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Stories
Reuters: "President Barack Obama travels
to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday with a familiar message: the United States
will not abandon its Gulf allies in their struggle against Iran, a
regional power they fear is seeking to undermine their security. Tired of
what they see as a reduced commitment to old U.S. allies, riled by
comments Obama made about them in a magazine interview last month and
aware there will be a new president in January, Riyadh and its neighbours
may not be ready to just take his word for it. 'We want to receive
tangible reassurances from them,' said a senior Gulf official briefed on
preparations for the meeting. Short of a formal defence treaty, an idea
rejected before a previous summit, Riyadh and its allies hope to come
away from their meeting with new missile defence systems. Obama wants to
find a way for Gulf states and Iran to arrive at a 'cold peace' that
douses sectarian tensions around the region and curbs the spread of
Islamist militancy. Neither side is likely to get much more than partial
satisfaction. Differences over how to assess and address what both the
Gulf and United States describe as Iran's destabilising activities in the
Middle East have been at the root of the bumpiest period in ties between
Washington and the pro-West monarchies for decades. Sunni Muslim Gulf
states fear the nuclear deal Washington and other world powers agreed
with Shi'ite power Iran, and Obama's reluctance to get bogged down in the
Middle East's complex array of disputes, has freed Tehran to act without
inhibition... Obama has previously vowed to defend Gulf allies against
any 'external attack', and the United States' military support role has
allowed Saudi Arabia to maintain the campaign of an Arab coalition it has
led against the Houthis in Yemen. But talks on the more tangible
assurances demanded by Gulf officials are focused for now on improving
ballistic missile defence systems, something long discussed but given
more urgency by Iran's recent testing of new projectiles. 'They (the
Americans) should provide something,' said the Gulf official briefed on
preparations for the talks... 'It is important for the Americans to
understand that we are not happy with the overtures that the United
States has been prepared to make towards Iran at our expense,' said the
Gulf official." http://t.uani.com/22KGDbU
AFP: "Iran has so far seen only
around $3 billion in previously frozen assets returned since it struck a
nuclear deal with world powers, US Secretary of State John Kerry said...
'Remember the debate over how much money Iran was going to get?' he said
to delegates at a dinner hosted by the progressive pro-Israel group J
Street. 'Sometimes you hear some of the presidential candidates putting
out a mistaken figure of $155 billion. I never thought it would be that.
'Others thought it would be about $100 billion, because there was
supposedly about $100 billion that was frozen and so forth,' he
continued. 'We calculated it to be about $55 billion, when you really
take a hard look at the economy and what is happening,' he said, giving
the usual State Department estimate. 'Guess what folks. You know how much
they have received to date? As I stand here tonight, about $3
billion.'" http://t.uani.com/1TgXLDB
Trend: "France's Airbus needs
Washington's permission to reach a deal with Iran as 10 percent of the
Airbus equipment is US-made, said Alain Vidalies, the French transport
minister, on Apr. 18. 'We started talks with the US some time ago. The
negotiations are at a very advanced stage now,' Vidalies said Apr. 18 at
a press conference with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Akhoundi, Trend's
correspondent reported from the event. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani
visited Paris in January this year. During the visit, Iran and Airbus
signed a $27 billion worth memorandum of understanding for aircraft
purchase. Vidalies also says that banking problems still exist with Iran,
although the Western sanctions on Iran were lifted in mid-January after
implementation of the nuclear deal. Earlier today, Air France signed an
agreement with Iran's state-owned airline known as Iran Air or Homa. The
first Air France flight between Paris and Tehran in the past eight years
landed in Tehran on Apr. 17, carrying Vidalies and a business delegation."
http://t.uani.com/1YEXFXz
U.S.-Iran
Relations
AP: "Secretary of State John Kerry
will meet Iran's foreign minister this week amid Iranian complaints that
it's not getting the sanctions relief it deserves under last year's
landmark nuclear deal, the State Department said Monday. Kerry and
Mohammad Javad Zarif will meet in New York on Tuesday before Kerry flies
to Saudi Arabia to join President Barack Obama at a summit with Gulf Arab
leaders, department spokesman John Kirby said. Meanwhile, Kirby said the
department had sent letters to U.S. state and local officials advising
them of changes to federal sanctions policy. The Kerry-Zarif meeting
follows complaints from top Iranian leaders that the U.S. is not
fulfilling its part of the nuclear agreement, in which Iran curbed its
atomic program in exchange for sanctions relief. The U.S. insists it has
met its obligations but is facing demands from foreign banks to make
clear what transactions with Iran are legal and which are still
punishable under remaining sanctions. 'We're obviously aware of these
concerns that they have expressed about the status of sanctions relief,'
Kirby said. 'And the secretary is very mindful that that topic will come
up tomorrow, that that is very much on Foreign Minister Zarif's
mind.'" http://t.uani.com/22KKqWE
Congressional
Action
Reuters: "Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the
U.S. House of Representatives, urged President Barack Obama on Monday to
'definitively' rule out any sanctions workaround that might provide Iran
direct or indirect access to the U.S. financial system or dollar. 'Instead
of helping the regime get richer, the administration should hold it
accountable for its continued ballistic missile tests, egregious human
rights violations and support for terrorism,' the Republican
congressional leader said in his strongest statement yet on the issue...
Ryan said he was concerned there were 'at least four workarounds' that
would allow Iran access to the U.S. currency, including
dollar-denominated transactions, dollar-clearing, dollar-based
conversions and dollar-related foreign currency transactions." http://t.uani.com/23I30V9
Sanctions
Relief
Press TV
(Iran): "Iran
is yet to enter into serious talks with US aviation giant Boeing over the
purchase of planes but new indications are appearing that show the
country could soon get a dozen Boeing airplanes through Germany. Kianoush
Ranjbar, the managing director of Ran Invest GmbH, told Press TV on
Sunday that at least 12 Boeing planes will be leased to Iran. Ranjbar
said the planes will be 737 and 767 models and will be leased to Iran's
national flag-carrier Iran Air. He added that the planes will be used for
direct flights from Iran to Germany as well as other long destinations.
'Discussions over the issue are currently underway in Tehran and will be
finalized within the next few days,' Ranjbar told Press TV. The official
further emphasized that planes are planned to be delivered to Iran during
the next month visit to Tehran by the German Economy Minister and Vice
Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel - his second visit in less than six months. The
implementation of the agreement will set the stage for wider cooperation
between Iran and Germany in the area of tourism. Ranjbar was part of a
trade delegation which is visiting Iran from Germany's northwestern state
of Lower Saxony. The delegation - which is led by Stephan Weil, the
prime minister of Lower Saxony, arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran on
Friday." http://t.uani.com/23WlFJA
IRNA
(Iran): "Ministry
of Roads and Urban Development said on Tuesday that Iran signed a
contract with France to purchase three radars for Iranian airports. The
contract was signed in presence of Minister of Roads and Urban
Development Abbas Akhundi and French Minister of Transport Alain Vidalies
in Tehran. The radars will be installed at control towers of airports of
Tehran (Mehrabad), Shiraz and Bandar Abbas. Iran Airports and Air
Navigation Company (IAANC) and French Thales Company signed the
contract." http://t.uani.com/1SXaf0i
Saudi-Iran
Tensions
Reuters: "Saudi Arabia's decision to
scupper negotiations on a coordinated oil output freeze in Doha on Sunday
seems to confirm a significant shift in the kingdom's oil policy. For
decades, the kingdom has insisted it does not wield oil as a diplomatic
weapon, but at the weekend it did just that as part of an intensifying
conflict with Iran... Unlike other oil producers, which are seeking
higher prices, Saudi Arabia appears willing to risk lower prices that
will hurt its own economy in the belief they will hurt Iran more." http://t.uani.com/1VzGZmZ
Human
Rights
Reuters: "An Iranian physicist
imprisoned in Tehran since 2011 is suffering from life-threatening kidney
cancer, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said on
Monday. Omid Kokabee, 34, was arrested while on a visit to Iran from the
United States, where he was studying physics at the University of Texas.
He was charged with communicating with a hostile government and receiving
illegitimate funds. His family has asked for his immediate release due to
his severe health condition. 'The prison doctors were prescribing
painkiller without even examining him,' an informed source was quoted as
saying by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, an
independent organisation based in New York. 'It was only last week that
Omid was diagnosed with cancer and now the cancerous tumour has spread
all over his right kidney,' it said. Iranian judiciary officials have
said Kokabee was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail and the
Islamic Republic will not bow to international pressure calling for his
release. Kokabee has said he had been tortured in prison, both physically
and mentally, and forced to make confessions. In letters from Evin prison
in 2011 and 2013, Kokabee wrote that his imprisonment was the result of his
refusal to heed pressure by Iranian government to collaborate on a secret
research project, most probably refering to Iran's nuclear
programme." http://t.uani.com/1S822Ky
AFP: "Police in Iran's capital have
a network of 7,000 undercover agents whose job is to inform on alleged
moral transgressors in the Islamic republic, a top official said Monday.
Bad veiling -- covering the head is mandatory for women in Iran -- and
anti-social behaviour is among the crimes the force has been tasked with
tackling. The men and women's 'undercover patrols will confront implicit
transgressions in the city,' according to General Hossein Sajedinia,
Tehran's police chief. 'Confronting bad hijab and removal of veils inside
cars, driving recklessly, parading in the streets, harassing women and
stopping noise pollution are the priorities' for the agents, he said
Sajedinia's remarks were published by Mizan Online, the official news service
for Iran's judiciary, along with pictures of himself and a large
formation of plain-clothed agents in Tehran." http://t.uani.com/20TEVFM
Opinion
& Analysis
Matthew
Levitt in WSJ:
"Iran seems to expect the Obama administration to provide benefits
beyond those in the nuclear deal, including access to the U.S. financial
system and the ability to change into dollars foreign currency
transactions through U.S.-based banks. U.S. officials say that neither
demand will be met. We live in a 'post-sanctions environment,' Mr. Seif
said. This ignores the fact that sanctions remain in place over Iran's
efforts to sponsor terrorism; its ballistic missile program; and its human
rights abuses, which include executing minors and persecuting religious
minorities. Mr. Seif appeared to dismiss concerns about those activities
as old hat. 'If, according to our partners, it is our conduct which
prevents international banks from engaging in business with us, they were
fully aware of our conduct before signing. ... We have not changed.' That
Iran has not changed is at the core of its problem, but that's not how
Mr. Seif seemed to see it. Asked about the risks of unwittingly doing business
with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is still targeted by
Treasury sanctions, Mr. Seif said potential investors could engage
Iranian companies that run checks to determine who they would be doing
business with. The use of Iranian companies to hide the IRGC's
involvement in business activities has been documented by the Treasury
Department. And using in-country third parties to perform customer due
diligence is seen as high-risk by international bodies that govern
banking transactions. The bottom line is that Iran has yet to curb or
stop the illicit conduct that makes it a pariah state and a financial
risk. It enacted a law against terrorist financing last July, but that's
done little to calm banks' fears because its government continues to support
terrorism. Until those behaviors change, banks are likely to continue to
see prohibitive reputational, regulatory, and other risks to doing
business there. And the only country that can do anything about that is
Iran." http://t.uani.com/1Sq95wT
Eric
Lorber & Peter Feaver in FP: "Iran's ongoing provocative behavior brings the
contradiction at the heart of the Iranian nuclear deal into sharp focus:
How can we constrain Iran's provocative actions in
other-than-nuclear-enrichment areas when we gave up so much of our
leverage as a concession to get it to agree to enrichment restrictions?
Congress will wrestle with this dilemma in important upcoming hearings,
and while the contradiction was always recognized, the precise ways in
which it might play out were obscured by the imprecision in the deal
itself. That imprecision is now coming to the surface. In order to get a
deal that had a chance of constraining Iran's nuclear ambitions, the
United States had to make significant concessions on nuclear-related
sanctions. At the time, the Obama administration sold the deal with the
assurance that the United States would retain enough coercive leverage on
Iran to keep the regime in check on these other issues, including the
Islamic Republic's support for international terrorism, human rights abuses,
and the development of its ballistic missile programs. And administration
spokespeople emphasized again and again that they would be vigilant and
vigorous in wielding this coercive leverage. In the past few weeks,
however, the administration has signaled that it is on the cusp of making
an additional and unexpected concession to Iran that significantly
weakens remaining U.S. leverage: giving Iran backdoor access to financial
transactions in dollars. The administration reportedly believes it needs
to make this additional concession to honor the spirit of the agreement.
Congress is crying foul, asserting that such dollar access was not
included in the letter of the original deal and constitutes a gift to
Iran that should not be given without additional Iranian concessions. As
President Obama himself asked recently: Why should the United States
offer additional concessions to honor the spirit of the deal if Iran is
not also making additional concessions? This fight originates from the
imprecision of the agreement. Since Implementation Day, the world's
largest banks have continued to steer clear of banking with Iranian
clients or companies looking to do business in Iran, in part because they
fear running afoul of remaining U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic,
but also because of the endemic corruption and money laundering problems
plaguing its financial system. This reluctance has caused ripple effects:
Major European companies have been unable to find the banking services
necessary to do business in Iran, and as a result Iran has claimed that
the United States is not fulfilling its obligations under the agreement.
Iran's claim threatens the deal, and the administration has responded in
the last two weeks by trying to find ways to incentivize banks to begin doing
business in the Islamic Republic, notably by considering permitting those
banks to conduct dollar-based transactions outside of the United States
on behalf of companies doing business in Iran. But the administration
cannot do that without violating what Congress believes it was promised
in the deal - namely, an Iran without direct or indirect access to the
U.S. financial system... But this imprecise language has caused more than
a fight between the administration and Congress - indeed, it lies at the heart
of Iran's entire claim that the United States is preventing banks from
doing permissible business in Iran in contravention of U.S. obligations.
Iran's assertion is predicated on ambiguous language in the agreement,
specifically that the United States 'make best efforts in good faith to
sustain this JCPOA and to prevent interference with the realization of
the full benefit by Iran of the sanctions lifting specified.' The
Iranians have interpreted this to mean that the United States must takes
steps to facilitate banks' willingness to do business in Iran and help
re-integrate Iran into the world financial system. And while dollarized
transactions were almost surely not included in the original agreement,
because this language is so broad, the Iranians now have a credible claim
that such relief falls within the four corners of the agreement. This
lack of precision was not a drafting mistake by the negotiators, however;
it was intentional. Former administration negotiators have acknowledged
in private that elements of the deal were left ambiguous with the express
purpose of allowing the administration to sell the agreement to Congress
and the American people, and the Iranian negotiators to sell the
agreement to the hardliners back home." http://t.uani.com/1Nzbcdm
Eugene
Kontorovich in WashPost: "The Obama administration has been writing letters to
all 50 state governors, urging them to reconsider economic sanctions they
have against Iran. Almost half of U.S. states have adopted such measures,
which were explicitly authorized by statute in the Comprehensive Iran
Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA). 'I would
urge you to consider whether the implementation of the JCPOA, which
verifiably ensures that Iran's nuclear program is and will remain
exclusively peaceful, addresses the underlying concerns with Iran
articulated in your state's law,' one of the letters stated. Indeed, one
of the more controversial components of JCPOA was that the U.S. would
'actively encourage' state and local governments to drop sanctions
related to Iran's nuclear weapons program. The question now is whether
this mass letter represents the completion of what the administration
thinks the JCPOA requires or authorizes it to do, or whether it will go
further, such as suing state governments to lift sanctions or attempting
to 'declare' state laws preempted despite the clear contrary language in
CISADA... the JCPOA itself cannot upend state sanctions laws. The JCPOA
is not a treaty, and thus cannot override statutes, like CISADA... Unless
he is merely hoping overworked state attorneys general are likely to
blink first, President Obama is unlikely to push this matter further with
the states. If he does, he is likely to lose on the state sanctions issue
and may well open the door to a broader legal inquiry into the legal
status of the Iran deal." http://t.uani.com/1SsiOWI
John
Schindler in The Observer: "For nearly 15 years, ever since jihadists took down
the Twin Towers and killed nearly 3,000 Americans, many have wondered how
a bunch of novice terrorists-several of whom could barely fly an
airplane, much less a big jetliner-could pull off such complex and
audacious attack. What al-Qa'ida termed their 'Planes Operation' was
meticulously planned prior to execution-but by whom, exactly? That key
question remains partly open, and the American public has never received
the full explanation from our government that they deserve. I know what
they have not been allowed to see: When 9/11 happened I was a
counterintelligence officer with the National Security Agency and part of
my purview was looking into state connections to international terrorism.
I was one of the few officials in our Intelligence Community seriously
looking into al-Qa'ida's links to foreign intelligence before the Twin
Towers fell... That Iran had some sort of hand in the Planes Operation
has long been suspected by many insiders. Contrary to what 'terrorism
experts' may say, Tehran was always willing to aid Sunni extremists like
al-Qa'ida, while Osama bin Laden and his ilk were equally willing to
accept secret help from the Shia they despise. Iranian intelligence has
enjoyed a clandestine relationship with al-Qa'ida going back to the early
1990s, and U.S. intelligence has known of meetings between their
leadership and top Tehran spies since 1996. As I exposed in my 2007 book
Unholy Terror, it was this toxic secret brew of Saudi cash and Iranian
know-how that enabled al-Qa'ida in the 1990s to transform from a regional
terrorist group into a global movement and threat. The real road to 9/11
was paved by Riyadh's moneymen and Tehran's spies, who despite their
mutual antipathy were both eager to help bin Laden and his movement in
their jihad against the West. Despite these facts, the 9/11 Commission
demonstrated little interest in Iranian ties to the Planes Operation.
While admitting that several of the hijackers had transited Iran, and
that Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the notorious KSM, the jihadist entrepreneur
who came up with the Planes Operation, had stashed his family in Iran for
years, it went no further. Why Tehran would want to help Sunni radicals
was left essentially unexplored. In particular, the 9/11 Commission
punted on the obvious lines of inquiry that such information opened up to
anyone with eyes wanting to see, lamely noting that the issue of Iran's
role 'requires further investigation by the U.S. Government.' That
additional inquiry never came. In fairness to the 9/11 Commission, they
were not allowed to see important information that might have changed
their minds. In particular, they did not see NSA signals intelligence that
shed significant light on Iran's clandestine role supporting al-Qa'ida
generally and the Planes Operation particularly. SIGINT from NSA makes up
the lion's share of intelligence in our government, and the fact that the
9/11 Commission was never shown the impressive full NSA archive of
reports, many highly classified, on the very topic they were
investigating seems incomprehensible. Since the U.S. Government did not
do its job, the task of unraveling Iran's links to 9/11 has fallen to
private citizens who have filed suit against Tehran, with some success.
At a minimum, they have marshaled impressive evidence that Iran's secret
role was important and something that needs serious examination. Recently
a Federal judge agreed, ordering Tehran to pay more than $10.5 billion in
damages to the families of 9/11 victims on the basis of Iran's role in
that criminal conspiracy." http://t.uani.com/1SsjU4E
NYPost
Editorial: "Just
how far will President Obama go to protect the nuclear deal with Iran -
which he sees as central to his legacy? We'll be finding out soon. Tehran
is loudly threatening to pull out of the accord unless it gets access to
the US financial system. It would have to settle for the measly $150
billion in cash it's already pocketed, plus the end of global sanctions.
Valiollah Seif, head of Iran's central bank, charged last Friday that
Washington isn't living up to its part of the deal because 'we are not
able to use our frozen funds abroad.' Unless that's resolved, he said,
'the deal breaks up on its own accord.' Don't expect Team Obama to even
think about calling Iran's bluff. In fact, the State Department has
already written all 50 governors asking them to reconsider their states'
sanctions on Iran. Yet most of those sanctions aren't about Iran's
nuclear program but its support of terrorism, its missile program, its
general oppression of its own citizens, etc. And the Financial Action
Task Force, a global body that combats money-laundering and
terror-financing, just declared it remains 'exceptionally concerned'
about Iran's continued financial support for international terrorism.
Indeed, FATF urged all members to 'apply effective counter-measures' to
protect their financial sectors against 'risks emanating from Iran.' Yet
the administration is reportedly moving to do the opposite - looking to
let Iran access dollars via a Hong Kong clearinghouse. It's one reason
this rancid deal was never submitted to Congress as a treaty: Obama keeps
having to change the terms to please Tehran. As things stand, he'll
likely keep on with it until Iran gets everything it wants." http://t.uani.com/1Qk8dW0
Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review Editorial: "Long before the Obama administration hailed the
nuclear deal with Iran, federal authorities were tracking teams of
Iranian hackers who have attacked U.S. financial institutions since 2011.
So as not to rock the boat before implementing the nuke accord and
securing the release of four American prisoners in Iran, the Islamic
republic's hacking was kept quiet until recently, according to The Daily
Signal. The so-called 'powerful message' sent by the hackers'
indictments, trumpeted on March 24 by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, is
a tad diluted by its timing. Reportedly two teams of Iran-based hackers
affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard launched cyberattacks
against the United States from 2011-13. Three employees of Iran's
ITSecTeam attacked 46 financial institutions while four employees of
Iran's Mersad Co. attacked 24 companies. Just last month, National
Intelligence chief James Clapper identified Iran, along with China,
Russia and North Korea, as 'leading threat actors' against U.S. security.
But the extent of Iran's hacking became known only after the dubious
nuclear accord went into effect. Ditto with a $1.7 billion U.S.
settlement paid to Iran to resolve decades-old legal claims. What emerges
is a clearly delineated putrid pattern of U.S. appeasement toward Iran in
the run-up to the nuclear deal, which, in itself, is a travesty." http://t.uani.com/23I3JWh
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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