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TOP STORIES
The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on
Tuesday for legislation to extend American sanctions on Iran for 10
years, a move that proponents called critical economic leverage to
ensure Iranian compliance with an international nuclear agreement.
The legislation, known as the Iran Sanctions Extension Act, needs
Senate approval and President Obama's signature before the end of the
year, when American sanctions are set to expire. Under the nuclear
agreement, which took effect in January, between Iran and six world
powers including the United States, many economic sanctions were
suspended or relaxed in exchange for Iran's verifiable pledges of
peaceful nuclear work. But the deal also contained a
"snapback" provision that would allow for the reimposition
of sanctions if Iran were found to have violated the terms. The
legislation approved by the House on Tuesday would also extend
longstanding American sanctions against Iran that predate the dispute
over that country's nuclear activities.
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that
the result of the US election made "no difference" to the
Islamic republic despite president-elect Donald Trump's aggressive
stance. "We have no judgement on this election because America
is the same America," he told thousands of people during a
public speech in Tehran, broadcast on state television. "In the
past 37 years, neither of the two parties who were in charge did us
any good and their evil has always been directed toward us." It
was his first reaction to the election of Trump, who during his
campaign labelled last year's nuclear deal between Iran and world
powers a "disaster" and threatened to tear it up. "We
neither mourn nor celebrate, because it makes no difference to us,"
Khamenei said. "We have no concerns. Thank God, we are prepared
to confront any possible incident."
Iran's two top leaders - its president and the
country's supreme leader - both sought Wednesday to calm concerns in
Iran over the future of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in
the wake of Donald Trump's election for U.S. president President
Hassan Rouhani said the country will remain committed and loyal to
the deal, regardless of the outcome of the U.S. election... "If
a president is changed here and there, it has no impact on the will
of Iran," Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state TV
from the city of Karaj, where he was visiting. "Based on the
deal, we implement our commitment." Without mentioning Trump by
name, Rouhani said that "the world is not under the will of a
single individual and party. The reality of the world will impose
many things on extremists." "Nobody should imagine it is
possible to play with Iran," he added.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Iran expects to see "more rationality" on
the part of Donald Trump once he assumes the role of U.S. president
and leaves behind what was merely campaign rhetoric, an Iranian
central bank official said. At a conference in Frankfurt, other
Iranian bankers also said they did not expect long-term adverse
effects from Trump's win, even though he ran for president opposing a
landmark nuclear deal the United States signed last year with Iran.
"What has been said during the election (campaign) was for the
election competition. We expect to see more rationality on the
position that Trump is going to take after becoming president,"
Iranian Central Bank Vice Governor Peyman Ghorbani told Reuters on
the sidelines of the conference. "The (U.S.) administration will
come to the point that they have to honor the (agreement) and that's
the only right way forward," he said.
Commander of Iran's Basij (Volunteer Force) Brigadier
General Mohammad Reza Naqdi underlined that the US will collapse in
less than 20 years, adding that President-elect Donald Trump will
speed up the process. "According to the analysis made by the
behind-the-stage and shadow decision-makers of the establishment in
the US, the United States will collapse in 2035 and I think that it
is an optimistic analysis as this will take place much earlier,"
Naqdi told FNA on Sunday. He referred to the election of Trump as the
new US president, and said, "The person that has ascended to
power displays the reality of the US." Noting that Barack Obama
showed the face of the US in disguise, Naqdi said that Trump is the
real face of the US and he may accelerate collapse of the US.
Two Iranian-Americans, a father and his son, were
sentenced last month to 10 years in an Iran prison. Another son,
Babak Namazi, is working to free them, and talks to Steve Inskeep
about the ordeal.
The detention in Iran of Lebanese citizen and U.S.
permanent resident Nizar Zakka is a "U.S. Iranian problem,"
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said during an official
visit to Lebanon on Monday, as the man's family urged that he be
repatriated to Lebanon. "What happened with Mr. Zakka is not a problem
between Iran and Lebanon, seeing as the problem was the violation of
the applicable laws in Iran by a foreigner, and the problem is
actually between the United States and Iran," Zarif said in
response to a reporter's question. After being detained for around a
year without trial over spying allegations, Zakka was sentenced to 10
years in prison and a $4.2 million fine on September 20. "The
sentence that was given to Nizar Zakka more than a month ago is an
unjust ruling and it should not apply to a Lebanese citizen,"
Zakka's family said in a statement it issued on the occasion's of
Zarif's visit earlier in the day.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
DNO ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas operator, today
announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the
National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to conduct a study concerning the
development of the Changuleh oil field in western Iran. Changuleh,
discovered in 1999 but never developed, is estimated to hold more
than 2 billion barrels of oil-in-place. "Iran presents an
obvious and exciting next step in expanding DNO's footprint in the
region," said DNO's Managing Director Bjørn Dale. "Our
low-cost, fast-track development strategy and our fractured carbonate
reservoir experience in the Kurdistan region of Iraq can be easily
applied and leveraged in Iran," he added. The Company has
established a wholly owned subsidiary DNO Iran AS amid preparations
to increase its presence in Iran.
HUMAN RIGHTS
A U.N. committee on Tuesday urged Iran to cease enforced
disappearances and the widespread use of arbitrary detention and has
expressed serious concern about severe limitations on freedom of
thought, conscience and religion or belief. The General Assembly's
human rights committee approved the measure by a vote of 85 in favor,
35 against and 63 countries abstaining. The assembly is virtually
certain to adopt the resolution when it's put to a vote next month.
The measure welcomed pledges by Iran's president to eliminate
discrimination against women and ethnic minorities as well as
granting greater space for freedom of expression. But it also
expressed concern over the "alarmingly high frequency" of
the death penalty and urged Iran to eliminate laws and practices that
constitute human rights violations against women and girls. Iran's
Foreign Ministry swiftly rejected the vote.
DOMESTIC POLITICS
Iranian MP Hussein Ali Haji Degana revealed that at
least 12 top officials holding dual citizenship have been arrested in
Iran over the last two years. Degana said that those detained have
infiltrated into government and procured senior managerial and
decision-making posts. The spy officials, according to Degana, have
been arrested and put up on trial. The MP demanded that the Isfahan
judiciary delivers its rulings with transparency, and that the
officials' identity also be made public. Some of the officials were
arrested on the premise of holding dual citizenship solely... The national
parliament on Tuesday officially announced the monitoring and chase
down of political and government officials holding either American
dual-citizenship or the green card.
This week, as a yellow blanket of smog settled in for
what is typically a winter-long stay, Reza Shajiee, a prominent
hipster socialite, posted a picture of himself on Instagram wearing a
gas mask under his motorcycle helmet. The text reads, "My city
is better than yours, its air is better than yours," and is
accompanied by an emoticon wearing a gas mask. One of his followers,
@j.barzegar, responded, "Tehran gas chamber, slow death."
Mr. Shajiee said he posted the picture in protest, but he didn't know
against whom. "No one can solve this, and it's only getting
worse," he said. Schools were closed for a second day in Tehran
on Tuesday, and many citizens stayed home as the capital was covered
in an unusually noxious cloud for a fifth day... Many Iranians say that
ignoring the problem is their only option. In a country where
participation in politics is mostly limited to voting in elections,
citizens simply learn to endure whatever comes their way.
A thick cloud of smog has descended over the Iranian
capital and apparently led to the death of hundreds of citizens.
Tehran authorities reported 412 people had died in the last 23 days,
according to state owned news agency Irna, from respiratory illnesses
linked to the high levels of pollution. This led officials to order
schools to be shut on Wednesday... 'I can't breathe in Tehran, simple
as that. Everyone is fleeing Tehran ... everyone is choking, look at
cancer rates. Who can live [in Tehran] under these circumstances?,'
Dariush Mehrjui, a filmmaker, told Isna... Air pollution contributes
to the deaths of an estimated 45,000 people a year in Iran, according
to the head of Tehran municipality environment agency.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Deal or no nuclear deal, Iran continues to threaten
the security of the United States and the world. And yet the leading
U.S. law dealing with that threat-the law authorizing the sanctions
that brought Iran's economy to its knees and thus made the nuclear
deal possible-is set to expire this New Year's Day. Congress is
poised to renew the law, but unfortunately, the Obama administration
has not committed to signing the legislation, claiming its other
existing legal authorities are sufficient to hold Tehran accountable
for its dangerous activities. But the administration is wrong.
Congress and the president should act together to extend the Iran
Sanctions Act (ISA)... Iran is putting America and American lives at
risk. Now is not the time to respond by abandoning our longstanding,
leading law to address that risk. Now is the time to reauthorize ISA
for years to come, strictly enforce the nuclear deal, and push back
hard against Iranian violations and aggression in all forms.
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