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TOP STORIES
The Iranian students who stormed the US embassy in
1979 and released thousands of secret CIA documents were the
WikiLeaks of their time, their former lead spokesperson has told AFP.
Every year on November 3-4, Iran celebrates the 444-day siege of the
embassy when more than 50 diplomats, staff and spies were taken
hostage by Islamist students demanding the extradition of the shah,
who had fled to America after being deposed a few months earlier in
the Islamic revolution. Massoumeh Ebtekar is now Iran's
vice-president and one of its most recognisable politicians, feted
globally for her work as head of the environment department. But back
then, she was a 20-year-old medical student -- nicknamed
"Mary" by the international press -- who became the face of
the hostage crisis thanks to her fluent English. She now regrets the
diplomatic isolation that followed the embassy siege, but she is
still proud of their work in releasing documents found in the CIA's
files -- some painstakingly reassembled after embassy staff
frantically shredded as many as possible when the students stormed
the building. "Revealing these documents was very similar to
what WikiLeaks is doing these days. It was the WikiLeaks of those
ages," Ebtekar told AFP.
Greece has spurned its European allies and Washington
by blocking European Union sanctions on an Iranian bank the U.S.
accuses of financing terrorism, officials familiar with the move say.
Athens's action last month marked the first time a European country
has picked apart the sanctions regime meant to remain in place after
the July 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran. The regime is designed to
constrain Iran's ability to resume illicit activities and pressure it
to stick by the rules. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's government
undertook to end the sanctions on Bank Saderat, a partly state-owned
company that runs Iran's largest banking network, as Athens seeks to
rebuild close economic ties with Iran, a key source of cheap energy
for the country in the past. Athens has also been critical of EU
sanctions on Russia. But the stance is potentially risky for Greece,
which will host President Barack Obama this month. U.S. Treasury
Secretary Jacob Lew warned last year that any firm that deals with
Bank Saderat "will risk losing its access to the U.S. financial
system." ... But some U.S. observers worry that Greece's relief
for Saderat could mark the beginning of a broader decay in European
sanctions on Iran.
An already long list of international telecoms
companies is lining up to enter the Iranian market to improve
internet access and mobile services. Vodafone, Telecom Italia,
AT&T and Nokia have rushed to get into Iran in recent months,
striking deals with local groups, while Orange and Interoute, the
London-based networking company, also plan to have a presence in the
country. There have been 52 applications for licences to operate
telecoms services since sanctions were lifted... Some believe foreign
telecoms companies should steer well clear of Iran due to the
repressive nature of the regime. Mark Wallace, the former US ambassador
to the United Nations and now a representative of the United Against
Nuclear Iran pressure group, said: "Partnering with telecoms
companies in Iran is partnering with a regime that monitors, tracks,
arrests, detains and even kills people that use this technology."
In reaction to such fears, many companies remain cautious about
investing directly in Iran.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
It seems everyone has an opinion about the U.S.
presidential election, including Iran's supreme leader. Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei criticized both Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and
Republican Donald Trump in a speech he gave on Wednesday marking the
1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. In his remarks, Khamenei
said Clinton and Trump's comments in the presidential debates
"are sufficient for the annihilation of the reputation of the
United States." ... He also described Americans as "liars,
untrustworthy, deceitful and backstabbers" while saying he still
opposed any direct negotiations with the U.S. following the nuclear
deal.
SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT
Guidelines published last month by the Obama
administration protect banks doing business with Iran from U.S.
sanctions even if their transactions end up benefiting sanctioned
entities, according to Secretary of State John Kerry. That stance,
experts and congressional sources tell THE WEEKLY STANDARD, is part
of an ongoing battle inside the Obama administration over efforts
being spearheaded by Kerry to bolster Iran's economy. Kerry, who was
speaking Monday at an event in London honoring both the secretary and
Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif for cementing the nuclear deal
last summer that lifted many Iranian sanctions, said that the
guidelines told banks they could safely do business in Iran with
"no extra due diligence, just normal due diligence... [and] not
be held accountable" if their transactions involved
organizations like sanctioned parts of Iran's military. The Obama
administration had "come out and made it very, very clear"
that U.S. sanctions would be governed by that standard, he added.
Kerry's statement came just a few weeks after Adam Szubin, who leads
the Treasury Department's sanctions enforcement division, told TWS
that banks working with Iran would be expected to perform "an
enhanced level of due diligence" to avoid transactions that
benefit sanctioned entities. Szubin added that some violations would
bring "the most draconian sanctions in our toolkit." ...
The Treasury and State Departments have reportedly been at odds for
months over Kerry's campaign to drum up foreign business for Iran.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
International air traffic to and from Iran is booming.
At the country's main airport in the capital Tehran, for instance,
there were 140 more flights during a week last month than a week in
May 2015 before the nuclear deal was signed. The map above uses data
from FlightRadar24, a company that tracks real-time flight data. It
shows a remarkable thickening in routes, as well as the narrow
spindles of new ones. Much of the growth in international air traffic
is due to airlines increasing capacity or frequency of existing
routes. But it also includes many European airlines, such as Air
France and British Airways, that have been able to restart flights to
Iran after long hiatuses... "Iran went from a marginalized and
difficult place in the world economy in 2013 to a place of
growth," said Ray Takeyh, a fellow at the Council on Foreign
Relations specializing on Iran.
Trade is growing between Britain and Iran and the
government is working to resolve banking sector concerns which are
limiting its further expansion, British trade minister Liam Fox said
on Wednesday. Despite the removal of international banking
restrictions in January, Tehran has secured ties with only a limited
number of smaller banks as U.S. sanctions remain in force and large
foreign institutions still fear potential fines. "Slowly but
with increasing enthusiasm, British companies are starting to do
business with Iran again ... we are seeing the first signs of growing
trade between the UK and Iran," Fox told a City and Financial
Global conference.
DOMESTIC POLITICS
Iranian lawmakers approved three new ministers on
Tuesday, signaling support for changes in the cabinet of pragmatist
President Hassan Rouhani seven months before a presidential election.
State media reported that Reza Salehi Amiri, Saeed Soltanifar and
Fakhredin Ahmadi Danesh-Ashtiani won votes of confidence to take over
the ministries of Islamic guidance and culture, sport and youth
affairs, and education. Their predecessors resigned after Rouhani
criticized them for inefficiency and succumbing to pressures from
outside the government.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
The ascendancy of Michel Aoun, a former Christian
general who once served a disputed term as prime minister of Lebanon
in the 1980s, to the Lebanese presidency marks a milestone in the
country's long national electoral nightmare. There have been
over 40 failed attempts alone at selecting a successor to the
previous president, Michel Suleiman, since he stepped down in May
2014. While Beirut may not be in the global headlines every day,
regional trends indicate a potentially dangerous turn of events in
Lebanon for three reasons: the new president's alliance with
Hezb'allah, Lebanon's shared border with Israel, and the
mainstreaming of Iran's political power in the neighborhood... Aoun
as president represents the effective mainstreaming of Iran as a
political kingmaker. Not only will Aoun carry the Hezb'allah
imprimatur, but Nabih Berri, the Shiite speaker of Lebanon's
parliament, received the political party's endorsement to continue in
his current position. Despite Berri's initial opposition to
Aoun and his own tensions with Hezb'allah in the past, these
developments demonstrate the power that Iran - vis-à-vis its proxy
Hezb'allah - wields in the internal political dynamics of yet another
country in the Middle East. With Saudi Arabia dramatically
pulling out from Lebanon in April after cutting $3 billion in
military aid and $1 billion in assistance to Lebanese security
forces, the country has become yet another destination in an Iranian
sphere of influence, comprising Baghdad, Damascus, Sanaa, and now
Beirut.
Lawmakers in Beirut agreed to elect Lebanon's next
President on Monday, breaking a deadlock that had crippled government
for 29 months. The decisive vote was cast in Tehran. Iran wanted a
Lebanese President who would be an ally of Hezbollah, the Shiite
terror group that its chief proxy in the country. It found one in the
81-year-old former general Michel Aoun... By accepting Mr. Aoun as
President, the Saudi-backed anti-Iran coalition led by Mr. Hariri now
formally concedes Tehran's position as the main outside power in
Beirut. In that sense Mr. Aoun's rise reflects the wider regional
balance of power, with the Iranians running the geopolitical table
and traditional U.S. allies in retreat.
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