Eye on Iran: GOP Targets Kerry over Visa Waivers for Iran

Join UANI           Top Stories The Hill: "House Republicans are piling on Secretary of State John Kerry for suggesting that the U.S. could waive new visa restrictions to help foreigners doing business with Iran. Prominent lawmakers have scolded the State Department in recent days, following a letter Kerry sent to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that floated removing the new limits on people who travel to Iran or are dual citizens with the country and one of 38 nations that participate in the Visa Waiver Program. 'This administration's continued capitulation to Iran continues to reach new lows,' House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a statement on Tuesday. 'Our government does not work like the Iranian regime, and the secretary of State cannot throw the Constitution out the window,' McCaul added. 'Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of Islamist terrorism, and our message to them is clear: as long as you fuel networks of terror, individuals connected to your country will not be allowed to enter ours without closer scrutiny.' 'Waiving restrictions on the Visa Waiver Program for persons who have traveled to Iran or who hold Iranian citizenship would put U.S. citizens at risk,' echoed Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) in a letter to Kerry on Tuesday. A day earlier, No. 2 House Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) insisted that the law is 'not ambiguous' and would not allow Kerry to waive the new restrictions for Iran. The outcry follows comments from the State Department in recent days responding to concerns from Iran about the new restrictions on people who have traveled to or hold dual citizenship with Iran." http://t.uani.com/1V7UCGg Tasnim (Iran): "If the new law that tightens visa-free travel to the US comes into force, Iran will lodge a complaint to a joint commission, tasked with monitoring commitments to a July nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers, about breach of the JCPOA, an Iranian diplomat said. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that a new bill that the US House of Representatives passed to tighten visa-free travel to the US and President Barack Obama signed into law 'contravenes' the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a lasting accord that Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) struck in July. Araqchi argued that the new law will 'definitely influence the economic, tourism, scientific and cultural interaction' between Iran and the other countries. According to a bill, which was passed in the US House by 407 to 19 on December 8, visitors from the 38 'visa waiver' countries will need to obtain a visa to travel to the US if they have been to Syria, Iraq, Iran or Sudan in the past five years." http://t.uani.com/1OL9mWH Reuters: "Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday a new U.S. law putting visa restrictions on Iranians and those who had visited Iran would, if implemented, breach a nuclear deal Tehran had struck with world powers earlier this year. The new measure passed by the U.S. Congress will prevent visa-free travel to the United States for people who have visited Iran or hold Iranian nationality. The measure, which President Barack Obama signed into law on Friday, also applies to Iraq, Syria and Sudan, and was introduced as a security measure after Islamic State attacks in Paris and an attack in San Bernardino, California. Iran, a Shi'ite Muslim theocracy staunchly opposed to Sunni radicalism espoused by groups like Islamic State, says its inclusion on the list is intended to undermine the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA. 'If the Congress law is implemented as it is, it would definitely be a breach (of JCPOA),' Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency, speaking at a joint press conference with his Mongolian counterpart, Lundeg Purevsuren. Zarif said he had raised the issue with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at their meeting in New York this month and also in several emails in the last 10 days, hoping that 'these measures stop any obstacle in implementation of the JCPOA.'" http://t.uani.com/1OnJfuL Sanctions Relief TASS (Russia): "The initial volume of Russia's public credit to Iran will amount to $2.2 bln, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told reporters. 'We discussed the issue of public credit, we understand its volume, and how they are going to take it. Now we have to agree on details of supply contracts,' he said. 'The first [tranche] is $2.2 billion, and $5 billion is a whole credit line,' Shuvalov said. He said that $2.2 billion will be granted to finance the contracts for construction of power plants and electrification of railways, which were signed during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'As soon as our industrial forces are ready to supply the equipment and carry out the contracts, we will be ready to fix it in financial documents,' Shuvalov said... Russia's VEB Bank the Central Bank of Iran are preparing an agreement on granting $2 bln loan to Iran. The funds will be used to finance electrification of the railways in the country and the construction of power plants." http://t.uani.com/1RGnMNL Sputnik (Russia): "Russia is pursuing talks with Iran's Kish Airlines on the possible supply of 15 Russian Tu-204SM aircraft, Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade said Tuesday. 'The Russian side is ready to offer Tu-204SM aircraft to our Iranian colleagues. Currently, talks are proceeding with the Iranian Kish Airlines on the supply of 10-15 planes of this type,' the ministry said after a meeting between the ministry's head, Denis Manturov, and Iranian Minister of Industries and Business Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh. The two ministers met in Tehran a day after the opening of the three-day Russia-Iran Trade and Industrial Dialogue in the Iranian capital. Manturov is heading Russia's delegation to the event, where Russian companies are showcasing their export and investment potential. The event is set to be attended by several Iranian ministers, including the defense, communications and agriculture ministers, according to the exhibition's website... According to earlier reports, Russia's United Aircraft Corporation has plans to resume cooperation with Iran on the supply of the Tu-204SM airliner after the 2008 suspension of trade due to the imposition of economic sanctions on Iran by the international community." http://t.uani.com/1J3ElRh BBC: "SNP politicians have held talks on trade during a four-day visit to Iran. The former first minster Alex Salmond was joined by MSP Bill Kidd who hailed the trip to Tehran as 'hugely positive'. The six person delegation also included SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh and vice-chairman of the Muslim Council for Scotland Azzam Mohammed. Mr Salmond said the mission secured agreement for an exchange of full trade delegations this Spring. He said 'We met the full range of government ministers and parliamentarians at the highest level, including foreign affairs minister Dr Zarif and speaker of the parliament Dr Ali Larijani.' 'The key areas where Scottish expertise can be invaluable to Iran include oil and gas, finance and education. However, we also learned on our trip of outstanding opportunities in transport, communications and agriculture'. The delegation have prepared a full report which will be circulated to Scottish ministers and Scottish Enterprise... Ms Ahmed-Sheikh MP, who is vice chairwoman on the all party Westminster group on Iran, said the group had raised the issue of human rights during the visit. She said: 'Of huge importance is Dr Zarif's reply to Alex Salmond that Iran is prepared to discuss the issue of human rights in an even-handed way with European countries." http://t.uani.com/1YxyUky Human Rights Journalism Is Not a Crime: "Security forces arrested Iranian poet Mohammad Reza Haj Rostam Begloo on Wednesday on charges of blasphemy and publishing falsehoods, his mother told Journalism Is Not A Crime. Speaking to Journalism Is Not A Crime, Mohammad Reza's mother said he was arrested at his home in Karaj on Wednesday, December 16, 2015. 'Officers invaded his home and took his computer, tablet and printer,' she says. Following the arrest, the officers took him to his family home. 'First I thought Mohammad Reza was coming alone, so I didn't cover my hair,' the mother recalls. 'One of the officers was so rude. He pulled the door open and shouted at me, 'Put something on your hair'. I covered my hair, and they entered our home without asking permission.' According to Mohammad Reza's mother, there were six officers - all without official uniforms. 'It looked like they had beaten my son,' she says... Mohammad Reza was transferred to an unknown location, and his mother has not heard from him since. Mohammad Reza Haj Rostam Begloo is an Iranian poet, who teaches poetry, philosophy and language. However, the Iranian authorities have prohibited him from teaching, so he tutors privately in his home and cafes." http://t.uani.com/1MwjWin Opinion & Analysis Nargess Tavassolian in IranWire: "For close to two years, members of the international community, horrified, shocked and angered by the repeated acts of violence and murder committed by ISIS extremists, have been quick to point out the group's moral bankruptcy, and its failure to subscribe to any kind of legitimate religious or moral doctrine. But, on December 15th 2014, ISIS gave the world an idea of the moral code it follows, or claim to follow. So with the publication of the ISIS's Islamic Penal Code, did ISIS offered some sort of clarification, addressing the question of how it metes out its horrific form of justice, at least to some extent? According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, on December 15, 2014, ISIS outlined the penal code it follows in a document published on the Jihadi Media Platform forum (alplatformmedia.com). 'ISIS said it published the document as a warning and a reminder to the people living under its rule,' the Middle East Media Research Institute wrote. 'It also reaffirmed its commitment to enforce it vigilantly.' The institute said the document set out its argument in line with 'various Koranic verses emphasizing the need for Muslims to adhere to Sharia, while noting that those who do not follow it are considered unbelievers.' ISIS' horrific punishments have included: beheading one of its own fighters for spying and embezzlement; crucifying a 17-year-old boy for apostasy; ordering a women be stoned to death on charges of adultery; and throwing a man off a building as punishment for homosexuality. These and other punishments have  been carried out based on ISIS's Islamic Penal Code, published under the title بیان الحدود , or 'The Clarification regarding the Hudud.' Hudud, the plural of Hadd, refer to punishments outlined in the Koran and hadith - proclamations by the Prophet Mohammad  -  regarding crimes against God. But just how close is ISIS' penal code to that of the Islamic Republic of Iran's?  Looking at the two, one cannot help but notice the similarities... So despite Iran's unfaltering military support for the governments of Syria and Iraq, and its incessant harsh criticism of ISIS, evidence suggests that Iran's legal system  bears disturbing resemblance to that of ISIS, at least in part. The Iranian government will of course want to avoid such comparisons. But those calling for reform in Iranian law may find parallels useful in making the case to those members of the government open to listening, however resistant the regime may be to such change." http://t.uani.com/1QLLb07 John Allen Gay in TNI: "Buried in Congress's big new budget deal was a controversial alteration to the Visa Waiver Program, a measure that allows travelers from many European countries to come to the United States without a visa. (Americans get the same privilege in return.) The reform prevents citizens of and recent visitors to Syria-and other countries determined to be sponsors of terrorism-from participating in the program. As I wrote last week, the measure has been heavily criticized due to the risk that the other countries that participate in the program would impose the same restrictions on Americans. Syrian American, Iraqi American, Sudanese American and Iranian American travelers would be, in the words of one advocacy group, 'second class citizens.' Many of the same critics have argued that the visa reform violates last July's nuclear deal with Iran, under which the United States committed to 'refrain from any policy specifically intended to directly and adversely affect the normalisation of trade and economic relations with Iran inconsistent with their commitments not to undermine the [deal's] successful implementation.' In other words, we can't intentionally sabotage the restoration of trade with Iran; this bill, they charge, does that, as it imposes new hurdles on businesspeople who'd like to operate in both countries. Some Iranian politicians and apparently a number of European diplomats have advanced this view. The Obama administration responded promptly to these concerns: shortly after the bill's passage, Secretary of State John Kerry wrote a letter to Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif which stated that the administration would implement the reform 'so as not to interfere with legitimate business interests of Iran.' Kerry ticked off a number of options the administration had available to soften the law's impact and noted that the changes can also be waived. This has drawn heavy criticism from Congressional Republicans like House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Ed Royce (R-CA), who accused the administration of 'bending over backwards to try to placate the Iranian regime.' Royce couched his charge in a broader critique of the administration's seeming reluctance to take firm measures in response to Iran's recent ballistic missile tests, its ties to terrorism and its imprisonment of a number of American citizens on bogus charges. Royce's counterpart in the Senate, Foreign Relations Committee chair Bob Corker (R-TN), raised similar complaints in a hearing last week, suggesting that the Obama team has been too reluctant to hold Iran to account. Part of this hesitation may be an attempt to avoid emboldening Iranian hardliners ahead of the momentous legislative elections two months from now. As well, the administration must be looking ahead to Implementation Day, a critical waypoint in the Iran nuclear deal in which sanctions will begin coming off and Iran's major nuclear commitments are in full effect. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has said Implementation Day will come in the current Iranian month, meaning before the end of January. So it's hardly mad for the administration to be cautious these days, and Kerry's letter was likely intended to forestall a destructive confrontation over a peripheral point... But it is these questions of intent and interpretation that make our actions in the early months of the nuclear deal so important. The norms of interpretation that are emerging now will be hard to shake in the future. And the norm is that Iranian misbehavior in nonnuclear areas will be handled gently, for fear of harming the nuclear deal; the norm is that Iranian perspectives on the deal's interpretation will be given heavy weight, particularly if they can get the Europeans on their side; the norm is that, contrary to what our negotiators worked so hard to avoid, Iranian nuclear concessions will gain American concessions beyond the nuclear sphere. The administration's apparent motives are understandable-with Iran already heavily sanctioned and isolated, the impact of new sanctions designations over the recent missile launch or new restrictions on Iranian visas is likely to be small compared to the risk of Iran reneging on the nuclear deal. Future administrations, hands tied by the norms such thinking will create, may wish we'd guarded our sovereign rights more jealously. Iran's American hostages may already feel the same. Yet that doesn't mean Kerry's letter was the right approach-indeed, it was unseemly. The signal itself could have been sent differently, for example: the same letter could have been sent to all of the members of the Joint Commission, a multilateral body charged with resolving disputes over the deal. (Iran is among its members.) It could have been released as a statement from the State Department, addressed to nobody. It could have been communicated informally to the Iranians, not in writing. Kerry or a spokesperson could even have simply told a journalist about the administration's intentions. Instead, we are given the appearance of a Secretary of State preemptively defending the Islamic Republic from U.S. legislators. The content of the statement is also questionable. Iran was included in the visa restrictions because it is a state sponsor of terrorism. The United States rightly refused to soften its response to Iranian terror in return for Iranian concessions in the nuclear deal, and the nuclear deal does not prevent new measures intended to hinder Iran-backed terrorism. Tehran's sponsorship of terrorism may hinder its legitimate business interests, but that is not a problem addressed in the nuclear deal and it is certainly not a burden that Washington is obliged to ease. And while the visa-waiver reform is not likely to be very effective in preventing Iranian terrorism against the United States (for starters, Lebanon, home to Iran's proxy Hezbollah, is not on the list), the United States is within its rights as a sovereign nation to impose a higher level of scrutiny on new arrivals who've traveled to countries that help terrorists, regardless of how effective those measures may be. Yet sovereignty gets scarcely a nod from Kerry; the fear of Iranian umbrage rules the day." http://t.uani.com/1OnK3Qi         Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.