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TOP STORIES
U.S. Navy commanders accused Iran of jeopardizing
international navigation by "harassing" warships passing
through the Strait of Hormuz and said future incidents could result
in miscalculation and lead to an armed clash. They spoke after the U.S.
aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush confronted what one of the
commanding officers described as two sets of Iranian Navy fast-attack
boats that had approached a U.S-led, five-vessel flotilla as it
entered the Strait on Tuesday on a journey from the Indian Ocean into
the Gulf. It was the first time a U.S. carrier entered the narrow
waterway, where up to 30 percent of global oil exports pass annually,
since President Donald Trump took office in January pledging a
tougher U.S. stance toward Iran.
Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp on Wednesday pleaded
guilty in U.S. federal court in Texas for conspiring to violate U.S.
sanctions by illegally shipping U.S. goods and technology to Iran.
The guilty plea was part of an agreement the company reached earlier
this month with U.S. authorities that also called for nearly $900
million in fines and other penalties. U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade
in Dallas accepted the company's plea to three charges: conspiring to
export American-made items to Iran without a license, obstructing
justice, and making a material false statement. Shenzhen-based ZTE
has a U.S. subsidiary in Richardson, Texas. A five-year investigation
found ZTE conspired to evade U.S. embargoes by buying U.S.
components, incorporating them into ZTE equipment and illegally
shipping them to Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has sought to ban
travelers from Iran and other Muslim-majority nations from entering
the United States, issued a holiday greeting on Wednesday to Iranians
celebrating the New Year holiday known as Nowruz. Trump, who has also
criticized the nuclear deal between Iran and western powers
negotiated during President Barack Obama's administration, did not
refer to the travel ban in his statement. "Nowruz means 'new
day' in Persian. It is an occasion to celebrate new beginnings, a
sentiment that is particularly meaningful for so many Iranians who
have come to our country in recent decades to make a new start in a
free land," Trump said in a statement issued by the White House.
Nowruz is Iran's most important national event and is celebrated with
family gatherings, vacations and gift-giving.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
The inspections regime put in place to closely monitor
Iran's nuclear activity is in jeopardy unless the U.S. and other
nations contribute more money, the head of the U.N.'s International
Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday. Yukiya Amano, the agency's
director general, said he used his visit to Washington to make the
case for an increase to the Trump administration and to U.S.
lawmakers who control the federal budget. He said the Vienna-based
agency in 2018 needs a 2.1 percent increase to its regular operating
budget of roughly 370 million euros, about $400 million.
"Without an increase, the IAEA will not be able to implement the
verification and monitoring activities in Iran," Amano said. Yet
even a continuation of current levels of U.S. funding - which Amana
said makes up 25 percent of the IAEA's regular budget - is not a
given.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
When President Trump sent greetings to the Iranian
people on Wednesday for the Persian New Year, or Nowruz, it offered a
glimpse into an administration that is still debating how to deal
with a country that Mr. Trump has painted as an implacable foe. The
five-paragraph statement went through multiple drafts, according to
two people involved in the process. Hard-liners in the White House
first tried to kill the message, and when that failed, stripped it of
references to engaging with the Iranian government or a future in
which Iran and the United States might peacefully coexist. Instead,
the statement, issued a day after the holiday began, reached out to
the Iranian people while ignoring the government in Tehran. It paid
tribute to Iranian immigrants in the United States, even as Mr.
Trump's travel ban prevented relatives of those immigrants from
entering the United States.
MILITARY MATTERS
An Iranian government official claimed earlier this week
that its Russian-made air defenses were compromised by Moscow,
leaving Iran and its allies defenseless against Israeli airstrikes.
An engineer with Tehran's Ministry of Defense alleged that codes
forcing anti-aircraft missiles to treat hostile Israeli fighters as
friendly were sold to Tel Aviv, effectively neutralizing Syria and
Iran's S-300 surface-to-air missile systems. An Iranian official,
described by the Jerusalem Post as a senior member of Iran's Defense
Ministry, told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida that Russia had sold
"codes" to Israel that identified Israeli aircraft as
friendly. The codes were used by Israel to prevent its aircraft from
being targeted. Israel has flown dozens of air raids over Syria, and
despite advanced air defenses, only the latest raid, flown last
Friday, involved an actual missile launch.
TERRORISM
A Luxembourg judge denied on Wednesday a request from
Iran to annul claims by families of victims of the Sept 11, 2001
attacks on $1.6 billion of Iranian assets in Luxembourg, saying a
court had to rule on the fundamentals of the case first. The assets Iran
held with Luxembourg-based clearing house Clearstream were frozen as
part of international sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme and had
in theory become available to Iran when those sanctions were lifted
after a deal in 2015. Iran had sought an injunction to annul the
seizure of the assets by the families of 9/11 victims who had won
court cases against Iran in the United States. The Luxembourg judge
said that, to decide whether to free up the funds or not, a detailed
analysis of the Clearstream system was needed, which was beyond his
powers.
PROXY WARS
Labor MP Joan Ryan said that Iran is attempting to pose
a new threat on Israel by funding Hezbollah terrorists and creating a
"second front in southern Syria with which to threaten
Israel." The British parliament member made the comment about
Iran's on-going aggression against Israel as part of a parliamentary
debate on Iran's influence in the Middle East that took place earlier
this week. According to the Jewish Chronicle, Ryan went on to add
that Iran's position on Israel is "utterly malign." She
explained that Iranian threats on Israel are not just limited to its
nuclear activity but that have now received a new form, with Tehran's
funding of Hezbollah's military wing serving as an attempt to
undermine Israel's security "through support for
terrorism."
DOMESTIC POLITICS
In recent decades, the budgeting process in Iran has
been such that the budget's capacity to function as the country's
most important fiscal policy document has continuously declined. In
other words, budgeting has been utilized by successive administrations
solely as an instrument to balance revenues and expenditures rather
than setting long-term economic policies. The allocation of the
lion's share of budgets to current expenditures rather than
infrastructure spending greatly explains why the Iranian economy is
not moving toward its sought destination. "The infrastructure
programs are means of pursuing the development objectives. This is
while [such programs] are always marginalized and governments only
take heed of current expenditures," leading economic daily
Donya-e Eqtesad quoted Gholam Hossein Shafei, the head of Iran's
Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, as saying
Jan. 18.
During his address, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution
lauded the unity among the Iranian nation and people's commitment and
attachment to the Islamic Revolution's values as well as religious
fundaments and issues. Emphasizing the necessity for finding
solutions to all problems facing the country in the light of "religious,
revolutionary, efficient and highly motivated management," the
Leader added, "If officials focus on domestic production with
the nation demanding this [from officials], the road will be paved
for solving many problems, especially 'youth unemployment', and
during new year, the dear nation of Iran will add to the dignity,
might, power and prestige of Iran by realizing my main and important
demand, which is enthusiastic participation of all eligible [voters]
in elections, and will show off its grandeur in the face of enemies
by a brilliant participation in the elections."
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Iran policy has been one of the most divisive foreign
policy issues in recent years. The Obama administration's nuclear
deal passed Congress without a single Republican vote, and Donald
Trump campaigned on a pledge to get tougher on Tehran. And with the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual conference in
Washington next week, we may see this issue once again near the top
of the agenda as Congress is expected to introduce a slew of new
initiatives. For all the divisions, today it is on Iran policy that
Congress can lead, joining forces across parties and even with the
new administration. With Iran now "officially on notice,"
President Trump has yet to spell out the precise contours of his more
aggressive approach. Given the intense debates on Iran during the
Obama administration, many members of Congress have spent more time focusing
on this foreign policy issue than any other. As administration
officials review their options, Congress should seize the opportunity
to articulate an assertive approach that can win the support of both
the executive and legislative branches.
President Donald Trump promised to rigorously and
radically enforce the Iran nuclear agreement, which he called
"the worst deal ever negotiated." It sounds tough, but it's
an approach that plays into the hands of the Iranian mullahs. The
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action presents the Trump administration
with a bedeviling paradox: The greater the focus on enforcement, the
higher the likelihood Iran will emerge with nuclear weapons. The
nuclear deal contains limited, temporary and reversible constraints
that disappear over time. The International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog tasked with monitoring
the deal, may be able to detect Iranian violations. But Iran doesn't
need to cheat. In fact, it has every incentive not to do so.
While an agreement allowing Iranian pilgrims to join
this year's hajj is good news, this is no leap forward to future
success for the regime in Tehran. Quite obvious is the fact that this
regime is facing a new balance of power in the Middle East and across
the globe as the Trump administration has begun overhauling his
predecessor's disastrous Iran appeasement policy that allowed Tehran
ignite the entire region in flames. The visit by Saudi Deputy Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the US and meeting with President
Donald Trump in the White House has been described as a turning point
in Saudi-US relations. The Deputy Crown Prince, also the kingdom's
Defense Minister, has described Iran's destabilizing nature across
the globe and support for terrorism as a dangerous challenge for the
Middle and the world over. Saudi Arabia is at the front lines of
these dilemmas, he said in his recent meeting with his American
predecessor James Mattis.
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