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TOP STORIES
As the world turns its attention to reports North Korea has mastered
a key component to making a nuclear missile, experts warn that the
White House must also keep its eye on Iran. The concern, some say, is
that Tehran will see that if North Korea can get away with building a
nuclear weapon in spite of U.S. protests, then it can too. Matt
Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said he
believes North Korean progress may lead Iran to try to become the
next nuclear power. "It's a human and emotional response, but
also logical," he said of Tehran's possible goals.
US. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will
travel to Vienna later this month to discuss Iran's nuclear
activities with U.N. atomic watchdog officials, a U.S. official said
on Wednesday, as part of Washington's review of Tehran's compliance
with a 2015 nuclear deal The official told Reuters that Haley, a
member of President Donald Trump's cabinet, would meet with
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials and the U.S.
delegation in Vienna to further explore the extent of Iran's nuclear
activities. In April, Trump ordered a review of whether a suspension
of sanctions on Iran related to the nuclear deal was in the U.S.
national security interest. He has dubbed it "the worst deal
ever negotiated."
Following today's execution of Alireza
Tajiki, a young Iranian man who was arrested, convicted and sentenced
to death as a child, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the
Middle East and North Africa Magdalena Mughrabi said: "By going
ahead with this execution in defiance of their obligations under
international law, and despite huge public and international
opposition, the Iranian authorities have again cruelly demonstrated
their complete disdain for children's rights. This shameful act marks
a critical turning point for Iran, and exposes the hollowness of the
authorities' claims to have a genuine juvenile justice system."
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
A bill aimed at confronting "the U.S. support for
terrorism and adventurism in the Middle East" has been discussed
in Iran's Parliament (Majlis) committee on Tuesday and now it will be
referred to the Guardian Council, for final ratification, like all
laws in Iran. The final session of discussing the bill to confront US
hostile measures was held in Iran's National Security and Foreign
Policy Committee on Tuesday, and after being ratified by members the
related report was submitted to the Parliament presiding board,
Deputy Chairman of the Committee Kamal Dehghani Firoozabadi, Islamic
Republic News Agency reported.
TERRORISM
As the Trump administration considers its options
regarding Iran, how much of Iran's sanctions relief from the 2015
nuclear deal is funding Tehran's support for sectarian conflict and
terrorism across the Middle East? Last week, President Donald Trump
imposed new sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile program
and its human rights violations. The sanctions come amid Iran's
reported efforts to fuel the Temple Mount crisis, and its agreement
to bolster relations with Hamas.Iran and its terror proxy Hezbollah
also continue to back President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the
Syrian civil war, although Russia's military support for Assad is far
more important for Iran's involvement there than the sanctions relief
that Tehran obtained in the nuclear deal.
Islamic State issued a video on Wednesday threatening
new attacks in the Iranian capital Tehran and calling on young
Iranians to rise up and launch jihad in their country. A man wearing
a black ski mask and holding an AK-47, seated alongside two others, made
the threat in a video bearing the Islamic State's Amaq news agency
logo and showing footage of two attacks in Tehran in June claimed by
the militant group. "The same way we are cutting the necks of
your dogs in Iraq and Syria we will cut your necks in the center of
Tehran," the man said, speaking accented Farsi. Islamic State, a
Sunni Muslim group which has sought to establish a caliphate in parts
of the Gulf but is now under pressure from national armies and
international groups in Syria and Iraq, sees Iran, which is
predominantly Shi'ite, as one of its biggest enemies in the region.
The group killed at least 18 people in attacks on parliament in
Tehran and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini on June 7.
RUSSIA-IRAN COOPERATION
According to Shana News Agency, it is
expected that the parties will set up joint ventures to finance
projects both in Iran and outside the country. Each company will
allocate equal investment shares in the jointly financed projects,
with Iran's Ghadir Exploration and Production Company in charge of
leading the consortium. Zarubezhneft, Ghadir and Unit International
also agreed on joining technical and economic efforts, the news
outlet reported. This is a landmark agreement for the Iranian
petrochemical industry, the first trilateral investment deal the
country's company has closed with foreign partners.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
A court in the United Arab Emirates has
convicted an Iranian national for spying and aiding Tehran's nuclear
program, sentencing him to 10 years in jail then deportation, local
newspapers reported on Thursday. The man, named as 48-year-old Reza
Mohammed Hussain Mozafar, was found guilty of spying and fraud to
smuggle equipment and devices that could be used in Iran's nuclear
program, the English language Gulf News daily said citing court
documents.
SYRIA CONFLICT
Iranian media reported on Wednesday about new casualties
among forces sent by Iran to Syria. A news agency, Holy Defense,
reported that during the past few days five Iranian troops were
killed at the hands of what it called, "Takfiri, Wahhabi
forces". Takfiri is a term used by Iranian Shi'ites for hardline
Wahhabis who totally reject other Muslims. Holy Defense says that all
five casualties served in the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps,
IRGC.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iranian officials have arrested six
people accused of teaching Zumba dancing and trying to "change
lifestyles", media reports say. The group of four men and two
women were charged over their dancing and not adhering to the hijab
dress code. Instructors allegedly "attracted boys and girls,
taught them Western dances", and posted videos to social media.
The Latin American fitness routine has proved controversial in Iran,
which has laws restricting dance. "The members of a network
teaching and filming Western dances have been identified and
arrested," Hamid Damghani, a commander of Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, was quoted as saying by local media
outlets.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
The challenges Washington faces today when crafting a
strategy against North Korea may be the salvo to the threat posed by
the Iranian nuclear program after the nuclear deal signed between
Tehran and world powers in July 2015 ends. In fact, the campaign
against North Korea is not only an important learning opportunity to
prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb, but could also determine American's
position against Iran when the constraints over its nuclear program
wane... [A] successful campaign against North Korea can reinforce the
campaign against Iran. An assertive campaign that includes
collaboration with China and Russia will demonstrate American resolve
and capacity to prevent regimes determines as rogues from acquiring
nuclear weapons. It will strengthen the message that nuclear weapons
are a threat to a regime, and not an asset.
Do you believe that economic sanctions are necessary to
prevent the Iranian government from obtaining nuclear weapons? That
small, Eastern European democracies living in the shadow of an
aggressive Russia ought have the choice to join a defensive military
alliance? That democracy promotion and the protection of human rights
should be at the forefront of American foreign policy? If so, you
have probably been called a "warmonger." It's a favorite of
the isolationist alt-right and the burgeoning, equally isolationist
"dirtbag left." Of course, the traditional left doesn't shy
away from it, either.. As a term of political abuse,
"warmonger" is frequently deployed to assail individuals
recommending measures far short of war, like the aforementioned Iran
sanctions, NATO enlargement or human rights promotion.
"Warmonger" belongs to the idiom of political propaganda,
and like all propaganda, its purpose is not to clarify but to condemn
- which is key to understanding its ignoble 20th century pedigree as
a pejorative favored by fascists and communists, sometimes speaking
in harmony.
The motives behind K.S.S. commander's accusations
against the United States are unclear. K.S.S. may have found it
embarrassing to admit his forces were killed by the Islamic State
although the terrorist group had announced its plan for the attack.
Nouri may also have found it more honorable to claim his men were
"martyred" by the superior U.S. Air Force rather than a
terrorist group on the verge of collapse. Regardless of Nouri's
motives, this incident raises the bigger question of the fog of war or
disinformation. The United States has attacked Tehran's proxies in
Syria in the past, and Tehran at some point may believe accusations
such as Nouri's. To what length are Tehran's proxies likely to go in
advancing their own interests regardless of the strain it may put on
relations between Tehran and Washington? How would Tehran react to
such attacks in the future if it thinks are carried out by the U.S.
military against its proxies? What mechanisms are in place in Tehran
and Washington to avoid further escalation of such conflicts?
The commander of an Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary
unit has accused the American troops of colluding with the Islamic
State and killing dozens of Iraqi militiamen and Islamic Revolution
Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) officers along the Iraqi-Syrian border last
night - a charge the U.S.-led coalition denied... The militia group,
which is part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.), warned
that it will hold the U.S. military responsible for the killing...
With the Islamic State on the verge of defeat in Iraq, the I.R.GC.
and its Iraqi militia proxies have recently dialed up their
propaganda campaign against the U.S. and its regional allies -
accusing the U.S. troops of colluding with the Islamic State. This
poses security risks to U.S. military advisers that are still helping
the Iraqi security forces battling the Islamic State and stabilizing
the country. It also increases the potential for a dangerous
confrontation between Iran-backed Iraqi militias and U.S troops in
Iraq. Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups are shifting their
attention from fighting the Islamic State to challenging the presence
of American troops stationed in Iraq. The U.S. military has recently
targeted Iranian-backed militias approaching the de-confliction zone
near al-Tanf in southern Syria. Remarks by Welayi and other
Iranian-linked P.M.F. leaders indicate that a potentially more
dangerous confrontation between Iranian-supported Iraqi militias and
U.S. forces in Anbar Province is also on the horizon
Tajikistan has accused Iran of having played a
subversive role in the country's civil war in the 1990s by sending
terrorists to the Central Asian republic, the latest sign of
deteriorating relations between the two countries.. Relations between
Tehran and Dushanbe have soured in recent years. On June 30, the
Iranian embassy in Tajikistan shut down its economic and cultural
offices in northern parts of the country after Tajik authorities
ordered the directors of Iranian government organizations in Khujand,
the second-largest city in Tajikistan, to suspend their activities in
the north. The Tajik government has not provide detailed explanation
for the latest government crackdown on Iranian activities in the
country. Over the past two years, several Iranian government
organizations and charities have also been forced to suspend their
activities in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe - including the Imam
Khomeini Relief Committee, the Cultural Center of the Islamic
Republic of Iran, and a hospital jointly run by the Tajik government
and the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Relations between the two countries took a nosedive in December 2015
when the Iranian government invited Muhiddin Kabiri, a Tajik
opposition leader living in exile, to attend the annual
"International Islamic Unity Conference" in Tehran as a
"special guest."
The spokesperson for the Iraqi Popular Mobilization
Forces (P.M.F.) has announced that the paramilitary forces will
participate in the upcoming military operation against the Islamic
State in Tal Afar despite regional concerns.. The P.M.F.'s potential
participation in Tal Afar operation will have serious implications
for post-Islamic State stabilization efforts in Iraq. The strategic
town of Tal Afar, located about 40 miles west of Mosul, could prove
to be a dangerous flashpoint for sectarian violence and proxy wars
between regional countries, particularly Iran and Turkey... The
P.M.F.'s increasing role in western Mosul, particularly in Tal Afar,
has been a matter of grave concern for Iraqi Sunnis and regional
Sunni leaders, who have repeatedly expressed the worry that
Iran-backed sectarian groups may engage in revenge killings against
Tal Afar's Sunni inhabitants once the Islamic State is ousted...
While some P.M.F. units are Iraqi nationalists and follow Iraq's top
cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, what makes Iraqi Sunnis and
regional Sunni states particularly worried is that, despite P.M.F.'s
diversity, it is the Iran-backed militia units that are playing a
leading role in western Mosul.
A senior official of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, an
Iran-supported militia unit within Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces
(P.M.F.), has threatened violence against the leadership of the Iraqi
Kurdistan, according to Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with
the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.)... Tehran and its
Iraqi proxy militia groups have lately intensified pressure on the
Iraqi Kurdistan leaders not to go ahead with an independence
referendum currently slated for late September. An Iraqi Kurdistan
Regional Government (K.R.G.) official told Al-Monitor that Iranian
officials said in a July 17 meeting with a Kurdish delegation that
Tehran would reward the K.R.G. if it halted the referendum.
"However, if you go ahead with the referendum, we will do
whatever necessary to stop it - things that you cannot even imagine,"
one unnamed Iranian official was quoted as warning the delegation in
the meeting... Iranian leaders fear that the Iraqi Kurdistan's
independence may undermine Iran's long-term strategic interests in
Iraq... Tehran is also concerned that such a move might trigger calls
for autonomy among its own Kurdish population.
Damascus Asks
Tehran to Play Major Role in Syria's Rebuilding, Economic Revival |
Ahmad Majidyar for the Middle East Institute
The Syrian government greatly appreciates Tehran's
unwavering support in "the fight against terrorism" over
the past years and now wants Iran to play an active role in the
war-torn country's reconstruction and economic development, Syria's
Prime Minister Imad Khamis said in a meeting with Iranian Parliament
Speaker Ali Larijani on Sunday... The Syrian government is heavily
indebted to Tehran for the latter's military support over the past
six years as the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) and its
Lebanese, Iraqi and Afghan proxies have played a key role in shifting
the tide of war in favor of Bashar al-Assad... While the war in Syria
is far from over, the I.RG.C. has already stepped up efforts to
dominate Syria's economic sector and expand Iran's soft power
influence over Syria.
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