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Independent: "Forty state-run Iranian media
outlets have jointly offered a new $600,000 bounty for the death of British
Indian author Salman Rushdie, according to the state-run Fars News Agency.
Fars News Agency, which is closely affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps (IRGC), was among the largest contributors, donating one
billion Rials - nearly $30,000. The announcement coincides with the
anniversary of the fatwa issued the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the
founder of the Islamic Republic, the agency said. Ayatollah Khomeini, the
First Supreme Leader of Iran, issued the fatwa against Rushdie on charges
of blasphemy for his novel The Satanic Verses on 15 February, 1989. The
Ayatollah called for the death of the book's author along with anyone
'involved in its publication'. Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese
translator of The Satanic Verses, was stabbed to death outside his office
at Tsukuba University, the Italian translator Ettore Capriolo survived
being stabbed at his apartment in Milan, and the novel's Norwegian
publisher was shot three times in the back and left for dead outside his
home in Oslo. Rushdie was put under police protection by the British
government and spent many years in hiding. While Iran's former President
Mohammad Khatami said the threat against the author was 'finished' in 1998,
the fatwa has never officially been lifted. Ayatollah Khomeini's successor,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in 2005 the order still stands. The new bounty
is the largest organised effort to assassinate Rushdie since the fatwa was
issued." http://t.uani.com/1PS9RBI
Reuters: "An international anti-money
laundering group wants government financial intelligence agencies to give
extra scrutiny to transactions and business relationships involving Iran
and North Korea. Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said on
Friday that it remained 'particularly and exceptionally concerned' about
what it called Iran's 'failure to address the risk of terrorist financing
and the serious threat this poses to the integrity of the international
financial system.' In the wake of the relaxation of international financial
and trade sanctions against Iran following a U.S.-led international accord
last year that limited Tehran's nuclear program in exchange, the
transaction network SWIFT reconnected several Iranian banks, allowing them
to resume cross border transactions with foreign banks. FATF, however,
urged its member agencies to tell financial institutions to continue to
give 'special attention' to dealings and transactions with Iranian
companies and banks. FATF also called on Iran to step up its own anti-money
laundering efforts by 'criminalizing terrorist financing' and putting in
place the kind system for reporting suspicious financial transactions to
central governments which FATF members have instituted. FATF said that if
Iran did not step up its anti-money laundering efforts, FATF would consider
asking its members to strengthen 'countermeasures' directed at Iran as soon
as June." http://t.uani.com/1Qtw9Xq
NYT: "They clapped and cheered, and
many shouted for the release of their political leaders under house arrest
for the past five years. Some held up pictures of a popular former
president, Mohammad Khatami. Pictures of his hands, to be exact, because
displaying his portrait is illegal. The young supporters of Iran's
reformist movement gathered behind the safe walls of a sports hall last
week to campaign for elections on Friday for Parliament and an influential
clerical council. Their longstanding demand has been tangible change, but
the forced absence of most of their political leaders illustrated how far
they were from their goal of a new and modern Iran. A decade of relentless
pressure from the judiciary, the Revolutionary Guards and clerical councils
dominated by hard-liners has confined Iran's reformists. The reformists
were a force during the presidential contest of 2009, but the movement was
decapitated after its political leaders voiced support for the millions of
people who took to the streets to challenge the fairness of the vote.
Reformist parties were closed down, and hundreds of activists, politicians
and journalists were given long jail sentences. The election of President
Hassan Rouhani in 2013 raised the hopes of the reform movement, and Iran
negotiated a nuclear deal with the West and rejoined the world economy. But
internally, virtually nothing changed. The political space remained
constrained, and the hope that reformers would re-emerge as a guiding force
has not come to fruition. As the reformers again try to stage a comeback,
their agenda, once a sweeping manifesto for change in the Islamic republic,
has been narrowed to simply calling for a high turnout in the coming vote.
During the campaign rally, the new leader of the reformists, Mohammad Reza
Aref, seemed most concerned with reassuring hard-liners who accuse his
movement of opposing the legacy of the 1979 revolution. 'We act within the
system,' Mr. Aref said in front of thousands of supporters. 'Nobody loves
the revolution more than us. Like a mother, we feel concern for it and want
to preserve it.' For the elections, thousands of reformist candidates were
barred from participating by the Guardian Council, a 12-member vetting body
that is dominated by hard-liners. As a result, the remaining reformists
have joined forces with supporters of Mr. Rouhani's self-styled moderate government...
Others, who are critical of the movement, say its leaders are watering down
their ideals to the point where there is nothing left. 'Their agenda is
minimal, their ambitions have shrunk to the same level,' said Behzad
Nourfard, a former activist. 'They are aligning themselves with people whom
they hope will support them in the future. But who opposed them in the
past.' ... Mr. Jaleipour, the reformist advocate, said the compromises were
part of reaching political adulthood in a hostile environment. 'We have
learned from our errors and mistakes,' he said, adding that in the
beginning, 'we thought Iran could be democratized overnight. That was
wishful thinking. We shouldn't have high expectations. That only brings
frustration.'" http://t.uani.com/1SN4B60
Military
Matters
Reuters: "Iran negotiated with Russia at
the weekend over buying an upgraded version of the S-300 surface-to-air
missile defense system, which it requires to meet its military needs, a
foreign ministry spokesman in Tehran was quoted as saying. Iran was blocked
from obtaining the S-300 before it reached a deal with world powers last
July on curbing its nuclear program, with Russia having canceled a contract
to deliver an older version of the system in 2010 under pressure from the
West. Russia now hopes to reap economic and trade benefits from the nuclear
deal and the lifting of sanctions on Iran last month. Russian Defense
Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Tehran on Sunday. Commenting on the visit,
ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari told state news agency IRNA: 'Iran
is negotiating with Russia for providing its military needs... One of the
main issues is buying the next-generation S-300 missile system.' Defense
Minister Hossein Dehghan was quoted as saying by the Fars agency on Feb. 10
that Iran would start taking delivery of the S-300 within two months. Iran
has also shown interest in buying the more advanced S-400 system, though no
negotiations were being conducted at the moment, Russia's RIA news agency
reported last week. It was not clear if by 'next generation' Ansari was
referring to the S-400, which Russia says can hit missiles and aircraft up
to 400 km (250 miles) away... Ansari also said Shoigu met Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani on Sunday to convey 'President (Vladimir) Putin's special
message ...regarding bilateral relations and some regional issues.'" http://t.uani.com/1TAgNXS
U.S.-Iran
Relations
Reuters: "An Iranian-American businessman
detained in Iran since October has been denied access to his lawyer by
authorities, his attorney and family said in an interview and on social
media over the last two days. Siamak Namazi, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen,
was detained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in October while
visiting family, according to a source familiar with the matter who
declined to be identified. Iranian authorities have not announced any
charges against him. Five other American citizens were released from
Iranian prisons more than a month ago as part of an historic prisoner swap
with the United States. After their release, U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry said that he had commitments from Iran that Namazi's case would be
resolved soon. Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei said in a phone interview on
Friday that he is representing Namazi and that Iran's judiciary chief has
not yet allowed him to meet with his client. Such permission is required by
Iranian law if an individual is accused of national security-related
crimes, he said, adding that he has not been officially informed of
Namazi's charges. 'Not me, nor any other lawyer has received such
permission from the head of judiciary so far,' Tabatabaei said. 'His mother
has met him a few times, but his father has not been allowed to see him.'
... In a post on Facebook on Saturday, Namazi's mother, Effie Namazi, said
she had not been able to see her son for some time, and did not know his
condition. But she said she had received news through his cellmate's family
that Namazi had begun a hunger strike. 'This step by Siamak has greatly
increased the worries of his family, because it will certainly hurt his
health,' Effie Namazi wrote... Tabatabaei identified Namazi's cellmate as
Isa Saharkhiz, a prominent Iranian journalist who is also Tabatabaei's
client." http://t.uani.com/1oxq9qh
IranWire: "After many years of
incarceration and house arrest, American-Iranian dual national Dr Kian
Tajbakhsh, 53, was at last permitted to leave Iran in late January and be
reunited with family and friends in New York in the United States.
Tajbakhsh was first detained by the Iranian authorities in 2007 for four
months. He was rearrested in 2009 for his alleged involvement in the
protests that followed the 2009 presidential election. For this, he has
been charged with a number of offences, including espionage. Since the 2009
arrest, he has either been in detention or on parole in Iran. Then, on
January 28, Tajbakhsh was at last able to leave the country with his wife
Bahar and daughter Hasti after the authorities handed them back their
travel papers earlier that month, coinciding with the release of US-Iranian
prisoners Jason Rezaian, Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini and Nosratollah
Khosravi-Roodsari, on January 16. Dr Kian Tajbakhsh, who is one of the
world's leading experts in urban planning and local government reform, has
taught at a number of well-respected Iranian and American universities,
including Columbia University in New York. He has also acted as a
consultant for several Iranian government organizations, including the
Ministry of the Interior and international non-governmental organizations,
including the Open Society Institute and the World Bank. Since his recent
return to the US, Tajbakhsh has resumed teaching at Columbia. Iranian
academic Ramin, who is friends with him, is pleased he is safely back in
the US. 'I'm very happy that he's now back at his old job at Columbia,'
says Ramin Jahanbegloo, who also spent time in an Iranian jail. 'Kian is a
bridge maker between the US and Iran and therefore he's like a bird that
needs to fly out of its cage between different cultures.' On January
31, just days after he had left Iran, Dr Kian Tajbakhsh posted a message on
the 'Free Kian' website - a site that has chronicled his case and
campaigned for his release since 2009 - thanking all his family, friends and
colleagues that have worked tirelessly over the years to secure his freedom
and enable him to return to the US." http://t.uani.com/1TAoDRg
Reuters: "A federal judge has approved the
U.S. government's move to drop charges against an Iranian man accused of
sanctions violations, as part of a prisoner trade agreed with Iran last
month. The judge had earlier challenged federal prosecutors to justify
their request to drop the case against Alireza Moazami Goudarzi, an Iranian
man accused in 2012 of trying to buy aircraft parts for Iran, including
those for military aircraft engines. The dismissal was part of a wider deal
which also saw U.S. officials move to drop international arrest orders and
any charges against 13 other Iranians outside America, in return for Iran's
release of five Americans it had been holding. The administration also
offered clemency deals to seven Iranians in the United States, mostly imprisoned
for or charged with sanctions violations. The judge's order resolves the
only known U.S. judicial challenge to Obama's prisoner exchange that
succeeded in freeing five Americans from jail in Iran, including
Iranian-American Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian. Iranian-American
businessman Siamak Namazi remains jailed in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1mSSAhi
Congressional
Action
Observer: "Ted Deutch has had a lot of
practice using diplomatic language while traveling the country speaking to
fellow Democrats who are skeptical about the Obama Administration's foreign
policy in general, and its approach in the Mideast in particular. And
between now and November's elections, he is likely to get a lot more. The
50-year-old Congressman from Florida, the ranking Democratic member of the
House Foreign Affairs Committee's Mideast and North Africa Subcommittee, is
at once a loyal Democrat and a sharp dissenter when it comes to the
Administration's policy toward Iran... Mr. Deutch was one of a modest
number of Democratic Congressmen who bucked White House pressure to support
the Iran deal, speaking out forcefully against it. 'I cannot support a deal
giving Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in return for letting
it maintain an advanced nuclear program and the infrastructure of a
threshold nuclear state,' he said when the deal was before the House of
Representatives. 'No one denies Iran's support for the world's most
notorious terrorist groups. No one disputes Iran's destabilizing influence
on the Middle East or its role in killing Americans. And because no one
trusts Iran not to cheat any way it can, the fact that the deal makes it
nearly impossible to reinstate sanctions of today's intensity is beyond
alarming.' ... But with the deal done, Mr. Deutch has turned to trying to
keep the Iranian threat from fading into 'yesterday's news,' and to keep
the bitterness generated by the debate over the deal from diluting the
Democratic caucus' focus on the Iranian regime. 'Clearly, I was in the
minority in my position on the Iran deal,' he says. 'But I don't believe
I'm in the minority with my colleagues on the threat that Iran poses.' This
will remain to be seen. Mr. Deutch and fellow Foreign Affairs Committee
member Joseph P. Kennedy III have introduced the Zero Tolerance For Terror
Act, which authorizes Congress to impose new sanctions on Iran for engaging
in terrorism, either directly or through proxies, or acquiring ballistic
missile technologies in violation of U.N. Security Council
resolutions." http://t.uani.com/1TApUYp
Sanctions
Relief
WSJ: "Boeing Co. said Friday that it
received a license from the U.S. government to begin commercial discussions
with Iranian airlines, opening the door to what could be the first U.S. jet
deliveries to the Islamic Republic since the 1970s... Iran is seeking to
quickly catch up and refresh its airlines with new aircraft, with leasing
industry officials forecasting the country could support 300 to 600 new
planes. 'The license permits us to engage approved airlines to determine
their actual fleet requirements,' a Boeing spokesman said. Airbus Group SE
in January signed a cooperation agreement with Iranian officials for the
purchase of 127 new aircraft that range in size from single-aisle jets all
the way to its double-deck A380. Earlier this month, a joint venture
between Airbus and Italy's Finmeccanica SpA said Iran Air was purchasing as
many as 40 small turboprop aircraft. Boeing, which last year provided
maintenance manuals to Iranian airlines, will be looking for government
cues on how to cultivate long-dormant commercial ties in the potentially
fertile market. 'We understand that the situation in the region is
complicated and ever changing and we will continue to follow the U.S.
government's guidance as it relates to conducting business with Iran,' the
Boeing spokesman said. General Electric Co. said it, too, has submitted an
application for a license to sell engines and spare parts to Iranian
airlines, but has not yet been granted approval, according to a company
spokeswoman." http://t.uani.com/1WDxgZm
Reuters: "Boeing Co said on Friday that
the United States gave it a license to hold talks with airlines in Iran
about buying jetliners, but said it would need additional U.S. approval to
make sales. Boeing's license, received on Thursday, marked a step toward
catching up with European rival Airbus, which last month agreed to sell
Iran 118 planes worth about $27 billion at list prices. 'We have applied
for and received a license to assess the current commercial passenger
airplane needs of U.S. Government-approved Iranian airlines,' Boeing said
in a statement. 'The license permits us to engage approved airlines to
determine their actual fleet requirements.' ... 'Our European competitor,
Airbus, is advancing its interests in the market, and Canada recently
indicated that it will permit Bombardier access to the Iranian market as
well,' Boeing said in its statement." http://t.uani.com/1Tvla52
Reuters: "German industrial group Siemens
is stepping up its efforts to win projects in Iran, after its chief
executive met Iran's oil minister and other government representatives in
Tehran on Monday. 'We want to pick up where we left off,' Siemens said in a
statement, citing its engagement in Iran since 1868, especially in the
energy sector and rail transportation. 'We see great pent-up demand.'
Siemens stopped doing new business in Iran in 2010 but last month signed
deals to work on Iran's railway infrastructure worth up to 1.5 billion
euros ($1.7 billion) in anticipation of Western sanctions against Iran
being lifted. 'We never left the country and stand by our commitment also
in difficult times, always compliant with international regulations. We'll
now be stepping up our efforts toward continuing this long tradition,'
Siemens said... Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said Siemens had
promised to speed up the delivery of compressors and turbines for gas
extraction following his meeting with Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser, according to
the ministry's news agency, Shana. 'Iran needs to withdraw more gas,
requiring it to purchase rotary machinery and wellhead compressors, and
Siemens can be a good partner for Iran in this field,' it quoted Zangeneh
as saying... Shana said Zangeneh had told Siemens it could start joint
ventures with any Iranian company and export equipment to regional markets
using the Siemens brand. Siemens was already planning to work with Oil
Turbo Compressor Company, it said." http://t.uani.com/1QVeWXq
Bloomberg: "Daimler AG, seeking to regain
its position as one of the leading truckmakers in Iran after a six-year
absence, is bracing for a fight in the reopened market with now-entrenched
Chinese rivals. 'The chairs we used to sit on in Iran weren't left empty
when we were gone,' Wolfgang Bernhard, head of Daimler's trucks division,
said Monday at a briefing with reporters in Stuttgart, Germany. 'Chinese
competitors now sit in these chairs.' The German automaker has moved fast
to re-establish ties with Iran, signing preliminary agreements last month
with Iran Khodro Co., the country's biggest auto producer. Daimler, the
world's largest truckmaker, sees demand in the market eventually on par
with Turkey at about 40,000 trucks a year. Before dropping business in Iran
in 2010 amid international sanctions against the country's nuclear-research
program, Daimler had sold as many as 10,000 vehicles there a year." http://t.uani.com/1RX0qUa
WSJ: "When Iran's oil minister, Bjian
Zanganeh, took office in 2013, he laid out a grand vision for his country's
oil business after Western sanctions ended, proposing to double production
to levels not seen since the energy industry's heyday here before the 1979
revolution. Now nuclear-related sanctions are gone, and the fate of Iran's
crippled economy and its ability to retake its place in the global energy
market rests on an oil industry that is underfunded, politicized and
starved of Western technology and know-how. Iran needs $30 billion of
foreign investment to reach Mr. Zanganeh's targets, but Western companies
remain wary. 'We are a bit hesitant' about Iran, said Statoil ASA Chief
Executive Eldar Saetre in an interview this month. The Norwegian oil
company had oil operations in Iran until 2009 but was plagued by cost
overruns and corruption allegations there. 'I think it will take a long
time to fully develop the resources that Iran has access to,' he added...
Iran has courted Western companies for more than a year to drum up interest
with limited success. Tehran oil-ministry officials beseeched Norwegian
diplomats last March to invest in Iran, laying out a bleak assessment of
the state of their own energy sector, according to a previously undisclosed
diplomatic cable from Norway's Iranian embassy. 'The situation is already
critical after years of huge investment backlogs,' said the Norwegian
cable, viewed by The Wall Street Journal. European oil companies such as
Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Eni SpA of Italy and Total SA of France have said
they are interested in Iran but need to know the terms for working there...
The prospect of the companies returning to Iran has sparked a national
debate that mirrors larger divisions between Mr. Rouhani and hard-liners.
The tensions burst into the open when Iran canceled a forum this month in
London, where the oil ministry had planned to unveil new terms for international
energy companies to work in the country... 'Iran doesn't really have a
luxury of creating further risks for investors by throwing a political
fight over the approval of its investment framework,' said Sara Vakhshouri,
a former adviser to the state-run National Iranian Oil Co. who now runs a
Washington-based consultancy, SVB Energy International." http://t.uani.com/1TvgUTa
FT: "For porters looking for business
as they push empty carts through the arched passageways of Tehran's Grand
Bazaar Iran's economic recovery still seems a long way off. The subdued
seasonal shopping just one month before Norouz, the Iranian new year
holiday, is adding to widespread gloom about a prolonged economic
stagnation that has also dimmed public enthusiasm for the crucial upcoming
elections... Aslan, a 66-year-old porter, says he has never seen such
hard times despite working for more than four decades in the traditional market,
which draws many of the capital's middle-class residents. 'I'm lucky if I
earn 15,000 tomans [150,000 rials, or $5] a day,' Aslan says, while
squatting on his metal cart parked in front of a shop with its grey blind
shut due to poor business. 'It is much worse than this time last year,
which was not a good year, either, but I still could earn 50,000 tomans a
day.' ... Like Aslan, many merchants and shoppers at the Bazaar are
frustrated with economic hardships that have persisted despite the lifting of
international sanctions in January as part of a deal in which the Islamic
republic had to dramatically scale down its nuclear activities." http://t.uani.com/1oxxhmr
Tehran
Times: "Iran
expects to be able to increase its oil exports by 160,000 barrels a day in
March with sales to Eastern Europe on the agenda, said Mohsen Qamsari,
director general for international affairs of the National Iranian Oil
Company. In a radio interview on Saturday, Qamsari said Iran is exporting
around 1.4 million bpd of oil in February and expects the figure to rise to
1.56 million bpd in March, the Mehr news agency reported... 'As we had
promised, we managed to increase our exports by 500,000 bpd shortly after
the lifting of sanctions,' Qamsari noted. 'Selling crude oil to our
traditional buyers in Europe is underway,' he said, adding that several
consignments of crude oil will be exported to Europe in the near
future." http://t.uani.com/1T1yGzd
AP: "Iran's economy minister said his
country is seeking $45 billion in foreign investment following the
implementation of a landmark nuclear deal with world powers last month. Ali
Tayebnia told reporters Saturday that Iran expects $15 billion in direct
foreign investment alone in the next Iranian calendar year, which begins
March 20... Iran expects an economic breakthrough after the lifting of sanctions,
which has allowed it to access overseas assets and sell crude oil more
freely. Iran already has access to more than $100 billion worth of frozen
overseas assets and Iranian banks earlier this month were reconnected to
SWIFT, a Belgian-based cooperative that handles wire transfers between
financial institutions. Tayebnia said Iran's strategic location, political
stability and population of 80 million has made the energy-rich Persian
state into an attractive place for foreign investment. 'All these factors
have led to a capacity to attract more than $45 billion in foreign
financial resources for next year, with about $15 billion in direct foreign
investment,' he told a press conference. Tayebnia said Iran signed an
agreement with Japan earlier this month for $10 billion in investments and
is seeking similar deals with other nations... Tayebnia, however, said Iran
welcomes foreign investment only if it leads to strengthening Iran's
economy. 'We won't welcome any proposal that doesn't lead to transfer of technology
and capital (to Iran) or doesn't boost production and exports,' he
said." http://t.uani.com/1QtxptG
Express
Tribune (Pakistan): "Pakistan
has lifted sanctions on Iran, reviving economic relationship between the
two neighbouring countries in several areas of businesses and trade, Radio
Pakistan reported. On January 17, world powers had lifted sanctions on the
Islamic republic following a historic agreement between the two sides in
Vienna on July 14 2015 came to effect. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced
to lift the sanctions at a meeting in Islamabad on Friday, saying
modalities to this effect were decided in an inter-ministerial meeting. The
decision, Dar said, was taken pursuant to a resolution of the United
Nations Security Council in connection with Iran's nuclear programme.
According to the minister, a notification issued by the foreign affairs
ministry will revive economic and commercial ties between the two
countries. Tehran will now be able to benefit from agreements with
Islamabad in the areas of trade, investment, technology, banking, finance
and energy, the finance minister added." http://t.uani.com/1mSO2r0
Reuters: "Iran and Oman are interested in
pursuing closer ties and shared investments in the energy sector, Iran's
oil minister was quoted as saying on Sunday after talks in Tehran with
Oman's foreign minister. Bijan Zanganeh said the most important shared
project between the two countries was a planned undersea gas pipeline to
connect Iran's vast gas reserves to Omani liquefied natural gas (LNG)
export plants. Oman last month said it expected speedier completion of the
pipeline under the Gulf now that sanctions on Iran have been lifted, but
the project has also been delayed by price disagreements and U.S. pressure
on Muscat to find other suppliers. 'Iran and Oman are interested in
broadening relations and joint investment, and are taking the necessary
steps to do so,' Zanganeh was quoted as saying by the Shana agency after
meeting Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi in Tehran. 'In this meeting
we discussed shared investment in refining, oil storage, and expanding the
petrochemical sector in both countries,' Zanganeh added." http://t.uani.com/1mSStlO
Iraq
Crisis
Reuters: "As fighting in Iraq raged last
summer, Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani came across unexpected
opposition to his plans to defeat Islamic State. Soleimani is the commander
of Iran's al-Quds brigade and has been a key figure in the fight against
the Sunni Islamist group in Iraq. That fight has been led not by Iraq's
army but by Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias. But in August, Iraqi Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi told Soleimani that a planned assault on the Sunni
city of Ramadi should be left to the Iraqi army, according to a government
official and two diplomats. Abadi, a 64-year-old Shi'ite, wanted the
militias to stay away to avoid inflaming ethnic tensions, the sources said.
Abadi's office declined to comment on the story, which has been repeated in
Baghdad's diplomatic circles for months. Three Iraqi politicians denied it
ever happened. But the government official and the diplomats said the
incident was one of a series of moves by Abadi to assert his authority as
leader and to distance himself from Tehran and the militias that came to
Baghdad's rescue in 2014 and early 2015. Abadi has begun to push for
reconciliation between Iraq's Shi'ites and Sunnis, and for better relations
with Sunni Arab neighbors like Saudi Arabia, they said... According to the
government official and the two diplomats, Abadi also objected to
Soleimani's plane landing at Baghdad airport without prior permission.
Abadi was also irritated that Soleimani used an official VIP hall at the
airport when entering Iraq, even though he was not officially invited by
the government. The deterioration in their relationship, the sources said,
began in August when Soleimani attended a top Iraqi security meeting run by
Abadi and behaved in, what one source said, was 'a bossy manner as if Iraq
was an Iranian protectorate'. This, the sources said, had led Abadi to ask
Soleimani why he was at the meeting. The Iranian general had then left.
'Abadi questioned his presence. It was a matter of Iraqi sovereignty and
nationalism,' one Western diplomat said... 'Abadi has kept himself at arm's
length' from Iran, said a European diplomat. 'He has only been to Tehran
two or three times in 18 months, not like his predecessor who would go all
the time.'" http://t.uani.com/1QbT0ey
Regional
Destabilization
AFP: "Bahrain said Sunday it has
adopted measures including travel curbs and monitoring of money transfers
to counter Iran's 'interference' in the kingdom shaken by Shiite-led unrest
since 2011. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid al-Khalifa spoke of the
'dangers of Iran's interference in the internal security' of Bahrain during
a meeting with clerics, MPs and newspaper chiefs, said the official BNA
news agency. 'We have taken a series of measures to confront the dangers of
terrorism,' Sheikh Rashid said. These include forming a committee to
monitor money transfers and donations to combat the 'financing of
terrorism' and imposing travel restrictions on citizens, especially aged between
14 and 18, to 'unsafe countries,' he said. Bahrain has previously announced
the dismantling of 'terror' cells whose members it said were trained by
Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon's Tehran-backed
Hezbollah." http://t.uani.com/1PSk6pp
Iran-Saudi
Tensions
AP: "Lebanese Justice Minister Ashraf
Rifi resigned from the Cabinet Sunday, saying the militant Hezbollah group
dominates the government and is harming Beirut's relations with Arab
countries. The resignation of Rifi, a longtime critic of the Shiite
Hezbollah, comes two days after Saudi Arabia halted deals worth $4 billion
aimed at equipping and supporting Lebanese security forces. The move came
after Lebanon failed to back the Sunni kingdom in its spat with Shiite
powerhouse Iran, the leading backer of Hezbollah. The six-nation Gulf
Cooperation Council backed the Saudi decision, raising concerns it could
have repercussions for thousands of Lebanese living in Gulf countries...
The Saudi decision came after Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil
declined to support Saudi resolutions against Iran during two meetings of
Arab and Muslim foreign ministers. Bassil is the president of the Christian
Free Patriotic Movement, a key ally of Hezbollah. 'He (Bassil) dared to
offend the kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the request of Hezbollah,' Rifi said
in a statement announcing his resignation. 'The practices of Hezbollah's
statelet and its allies are not acceptable and staying in the government
means approving them.'" http://t.uani.com/1oXDPLE
Reuters: "Saudi Arabia has put 32 people
on trial, including 30 members of its own Shi'ite Muslim minority, accused
of spying for Iran, several local newspapers and television reported on
Monday. The 32, including an Iranian and an Afghan, were detained in 2013
sparking expressions of concern among Saudi Shi'ites who said that several
were well known figures in their community and not involved in politics.
The trial is the first in recent memory for Saudis accused of spying and
may stoke tensions between local Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims and with Iran,
which strongly denied the accusations at the time... Riyadh's Bureau of
Public Prosecution presented the charges against the 32 on Sunday at the
Specialized Criminal Court, which tries security offences, the Saudi-owned
al-Arabiya channel reported. The charges included establishing a spy ring
with members of Iranian intelligence and passing them sensitive military
information, seeking to sabotage Saudi economic interests, undermining
community cohesion and inciting sectarian strife." http://t.uani.com/1WDFksZ
Human
Rights
IHR: "18 civil rights defenders, who
were arrested while peacefully protesting outside Evin Prison in November
2015, have each been issued prison and lashing sentences. Branch 1060 of
Tehran's criminal court has sentenced each of the 18 individuals to 91 days
in prison and 74 lashes. Based on the information received by Iran Human
Rights, the court sentenced two of the individuals to an additional
two-year suspended prison term. The names of the 18 are: Simin Ayvaz-Zadeh
(mother of civil rights activist Omid Alishenas), Hashem Zeinali (father of
missing student Saeed Zeinali), Reza Malek (former political prisoner),
Ehsan Kheybar, Abdolazim Oruji, Mohsen Haseli, Mohsen Shojah, Khadijeh
(Leyla) Mirghaffari, Azam Najafi, Parvin Soleimani, Shermin Yemeni, Sara
Saiee, Arshia Rahmati, Massoud Hamidi, Ali Babaiee, Esmaeil Hosseini,
Farideh Tousi, and Zahra Modarreszadeh. 'They didn't commit any actual
crime and their actions were in line with their right to freedom of
assembly; as per Article 27 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of
Iran, Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article
21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which has
been adopted by the UN General Assembly and ratified by Iran,' Mohammad
Moghimi, a human rights lawyer for the 18 defenders, tells Iran Human
Rights. Iran Human Rights condemns the unlawful actions committed by Iran's
judicial system and calls on Iranian authorities to end the repression and
eradication of civil society in Iran. 'Iranian authorities have once again
shown their intolerance to the peaceful activities of civil society. All
levels of government within the Islamic Republic of Iran are responsible
for the treatment of these 18 individuals,' says Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam,
spokesperson for Iran Human Rights." http://t.uani.com/1Q5JXs0
Deutsche
Welle: "The
International Beach Volleyball Championships, a men's only tournament,
finishes Friday on Iran's Kish Island. So far, not a single woman has been
allowed to enter the stadium to watch the matches, causing ire among
Iranian women and international female athletes who are critical of the
ban... The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has staunchly
promoted the men's tournament regardless of the fact that allowing women to
attend the five-day competition was a condition set down by the FIVB for
the Iranian Volleyball Federation to host its first-ever international
men's beach volleyball tournament. Prior to the competition, the
international body announced that it had received assurances from
tournament organizers that 'the event [would] be open to fans from all age
groups and genders. This will include families and women.' But that failed
to eventuate, and women were reportedly turned away at the turnstiles as
they tried to enter the stadiums. The FIVB, whose constitution stipulates
that gender equality is key, has failed to step in and take action for the
Iranian government's decision." http://t.uani.com/1Tvn8SZ
AP: "An Iranian filmmaker said Monday
that an appeals court had sentenced him to a year in prison, reducing his
initial sentence of six years over 'insulting sanctities' amid an ongoing
crackdown on expression in the Islamic Republic. Keywan Karimi said he will
still receive 223 lashes as stipulated in his original sentence. Both
Karimi and his lawyer have said the sentence stems from unspecified 'video
clip' and a film he directed called 'Writing on the City,' which focuses on
political graffiti in Iran from its 1979 Islamic Revolution to its
contested 2009 election. Karimi said the appeals court decision was final
and could not be appealed. 'I have no intention of leaving the country and
shall serve the sentence,' he said... His sentencing comes amid a crackdown
on expression in the Islamic Republic and a landmark deal with world powers
over Iran's contested nuclear program. It also shows the power hard-liners
still maintain in the country. Already, two Iranian poets, Fatemeh
Ekhtesari and Mehdi Mousavi, have fled Iran after themselves facing
lashings and prison sentences. In June, a court handed cartoonist Atena
Farghadani a 12-year, nine-month sentence in part for depicting Iranian
parliament members as animals to criticize a draft law restricting
contraception and criminalizing voluntary sterilization, according to
Amnesty International. Others in custody in Iran include human rights
activists, artists and journalists." http://t.uani.com/1TAl0dV
RFE/RL: "To get her first book of poetry
past the Iranian censor, Fatemeh Ekhtesari did what other Iranian writers
often have to do: She used dots for words and sentences she thought would
not get past the authorities. But Ekhtesari wasn't prepared for her voice
to be silenced, so after the book was published in 2010, she wrote the
words back in herself and sent copies to her friends. Now, six years later,
Ekhtesari, a 29-year-old poet who has been targeted by the country's
hard-liners for her explorations of gender discrimination and domestic
violence, has fled the Islamic republic, after being sentenced last year to
11 1/2 years in prison and 99 lashes. 'Abandoning one's country is very
difficult. It was a tough decision,' Ekhtesari tells RFE/RL over the phone
from an undisclosed location. But she says she had to leave because of a
lack of hope that an appeal process would lead to her acquittal. The
sentence was pending as she was waiting for her case to be heard by an
appeals court. Ekhtesari was arrested in December 2013 by the intelligence
branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) and was held in
solitary confinement for 38 days in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. While
incarcerated, she says she was subjected to psychological pressure and
repeated interrogation about some of her poetry and contacts abroad. The
charges against her included 'insulting sanctities' and 'spreading
propaganda against the state' through her poetry." http://t.uani.com/1SNgGIj
Journalism
is Not a Crime: "Prison
authorities are denying medical care to jailed Iranian blogger Hossein
Ronaghi-Maleki, according to one of his relatives. Authorities deny that
Ronaghi-Maleki, who suffers from serious kidney problems and other health
issues, is ill and have refused to allow him to go to hospital since he
returned to Evin Prison on January 20, 2016. 'Hossein has not received any
medical care or any medicine since he returned to Evin Prison,' the
relative said. 'It seems that the Iranian authorities purposely refuse to
transfer Hossein to a hospital. They want him to die slowly.' The relative
of Ronaghi-Maleki spoke to Journalism Is Not A Crime on the condition of
anonymity, as speaking out on human rights issues can have serious
consequences in Iran. In July 2015, Ronaghi-Maleki's father was sentenced
to four months in prison for giving interviews to media about his son's
situation. Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki was arrested in the aftermath of the
disputed presidential election of 2009 and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment
for his work as a human rights activist and blogger. Prior to his arrest,
he had been suffering from kidney problems, but his conditions worsened
further while in prison due to physical abuse and severe medical
negligence. 'The deputy prosecutor Hajilou denies the fact that Hossein is
critically ill,' the relative said. 'He told us that Hossein would be
allowed to go to the prison clinic, but he won't be transferred to
hospital.'" http://t.uani.com/1TvoEVn
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