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TOP STORIES
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians chanted "Death to
Israel" in nationwide rallies on Friday at which they also
burned flag of the Islamic State militant group which claimed
responsibility for attacks in Tehran this month, state TV reported.
Iranian state media said millions of people turned out for the
rallies to mark Al-Quds Day that was declared by Iran's 1979 Islamic
revolution founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and which is held on
the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Opposition to
Israel is a touchstone of belief for Shi'ite-led Iran, which backs
Palestinian and Lebanese Islamic militant groups opposed to peace
with the Jewish state, which Tehran refuses to recognise. Israel, the
United States and its chief Sunni Arab ally Saudi Arabia accuse Iran
of fomenting tension in the Middle East and of sponsoring terrorism.
This is denied by Tehran.
Iran staged anti-Israel rallies across the country on
Friday, with protesters condemning Israel's occupation of Palestinian
territories and chanting "Death to Israel" as the powerful
Revolutionary Guard displayed its ballistic missiles, including the
type used this week in Syria. Marchers in Tehran headed from various
points of the city toward the Friday prayer ceremony at Tehran
University campus grounds. Protesters burned the Israeli flag and
effigies of Israeli leaders. President Hassan Rouhani and other
Iranian officials attended the demonstration. State media reported
that similar rallies were underway in other cities and towns in Iran.
The anti-Israel rallies are an annual event marking al-Quds Day, a
historic Arabic name for Jerusalem. Iran sees it as an occasion to
express support for the Palestinians and emphasize the importance of
Jerusalem for Muslims.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has lashed
out at Israel in a deluge of rhetoric against the Jewish state ahead
of the Iranian-initiated 'Al Quds day,' which protests Israel's
existence. "There is no doubt that we will witness the
demise of the Zionist entity [Israel]," read a post on his
Twitter account Thursday. Speaking at a meeting of academic and
scientists in Tehran on Wednesday, the hardline Iranian leader stated
that defending the Palestinians was tantamount to "defending the
truth." "Today, fighting against the Zionist regime [of
Israel] is fighting the hegemonic, arrogant system," Khamenei
said. Iran and anti-Israeli proponents around the world will mark Al
Quds day on Friday. The event is held every year on the last Friday
of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Two Iranian airlines made prospective deals with Airbus
on Thursday to buy 73 jetliners, a signal that the global aerospace
industry is betting such sales to Iran will prevail despite increased
hostility by the Trump administration. The prospective deals, described
by Airbus as memorandums of understanding, are worth as much as $2.5
billion and were announced by the company at the Paris Air Show, an
important sales event for plane manufacturers. If completed, the
deals would further solidify Iran as a significant customer in the
industry, dominated by Boeing in the United States and Airbus in
Europe. Desperate to rejuvenate an aging civilian fleet hurt by years
of sanctions, Iranian air carriers have made arrangements over the
past year to buy up to 140 planes from Boeing and 100 from Airbus.
The head of Iran's atomic energy organisation, one of
the architects of the 2015 landmark nuclear deal, has warned the US
to stop upsetting the regional balance of power by siding with Saudi
Arabia. Writing in the Guardian, Ali Akbar Salehi said "lavish
arms purchases" by regional actors - a reference to the Saudi
purchase of $100bn of US arms during Donald Trump's recent visit to
Riyadh - would be seen as provocative in Tehran and that it would be unrealistic
to expect Iran to remain "indifferent". Salehi, an
MIT graduate scientist who has also served as foreign minister, was
the second most senior Iranian negotiator, dealing with technical
aspects, during nearly two years of talks between Tehran and six of
the world's major powers that led to the final nuclear accord in
Vienna in July 2015. Although Trump has promised to "dismantle
the disastrous deal with Iran", he has not so far taken any
concrete steps to scrap it. Last month, two days before Iran's
presidential election, his administration announced that it was
continuing to waive nuclear-related sanctions under the agreement
despite Washington toughening up its overall Iran policy.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on
Thursday he supported efforts to quickly act on legislation to impose
new sanctions on Russia and Iran that passed the Senate nearly
unanimously but has stalled in the House. Republican Representative
Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, "has
indicated he wants to get moving on this quickly, and we want to
honor that," Ryan said at his weekly news conference. The
Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act, which also includes
new sanctions against Russia, passed the Senate 98-2 last week, a
vote that looked like it might complicate President Donald Trump's
desire for warmer relations with Moscow. The measure must pass the
House before it can be sent to Trump to sign into law or veto. The
House parliamentarian found that the legislation violated a
constitutional requirement that any bill affecting government
revenues must originate in the House, something known as a "blue
slip" violation.
An unexpected roadblock to new sanctions on Iran and
Russia appeared to be clearing Thursday as the House and Senate
worked to resolve a procedural issue on a bipartisan bill that would
also make it more difficult for President Trump to ease sanctions on
Russia. But it remains unclear when the House will take final action
on the bill. The House objected to the Senate's Countering Iran's
Destabilizing Activities Act that was passed earlier this week,
arguing that it flouted the constitutional provision requiring
revenue-raising bills to originate in the House. That prompted
accusations from Democrats that the House Republican leaders were
trying to stall the bill at Trump's request. The Trump administration
has warned against impeding presidential prerogatives to relieve
sanctions. "We would ask for the flexibility to turn the heat up
when we need to, but also to ensure that we have the ability to
maintain a constructive dialogue," Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson told the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week.
TERRORISM
Iran's massive funding of terrorist groups that endanger
Israel was exposed in shocking detail by IDF Military Intelligence
chief Maj.- Gen. Hertzi Halevi on Wednesday. Speaking at the IDC
Herzliya Conference, Halevi revealed that Iran is funding Hezbollah
to the tune of $75 million a year, while paying $50m. of Hamas's
budget and approximately $70m. to Islamic Jihad. Connecting Hamas's
alliance with Iran to recent criticism of Israel for the humanitarian
situation in the Gaza strip, Halevi placed the blame for a lack of
construction supplies and the electricity problem squarely on Hamas.
Israel has let into the Strip "four times the volume of building
materials" required to build one of the world's largest
buildings, but "Hamas is using the materials for war, not
rebuilding," he said.
SYRIA CONFLICT
Iran has established a drone airfield inside Syria not
far from a U.S. military base, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The
airfield may be the source of drones that have recently threatened
U.S. troops. According to two U.S. defense officials, the Iranian
airfield near Palmyra, Syria, has a ground control station for
operating drones. The U.S. and the coalition have a base in At Tanf,
Syria, close to where the Iraqi, Jordanian and Syrian borders
intersect, 80 miles south of Palmyra. The Iranians have been basing
Shahed-129 drones at the airfield, according to the officials. The
Iranian-made drones can be armed or used for reconnaissance. Neither
official could say for sure whether either of the two drones that the
U.S. has shot down in southern Syria flew out of that base, but both
said it was likely.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Four Arab states boycotting Qatar over alleged support
for terrorism have sent Doha a list of 13 demands including closing
Al Jazeera television and reducing ties to their regional adversary
Iran, an official of one of the four countries said. The demands
aimed at ending the worst Gulf Arab crisis in years appear designed
to quash a two decade-old foreign policy in which Qatar has punched
well above its weight, striding the stage as a peace broker, often in
conflicts in Muslim lands. Doha's independent-minded approach,
including a dovish line on Iran and support for Islamist groups, in
particular the Muslim Brotherhood, has incensed some of its neighbors
who see political Islamism as a threat to their dynastic rule. The
list, compiled by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt
and Bahrain, which cut economic, diplomatic and travel ties to Doha
on June 5, also demands the closing of a Turkish military base in
Qatar, the official told Reuters.
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud
Barzani on June 7 announced an agreement among Iraqi Kurdish groups
to hold a binding vote in September that could pave the way for an
independent Kurdistan, free of control by the central government in
Baghdad. An independent Kurdistan, which would border Iran along a
province with a large Kurdish population, poses many challenges for
the Islamic Republic. Iranian leaders have been vocal in their
opposition to any referendum that would split Iraq. Iranian leaders
and media have expressed strong opposition to the September referendum
on the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan. During a June 20 meeting with
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Iran's supreme leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters,
expressed his opposition to the independence vote. "As a
neighbor, the Islamic Republic is opposed to the holding of a
referendum for the separation of a part of Iraq," Khamenei said.
Those who are pushing it are "opposed to the independence and
identity of Iraq," he added. "Iraq, with its roots and historical
and cultural civilization, must remain integrated."
SAUDI-IRAN TENSIONS
Iran urged regional rival Saudi Arabia on Thursday to
free three Iranian fishermen, pay compensation for shooting dead a
sailor and punish those behind an "irresponsible act", the
semi-official Fars news agency reported. Iranian media reported last
week that Saudi border guards had opened fire on Iranian fishing
boats in the Gulf, killing a fisherman. The Saudi Information
Ministry said it had detained three members of Iran's Revolutionary
Guards in the incident. "The fishermen were not armed ... Saudi
guards killed one of the sailors by opening fire on the boats,"
Fars quoted a statement published by Iran's Interior Ministry.
"Those detained fishermen should be freed ... compensation
should be paid for the one killed and those involved in the
irresponsible act should be punished."
HUMAN RIGHTS
The killing, by border guards, of another kulbar-the
Persian word for the border-crossing couriers who transport illegally
imported goods into Iran-has prompted 250 Iranian civil rights
activists to demand that Parliament implement measures to protect the
downtrodden laborers. "Shared widely on social media, images of
an innocent young man's body on the ground next to his load of
cigarette boxes are heart-wrenching for every human being," said
the activists in a joint statement issued on June 18, 2017, a copy of
which was obtained by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
"While deeply concerned and extremely sickened by the
violent treatment against the kulbars, we call on the people, civil
rights activists, and members of Parliament to end their indefensible
silence and demand that the authorities be held accountable for their
un-Islamic and unlawful actions," added the statement. The
activists were reacting to a graphic online report by the Kurdistan
Human Rights Network (KHRN) about the death of Sirvan Azizi, a kulbar
killed by a bullet shot from close range by a border guard near a
village close to the city of Sardasht, West Azerbaijan Province, on
June 14.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Working to negotiate agreements with the west has been a
mixed experience for Iran. Often, following some hard-won engagement,
some western nations, whether distracted by shortsighted political
motivations or the lucrative inducements of other regional actors,
walk away and allow the whole situation to return to the status quo
ante. Quite a number of such reversals have befallen Iran when
engaging with the US, in particular. The latest case of hard-won
progress at risk - which I believe can still be saved from failure -
is the historic nuclear deal known as the joint comprehensive plan of
action (JCPOA). This was agreed in 2015 between Iran and the
permanent members of the UN security council, plus Germany - the
P5+1. The critical question at the present juncture is: how can we
rescue this engagement and move out of the familiar vicious circle? I
believe that concentrating on three guiding principles would allow
all actors to stay the course. They are as follows.
On the evening of June 18, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) fired what were said to be six Zolfaqar
medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) some 600 kilometers from its
western provinces across Iraqi territory at what were described as
Islamic State (IS) command-and-control and logistics targets, along
with a suicide car factory in the Deir al-Zour province, in eastern
Syria. An IRGC communique identified the attack as a "clear
message" to the takfiri terrorists as well as their regional and
overseas supporters -- an unmistakable reference to Saudi Arabia and
the United States. Iran called it a "proportional response"
to the IS terrorist attacks in the center of Tehran and at Ayatollah
Khomeini's mausoleum eleven days earlier, citing a potential for
future escalation should such attacks persist. Therefore, from the
beginning, deterrence was high on the minds of Iranian leaders when
they authorized the strike. This is not the first time since the end
of the Iran-Iraq War that the Islamic Republic has used ballistic
missiles to exact punishment. On at least six occasions between
November 1994 and April 2001, Iran reportedly fired Scud missiles at
bases in Iraq of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq. This
latest episode, however, is the first time Iran has tested one of its
"more modern" indigenous missile designs in actual operational
conditions -- and the result appears to have been mixed at best.
Since the June 7 terrorist attacks in Tehran, the
Iranian government has made dozens of arrests and highlighted the
fact that ISIS claimed responsibility. The country's leaders have
driven the narrative that Iran is yet another victim of this global
terrorist network - even going so far as to launch missiles targeting
ISIS operations in Syria. But it is increasingly apparent that, while
outside terrorists may have played a role, the government's focus on
their involvement hides a more complex truth, with significant
implications for US policy. Through recent news reports we've learned
that those rounded-up as part of the attacks are all members of the
Kurdish and Baluch ethnic minorities. The conflict with Iran's
Kurdish and Baluch minorities is not new: Tehran has been battling
for close to a decade a much larger insurgency with both groups,
without any evidence of direct links to ISIS. Most recently, on the
eve of the Tehran attacks, a Kurdish nationalist group - with no
global terrorist connections - killed two Iranian border guards near
the city of Urmiya.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was a ruthless man, he knew
the minute he stepped from a plane at Tehran Airport, after being
forced into years of exile during Shah Pahlavi's regime, he would do
all in his power to keep his long sought-after revolution on track,
even if it meant walking on the bodies of those who had sided with
him throughout the insurrection. These were the men from other
anti-Shah rebel groups, who after the dust had settled, were soon
raising angry voices against Khomeini over the repressive path he was
now taking. Right from the very outset of the revolution, as the street
battles became bloodier, Shah Pahlavi's top officials and military
officers were hunted down, and with Khomeini's faithful moving from
street to street, they slaughtered from dusk till dawn, eradicating
all those they could find who were connected to the former regime, or
who might propose a future threat to his leadership. This slaughter
would set a precedent for what was to come in Khomeini's newly-formed
Islamic republic, the carnage would continue in many forms for
decades, with hardly a whimper of condemnation from Western leaders.
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