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Stories
WashPost: "A Saudi-dominated political
bloc on Wednesday formally designated Lebanon's Hezbollah militia a
terrorist organization, a move that signals dangerously escalating
tensions between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Gulf
Cooperation Council's decision against the Iranian-allied group comes
two weeks after Saudi Arabia canceled a $4 billion aid package for
strengthening Lebanese security services. The move was rooted in anger
over the Hezbollah's dominance of Lebanese security and political
institutions. Saudi Arabia and other GCC member states quickly followed
it by advising their citizens to leave Lebanon... A blistering
statement posted on the GCC website accused Hezbollah, a powerful
Shiite Muslim movement, of 'hostile acts' in the six states in the
Sunni-led bloc: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain,
Kuwait and Oman. The statement, citing GCC Secretary General Rashid
al-Zayani, accused the group of recruitment to carry out terrorist
attacks, as well as the smuggling of weapons and explosives, 'in flagrant
violation of [GCC members'] sovereignty, security and stability.' All
Hezbollah leaders and affiliated factions fall under the new terrorism
designation, said the statement, which also charged that the Lebanese
Shiite militia is responsible for 'terror and incitement' in Yemen and
Iraq... Wednesday's announcement followed a provocative speech a day
earlier by Hezbollah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah, who denounced
Saudi Arabia, its role in region and its recent decision to halt
military and security aid to Lebanon. The decision to cut off aid and
other Saudi moves, Nasrallah said, signal that 'we have entered a new
phase of political and media struggle which Saudi Arabia has
escalated.'" http://t.uani.com/1OPSYmY
WashPost: "Iranian moderates and
reformers secured unprecedented wins last week in the first national
elections since the nuclear deal was struck. But in Congress, many of
the pact's staunchest opponents say the results don't count for
anything. 'The political system in Iran's a joke,' said Sen. Lindsey
Graham (R-S.C.), adding that the significance of the moderates' sweep
in Tehran and other apparent wins across the country counts for 'zero,
zip.' 'There are no moderates in Iran,' Graham added. 'That's a fiction
I don't buy.' ... 'As long as the Ayatollah Khamenei is in charge, it
doesn't matter, the elections,' said Senate Armed Services Committee
Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), another vocal opponent of the nuclear
deal. 'I wouldn't call the people who swept moderates,' added Sen.
James Risch (R-Idaho). 'The election shows no change.' Iran has hardly
acted like a saint since the deal was signed last July. The pact's
opponents are quick to point to recent ballistic missile tests and the
detention of U.S. soldiers as part of the deal's legacy... 'In many
ways, the list of regime-approved candidates told us more about Iran's
intentions than the election results,' said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.),
who called himself 'deeply skeptical' that the moderates' wins would
bring about any progress... The Senate is currently overdue to release
and consider a slate of Iran-related bills that key members said would
be brought up last month. The measures were expected to address
everything from Iran's recent ballistic missile tests to human rights
violations, and include a reauthorization of the soon-expiring Iran
Sanctions Act (ISA)... Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who also opposed
the nuclear deal and downplayed the significance of the moderates' win
in Iran, said last week that he expects to introduce his Iran bills
'soon.'" http://t.uani.com/1Y1Bhbs
The
Hill: "The
U.S. Navy's top military officer told lawmakers Tuesday that Iran's
detention of 10 sailors in January went against international law.
'Those sailors by international law should not have been captured and
detained,' said Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, at a
House budget hearing. 'I think we've made that very clear
that that behavior is not consistent with international law,' he said.
Richardson called the incident 'another indication of the type of
threat we're dealing with here.' On Jan. 12, Iran intercepted the
sailors as they were transiting two small craft, known as riverine
boats, from Kuwait to Bahrain. Defense officials have said a
navigational error caused the boats to drift into Iranian waters. The
Iranian military boarded the boats and filmed crew members kneeling
with their hands on their head, and in following days released video of
the sailors being detained, including one wiping away tears... 'We
don't want our sailors ever treated in that manner again, and there
should be some repercussions,' Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.),
chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee said at the
hearing. 'Absolutely,' agreed Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who opposed
the deal. Richardson said a Navy investigation into the matter would be
released in a month or two. The Navy chief also said that despite the
Iran nuclear deal, 'not much has changed' in terms of Iran as a threat.
'Iran has been acting with malign intent across several different
vectors, whether it's short-range or medium-range ballistic missiles;
whether it's anti-ship coastal defense cruise missiles - you know,
across the spectrum,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1pnKFKF
U.S.-Iran
Relations
IranWire: "Iran's judicial officials
have prevented Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, the lawyer for jailed
father and son Amu Baquer Namazi and Siamak Namazi, from seeing his
clients or accessing their files. In recent years, Tabatabaei has
represented a number of clients held on security-related charges, but
this time he has not even been allowed to register his name as the
defense attorney on record for his two clients. Siamak Namazi, an
Iranian-American dual citizen and the head of strategic planning for
Crescent Petroleum in the United Arab Emirates, has been in detention
since October 2015. On February 22, Mohammad Baquer Namazi, who had
traveled from Dubai to Iran to visit his son, was arrested as well. I
talked to Tabatabaei about the two cases." http://t.uani.com/1OPRAkg
U.S.
News & World Report: "The Obama administration on Tuesday just barely met
a deadline set by the head of the powerful Senate Armed Services
Committee to produce more information surrounding the Jan. 12 detention
of 10 Navy sailors by Iran after their two small riverine boats drifted
into Iranian territorial waters, launching what remains a highly
charged incident. Fed up with waiting for answers, committee Chairman
Sen. John McCain in February threatened to issue subpoenas to the 10
sailors if he did not receive a briefing on the incident by March 1...
'Chairman McCain has been briefed on the facts surrounding the
detention and treatment of 10 U.S. Navy sailors by the Islamic Republic
of Iran as determined by the U.S. Navy's investigation of this
incident,' committee spokesman Dustin Walker says in an email. 'The
facts confirm what has been clear from the beginning: that Iran's behavior
was a blatant violation of international law and centuries of maritime
tradition.' 'It is time for administration officials who praised Iran's
illegal behavior to repudiate their past statements, affirm basic legal
principles, and defend the character and reputation of our sailors from
continued Iranian smears,' Walker says... McCain's briefing late
Tuesday came down to the proverbial wire. Walker said earlier in the
afternoon that the White House had up until then offered no further
information to Congress, aside from some general details about the
crew's mission and that they had experienced a navigation error, but
nothing following their detention." http://t.uani.com/1VQCP6y
AP: "The U.S. Navy says results
of an internal investigation into how 10 American sailors entered
Iranian territorial waters have been handed over to the commander
overseeing the region for review. Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for
the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, said on Wednesday that fleet commander Vice
Adm. Kevin Donegan received the findings on Sunday. Stephens says that
Donegan can endorse the report as is, add to or revise it, or call for
further investigation within 30 days." http://t.uani.com/1TnXpxG
Sanctions
Enforcement
WSJ: "The chief executive of a
metallurgy company was arrested on charges he illegally exported
cobalt-nickel metallic powder from the U.S. to Iran, the U.S.
Department of Justice said Tuesday. Erdal Kuyumcu, CEO of
Delaware-based Global Metallurgy LLC, is charged with using an
intermediary in Turkey to ship more than 1,000 pounds of the metallic
powder to Iran. It is illegal to export the powder-which can be used in
aerospace, missile production and nuclear applications-from the U.S.
without a license from the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign
Assets Control, the DOJ said." http://t.uani.com/1RGSjsO
Sanctions
Relief
Reuters: "German industrial group
Siemens signed an energy agreement with Iranian power and
infrastructure group Mapna, it said on Wednesday, extending its early
re-entry into the country after the lifting of sanctions. Siemens was
the first major German company to agree a deal with Iran this year,
signing a memorandum of understanding to work on Iran's rail
infrastructure worth up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in early
January. Mapna will acquire the technology to manufacture Siemens
F-class gas turbines in Iran and the two parties will cooperate to
deliver more than 20 gas turbines and associated generators over the
next decade. 'With these important agreements we reinstall the
long-term energy partnership between Mapna and Siemens,' said Siemens
Chief Executive Joe Kaeser, who witnessed the signing during a visit of
Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian in Berlin. Kaeser visited Iran
last week and said Siemens wanted to pick up where it left off in Iran,
where it had been present since 1868 but stopped doing new business in
2010. As a first project under the energy deal, Siemens will deliver
two F-class gas turbines and generators for a power plant in the
southern port of Bandar Abbas, with the first unit due to be shipped
shortly. Siemens also signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly
develop a roadmap with Mapna to expand and improve Iran's overall power
and electricity system." http://t.uani.com/1WUWoe8
Reuters: "Australia followed major
world powers by lifting sanctions on Iran on Wednesday, after
confirmation from the United Nations that Tehran had taken steps
required to curb its disputed nuclear program. Under changes announced
by the Australian government, businesses will no longer need to seek
approval for transactions of more than A$20,000 ($14,436) involving
entities from Iran. While Australia has suspended some of the sanctions
imposed on Iran autonomously in 2008 because of the Islamic Republic's
nuclear program, some non-nuclear sanctions remain in place, the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said in a statement.
Sanctions still in force against Iran include restrictions on the
transfer of proliferation sensitive goods, the arms and ballistic
missiles embargoes and sanctions against some designated persons and
entities. Australia's anti-money laundering watchdog AUSTRAC expects
reporting entities to scrutinize all payments that are routed via
third-party countries to Iran or North Korea, which is also subject to
sanctions due to its nuclear program. AUSTRAC says all transactions to
those two countries should be considered as 'high risk.'" http://t.uani.com/1QTs8Ch
AFP: "Iran boosted oil exports by
30 percent last month, Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said, after Tehran
dismissed an output freeze despite historic low prices. Zangeneh told
the Shana news agency that exports increased to 1.75 million barrels
per day during the Iranian month of Bahman, which runs from January 21
to February 19. 'This represents an increase of 400,000 barrels per day
compared to the same period last year,' he said on Monday. The
production also included gas condensates. Iran, which has the world's second
largest crude reserves, currently produces about 2.8 million bpd, but
output during Bahman rose off the additional exports to 3.2 million
bpd." http://t.uani.com/1LVaRRF
Reuters: "India plans to resume
settling trade with Iran under a regional clearing house system after a
gap of five years, the government said on Wednesday, as New Delhi seeks
to promote trade ties with Tehran following the lifting of international
sanctions. The Asian Clearing Union (ACU), including India, Bangladesh,
Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, facilitates
payments among members, economising on the use of foreign exchange
reserves and transfer costs, as well as promoting trade and banking
relations among participants. The Reserve Bank of India decided in
December 2010 not to facilitate oil trades through the ACU system. That
left India and Iran, the only oil producer in the union, scouting for a
stable payment mechanism to settle trade. But a permanent banking
channel could not be established due to pressure from Western nations,
leading to a drastic reduction in India's oil imports from Tehran. The
Indian central bank has sought the consent of the finance ministry to
get Iran back into the fold of ACU, junior foreign affairs minister
V.K. Singh told parliament. He said the government is also considering
a request from Iranian banks to open branches in India and reactivate
their accounts... As ties deepen further, India has extended a $150
million credit line to Iran to help develop its Chabahar port... 'A
contract between Indian Special Purpose Vehicle and Arya Bander of Iran
for development of Chahbahar Port has been finalised,' Singh said. He
also said in January India decided to extend the credit for the start
of a contract to supply 250,000 tonnes of steel rails to Iran through
State Trading Corp." http://t.uani.com/1TS3AIK
Reuters: "South Korea plans to boost
imports of Iranian oil, especially condensate, this year to meet
growing demand after sanctions on the Islamic nation were lifted in
January... 'We will increase oil and natural gas (liquids) imports from
Iran, especially Iranian condensate,' South Korea's trade and energy
ministry said on Tuesday. Iran is exporting 100,000 barrels of oil a
day to South Korea, one of its main crude customers, and hopes to
double that figure by the end of 2016, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was
quoted as saying on Monday... South Korea's trade ministry said the two
countries would establish a payment system to facilitate smooth trade
of crude and condensate between National Iranian Oil Company and South
Korea's SK Energy and Hyundai Oilbank. South Korea's condensate demand
is expected to grow this year as Hyundai Oilbank will start operations
at a new splitter. Hanwha Total Petrochemicals, another South Korean
condensate buyer, is considering whether to resume imports from Iran from
April, a company spokesman said... South Korea also expects to sign a
memorandum of understanding with Iran to lease out oil storage in the
North Asian country, the South Korean trade ministry said." http://t.uani.com/1LV7M46
Terrorism
CNN: "Newly released documents
written by Osama bin Laden include the late terrorist's will, personal
letters and warnings to countries including the United States... Bin
Laden did express concern about attacking Iran and Turkey, however,
because much of al Qaeda's money traveled through those countries on
its way to members of the organization... Bin Laden also feared that
one of his wives might have been implanted with a small tracking device
in her tooth during a visit to a dentist in Iran, telling her, 'The
size of the chip is about the length of a grain of wheat and the width
of a fine piece of vermicelli.'" http://t.uani.com/1Qroyd3
Iran-Saudi
Tensions
Al
Arabiya:
"According to Iranian websites, the authorities released Hassan
Kurd Maihan, who is accused of being the 'Mastermind' behind the
storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and burning and tampering with
its properties, as well as endangering the lives of diplomats on
January 2. This development comes despite the declaration of the
general secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Ali
Shamkhani, on Febryary 16, about trying the raiders of the Saudi
Embassy and bringing them to justice. The website 'Zaytun' quoted
informed sources, which supported the release of Maihan without
referring to the details of the case." http://t.uani.com/1oPouMI
Human
Rights
Guardian: "Threats against Salman
Rushdie are 'no match' for the author's 'will to write, speak, and rise
to the defence of other targeted writers', PEN America has said, in the
wake of the $600,000 (£430,000) bounty raised by Iranian media outlets
to reinforce the longstanding fatwa to kill the novelist, adding to the
existing $2.8m already offered... In a joint statement issued by PEN
America, PEN International and English PEN, the free speech
organisations 'deplore[d] the effort at intimidation' from the Iranian
media outlets, saying: 'The spectre of a new financial reward being
added to this longstanding threat [from Khomeini] is a craven attempt
to fan the flames of religious extremism and hatred'. PEN added that in
spite of the threat under which Rushdie has lived for the last 27
years, his 'outspokenness and passionate defence of imperilled writers
the world over stands as an inspiration, providing a daily reminder of
what is at stake in safeguarding free thought'. PEN called on western
governments who are currently expanding their relations with Tehran 'to
insist that the Iranian government nullify its threat and bounty,
disavow the fatwa once and for all, and uphold its international
obligations to protect free expression.'" http://t.uani.com/1OPHYGe
Opinion
& Analysis
Haleh
Esfandiari in WSJ:
"Having a substantial bloc of moderates/reformists and like-minded
independents in the new parliament is expected to strengthen Mr.
Rouhani's hand in some areas but will make little difference in others.
The president will have more freedom in choosing his Cabinet; his
ministers are less likely to be harassed or face calls for resignation
by members of the legislature. He can more easily advance his economic
agenda, including increased privatization, fewer restrictions on
business, and perhaps a more inviting and secure environment for
foreign investors. Mr. Rouhani is likely to have greater scope for
opening up the social sphere, giving more freedom to the young, and
protecting women and youths from harassment by the morals police. Mr.
Rouhani had almost no success in opening up the political sphere during
his first three years in office. He has little or no control over
Iran's multiple security services: the fearsome intelligence
organizations as well as the intelligence/security branches of the
Revolutionary Guards and the Basij paramilitary forces. These forces
arrest and imprison dissidents and others they do not like with
impunity. The judiciary cooperates closely with the security agencies,
and the head of the judiciary is named by the supreme leader, so is not
controlled by the president. None of this is likely to change in the
foreseeable future. In terms of foreign policy, Mr. Rouhani has, in
some ways, set Iran on a new course. Implementation of the nuclear deal
has begun, foreign trade is picking up, major economic deals with
European countries and firms are in the works, and officials in Tehran
and Washington discuss-albeit intermittently-some regional issues. But
parliament has almost no say on major foreign policy issues, such as
Iran's role in Syria or Iraq; on Lebanon and Hezballah; or toward
Israel and the U.S. A strong showing of public support in these
elections can be expected to strengthen Mr. Rouhani's hand in general.
But when it comes to internal security, human rights, political freedoms,
and major foreign-policy issues, the course will not be set by
parliament or the president but by the supreme leader and the security
agencies and Revolutionary Guard commanders on whom he relies." http://t.uani.com/1WUZPS4
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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