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TOP STORIES
The Trump administration said on Tuesday it was launching
an inter-agency review of whether the lifting of sanctions against Iran
was in the United States' national security interests, while
acknowledging that Tehran was complying with a deal to rein in its
nuclear program. In a letter to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker
Paul Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, on Tuesday U.S. Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson said Iran remained compliant with the 2015 deal,
but said there were concerns about its role as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Under the deal, the State Department must notify Congress every 90 days
on Iran's compliance under the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA). It is the first such notification under U.S. President
Donald Trump.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson certified that Iran
is complying with the multinational deal to curb its nuclear program
but announced a review that could result in scuttling the accord.
Tillerson, in report to Congress required every 90 days, said Iran is
compliant through April 18th with its commitments in the accord signed
in 2015 that provided relief from economic sanctions that crimped
Iran's oil exports and hobbled its economy. Still, President Donald
Trump ordered his National Security Council to review whether to
reimpose the sanctions because of Iran's continued support for
terrorism. "Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror,
through many platforms and methods," Tillerson wrote in the letter
to Congress. He said the review will evaluate whether the suspension of
sanctions "is vital to the national security interests of the
United States."
At an annual military parade in Tehran on Tuesday, Iran
showed off its new S-300 air defense missile system and other weapons,
many displayed under banners calling for Israel's demise. The military
parade showcased the Iranian-made Sayyad-3 anti-aircraft missile for
the first time, its Russian-made S-300 system and a slew of other
military equipment. Some of the trucks carrying weapons were adorned
with banners showing a fist punching through a blue Star of David and
the slogan "Death to Israel" in Persian. Attending the
ceremony was President Hassan Rouhani, who said that while the Iranian
military was "avoiding tensions and encounters" it had to
"remain vigilant in the face of plots hatched by the others and
increase deterrent power."
NUCLEAR & BALLISTIC MISSILE PROGRAM
The European Union (EU) announced on Tuesday that it has
signed the first-ever project for nuclear safety cooperation with Iran,
under the framework of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world
powers. The European Commission said in a statement on Tuesday that the
€2.5 million ($2.6 million) project aims to enhance the capabilities of
the Iranian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (INRA), NewEurope news website
reported. The statement added that the project will do so by preparing
feasibility study for the Nuclear Safety Centre foreseen in the nuclear
agreement, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA).
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Leaders of Iranian-American organizations asked a U.S.
district court in Washington Tuesday to become the latest to order a
nationwide halt to President Trump's executive order banning new visas
and immigration from six Muslim-majority countries. Testimony came on
behalf of the largest ethnic group directly affected by the March 6
order, and was entered in one of a half-dozen challenges to the White
House action watched closely by legal analysts. The lawsuit is unusual
in that U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of Washington allowed live
testimony by individuals who allege they are harmed by the order, and
because the case is on a fast-track, said Michigan University law
professor Margo Schlanger, sponsor of the Civil Rights Litigation
Clearinghouse that is tracking more than 80 related lawsuits.
BUSINESS RISK
Iran's return to the world economy is helping planemakers
cope with a downturn in global demand, providing homes for airplanes
orphaned by reversals in the growth plans of airlines elsewhere.
Planemakers are also gambling that the early delivery of such aircraft
could help prop up a nuclear sanctions deal between Iran and world
powers, threatened by conservative opponents in both Washington and
Tehran, Western sources said. Since sanctions were lifted under the
deal to reopen trade and curb Iran's nuclear projects, the Islamic
Republic, trying to boost its economy after years of isolation, has
joined a waiting list of up to eight years for 200 new aircraft. But
efforts to meet its most immediate needs have been boosted by financial
problems facing other airlines across the globe as new airplanes come
onto the market at bargain prices.
Iran will probably be allowed to keep its oil production
unchanged if OPEC decides to extend its six-month agreement on output
cuts beyond June, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Issam Almarzooq said. "I
think they will keep the same level if the deal is extended,"
Almarzooq, who chairs the committee monitoring the cuts, said Wednesday
in an interview in Abu Dhabi. Kuwait was the first country to call for
extending the production cuts beyond June. Oil prices will increase as
demand improves, chipping away at oil inventories in the second half,
he said. The most important business stories of the day.Bottom of Form
Iran was allowed to increase its output under the deal as the nation
rebuilds from international sanctions that crippled its energy
industry. Since sanctions were eased in January 2016, Iran's oil production
has climbed 35 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Lufthansa is in talks with Iran Air to provide catering,
maintenance and pilot training services as it seeks to take advantage
of emerging business opportunities in the country, executives at the
German airline group said on Wednesday. Foreign companies have been
vying for contracts in Iran since economic sanctions were lifted last
year in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear technology development
projects. "We are in very, very intense discussions, actually
almost on a weekly basis," said Karsten Zang, Lufthansa's regional
director for the Gulf, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, at a press
briefing in Dubai. Lufthansa Group subsidiaries LSG Sky Chefs,
Lufthansa Technik and Lufthansa Pilot Training are seeking the
contracts with Iran Air whilst the group is also in talks to provide
services to other Iranian aviation firms, he told reporters at a
company briefing in Dubai. Iran has signed orders for 200 new
Western-built aircraft for Iran Air, taking delivery so far of two new
Airbus A330s and an A321.
SAUDI-IRAN TENSIONS
A member of the Iranian Parliament's Presiding Board Akbar
Ranjbarzadeh said Saudi Arabia has accepted Iran's demands to ensure the
safety, dignity and health of Iranian Hajj pilgrims. Ranjbarzadeh made
the remarks among reporters on the sidelines of the Parliament's open
session on Wednesday. "During a meeting held behind the doors on
Wednesday morning, Leader's representative for Hajj and Pilgrimage
Affairs Seyyed Ali Ghazi Askar and Iranian Culture Minister Reza Salehi
Amiri submitted a detailed report on the dispatch of Iranian pilgrims
to the Hajj pilgrimage," Iranian MP noted. He also underlined that
holding Umrah Hajj is subject to the successful holding of obligatory
Hajj this year.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran's judiciary has blocked newly
introduced voice calls on Telegram, the most popular messaging app in
the country, state media reported Wednesday. The blockage follows the
arrest last month of 12 people who ran popular reformist channels on
Telegram, ahead of a presidential election next month. It was not clear
if the blockage of voice calls, which Telegram introduced worldwide
last week, was political or designed to protect the commercial
interests of domestic phone companies. "We gave the authorization
for the establishment of Telegram's voice call service Friday... but it
was blocked by a judicial order," Telecommunications Minister
Mahmoud Vaezi told reformist newspaper Shargh.
Despite being repeatedly disqualified in
the past, one of Iran's top political activists, Azam Taleghani, has
registered to run in the country's May 19, 2017 presidential election.
The daughter of a moderate leader of Iran's 1979 revolution, Ayatollah
Mahmoud Taleghani (1911-1979), Azam Taleghani told the Center for Human
Rights in Iran (CHRI) that she registered to "clear the
confusion" over male interpretations of the Constitution that have
blocked women from running for the presidency. "The Guardian
Council has never presented its argument for rejecting the
qualifications of women candidates," she said. "It has never
explicitly stated that women have been disqualified for being
women." "The council's position has not been completely
negative," she added. "It has the capacity to accept women's
participation by presenting a different and correct interpretation of
the Constitution."
In Iran, homosexuality is a crime,
punishable with death for men and lashings for women. But Iran is also
the only Muslim country in the Persian Gulf region that gives trans
citizens the right to have their gender identity recognized by the law.
Before the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran there was no official
government policy on transgender people. After the revolution, under
the new religious government, transsexuals were placed in the same
category as homosexuals, condemned by Islamic leaders and considered
illegal. Things changed largely due to the efforts of Maryam Khatoon
Molkara. Molkara was fired from her job, forcible injected with male
hormones and put in a psychiatric institution during the 1979
revolution. But thanks to her high-level contacts among Iran's
influential clerics, she was able to get released. Afterwards, she
worked with several religious leader to advocate for trans rights and
eventually managed to wrangle a meeting with Ayatollah Khomeini, the
"supreme leader" of Iran at the time.
DOMESTIC POLITICS
Iran's radical hardliners may secure the presidency in the
country's upcoming elections, a new poll finds. More than 40 percent of
respondents said the current incumbent, President Hassan Rouhani, is
"somewhat likely" to lose the May 19 election, while 14
percent said he was "very likely" to lose. The numbers
suggest Rouhani, who was ushered into office on promises to reinvigorate
the economy, will lose to a more hardline candidate who may prove more
palatable to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's former president, has called
regional powers in the Middle East to change their foreign policies,
including in Syria, saying the conflict in the region was imposed
"from outside".The ex-president made the comments to Al Jazeera
on Tuesday, less than a week after surprising Iranians by registering
as a candidate for next month's presidential election. Ahmadinejad had
previously said he would not stand after being advised not to by
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying he would instead support
his former deputy, Hamid Baghaei, who also registered on April 12.
"The supreme leader gave me advice but he did not ask me not to
run. It was just advice," Ahmadinejad said in his interview with
Al Jazeera. "I announced my nomination and support to my brother,
Baghaei, because the situation on the international, regional as well
as on internal levels has gone through many changes," he added.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
President Trump and his advisers are rightly concerned
about Syria and North Korea. These rogue states, guilty of human rights
atrocities, pose the risk of wider violence and destabilization.
Syria's civil war has already created millions of refugees, has
rekindled diseases (e.g. polio) that were once thought to be extinct
and has allowed the country to become a haven for Islamic State
terrorists. And yet, these should be lesser concerns in the bigger
scheme.
At a time when public hatred in Iran nears a high point
for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani due to his report card of
deception and influential cleric Ebrahim Raisi for his role in massive
killings and massacres, firebrand former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
registered his candidacy for Iran's presidential election.
Ahmadinejad's return has furthered already dangerous divides among the
Iranian regime's senior ranks. First and foremost, this sheds important
light on the weakness of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and serves
as a litmus test of the entire regime. Ahmadinejad claims to have
remained loyal to his pledge to Khamenei to keep out of this election's
fiasco, and that his candidacy is merely aimed to support that of Hamid
Baqai, a former vice president to Ahmadinejad known for his role in the
notorious Ministry of Intelligence. However, the rendered disputes
inside the regime prove otherwise.
Congress is considering a new bill that aims to counter
Iran's nefarious activities. In fact, this bill undermines the Iran
nuclear agreement and endangers the lives of U.S. men and women in
uniform. I say this as a retired U.S. Army officer, former army
physician assistant, former special operations soldier, and multi
deployed combat veteran with three and a half years in Afghanistan and
Iraq. I do not underestimate the Iranian threat. I experienced it first
hand. When I served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005, Iran's efforts
were directly in opposition to ours. They deliberately targeted U.S.
forces. To this day, I wear a wrist band in memory of Staff Sgt. Jude
Jonaus and Master Sgt. Thomas Wallsmith - two of my fellow soldiers and
friends. My army brothers, killed by sophisticated, Iranian-supplied
explosive formed projectiles that easily cut through their up-armored
Humvees.
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