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Reuters: "Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
said on Thursday Iran's economy had not yet benefited from the Western
delegations visiting Iran as they had failed to deliver on their
promises. 'We haven't seen anything tangible from these delegations visiting
Iran ... We are expecting to see some real improvements. Promises on
paper have no value,' Khamenei said in a meeting with members of the
Assembly of Experts, according to state television. Hardline allies of
Khamenei, wary of losing their grip in power, have criticized
multi-billion-euro deals with European multinationals since a nuclear
deal was reached with six major powers in 2015... Khamenei also praised
the high turnout of 62 percent in two crucial elections of parliament
and Assembly of experts last month, but warned about efforts by Iran's
'enemies' to infiltrate. 'We have been harmed by the West and we should
not forget it. I am not suggesting cutting ties with them but we should
be careful,' he said... Rouhani and his allies have signaled the
government's willingness to improve ties with 'the Great Satan' and to
discuss the regional crisis with the United States. But Khamenei
repeated his stance, saying: 'We must have relations with the world but
not with America and the Zionist regime (Israel).'" http://t.uani.com/1QGKMdk
Al-Monitor: "[Amir
Ali Haji-Zadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) Aerospace Force] called the press conference to discuss the
IRGC's highly publicized testing of ballistic missiles that day.
According to Haji-Zadeh, the missiles were launched from the Alborz
Mountains, in the north, and traveled approximately 1,400 kilometers
(870 miles) to the southeast of the country. Haji-Zadeh, IRGC commander
Mohammad Ali Jaffari and deputy IRGC commander Hossein Salami were
present at the launches, the second such tests in two days... Based on
Haji-Zadeh's comments at the press conference, the IRGC is already
expecting a US reaction. 'However much the enemy increases pressure and
sanctions, the response of the IRGC will be increased,' he said. 'After
the nuclear deal, the enemy has targeted Iran's national security, and
the sanctions are meant to weaken Iran.' The launches were Iran's first
ballistic missile tests since the Jan. 16 'implementation day' for the
nuclear deal. The Fars News Agency wrote that the tests 'were a clear
answer' to actions taken to counter Iran's defensive capabilities. One
day after implementation day, the United States sanctioned 11 people
and companies affiliated with Iran's ballistic missile program. When
asked if ballistic missiles were being developed with Israel in mind,
Haji-Zadeh said, 'The Zionist regime is at the end of the line, and its
life will not be long.' He added, however, 'I believe that to get rid
of the Zionist regime, missiles are not necessary, and over time, they
will collapse and fall.' The notation 'Israel will be wiped from the
pages of time' was written in Hebrew on the missiles. Haji-Zadeh
stressed that Iran would not start a war, but that its leaders take its
enemies seriously. He said, '[The] evils of the Zionist regime are
clear for everyone, [and] the reason for designs of missiles with a
2,000-kilometer range is because of [Israel].' He also asserted,
however, 'Our primary enemy is America.'" http://t.uani.com/1R9F9l5
Bloomberg: "Iran was ordered by a U.S.
judge to pay more than $10.5 billion in damages to families of people
killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and to a group of
insurers. U.S. District Judge George Daniels in New York issued a
default judgment Wednesday against Iran for $7.5 billion to the estates
and families of people who died at the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
It includes $2 million to each estate for the victims' pain and suffering
plus $6.88 million in punitive damages. Daniels also awarded $3 billion
to insurers including Chubb Ltd. that paid property damage, business
interruption and other claims. Earlier in the case, Daniels found that
Iran had failed to defend claims that it aided the Sept. 11 hijackers
and was therefore liable for damages tied to the attacks. Daniels's
ruling Wednesday adopts damages findings by a U.S. magistrate judge in
December. While it is difficult to collect damages from an unwilling
foreign nation, the plaintiffs may try to collect part of the judgments
using a law that permits parties to tap terrorists' assets frozen by
the government. The case is In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11,
2001, 03-cv-09848, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
(Manhattan)." http://t.uani.com/1M94UAB
Nuclear
Program & Agreement
Al-Monitor: "Since the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued its first report on Iranian
compliance with the landmark nuclear deal, some US nuclear experts,
including a former IAEA deputy director, have chafed at the minimal
level of detail provided about Iran's nuclear program. Where in the
past IAEA quarterly communications to its Board of Governors often
contained a litany of questions about Iran's activities, including
statistics on every gram of enriched uranium and centrifuge rotor in
Iran's possession, the new report offers much less information and is a
largely upbeat assessment of Iran's compliance with the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which went into full
implementation on Jan. 16... Olli Heinonen, a former deputy director of
the IAEA who has been critical of the agency for closing an investigation
into past nuclear weapons work by Iran, criticized the new report for
failing to provide figures for the amount of excess enriched uranium
Iran sent to Russia. The IAEA report, Heinonen added, also did not give
numbers for centrifuge parts in Iran's inventory. 'These components are
essential in assessing breakout times, and reinstallation of previously
removed advanced centrifuges or installation of new ones can directly
affect the one-year breakout time that proponents of the JCPOA maintain
it enforces,' Heinonen wrote. 'An accounting of this inventory is also
important as a baseline for further monitoring.' David Albright,
president of the Institute for Science and International Security,
which publicizes the quarterly IAEA reports, said that by 'failing to
provide more information about the status of key technical aspects of
Iran's nuclear program and the implementation of its JCPOA commitments
to date, the IAEA is withholding vital data about the status of Iran's
nuclear program. It risks undermining public transparency and
confidence in the agreement.'" http://t.uani.com/1Twvjjx
Ballistic
Missile Program
Reuters: "A senior Revolutionary
Guards commander has said that Iran's ballistic missile program will
not stop under any circumstances and that Tehran has missiles ready to
be fired, according to Iranian state television. Brigadier General Amir
Ali Hajizadeh made his comments after a series of ballistic missile
tests conducted by guard units that drew international concern,
including a call by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton for new sanctions against Iran... 'Iran's missile program will
not stop under any circumstances,' Hajizadeh said. 'The IRGC has never
accepted the U.N. Security Council resolutions on Iran's missile work.
'We are always ready to defend the country against any aggressor. Iran
will not turn into Yemen, Iraq or Syria,' he was quoted as saying by
state television... The Guards said the tests were aimed at displaying
Iran's 'deterrent power and its ability to confront any threat'. 'Some
of the missiles carried 24 warheads and one tonne of TNT,' said
Hajizadeh, who heads the Guard's aerospace division. Hajizadeh said
Iran had no intention of starting a war, 'but the Zionist regime
(Israel) is our enemy and we don't trust American officials.' 'We have
underground tunnels around the country and under mountains, where we
store our missiles... These tunnels cannot be destroyed even if
targeted by atomic bombs,' he said... U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about
the missile tests, a State Department spokesman said. But Iran's
Students News Agency ISNA said on Thursday that Zarif and Kerry had not
discussed the issue. 'John Kerry has sent emails to Zarif asking for a
telephone call to discuss issues, including Iran's missile tests, but
it did not happen because Zarif is on an official visit,' ISNA quoted a
source as saying." http://t.uani.com/1R9DvzJ
NYT: "'We have huge reserves of
various range ballistic missiles that are ready to target enemies and
their aims, at any time, from different points of the country,' Brig.
Gen. Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards,
told reporters on the sidelines of the missile-firing drills in Kavir,
Qum Province, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported... 'Taking
into account that Hezbollah has stored more than 100,000 missiles,'
General Salami said, 'the Islamic Republic possesses 10 times more
missiles of different types, and its power is unlimited.'" http://t.uani.com/1LeupFT
U.S.-Iran
Relations
WashPost: "Nine years after former FBI
agent Robert Levinson went missing on the Iranian island of Kish, U.S.
officials say there is disagreement over his whereabouts. Former and current
FBI agents say they think that Levinson, if he is alive, remains in
Iran. But others in the U.S. government think he may be elsewhere,
after the family was sent a hostage video in late 2010 that officials
say came from Pakistan. The family also received from Afghanistan
pictures of Levinson in an orange jumpsuit, officials say. The debate
over Levinson's location comes nearly two months after an agreement
with Iran led to the release of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian
and four other Americans. Levinson's family hoped that he would be
among those freed, but after the deal was announced, the White House
said that Levinson may not be in Iran after all... Levinson's wife,
Christine, implored Washington and Tehran to dig into her husband's
disappearance and to keep pushing for his freedom. 'These past 9 years
- 3,288 days - have been harder for our family than anyone could ever
imagine,' she said. 'But, as difficult as it has been for us, we know
that Bob is living a nightmare that is 100 times worse. We need the
United States government and the country of Iran to work together to
resolve what happened to Bob and return him safely to his
family.'" http://t.uani.com/1LTLdSv
Congressional
Action
Al-Monitor: "Congress is ramping up its
efforts to slap new sanctions on Iran after the country said it
conducted multiple ballistic missile launches in defiance of US and
international sanctions... Lawmakers have been moving to reauthorize
legislation targeting Iran's energy sector, the Iran Sanctions Act
(ISA), which expires at the end of the year. Republicans and hawkish
Democrats, however, are already looking past that bill toward
legislation aimed at enforcing restrictions on ballistic missiles as
well as the sale of conventional arms. 'It may very well be that ISA
reauthorization on its own, which I support, may not be enough for many
members of the Senate and they'll be looking for other opportunities,'
Menendez told Al-Monitor. 'And in my mind, something that could be
reasonably negotiated would be preferable than just an amendment
process that could open the doors to things that aren't necessarily
thoughtful.' The comments are an implicit acknowledgment that lawmakers
are having a tough time bridging the gap between opponents and
supporters of the deal. Corker and Menendez are trying to thread the
needle and come up with the strongest possible language that can
survive a potential veto by the administration while avoiding additions
from hard-line Republicans that could kill the whole effort. 'If we
want to send a clear message that because we struck a nuclear agreement
with them doesn't mean that they can promote terrorism, export or
proliferate ballistic missile technology, that they can violate human
rights, that they can destabilize the region, then there have to be
actions that ultimately send them that message, and that's what I'm
working on,' Menendez said. 'It will deal with those different
categories, and it will deal with them in ways that if Iran continues
to violate them, then [we would be] starting off with US consequences
and then hopefully, as we have in the past, try to internationalize
those consequences.' Cardin said he expects the administration to
eventually get on board if lawmakers can produce a bipartisan
bill." http://t.uani.com/1P1Pi1R
Sanctions
Enforcement
The
Hill: "House
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) on Wednesday
blasted the Obama administration's response to two days of Iranian
ballistic missile testing in the face of U.S. sanctions. 'Instead of
forcefully condemning Iran's dangerous missile tests, the White House is
twisting itself into pretzels to explain how they don't violate the
president's deeply flawed nuclear deal,' Royce said in a statement...
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Tuesday that the White
House is still reviewing the launches to assess whether the U.S. should
take the matter to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). 'There's
at least one specific United Nations Security Council resolution that
could apply here, and the truth is, we're still reviewing the Iranian
launch to assess whether it is necessary for this matter to be raised
before the United Nations Security Council,' Earnest told reporters. He
also noted that the U.S. passed sanctions on Iran in response to
similar tests conducted in October and November. Republican and some
Democrats in Congress on Tuesday called for stronger measures against
Tehran, in light of the sanctions and a UNSC resolution calling upon on
Iran to refrain from such tests. Royce slammed the administration for
'tripping over technicalities,' adding that inaction could show Iran it
can violate the nuclear deal. 'Iran is making a mockery of President
Obama's vow to confront Iran's dangerous and illicit acts,' he said.
'For a second day in a row, the Iranian regime has launched ballistic
missiles in violation of U.N. sanctions. These latest missiles were
reportedly designed to strike our ally Israel, and stamped with the
words 'Israel should be wiped from the pages of history,'' he added.
'Here's the reality: If Iran sees it can violate U.N. missile sanctions
with no consequence, it will violate this nuclear deal too,' Royce
said. 'President Obama must lead and aggressively enforce all sanctions
against Iran's missile programs, support for terrorism, and human
rights abuses. No more looking the other way.'" http://t.uani.com/1Xf05M3
Business
Risk
Reuters: "U.S. Democratic presidential
front-runner Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called for sanctions against
Iran after the Islamic Republic brushed off U.S. concerns and
test-fired two ballistic missiles that it said were designed to be able
to hit Israel... Clinton, a former secretary of state under President
Barack Obama, said she was 'deeply concerned' by the tests, the second
round of Iranian missile launches in two days. 'Iran should face
sanctions for these activities and the international community must
demonstrate that Iran's threats toward Israel will not be tolerated,'
said Clinton, who is ahead in the race to be Democratic nominee at the
Nov. 8 presidential elections." http://t.uani.com/1LepWmv
Sanctions
Relief
Bloomberg: "General Electric Co. is
plotting a strategy for its oil and gas business in Iran as the U.S.
eases sanctions with the petroleum-rich country. Lorenzo Simonelli,
head of the company's crude division, said he visited Iran in recent
weeks to 'understand what was taking place in the country.' GE will
only proceed if government rules allow the company to do business
there, he said. 'Iran is a big market from an oil and gas perspective,'
Simonelli said Wednesday in an interview at Bloomberg's New York
headquarters. 'We will abide by the sanctions, but it's a market where
we used to transact.' Geographic expansion is part of a broad growth
strategy for London-based GE Oil & Gas that may include
acquisitions and more-advanced product offerings. Building out the division
is central to Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt's transformation
of GE into a more streamlined industrial manufacturer." http://t.uani.com/1LTLW6h
FT: "Iran sought to reassure
investors of its commitment to unveil new and improved oil contracts,
downplaying domestic opposition to the return of international energy
companies. Mohammad Nahavandian, President Hassan Rouhani's chief of
staff, told the Financial Times that the lifting of sanctions was a
'win-win' situation for Iran and the west and that it wanted
'constructive interaction' with the outside world. 'We have to think
about the future, and co-operation between the Iranian economy and the
outside world would be beneficial to us all,' he said. Iran's oil
ministry cancelled a long-awaited conference to publicise a new
contract for international oil companies in London last month after it
was attacked by Mr Rouhani's opponents as an attempt by international
oil companies to loot Iran's natural resources. Mr Nahavandian said
that the Rouhani administration was working with its critics to resolve
the issue. 'The government has decided to go ahead with the expansion
of the oil industry and foreign investment is required for this. We
have revised the framework of the [oil] contracts,' he told the FT. He
added: 'It is not finalised yet; it is open for comments. You cannot
call it opposition but there are differing opinions and the government
would like to incorporate all these views.' Mr Nahavandian also
delivered a keynote speech at the FT Iran summit, making it clear that
Iran was open for business. 'We are making a positive environment,' he
said... But the continued uncertainty leaves the international oil
industry unwilling to enter the country. 'Oil companies are negotiating
in a vacuum. It's all theoretical at this stage,' said Sue Millar, a
sanctions lawyer at Stephenson Harwood. 'They all know what they want
but whether Iran can deliver contractually or politically is another
matter. There are so many unanswered questions.'" http://t.uani.com/1piktl5
Reuters: "Iran aims to overhaul its
banking sector by tackling non-performing loans (NPL) and imposing
tougher capital requirements after years of isolation, a senior central
bank official said on Wednesday, adding the country was working on a
Eurobond issue. Many of Iran's banks are still struggling after piling
up bad debt during the more than a decade-long sanctions era. The
situation was compounded by several banks having exposure to the
country's property market, which turned sour in 2012 leaving problem
loans in the system. 'We are committed to tackling the NPL problem,
hopefully by improving the economic conditions,' Peyman Ghorbani,
economic vice governor with Iran's central bank told Reuters on the
sidelines of an FT Iran conference in London. 'But for the remaining
part, it is under investigation in the central bank - if it is
necessary to establish an asset management company, we are going to do
so.' Official data showed the ratio of non-performing loans to total
loans was 13.4 percent in the Iranian month ending June 21, 2015.
Market estimates point to nearly double that figure with the equivalent
of $40 billion at the top end of estimates for non-performing loans.
'What we are trying to is repair the capital adequacy ratio of the
Iranian banks. The first step is Basle I and then we will go to Basle II
and III,' he said... Ghorbani said Iran's central bank had started to
have better cooperation with central banks in Italy and
Switzerland." http://t.uani.com/1P1OdHj
Reuters: "Two Chinese firms are
pushing for multi-billion dollar deals with Iran to build a high-speed
railway and modernize its shipping fleet following the lifting of most
sanctions against Tehran, sources with knowledge of the negotiations
said. State-run China National Transportation Equipment &
Engineering Co Ltd (CTC) is close to finalizing an agreement on the $3
billion rail project to connect Tehran with the northeastern holy city
of Mashhad, a Chinese source told Reuters. Dalian Shipbuilding Industry
Co, which is also controlled by Beijing, has likewise been in
discussions on building container ships and oil tankers for Iran,
according to two sources who declined to be identified because the
talks are still continuing... For the 930-km (580 mile) rail project,
China's Export and Import Bank (EXIM) is expected to fund 85 percent of
the cost, with CTC providing engineering, procurement and construction
services, said the source... Top Dalian shipyard executives have
visited Tehran three times since January, meeting their counterparts at
the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) - Iran's top
container and cargo carrier - and the country's oil shipping operator
National Iranian Tanker Co (NITC), the sources said... Previously
Chinese shipyards, including Dalian, had built large oil tankers for
NITC in an order worth $1.2 billion between 2012 and 2013, Reuters has
reported." http://t.uani.com/1TOxMXb
AP: "Iran's state TV is reporting
that Iran and Britain have signed an agreement to establish a total of
42 weekly passenger flights between the two countries. Thursday's
report says the Iranian and the British civil aviation authorities will
allow each country to maintain 21 weekly flights to various
destinations in the other nation. The TV says there will also be
unlimited cargo flights. British Airways plans to resume its scheduled
flights to Iran in July. The carrier halted flights to Tehran in 2012
amid rifts between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Iran Air, however, continued its three weekly flights to London." http://t.uani.com/1M934ja
Yemen
Crisis
Reuters: "A senior Houthi official
told Iranian officials on Wednesday to stay out of Yemen's conflict,
after an Iranian general said Tehran might send military advisers to
help Houthi forces fighting a Gulf Arab coalition. The Houthis usually
see Shi'ite Iran as a friendly power in their year-old war against the
Saudi-led Arab coalition, which is trying to restore President
Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power. '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 a posting on Facebook. It was the
first public remark from a senior official in the Houthi group, seen to
be very close to Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, to be directed at
Iranian officials. On Tuesday, Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri,
deputy chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, suggested in an interview
with the Tasnim news agency that Iran might support the Houthis in a
similar way it has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in
Syria. Feshi's posting coincided with a visit by a Houthi delegation to
Saudi Arabia, a move that could signal an attempt to end a year of
fighting that has killed some 6,000 people." http://t.uani.com/1QORVpH
AP: "A top leader of Yemen's
Shiite rebels issued a harsh rebuke of ally Iran on Thursday, calling
on Tehran to back away from the crisis in Yemen. Youssef al-Fishi, a
top military commander of the rebels known as Houthis, asked Iranian
officials to 'remain silent' and 'stop exploiting' the Yemeni civil war
for their own interests. The remarks, posted on al-Fishi's Facebook
page, underscore how the formerly firm Houthi-Tehran alliance may be
faltering after a year-long Saudi-led air campaign targeting the
rebels. The violence has left Yemen's infrastructure in ruins, killed
more than 6200, and forcibly displaced 2.4 million people. They were made
against a backdrop of a slight cooling in the conflict between the
Houthis and Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia, which recently
negotiated a prisoner exchange with the rebels. The rebuke came a day
after Iranian deputy chief of staff Gen. Masoud Jazayer was quoted by
Iran's Tasnim news agency as saying that the Islamic Republic is ready
to help Yemeni people 'in any possible level.' The comment was in
response to a question about whether Iran is ready to send military
advisors to Yemen as it did in Syria." http://t.uani.com/1nzti83
Iran-Saudi
Tensions
NYT: "President Obama believes
that Saudi Arabia, one of America's most important allies in the Middle
East, needs to learn how to 'share' the region with its archenemy,
Iran, and that both countries are guilty of fueling proxy wars in
Syria, Iraq and Yemen. In a series of interviews with The Atlantic
magazine published Thursday, Mr. Obama said a number of American allies
in the Persian Gulf - as well as in Europe - were 'free riders,' eager
to drag the United States into grinding sectarian conflicts that
sometimes had little to do with American interests. He showed little
sympathy for the Saudis, who have been threatened by the nuclear deal
Mr. Obama reached with Iran. The Saudis, Mr. Obama told Jeffrey
Goldberg, the magazine's national correspondent, 'need to find an
effective way to share the neighborhood and institute some sort of cold
peace.' Reflexively backing them against Iran, the president said,
'would mean that we have to start coming in and using our military
power to settle scores. And that would be in the interest neither of
the United States nor of the Middle East.'" http://t.uani.com/1RSP8OE
AFP: "Saudi Arabia and other Gulf
monarchies could turn a page and build strong relations with Iran if it
respects them and stops 'meddling' in their affairs, Foreign Minister
Adel al-Jubeir said Wednesday. 'If Iran changes its way and its
policies, nothing would prevent turning a page and building the best
relationship based on good neighbourliness, with no meddling in the
affairs of others,' he told reporters in Riyadh. 'There is no need for
mediation' in such a case, said Jubeir, whose country severed all links
with the Islamic republic in January after crowds attacked the
kingdom's diplomatic missions in Iran. Jubeir said relations with
Tehran had deteriorated 'due to the sectarian policies' followed by
Shiite-dominated Iran and 'its support for terrorism and implanting of
terrorist cells in the countries of the region'. 'Iran is a
neighbouring Muslim country that has a great civilisation and a
friendly people, but the policies that followed the revolution of
(Ayatollah Ruhollah) Khomeini have been aggressive,' he said. Jubeir
was speaking after a meeting of Gulf foreign ministers and their
counterparts from Jordan and Morocco. In a joint statement, ministers
meeting in Riyadh urged Iran to respect UN resolution 2231 which
endorsed the nuclear deal and included curbs on ballistic missiles, as
Tehran defiantly fired two more missiles on Wednesday." http://t.uani.com/1QGB36G
Human
Rights
Journalism
Is Not a Crime:
"Three Iranian journalists who were detained by Iran's
Revolutionary Guards in November 2015 have appeared in court this week.
Another accused of the same charges is due to stand trial shortly. The
trials of journalists Ehsan Mazandarani and Davoud Asadi began on
Monday, March 7 at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court. The branch is
presided over by Judge Moghiseh, whom human rights organizations have
repeatedly accused of violating judicial practice and the rights of
defendants. The hearing of the third journalist, Isa Saharkhiz, was
scheduled to take place on Tuesday, but was postponed by the court.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards arrested the three journalists in early
November 2015 and accused them of being members of an 'infiltration
network' colluding with hostile Western governments. However, the
investigator for their cases had not been able to make a case for
'infiltration'. Instead, the journalists have been charged with
'propaganda against the regime,' 'acting against national security' and
'insulting authorities.' ... Saharkhiz, who suffers from severe kidney
problems and heart disease, has been on several hunger strikes since
his arrest, protesting against prison conditions and the fact that
there has been no progress on his case. According to his family he has
lost 20 kilos. On February 19, Saharkhiz was transferred to solitary
confinement without explanation. Another Iranian journalist, Saman
Safarzai, who was also arrested in November 2015, will reportedly stand
trial on Saturday, March 12." http://t.uani.com/1U52vi8
Domestic
Politics
Guardian: "In a message of condolence
for Saturday's funeral of Ayatollah Abbas Vaez-Tabasi in Mashhad,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said the departed
cleric, who died the previous day aged 80, had been 'a sympathetic
brother...[and] comrade of difficult days'. But Khamenei lost no
time in appointing Ebrahim Raeisi, the 55-year-old national
prosecutor-general, to follow Vaez-Tabasi as chairman of Astan Quds
Razavi, the foundation that manages the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad.
Raeisi is a close ally of Khamenei, and his appointment will strengthen
links between the leader's office and the shrine, whose annual turnover
- based on endowments, property and companies - is many billions of
dollars. The leader has chosen another ally, Ahmad Alamolhoda, as his
representative for Khorasan province, a second post left vacant by
Vaez-Tabasi's passing. Vaez-Tabasi was close to former president Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani, an ally of president Hassan Rouhani... Raeisi, who
holds the clerical rank of hojjatoleslam, is a different character. At
last year's 36th anniversary of the taking of the embassy hostages,
which featured criticism of the Rouhani administration as well as
denunciations of the United States as the 'Great Satan', Raeisi
announced that the intelligence and security forces had 'identified and
cracked down on a network of penetration in media and cyberspace, and
detained spies and writers hired by Americans'. Two years ago, Raeisi
accused the west of promoting homosexuality around the world in the name
of human rights, and he has also reportedly defended the amputation of
the hands of thieves... At the time of the 1988 executions of
3,000-5,000 political prisoners ordered by then leader Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomenei, Raeisi was deputy prosecutor in Tehran, a role he
had held since 1984-5... As head of the shrine, Raeisi could play a
huge role in the future succession to Khamenei, 76, as leader,
especially as he is also a member for south Khorasan province of the
Experts Assembly, the body that chooses the leader should a need
arise." http://t.uani.com/1QP5WDN
Opinion
& Analysis
WSJ
Editorial: "Advocates
of the nuclear deal with Iran were heartened last month by reports that
moderates close to President Hasan Rouhani had done well in elections
to the country's Parliament and the more influential Assembly of
Experts. It soon became clear that the moderates hadn't done as well as
advertised-and that moderation, Iranian-style, is relative. That much
was clear from the message printed this week along the length of an
Iranian ballistic missile, which said-in Hebrew as well as Farsi, lest
anything be lost in translation-that 'Israel must be wiped off the face
of the earth.' On Wednesday Iran test-fired two such missiles with a
reported range of 1,250 miles from a mountain base, hitting targets 850
miles away in southwestern Iran. The Jewish state is about 600 miles
from the Islamic Republic at the nearest point. Tehran's show of
force-it also tested missiles on Tuesday-are not the work of the usual
'hardline' suspects. Iran tested ballistic missiles last fall in
violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution, and in January Mr.
Rouhani publicly ordered his defense minister to speed up missile
testing and production. The Obama Administration later sanctioned a
handful of Iranian individuals and companies for the violations, but to
little effect. The tests appear to be timed to coincide with Vice
President Joe Biden's visit to Israel. 'Our main enemies, the
Americans, who mutter about plans, have activated new missile sanctions
against the Islamic Republic of Iran and are seeking to weaken the
country's missile capability,' said one Iranian general. 'The Guards
and other armed forces are defenders of the revolution and the country
will not pay a toll to anyone.' So much for the nuclear deal producing
a new era of Iranian accommodation to the world. Part of the problem is
that Secretary of State John Kerry bowed to Iranian demands during the
nuclear negotiations not to include ballistic missiles as part of the
final deal, though missiles are an essential component of any nuclear
program. Instead, the U.S. pushed a weak resolution through the
Security Council, which 'called upon' Iran to wait eight years before
building or fielding missiles 'designed to be capable of delivering
nuclear weapons.' Tehran insists that, since it has supposedly
abandoned its nuclear program, the current tests cannot violate the
resolution. The Administration will likely take its time deciding what,
if anything, to do about the tests. Hillary Clinton is calling for
sanctions, but the sanctions threat means little to a regime that has figured
out it has little to fear from the U.S. That's especially true since
Iran can always threaten to walk away from the deal should sanctions
bite too hard-and its officials have already threatened to do so. The
lesson-as always in arms control, from Brezhnev's Soviet Union to North
Korea-is that a regime that can't be trusted with nuclear weapons also
can't be trusted to honor the agreements it signs promising to
eliminate them. Iran's missile program is the clearest example to date
of how the nuclear deal has enhanced the country's military leverage.
There will be others." http://t.uani.com/1pzmWaq
Ray
Takeyh & Reuel Marc Gerecht in Foreign Affairs: "Democracy in the Islamic
Republic is a peculiar institution: it is designed to reinforce the
legitimacy of the theocracy. Various vetting bodies, all ultimately
controlled by the clergy, routinely nullify parliamentary legislation.
The Majlis, Iran's parliament, has long been a mere echo chamber for
the ruling elite, an escape valve for regime-loyal dissent. The
curiousness of Iran's theocratically managed democracy is amplified by
elections (like the ones just held) and the Iranian press, which
reports on the campaigns and the differences among the political elite
as if they were the left-right contests seen in the West. President
Hassan Rouhani and his supporters styled themselves as hope-and-change
candidates. By instinct, the Western press used the same vocabulary. In
truth, the elections of 2016 did signal change, but not the kind the
Western press had in mind. Rather, they spelled the end of Iran's
once-vivacious reform movement and the death of the 'Islamic Left,'
which has produced nearly all of Iran's reformers." http://t.uani.com/1Ui8aQJ
Mohammad
Ayatollahi Tabaar in WashPost: "The stunning performance of Iran's moderate forces
in the Feb. 26 elections has prompted new optimism for democracy in the
Islamic Republic. It should not. The victors of these elections might
better be described as a mighty centrist coalition of pragmatists,
reformists and moderate conservatives. This coalition aims at narrowing
the ideological spectrum in Iran at the expense of both democracy and
Islamism... Reformists have adamantly remained unified behind Rouhani
and Rafsanjani by lowering their demands. The fact that even a moderate
conservative such as Ali Larijani, speaker of the Majles, ended up on
their list and enjoyed their popular support demonstrates how much both
sides have moved toward the center... The Islamic Republic owes much of
its existence and survival to the shrewd use of 'moderates.' It was
Khomeini's alliance with the nationalist leader Mehdi Bazargan that
projected a democratic vision for the upcoming revolution and helped
delink the shah from the United States and Iran's Imperial Army.
Bazargan, who became the first prime minister subsequent to the
revolution, was also the first moderate casualty after Khomeini turned
anti-American in order to outbid his communist nemesis. But the regime
began to generate its own moderates in the coming three decades. Each
time, these emerging factions clashed with the conservative establishment,
while projecting a new face and hope, and thus helping resolve the
regime's international or internal crises. By now, the regime has lost
so many layers to the moderate camp that one wonders which group of
Khomeini's disciples represents the real Islamic Republic. On the one
side, there is Khamenei and on the other, all of his presidents -
except Ahmadinejad, a radioactive figure disowned by all parties. The
fault-line similarly cuts through key institutions such as the IRGC and
now reportedly even the Guardian Council. The recent elections have
released centripetal forces to mend this internal fissure. Khamenei and
his conservative but key minority constituency may have no choice but
to come on board. Or so Rafsanjani thinks. Similarly, the Iranian
electorate sees no option but to vote for the candidates it has, not
the candidates it wishes it had. But even more surprising is the
regime's open acknowledgement of this. A few days before the election,
Rouhani compared voting to shopping. 'Sometimes you don't find the
ideal clothes for your children at a store. Nevertheless, you buy the
clothes that are not your ideal just to prevent your child from
catching a cold,' Rouhani said... In order to manage a restless young
population, Rafsanjani and Rouhani now realize that they must prepare
for a major act. They need to dilute the Islamist core of the regime,
release it from the self-inflicted anti-American trap and set it on a
nationalist path directed toward the West. They could sell these
liberalizing measures to the citizens as a bridge toward democracy,
while framing them for the conservative establishment as an
authoritarian delaying tactic. Their success might be productive for
many important domestic and foreign policy initiatives. Building a democracy
is not one of them - unless it becomes an unintended consequence."
http://t.uani.com/1TOMT2P
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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