Eye on Iran: Iran Fires 2 missiles Marked with 'Israel Must Be Wiped Out'

Join UANI             Top Stories AP: "Iran test-fired two ballistic missiles Wednesday with the phrase 'Israel must be wiped out' written in Hebrew on them, state media reported, a show of force by the Islamic Republic as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Israel. Such phrases have been emblazoned on Iranian missiles before, but this test comes shortly after the implementation of a nuclear deal with world powers, including the U.S., and follows similar drills in recent days... The semiofficial Fars news agency offered pictures Wednesday it said were of the Qadr H missiles being fired. It said they were fired in Iran's eastern Alborz mountain range to hit a target some 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) away off Iran's coast into the Sea of Oman. The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols that region, declined to comment on the test. Fars and state media reported the Hebrew inscription on the missiles... Fars quoted Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guard's aerospace division, as saying the test was aimed at showing Israel that Iran could hit it. 'The 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) range of our missiles is to confront the Zionist regime,' Hajizadeh said. 'Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries and it will not last long in a war. It will collapse even before being hit by these missiles.' ... The firing of the Qadr H missiles comes after a U.S. State Department spokesman on Tuesday criticized another missile launch, saying Washington planned to bring it before the United Nations Security Council." http://t.uani.com/1M6FmUJ Reuters: "Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) test-fired several ballistic missiles on Tuesday, state television said, challenging a United Nations resolution and drawing a threat of a diplomatic response from the United States. Two months ago, Washington imposed sanctions against businesses and individuals linked to Iran's missile program over a test of the medium-range Emad missile carried out in October 2015. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington would review the incident and, if it is confirmed, raise it in the U.N. Security Council and seek an 'appropriate response'. 'We also continue to aggressively apply our unilateral tools to counter threats from Iran's missile program,' Toner added, in a possible reference to additional U.S. sanctions. An Iranian state television report showed a missile being fired from a fortified underground silo at night time. The presenter said it was a medium-range Qiam-1 missile, and the test took place in the early hours of Tuesday. The report said the Guards had fired several missiles from silos across the country, though it only showed footage of one. 'The missiles struck a target 700 km away,' said Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC's aerospace arm... U.S. and French officials said a missile test by Iran would violate U.N. Security Council resolution 2231, which calls on Iran not to conduct 'any activity' related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. However, Washington said that a fresh missile test would not violate the Iran nuclear deal itself, under which Tehran agreed to restrict its atomic program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. The deal was endorsed in resolution 2231. It is unlikely the Security Council would take action on Iranian missile tests, diplomats say." http://t.uani.com/1Yxad42 The Hill: "The top U.S. military commander overseeing the Middle East said Tuesday that despite the nuclear deal, Iran shows no signs of altering its destabilizing behavior. 'There are a number of things that lead me to personally believe that, you know, their behavior is not - they haven't changed any course yet,' said Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command, at a Senate hearing... Austin said he was concerned about Iran's continued testing of ballistic missiles, which the U.S. intelligence community believes is Iran's preferred method for delivering a nuclear weapon. 'What I would say is that what we and the people in the region are concerned about is that they already have overmatch with the numbers of ballistic missiles,' Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee. 'The people in the region, they remained concerned about [Iran's] cyber capabilities, their ability to mine the straits,' he added. 'And certainly the activity of their Quds forces ... we see malign activity, not only throughout the region, but around the globe as well.' ... 'We've not yet seen any indication that they intend to pursue a different path. The fact remains that Iran today is a significant destabilizing force in the region.' 'Some of the behavior that we've seen from Iran of late is certainly not the behavior that you would expect to see from a nation that wants to be taken seriously as a respected member of the international community,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1R7vxNU Nuclear Program & Agreement AP: "The United States on Wednesday urged the U.N. atomic agency to continue providing details on Iran's compliance with a deal crimping its nuclear work amid Western concerns that the agency's newest report is too light on specifics. Until now, such concerns have mostly been voiced privately. U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday he is 'confident that the deal puts in place the tools and reporting requirements' needed. But chief U.S. IAEA delegate Henry S. Enshen told the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency board Wednesday that continued 'robust and detailed reporting on Iran's implementation of its commitments' remains vital even with the agreement now in effect. All six nations that struck the deal with Iran are confident that the agency has a better-than-ever overview of Tehran's nuclear program due to transparency commitments on the part of the Islamic Republic as part of the deal. But the four Western countries that negotiated with Iran - the U.S., Britain, France and Germany - prefer more details than were evident in last month's first post-deal report... [The] report was much less detailed than pre-nuclear deal summaries, essentially ticking off the major obligations that Iran agreed to when the deal took hold Jan. 16 and stating that most were met or minor deviations quickly remedied." http://t.uani.com/24OiQvj Fars (Iran): "Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi cautioned that Tehran will not remain committed to its Vienna nuclear deal undertakings if its interests are not met. 'If our interests are not met under the nuclear deal, there will be no reason for us to continue. What makes us remain committed to the deal is our national interests,' Araqchi said Tuesday, addressing the 49th meeting of the coordination council of legal affairs of Iran's executive bodies in Tehran. He further said that 'if other parties decide, they could easily violate the deal. However, they know this will come with costs.' The Iranian foreign ministry had underlined last December that the country would take reciprocal steps if faced with the powers, specially the US, measures against the nuclear agreement. 'Any measure outside the agreed details (related to the nuclear deal) will be responded by Iran's reciprocal and appropriate actions,' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told reporters in Tehran at the time." http://t.uani.com/222NBdJ U.S.-Iran Relations ABC: "Ahead of the ninth anniversary of her husband's mysterious disappearance in Iran, the wife of former FBI agent Robert Levinson said the Islamic Republic's promises to help find him have yet to reveal any new information in the case, much less bring the 67-year-old grandfather back to his family. Christine Levinson said she 'never could have imagined' she would still be waiting for the return of her husband nearly a decade after he disappeared off Iran's Kish Island on March 9, 2007. 'I thought it would be a matter of days, and now it's been nine years,' she told ABC News Tuesday. 'Some of my children call me at midnight or later, crying, because they can't stop thinking about Bob. They don't know what to do. [They call] more so now, nine years later, in some cases than they did before.' ... Ellen Glasser, former president of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, told ABC News that she is convinced Iranian officials know exactly how to find Levinson. She also blames the U.S. government in part for Levinson's dire predicament, as it has still not officially admitted Levinson's connection to the CIA, long after such an admission may have been useful." http://t.uani.com/1p84wx1 The Hill: "Nine years after Robert Levinson went missing on an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf, President Obama reiterated on Wednesday  that the United States has not abandoned him. 'We continue to call upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to provide assistance in his case, as agreed to as part of the prisoner exchange finalized earlier this year, so that we can bring Mr. Levinson home,' Obama said in a statement on Wednesday, the ninth anniversary of the former FBI agent's disappearance. 'Finding Mr. Levinson remains a top priority for the United States, and we continue to spare no effort to bring him home,' Obama maintained. 'Today the United States renews its unrelenting commitment to securing Mr. Levinson's return.' Wednesday's anniversary follows Levinson's notable absence in a deal reached earlier this year between Washington and Tehran to release four Americans in Iran and drop charges on people in the U.S. accused of violating sanctions restrictions. The agreement came on the eve of implementation of the nuclear deal reached among Iran and other world powers. Levinson's family did not know whether he was included in the swap until after initial media reports emerged, leaving them frustrated. His daughter, Sarah Moriarty, claimed at the time that the family had 'reached our breaking point' with the Obama administration. 'We are crushed and outraged,' she said." http://t.uani.com/1RzRxet Sanctions Enforcement FP: "Republican lawmakers demanded stepped-up sanctions against Iran on Tuesday after the Islamic Republic test-fired several ballistic missiles. The launches, carried out by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps from various silos around the country, came two months after the White House sanctioned businesses and people with ties to Tehran's missile program, measures that Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) on Tuesday called 'pathetic and weak.' The U.S. should 'up our game and impose real, tough sanctions on Iran on their ballistic missile program,' Ayotte said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Meanwhile, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker said Washington should target 'suppliers and enablers' of Iran's ballistic missile program to prove the U.S. will continue to enforce the nuclear deal that Iran agreed to with world powers last year. 'Iran's complete disregard for the ballistic missile restrictions that remain in place must be met with swift and immediate consequences from the U.S. and the U.N. Security Council,' Corker said." http://t.uani.com/1RzVwYC Reuters: "U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday that lawmakers would continue to press for new sanctions against Tehran 'until the regime ends its violent, provocative behavior against the U.S. and our allies.' Ryan, whose Republican party opposed the landmark nuclear agreement the Obama administration and five other world powers reached with Tehran last year, said Iran's latest reported missile test violated international law." http://t.uani.com/24QYmSJ Business Risk Reuters: "Iran has managed to sell only modest volumes of oil to Europe since the lifting of sanctions seven weeks ago and several former buyers are staying away, citing legal complications and Tehran's reluctance to sweeten terms to win back customers... Since the restrictions were lifted in January, Iran has sold four tankers - 4 million barrels - to Europe, including to France's Total, Spain's Cepsa and Russia's Litasco, according to Iranian officials and ship-tracking data. That equates to only around five days' worth of sales at the levels of pre-2012, when European buyers were purchasing as much as 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the country. Many former big buyers - including Anglo-Dutch major Shell, Italy's Eni, Greece's Hellenic Petroleum and trading houses Vitol, Glencore and Trafigura - are yet to resume purchases. A lack of dollar clearing, the absence of an established mechanism for non-dollar sales and the reluctance of banks to provide letters of credit to facilitate trade have been obstacles since sanctions were lifted. But some former major buyers also cited Tehran's unwillingness to loosen its selling terms from four years ago, and offer flexibility on pricing, despite the world having become oversupplied with oil and Iran's European market share seized by Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq. 'Iran is not flexible with terms. They still impose very old-fashioned destination clauses telling you where you can and cannot take your crude,' said a senior oil trading executive, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. 'It was okay a decade ago but the world doesn't look like this anymore.' Iran, like top OPEC exporter Saudi Arabia, generally imposes destination clauses that forbid reselling of its crude, to retain control over who receives its supplies, and sets official selling prices for its crude grades every month. By contrast, Iraq - the world's fastest-growing oil exporter in the past year - allows buyers to resell crude at prices below its official ones. A spokesman for the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) could not be immediately reached for comment. But its oil export chief Mohsen Ghamsari told Reuters last week that European buyers were cautious about boosting trade immediately because of banking and ship insurance difficulties, and that he expected sales to rise from this month." http://t.uani.com/1Yx4ACT Sanctions Relief Reuters: "At a meeting on Monday, EU foreign ministers will broach the subject of how the bloc, once Iran's top trading partner and its second-biggest oil customer, can pursue an agreement on trade, investment and political dialogue despite concerns about human rights and Tehran's role in Middle East conflicts. 'This is just the beginning of a journey,' Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Rome in January, before signing billions of euros of deals in sectors ranging from steel to shipbuilding. Many in the EU are eager to support signs that Iran, a $400-billion economy, is opening up and to find a new market for European investors facing weak economic growth at home. The 28-member union is also discussing helping Iran in its stalled bid to join the World Trade Organisation, diplomats say, leveraging the EU's power as the world's largest trading bloc to seek favor with a country sitting on vast gas reserves... One first step is a planned visit by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to Tehran in April, her second since the July 2015 nuclear deal and the first with a group of senior commissioners from the EU's executive. A lower level delegation of EU energy officials held talks in Iran last month. That could be followed by the opening of a permanent EU diplomatic mission in Tehran later this year. An EU-Iran cooperation accord would give Brussels a bigger role in market reforms required for Iran to join the WTO. It could help regain some of the business Europe lost to China during the sanctions era and give the EU a legal basis to press for political freedoms in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1USIniC Reuters: "Britain is working with its European partners to help ease the impact of banking restrictions on trade with Iran, Business Secretary Sajid Javid said on Wednesday, adding that the UK had signed a deal to simplify the financing of exports... Javid told a conference in London that issues around cash and credit were 'quite significant' but that Britain was working with other European nations and the banking industry to try to tackle them or provide clarity on how the guidelines work. 'For many firms it's not actually clear what you can or cannot do according to, let's say, U.S. rules. That's why one of the things that as a minimum has to be done quite quickly is to bring some clarity,' he said. Britain's trade envoy to Iran, former Chancellor Norman Lamont, outlined the scale of the problem, saying he had struggled to get bank chiefs in London to meet with a recent delegation from the Iranian central bank. 'Terrified, they were,' he said. 'European banks, very much so the British banks, are very frightened of falling foul of what I would call the extra-territorial reach of American law.' Britain's export agency and its Iranian counterpart signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, Javid said. The deal will see UK Export Finance and the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran, the Iranian state-owned credit insurance company, work together to identify opportunities for trade in capital goods, equipment and services, Britain's business ministry said." http://t.uani.com/1LcUwNv Reuters: "Foreign banks are slowly starting to re-engage with Iran's Middle East Bank after international sanctions were eased in January, although it will be months before all snags are resolved, the bank's chief said on Wednesday. 'Slowly, slowly the situation is improving,' Parviz Aghili, CEO and managing director of the Tehran-based bank told an Iran conference in London. 'It is going to take four to five months probably, until mid summer, until all the difficulties have been resolved and we are in a position to deal with international banks.' ... Middle East Bank, which is smaller than state-owned players such as Bank Melli and Bank Saderat, is owned by investors including small and medium-sized Iranian firms. Aghili said it had concluded a transaction via Switzerland involving banks there 'without any problem'. He added that Middle East Bank had set up banking relationships with 18 to 20 foreign institutions in recent weeks, including from Western Europe, in addition to the five to six that it had before sanctions were imposed. 'It was initially mainly smaller banks. Now, we are getting medium sized banks and now a few sizeable banks who have approached us,' Aghili said. 'We are moving in the right direction.'" http://t.uani.com/1USFm1S Reuters: "Iran is in discussions about getting a sovereign credit rating and will need to regain its pre-sanctions oil market share before joining any talks on production cuts, the chief of staff to President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday... A credit rating is seen as a necessary first step for Iran to be able borrow on international capital markets as its economy recovers from years of international sanctions. 'We are in negotiations with some of these rating agencies,' Nahavandian told Reuters on the sidelines of an Financial Times Iran Conference, replying 'yes' when asked whether he expected the agencies to provide a full credit rating." http://t.uani.com/1QDBuP6 WSJ: "TMK, Russia's largest manufacturer of steel pipes for the oil and gas industry, is in talks to supply Iran's oil and gas sector as the Islamic Republic ramps up production following the lifting of international sanctions, the company's senior vice president said Wednesday. 'We have a program under way to supply some pipes through spot sales and are working on a longer-term contract which could include pipes to transport oil and gas as well as produce it,' Vladimir Shmatovich, senior vice president for strategy and business development at TMK. 'Iran is a very important market for us,' he said. The move shows the potential for Iran to have better access to more modern equipment to refurbish its aging oil industry. It also highlights how Russian companies retain a competitive advantage there despite the opening of the country to Western suppliers since sanctions on Iran were lifted in January. TMK was a major supplier of pipes to Iran's oil industry before sanctions were imposed." http://t.uani.com/1Yx6O5b Reuters: "French car maker Renault aims to double capacity and market share of its Iranian joint venture, as the economy opens up, a senior executive said on Wednesday. The company is aiming for 20 percent of Iran's automotive market, up from 10 percent in 2012, said Peyman Kargar, vice president of Renault's Africa, Middle East and India region, and CEO of Renault Pars. In order to reach the company's mid-term plan, capacity will need to be doubled, Kargar said, on the sidelines of a conference in London hosted by the Financial Times. In 2015, Renault sold 51,500 vehicles in Iran, giving it a market share of 4.8 percent. It currently sells three models and will explore others with its two partners, Saipa and Iran Khodro, a spokeswoman said." http://t.uani.com/1TsS5c7 Yemen Crisis Reuters: "A senior Houthi official posted a Facebook message on Wednesday telling Iranian officials to stay out of Yemen's conflict, a day after an Iranian general said Tehran could send military advisers to help Houthi forces fighting a Gulf Arab coalition. 'Officials in the Islamic Republic of Iran must be silent and leave aside the exploitation of the Yemen file,' the official, Yousef al-Feshi, a member of the Houthis' Revolutionary Committee, said in the posting. Houthis, drawn from the Zaidi Shi'ite Muslim sect, normally see Shi'ite Iran as a friendly power in their year-old conflict with the Saudi-led coalition." http://t.uani.com/1TLqaEA Opinion & Analysis WSJ Editorial: "The move against ZTE is nonetheless welcome, not least as a signal that the U.S. will enforce what are left of the sanctions against Iran in the wake of the nuclear deal. Let's hope this isn't a one-time action." http://t.uani.com/1p7Z3WV         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.