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TOP STORIES
Iran attempted to launch a cruise missile from a submarine
in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday but the test failed, two U.S.
officials told Fox News. An Iranian Yono-class "midget"
submarine conducted the missile launch. North Korea and Iran are the only
two countries in the world that operate this type of submarine. In
February, Iran claimed to have successfully tested a submarine-launched
missile. It was not immediately clear if Tuesday's test was the first
time Iran had attempted to launch a missile underwater from a submarine.
This incident comes on the heels of other recent provocations from Iran.
In April, the U.S. Navy's guided-missile destoryer fired a warning
flare after an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel came within 1,000
meters of the USS Mahan.
Iran accused Saudi Arabia on Wednesday of seeking tension in
the region, saying the Saudi deputy crown prince had made
"destructive" comments by ruling out dialogue with Tehran.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Saudi defence minister and a son
of King Salman, said in unusually blunt remarks on Tuesday that he would
protect his kingdom from what he called Iranian efforts to dominate the
Muslim world. "These comments are proof that Saudi Arabia supports
terrorism and seeks confrontational and destructive policies in the
region and toward Iran," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram
Qasemi was quoted as saying by state media. He said such remarks, in the
most optimistic of scenarios, showed Saudis lacked a correct
understanding of regional issues.
At least 33 people have died after a large explosion at a
coal mine in northern Iran trapped scores of miners in a mile-long tunnel
1,200 metres deep underground. "Unfortunately 33 miners who were
trapped in the mine after the explosion have lost their lives," said
Ali Rabii, Iran's minister of labour and social welfare, according to the
semi-official Ilna news agency. Rabii was speaking to reporters late on
Wednesday night after visiting the Zemestan-Yort mine in Golestan province.
Other news agencies quoted the minister saying the death toll could be as
high as 35. The Tasnim news agency said the blast was due to workers
jump-starting a locomotive engine by using an external battery. A spark
ignited accumulated methane gas which exploded some 1,200 metres beneath
the surface of the ground, trapping scores of miners inside.
BUSINESS RISK
Iran is in talks with Britain's export credit agency to
facilitate the financing of aircraft sales to state airline IranAir as
part of its pact with world powers to lift sanctions over its nuclear
program, a senior Iranian official said. IranAir's plan to buy more than
180 jets from Airbus and Boeing is the most visible economic deal on the
table after major powers last year lifted most sanctions on Iran in
return for restrictions on its nuclear activities. But financing for the
purchases has been hard to secure because most Western banks are holding
back, concerned about the future of the 2015 agreement after U.S.
President Donald Trump called it a bad deal and ordered a review. So far,
IranAir has taken delivery of just three Airbus jets, for which it paid
cash, industry sources say.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Iran International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical
Exhibition, dubbed Iran Oil Show 2017, will kick off on May 06 in the
Iranian capital of Tehran. The second largest OPEC producer, Iran, sits
atop 11 percent of oil and 18 percent of gas reserves in the world. Every
year, the country hosts an international Oil Show in different oil, gas,
refining and petrochemical sectors. Presence of famous foreign companies
as well as domestic producers and industrialists provide a good chance
for mutual cooperation in view of signature of contracts. The 22nd
edition of the show is scheduled to be held with 4,000 exhibitors from
across the globe running 1,800 pavilions in Tehran International
Permanent Fairground.
Iran's gold jewelry demand climbed to a four-year high in
the first quarter, as the rest of the Middle East was hurt by low oil
prices. An improving economy helped Iran's jewelry demand climb 27
percent from a year earlier to 12.9 metric tons in the first three months
this year, the World Gold Council said in a report Thursday. Iran's gold
bar and coin demand was 3.7 tons, the most for the region, compared with
sales of 0.3 ton. "Demand across the rest of the region remained
weak in the face of low oil prices and subdued tourist numbers, the
impact of which was exaggerated by rising gold prices," the World
Gold Council said.
SYRIA CONFLICT
Delegation of Syrian armed opposition comes out against
Iran's participation in ensuring ceasefire in Syria, according to a
statement at talks in Kazakhstan's capital Astana on Wednesday.
"Iran is an aggressor state, an enemy of the Syrian people. It is
part of the problem and we do not accept a The opposition claimed that
armed groups linked to Tehran were fighting on the side of the government
in Syria. "Remove all sectarian terrorist militias affiliated with
the regime of Wilayat al-Faqith in Iran from Syria by taking effective
and strict measures to this," the document said.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Russia, Turkey and Iran signed on Thursday a memorandum on
creating safe zones in Syria, while the delegation of the armed Syrian
opposition walked out and shouted angrily after a new round of peace
talks held in the Kazakh capital Astana. Russia, Turkey and Iran act as
guarantors of the Astana peace process. Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat
Abdrakhmanov said that next Syria peace talks would be held in Astana in
mid-July.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Not one of the candidates running for
Iran's presidency has an acceptable human rights record, Iranian Nobel
Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi told the Center for Human Rights in Iran
(CHRI) in a recent interview . Ebadi said she was especially appalled by
the candidacy of Ebrahim Raisi, who served on a committee that
implemented the executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.
"His involvement in atrocities and the massacre of prisoners because
of their political or religious views in the 1980s will not be
forgotten," said Ebadi, who defended activists and dissidents as a
human rights lawyer in Iran. "They sent waves of young people to
their graves for their views against the state and would not tell their
families where many of them were buried," added Ebadi, who was forced
to flee Iran in 2009 because of her profession.
Iranian court is charging former Tehran
mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi for criticizing Iran's military involvement
in Syria and the country's policy in the Middle East. Government
spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht rejected rumors claiming the government
made a final decision concerning Iran's Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri's
future in the presidential elections. Nobakht said President Rouhani
hadn't made his mind yet on whether he'd withdraw from the presidential
race or not. Head of Isfahan judiciary Ahmad Khosravi Wafa said that
Karbaschi faces the charges of offending Iranian men killed in Syria,
which Iran refers to as "martyrs of the shrine". Media reports
said that Khosravi Wafa had summoned Karbaschi for investigation.
The crowd was unusual in Iran sports
history: It included men. An exhibition women's basketball game in Tehran
last month was attended by Iran basketball federation president Mahmoud
Mashhoun and other men. They weren't just there to watch the players.
They were there to observe the uniforms. Members of basketball's
governing body had a chance to see players wearing the hijab, which could
be allowed permanently if a rule to permit religious headgear is approved
during FIBA's midterm congress on Thursday or Friday. FIBA's central
board approved the proposal on Wednesday. "I think it will
pass," USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley told The Associated Press.
"It came up in our board meeting and everyone supported making the
change."
DOMESTIC POLITICS
A former Iranian president banned by his country's judiciary
from speaking publicly defied the restrictions to endorse President
Hassan Rouhani for a second term, warning voters that Iran faces international
isolation if a hard-line opponent is elected to power this month.
Mohammad Khatami, a pro-reform leader who served two terms as president
from 1997 to 2005, is under a domestic media ban, and the local press is
prohibited from publishing his image or mentioning his name. But the
former president announced on his website Tuesday that he would support
Rouhani, who is also a moderate, for reelection on May 19. His
endorsement could help mobilize turnout for the incumbent, who is facing
tough competition as he struggles to defend his record on the economy and
respond to questions about the benefits of a nuclear deal struck in
2015with world powers, including the United States.
Iranian presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi released a
campaign video that claims drastic income inequality under the presidency
of Hassan Rouhani and portrays his government as favoring the rich. The
economic benefits, perceived and real, of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with
world powers are the focus of this month's presidential election, and the
video turned a harsh light on the subject in a 30-minute broadcast on
state television. The footage shifts between street children and shabby
homes and shots of tall towers, majestic villas with swimming pools and
posh Western-style apartments. Playing on themes popular in populist
campaigns in the U.S. and Europe, it also takes a jab at large shopping
malls it says are hawking foreign brands at the expense of local
producers, whose plants are being shut, leaving Iranian workers jobless.
As Rouhani seeks re-election in the May 19 vote, his rivals have attacked
him for trying to bring in foreign companies and investors, saying he has
failed to tend to the immediate needs of poorer Iranians.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
1979 is a key date in the U.S. relations with the Middle
East. It was the historical hinge upon which much of today's Middle East
conflicts rest. The Islamic Republic of Iran was established, the Soviet
Union invaded Afghanistan, and the Islamic shrines in Saudi Arabia were
attacked. The following year Saddam Hussein, after having seized full
power in Iraq, invaded Iran. In the decade that followed, Hezbollah was
established, hostages from a variety of western nations were seized by
Iranian-allied terrorists, and serial terrorism emerged as the preferred
tool of statecraft of among others, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Libya, and
the Soviet Union.
It matters not where any national leader stands as far as
the Iran deal is concerned, the greatest concern to the international
community should be why Iran has been seeking the capability to build
nuclear weapons for more than two decades. During the early 1990s, the
Israeli secret service reportedly obtained Iranian government documents,
stating that Iran had acquired several nuclear warheads from the former
Soviet Union. The documents were authenticated by experts in the US, all
of which were said to be correspondence between officials in the Iranian
government and leading commanders of the IRGC, verifying that the
missiles had been successfully acquired. Although these weapons were no
longer operational due to age, they were still useful to nuclear
scientists as a blueprint for a future weapon. It is now believed that
during the 1980s, when Iranian boffins were struggling to master nuclear
technology, Iran obtained the know-how to overcome its problems in the
more difficult aspects of nuclear technology, and from then on, the two countries
shared future technological advances.
While Iran is fighting Saudi Arabia and Gulf states through
its militias in Yemen and directly in Bahrain, and combats for its
interests in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, reconciliation and peacemaking
attempts continued between Iran and the Gulf States, prominently Saudi
Arabia. Occasionally, calls for negotiations would come from former US
President Barack Obama, or through European foreign ministers, and
sometimes - shockingly - through Gulf countries' efforts. Each party
credits itself for strengthening their positions even if it came on the
expenses of Arab and Gulf states, though these calls would benefit Iran.
Everyone knows that Iran can't go on with a reasonable dialogue while
executing its expansion and interference in internal affairs policy.
Very rarely does Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the deputy
crown prince and defence minister of Saudi Arabia, speak as forcefully
and as publicly as he did this week. In a wide-ranging television
interview, it was clear his patience with Iran had come to an end. Prince
Mohammed was putting the Islamic Republic on notice: if Tehran does not
change its behaviour, the consequences will be severe. Prince Mohammed
went further than any Saudi Arabian leader in recent history and
threatened to take the fight into Iran itself. "We are not waiting
until there becomes a battle in Saudi Arabia," he said. If there was
to be a battle, he said it was better that it was "a battle for them
in Iran and not in Saudi Arabia."
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