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TOP STORIES
The House plans to vote to renew expiring sanctions on
Iran without adding provisions the White House would likely find
objectionable, and sources say President Barack Obama is likely to
let such a "clean" bill become law. At issue is the Iran Sanctions
Act of 1996, which targets the nation's energy sector and is due to
expire Dec. 31. The White House says the president and Treasury
Department already possess the sanctions-issuing authorities that the
law grants. But Obama likely would not veto a "clean" renewal
because administration officials have concluded it would not violate
the terms of the nuclear deal the U.S. and other world powers
brokered with Tehran last year, according to a source with knowledge
of the White House's deliberations. One senior House GOP aide told
Roll Call, "My understanding is that the bill being discussed is
a clean renewal." White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told
reporters on Tuesday that he had no "veto threat to issue at
this point," adding, "I won't prejudge at this point about
whether or not the president would sign that bill." "That
sanctions authority has been used to impose costs on Iran for their
support for terrorism, for their violation of human rights,"
Earnest said. "So this is authority that the United States government
retains and has used to deal with a wide range of concerns we have
with Iran's behavior."
Gun trucks and humvees streamed north on a highway
heading to Mosul on Sunday flying the banners of Shi'ite militias
along with Iraqi flags while blaring religious songs. The convoys
were the first clear sign of a new player on the battlefield in the
U.S.-backed offensive to retake Mosul from Islamic State: Hashid
Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a coalition of Shi'ite
militias. Although it reports officially to Prime Minister Haider
al-Abadi, the coalition is mostly made up of groups trained by Iran
and loyal to its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They have
close ties with General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's
Quds Brigade, the extra-territorial arm of Iran's Revolutionary
Guards. He was seen touring the frontlines around Mosul last week.
Among the banners that could be seen flying from artillery cannons,
communication towers and buildings recently retaken from Islamic State
were those of Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, two of the main
Iranian-backed groups, alongside the Badr Organization, considered
the largest.
A senior commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary
Guards said Wednesday that cooperation with foreign firms on oil
projects was necessary, but putting them in charge would be a
national "disgrace." While the oil ministry has sought to
attract foreign capital and technology to Iran's energy sector, it
has faced opposition from other parts of the regime. "No
one is against foreigners coming. We can have some cooperation with
them," said Brigadier General Ebadollah Abdollahi, head of the
Guards' industrial conglomerate Khatam Al-Anbia. "(But) it is a
disgrace to be under the hands of foreigners when we have so many
educated young people," the ISNA news agency quoted him as
saying. Khatam al-Anbia is Iran's biggest industrial contractor and
its leaders have opposed recent plans by the oil ministry to put
international firms in charge of major projects. "We are not
saying that up-to-date know-how should not be used, but we are
stressing the fact that the necessary know-how exists in our country
already," Abdollahi said.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Iranian-American dual citizen Reza (Robin) Shahini,
who was handed an 18-year prison sentence in Iran in October 2016,
has vowed to go on hunger strike until his death if the sentence is
not reversed on appeal. "This is a tyrannical sentence," an
informed source close to the case told the International Campaign for
Human Rights in Iran. "If the sentence is not thrown out, he
will go on a hunger strike until his death because he won't be able
to tolerate such a heavy sentence." ... "Reza blames
(Iranian President) Hassan Rouhani because he repeatedly invited
Iranian expats to return to Iran, but didn't protect them,"
added the source.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
Attorney General Loretta Lynch is declining to comply
with an investigation by leading members of Congress about the Obama
administration's secret efforts to send Iran $1.7 billion in cash
earlier this year, prompting accusations that Lynch has "pleaded
the Fifth" Amendment to avoid incriminating herself over these
payments, according to lawmakers and communications exclusively
obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.)
and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) initially presented Lynch in October
with a series of questions about how the cash payment to Iran was
approved and delivered. In an Oct. 24 response, Assistant Attorney
General Peter Kadzik responded on Lynch's behalf, refusing to answer
the questions and informing the lawmakers that they are barred from
publicly disclosing any details about the cash payment, which was
bound up in a ransom deal aimed at freeing several American hostages
from Iran. The response from the attorney general's office is
"unacceptable" and provides evidence that Lynch has chosen
to "essentially plead the fifth and refuse to respond to
inquiries regarding [her] role in providing cash to the world's
foremost state sponsor of terrorism," Rubio and Pompeo wrote on
Friday in a follow-up letter to Lynch, according to a copy obtained
by the Free Beacon.
SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT
Federal prosecutors charged two California men with
conspiring to smuggle fighter-jet parts to Iran in a scheme they
allege dates to 2009. The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said
in a statement Friday that the pair worked with two Iranian nationals
to break laws that restrict exports to the longtime U.S. adversary. A
nine-count federal indictment unsealed Wednesday alleged that Zavik
Zargarian of Glendale tried to help one of the Iranians purchase more
than $3 million worth of parts for fighter jets, including F-15s and
F-18s. Their would-be supplier was an undercover federal agent.
Prosecutors also say Vache Nayirian of Los Angeles exported more than
7,000 fluorocarbon rubber O-rings, which could have military uses,
including for aircraft landing gear. To evade detection, the
shipments went to other destinations in the Persian Gulf before being
routed to Iran, where the national air force received them,
prosecutors said.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Imports of crude oil by Iran's four major buyers in
Asia in September jumped more than 70 percent from a year ago as
the producer continued to recoup market share lost under sanctions.
Iran's top four Asian buyers, China, Japan, India and South Korea,
imported nearly 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in September,
government and ship-tracking data showed. That is down from the
highest level in at least 5-1/2 years in August. But oil-purchase
arrivals could rise again in October, with Asian buyers loading 1.83
million bpd of crude oil and condensate this month and about 1.96
million bpd in September, according to a source with knowledge of
Iran's tanker schedules.
Abu Issa Holding, one of the largest retail and luxury
goods firms in the Middle East, plans to expand into Iran next year
and open stores in Tehran selling watches and confectionery as the
market opens up after sanctions. The family-run Qatari firm is an example
of a Gulf Arab business that could benefit from the lifting last
January of nuclear-related sanctions that largely closed Iran off for
years... "It's an obvious expansion for our business,"
48-year-old Ashraf Abu Issa, chairman and chief executive of Abu Issa
Holding, said at the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit...
"We will start with five or six stores in Tehran. We plan to
open a similar number every year for the next five years and also in
the city of Isfahan, which we expect to become a touristic hub in
coming years."
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Federica Mogherini told local Iranian media on
Saturday that the EU "needed the cooperation of Iran, a key
power, to solve the region's problems." Mogherini's comments
came after meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Iran is a key supporter of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad and provides the regime with financial and
military aid.
REGIONAL DESTABILIZATION
Mullah Zabihullah, the official spokesman of the
"Afghan Taliban" and the second man in the movement
revealed the presence of relations and new networks with Iran.
"The movement is trying to benefit from all legitimate means to
reach a regional agreement as part of the war against the American
invasion; therefore, the Imara holds ongoing networks with a large
number of regional and neighboring states." He said to the
London based Asharq Al-Awsat in an email 18 months ago, that the
movement had received drone planes, which help film suicidal
operations.
IRAQ CRISIS
State-sanctioned Shiite militias joined Iraq's Mosul
offensive on Saturday with a pre-dawn assault to the west, where they
hope to complete the encirclement of the Islamic State-held city and
sever supply lines from neighboring Syria... The involvement of the
Iranian-backed Shiite militias has raised concerns that the battle
for Mosul, a Sunni-majority city, could aggravate sectarian tensions.
Rights groups have accused the militias of abuses against civilians
in other Sunni areas retaken from IS, accusations the militia leaders
deny... Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades,
said his group and the other militias had advanced 4 miles (7 kilometers)
toward Tal Afar and used anti-tank missiles to destroy three suicide
car bombs that were heading toward them. He said the U.S.-led
coalition, which is providing airstrikes and ground support to the
Iraqi military and Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga, is not
playing any role in the Shiite militias' advance. He said Iranian
advisers and Iraqi aircraft were helping them.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran's justice minister has said the country should
execute fewer people and revise its death penalty laws, local media
reported Sunday. "These last years, the quantity of executions
has not been effective. As a result, there must be a revision of the
death penalty law," said Mostafa Pourmohammadi, according to the
Tasnim news agency. "The judiciary as a whole shares this
opinion," he said. Pourmohammadi called for "alternative
penalties", but said it was not possible to abolish capital
punishment entirely because "there are corrupt people in the
country for whom there is no alternative but execution." ... The
head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, said last month
that drug laws were not "written in stone", but denied that
the death penalty was ineffective. Earlier this year, an
award-winning activist, Narges Mohammadi, was imprisoned for 10 years
for forming an "illegal group" that pressed for an end to
the death penalty.
Iran's Islamic Republic has arrested the organizers of
a march last week near the tomb of the ancient Persian king Cyrus the
Great that attracted thousands of people celebrating the country's
pre-Islamic glory. Crowds of mostly young Iranians attended the march
near the ancient city of Pasargadae in central province of Fars on
Friday to celebrate the day unofficially marked in the Iranian
calendar as Cyrus Day. Videos released on social media show them
chanting "Iran is our country, Cyrus is our father." Reuters
could not independently verify the videos' authenticity. "The
main leaders and organizers of this gathering who chanted
unconventional slogans against the (Islamic Republic's) values have
been arrested," said prosecutor Ali Salehi in the provincial capital
Shiraz on Monday, according to Fars news agency.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Another Iranian bank has received sanctions relief
earlier than anticipated under the nuclear deal with Iran. The
European Union's sanctions on state-owned Bank Saderat Iran and its
London-based subsidiary, BankSaderat PLC, which were originally set
to last until 2023, were quietly lifted this week. The decision
was made in April, in response to Bank Saderat's successful legal challenge
of its 2010 designation. However, instead of lifting the
sanctions in April, the E.U. modified the reasons supporting the
sanctions and extended them-but only for a period of six months,
through October 22. This is the latest in a series of concessions
to Iran's financial sector, beyond what was agreed to in the nuclear
deal. Bank Saderat was originally sanctioned by the E.U. in July 2010
for providing financial services to three entities linked to Iran's
nuclear and missile programs: Defense Industries Organization (DIO),
Iran Electronics Industries (IEI), and Mesbah Energy Company.
After two and half years since the post of president
fell vacant, Lebanon's parliament is expected to meet next Monday to
elect Michel Aoun to the post. Aoun had been one of the nominees of
the so-called March 8 coalition that is dominated by Hezbollah and is
aligned with Iran and Syria's Assad regime. His candidacy gained
momentum when Saad Hariri, leader of the opposing March 14 coalition,
nominated him after exhausting most other options. In return for his
support, Hariri has been promised the position of prime minister. He
needs this position to shore up both his political and financial
fortunes which have been flagging. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
has confirmed that his party will vote for Aoun and accept Hariri as
prime minister, while other members of the March 8 coalition,
parliament speaker Nabih Berri and former presidential rival Suleiman
Franjiyeh, so far say they will not vote for Aoun, but will not block
his election. Aoun's election is a clear victory for the pro-Iranian
axis in the Levant and another climb down for Saudi Arabia.
At the conclusion of its regular plenary meeting in Paris
last week, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released its
"public statement" on "high-risk and noncooperative
jurisdictions" -- a category that continues to include Iran. It
was the first meeting of the international standard-setter for
anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) since
the group suspended so-called countermeasures against Iran for a year
while Tehran works to implement an "action plan" to address
AML/CFT deficiencies. In its October 21 statement, the FATF urged
members to "continue to advise their financial institutions to
apply enhanced due diligence to business relationships and
transactions with natural and legal persons from Iran." The
organization also reiterated that Iran would remain on the public
statement until it completes the full action plan. The FATF statement
did not mention any Iranian progress in implementing the plan, which
has faced strong domestic political opposition. As of mid-October, a
special working group of the Iranian Majlis set up to review the plan
had yet to determine whether the required measures conflicted with
national interests... Although Iran's FATF action plan has not been
publicly released, hardliners in Tehran have focused their objections
on three areas: (1) amending the legal definition of terrorist
financing to bring it in line with international standards, (2)
recognition and implementation of international sanctions, and (3)
international cooperation and information sharing... Looking ahead,
Iran will need to find a way to implement the action plan before June
2017, at which time the FATF has said it will reimpose
countermeasures. Even if Tehran succeeds on that front, it would
still need to address the many other concerns that wary banks have
about doing business with the Islamic Republic; indeed, it would
still be far from full compliance with FATF standards, much less with
the many other international regulatory requirements adopted over the
decade since the global financial crisis. Yet failure to take even
this first small step would be a significant setback in Iran's
efforts to court global banks.
UK-based telecom giant Vodafone announced on October
18 plans to enter Iran's telephone operating market. Vodafone says it
will work with Iran's HiWEB, a small privately owned phone
operator... While Vodafone will not be a direct partner (calling it a
'non-equity Partner Market agreement'), the potential for complicity
between Vodafone and Iran's existing telecommunication surveillance
infrastructure is hard to ignore. Most countries have a precedent of
forcing foreign telcos to cooperate with governments in
communications surveillance. Iran, of course, is no exception. In
Iran, observers got a taste of this problem in 2010, when Nokia
Siemens aided in the surveillance and arrest of Iranian journalist
and political reformer Isa Saharkhiz in June 2010. He was arrested
after Iran's intelligence tracked his mobile phone location through a
Nokia Siemens surveillance tool sold to Iran's state-controlled
telecommunication providers... Despite this welcome step towards
diversifying Iran's telecommunications market, it will be necessary
to keep steady pressure and watch over the operations of Vodafone
with Iranian carriers, especially with the precedent Vodafone has set
in the UK and Egypt in cooperating with government surveillance
efforts.
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