nuclear
negotiations they tried to harm our national interests.,' Khamenei was
quoted as saying on his website. 'Our negotiators were vigilant but the
Americans took advantage of a few chances,' he said... In his address to
Revolutionary Guards Navy commanders, Khamenei said talks with the United
States brought only disadvantages to Iran. 'Through negotiations
Americans seek to influence Iran ... but there are naive people in Iran
who don't understand this,' Khamenei was quoted as saying to the IRGC
commanders, who are also running much of Iran's military involvement in
Syria... 'We are in a critical situation now as the enemies are trying to
change the mentality of our officials and our people on the revolution
and our national interests,' Khamenei told the Guards." http://t.uani.com/1WN6BtY
Reuters:
"At a meeting in Moscow in July, a top Iranian general unfurled a
map of Syria to explain to his Russian hosts how a series of defeats for
President Bashar al-Assad could be turned into victory - with Russia's
help. Major General Qassem Soleimani's visit to Moscow was the first step
in planning for a Russian military intervention that has reshaped the
Syrian war and forged a new Iranian-Russian alliance in support of Assad.
As Russian warplanes bomb rebels from above, the arrival of Iranian
special forces for ground operations underscores several months of
planning between Assad's two most important allies, driven by panic at
rapid insurgent gains. Soleimani is the commander of the Quds Force, the
elite extra-territorial special forces arm of Iran's Revolutionary
Guards, and reports directly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei. Senior regional sources say he has already been overseeing
ground operations against insurgents in Syria and is now at the heart of
planning for the new Russian- and Iranian-backed offensive... Three
senior officials in the region say Soleimani's July trip was preceded by
high-level Russian-Iranian contacts that produced political agreement on
the need to pump in new support for Assad as his losses accelerated...
The decision for a joint Iranian-Russian military effort in Syria was
taken at a meeting between Russia's foreign minister and Khamenei a few
months ago, said a senior official of a country in the region, involved
in security matters. 'Soleimani, assigned by Khamenei to run the Iranian
side of the operation, traveled to Moscow to discuss details. And he also
traveled to Syria several times since then,' the official said." http://t.uani.com/1Ol7pU9
WashPost:
"Friday, October 9 marks the 444th day of Washington Post reporter
Jason Rezaian's unlawful imprisonment in Iran. Rezaian, a private citizen
and fully accredited journalist, will have been held for the same amount
of time as U.S. government employees during the Iran hostage crisis of
1979-1981, a milestone significant in its injustice. 'We again call on
Iran to release Jason without further delay. Jason has been subjected to
a secret, sham trial, solitary confinement, relentless interrogations,
physical mistreatment and psychological abuse. His trial concluded almost
two months ago, yet still no verdict has been rendered. That he has been
imprisoned as long as those taken during the hostage crisis decades ago
should be cause for shame and outrage,' said Martin Baron, executive
editor, The Washington Post. 'Jason is innocent, and he deserves to be
freed immediately.' In August, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention took up Jason's case and called on Iran to uphold international
legal obligations, and took up 'urgent action' to further confront Iran
in its handling of the case. 'Iran continues to tell the world it has
changed, but how can they expect the international community to believe
that if Iran continues to treat Jason the way they treated the U.S.
hostages more than 35 years ago,' said Frederick J. Ryan, Jr., publisher,
The Washington Post. 'It is hard to understand how the United States
government or any nation can place the slightest confidence in the words
of an oppressive regime that has consistently denied Jason's basic human
rights and is violating their own laws regarding the rights of the
accused.'" http://t.uani.com/1Ol5hf7
Sanctions Relief
IRNA (Iran):
"Lebanese Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the
Iran nuclear deal P5+1, which led to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA), will open new doors for Iran. In an interview with the
Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar on Wednesday, he said despite Israeli
efforts to prevent a nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1, the
agreement will provide new opportunities to Iran soon." http://t.uani.com/1NmWhau
AFP:
"Iran is to introduce over 50 new oil exploration and production
contracts in the near future, the head of the country's oil contracts
re-negotiation team told a conference in London on Tuesday. Seyed Mehdi
Hosseini, whose country is seen as a major untapped energy producer,
announced a 'new chapter of cooperation' with the international oil
industry at the 'Oil and Money' conference... The new contracts will be
launched at a conference in Tehran in November, and then in London in
February. Details about the projects were not released, but incentives
for international investors should be better than those available in Iraq
or Mexico, according to Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman of energy consulting
group FGE. 'Opportunities in Iran are endless,' Fesharaki said... 'Iran
holds potentially interesting promises and perspectives. We have to see
how the market will develop,' said Shell Chief Executive Ben Van Beurden.
'At this point in time it is premature to say, let's wait and see what
the conditions are.'" http://t.uani.com/1OlEHUD
FT:
"The chief architect of Iran's new oil contracts has said domestic
companies linked to the country's Revolutionary Guards may be approved to
partner international energy majors. Speaking on the sidelines of the Oil
& Money conference in London on Tuesday, Seyed Mehdi Hosseini said he
was not opposed to companies owned by or linked to the elite military
unit with deep ties throughout the Iranian economy taking part in joint
ventures. 'The point of these Revolutionary Guards is that they are
engineering companies, normal engineering companies, that have done
something in Iran, they have got experience,' said Mr Hosseini. 'It
depends on the quality and selection of the IOCs [international oil
companies],' he said. 'If the IOCs want to work with them, we have no
problem. We are not going to interfere in the private negotiations
between private companies and the IOCs on what kind of arrangement they
have.'" http://t.uani.com/1FTdxBU
WSJ:
"Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines plans to modernize its
fleet and is engaging international shipping majors to form alliances and
re-enter western markets as Tehran exits a long period of sanctions that
barred its vessels from calling at European and U.S. ports, the company's
chairman said Wednesday. 'We expect sanctions to be lifted in January
under the comprehensive agreement between Iran and the West. We've been
away for too long and our priority is to re-enter the international
market,' Mohammad Saeidi told The Wall Street Journal in a rare interview
on the sidelines of the Danish Maritime Days shipping conference. IRISL,
Iran's biggest shipping operator, is one of a number of Iranian companies
first sanctioned in 2008 for advancing Tehran's nuclear program... 'In
the event of lifting of international sanctions, Iran will have great
potential for new commercial business activity,' said Michael Storgaard,
a spokesman for Copenhagen-based Maersk Line, the world's biggest
container operator in terms of capacity. Anne Gronbjerg, Maersk's
managing director in Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq, said the company's current
volumes in and out Iran are half of what they were in 2011, before the
latest wave of sanctions in 2012... IRISL will tap Chinese banks and
shipyards for new ships. Under guidance from Beijing, lenders such as
China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China are providing
billions of dollars in loans to operators, provided that orders go to
Chinese yards. 'Chinese banks never stopped doing business with Iran and
Iranian orders can be the next big thing for Chinese yards. said George
Xiradakis, an adviser to China Development Bank. 'China lenders will
facilitate such orders.'" http://t.uani.com/1FTbOfY
Press TV (Iran):
"Germany's TUI Group, the largest leisure, travel and tourism
company in the world, is interested in investment in Iran which is being
billed as the most lucrative hospitality development market. Preliminary
negotiations have been held for the multinational tour operator to enter
Iran and make investments, minister of economic affairs, labor and
transport for the federal state of Lower Saxony Olaf Lies told Press TV.
He is leading a delegation of 100 German politicians and traders on a
four-day visit to Iran in what he described as a 'big event' at a press
meeting in Tehran Tuesday." http://t.uani.com/1hqDDQC
Terrorism
WT:
"Bill Clinton's administration gathered enough evidence to send a
top-secret communique accusing Iran of facilitating the deadly 1996
Khobar Towers terrorist bombing, but suppressed that information from the
American public and some elements of U.S. intelligence for fear it would
lead to an outcry for reprisal, according to documents and interviews.
Before Mr. Clinton left office, the intelligence pointing toward Iran's
involvement in the terror attack in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 U.S.
servicemen and wounded hundreds was deemed both extensive and 'credible,'
memos show. It included FBI interviews with a half-dozen Saudi
co-conspirators who revealed they got their passports from the Iranian
embassy in Damascus, reported to a top Iranian general and were trained
by Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), officials told The Washington
Times." http://t.uani.com/1Nn50tr
Afghanistan
Free Beacon:
"Iran is providing financial and material support to the Taliban,
the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Tuesday. 'At this level,
I can tell you we have some reports that Iran has provided money,
weapons-mostly in the west, in the Herat area-to the Taliban to fight
Daesh [Islamic State],' Gen. John Campbell said. 'So they're supporting
the Taliban right now-Iran is, with money and weapons,' Sen. Kelly Ayotte
(R., N.H.) said. Campbell agreed, saying that he did not know the exact
nature or scale of Iranian support for the Taliban... In addition to its
provision of weapons to the Taliban, Iran pays salaries and runs at least
four training camps for Taliban insurgents. 'Iran supplies us with
whatever we need,' a Taliban commander told the Wall Street Journal. Gen.
Campbell noted that Iran was arming the Taliban in order to fight the
Islamic State, omitting Iran's other reason for supporting the terrorist
insurgency. Iran's strategy in Afghanistan is twofold, according to a
Wall Street Journal report: 'Countering U.S. influence in the region and
providing a counterweight to Islamic State's move into the Taliban's
territory in Afghanistan.'" http://t.uani.com/1OlNtBV
Syria Conflict
WT:
"Russia's stepped-up military campaign in Syria is not only offering
a lifeline to the embattled Assad regime, it is providing badly needed
relief for Iranian proxies that will enable them to move more
aggressively in the region's other conflicts - in particular in Yemen,
where a war between Tehran-backed rebels and Saudi Arabia has been raging
for months. Regional analysts said the fallout across the region from
Russian President Vladimir Putin's surprise move is already playing out,
with Iran an indirect early beneficiary of the move. 'The reentry of
Russian military into the region suggests that things could get much
worse in Yemen in the near term, particularly to the extent that there is
a division of labor between Russia and Iran of what is happening in
Syria,' said Mary Beth Long, a regional security expert who served as an
assistant secretary of defense in the George W. Bush administration. Ms.
Long told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that
Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Iran's main proxy in Syria, will likely be freed
up to provide fresh support for Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen - a
development that could deepen the conflict by allowing the Houthis to
continue their military campaign or demand a higher price for engaging in
peace talks. She said Iranian-Russian collusion is far more involved than
often reported in Washington, asserting that the Obama administration
'does not appear to be willing to call out either Iran or Russia for what
they are doing in the region, nor to understand [their] full
motives.'" http://t.uani.com/1FTi9Ic
Yemen Crisis
Al-Monitor:
"A former commander in the Saudi navy and expert in special
operations said Oct. 6 that Saudi forces have captured Iranian military
officers and Hezbollah members in Yemen despite Iran's claims that it has
not intervened militarily on the side of Houthi rebels. Prince Sultan bin
Khalid Al-Faisal, a grandson of the late Saudi King Faisal and a nephew
of the kingdom's recently deceased longtime foreign minister, Saud
al-Faisal, told an audience on Capitol Hill that Saudi Arabia is prepared
to lead the Middle East against a host of threats, including 'increasing
Iranian incursion into other states' affairs' and the turmoil that has
followed the so-called Arab Spring. Sultan, 48, who recently retired from
active duty after 20 years in the Saudi military, said he was not
speaking on behalf of the Saudi government. But his comments echoed
accusations by Saudi officials that Iran is actively intervening in conflicts
in Yemen and other Arab countries. According to Sultan, 'Some of the
prisoners [captured by Saudi-led forces in Yemen] are Hezbollah and
Iranians.' Sultan said the Saudis also encountered members of Hezbollah
during a previous conflict with Houthi rebels in 2009. He said that
Hezbollah members were in Yemen then to upgrade launchers for Frog
missiles that the Houthis were trying to adapt. 'Hezbollah was very
involved,' Sultan said. 'They were there.'" http://t.uani.com/1Lk08i2
Cyberwarfare
WSJ:
"Be careful whom you're connecting with on LinkedIn. Cybersecurity
researchers have uncovered a network of fake LinkedIn profiles, which
they suspect were being used by hackers in Iran to build relationships
with potential victims around the world, according to a new report to be
published Wednesday by security firm Dell SecureWorks Inc. This tactic,
known as 'social engineering,' is one where hackers trick people to get
them to cough up personal or sensitive information. 'Having those trust
relationships gives [hackers] a platform to do a bunch of different
things,' said Tom Finney, a security researcher at Dell Secureworks. The
25 fake profiles described in the report were connected to more than 200
legitimate LinkedIn profiles - mostly individuals based in the Middle
East who worked in sectors like telecom and defense. Those individuals
and their companies likely have information that would be of interest to
an Iranian cyber group, Dell Secureworks said. A spokeswoman for LinkedIn
says the company has since removed all of the fake profiles. LinkedIn has
a team dedicated to protecting members from these sorts of risks, she
said. Dell SecureWorks say they believe the group behind the fake
LinkedIn profiles, labeled internally as 'TG-2889,' is the same
Iran-based group that also created malware last year disguised as a
resume application submitter for a job opening; as the victim filled out
the fake job application, the malware took over the victims' computers, a
scheme that was uncovered in a separate security firm's report last
year." http://t.uani.com/1hqyiZR
Extremism
Tasnim (Iran):
"Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major
General Mohammad Ali Jafari urged vigilance against the enemy's cultural
inroads into the country. 'We should be wary of the enemy's
intellectual, cultural, and political infiltration,' General Jafari said
Wednesday. The enemy is trying to say Iran's revolution is over and the
Iranian nation should not be worried about the revolution's objectives,
he stated... In similar remarks earlier in the day, Imam Khamenei
cautioned against enemies' cultural and political plots against Iran,
including ploys aimed at impairing the religious beliefs and absorbing
the talented young generation. 'Weakening the (Iranian people's) religious
and political beliefs and attempts to absorb active and influential young
people at different levels are among the plans of the enemy's political
and cultural army,' the Leader said in a meeting with members of a
committee tasked with holding a congress to commemorate the country's
martyrs." http://t.uani.com/1Lyr0RK
Human Rights
ICHRI:
"Two months after the end of the trial of Washington Post reporter
Jason Rezaian, imprisoned in Iran since July 2014, it is increasingly
apparent that the Iranian Judiciary's prosecution of Rezaian will rely on
little more than a forced false 'confession.' The authorities have long
used such confessions extracted under duress by interrogators under the
guidance of Revolutionary Guard officials and then broadcast by the state-run
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB),, to justify politically
motivated prosecutions. 'The authorities have come up empty-handed when
trying to validate their case against Rezaian,' said Hadi Ghaemi,
executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in
Iran. 'So they resort to their usual tactics: force a false confession,
broadcast it, and convict with impunity.' While there has been talk among
various officials and in the state-controlled media for many months
regarding tapes of the ostensible 'confession' by Rezaian,
parliamentarians in Iran have recently intensified their calls for the
broadcast of these alleged confessions. On October 5, 2015, eleven
members of the Iranian Parliament called on the Rouhani administration's
Justice Minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, to release tapes of
'confessions' made by the imprisoned Rezaian." http://t.uani.com/1VEHEhS
Foreign Affairs
Tehran Times:
"Iranian ambassador to Berlin Ali Majedi has said German Foreign
Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier plans to visit Iran on October 17-18,
Mehr reported Tuesday. Speaking on the sidelines of the Iran-Germany
Business Meeting in Berlin, Majedi said, 'Iran and Germany have embarked
on a very constructive cooperative process to improve global stability
and security.'" http://t.uani.com/1L6jckK
Tasnim (Iran):
"Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to pay an official
visit to France this November. Rouhani will visit Paris from November 16
to 18 for meeting with high-ranking French officials." http://t.uani.com/1KZPik8
ISNA (Iran):
"European Parliament President Martin Schulz would step in Iran on
October 12. He is officially invited by Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali
Larijani and would be accompanied by a number of the parliament members.
Schulz plans to meet with senior Iranian officials, including Foreign
Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif." http://t.uani.com/1hqCPLQ
Fars (Iran):
"Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force General Ahmad Reza
Pourdastan deplored Saudi Arabia for its awful management of the Hajj
ceremony in which over 4,000 pilgrims were killed, and said Riyadh only
understands the language of force. 'The Al-Saud is a hated family and
just understands the language of power,' Pourdastan said, addressing
cadets in the Central province of Isfahan on Wednesday. 'The Al-Saud
understands nothing but the language of force and one should speak with
it merely with the language of power,' he added." http://t.uani.com/1MZv4HT
Opinion &
Analysis
WashPost Editorial:
"Thirty-five years ago, Americans were transfixed by the drama of 52
U.S. diplomats and other citizens being held as prisoners in the U.S.
embassy in Iran. Those hostages had been taken on Nov. 4 1979, and were
not freed until Jan. 20, 1981 - 444 days. On Friday, The Post's Jason Rezaian,
a U.S. citizen and journalist seized in his home on July 22, 2014, could
spend his 445th day in detention. Held in violation of Iran's own laws,
not to mention international conventions, he has become another de facto
hostage. The case of Mr. Rezaian is less spectacular, superficially, than
that of the U.S. diplomats. They saw the Tehran embassy overrun by a mob
of militant students, while Mr. Rezaian faces criminal charges - albeit
false charges manufactured months after his arrest - and has been unlawfully
imprisoned. Over time, the pretense of legal process attached to The Post
reporter's case, which was flimsy to begin with, has crumbled altogether.
By Iranian law, Mr. Rezaian should have been released on bail after a
year of detention, since he had not been sentenced for a crime; he
wasn't. He should have been informed of a verdict within one week of the
end of his trial on Aug. 10, but nearly two months later, none has been
announced. Since it was presented at a closed trial - once again, in violation
of Iranian law - what we know of the 'evidence' against Mr. Rezaian is
scant. But what has been reported in the Iranian media has been beyond
ludicrous. On Sunday, a spokesman for an Iranian parliamentary committee
told the official Fars News Agency that an intelligence report by the
Revolutionary Guard identified Mr. Rezaian as part of a conspiracy to
bring down the Iranian government by the sinister means of improving
bilateral relations. 'Jason Rezaian has had the duty to exercise the
thoughts of those people in the U.S. Senate who believe that if the U.S.
can revive its pre-Revolution relations with Iran, the Iranian government
can be overthrown easily,' Fars quoted the spokesman as saying. Last week
in New York, President Hassan Rouhani suggested that Mr. Rezaian and two
other Americans jailed in Iran could be exchanged for 19 Iranians
imprisoned in the United States. In essence, Iran's president is openly
wielding an innocent 39-year-old journalist as a bargaining chip to free
people whom Mr. Rouhani says were prosecuted for violating U.S.
sanctions. Asked about Mr. Rouhani's comment, Secretary of State John F.
Kerry said he had 'yet to hear directly' about an Iranian swap proposal,
but 'we've had some conversations.' We aren't privy to those talks or to
the identities of those Iran seeks to free. What we do know is that they
would have been convicted by an independent judiciary in a public process
under the rule of law. Mr. Rezaian, in contrast, is not only not guilty
of any crime, but also has never been plausibly accused of one, or
prosecuted according to Iran's laws. His continued detention should be as
intolerable to the United States as was the captivity of the American
hostages 35 years ago." http://t.uani.com/1jcZ75i
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