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TOP STORIES
U.S. officials tell NBC News that they believe Iran
has supplied weapons to the Houthis in Yemen - including coastal
defense cruise missiles like the ones that were fired at US Navy
ships earlier this month. "We believe that Iran is connected to
this," Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan said. The head of U.S. Naval
Forces Central Command, who is tasked with securing the waters off of
Yemen, disclosed today that the U.S. and partner nations have
intercepted five weapons shipments from Iran that were headed to the
Houthis in Yemen... Donegan said the first intercept occurred in
April 2015 when seven ships guarded by the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards Corps Navy attempted to move weapons to Yemen... Donegan
believes other shipments from Iran did make it into Yemen and into Houthi
hands. "We did not catch or pick up all the ships," he
said, adding, "It's fortunate we were able to find [these
ships]. There certainly are others."
Iranian energy companies including one linked to the
Revolutionary Guards will be allowed to bid for major oil projects
previously earmarked for foreign firms, the oil minister said Sunday.
The move follows complaints from conservatives that foreign energy
companies are being allowed to take the lead on major projects as
Iran emerges from international isolation following its nuclear deal
with world powers. Companies linked to two major Iranian
conglomerates -- Khatam Al Anbia, which is controlled by the elite
Revolutionary Guards, and Setad, which is supervised by the supreme
leader's office -- both said they wished to enter bids to develop the
huge South Azadegan oil field in southwestern Iran. "They asked
us to give them a three-month period to bid for this field and we
agreed," Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said at a conference in
Tehran, according to the ministry's news agency Shana... Zanganeh
also said that a long-awaited new model for oil contracts had not
been completed. "The text has not been finalized yet. It's going
through its final stages and we are currently verifying the
qualifications of foreign companies," said Zanganeh.
Stepping up their challenge to the Rouhani Government,
the Revolutionary Guards have publicly criticized a new oil contract
with foreign companies which is vital to Iran's economic recovery...
On Wednesday, the commander of the Guards' engineering branch, Khatam
al-Anbia, said that it "is a shame for the Islamic Republic that
talented and capable individuals who 37 years ago were in the Islamic
Revolution" are now involved in oil projects with foreigners.
Brigadier General Abdollah Abdollahi added, "No one is denying
that there is cooperation with foreigners, since we are in contact
with others in a society. But this contact must be defined and
specified within a framework, and we should possess control." He
assured that the Guards are "completely ready" to take on
the upstream projects, for exploration and production of new fields,
that would be given to foreign investors.
BUSINESS RISK
The west risks breaching the landmark nuclear
agreement if it fails to give Iran proper access to the international
financial system, a former British ambassador to Iran has argued. Sir
Richard Dalton, who served in Tehran between 2003 and 2006, said in a
report published this week in the journal of the Royal Society of
Asian Affairs in London that the US and its allies had made
"some potentially significant mistakes" in respect to
reconnecting Iran to global banks after the deal... According to
Dalton, the US and its partners have notably failed to re-authorise
Iran's access to U-turn transactions [used by Iranian banks to avoid
US sanctions] in dollars, or to reassure non-US banks on handling
Iranian payments, or to give general licences allowing non-US entities
to use US software in their businesses dealings in Iran. Banks have
remained reluctant to enter Iran despite attempts by the US secretary
of state, John Kerry, and his European counterparts. Among other
impediments are "unwillingness [by the west], apparently, to use
governmental influence with state-owned banks to get them to help
carry out government policy" such as "providing clearing
facilities in London", Dalton said.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Cargolux (CV, Luxembourg) is in talks with Iran Air
(IR, Tehran Mehrabad) over possible cooperation in the future an
airline spokeswoman has confirmed to ch-aviation. The cargo
specialist sent several representatives to Iran last week as part of
a forty-strong business delegation led by Luxembourg's Economy
Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Etienne Schneider to explore
possible investment opportunities. "We are in discussions with
them to explore if there [are] business opportunities,"
Cargolux's Head of Corporate Communications, Moa Sigurdardottir, said
in an emailed statement. "At this stage nothing has been
signed." Local press reports have indicated Cargolux will likely
resume its Iranian operations with charter flights which, if
successful, could lead to scheduled services. The carrier withdrew
from the Iranian market in 2007.
Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister
Mustapa Mohamed met with SAIPA CEO Mehdi Jamali in Tehran on Monday.
The Malaysian minister said expansion of bilateral ties is the main
goal of the visit and that SAIPA and Proton have been negotiating for
some time, Persian Khodro reported. Mohamed added that Proton has a
long history in Iran and "Malaysia is looking forward to expand
industrial and financial ties with the country in the post-sanctions
era". "Three new models of Proton products are to be
offered in Iran in the near future," he added.
REGIONAL DESTABILIZATION
Hassan Firouzabadi, senior military advisor to the
supreme leader and former chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces,
told the Iranian Fars news agency that the presence of Iranian
advisors in Iraq and Syria, and Iran's support for Yemen and
Hezbollah, manifested its revolutionary and religious ideology. He
denied, however, that Iran meddled in other countries' internal
affairs or sought to extend its territorial control. He confirmed
Iran had sent advisors to the Gaza Strip and provided the
Palestinians with guidance and technology.
YEMEN CRISIS
Yemeni rebels have launched one of their longest-range
strikes against Saudi Arabia, firing a ballistic missile that was
shot down near the holy city of Mecca, the Saudi-led coalition
fighting them said Friday... The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council
condemned the attack which it described as "clear evidence"
that the rebels are not willing to accept a political solution to
Yemen's 19-month-old conflict. The United Arab Emirates' Foreign
Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan went further,
criticising Iran for the attack. "The Iranian regime backs a
terrorist group that fires its rockets on Mecca... Is this an Islamic
regime as it claims to be?" he wrote on Twitter.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iranian authorities executed three Turkish nationals
for drug trafficking last year only 11 days after a high-profile
visit to Tehran by Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it has
emerged. Iran - which executed nearly 1,000 people last year, more
than any other country apart from China - usually refrains from
sending foreign nationals to the gallows, especially in cases
involving countries with which Tehran has maintained friendly
relations.
Iranian police on Wednesday launched a campaign
demanding a ban on buttonless coats for women, saying the latest
fashion trend was considered "un-Islamic." Police began
confiscating the coats from several shops in the city of Isfahan,
under the pretext that it was "western-like" and
"against Sharia law." ... So far, 580 coats have been
confiscated by police from shops in Isfahan, the head of the Control
and Inspection Department told Mehr news agency. Police have also
threatened shops who refuse to turn in buttonless coats with
"strict legal and judicial measures."
OPINION & ANALYSIS
The recent missile attacks attributed to Yemeni Houthi
rebels, with assistance from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) and Hezbollah, demonstrate Iran's classic use of proxies to
promote its political agenda. The Houthi rebels denied any
involvement in the missile attacks. However, they certainly were not
fired by camel herders. The Houthis never would have launched an
attack on the U.S. Navy without being ordered to do so by their
Iranian sponsors. To think otherwise would be delusional. Iran has
the failed to honor the Obama administration's nuclear weapons
agreement. There is actually no agreement, since nothing has been
signed. With Russia's support in Syria, Iran clearly feels emboldened
to challenge the United States directly. And with the $150 billion
sanctions relief windfall, plus planeloads of hard cash totaling more
than $33 billion, Iran can easily expand its role as the leading
state sponsor of terrorism, which is what we are witnessing in Yemen.
The Iranian use of proxies has cost thousands of American lives, but,
fortunately, this time they failed. Clearly, Iran wants to be able to
control the strategic Bab al Mandab Strait, which would give it de
facto control of the Suez Canal. More than 10 percent of the world's
maritime shipping passes through that strait on a daily basis. Such
control, when combined with control of the Strait of Hormuz, would
give Iran control of all Arab oil shipments as well as all Israeli
shipping emanating to and from the port of Eilat in the Red Sea. Iran
would also like to see our 71-year alliance with Saudi Arabia
terminated.
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