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Iran said on Wednesday it would accept no US
"interference" after Washington demanded the release of a
dual national and his 80-year-old father given 10 year sentences for
espionage. The State Department demanded the immediate release of
Siamak and Baqher Namazi, both Iranian-American dual nationals, after
their sentences were announced on Tuesday. But foreign ministry
spokesman Bahram Qassemi told Iranian media: "The government and
the Iranian people give no importance to the statements and
interference of American officials and their efforts to divide the
ranks of the Iranian people. The American threats only add to the
wall of mistrust Iranians have regarding the United States."
Washington expressed concern over the health of the elder Namazi, a
former UN Children's Fund employee who also served as the governor of
an Iranian province before the Islamic revolution of 1979. Both were
jailed for 10 years for "espionage and collaboration with the
American government", Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolat-Abadi
announced on Tuesday. Three other Iranian-American dual nationals --
Farhad Abd-Saleh, Kamran Ghaderi and Alireza Omidvar -- were also
sentenced to 10 years on the same charges, along with a US resident
from Lebanon, Nezar Zaka.
"Siamak was more active than Jason Rezaian in
recruiting spies for America and inserting cultural, military and
political spies inside the country," Javad Karimi Qudossi, a
member of the security and foreign policy committee in Iran's
parliament, was quoted as saying by Mizan. Babak Namazi, Siamak's
brother, issued a statement expressing "utter shock and
dismay" at the sentences, particularly that of Baquer Namazi,
who suffers from a heart ailment. "My father has been handed
practically a death sentence and it will be a criminal act by me, his
only able son, not to fight for my father's life and freedom as well
as that of my brother," he said... "This is a reminder that
Iran's deep state remains in control and hasn't changed its old
ways," said Karim Sadjadpour, a senior associate at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace in Washington. "It's still in
the business of hostage trading. Even 80-year-old men with heart
conditions are fair game."
A prominent Iranian official has boasted that his
country interference in Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, Lebanon and Iraq is in
line with objectives to export the "Islamic Revolution"
throughout the region. Hassan Fariuzabadi - the military advisor to
the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, said in an interview with
semi official news agency, Fars: "We do not interfere and we do
not want to expand our territory", adding: "what is clear
is our system is an Islamic revolution", referring to Ruhollah
Khomeini's declared aim in 1979 of exporting the revolution... In an
unprecedented statement, Khamenei Advisor revealed in the interview
published Saturday, that his country sent, in the past years,
military advisers to Gaza strip and trained the "Palestinian
forces."
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
A State Department spokesman admitted Tuesday that
Iran is not treating the U.S. with the respect it deserves, even
though the U.S. continues to seek a "respectful"
relationship with Iran. "I think you're correct in stating that
parts of the Iranian government are not necessarily acting in a
respectful way toward the United States," spokesman Mark Toner
told reporters Tuesday. Toner's remarks came after a day in which
Iran sentenced two U.S. citizens, Siamak and Baquer Namazi, to 10
years in prison. Toner released a statement calling on Iran to
release them, and to release all other U.S. citizens that are
"unjustly detained" in Iran. Toner also said his department
"respectfully" asks Iran to help figure out what happened
to Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Japanese traders including Marubeni Corp and Sumitomo
Corp that stopped buying Iranian oil during western sanctions are
looking to resume imports, potentially by year-end, industry sources
said. Conservative Japanese firms have so far held off taking Iranian
crude due to a lack of internationally acceptable insurance coverage,
but are looking at ways of using cover provided by the Japanese
government, the sources said. The traders seeking to restart
purchases together imported around 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) of
Iranian oil before sanctions were imposed and renewed purchases would
give a boost to Tehran's aim of increasing its exports to 4 million
bpd... Earlier this month, Mitsui & Co resumed taking Iranian oil
for the first time since at least 2012, co-loading Iranian condensate
with a major Japanese refiner on a tanker, a source familiar with the
shipping schedule said... Itochu Corp said it was considering
resuming imports of Iranian oil, while trading house Kanematsu Corp
which last bought Iran crude in 2010, is also looking to resume
purchases at an early date, but has not yet lined up any customers, a
company source told Reuters.
Iran is negotiating with 16 international energy
companies to help operate and manage 50 oil and natural gas projects
around the country to boost production after years of international
sanctions. The projects are feasible even with oil at $40 a barrel,
Gholam-Reza Manouchehri, a deputy director of the National Iranian
Oil Co., told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday. The South Azadegan
field on Iran's southwestern border will be the first deal announced,
and probably needs $10 billion to add 600,000 barrels a day of
output, he said. "We have a lot of companies approaching
NIOC," Manouchehri said. "I'm not sure when we'll sign the
first contract. I hope it will be earlier" than a year from now.
TERRORISM
Iranian officials maintain that they will continue to
fund global terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas,
which are committed to Israel's destruction, despite objections from
the United States. "When they ask the foreign minister of
America why do you violate your commitments under the JCPOA, they say
we have acted on our commitments and even gone further than they
require. However, Iranians must do certain things, such as ceasing
their support for terrorists and halting their missile
activities," Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, the head of Iran's
Judiciary, was quoted as saying in Farsi-language reports on Monday.
"However, what they mean by terrorists are resistance groups
like Hezbollah of Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine, which have stood
against the violations and crimes of the Zionist regime,"
Larijani said.
DOMESTIC POLITICS
Iran's ministers of culture and sport have both
resigned, state media reported Tuesday, the first major change in the
cabinet of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani eight months before
presidential elections... The semi-official news agencies ISNA and
Tasnim quoted informed sources as saying Ali Jannati, the minister of
Islamic guidance and culture, had resigned. Jannati came under
pressure from conservative clerics when the ministry of culture gave
permission to singers to hold concerts in Iran's most religious
cities, Qom and Mashad... The state news agency IRNA reported that
Mahmoud Goudarzi, minister of sport and youth affairs had also
tendered his resignation.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
An Iranian revolutionary court has sentenced a 45-year
old Iranian-American businessman and his 80-year-old father, a
retired United Nations Children's Fund employee, each to 10 years in
prison. The saga of Siamak Namazi and his father, Baquer, and the
harsh sentences announced Tuesday illustrate the depths to which the
Iranian judicial system has sunk. Siamak was arrested in October 2015
and held virtually incommunicado for a year before his trial; his
lawyer and family members were permitted few visits. His father, who
is thought to be in poor health, was arrested in February. It's
significant that both were detained by the intelligence branch of
Iran's Revolutionary Guards. This body has emerged as a security
organization without any clear grounding in Iranian law; it parallels
the work of Iran's Intelligence Ministry. It has actively arrested
and jailed "suspects," putting people on trial over
unsubstantiated charges of espionage, working with "the
enemy" and the like, with little oversight or accountability...
The Rouhani government did not try to help the Namazis. The excuse of
the president and his ministers is that Iran's judiciary is
"independent." Those watching Iran's judiciary see that it
has shed all pretense at independence; it acts hand-in-glove with the
security agencies. Iran's judiciary, security agencies, and
Revolutionary Guards are enabled by and report to Iran's supreme
leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is ultimately responsible for
their behavior.
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