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WSJ: "The Financial Action Task
Force, an international anti-money-laundering standards body, said
Friday it would suspend some of its restrictions against Iran for a
year to monitor Tehran's progress implementing changes to its
regulatory regime. The White House has been pushing to ease the path
for business into Iran since the implementation of the nuclear
agreement, and removing Iran from the FATF blacklist would aid in that
effort. Critics, however, are pushing back, saying Iran's conduct
hasn't changed since the deal was implemented, citing, among other
things, Iran's support for groups such as Hezbollah. The FATF,
following its plenary session in South Korea this week, said it
welcomed Iran's adoption of, and political commitment to, an action
plan to address deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and
counter-terrorist financing policies, as well as Iran's decision to
seek assistance with implementation. Iran will remain on the blacklist
until the full implementation is complete, and if Iran fails to
demonstrate 'sufficient progress' at the end of the yearlong
suspension, the restrictions will be reimposed, the FATF said, calling
attention to Iran's issues with terrorism financing, without specifying
what those issues were... North Korea and Iran are the only countries
labeled as 'high-risk or uncooperative jurisdictions' by the FATF... There
has been pressure on the FATF from U.S. interests to keep Iran on the
blacklist. Pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran sent a letter to
the body, saying no financial institution can afford the risk of
investing in Iran until it reaches international standards." http://t.uani.com/29210kR
AFP: "Hezbollah chief Hassan
Nasrallah on Friday said his group would not be affected by fresh US
sanctions because it receives its money directly from Iran, not via
Lebanese banks. In a speech broadcast by the Shiite party's Al-Manar
station, Nasrallah brushed off assertions that Hezbollah would be hurt
by US sanctions on Lebanese financial institutions that work with the group.
'We do not have any business projects or investments via banks,'
Nasrallah said, insisting the group 'will not be affected.' 'We are
open about the fact that Hezbollah's budget, its income, its expenses,
everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, are from the
Islamic Republic of Iran,' he added. Iran was instrumental in
Hezbollah's inception three decades ago and has provided financial and
military support to the group. In December, the US Congress voted to
impose sanctions on banks that deal with Hezbollah, considered a
'terrorist group' by the US. And last month, Lebanon's central bank
instructed the country's banks and financial institutions to comply
with the new measure against the Lebanese Shiite group. Hezbollah has
fiercely criticised the law and accused central bank governor Riad
Salameh of 'yielding' to Washington's demands. 'As long as Iran has
money, we have money... Just as we receive the rockets that we use to
threaten Israel, we are receiving our money. No law will prevent us
from receiving it,' Nasrallah said." http://t.uani.com/294xtYw
Reuters: "The first of Iran's new oil
and gas investment contracts for international companies will be
launched this summer and will invite bids to develop 10-15 fields, oil
minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted by the SHANA news agency as saying.
The Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) is a cornerstone of the country's
plan to raise crude production to the pre-sanctions level of four
million barrels per day (bpd), and the OPEC member desperately needs
$200 billion in foreign money to reach the goal. Its launch has been postponed
several times as hardline rivals of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani
resisted any deal that could end a buy-back system dating back more
than 20 years under which foreign firms have been banned from booking
reserves or taking equity stakes in Iranian companies. Zanganeh said a
final draft for the contracts will be approved by the government
shortly after some amendments to appease both critics and foreign
companies." http://t.uani.com/29210l0
Business
Risk
Reuters: "Oil minister Bijan Zanganeh
has handed the running of Iran's national oil company to a trusted ally
in a push to agree long-awaited deals with global oil majors, which
could be derailed by next year's presidential polls... Iran last week
selected several local firms which can become partners of Western oil
companies and on Monday, Zanganeh pledged to tender 10 to 15 fields
under new deals as early as this summer. Oil majors insist these must
be more attractive than the loss-making contracts of the 1990s. The
change follows the naming this month of Zanganeh's trusted ally Ali
Kardor as head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), replacing
Rokneddin Javadi who had held the post since 2013 and has been made
deputy oil minister for supervising hydrocarbon resources. Iranian and
industry sources say the NIOC reshuffle is aimed at boosting oil
exports and getting some deals in place ahead of Iran's 2017
presidential election as an internal political power struggle
intensifies. 'There has been a lot of pressure on Zanganeh for not
doing much to bring new oil investments as quickly as promised and
until now the new contracts are still being drafted,' said the oil
executive... 'We haven't seen anything. Nothing at all which would
indicate that work on contracts is progressing,' a top executive of a
major Western oil company with a long history of dealings with Iran
said. 'And to be honest I'm not very concerned about it as my ability
to invest in new projects is severely restricted at the moment by low
oil prices,' he added. Others dismissed the chances of Zanganeh's
changes speeding up new deals before the mid-2017 presidential
election. 'The energy sector in Iran is more linked to politics than
any other country,' said an Iranian industry source. 'I don't think we
will see anything happening this year or next year.'" http://t.uani.com/28Xe8DG
Bloomberg: "Five months after sanctions
on Iran were eased, the rapid rise in the country's oil production and
exports appears to be ending as quickly as it began. Any slowdown in
Iranian output will hasten the rebalancing of global oil supply and
demand, adding weight to the assertion by Saudi Arabia's oil minister
Khalid Al-Falih that 'the oversupply has disappeared.' Iran's observed
crude oil exports, which exceeded 2 million barrels a day in both April
and May, slipped by almost 20 percent in the first three weeks of June.
One of the country's primary aims after restrictions on oil sales were
eased was to regain its markets in Europe. Before the latest sanctions
were imposed in 2012, Iran was exporting about 600,000 barrels a day of
crude to countries in the European Union, with Italy, Spain and Greece
its biggest buyers... By May, Iran had regained more than half of those
EU sales, delivering more than 350,000 barrels a day of crude and
spurring expectations that flows would soon be back to their
pre-sanctions level. Upgrades were also completed at Iran's principal
loading terminal at Kharg Island, allowing it to load nine vessels at a
time and store 30 million barrels of crude.But deliveries fell to
285,000 barrels a day in the first three weeks of June. What happened?
... But more worrying for Iran is the difficulty that it seems to have
had in persuading its biggest pre-sanctions buyers to resume
purchases." http://t.uani.com/28XFM7y
Reuters: "As Western planemakers seek
to finalise lucrative deals to sell some 200 jets to Iran, doubts are
growing over the sale of a dozen Airbus A380 superjumbo jets to the
country's national flag carrier, several people familiar with deal
said... The order for the double-decker superjumbo jetliners grabbed
attention in January as part of a provisional deal for 118 Airbus jets
worth $27 billion signed in Paris in the presence of Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani. The inclusion of the world's largest jetliner was
hailed as a symbol of thawing relations and a sign of Iran's
determination to compete economically with Arab Gulf states that fly
the jet... 'We always made clear this is an option,' an Iranian
official told Reuters, asking not to be identified. 'It is possible to
switch to other models,' he added. An industry source familiar with the
region said Iran was committed to the rest of the order, but was less
interested in taking the A380s, ordered in part for political
reasons... Problems in financing must also be resolved as some banks
have shied away from financing either the Airbus deal or a similar
order for Boeing to sell or lease 109 jets to IranAir. Those
uncertainties have also raised questions over the timing of the payment
of deposits to Airbus on the wider order." http://t.uani.com/28YqgpA
Sanctions
Relief
Reuters: "Indonesia's Pertamina
expects to sign an agreement with Iran to evaluate investing in two oil
and gas blocks sometime after the Muslim Ramadan holy period that ends
in July, a company official said on Monday... A deal would be
Indonesia's first investment in Iran's upstream oil sector. Last month
Pertamina inked an agreement to purchase 600,000 tonnes of liquefied
petroleum gas from state-owned marketer National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC)
Pertamina plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with state-owned
NIOC to evaluate the two blocks and eventually import crude from the
sites for processing in Indonesia if the bid is successful, Pertamina
upstream director Syamsu Alam told Reuters. 'We want to manage those
blocks. We want to be operator in those blocks,' Alam said in a phone
call, without identifying the areas." http://t.uani.com/28Yizyh
Mehr
(Iran):
"Iran's oil exports to Spain have climbed by three million barrels
per month upon signing short-term contracts with Cepsa, Respol as well
as BP oil industry companies. The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)
and Spain's Repsol S.A. have inked an agreement to deploy a
one-million-barrel shipment on a monthly basis turning Repsol into the
second Spanish buyer of the Iranian crude after Cepsa. The new
contract, which follows an earlier one signed with Cepsa (Spanish
Petroleum Company), had doubled Iran's oil export volume to the
European country. In addition, NIOC has sealed a separate agreement
with BP (British Petroleum) in the form of spot contracts to export a
total of one million barrels per month. Overall, given the signing of
three contracts to sell oil to Cepsa and Repsol of Spain and well as
BP, the volume of Iran's crude exports has tripled as compared with the
figure during sanction years." http://t.uani.com/2926NHg
Press
TV (Iran):
"Two Italian energy companies, Saras SpA and Iplom SpA, have
reportedly signed long term contracts with the National Iranian Oil
Company (NIOC) to purchase crude oil from Iran. As of this week, in a
contact with Saras SpA, Iran will export 60,000 to 65,000 barrels of
oil per day to the company's refineries for one year, Oilprice.com
reported. Saras SpA currently buys approximately 30,000 to 35,000
barrels per day (bpd). Last month, NIOC announced that the company was
in negotiations with Italy's Eni SpA for a deal that could result in
the sale of 100,000 bpd of oil. Oilnews has also quoted Iran's
Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh as saying that along with the oil
contracts with the two Italian companies, the country has plans to sign
a $1.5 billion agreement with Eni to develop phase three of Darkhovin
oil field." http://t.uani.com/28YuCNk
Regional
Destabilization
Reuters: "Iran's supreme leader has
blasted as 'foolishness' a decision by Bahrain's leaders to strip a top
Shi'ite Muslim cleric of his citizenship, and said it could provoke
violence from Shi'ites, who make up the majority in the Sunni-ruled
Gulf kingdom. The speech by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, carried by state
media, came after Bahrain's Sunni authorities stepped up measures
against the island's Shi'ites and stripped their spiritual leader,
Ayatollah Isa Qassim, of his citizenship. 'This is blatant foolishness
and insanity. When he still could address the Bahraini people, Sheikh
Isa Qassim... would advise against radical and armed actions,' Khamenei
said in remarks carried by state television on Sunday. 'Attacking Sheikh
Isa Qassim means removing all obstacles blocking heroic Bahraini youths
from attacking the regime.'" http://t.uani.com/28XDZPF
Daily
Star (Lebanon):
"Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri lashed out at Hezbollah after
its chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said a day earlier that the group
receives its budget from Iran, saying the group puts the interests of
other countries before Lebanon. 'Saying that Hezbollah's money comes
from Iran is admitting that Hezbollah follows Iran par excellence,'
Hariri said during a speech at an iftar gathering at the Rashid Karami
International Fair in northern Lebanon. Although Iranian support for
his group has for long been a well-known fact, Nasrallah declared for
the first time that Hezbollah is receiving its money and arms from
Iran. 'As long as Iran has money, Hezbollah has money. ... Can we be
any more frank than that?' he said. Nasrallah's remarks were made
during a televised speech marking the passing of 40 days since the
killing of Hezbollah's top commander Mustafa Badreddine in Syria... The
Future Movement leader accused the group of putting the interests of
other countries before the Lebanese interests. 'Some insist on putting
Iran first, and Syria first, Iraq first, Yemen first and Bahrain first,
and Lebanon ... at the end.' He said that Iran's arrogance and meddling
in the region will lead to an escalation of tensions between the Arabs
and Iran. 'Iran finances Hezbollah in Lebanon, Al-Hashd Al-Chaabi in
Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, the opposition in Bahrain and the killing
of innocent people in Syria. It finances the bombings in Kuwait, the
chaos in Qatif and the sectarian groups in Sudan, Egypt and Algeria,'
he added." http://t.uani.com/28VHvoW
Daily
Star (Lebanon):
"Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Sunday kept up a blistering
tirade against Hezbollah, saying the Iranian-backed party was throwing
the Lebanese youth and Lebanon's interests into the Syrian fire on
Iran's orders. He also said Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah
cannot end the party's deep involvement in the 5-year-old war in Syria
if Iran does not want this... In a speech Saturday night during an
iftar at the Rashid Karami International Fair in Tripoli in honor of
families from Dinniyeh, Minyeh and Zgharta, Hariri blasted Hezbollah,
saying the group was putting the interests of other countries before
Lebanon after Nasrallah said a day earlier that the group receives its
budget from Iran. He also accused Iran of funding strife in the Arab
world for its support of armed factions in Syria, Iraq and Yemen and
threatening Bahrain. 'Someone is bragging that he is an advanced
military base ... for Iran. And that all the money, missiles and
salaries come from the treasury of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. He is
recognizing that it is an Iranian party par excellence and an
investment for the Iranian political, religious and military project,'
Hariri said. 'And that the orders of Wilayat al-Faqih are more
important to him than Lebanon's interest and the interest of all Arabs.
This is a first rank accusation charge. A party declaring aloud that it
executes orders from a foreign country.'" http://t.uani.com/298lc23
Human
Rights
AFP: "An Iranian-British woman
detained in Iran on charges of seeking to overthrow the government was
implicated in anti-regime protests in 2009, a judicial official said.
There had previously been scant information about the grounds for the
arrest in April of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a 37-year-old employee of
the Thomson Reuters Foundation. But a report from Iran's Mizan news
agency late Friday said she was implicated in mass protests against the
re-election of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, a
movement dubbed 'the sedition' by the authorities. 'In 2014-2015, the
intelligence service of the Revolutionary Guards in Kerman province
identified and arrested members of one of the groups that during the
sedition conducted activities against the security of the country by
designing websites and carrying out campaigns in the media,' Yadollah
Movahed, head of Kerman's justice department, told Mizan. 'Some of the
group were outside Iran, including the suspect Nazanin Zaghari,' he
added. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, was arrested at Tehran airport on April 3 as
she prepared to return to Britain with her two-year-old daughter after
visiting family in Iran." http://t.uani.com/29g4s8e
Opinion
& Analysis
Mark
Dubowitz & Toby Dershowitz in Medium: "Following its plenary
meeting this week, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is set to
maintain Iran on its black list, with a one-year suspension, though not
removal, of the mandatory countermeasures applied to the Islamic
Republic. FATF is an inter-governmental organization that serves as the
preeminent global policymaking body for combating illicit finance. It
does that primarily by setting global standards to combat money laundering,
and finance for terrorism and proliferation. Its goal is to protect the
international financial system from vulnerabilities and threats that
emanate from countries that do not implement its standards, and to work
with countries that seek to become responsible members of the
international financial system. FATF's move signals that,
notwithstanding intense pressure from Tehran, Iran's effort to
legitimize its malign activities has not been matched by changes to its
underlying conduct-the reason Iran has, along with North Korea,
maintained its place on this blacklist and been subject to mandatory
countermeasures. Following FATF's action, the base assessment of the
risks of Iran's illicit conduct remains the same. Practically speaking,
there is no change since, given the continued concerns over Iran's
illicit conduct, financial institutions will continue to voluntarily
implement strict countermeasures. This signals a recognition by the
global community that Iran continues to represent a threat to the international
financial system. Businesses considering ties to Iran will have to
conduct enhanced due diligence that will prove a nightmare for them for
a number of reasons. Many Iranian companies-including sanctioned
entities such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-utilize
opaque corporate structures and shadow companies to hide their true
ownership interests. The IRGC controls an estimated 30 percent of
Iran's economy, and those seeking to do business in the country should
be concerned that they may be inadvertently dealing with entities owned
or controlled by sanctioned entities or those that may become
sanctioned... Most large banks that care about long-term protection of
their assets are not rushing back into Iran because they understand it
has a long way to go before it's safe to do business there. Ultimately
they are looking to avoid the massive sanctions, money-laundering, and
corruption risk Iran poses to their stakeholders... Global financial
institutions understand that this illicit conduct, not empty
expressions of intent, must be changed before risking business with
Iran. FATF's action this week serves as yet another reminder to 'know
your customer.' Buyers should beware: Iran may be open for business,
but is it not yet safe for it." http://t.uani.com/2925JmI
Globe
& Mail Editorial: "Homa Hoodfar, a 65-year-old Canadian-Iranian
university professor, should be home in Montreal right now but is
instead being held by the Iranian government in the country's most
notorious jail - a place where prisoners are routinely tortured. She has
not been allowed contact with her family or her lawyer since she was
arrested on June 6 in Tehran by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. No official
charges have been announced. The Canadian government does not have
formal diplomatic relations with Iran. Officials say they don't know
why Ms. Hoodfar was arrested, and that they are concerned for her
health. Ms. Hoodfar suffers from a neurological disorder and is
unlikely to have access to the medication she needs. This farce would
be unacceptable under any circumstances, but it is even more appalling
because it appears Ms. Hoodfar may have been taken prisoner in the hope
of exchanging her for another Canadian-Iranian dual citizen living in
Toronto. Iran has long wanted to get its hands on Mahmoud Reza Khavari,
the former chief of the Melli Bank of Iran, who fled to Canada in 2011
after prosecutors tried to question him in connection with an alleged
embezzlement and money-laundering scheme... Ms. Hoodfar is a Canadian
citizen being used as a pawn. Ottawa must respond. Canada lifted its
economic sanctions on Iran in February - part of an international
effort to bring Iran back into the fold. The Trudeau government should
not hesitate to use whatever levers it has available to pressure Iran
and free Homa Hoodfar." http://t.uani.com/290U72o
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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