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TOP STORIES
France suggested on Wednesday that the nuclear deal Iran
struck with world powers in 2015 could be supplemented through
"future consultations" to include the post-2025 period and
tackle Iran's development of ballistic missiles.
In his first televised interview since being inaugurated
for a second term, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani dismissed his
American counterpart's effort to kill the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA). In response to a question about his assessment of US
President Donald Trump, Rouhani, whose government reached a deal on
Iran's nuclear program with the six world powers in 2015, said Aug.
29, "This is a hard question. Americans themselves and their
politicians cannot answer that. Even Mr. Trump's fellow Republicans
cannot answer that." Noting "shaky" US government
policy, Rouhani added, "This can be in our interest in that the
US is experiencing the hardest time in building a consensus against
Iran."
A senior Israeli official warned the Russian government
that if Iran continues to extend its reach in Syria, Israel will bomb
Syrian President Bashar Assad's palace in Damascus, according to
reports in Arab media. Israel also warned that if serious changes do not
happen in the region, Israel will make sure the ceasefire deal,
reached by the United States and Russia in Astana, Kazakhstan, will
be nullified.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Mark Kirk, a former Republican US senator and senior
adviser to the United Against Nuclear Iran group, warned that besides
North Korea informing Iran's strategic decisions, the two countries
also have a history of collaborating on nuclear and ballistic missile
projects. "The Shahab-3 missile, which is the main missile that
the Iranians are aiming at Israel, is largely a Nodong missile,
designed and built in North Korea," Kirk said, speaking over the
phone from the United States... Kirk described the previous US policy
toward North Korea and Iran as one of appeasement and decried it as
ultimately ineffective.
A vocal opponent of the Iran nuclear deal, Kirk never
minced words over President Barack Obama's harsh treatment of Israel
and desire for detente with Iran. Kirk co-authored legislation to
promote human rights and democracy in Iran as well as to strengthen
and expand sanctions... Kirk revealed his future plans, announcing
that at the request of former Sen. Joe Lieberman, he will be joining
United Against Nuclear Iran, a non-partisan, non-profit, pro-Israel
advocacy organization. In the immediate future, Kirk will be
traveling with [former Israeli defense minister Moshe] Ya'alon to New
York to lobby the U.N. General Assembly against Iran.. "A point
that cannot be said often enough by our current administration.. is
that the missile program of North Korea and the nuclear program of
Iran are the same program," said Kirk. "When you send money
to Iran, you're basically sending money to North Korea's biggest
partner in the nuke and missile business. You cannot do
that."
"[United Against Nuclear Iran] is a bipartisan
group where former Vice President Lieberman and I work together to
make sure we have the strongest possible Republican and Democratic
views to mitigate the danger from Iran, the number one state sponsor
of terror according to President Obama."
Decades of U.S. diplomacy with Iran, including the Obama
administration's landmark nuclear accord, may leave Israeli military
action as the only option to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear
weapons, according to former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
John Bolton. "I don't make any disguise of the idea that
ultimately it may take an Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear
program to stop it," [former U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations John] Bolton told the Washington Free Beacon.
"I wish we weren't at that point, but this is what 25 years of
negotiations with Iran gets you."
MILITARY MATTERS
Iran this week showcased two new components
of what it hopes will become a more effective air defence network - a
development that might eventually have significant implications, and
be key in its quest to weaken the conventional military superiority
of the US and its regional allies. Analysts said the announcements
that Iran's military has "fully integrated" its new
Russian-supplied S-300 missile systems into its air defence network,
and developed new air surveillance technology, are incremental steps
that do not at the moment unravel the deterrent capabilities of the
United States, GCC and Israel.
SYRIA CONFLICT
Russia warned Israel on Wednesday not
to authorize an attack on Iranian military positions in Syria after
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to prevent a
buildup on his borders. "If anyone in the Middle East or
[an]other part of the world plans to violate international law by
undermining any other country's sovereignty or territorial integrity,
including any country in the Middle East or North Africa, this would
be condemned," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told
reporters.
The US and Israel are "of the same mind" when
it comes to opposition to any Iranian military presence in Syria, US
Ambassador David Friedman told The Jerusalem Post... [he[ said the US
was "extraordinarily receptive" to Israel's concerns about
Iranian penetration into Syria when a high-level security delegation
led by Mossad head Yossi Cohen went to Washington to discuss the
issue two weeks ago.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iranian security forces arrested dozens of Arab
activists and citizens in Ahwaz to prevent marches and celebrations
during Eid al-Adha, the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO) said
in a statement which Al-Arabiya.net received a copy of. AHRO, which
published the names of 35 detainees, said Iran must commit to the
International Human Rights Council resolutions and respect freedoms
and people's right to peacefully gather and march. The organization
also condemned the arrests which it described as arbitrary and said
these security measures during Eid are a flagrant violation of Arab
citizens' rights in Ahwaz and a violation of international laws and
treaties.
Iranian authorities should immediately release Sasan
Aghaei and Yaghma Fashkhami, two journalists detained in Tehran, the
Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Security agents on
August 12 arrested Aghaei at the offices of Etemaad Daily, the
reformist newspaper where he works as a political columnist,
according to reports. Authorities have not stated publicly the reason
for his arrest. Separately, security agents arrested Fashkhami, a
reporter for Didban Iran, at the news website's Tehran office on
August 21, according to reports. According to the reformist news
website Kalame, authorities have not charged Fashkhami. The
journalist previously worked for the Iranian newspaper Rozan, which
authorities shut down in December 2014, according to BBC Persian.
The medical condition of more than a dozen political
prisoners at Iran's Rajaee Shar Prison, who have been on prolonged
hunger strike to protest the inhumane conditions of their
incarceration, is deteriorating rapidly, yet judicial and prison
officials are neither providing proper medical treatment nor
addressing the strikers' demands for humane conditions at the prison.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) calls on the judiciary,
who has authority over the country's State Prison Organization, to immediately
provide full and proper medical treatment to these prisoners and to
address their lawful demands for humane treatment at the prison.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
It seems blatantly obvious but, in a day and age where
denial reigns supreme, it bears repeating: The presence of Iranian
sleeper cells has long been the barometer of Iranian intention and
the forerunner to Iranian terror attacks. They serve no other
purpose. European leaders might consider Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani a pragmatic or reforming voice inside the Islamic Republic,
and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif can woo more naïve
diplomats and journalists enthralled with his personality and
convinced of his sincerity. But it is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps and intelligence ministries which call the shots, and the
direction they are steering Iran is becoming all too clear.
The new Iranian defense minister, Brigadier General Amir
Hatami, strongly supports the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC), its commander Qasem Soleimani, and the
"resistance front." Hatami also stressed that he would
promote the Iranian regime's missile program - particularly ballistic
and cruise missiles - and would fight the American attempts to thwart
the program and harm Iranian interests in the region. Iran is
exploiting its contribution to the fight against the Islamic State in
Iraq and Syria to entrench its status across the Middle East,
creating a "Shiite crescent" to include Lebanon on the
Mediterranean. The active and ongoing involvement of the Quds Force
in the main Middle Eastern arenas, particularly Syria and Iraq,
enable it and its proxies to gain combat experience, to augment the
continuing logistical assistance by air, land, and sea, and to test a
wide variety of new battle tactics (on land and at sea). Such tactics
will likely be used in future rounds of warfare with Israel,
including from the "liberated" Syrian territory.
Recent news stories suggesting that Ankara, Tehran, and
Moscow are agreeing to cooperate in Syria's northern Idlib province
and to bury the hatchet in Syria's civil war have brought to the
foreground a key question: can Turkey become good friends, or even
allies, with Iran and Russia in Syria and beyond? History suggests
that any "handshake" between Ankara and its two neighbors
will be difficult to sustain -- unless a rupture occurs in
Turkey-NATO ties.
No matter how frequently Netanyahu visits Russia, Israel
is facing a grim outlook along its northern border. Iran and
Hezbollah are expanding their influence in Syria, increasing Assad's
dependence on them for survival. Netanyahu's tough talk can't
diminish the reality that Israel stands, for the moment, in a
weakened position as a postwar Syria begins to emerge.
Russia and Iran will remain interested in cooperation on
Syria. Yet, it is still difficult to see this relationship
transforming into a full-fledged alliance. Although the drivers that
bring Moscow and Tehran together are strong, the destiny of
Russian-Iranian "marriage of convenience" depends on a
number of factors. All in all, Russia and Iran were forced to become
partners in Syria under the influence of existing circumstances.
Consequently, their interaction is limited. Given the differences in
motives of Russian and Iranian involvement in the Syrian quagmire and
concerns existing both in Tehran and Moscow that the forming of a
full-fledged alliance can harm their relations with third countries,
it is possible to conclude that Russian-Iranian dialogue has already
reach the maximum of its potential.
Almost 21 months ago, Qatar expressed solidarity with
Saudi Arabia by recalling its ambassador to Iran after hundreds of
Iranians attacked Riyadh's diplomatic facilities in Tehran and
Mashhad in response to Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr's execution. Yet on Aug.
23, Doha announced that its ambassador would "return to resume
his diplomatic duties" in Tehran. Undoubtedly, this move was
indicative of the Saudi/United Arab Emirates (UAE)-led bloc's failure
to pressure Doha into aligning more closely with its fellow Sunni Arab
states. To the contrary, the Qatar crisis has pushed the emirate
closer to Iran. Unless the 12-week dispute in the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) gets resolved, the GCC can feel quite confident about
Qatar pursuing deeper ties with Iran for its geopolitical benefit
throughout the highly divided region. If the quartet (Bahrain, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia and the UAE) maintains its blockade on Qatar, it would
be difficult to imagine Doha not becoming further invested in closer
ties with Tehran out of mere necessity.
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