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TOP STORIES
A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer fired a warning
flare toward an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel coming near it in
the Persian Gulf, an American official said on Wednesday, the latest
tense naval encounter between the two countries. The incident happened
Monday as the vessel attempted to draw closer to the USS Mahan
despite the destroyer trying to turn away from it, said Lt. Ian
McConnaughey, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. The
"Mahan made several attempts to contact the Iranian vessel by
bridge-to-bridge radio, issuing warning messages and twice sounding
the internationally recognized danger signal of five short blasts
with the ship's whistle, as well as deploying a flare to determine
the Iranian vessel's intentions," McConnaughey said in a
statement to The Associated Press.
President Donald Trump told aides to toughen a State
Department letter last week that declared Iran in compliance with a
landmark nuclear deal, senior U.S. officials involved in a policy
review said. Top White House officials said the initial letter the
State Department submitted was too soft because it ignored Tehran's
destabilizing activities in the Middle East and support for regional
terrorist groups, these officials said. Mr. Trump personally weighed
in on the redrafting of the letter, which was sent to Congress on
April 18, the officials said. The final version highlighted Iran's
threatening regional behavior and called into question the U.S.'s
long-term support for the multinational accord. Mr Trump also told
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to follow up the next day with a
strident public message that the new administration was planning a
shift on policy toward Iran, putting the nuclear deal in play, these
officials said.
Iran's supreme leader called on presidential candidates
on Tuesday to champion economic self-sufficiency, further distancing
himself from Hassan Rouhani's policy of opening to the West and
seeking foreign investment. Allies of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who aim
to reclaim the presidency for their hardline faction, hope voters
will punish the pragmatist President Rouhani for the slow pace of
economic recovery despite the lifting of sanctions under a nuclear
deal, the hallmark of his first term. "The candidates should promise
to focus on national capabilities and domestic capacities to resolve
the economic issues ... rather than looking abroad," Khamenei
was quoted as saying by state TV as saying on Monday.
NUCLEAR & BALLISTIC MISSILE
PROGRAM
"Consultations for purchase of 950 tons of yellow
cake from Kazakhstan are not yet over and will continue,"
Araqchi said ahead of the seventh meeting of the Joint Commission of
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which started in
Vienna on Tuesday He also pointed to the U.S. failure to fully commit
to the nuclear accord According to Araqchi all cases regarding the
issue were to be raised during the joint commission on Tuesday.
Araqchi, who on the part of Iran is tasked to monitor the
implementation of the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and six
world powers, noted that Washington's policy of reevaluating the
JCPOA is creating an atmosphere of distrust and confusion among world
countries, and this is contrary to the text and spirit of the
agreement.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
President Donald Trump personally intervened to inject
tougher language into a State Department letter to Congress last week
that found Iran was in compliance with the deal limiting its nuclear
program, according to an administration official familiar with the
matter. The letter to Congress from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
certified that Iran is complying with terms of the accord it reached
with the US. and five other world powers in 2015 to restrict its
nuclear activities in return for relief from certain economic
sanctions, a finding required by U.S. law every 90 days.Bottom of
Form But the final version highlighted Iran's designation as a state
sponsor of terrorism, reflecting Trump's intervention after the
president read a draft letter that he found too soft on Tehran, said
the official, who asked not to be identified discussing internal
deliberations.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali
Khamenei says the United States and Zionists are directing
belligerence against Iran because Islam is most prominent in the
Islamic Republic. "After the establishment of the Islamic
Republic, where a characteristic of the Prophet's rule emerged and
still continues, the enemies of human societies began battling what
constitutes the reason for the progress of human societies, namely
Islam, because Islam can stop oppression against humanity," the
Leader said on Tuesday, which marked the occasion of Eid al-Mab'ath.
The day marks the appointment of Muhammad (PBUH) to prophethood
through divine order, and Ayatollah Khamenei was addressing a
gathering of Iranian authorities and the ambassadors of Muslim
nations on this occasion
The family of an Iranian-American father and son
imprisoned in Iran are urging President Donald Trump to take personal
responsibility to secure their release as administration officials
huddle with Iranian counterparts for the first time in meetings in Vienna
this week. Siamak Namazi, 45, is being held along with his father,
Baquer Namazi, 80, in Iran's Evin prison. Siamak's brother, Babak
Namazi, said Tuesday that he flew to the site of the U.S.-Iranian
meetings in Vienna to press the case of his imprisoned family
members, who have been held since October 2015 and February 2016,
respectively. In a news conference in Vienna, Babak Namazi said the
Trump administration had assured him that it would raise Siamak and
Baquer's cases with the Iranian delegation.
BUSINESS RISK
As one of the world's biggest sellers of smartphones and
the back-end equipment that makes cellular networks run, Huawei
Technologies has become one of the major symbols of China's global
technology ambitions. But as it continues its rise, its business with
some countries has fallen under growing scrutiny from investigators
in the United States. American officials are widening their
investigation into whether Huawei broke American trade controls on
Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria, according to an administrative subpoena
sent to Huawei and reviewed by The New York Times. The previously
unreported subpoena was issued in December by the United States
Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which
oversees compliance with a number of American sanctions
programs....It is not clear why the Treasury Department became
involved with the Huawei investigation. But its subpoena suggests
Huawei might also be suspected of violating American embargoes that
broadly restrict the export of American goods to countries like Iran
and Syria.
SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT
U.S. prosecutors said they will show that a
Turkish-Iranian gold trader coordinated an illegal scheme to help
Iran evade U.S. sanctions with people at "high levels" in
Turkey and Iran. During a pretrial hearing in a Manhattan district
court on April 24, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Lockard said he
would prove that Reza Zarrab and his co-conspirators offered their
services to process hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of
prohibited financial transactions for Iran's government and
businesses in a letter personally addressed to then-Iranian President
Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Zarrab then worked with high-level government and
banking officials in Iran and Turkey to carry out the scheme, which
benefited, among others, "the Islamic Revolutionary Guards
Corps, ... Iranian banks that have been sanctioned for their role in
providing financing for Iran's nuclear programs, and Iranian
commercial airlines," he said.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Alderley have just re-entered into the Iranian market
since the lifting of sanctions and as a big player in the market
previously, Alderley already have a large installed base of over 40
modular packages in the region. In order to ensure systems are
running at optimal capacity, Alderley have been proactively engaging
with existing clients and have visited various sites such as Abadan
Refinery, Darquain and Assaluyeh to provide maintenance and
engineering support services. Eric Maddock, Business Development
Director, Alderley AFZE comments, "This is a good time for
Alderley to re-enter the Iranian market and, as part of giving our
clients the best support for their systems, we are extremely pleased
to announce our new partners in the region: Artman System Company.
Artman have an excellent reputation in Iran and have a full
understanding of the market place and our clients. Together we
have developed a strong presence and will be able to manufacture
locally and support our clients with the transfer of technology and
service support."
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran has confirmed that the final
appeal by a British-Iranian woman detained in Iran while on a trip
with her toddler daughter of having her five-year prison sentence
overturned has been denied. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's family
earlier said that she learned of the development last weekend. The
judiciary's Mizanonline.ir on Wednesday quoted Gholamhossein Esmaili,
head of Tehran's justice department, as saying the appeal was
rejected and that the "appeals court approved the verdict by the
primary court." He didn't elaborate. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who
works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the
news agency was detained by security forces in Iran in 2016. Later,
she was sentenced on security charges. Iranian media have said
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was convicted of plotting the "soft
toppling" of Iran's government. Iran doesn't recognize dual
nationality.
DOMESTIC POLITICS
Shortly after Ebrahim Raisi was confirmed as a hardline
candidate for Iran's presidential election, he revealed a surprise
weapon in his campaign armoury: his wife. In a move almost unheard of
for a conservative cleric running for political office, Mr Raisi
posted a video on social media in which he lauded Jamileh Alamolhoda,
a professor at Shahid Beheshti University, as a successful career
woman. "If I go home and she's not there, I don't mind. If there
is no supper, I don't mind," Mr Raisi says in the video, a
picture of Ms Alamolhoda appearing at the end. "I genuinely
believe that her work helps her and the country and she is having an
impact."
Iranian presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi approved
executing thousands of prisoners in 1988 when he was member of the
commission of death that was tasked with eliminating political
prisoners who opposed the regime. According to the Iranian
opposition, the authorities executed between 3,500 and 15,000
political prisoners in 1988. The majority of those killed were
members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Raisi, 56, has strong
relations with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, security apparatuses
and judicial authority and he also enjoys the support of the Iranian
supreme guide. However, his popularity among the Iranian public is
low mainly due to his affiliation with the commission of death.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Last week the Trump administration sent a letter to
House speaker Paul Ryan to certify that the Islamic Republic of Iran
is in compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,
commonly referred to as the Iran nuclear deal. On the campaign trail,
Donald Trump had called it the "worst deal ever negotiated"
and promised it wouldn't stand if he made it to the White House. What
gives? Trump supporters and others who opposed Barack Obama's
signature foreign policy initiative are now wondering: Was the
president just bluffing? Did he plan all along to leave the deal in
place and take his chances that Iran wouldn't go nuclear on his watch?
As usual, Washington is abuzz that the administration is split into
rival camps-one that wants to go hard on the Iranians and another
that wants to take it easy on the leading state sponsor of terror.
There is indeed a conversation ongoing within the administration, the
result of a larger, comprehensive review of Iran policy. According to
one administration official, "it is one of the major projects
that the government is now embarked on, involving hundreds, maybe
thousands of people."
The Iranian regime might soon become a lobbying force to
reckon with on Capitol Hill. That is one upshot of Boeing's plan to
expedite delivery of its airplanes sold to Iran. It is also why
President Trump should move quickly to scuttle the deal by which
Boeing agreed to sell 80 civilian aircraft for $16.6 billion. Sen.
Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), among others,
have already made a persuasive case against the sale. They argue that
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards fly airplanes, like the Boeing
ones, to ferry weapons to their clients, such as Syrian dictator
Bashar Assad and the terrorist group Hezbollah. Both have shown
little mercy in the mullahs' drive to destabilize and dominate the
Middle East.
On April 19, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
certified that Iran is sticking to the terms of the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal but noted that the
administration is conducting a review of sanctions on Iran and its
broader regional activities. Upholding the JCPOA should be a
priority. However, the United States should amplify its focus on
Iran's destabilizing activities and capability development in a
holistic strategy. Currently, in Syria, members of the powerful
paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran's
conventional army, the Artesh, are fighting to preserve President
Bashar al Assad and his regime. Moreover, it is estimated that
Iran has between 106,000 - 108,000 proxy soldiers mobilized in Syria,
including members of Lebanese Hezbollah and the Syrian National
Defense Force. While the US. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki
Haley has asserted that the Trump administration wants to "get
the Iranian influence out" of Syria, concrete steps have yet to
be taken to address more extensively Iranian destabilizing activities
in Syria.
Sometimes international law is ambiguous. Sometimes not.
When it comes to murdering civilians and using chemical weapons to
get the job done, there are no gray areas, no fuzzy lines, no
mitigating circumstances. Such practices are clearly and specifically
prohibited under what's called "the law of war." That makes
Bashar Assad, Syria's dynastic dictator, a war criminal. And it makes
Iran his chief accomplice. As far back as 2005, Jane's Defense Weekly
reported that Iran's rulers were actively helping Mr. Assad launch an
"innovative chemical warfare program" - providing technology
to build equipment that would produce "hundreds of tons of
precursors for VX, sarin nerve agents and mustard blister agent"
When it comes to the Islamic republic, President Trump and his
advisers are under no illusions. "Everywhere you look, if there's
trouble in the region, you find Iran," Secretary of Defense
James Mattis said last Wednesday during a visit to Saudi Arabia.
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