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TOP STORIES
Aiming to prove their commitment to Israel, senior U.S.
lawmakers are backing bipartisan legislation that would slap Iran
with new sanctions while maintaining rigorous enforcement of the
landmark nuclear deal. During Monday's session, House Speaker Paul
Ryan declared the U.S. commitment to Israel "sacrosanct."
But Ryan also derided the nuclear deal an "unmitigated
disaster" that gives Iran "a patient pathway to a nuclear weapons
capability." In exchange for Tehran rolling back its nuclear
program, the U.S. and other world powers agreed to suspend
wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions that had choked the
Iranian economy. The House bill, which is co-sponsored by House
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, targets
Iran's "illicit" ballistic missile development program. The
measure would shut out of the international financial system Iranian
and foreign companies involved in the missile program - along with the
banks that back them.
Iran and the Gulf states, whose contest for power in the
Middle East has been tipping toward open confrontation, are quietly
trying to repair the damaged relationship as the U.S. takes a more
confrontational stance toward Tehran. The longstanding rivalry flared
last year when Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric and
angry Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy, smashing its
windows and setting the compound on fire. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
responded by severing diplomatic ties with Iran, and other Gulf
states sided with Riyadh. Now, even as public rhetoric remains
strident, signs of a tentative rapprochement have surfaced in recent
low-profile meetings between Iranian and Gulf officials, including a
visit by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Kuwait and Oman, and a
recent agreement between Riyadh and Tehran to allow Iranians to join
this year's hajj pilgrimage to the Saudi city of Mecca. Iranians were
excluded from last year's hajj-a religious duty Muslims should
fulfill once in their lifetimes-after talks with Saudi officials
collapsed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told
Reuters on Tuesday that Russia could use Iranian military bases to
launch air strikes against militants in Syria on a "case by case
basis." Russia and Iran are both key allies of Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad and have played decisive roles in the past 18 months
to turn the tide of the Syrian conflict in his favor. Russian jets
used an air base in Iran to launch attacks against militant targets
in Syria last summer, the first time a foreign power had used an
Iranian base since World War Two. The deployment ended abruptly
however after some Iranian lawmakers called the move a breach of
Iran's constitution which forbids foreign military bases, and the
Iranian defense minister chided Moscow for publicizing the
arrangement.
BUSINESS RISK
Relations between Iran and the U.S are going from bad to
worse. Tehran slapped sanctions on 15 U.S. companies Sunday in
retaliation for American sanctions announced last month.
"Imposition of new sanctions by the U.S. is based on fabricated
and illegitimate pretexts and amount to an action against
international regulations," Iran's foreign ministry said in a
statement. Boeing (BA) signed an $8 billion deal to sell 80 jets to
Iran Air after many sanctions were lifted as part of an international
deal on the country's nuclear program. The planemaker is not on the
list of Tehran's targets, which includes Raytheon (RTN), Oshkosh
(OSK) and Bushmaster. None of them currently does any business with
Iran. "The sanctions from the Iranian side don't really have any
practical importance to them," said Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar
Energy and an expert on Middle East energy and investment.
"These U.S. defense companies obviously don't have any assets or
activities in Iran. It's just trying to score political points."
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Iran's president met Russia's prime minister on Monday
in a bid to develop a warming relationship that has been greatly
strengthened by both sides' involvement on the same side of the war
in Syria. Beginning a visit to Moscow, President Hassan Rouhani told
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev: "I hope that a new turning-point
in the development of our relations will be reached." Iranian
arms purchases and Russian investment in the Iranian energy sector
are likely talking points for Rouhani, less than two months before
Iran's May 19 presidential election. Iranian media say he will
discuss several economic agreements - potentially valuable prizes for
the moderate leader, who is keen to show his people that Iran is
benefiting from its 2015 deal with world powers to rein back its
nuclear programme in returning for an easing of international
sanctions.
German exports to Iran rose by 26 percent last year and
by more than 30 percent in January alone, an economist at Germany's
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) said on Monday, as trade
between the two countries picks up after sanctions were lifted. Trade
between Germany and Iran was worth 2.9 billion euros in 2016, up from
2.4 billion euros in 2015, data from the Federal Statistics Office
showed. Exports of German goods accounted for 2.6 billion euros of
that amount. DIHK foreign trade economist Volker Treier told Reuters
he was sticking to the aim of boosting trade in goods between Germany
and Iran to 5 billion euros by the end of 2018. "With these
growth rates, that's certainly achievable," he said, though he
added that a previous prediction of trade volume reaching 10 billion
euros within 10 years would probably take longer. "It's a stable
upswing," he said. "But it's not the great success of which
we dreamed and of which we are still dreaming."
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told reporters on Tuesday
that a global oil cuts deal is likely to be extended, but that time
is needed to discuss the subject thoroughly first. "It seems
that most of the OPEC and non-OPEC (countries) are going to extend
the agreement, but time is needed to evaluate the situation and to
have face-to-face meetings and discussions with others,"
Zanganeh, who was visiting Moscow, said. Asked whether Iran would be
ready to cut its own output under the possible extension, Zanganeh
said: "I think it is necessary that all members comply with
their commitments." Iran's current oil production stands close
to 3.8 million barrels per day, he said. Zanganeh is part of a
delegation led by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani which is visiting
Russia from March 27-28.
The cooperation agreement was finalized during the talks
in Moscow between an Iranian delegation headed by Deputy Minister of
Industry, Mines, and Trade Mansour Moazzami and officials with the
Transmashholding. According to the MoU, the two companies agreed that
the Russian side would finance production of railroad cars in Iran.
The cooperation agreement is planned to be signed during a ceremony
in Moscow later on Tuesday with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and
his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in attendance. Heading a
high-ranking politico-economic delegation, Rouhani arrived in Moscow
Monday evening for a two-day official visit at the invitation of
Putin. The Russian president is scheduled to officially welcome his
Iranian counterpart at the Kremlin on Tuesday. Rouhani and Putin will
then hold talks on regional and international issues and matters of
mutual interest.
PROXY WARS
The Islamic State group threatened Iran for its role in
the region's conflicts, in a rare Farsi-language propaganda video
released on Monday.The 36-minute video, entitled "The Farsi
Land: from Yesterday till Today", was issued through IS's social
media channels from Diyala province in neighbouring Iraq. A masked
man directs his message to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei. "O, Khamenei, you cursed person who controls the
so-called Islamic Iranian regime, rest assured that soon we will
destroy your house like this," he says, pointing to ruins behind
him. Several captured soldiers are decapitated in the video, one of
whom is wearing a "Ya Hossein" badge, indicating that he is
a Shiite fighter. Shiite-majority Iran has been a key backer of the
Syrian and Iraqi governments as they seek to root out IS and other
Sunni rebels, sending thousands of fighters and military advisers.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian
counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, will meet from March 27 to 29. According
to the Tehran Times, both sides are "preparing more than 10
documents for signing" on various economic and political issues.
The meeting, set in Moscow, highlights the debate surrounding the
real nature of post-Cold War relations between Moscow and Tehran.
According to Western - particularly neoconservative - strategists,
there is a way to stop Russian-Iranian military cooperation in Syria.
Along with the Israeli right wing, they believe that while Iran and
Russia form a united front against overthrowing Bashar al-Assad, they
do not see eye to eye on a diplomatic solution to end Syria's civil
war. For its part, Iran favors an alliance with the Lebanese
Hezbollah and Shia militias largely made up of Pakistani, Afghan and
Iraqi fighters. These non-government military groups fought on the
ground to recapture Aleppo, a city emblematic of the revolt against
the Syrian government.
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