Eye on Iran: Iran Renews Warning to Shut Strait of Hormuz in Case of Slightest Military Action by Enemies

Join UANI               Top Stories Fars (Iran): "Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Ali Shadmani renewed Tehran's threat that the country would block the Strait of Hormuz if it is faced with enemies' direct military action. 'If the enemy makes a small mistake, we will shut the Strait of Hormuz, kill their sedition in the bud and endanger the arrogant powers' interests,' General Shadmani said, addressing a gathering in the Western city of Kermanshah on Tuesday. His remarks came after Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami warned the US in May to avoid crisis escalation, and said the Iranian Armed Forces will stop and block the passage of any vessel that they deem as a threat in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. Salami pointed to the US presence in the region, and said, 'We warn the Americans not to repeat their past mistakes and they should learn from historical realities.' Elsewhere, General Shadmani blamed the US for supporting the terrorist groups in the region to guarantee the Zionist regime's survival, and said, 'The Islamic Revolution has endangered the life of the Quds Occupying Regime and today the resistance front has grown across the world.'" http://t.uani.com/2agSA8e Tasnim (Iran): "A cargo ship owned by an Emirati company sailing across the Persian Gulf with the flag of Panama was intercepted at a southern Iranian port on Tuesday after maritime control detected exclusion of the Persian Gulf's full name from the ship's documents. Aboutaleb Gerailoo, an official at the Port and Maritime Organization of the southwestern province of Khuzestan, said the Persian Gulf's name was missing from the documents of the ship, named Feodora. Iranian authorities stopped the ship after noticing that its documents contain a 'fake term' instead of Persian Gulf, he added, stressing that all foreign vessels sailing through Iran's maritime routes have to use the historically and internationally-recognized name of the Persian Gulf. The ship was interrupted at the port of Bandar Imam Khomeini, and will not be offered any service by Iran until the fake name in its papers are corrected, the official said." http://t.uani.com/2aq4fkl Press TV (Iran): "Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says projects by the Israeli and Saudi Arabian regimes to portray Iran as a threat to the world have been falling flat over the past years. Speaking to a group of Iranian expatriates in the Ghanaian capital city of Accra on Monday evening, Zarif said Tel Aviv and Riyadh, 'two like-minded regimes,' are investing heavily in Iranophobia to draw attention away from their crimes and their collaborations. 'It is obvious that the cooperation of the Zionist regime (Israel) and the Saudi regime, which are two like-minded and congruent regimes, has today become known and can no more be concealed,' Zarif said. He said the two regimes are concerned about their collaboration having become publicly known and are thus 'investing further in Iranophobia' as a means of distraction." http://t.uani.com/2aIdVFR Nuclear & Ballistic Missile Program Al-Monitor: "Halfway between the signing of the historic Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and their country's next presidential election, Iranians are waiting to see how the former will influence the latter - and whether the US presidential election will affect the deal. President Hassan Rouhani may very well end up facing his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in next summer's vote. Indeed, the conservative former president appears eager to return to the presidential residence on Tehran's Pastor Street - and he's fighting for it by using the outcome of the nuclear deal as a weapon. 'Rouhani might become the first [Iranian] president not to secure a second term,' a prominent Iranian moderate-conservative figure told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. 'Many of those in my camp prefer that he gets a second term. Yet, the other candidate is exploiting the setbacks of the nuclear deal to present himself as the only savior to the people.' The source added, 'If the situation continues this way, the entire country will have to face a serious challenge that not many in the upper echelons will prefer seeing.'" http://t.uani.com/2abiOeM Sanctions Relief Korea Times: "Following the lifting of sanctions on Iran, Korean businesses are advancing into the country looking for new opportunities. Among Korea's leading conglomerates entering the market, Samwoo Engineering and Construction (E&C) is in the spotlight as the mid-tier construction company signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for a plant construction project worth 5 billion euro. Samwoo E&C said that it signed an MOA regarding construction of a petroleum refining facility at Zilaee in Iran, a 5 billion euro project led by Masjed-Soleyman Petrochemical Industries, which is held by Iran's national pension fund. The company also signed an MOA with Shams Omran Construction and Engineering Company, agreeing to cooperate on high speed railways and expressway projects, worth $4 billion. According to Samwoo, it will take a leading role in financing. It agreed with the Iranian counterpart to expand cooperation to other sectors, such as construction projects of tunnels, roads, dams, sports facilities and public buildings." http://t.uani.com/2awLqyn Mehr (Iran): "Director of Fiera Milano International SpA Pietro Piccinetti announced the upcoming planning for the expansion of trade relations with Iran, adding Iranian goods will be displayed in Rome. Speaking during a press briefing on Tuesday, Piccinetti pointed to the growing trend in Iran and Italy's trade relations and said 'the two countries are determined to expand their trade relations; the first specialized exhibition of Islamic Republic of Iran will be held in Rome based on a memorandum of understanding signed accordingly.'" http://t.uani.com/2afbNai Terrorism AFP: "Kosovan authorities said Monday they had charged an Iranian man with 'financing terrorism and money laundering' via an aid group he runs, alleging he received some 900,000 euros ($990,000) in undeclared cash between 2014 and 2015. Officials did not name the man but local media identified him as Hasan Azari Bejandi, who runs the Qur'an NGO and oversees the activities of four other religious organizations suspected of having links to Tehran. The groups operations have been suspended as a result of the investigation, authorities said. Kosovo newspaper Express reported the NGOs had been spreading anti-Western and anti-Semitic sentiment." http://t.uani.com/2auSA6f Reuters: "Bahrain prosecutors said on Tuesday scores of people will stand trial next month on charges of setting up a 'terrorist organization', espionage and armed attacks on police officers. The case pertains to Bahrain's allegation last year that Iranian Revolutionary Guards helped fugitives from the Western-allied Gulf kingdom join forces to set up a Shi'ite militant group called the Zulfiqar Brigades to destabilize the state." http://t.uani.com/2ax8Pxb Human Rights Metro (UK): "A British mum detained in Iran for more than 100 days is now so frail she's barely able to walk. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker with dual citizenship, has so far been kept in solitary confinement for six weeks of her 115-day detention. Because of the brutal conditions, Nazanin has lost a significant amount of weight and her hair is falling out. Her husband Richard Ratcliffe and the Thomson Reuters Foundation, where Nazanin works, have now delivered a letter to Boris Johnson imploring him to take her case seriously... Both Richard and Nazanin have also been separated from their two-year-old daughter Gabriella, who had her passport confiscated when her mum was arrested at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport on April 3." http://t.uani.com/2agRDwS Guardian: "Up to 150 people have been detained in Iran after the morality police raided what has been described as a mixed-gender party near Tehran... Mohsen Khancherli, a senior police commander, confirmed to the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Monday that the arrests had been made, but did not say whether any of those detained were still in custody. 'A while ago, we received a tipoff about a mixed-gender party at a garden in the vicinity of Islamshahr, in the west of the Tehran province,' he said. '[Police forces managed] to arrest tens of boys and girls during a joint operation with one of the relevant departments.' Khancherli said police were closely monitoring gardens and public halls in the area, noting that their efforts had been stepped up during summer. 'In this garden, which was situated next to an unlicensed studio for recording underground music, nearly 150 boys and girls had gathered in a mixed-gender party under the pretext of a birthday celebration,' he said. 'But all participants were detained by the police and subsequently referred to the judicial authorities.'" http://t.uani.com/2a9uo64 Opinion & Analysis Sen. John Cornyn in WashPost: "This month marks the one-year anniversary of the Obama administration's one-sided nuclear agreement with Iran, which I couldn't support then and continue to oppose now. At the time, President Obama called the deal a 'diplomatic breakthrough.' He even claimed that, without this deal, the United States would have no option left but another war in the Middle East. And he stressed repeatedly that under his deal, Iran would 'never' be able to get a nuclear weapon. The past twelve months tell a different story. Where we were guaranteed transparency and openness, we've found deception; where we were promised a better diplomatic relationship with a theocratic regime, we've been met with hostility and aggression; and even though the administration trusted Tehran to accept international norms, it turns out - unsurprisingly - Iran continues to completely ignore them. The early stages of the Obama administration's nuclear talks with Iran were conducted in secrecy. Unfortunately, we're only now beginning to see the full extent of the administration's deception. Last week, it came to light that a critical component of the Iran deal was kept from the public eye. The document, according to media reports, eases restrictions on Iran's nuclear program before the agreement officially ends. And it allows Iran - after just 11 years - to replace key equipment, like centrifuges, with updated, more technologically-advanced models that could cut in half the time it takes to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear weapon - known as their 'break out time.' In other words, the document just released offers a frightening reality: under the deal President Obama struck, after just 10 years the Iranian government will be well-positioned to create a nuclear weapon in six months or less. That's not keeping Iran from ever creating a nuclear weapon, as the President promised. It essentially reinforces Iran's ability to do just that." http://t.uani.com/2aq2ILs Iran Watch: "This month marks the anniversary of the historic nuclear accord the United States and five other countries concluded with Iran a year ago.  As a result of the accord, Iran has restricted the most worrisome parts of its nuclear program for a period of time, in exchange for relief from international economic sanctions.  During the past year, the United States and its partners have amply fulfilled their obligations.  Nevertheless, Iran claims to be still unsatisfied.  It asserts that the economic benefits from the agreement have not been as great as it expected, and that an effort should be made to increase them.  Iran also objects to any application of sanctions triggered by activity independent of the agreement, such as its missile tests, support for terrorism, arms imports and exports, and human rights abuses. In response to these complaints, the United States has urged non-U.S. banks to engage in what it terms 'legitimate business' (i.e., non-sanctioned business) with Iran.  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry promoted this message when meeting with the heads of some of Europe's largest banks in May.  The United States also has been muted in its response to a series of Iranian missile tests and to ongoing Iranian missile-related procurement, and it has not issued any designations for human rights abuses since last July. These actions seem to proceed from concern that Iran will judge the benefits from the agreement to be insufficient, and withdraw.  But is such concern well-founded?  How likely is it, in fact, that Iran will withdraw?  And how many additional benefits can be offered to Iran without undermining existing U.S. policies-those related to missile and arms proliferation, export controls, human rights, terrorism, and illicit finance? These questions were examined by a roundtable of experts hosted by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control in Washington, D.C. on June 15, 2016.  The roundtable concluded that Iran would lose far more than it would gain by leaving the agreement now, that the United States has more leverage under the agreement than has Iran, and that instead of attempting to give Iran more benefits, the United States should use its superior leverage to create mechanisms that increase transparency and ensure that the terms of the agreement are enforced and its objectives achieved." http://t.uani.com/2amcHmA Emanuele Ottolenghi in Cipher Brief: "In Latin America, the combination of weak governments, porous borders, widespread corruption, and the lack of adequate legislative tools to combat terror finance creates an ideal environment for transnational organized crime. Drug trafficking, trade-based money laundering, and terror financing can no longer be treated as distinct phenomena. Terror organizations help drug traffickers move merchandise, then launder revenues through sales of consumer goods. Profits then return to the terrorists to fund their activity. In Latin America, Hezbollah plays a central role in this new landscape. Hezbollah generates loyalty among local Shi'a communities by managing their religious and educational structures. It then leverages that loyalty to solicit funds to its own advantage - including, critically, to facilitate interactions with organized crime. The organization's role as a nexus between terror finance and organized crime thrives in the Tri-border Area (TBA) of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. In the TBA, Hezbollah's clerics and religious institutions along with its charitable and educational programs, and supporters' legal commercial activities overlap with its illicit financial networks. Moreover, the absence of legislative tools to combat terror finance in this region has limited the impact of U.S. measures to counter it." http://t.uani.com/2axbdE8         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.