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TOP STORIES
A U.S. permanent resident detained for a year in Iran over
spying allegations has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and a $4.2
million fine, his supporters said Tuesday, the latest move in a crackdown
on those with foreign ties following last year's nuclear deal. The
sentence for Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese citizen who advocates for internet
freedom and whose nonprofit group did work for the U.S. government, comes
as Iranian officials attend the United Nations General Assembly this week
in New York. It also shows the challenge faced by Western governments and
those wanting warmer ties with Iran, where hard-liners in the security
forces and judiciary target dual nationals and others in secret trials.
"There's no regard for any international order, any international
agreement or any international state of relations that they care
about," said David Ramadan, a former Virginia state legislator who
co-founded a group called Friends of Nizar Zakka. A statement early
Tuesday from Jason Poblete, a U.S. lawyer representing Zakka, said a
Revolutionary Court in Tehran handed down the sentence in a 60-page
verdict that Zakka's supporters have yet to see.
North Korea said it had successfully tested a high-powered
rocket engine for launching satellites, elevating concerns it is making
progress in developing a long-range ballistic missile. The description of
the new engine matched that of a rocket booster the U.S. has alleged
Pyongyang was collaborating on with Iran, experts said, indicating the
North Korean technology might be shared with Tehran... The description of
the engine also indicated it may be the same as a rocket booster that
North Korea has allegedly worked on with Iran. In January, U.S. Treasury
sanctioned two Iranian officials who it said had traveled to Pyongyang
with engineers in recent years to jointly develop an 80-ton rocket
booster. "It's one and the same," said Jeffrey Lewis, an
adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute, adding that a rocket engine
of that size would represent an upgrade to Iran's current capabilities.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met with former Cuban
leader Fidel Castro and his brother President Raul Castro during a
one-day state visit in Havana on Monday. His sit-down with Fidel Castro
was an unusual encounter since Cuba's 90-year-old retired president
receives only a few people. Officials did not say where they talked, but
photos appeared to show them inside Castro's home. A government statement
said the two leaders discussed the importance of food production and
threats to world peace. Rouhani met separately with Raul Castro... Iran's
president came to Cuba after attending the Non-Aligned Movement summit in
Venezuela, which is the island's main commercial and political partner.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
A Utah state senator who traveled to Iran last week has
set off a firestorm there, where hard-liners accuse him of being
"part of a major Western project to infiltrate" the country as
authorities imprison others with ties abroad. And that was even before
knowing that Sen. Jim Dabakis is gay - a crime in Iran that can carry the
death penalty. For his part, the Salt Lake City-based art dealer said such
cross-cultural exchanges will help relations between Iran and the U.S.,
which have been tense since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and takeover of
the U.S. Embassy in Tehran... But things have grown rather undiplomatic
since the Democrat returned home and gave an interview about his trip to
local Salt Lake City television station KUTV . The semi-official Iranian
news agency Tasnim, which is close to the Revolutionary Guard, seized on
the interview. It quoted a hard-line lawmaker on Sunday who described
Dabakis' visit as "part of a major Western project to infiltrate
into the country." On Monday, the pro-reform newspaper Arman quoted
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the parliamentary committee on national
security and foreign policy, as saying his committee was not told of
Dabakis' visit. Responding to Dabakis' description of being welcomed by
average Iranians on his trip, Boroujerdi offered this: "Iranians'
main slogan is 'Down with the USA,' and it shows Iranians do not love
Americans."
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
Thirty-four Republican senators are pushing the State
Department to confirm Russia and Iran violated a United Nations Security
Council resolution when Russia launched its Syria airstrikes from an
Iranian airbase this summer. "We should be using all available tools
to dissuade Russia from continuing its airstrikes in Syria that are
clearly not in our interest," the senators wrote to Secretary of
State John Kerry on Monday. "If launching such airstrikes from Iran
violates a legally binding Security Council Resolution, then that point
should be made clear and enforced." In August, Russia began using an
airbase near the city of Hamadan in Iran to launch airstrikes in Syria in
support of President Bashar al-Assad.
Sen. Ben Sasse is seeking answers from President Barack
Obama about a pair of wire transfer payments from the U.S. to Iran that
seemingly undercut the explanation he gave for a cash payment to the
Islamic republic last January.
Sasse's letter comes on the heels of a POLITICO report in
which the Treasury Department confirmed that the U.S. made two separate
wire transfer payments, one in July 2015 and another in April 2016, to
Iran. The 2015 wire transfer in particular contradicts the president's
explanation of a $400 million payment to Iran last January, which Obama
said had to be delivered in cash "precisely because we are so strict
in maintaining sanctions and we do not have a banking relationship with
Iran that we couldn't send them a check and we could not wire the
money." ... "These wire transfers, Mr. President, seemingly
contradict what you have previously told the American people," Sasse
(R-Neb.) wrote in his letter to the president. In his letter to the
president, Sasse asks Obama how many wire transfer payments to Iran the
U.S. government has made any how many payments it has made in cash.
BUSINESS RISK
Iran has reduced the number of airplanes it plans to buy
from Airbus by six amid delays in U.S. regulatory approvals, and may
knock one plane off a similar deal for more than 100 with Boeing (BA.N),
an Iranian official told Reuters. Iran announced plans in January to buy
118 jets worth $27 billion at list prices from Europe's Airbus but has
complained about unexpected delays in receiving U.S. licenses, which are
needed due to the large number of U.S.-supplied parts. The country's
deputy transport minister told a conference on Monday there were signs
the U.S. Treasury would release the crucial licences by the end of this
month. But speaking again on Tuesday, he stepped up criticism of what
Iran sees as unfair delays in unblocking the deal, which is part of
efforts to rebuild Iran's elderly fleet that were built into a pact
between Tehran and world powers to lift most Western sanctions in
exchange for limits on Iran's nuclear activities.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Russia's second-biggest oil producer Lukoil says it is
preparing to present Iran with the findings of its studies over two oil
fields in the country - a move which could lead to awarding the
development of the fields to the company. Lukoil Chief Executive Officer
Vagit Alekperov said the technical studies over Mansouri and Ab Teymour oil
fields - both located in the southwestern oil-rich Khuzestan province -
will be presented to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in the near
future. Alekperov told reporters after meeting Iran's Petroleum Minister
Bijan Zangeneh that Lukoil experts will soon travel to Khuzestan for a
further study of the fields. According to Alekperov, Lukoil is also
studying an NIOC project in the Persian Gulf. Nevertheless, he emphasized
that Mansouri and Ab Teymour are presently Lukoil's priority. If Lukoil
is awarded the development of the fields anytime soon, it will become the
first foreign company to win an oil project in Iran after the removal of
sanctions against the country.
Iranian Naft Airlines, a homebound charter airline
providing passenger and cargo services to Iran's Ministry of Petroleum,
says it has received the first Boeing jet. The aircraft, one of the four
Boeing 737 single-aisle jetliners bought from the US aviation company,
was delivered to Naft Airlines on Sunday, its Managing Director Nurollah
Rezai Niyaraki said. "After the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action), an agreement was signed with the Boeing company for purchase of
four 737s and today one of the ordered aircraft was delivered to Iranian
Naft Airlines," he told Shana news agency... Naft Airlines appears
to be the first Iranian company to have its deal cleared by the US
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
India is set to buy 6 million barrels of Iranian crude for
its strategic oil reserves as negotiations with the United Arab Emirates'
national oil company for supplies are stuck over commercial terms,
industry sources said... Three industry sources with direct knowledge of
the matter said India would buy 6 million barrels of Iranian Mix crude
from the National Iranian Oil Co in October and November to fill half the
Mangalore storage facility in the southwestern state of Karnataka...
State firm Bharat Petroleum Corp will buy 4 million barrels in two very
large crude carriers (VLCCs) and Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals
Ltd will import 2 million barrels, the three sources said.
SYRIA CONFLICT
The Islamic Republic will spare no effort to help Syria in
the fight against terrorism, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and
African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari says. "Iran is determined to
provide Syria all the possible facilities in its fateful fight against terrorism,"
Jaberi Ansari said in a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in
Damascus on Monday. He added that "strategic and one-of-a-kind"
relations between Iran and Syria go beyond the two nations' interests and
are based on common views and understanding of the threats facing all
regional nations such as terrorism and extremism.
The US-led coalition's Sept. 17 bombing of Syrian
government forces has triggered increasingly tough Iranian rhetoric on
the role the United States is playing in Syria. After meeting with the
Syrian ambassador to Iran, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the former Iranian
deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs who now serves as
director general of international affairs in parliament, said Sept. 18, "America's
behavior shows that the United States and its allies are always looking
to strengthen terrorist groups in Syria and the announced cease-fire
should be regarded in that respect." ... Meanwhile, Hossein Jaberi
Ansari, Amir-Abdollahian's successor as deputy foreign minister for Arab
and African Affairs, is in Damascus for the second time in two weeks.
Ansari met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who stressed "the
importance of the support provided by Iran, Russia and other friendly
countries." The two agreed on strengthening bilateral coordination
and cooperation between the foreign ministries of the two countries.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif seeks to
characterize Saudi Arabia as the driving force behind Islamic extremism,
as part of the regime's ongoing and unconvincing attempts to paint Iran
as a source of moderation, peace and unity in the Middle East. In
reality: Iran continues to fuel conflict and sectarian violence across
the region to aid its own hegemonic goals. Zarif says there is room for
the Saudis to join the effort against violent extremism, without
acknowledging Iran's financial support of Hezbollah - a sanctioned
terrorist organization that has thousands of forces supporting Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad. Iran is funding Shiite militias in Iraq; the
ayatollah routinely calls for death to Israel; dual nationals are being
taken hostage at alarming rates, charged with unsubstantiated crimes.
Iranian citizens are abused and hanged in public squares by the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, also a sanctioned terrorist organization. The
9/11 Commission Report details Iran's support of al-Qaeda - which
includes training and safe transit from Afghanistan through Iran of
terrorists (including 9/11 highjackers). Over the last 30 years, Iran has
systematically invested money, training and other support to both Shiite
and Sunni extremist groups across the Middle East, perpetuating violence,
unrest and death to countless innocent civilians. Calls for coordinated
action at the United Nations, ahead of this week's General Assembly
meetings, are consistent with previous mendacious attempts by Iranian
officials to use U.N. initiatives to whitewash Iran's terrorist misdeeds.
Perhaps Zarif should focus on dealing honestly with the world.
There is a small window of time for the United States and
its allies to determine what kind of nuclear technologies are delivered
to Tehran, and by whom. And the clock is already ticking. The spokesman
of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization recently announced that Tehran is
holding talks with foreign states over constructing additional nuclear
power plants. A week earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met with
his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Baku, and Putin reiterated his
country's intent to build up to eight nuclear reactors in the Islamic
Republic. An unnamed State Department official said earlier this month
that last summer's Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) does not
prevent Tehran from pursuing new light-water reactors, but that any new
nuclear reactors in Iran would be subject to International Atomic Energy
Agency safeguards obligations. These IAEA safeguards would not block or
deter Iran proceeding with reprocessing - especially after 15 years, when
the main restrictions of the JCPOA expire. For example, the nuclear
agreement and the UN Security Council resolution endorsing it establish a
dedicated "procurement channel" for the transfer of materials,
equipment, and technology required for Iran's nuclear activities. This is
intended to ensure that the international community knows what nuclear
items Iran is purchasing, and that the country can't illicitly procure
nuclear technology. However, prior approval by the Security Council is
not necessary if Tehran wants to purchase specified nuclear equipment for
light-water reactors, low-enriched uranium fuel elements for the reactor,
or dual-use items if they are used exclusively in light-water reactors.
In other words, the nuclear deal does not set any limitations on the
scope and content of Iran's light-water reactor program... The ongoing
nuclear reactor negotiations between Russia and Iran will set a precedent
for the subsequent delivery of nuclear technologies to Tehran. As those
talks progress, this is the time for Washington, the European Union, and
all parties invested in international security to influence the
provisions that will set the tone of future nuclear agreements with Iran.
Israel's biggest threat comes from further afield, in
Iran. Although the nuclear deal lengthened Tehran's timetable for
building a bomb, it came with a host of negative consequences too. The
Iranians will retain some of their nuclear infrastructure, and thus the
capacity to build a weapon in the next ten to fifteen years. They also
continue to make regular conventional weapons deliveries to terrorist
groups throughout the Middle East, including Hezbollah, radical Shiite
militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen. In all, Iran has
helped establish terrorist infrastructure on five continents -- a fact
that belies its portrayal as moderate under the leadership of President
Hassan Rouhani. Some see Tehran as part of the solution to the roiling
regional conflicts because of its willingness to fight the Islamic State.
Yet its opposition to that Sunni jihadist group should not be viewed as
anything more than a ploy to remove an ideological rival and gain a
greater foothold in the region.
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