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TOP STORIES
Iran's
President Accuses U.S. of 'Lack of Compliance' on Nuclear Deal | The New
York Times
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran accused the United States on Thursday of
not complying with the landmark nuclear agreement that took effect in
January, and said American credibility would suffer if the accord were
not honored. In his United Nations General Assembly speech and later at
an hourlong news conference, Mr. Rouhani criticized what he described as
an American failure to adhere to obligations under the agreement, which
relaxed many economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for verifiable
pledges of peaceful nuclear work. Mr. Rouhani told reporters that despite
the intense diplomacy that had achieved the agreement between Iran and
big powers including the United States, there was "not a very
stellar report card by the United States when it comes to fulfilling the
agreement." Nonetheless, Mr. Rouhani's criticism appeared relatively
muted and he seemed to carefully avoid any indication that the agreement was
at risk... He complained that American restrictions on banking and dollar
transactions with Iran, which were unaffected by the nuclear agreement,
have discouraged many banks from engaging with the country because they
worry about possible penalties from the United States. "They're
frightened, the big banks," he said at the news conference, accusing
the Americans of "creating a lot of doubt."
US
go ahead on Iran planes lifts trade, banking 'taboo' | AFP
The US green light for Boeing and Airbus sales to Iran has broken a
taboo and opens the door to a potential boom in foreign financial
dealings with Tehran, experts said. As well as a long overdue
modernisation for its aging fleet of passenger planes, Wednesday's
announcement of US licences for Airbus and Boeing serves to reassure
other foreign firms and major banks over doing business with the Islamic
republic. "A taboo has been broken. This deal will ease the fears of
major foreign banks and companies which want to work with Iran," an
official of an Iranian private bank told AFP, speaking on condition of
anonymity. "It will allow financial channels to be put into place
for big foreign banks to work with Iran." An Iranian financial
weekly, Donaye Eghtessad, said experts were now predicting that
"major Western banks will soon renew ties with Iran's banks".
The approvals from the US Treasury Department allow Airbus and Boeing to
proceed with sales worth billions of dollars into a country that had been
entirely off-limits prior to Iran's landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world
powers. "We have issued the first two licences for the export of
certain commercial passenger aircraft to Iran under this new policy -- to
Boeing and Airbus," a Treasury spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Top
US general: 'Troubling' that Iran military will get US cash | The Hill
Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the nation's top military officer, said
Thursday that reports that U.S. payments to Iran will go to the Iranian
military are "troubling." "It certainly is troubling. The
more funds that they have available, obviously the more effective they'll
be in spreading malign influence," the chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He was responding to
questioning by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), a member of the committee, who
referenced recent reports that the Iranian government has approved a law
that would allocate to the military a $1.7 billion payment the U.S. made
to Iran this year to settle a failed arms deal from the 1970s... Dunford
said he was not consulted on the payment of $1.7 billion. When asked
whether it was a good idea that the U.S. exchange cash to Iran for
hostages, Dunford said, "on principle, I would prefer that we not
provide additional resources to Iran."
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Iranian
general says American U2 spy plane warned away | AP
An Iranian general in charge of the Islamic Republic's air defense says
his forces warned off an American U2 spy plane trying to fly over his
country. Iranian state television broadcast the comments by Gen. Farzad
Esmaili on Friday, saying the incident happened "in recent
days." Esmaili said the plane flew away, without elaborating on
where the aircraft attempted to enter Iranian airspace.
With
Boeing Deal, Americans Are Coming to Iran | The New York Times
Long before the first newly purchased Boeing airliner lands at Imam
Khomeini International Airport, Iran and the United States will have had
to come to terms with a new reality: American citizens will once again be
taking up residence in Tehran, the first to do so since the Islamic
Revolution and subsequent hostage crisis in 1979 and 1980. When the
United States on Wednesday gave the green light for the direct sale of
Western planes to Iran, much more than nearly four decades of sanctions
on such deals came to an end. Not that the deals approved by the Treasury
Department are insignificant: 80 Boeing jets and an initial batch of 17
Airbus planes out of a potential total of 118. But the sale will have the
important effect of ending an era of absolute isolation between the
countries. Boeing will almost certainly have to open an administrative
office in Tehran, and technicians will have to move here to train their
Iranian counterparts in the care and maintenance of the planes. Among
them, almost certainly, will be many Americans.
Iran
president hints at future prisoner swaps, cash settlements with US | The
Hill
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hinted at future coordinated
prisoner swaps and lawsuit settlements between the U.S. and his country
as the Obama administration faces bipartisan heat over a billion-dollar
cash payment to Iran earlier this year. Rouhani told NBC's Chuck Todd in
an interview published Thursday that the January prisoner swap and
settlement of a decades-old lawsuit ran on "parallel tracks"
and that similar arrangements could happen in the future. "These two
issues [were] being talked about simultaneously on parallel tracks,"
said Rouhani. "And perhaps these dialogues can be still conducted
simultaneously on parallel tracks while we're conducting those same
conversations in order to free the sums of money that are still owed to
us." ... "There are still considerable sums of money in the
United States that belong to our nation," said Rouhani. "And
we're currently conducting conversations and various dialogues in order
to return this money to Iran."
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
House
passes bill rebuking 'ransom' payments to Iran | Washington Post
The House passed a bill Thursday to outlaw cash payments to Iran, in
a rebuke of the Obama administration's decision to send Tehran what
Republicans charge was "ransom" on the same day American
prisoners were released. The 254 to 163 vote, which fell nearly along
party lines, comes as lawmakers are making a final push toward the
campaign trail, where Republicans bet their wholesale rejection of
President Obama's deals with Iran will play big with voters... It would
prohibit the United States from paying Iran cash of any kind going
forward, and states that it is U.S. policy "not to pay ransom or
release prisoners" to secure the release of Americans abroad. It
also requires that the administration give Congress at least 30 days'
advance notice before conducting any transactions to settle other claims
before the international tribunal set up to resolve disputes between Iran
and the United States. As part of that notice, the bill requires that the
administration provide a justification for any payments and certify that
they do not constitute "ransom." The measure also instructs the
administration to advise and update Congress on the list of outstanding
claims before the tribunal. The administration has already threatened to
veto the measure.
BUSINESS RISK
Iran
oil industry fires, blasts raise suspicions of hacking | AP
A series of fires at Iranian petrochemical plants and facilities have
raised suspicions about hacking potentially playing a role, with
authorities saying that "viruses had contaminated" equipment at
several of the affected complexes. Iran officially insists the six known
blazes over the span of three months weren't the result of a cyberattack.
However, the government acknowledgment of supposedly protected facilities
being infected points to the possibility of a concerted effort to target
Iranian infrastructure in the years after the Stuxnet virus disrupted
thousands of centrifuges at a uranium enrichment facility. Among the
worst of the fires was a massive, days-long inferno in July at the Bou
Ali Sina Petrochemical Complex in Iran's southwestern province of
Khuzestan. Insurance officials later estimated the damage at some $67
million.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Abe
willing to visit Iran, vows to boost economic ties | Nikkei Asian Review
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday expressed willingness
to visit Iran and boost economic ties with the country following the
lifting of international sanctions on Tehran after a landmark nuclear
deal it struck with six major powers in July last year. In a meeting with
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the U.N. General
Assembly in New York, Abe said he would like to visit Iran at an
appropriate time, and called for an improved business environment in the
oil-rich country so more Japanese companies can invest there, according
to a senior Japanese official. The two governments will coordinate the
timing of the visit, the official told reporters... Abe meanwhile
requested that Iran terminate military cooperation with North Korea, with
an eye to cutting off revenue sources for Pyongyang in connection with
its missile and nuclear weapons development programs.
SYRIA CONFLICT
Rouhani:
Halt on flights over Syria would help radicals | AP
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday joined in opposing a call
by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to halt all flights over Syria in
efforts to get relief shipments through, saying that would only help
Islamic radicals gain ground.
SAUDI-IRAN TENSIONS
Iranian
Leader Lashes Out at Saudi Arabia in U.N. Speech | Wall Street Journal
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani railed at the U.S. and Saudi Arabia
for policies that he said have created division and chaos from Syria to
North Africa, in a Thursday address to the U.N. General Assembly.
"If the Saudi government is serious about its vision for development
and regional security, it must cease and desist from divisive policies,
spread of hate ideology and trampling upon the rights of neighbors,"
Mr. Rouhani said. In a General Assembly address Wednesday, Saudi Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Nayef condemned Iran for backing "terrorist
militias" across the Middle East.
Saudi
Arabia, Iran Disagree in Oil Output Discussions in Vienna | Wall Street
Journal
Saudi Arabian and Iranian oil officials have clashed this week over
production limits, people familiar with the matter said, as OPEC
struggles to iron out differences ahead of a meeting next week in Algeria
where output controls will be discussed. The disagreements highlight the
chasm that still separates the two geopolitical rivals on economic issues
as they stand on opposite sides of the civil war in Syria and the violent
conflict in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and Iran couldn't agree on what
statistics should be used to determine oil output levels for a potential
"freeze" -- the term used to describe a joint effort by big
producers to limit their petroleum output at the current pace or lower.
The disagreement took place among midlevel officials from Saudi Arabia,
Iran, Qatar and Algeria meeting at the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries' headquarters in Vienna.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Advocacy
group demands release of 2 detained Iran reporters | AP
An advocacy group has called for the immediate release of two Iranian
journalists detained in Tehran. The Committee to Protect Journalists
issued a statement early Friday highlighting the cases of Sadra Mohaqeq,
an editor at the pro-reform daily newspaper Shargh, and Yashar Soltani,
who writes for the news website Memari News. The committee says Mohaqeq
was detained Sept. 19 for allegedly working with "anti-revolutionary
media outlets" outside of Iran. It says Soltani's detention came
after Tehran authorities filed a criminal complaint against him over an
article alleging corruption in land deals. Sherif Mansour of the
committee says the reporters' detention shows, "whether journalists
are advocating for national political reform or reporting on a local land
deal, they are not safe from Iranian prisons."
Women in Iran
defy fatwa by riding bikes in public | BBC
Women in Iran have been posting photos on social media of themselves
riding bicycles, defying a fatwa forbidding them from cycling in public.
It had been understood women that could cycle as long as religious
concerns were respected. But when asked recently, Iran's Supreme Leader,
Ali Khamenei, said women were not allowed to cycle in public or in the
presence of strangers... A video a mother and daughter filmed of
themselves cycling in Iran has had 98,000 views since it was posted on My
Stealthy Freedom's Facebook page on Monday. Campaign founder Masih
Alinejad, who is based in New York, said: "They told me that they
are not going to give up because they think biking is their absolute
right. "It is absolutely shameful to hear such a backward fatwa
against women in the 21st Century.
Iran:
Prisoner Hanged in Public at Football Stadium | Iran Human Rights
A prisoner sentenced to public execution for rape and murder was
hanged in public at a sports stadium in the city of Neyriz (Fars
province, southern Iran) on the morning of Thursday September 22.
According to Iranian state run news agency Mehr, quoting the press
department of the Judiciary in Fars, a prisoner identified as "Saeed
T." was hanged in public on the morning of Thursday September 22 at
a sports stadium in the city of Neyriz. Photos of this public hanging
shows that at least one child was present and watching the execution.
This is not the first time that Iranian authorities have used a sports
stadium to carry out an execution. In 2013, after learning about a public
execution carried out in a sports stadium in northeastern Iran, FIFA
issued a warning to Iranian officials and called on them to ensure that
the act is not repeated.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
The
Dangerous Myth of Rouhani's Bogus Moderation | UANI Advisory Board Member
Giulio Terzi in Newsweek
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attended the U.N. General Assembly
in New York on Thursday. It once again put the Iranian president and his
American counterpart in fairly close quarters, this time more than a year
after the nuclear deal. The expected visit of Rouhani and his colleagues
raises an essential question: will the Obama administration and its
political allies finally challenge the Iranian government on the human
rights abuses that had gone virtually ignored while the outcome of
nuclear negotiations was still uncertain? The Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action was implemented only in January, and at the time it was still
being promoted among its Western supporters as a possible gateway to a
more moderate future for Iran... The growing catalog of Iranian
provocations suggests that the time has come for the international
community to seriously challenge the so-called moderates who are not
standing in the way of those dangerous activities. But it also highlights
the fact that the international community is long overdue for challenging
the Rouhani administration on other matters too. That administration's
human rights record has always undermined the moderation narrative, and
it is perhaps for that reason that the White House and its allies buried
human rights underneath the supposed successes of the nuclear agreement
and the January prisoner exchange. Today it should be clear that such
moderation is not taking hold. There is no longer any serious argument to
be made for holding back the shocking truths about the Rouhani
administration's human rights record both before and after Rouhani took
office in 2013.
Obama
Kept Military Out of the Loop on Cash Payments to Iran | Eli Lake in
Bloomberg
One might think President Barack Obama would have asked his top
military officials to weigh in on his administration's decision in
January to send $400 million in cash to Iran. After all, Iran is the
world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, and terrorists prefer cash to
wire payments because it's so difficult to track. And its armed forces
have both directly and indirectly threatened the U.S. military in the
Middle East. But Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry did not consult
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, General Joseph Dunford. This news came out of a hearing Thursday
before the Senate Armed Services Committee. In response to a question
from Republican Senator Ted Cruz about the cash payment to Iran, Carter
made it clear that he had been out of the loop. "We weren't involved
in this," Carter said, adding that it was part of the settlement of
a decades-long legal dispute between Iran and the U.S. over arms
sales. "I don't know all the details of it, and the chairman and I
were not involved in that. It is a decision that was taken by the law
enforcement and diplomatic and I would refer you there." When
Dunford was asked about the cash payments, he responded: "I am not
trying to be evasive but I don't know the details of that arrangement and
it really was a political decision that was made to provide that money
and I don't think it's appropriate that I comment on that."
Christopher Sherwood, a press officer at the Pentagon, later told me
pretty much the same thing. "It was worked out through the
administration. The Department of Defense had nothing to do with
that." All of this is important for a few reasons.
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