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TOP STORIES
Russia, Iran and the United States are drawing new red
lines for each other in Syria, with Moscow warning Washington on
Monday it would treat any U.S.-led coalition planes in its area of
operations as potential targets after the U.S. air force downed a
Syrian jet. Tensions escalated on Sunday as the U.S. army brought
down the jet near Raqqa and Iran launched missiles at Islamic State
targets in eastern Syria - the first time each state has carried out
such actions in the multi-sided Syrian war. A pro-Damascus commander
said Tehran and Washington were drawing "red lines".
Russia, like Iran an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, issued a
warning of its own to the United States in response to the downing of
the Syrian jet, saying on Monday it would view as targets any planes
flying west of the Euphrates River, though it stopped short of saying
it would shoot any down. The incidents reflect mounting competition
for areas of Syria where Islamic State (IS) insurgents are in
retreat, leaving swathes of territory up for grabs and posing the
question of what comes next for U.S. policy that is shaped first and
foremost by the priority of vanquishing the jihadists.
Iran says its ballistic missile strike targeting the
Islamic State group in Syria was not only a response to deadly
attacks in Tehran, but a powerful message to archrival Saudi Arabia
and the United States, one that could add to already soaring regional
tensions. The launch, which hit Syria's eastern city of Deir el-Zour
on Sunday night, appeared to be Iran's first missile attack abroad in
over 15 years and its first in the Syrian conflict, in which it has
provided crucial support to embattled President Bashar Assad. It
comes amid the worsening of a long-running feud between Shiite
powerhouse Iran and Saudi Arabia, with supports Syrian rebels and has
led recent efforts to isolate the Gulf nation of Qatar. It also
raises questions about how U.S. President Donald Trump's
administration, which had previously put Iran "on notice"
for its ballistic missile tests, will respond. Iran's powerful
Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force in charge of the country's
missile program, said it launched six Zolfaghar ballistic missiles
from the western provinces of Kermanshah and Kurdistan. State
television footage showed the missiles on truck missile launchers in
the daylight before being launched at night.
Saudi Arabia said on Monday that its navy had seized
three members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards piloting a boat loaded
with explosives toward a Saudi offshore oil drilling rig. The claim
was not confirmed but threatened to further fray relations between
the rival powers, which have accused each other of fomenting
terrorism and instability against a growing backdrop of tensions
roiling the Middle East. Iran denied the Saudi claim and accused the
Saudi Navy of having shot at boats belonging to "simple
fishermen" from Iran's southern Persian Gulf port of Bushehr in
an unprovoked attack that had left one Iranian dead. About the only
thing both sides appeared to agree on was that the episode happened
on Friday, when Iran's state media first reported its version of
events. The Saudis said over the weekend that their navy had fired
warning shots at three small boats and two had escaped, but it
reported nothing about arrests made or explosives found. Why the
Saudis amended their side of the story on Monday was not made clear.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Iran has called in the Swiss charge d'affaires, who
looks after U.S. interests, to protest against comments by Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson backing "peaceful transition" in the
Islamic republic. The administration of President Donald Trump has
taken an increasingly hawkish position towards Iran since taking
office in January but Tillerson's testimony to a Congressional
committee last week appeared to be the first expression of support
for a change of government. "The Swiss charge d'affaires was
summoned to the foreign ministry to be a handed a strong protest from
the Islamic Republic of Iran against the comments by the U.S
secretary of state.... which were contrary to international law and
the UN. charter," ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi told
Iranian media. Alongside Monday's summoning of the Swiss envoy, Iran
also sent a protest letter to U.N. chief Antonio Guterres, the ISNA
news agency reported.
BUSINESS RISK
A tender for developing Iran's Azadegan oilfield has
been delayed by another few months to allow energy companies more
time to study the field, a senior Iranian oil official said on
Tuesday. Tehran is looking to increase its crude output, and with 37
billion barrels of oil the Azadegan field is Iran's largest, shared
with neighbouring Iraq. It is located in southern Iran, 80 km west of
the Khuzestan provincial city of Ahvaz. Iran said this month that
international energy companies including France's Total, Malaysia's
Petronas and Japan's Inpex, have presented technical surveys for the
development of the Azadegan oil field for the tender. "The
tender will not happen in this government because we have not signed
memorandum of understandings with some companies and they need three
to four months to study the field," the managing director of the
National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Ali Kardor, was quoted as saying
by ISNA news agency. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, who was
re-elected in May's election, will form a new government in August.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Total will go ahead with development of a giant Iranian
gas field this summer, its CEO told Reuters, in the first major
western energy investment in the country since Tehran signed an
international nuclear deal. Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said the
French group would make an initial $1 billion investment after the
United States extended sanctions relief for Iran under the 2015
agreement. Washington has warned that it could cancel the sanctions
waivers if it believes Tehran is not curbing its nuclear programme in
line with the deal with world powers "It is worth taking the
risk at $1 billion because it opens a huge market We are perfectly
conscious of some risks. We have taken into account (sanctions)
snap-backs, we have to take into account regulation changes,"
Pouyanne said in an interview.
Iran expects to sign a contract to develop part of the
world's biggest natural gas field in the next two weeks in what would
be the first investment in the country by international energy
companies since sanctions were eased last year. Energy giants
Total SA and China National Petroleum Corp. signed a "heads of
agreement" with National Iranian Oil Co. in November to develop
phase 11 of the South Pars gas field, a deal that was valued then at
$4.8 billion. Total Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne told Euronews
television on Tuesday that the company will sign a contract for the
offshore gas project in the next few weeks. "The text of the
contract on phase 11 of the South Pars has been finalized and we think
the contract will be signed within a week or two," NIOC Managing
Director Ali Kardor told reporters Tuesday, without specifying which
companies would be signing. Iran also plans to hold a bidding round
for rights to develop the Azadegan oil field in southwestern Iran in
the next three to four months, he said.
Eni has signed a provisional agreement with Iran to
carry out feasibility studies on the development of oil and gasfields
in the country, with government officials pointing to the move as the
latest sign that global companies are not being deterred from
investing in the country despite tensions between the country and
regional rival Saudi Arabia. Italy's largest oil and gas group signed
a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday with the National Iranian
Oil Company (NIOC), the state-owned energy group, to explore a
potential investment in the Kish gasfield in the Gulf and the third
phase of development of the Darquain oilfield in south-west Iran
within the next six months. Iran had signed provisional agreements at
the end of last year on the two fields with Royal Dutch Shell,
Russia's Gazprom, Philippines' PNOC and an Iran's Ghadir Investment
Company.
SYRIA CONFLICT
Russia Monday threatened aircraft from the U.S.-led
coalition in Syrian-controlled airspace and suspended a hotline
intended to avoid collisions in retaliation for the U.S. military
shooting down a Syrian warplane. The U.S. said it had downed the
Syrian jet a day earlier after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-backed
Syrian Democratic Forces conducting operations against Daesh (ISIS),
adding that was something it would not tolerate. The downing of the
warplane - the first time in the 6-year-old conflict that the U.S.
has shot down a Syrian jet - came amid another first: Iran fired
several ballistic missiles Sunday night at Daesh positions in eastern
Syria in what it said was a message to archrival Saudi Arabia and the
U.S. The developments added to already soaring regional tensions and
reflect the intensifying rivalry among the major players in Syria's
civil war that could spiral out of control just as the fight against
Daesh in its stronghold of Raqqa is gaining ground. Russia called on
the U.S. military to provide a full accounting as to why it decided
to shoot down the Syrian Su-22 bomber.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Saudi
Arabia Monday on a tour that will also take him to Riyadh's rival
Iran and to Kuwait. His visit comes with the Gulf region in turmoil
after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other allies cut
ties with Qatar two weeks ago. They accuse Doha of supporting
extremist groups, including some backed by Iran, "that aim to
destabilise the region". Kuwait, which did not follow its
neighbours in severing diplomatic relations with Qatar, has been
trying to mediate. Abadi is to hold talks with Saudi King Salman,
Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Iranian president
Hassan Rouhani during his tour of the region. Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Nayef greeted Abadi when he landed in the Red Sea city of Jeddah
for the one-day visit, state media reported.
SAUDI-IRAN TENSIONS
The Saudi navy said it had captured three members of
Iran's Revolutionary Guards from a boat seized last week as the
vessel approached Saudi Arabia's offshore Marjan oilfield, Riyadh has
said. Iran's interior ministry denied the Saudi claim, however,
saying that the Saudi navy had opened fire on two Iranian fishing
boats. Relations between the two countries are at their worst
in years, as they support opposite sides in conflicts in Syria, Yemen
and Iraq, and each accuses the other of destabilising regional
security. In a statement on Monday, the Saudi information ministry
said:"This was one of three vessels which were intercepted by
Saudi forces. It was captured with the three men on board, the other
two escaped. "The three captured members of the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards are now being questioned by Saudi
authorities," the statement said, citing a Saudi official.
Saudi Arabia said Monday its forces had captured and
were questioning three members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard who were
intending to carry out an attack on a major offshore oilfield in the
Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia's Information Ministry said in a statement
the three were onboard a boat carrying a large number of explosives
headed toward the Marjan oil field, located off the kingdom's eastern
shores between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The statement said the three
were detained on Friday and accused them of intending to carry out a
terrorist operation in Saudi territorial waters. Earlier in the day,
a statement published on the state-run Saudi Press Agency said Saudi
naval forces had disrupted a planned attack by three boats "bearing
red and white flags" that raced toward its Marjan offshore oil
field. It said sailors fired warning shots and captured one of the
boats while two others escaped in the assault. It said the captured
boat "was loaded with weapons for (a) subversive purpose."
HUMAN RIGHTS
Earlier this month Iran's government
banned Zumba, the popular exercise dance class, leaving Iranian
health nuts livid with a religious elite that appears increasingly
out-of-touch with the Islamic Republic's growing middle classes. The
head of the Sports for All Federation, which promotes healthy
lifestyles in the country, said the Latin American-inspired activity
was contrary to Islamic values. "In light of activities such as
Zumba, performing rhythmic movements or dancing in any form is not
legal in any shape or title and the prohibition of movements such as
this is requested," Ali Majdara wrote in a public letter to the
Ministry of Youth Affairs. This elite has embarked on the banning of
several everyday activities to prevent what its members believe to be
sinful. Here's what else the country's authorities have outlawed in
the first half of 2017.
DOMESTIC POLITICS
The leader of a Sunni Muslim militant group was killed
by the Revolutionary Guards in southeast Iran during operations in
recent days, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on
Monday. Three members of the Ansar al-Furqan group, which has
attacked security forces and civilians, according to Iranian
officials, were also killed by Iranian forces in the southeast region
of the country last week, state media said. Jalil Qanbar-Zahi, leader
of Ansar al-Furqan, had been pursued by Iranian security forces for
25 years and was killed by the Guards near the city of Qasr Qand,
IRNA reported. Iranian security forces have carried out a
string of raids and arrests after a complex terror attack last week
targeted the Iranian parliament in Tehran and the shrine of the
founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, south
of the capital, leaving 18 dead. Islamic State claimed responsibility
for that attack.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
As the Financial Action Task Force convenes for its
annual meeting this week in Spain, it's an opportunity for the
international governing body on combating money laundering and
terrorism financing to call for a reinstatement of sanctions against
Iran. This year's meeting marks a critical moment for Iran, which
along with North Korea are the only two countries in the world
identified by the FATF as serious risks to global financial security.
Iran received a 12-month reprieve from sanctions at last year's FATF
meeting following the nuclear deal. It was an opportunity for Tehran
to prove its commitments to fiscal propriety and to distance itself
from funding acts of terror. That reprieve has been for naught. One
year later, Iran remains the world's leading state-sponsor of
terrorism. It has done little to enact the anti-money laundering
policies requested by the FATF. With no proof of tangible results,
the FATF must call on its members to bring back the sanctions against
Iran.
On Sunday, six ballistic missiles launched by the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched from western Iran,
and came crashing down on their targets in Syria's eastern
governorate of Deir Ezzor. The attack, Iranian officials said, was
retaliation for the Islamic Sate's June 7 terror attacks in Tehran,
which left 18 people dead. An IRGC spokesman said the attack
was also a "warning message" for the terror group's
"regional and international allies." Iran's top leadership
has left little doubt who it believes those allies are. In an earlier
speech, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded to President
Donald Trump's remarks accusing Iran of being the godfather of
terrorism in the Middle East. "You [the United States] and your
agents are the source of instability in the Middle East," the
Iranian leader charged. "Who created the Islamic State?
America."
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