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TOP STORIES
Boeing Co. agreed to sell up to 60 of its most popular
jets to an Iranian airline, doubling down on the country amid
uncertainty over the Trump administration's tolerance for U.S.
business dealings in Iran. Boeing said Tuesday it signed a memorandum
of agreement with privately owned Iran Aseman Airlines for the sale
of 30 Boeing 737 Max single-aisle planes, with options for another
30. The list price for all 60 jets is $6 billion. Plane makers
typically offer steep discounts, and the real value of the deal could
be significantly lower. Still, the sale is the first major deal
between a U.S. company and an Iranian one since the inauguration of
President Donald Trump, an outspoken critic of closer ties with
Tehran. Boeing said it had received permission from the U.S.
government to negotiate the sale, though it still needs signoff from
the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. If approved,
the first planes will arrive in Iran by 2022.
Since the signing and implementation of the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), European businesses have shown
great interest in re-entering Iran. Trade between Iran and the EU has
already notably picked up. Last year, European exports to Iran
amounted to 8.3 billion euros ($8.9 billion), approximately 28%
higher than the year before. Meanwhile, European imports grew by some
345%, amounting to 5.5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) - mostly driven
by largely resumed oil shipments from Iran. Despite the lifting of
nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, European firms remain cautious
about seriously re-entering the Iranian market during the current
wait-and-see period. But despite the uptick in trade, economic
relations between Iran and the EU are still below pre-sanctions
levels. In 2011, before the imposition of stringent nuclear-related
sanctions including the previous EU oil embargo, EU exports to Iran
amounted to more than 10 billion euros ($10.7 billion), while imports
were as high as almost 18 billion euros ($19.2 billion). Europeans eager
to return to Iran are facing two main obstacles. For one, huge
challenges remain within Iran, including a poor regulatory
environment and standards able to support international trade,
insufficient managerial skills in many local companies, widespread
corruption, and questions concerning the rule of law.
In 2011, U.S. financial watchdogs began a campaign to
lift the curtain on well-known companies' business dealings in Iran,
Sudan and Syria, all then considered state sponsors of terrorism and
subject to economic sanctions. Among the companies faced with demands
from the SEC were Sony, Xerox, AIG, Siemens - and Caterpillar. By
then, Caterpillar and its non-U.S. subsidiaries had ceased nearly all
business in Iran, the comments continued. The company had been
pressured to undertake those actions in 2010 by an activist group
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). The group publicly shamed
Caterpillar with a billboard outside its Peoria headquarters for
working in a hostile state with nuclear ambitions. UANI complimented
Caterpillar for the decision to terminate sales arrangements that
provided equipment to end users in Iran. "We applaud
Caterpillar's decision to prohibit its non-U.S. subsidiaries from
doing business in Iran," said Mark Wallace, UANI president and
former American diplomat to the United Nations. "All responsible
companies that transact business in Iran through the veil of a
foreign subsidiary should take this as a wake-up call."
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Speaking on Monday, Zarif reiterated concerns by Leader
of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei about the
US's non-performance of the deal, which is known as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and said such non-commitment
had been predictable for Iran. Thus, the Iranian foreign minister
said, "the two sides proceeded based on mutual mistrust and
devised numerous [contingency] mechanisms." Iran and the P5+1
group of countries, namely the US, Russia, China, France, Britain,
and Germany, reached the deal in July 2015. The agreement went into
effect in January 2016, resolving a long-running dispute over the
Iranian nuclear program. Zarif said the mechanisms worked out in the
deal made it "much easier" for Iran, if necessary, to roll
back the steps it had taken under the deal than for the other side to
put the sanctions back on the Islamic Republic.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
An American of Iranian descent arrested in Iran in July
and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment on dubious charges has been
released on bail after he went on a hunger strike, rights activists
reported Monday. The American, Robin Shahini, who is 46 or 47, was
released about two weeks ago, just before the start of Nowruz, the
Persian New Year, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran, a
New York-based advocacy group that gets information from contacts
inside the country. Hadi Ghaemi, the group's executive director, said
it was unclear whether Mr. Shahini's release was temporary or if he
could leave the country. Mr. Ghaemi said that Mr. Shahini had been
required to post bail of two billion rials - about $60,000 - and that
he could be sent back to prison if his conviction were affirmed on
appeal.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said
his country will not give the Trump administration any pretext that
can be used against it. "The establishment in its entirety has
reached the conclusion that we shouldn't give them (the Americans)
any excuse," Zarif said in an interview with the Shargh daily
published on the official website of the ministry on Monday.
"This should not be taken to mean that we back away from
our plans... but we don't seek tension." The future of the 2015
historic nuclear agreement with Iran, among other things, is in limbo
with the prospect that the Trump administration could take steps that
would cause Iran to abandon its commitments, people familiar with the
issue say. Trump had said during campaigns for the White House
that he would scrap Iran's pact with world powers - under which
Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting
of sanctions - describing it as "the worst deal ever
negotiated".
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has
branded Syrian president Bashar al-Assad as "a war criminal,'
who has been protected by Russia and Iran in the Security Council for
far too long. She told Fox News the Trump administration hopes Assad
will be brought to justice for the overwhelming humanitarian crisis
and continued carnage that has torn his nation apart. She also blamed
the Obama administration for not acting sooner to try and prevent the
war. "The previous administration needs to take responsibility
for that, as well," she said. "First of all, Assad...he's a
war criminal. He's used chemical weapons on his own people. He's not
allowing aid to come in. He is very much a deterrence to peace. But
then you look at the fact that the Security Council has to
acknowledge when the chemical weapons -- we had proof that he used it
three times on his own people. Why aren't we dealing with that?
"Then, you know, you have to look at the Iranian influence and
the fact that we've got to get that out. Syria is in such sad shape,
but it doesn't have to be that way. If you look back, so many things
could have been done to prevent where we are today. And that's what
we need to focus on now."
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Iran's Aseman Airlines has signed a tentative deal to
buy at least 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets, in the first new business with
the U.S. planemaker since U.S. President Donald Trump took office
vowing to take a tougher stance toward Iran. Owned by Iran's civil
service pension foundation but managed as a private company, Aseman
is Iran's third-largest airline by active fleet size, according to
the CAPA consultancy. Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency
said on Tuesday that representatives of Aseman and Boeing had signed
an agreement in Tehran covering as many as 60 jets, including
options, after a year of negotiations. Boeing described the deal as a
"memorandum of agreement," a type of transaction that falls
short of a binding contract and is subject to government approvals
The overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp has
submitted a revised plan to develop the giant Farzad B gas block in
Iran, including a commitment to spend more than $3 billion, a senior
executive said on Tuesday. ONGC Videsh expects to produce between 1 billion
and 1.6 billion cubic feet per day of gas in five years from the
start of development of the block, N. K. Verma, the company's
managing director told Reuters in Mumbai on Tuesday. India is the
second-largest buyer of Iranian crude, and was among the few
countries to continue trade with Iran while the country faced Western
sanctions over its nuclear programme. But since the lifting of some
of the sanctions last year, Iran has sought other investors and there
is some uncertainty whether the Farzad block contract will be awarded
to an Indian company. The impasse has led Indian refiners to plan on
cutting imports from Iran by a fifth in 2017-18. Verma also
commented that ONGC Videsh expects to raise production during the
fiscal year ending in March 2018 to 14 million tonnes oil equivalent,
up from 12 million tonnes in the fiscal year of 2017. The company
also plans to invest $45 million to produce from gas wells owned by
Imperial Energy, which ONGC Videsh acquired in 2008. "We are
setting up gas processing facilities... we have dug four pilot wells
and have got encouraging response," Verma said.
The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in a statement emphasized
that it was still trying to reduce the role of the US dollar in its
foreign exchange basket - a policy that officials in Tehran had
previously said would make the country immune to Washington's
pressures. The CBI said this was part of an ambitious plan that had
been devised after the intensification of US sanctions against the
Islamic Republic. "This policy is currently still being pursued
with maximum care," the bank added in its statement that was
posted on its website. The CBI further emphasized that removing the
US dollar in both official statements as well as in the foreign
exchange basket would reduce Iran's risks to sanctions as well as the
related international restrictions. This, it added, would also result
in significant economic and financial gains for the Islamic Republic,
the bank added in its statement.
PROXY WARS
Israel fears an "Iranian crescent" may be
forming in the Middle East because of Tehran's influence in Syria and
its connections with regional Shiite groups, an intelligence official
said Monday. The comments from Chagai Tzuriel, director general of
Israel's intelligence ministry, illustrate his country's growing
concerns over its arch-foe Iran's involvement in the conflict in
neighbouring Syria. Iran's support for Lebanese Shiite movement
Hezbollah, which also backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's
regime, also concerns Israel, as does Tehran's influence in Iraq and
its support for groups such as the Huthi rebels in Yemen. "I
think that... Israel believes that if Iran bases itself for the long
run in Syria it will be a constant source of friction and tension
with the Sunni majority in Syria, with the Sunni countries outside
Syria, with Sunni minorities outside the region, with Israel,"
Tzuriel told foreign reporters. "And I think that may be only
the tip of the iceberg," he added. "We're talking here
about the creation of an Iranian crescent." Part of it, he said,
involved worries that Iran could complete a "land bridge"
through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean.
HUMAN RIGHTS
An appeals court has confirmed a
five-year prison term for an Iranian Christian convert, who was
arrested due to his faith though he was convicted falsely for
"forming a group in order to disrupt national security,"
according to human rights groups. Ebrahim Firouzi's five-year
sentence, first handed down by Tehran's Revolutionary Court in 2015,
was upheld by an appeals court, according to the National Council of
Resistance of Iran, which noted that Firouzi had pleaded not guilty
before all courts. Firouzi was arrested in August 2013 on the charge
of "acting against national security," which Christians in
Iran are often charged with, according to NCRI. He has been kept in
Rajaei-Shahr prison in Karaj since his sentence was issued last year.
Firouzi's mother, who is disabled, had earlier called on officials to
handle her son's case fairly and to release him. "Crying as she
delivered the message to the authorities, Firouzi's elderly mother
said that she is visually impaired and there is nothing she can do
and has no one to help her. She said she doesn't have the ability to
go from court to court and follow up on her son's case," Mohabat
News reported earlier. "She added that she misses her son and
because of her disability she has not been able to visit her son in
prison. She pleaded with the authorities to release her son so he can
come home."
DOMESTIC POLITICS
"They are trying to twist facts believing that they
could undermine the government, but their actions would only lead to
frustrating Iranians and damaging the regime, the country and the
people," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday. His
harsh criticism was delivered a few hours ahead of opening
registration for candidates running in the 2017 municipal and presidential
elections in Iran. Sadeq Larijani, Iran's incumbent chief of justice,
made provocative claims on a United States plotting to interfere in
the Iranian elections. Larijani said that those responsible would not
allow for the return of the 2009 'rabble-rousing.' Referring to
recent remarks by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley
about the unrest, Iran's Larijani said such interfering remarks show
that the Americans may be hatching plots for the upcoming elections
in Iran. Speaking at the US Council on Foreign Relations last week,
Haley pointed to the 2009 unrest in Iran as an example of the
"UN ignoring human rights" and said, "the
international elite had other priorities for Iran," echoing
those who criticized the Obama administration and others for declining
to fully support the riots.
Iranian officials announced that registration for the
May 19 presidential election will start April 11. As the deadline for
Iran's presidential candidates to register their nomination
approaches, conservatives are unable to reach a consensus over a
single nominee. Ali Asghar Ahmadi, the head of the election
center at Iran's Interior Ministry, stated April 3 that the
presidential candidates will have the opportunity to register for the
election from April 11-15. Soon after the end of registration, the
Guardian Council, which is tasked with vetting the candidates, will
study the candidates' political backgrounds and announce whether they
are eligible to run in the election. In the 2013 presidential
election, the Guardian Council unexpectedly disapproved of the
candidacy of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who had twice before
served as president of Iran. The disqualification prompted criticism
from moderates and Reformists. Currently, none of the likely
presidential candidates have announced their decision to run.
Moderates and Reformists have formed a coalition and announced that
their sole candidate is incumbent President Hassan Rouhani.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Napoleon once said, "In politics, stupidity is not
a handicap." Apparently true. Last week, the Iranian regime
imposed sanctions on 15 American companies it accused of
"support for terrorism," among other things. None of the
targeted U.S. companies do business in Iran. It is safe to say none
are reconsidering their futures there. The farcical move is
apparently a response to U.S. sanctions placed on dozens of Iranian
entities earlier this year following Iran's unlawful ballistic
missile tests. It is hard to see how a real estate company made
Tehran's list, but who are we to judge? As the world's most active
state sponsor of terrorism, the mullahs presumably know a thing or
two about the subject. Tehran's comical tit-for-tat is the latest
salvo in reaction to the Trump administration's tougher rhetoric. For
years, America pursued a fervent policy of appeasement, rewarding
Tehran's malicious acts with more concessions. Each round of bad
behavior/unearned rewards gave Tehran a false sense of control. That
bubble has burst. The outlandish behavior will likely continue. One
senior Iranian lawmaker said Iran is also considering a bill branding
the U.S. military and the CIA as "terrorist groups." That
bill would be its reaction to the U.S. Congress passing a bill
designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a foreign
terrorist organization (FTO).
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