Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Eye on Iran: US Officials: Up to 100,000 Iran-backed Fighters Now in Iraq








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Fox News: "As many as 100,000 Iranian-backed Shiite militia are now fighting on the ground in Iraq, according to U.S. military officials -- raising concerns that should the Islamic State be defeated, it may only be replaced by another anti-American force that fuels further sectarian violence in the region. The ranks have swelled inside a network of Shiite militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Since the rise of Sunni-dominated ISIS fighters inside Iraq more than two years ago, the Shiite forces have grown to 100,000 fighters, Col. Chris Garver, a Baghdad-based U.S. military spokesman, confirmed in an email to Fox News. The fighters are mostly Iraqis. Garver said not all the Shia militias in Iraq are backed by Iran, adding: 'The [Iranian-backed] Shia militia are usually identified at around 80,000.' According to some experts, this still is an alarmingly high number... Whether the force size is 80,000 or 100,000, the figures are the first-known estimates of the Iranian-backed fighters." http://t.uani.com/2bdFvfy

Reuters: "Russia used an Iranian air base to launch air strikes in Syria for a second day running on Wednesday, rejecting U.S. suggestions its co-operation with Tehran might violate a U.N. resolution. Russia's Defence Ministry said that SU-34 fighter bombers flying from Iran's Hamadan air base had struck Islamic State targets in Syria's Deir al-Zor province, destroying two command posts and killing more than 150 militants. Moscow first used Iran as a base from which to launch air strikes in Syria on Tuesday, deepening its involvement in the five-year-old Syrian civil war and angering the United States. Washington called the move 'unfortunate' and said on Tuesday it was looking into whether Russia's move had violated U.N. Security Council resolution 2231, which prohibits the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday there were no grounds to suggest Russia had violated the resolution, saying it was not supplying Iran with aircraft. 'These aircraft are being used by Russia's air force with Iran's agreement as a part of an anti-terrorist operation at the request of Syria's leadership,' Lavrov told a Moscow news conference, after holding talks with Murray McCully, New Zealand's foreign minister." http://t.uani.com/2aZ0jVt

Reuters: "Iran's new oil and gas contracts will need amendments, its oil minister said on Tuesday after a meeting with the speaker of parliament, adding that the new contracts will not be sent to the assembly for final approval. The launch of the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) has been postponed several times as hardline rivals of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani resisted any deal that could end the so-called buy-back system, under which foreign firms were banned from owning stakes in Iranian companies. Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last month that no new oil and gas contracts for international companies would be awarded without necessary reforms. Iran's cabinet approved this month an amended draft for the IPC and sent it to the parliament. However, the latest comments from the oil minister showed the lawmakers and other advisory bodies have asked for more changes. 'Yesterday afternoon we had a meeting with Ali Larijani (the speaker of the parliament) on the new oil contracts in which some issues were raised. It was decided to make some amendments in the contracts,' Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was quoted as saying by the parliament's news agency ICANA. Zanganeh added the IPC will not be sent to the parliament for final approval." http://t.uani.com/2aViEYp

UANI in the News

WSJ: "The country has long held foreign nationals to further its political aims. In 2009, it arrested three American hikers who had strayed into its territory from neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan. They were released in 2010 and 2011 after Oman intervened and facilitated talks between the U.S. and Iran. 'The regime sees hostage-taking as part and parcel of its foreign policy,' said Barry Rosen, senior adviser with United Against Nuclear Iran, which advocates against Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. He was also one of 52 Americans held by Iran for 444 days during the 1979 hostage crisis. The recent spate of arrests were likely part of an internal standoff between Mr. Rouhani and Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards-a hard-line force charged with protecting Iran's Islamic system, Mr. Rosen said." http://t.uani.com/2aWzWz7

Nuclear & Ballistic Missile Program

Tasnim (Iran): "The US has kept the structure of anti-Iran sanctions fully in place, Mohammad Javad Larijani deplored, saying given some bad signs of frustration shown by Iran and the US notion that Iran would give in to forceful pressure, Tehran should expect a huge set of sanctions. In an exclusive interview with the Tasnim News Agency, Chief of the Iranian Judiciary's Human Rights Council Mohammad Javad Larijani highlighted the serious flaws in the process of diplomatic negotiations that led to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the July 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany)... The flawed documentation and ill-definition of commitments in the JCPOA and the subsequent UN Security Council Resolution 2231 enable Washington to make very little concessions to Iran, Larijani explained, adding that having control over how to interpret the deal has given US politicians the power to impose what they want." http://t.uani.com/2bcpnfn

U.S.-Iran Relations

Weekly Standard: "Less than two months after Iran received $400 million in foreign currency in January, the world's top state sponsor of terror acquired another $1.3 billion in cash from the United States, based on statements of U.S. government officials. A State Department official confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the payment occurred before March 17, and President Obama, while addressing the initial $400 million payment, acknowledged on August 4 that payments to Iran must be made in cash because 'we don't have a banking relationships with Iran...We could not wire the money.'" http://t.uani.com/2bAJPaD

Congressional Action

JPost: "US President Barack Obama supports renewal of the Iran Sanctions Act before the law expires at the end of this year, despite his public silence on the matter, House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Eliot Engel told The Jerusalem Post this week. In a wide-ranging phone interview, Engel was asked whether he expects the White House to support an extension of the act, which served as the basis for a strict sanctions regime against the Islamic Republic before world powers agreed to a nuclear deal with Iran last year. 'Yes, I do expect it,' Engel (D-New York) replied. 'I've already talked to the president about it, and he's given me every indication that he supports it.' The act is expected to become a political lightning rod in Congress and an issue in the presidential campaign this fall. Advocates for its renewal believe the law provides what remains of US leverage over Iran, while skeptics fear its extension risks undermining the spirit of the landmark nuclear accord. The Obama administration has not yet gone on record in support of ISA renewal, however. A senior administration official responded to Engel's remark by declining to comment on the president's private discussions. But 'what we've said is that it is not necessary to extend the Iran Sanctions Act at this time,' the official continued. 'The extension of ISA does not affect our ability to continue to issue sanctions designations when warranted, as we have ample authorities to target ballistic missile-related actors, as well as activity related to human rights violations, malicious cyber activity, and other activity of concern.' 'We remain committed to working with Congress, however, and are willing to discuss how to further foreign policy priorities in a manner that does not jeopardize JCPOA implementation,' the official added. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee considers ISA renewal its No. 1 priority, and has been lobbying to that end ever since last winter. Renewal is essential 'so that there are sanctions in place to 'snap back' should Iran violate the nuclear agreement,' the lobby argues." http://t.uani.com/2aZrBRC

Business Risk

Reuters: "Iran said on Tuesday it had arrested a dual national last week in Tehran linked to Britain's intelligence service, the latest in a string of arrests of dual nationals over the past year. 'The accused was working in an economic sector related to Iran,' Tehran prosecutor general Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. Dolatabadi did not identify the accused person or the second nationality." http://t.uani.com/2bdGCw1

FT: "Iran has arrested several Iranians holding dual nationality in what has been seen as a new round of intimidation targeting people connected to foreign circles and businesses. Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, Tehran's state prosector, said on Tuesday that a dual national whose 'activities were in the economic sector' was arrested last week for alleged links to Britain's intelligence services. He gave no further details but the arrest followed the detention last month of two leading figures in Iran's art business, apparently for socialising with foreign diplomats and allegedly having alcohol at their home... Iran's judiciary said two dual nationals - widely assumed to be the pair in the art industry - were arrested last month last month because they invited foreign diplomats to parties and had 4,000 litres of alcohol in their home. Alcohol is banned by the Islamic state but widely used in private gatherings... Earlier this year, Revolutionary Guards broke up a party in Tehran attended by foreign diplomats, Iranian artists, businessmen and athletes, and detained the hostess, a western-educated ophthalmologist in her late 60s." http://t.uani.com/2aZwsCn

AP: "Iranian hard-liners have criticized a planned meeting in September called 'Iran Connect 2016,' sponsored in part by Iran's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology and the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce. A flier for the event notes it is 'strictly prohibited to Iranian individuals and entities that are sanctioned by the U.K. government and/or the EU.' The hard-line daily newspaper Javan, which has links to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, criticized the restrictions on Tuesday. 'The administration, indeed, has allowed the British Embassy to implement European sanctions in Tehran,' it said." http://t.uani.com/2bGNtBi

Sanctions Relief

Press TV (Iran): "Boeing representatives are currently in Tehran, discussing the US planemaker's planned sale of commercial aircraft to Iran, an Iranian minister says. 'Right now, Boeing representatives including three financial, legal and technical groups are in Tehran and negotiating' the sale of jetliners to Iran, Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhundi said on Saturday. Those negotiations with Airbus have concluded and the two sides were waiting for the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to issue a license for the purchase to go ahead, he added. The two aviation rivals have signed initial accords with the flag carrier Iran Air to sell about 200 aircraft worth more than $50 billion to the country which is seeking to renovate its aging fleet after decades of sanctions." http://t.uani.com/2bnbewk

Reuters: "Iran's crude oil exports in July were more than 2.1 million barrels per day, the oil ministry's news agency SHANA cited a senior Iranian oil official as saying on Wednesday. Director of the International Affairs Department at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Mohsen Ghamsari told SHANA the total amount of crude and gas condensate exports by Iran reached 2.740 million bpd in July. He said 600,000 bpd out of that figure were condensate exports. 'Exports of crude are now at a good level but ... have not yet touched that of the pre-sanction level,' he said, adding that Iran used to export 2.350 million barrels of crude per day before international sanctions were imposed." http://t.uani.com/2brLrQN

Syria Conflict

AP: "Russia's use of an Iranian air base to bomb targets in Syria sends a message to Washington as it weighs a military partnership with Moscow: Join us or we'll look to your enemies. Tuesday's missions were unprecedented. Iran allowed Russian warplanes to take off from its territory to strike opposition targets in Syria. The move came with little notice to the United States, which has watched helplessly the escalating bloodshed near Aleppo, the country's biggest city, and even offered an alliance with Russia against Islamic State and other extremist fighters as a way to get Syria's government out of the fight. The negotiations have dragged on for weeks. Russia has grown impatient, with top officials several times suggesting an imminent deal, only to have American officials counter that the sides weren't close. The bombing runs from a base near the Iranian city of Hamedan, 175 miles southwest of Tehran, may have been a reminder to the Obama administration that Moscow could be cozying up to Iran if Washington doesn't come around. 'The Russians are showing they have options in Syria while they have Washington over a barrel on Aleppo,' said Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He said the operations also cement Russia's alliance with Iran in the region." http://t.uani.com/2bdJoBa
       

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.

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