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STORIES
Reuters: The
United States and its negotiating partners agreed "in
secret" to allow Iran to evade some restrictions in last year's
landmark nuclear agreement in order to meet the deadline for it to
start getting relief from economic sanctions, according to a report
reviewed by Reuters. The report is to be published on Thursday by the
Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security,
said the think tank's president David Albright, a former U.N. weapons
inspector and co-author of the report. It is based on information
provided by several officials of governments involved in the
negotiations, who Albright declined to identify... "The
exemptions or loopholes are happening in secret, and it appears that
they favor Iran," Albright said. Among the exemptions were two
that allowed Iran to exceed the deal's limits on how much
low-enriched uranium (LEU) it can keep in its nuclear facilities, the
report said. LEU can be purified into highly enriched, weapons-grade
uranium. The exemptions, the report said, were approved by the joint
commission the deal created to oversee implementation of the accord.
The commission is comprised of the United States and its negotiating
partners -- called the P5+1 -- and Iran. One senior "knowledgeable"
official was cited by the report as saying that if the joint
commission had not acted to create these exemptions, some of Iran's
nuclear facilities would not have been in compliance with the deal by
Jan. 16, the deadline for the beginning of the lifting of sanctions.
Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Iran needs to boost its
offensive military capabilities. "In order to secure our
population, our country and our future we have to increase our
offensive capabilities as well as our defensive capabilities,"
he said at a military expo in Tehran where a number of top military
officials gathered, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency
(IRNA)... Khamenei also said that expanding defensive capabilities
was necessary "so that oppressive powers feel threatened",
an allusion to the United States and key European allies.
French
Carrier Pursues Stake in Iranian Wireless Firm | Wall Street Journal
France's Orange SA has entered preliminary talks to
buy a piece of Iran's largest cellular operator in what would mark
the first acquisition of a stake in a major Iranian firm by a Western
company since nuclear sanctions were lifted in January. Orange,
France's largest telecom company, is one of several European
companies that have held discussions about taking a stake in Mobile
Telecommunication Co. of Iran, according to people familiar with the
matter. The names of the others couldn't immediately be learned...
The Paris-based company is discussing a commercial and technical
agreement as well as a share purchase, the people said. Orange, which
is 23%-owned by the French government, is navigating difficult
straits as Iran strains to open its markets up to the West. It needs
to squeeze financing for a potential deal out of Western banks that
are fearful of being hit by remaining U.S. sanctions. In addition,
MCI's parent company, Telecommunication Co. of Iran, or TCI, is owned
by a group of companies that in some cases lead back to Iran's
Revolutionary Guards Corps, a paramilitary force that runs large
swaths of the Iranian economy and remains under U.S. sanctions for
its alleged involvement in terrorism, an accusation it denies...
Orange has been planning its move into Iran for years. Its
consultancy unit, Sofrecom SA, has provided technical assistance to
TCI and advised its management since at least 2014, according to
invoices reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
NUCLEAR & BALLISTIC MISSILE PROGRAM
Iran,
Russia to start work on two nuclear reactors at Bushehr | AFP
Iran and Russia are to begin construction on two new
nuclear reactors at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, the head of
the Atomic Energy Organisation in Tehran said late Wednesday. The
Islamic republic is seeking to reduce its reliance on oil and gas
with 20 nuclear facilities planned over the coming years, including
nine being built with Russian firms. "Operations to build two
new nuclear power (units) in Bushehr will start on 10 September and
it will take 10 years for the power (units) to be completed,"
Ali Akbar Salehi said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
He said the new reactors would cost an estimated $10 billion and lead
to a saving of 22 million barrels of oil per year... In November
2014, it signed a "cooperation contract" to help build the
two new reactors on the same site, along with plans to eventually
construct nine reactors across Iran.
Administration
Still Waffling Three Months Later on Sanctioning Russia-Iran Missile
System Deal | Weekly Standard
The Obama administration is still weighing whether to
apply "mandatory sanctions" called for in multiple laws on
the sale of the S-300 air-defense missile system from Russia to Iran.
Officials have "objected" to the sale, but have refused to
say for months whether they will levy sanctions as a result of it.
Days after Iran deployed the S-300 around its Fordow nuclear
facility, officials told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the administration
still has not made a decision. "We have not yet made any
determination as to whether this action would trigger any actions
under U.S. authorities," a State Department official told TWS
Wednesday. "As we continue to gather additional information we
will consult with our partners." The State Department provided a
virtually identical response to a similar inquiry three months ago.
At least two laws-the Iran Sanctions Act and Iran-Iraq Arms
Non-Proliferation Act-call for the president, in his discretion, to
levy "mandatory sanctions" on foreign countries that help
Iran acquire "destabilizing numbers and types of advanced
conventional weapons.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Report:
American detained in Iran faces security allegations | AP
Iran has accused
a detained American-Iranian dual citizen of "acting against
national security," the semi-official Tasnim news agency
reported Wednesday. The report did not name the suspect, but said he
was arrested in the northern city of Gorgan in July, and so appeared
to be referring to Robin Shahini. Authorities did not announce any
allegations when Shahini was detained on July 24. The Tasnim report
said the suspect was arrested by the Revolutionary Guard on
allegations of "acting against national security, having
relations with anti-revolutionary elements and collaborating with
enemy states."
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
A House leader promised Wednesday that Republicans controlling the
chamber will pass legislation addressing the Obama administration's
$400 million payment to Iran in January, made immediately after four
U.S. prisoners were released... The California Republican did not
give details on the Iran legislation. Republicans have announced they
will hold hearings on the payment - for undelivered arms to the shah
of Iran - which was made on the same day of the prisoner release. "The
committee is working on legislation that would prevent another ransom
payment from happening," said House Foreign Affairs Committee
Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., in a statement. "No more hidden
cash payments to this state sponsor of terrorism."
SANCTIONS
RELIEF
British
Airways Flights to Iran Set to Resume | Wall Street Journal
British Airways plans to resume flights to Tehran Thursday evening,
the latest restored link between the West and Iran since the lifting
of nuclear sanctions in January. A Boeing 777 wide-body jetliner is
scheduled to take off from London around 9 p.m., bound for Tehran,
the first flight into Iran by the airline since 2012. It suspended
service then amid tightening Western sanctions over Iran's nuclear
ambitions, which curtailed demand for travel to the country. British
Airways plans to operate the service six times a week. The airline
said the new service had received "a huge amount of
interest."
FLSmidth
considers Iran one of its most important markets | Tehran Times
Per Mejnert Kristensen, the president of cement division of Denmark's
FLSmidth Company, told the Tehran Times that his company considers
Iran as one of its most important markets. He made the statement in
an exclusive interview on the sidelines of a ceremony for
inaugurating the company's office in Iran. The ceremony was hosted by
the National Iranian Copper Industries Company on Tuesday in Tehran.
FLSmidth is a global engineering company based in Copenhagen,
Denmark. With almost 13,000 employees worldwide, it provides global
cement and mineral industries with factories, machinery, services and
know-how. "FLSmidth has a very long time history in Iran. We
have been here for more than 80 years. So, we feel actually that we
have been all the time. Sometimes, we had a permanent representative
and sometimes we have worked from aboard," Kristensen explained.
Iran,
Samsung discuss investment, joint production | ISNA (Iran)
Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud
Vaezi who is in South Korea met with Samsung Electronic President
Jong-Kyun Shin. "Considering vast market of Iran and neighboring
states, grounds have been provided for investment and joint
production of new technologies in ICT field as well as establishing
research and development centers," Vaezi said in the meeting...
Jong-Kyun Shin, for his part, said Samsung is trying to benefit other
countries from its technological achievements. "We are ready to
introduce our technological achievements to the Islamic Republic of
Ian," he said.
BUSINESS RISK
Iranian
Revolutionary Guards arrest another Iranian-American | Reuters
The meeting, titled "the infiltration project," covered
subjects including the potential of dual-national Iranians to be
recruited as spies, Hussein Naqavi Husseini, the committee's
spokesman, said, according to the website of Iranian state TV.
"In this meeting it was brought up that dual-nationals are under
the serious scrutiny of the enemies' intelligence services and they
are used in the infiltration project," Husseini said. He said
that a member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, a dual national who
he did not name, was under investigation.
Ryabkov
Says U.S. Sanctions Continue To Hinder Iran After Nuclear Deal |
RFE/RL
The United States has carried out its part of the Iranian nuclear
deal, but unilateral U.S. sanctions on Iran have remained in place
and are a "big hindrance" for Tehran, a top Russian
diplomat told TASS. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov,
who is visiting Tehran, told TASS on August 31 that the U.S.
administration has implemented "from start to finish"
everything envisaged by last year's agreement, "but it hasn't
moved any further." "All the so-called unilateral sanctions
that existed before an agreement was reached with Iran have stayed in
place," he said. "These unilateral sanctions are a big hindrance,"
he said. "Any deal serviced in dollars goes through
corresponding controlling agencies of the United States and can be
suspended."
Global
Businesses Reluctant to Trade with Iran Fearing US Backlash: Russia's
Ryabkov | Tasnim (Iran)
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said global
businesses are still afraid of the impacts of the remaining US
primary sanctions against Iran, stressing that the commission
monitoring the implementation of the JCPOA should address this issue
in its next meeting. "...we agree with the conclusions which our
Iranian friends make, namely that some countries who participated
very prominently while the talks were ongoing, now at the phase of
implementation, I would use the word, (they are) stuck in their
position of not removing obstacles which have been created by
themselves through their national legislations, through their
national decisions which do not allow for an even more active
result-oriented and advanced economic and trade cooperation between Iran
and the rest of the world," Ryabkov told the Tasnim news agency
in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Non-Iranian
Shiites Paying the Price in Aleppo | Ali Alfoneh in WINEP
The besieged city of Aleppo has come to symbolize the
sufferings of a Syrian civilian population caught between competing
rebel forces on one side and the regime and its Shiite allies on the
other. Yet the long campaign has also taken a heavy toll on the
besiegers, who include personnel from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC), Lebanese Hezbollah, and other Shiite militias.
Looking at the numbers for Afghan, Iranian, Iraqi, Lebanese, and
Pakistani nationals killed in combat since January 2012, one finds
significant losses in the suburbs of Aleppo, particularly since the
Russian intervention began in September 2015. Yet while some of those
fatalities fit press reports of recent battles in Aleppo, other
battles are not reflected in the data. Closer investigation of these
discrepancies provides valuable insights into the division of labor
among Shiite coalition forces, and into Tehran's tactical
considerations during the siege of Aleppo. Breaking the losses down
by nationality indicates Iran has gradually established a
burden-sharing arrangement with Shiite militias and reduced the loss
of its own nationals in Aleppo.
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