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TOP STORIES
Turning up the heat in an already tense standoff,
several Iranian officials on Tuesday renewed accusations against
Saudi Arabia, suggesting that the Persian Gulf kingdom was behind
last week's twin terrorist attacks in Tehran. Iran's most influential
military figure, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Ali Jafari, the commander in
chief of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, told the semiofficial Fars
news agency that Iran had "precise information" that Saudi
Arabia "has asked terrorists to carry out operations in
Iran." He offered no further details. The deputy chief of staff
of Iran's armed forces, Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeria, a hard-liner,
made similar assertions against Saudi Arabia, accusing the Saudis of
"governmental terrorism." Other officials have echoed those
remarks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday
called for a permanent mechanism in the Gulf to resolve crises like
the blockade against Qatar by Saudi Arabia and its allies. Speaking
at a news conference on the sidelines of an annual peace mediation in
Oslo, Zarif also said Saudi Arabia supported militants inside Iran.
"It is absolutely imperative for our region not to only to
resolve this particular conflict or dispute between our southern
neighbours in the Persian Gulf through dialogue but in fact establish
a permanent mechanism for consultation, conversation and conflict
resolution in our region," Zarif said. He said this could be
along the lines of the 1975 Helsinki accords -- agreements signed
during the Cold War to reduce tensions between western and Communist
nations. "I think if it worked at the height of the Cold War
here in Europe, it should work," Zarif said. Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates and Bahrain broke off relations with Qatar on
June 5, accusing the small but oil-rich emirate of supporting
"terrorism" and being too close to Iran, which is Riyadh's
regional rival.
The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
said new reliable intelligence has been obtained by the IRGC that
reconfirms Saudi Arabia ordered the self-styled Islamic State to
carry out last week's terror attacks in Tehran that cut short scores
of innocent lives. "The US and the Zionist regime [of Israel]
have backed the terrorists and we have precise information that Saudi
Arabia not only supports them but has demanded that they conduct the
operations inside Iran," Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari was
quoted by Fars News Agency as saying on Monday. The senior commander
did not provide details. Suicide bombers and gunmen struck Iran's
parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the
founder of the Islamic Republic, last Wednesday, killing 17 and
wounding dozens more. Iran has been a leading player in the campaign
to oust IS militants from large swaths of Syria and Iraq, which the
terrorist group overran in 2014. Saudi rulers' involvement in the
deadly terrorist act was previously publically raised in an IRGC statement
and in remarks by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran's supreme leader has forbidden the
government of President Hassan Rouhani from implementing any part of
UNESCO's non-binding 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development into the
country's educational system. "Some say they have altered this
document and won't carry out any part that's unacceptable," said
Khamenei on June 8, 2017, indirectly referring to Rouhani.
"However, that's not the issue." The supreme leader added
that the Education 2030 Framework for Action shouldn't be implemented
"even if we assume, wrongly, that there's nothing in this
document that's blatantly anti-Islamic." Continued
Khamenei: "I'm saying that our national education policy should
not be written from abroad... Whether it has anything against Islam
or not, it doesn't matter. This is Iran. This is the Islamic
Republic. This is a great nation. Why should a few people at UNESCO
or the United Nations write our education policy? This has to do with
our independence."
OPINION & ANALYSIS
The diplomatic crisis that has seen Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
and other Arab Gulf states sever diplomatic ties with Qatar rages on.
Qatar, which has long sponsored terrorist groups including Hamas,
Hezbollah, and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, now faces an embargo
by the Gulf states that risks cutting the country off from most of
its trade routes and food supplies. The Gulf states, as well as
President Trump, are giving the Qataris a sort of ultimatum: clean up
your act or face isolation. This ostracization is also because of
Qatar's long-standing relationship with Iran, another state-sponsor
of terrorism. Trump's backing of the Gulf states is emblematic of his
attempt to pivot the United States away from Iran and back toward
Saudi Arabia, while the diplomatic crisis itself reveals a
fundamental tension between two competing visions for the Middle East
among the U.S. foreign policy apparatus.
After establishing the Iran nuclear deal as his
first-term legacy, the question now is what new initiative will
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani embark on during his second term?
Should the international community have any expectations of Rouhani?
And if Rouhani has the will to bring about any change in, for
example, Syria, a big if, will it be for the better good of the
Syrian people and the region? Or will he be merely looking to promote
Tehran's interests at the expense of others. Iran's policies in the region
are considered by many to be based on double standards. How does Iran
legitimize its interference in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere in
the region while millions have been left killed, injured and
displaced as the entire Middle East remains in turmoil?
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