Friday, August 25, 2017

Eye on Iran: In the Persian Gulf, Iran's Drones Pose Rising Threat to US


   EYE ON IRAN
Facebook
Twitter
View our videos on YouTube
   





TOP STORIES


High above the Persian Gulf, an Iranian drone crosses the path of American fighter jets lining up to land on the USS Nimitz... for the senior Navy commanders on the ship, the presence of the enemy drone so close is worrying. Their biggest fear is the surveillance aircraft will start carrying weapons, posing a more direct threat to U.S. vessels transiting one of the world's most significant strategic and economic international waterways. "It's just a matter of time before we see that," said Navy Rear Adm. Bill Byrne, commander of the carrier strike group that includes the Nimitz.


The Trump administration is giving "strong indications" that it is preparing a case to decertify Iran's compliance with the international nuclear agreement, an expert says.


If you're a woman and are infertile or have "too much facial hair" you can't become a teacher in Iran, according to a new list of conditions and illnesses issued by the Iranian Education Ministry that disqualifies applicants from being hired as teachers. According to the list, a "thick accent," getting "migraines and cluster headaches," cancers that affect the head, face, or neck and, in the case of women, breast or ovarian cancer, are all taboo for would-be teachers.

UANI IN THE NEWS


MARK KIRK: I think the key question is to have the president say what he really thinks, to decertify Iran as not complying with the Iran agreement and bring the full weight of congressional sanctions against Iran.


The failure of these companies to shun business with Iran has prompted criticism by United Against Nuclear Iran, or UANI, a prominent watchdog organization working to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. These companies have thus far declined to sign a UANI-sponsored pledge from business leaders to cut business ties to Iran. "While Boeing, General Electric and other companies should be commended for immediately denouncing the events of Charlottesville, it also shines light on their decision to do business with Iran," David Ibsen, UANI's executive director, told the Washington Free Beacon in a statement. "The regime in Tehran is a leading state sponsor of terror, and has deliberately advanced anti-Semitism and hate, while oppressing their own citizens including on the basis of sexual orientation. These companies should immediately sign our Iran Business Declaration and immediately pledge to cease all business with Iran."

IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL


U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley traveled overseas Wednesday on the hunt for information about Iran's nuclear program, a hunt that Iran is trying to make difficult. Haley flew to Vienna, Austria, to meet with officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Her trip was part of an initiative by the Trump administration to review the Iran nuclear deal signed by former President Barack Obama... Haley's trip to the IAEA was a part of that process. Iran's foreign minister wrote a letter to nuclear inspectors warning them not to share any information with Haley that the United States is not entitled to under the deal. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Haley and the United States were "openly hostile to the (deal) and determined to undermine and destroy it."


Iran's boast this week that it needs only days to ramp up the uranium enrichment needed to produce a nuclear bomb added a new layer of complexity to an internal White House debate over whether President Trump should declare Tehran in violation of the 2015 nuclear accord The assertion by Iranian Atomic Chief Ali Akbar Salehi on Tuesday was a veiled threat, according to analysts, who say Tehran was sending a message about how bad things could become if Mr. Trump decides to pull out of the agreement when it next comes up for review in October. Mr. Salehi, who said Iran is poised to "surprise" Washington if the deal crumbles, may also have sought to deepen disagreements within the administration over the accord, which Mr. Trump vowed during last year's campaign to pull out of if he got elected.

SANCTIONS RELIEF


The auto industry is one of the few sectors outside oil in which multinationals are backing their talk of interest in the Islamic republic with substantial investment, 20 months after a nuclear deal Tehran signed with world powers was implemented. Renault signed a €660m agreement with Iran this month to increase its production capacity from 200,000 to 350,000 cars annually from next year, with two more models on offer in the country. Peugeot, which pulled out of the market in 2012 because of sanctions, signed a joint venture last year to invest €400m by 2020 to produce 200,000 new cars.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS


"Don't worry about us," an Israeli security official told his American counterparts while visiting Washington... "We will be all right. We're strong, we've seen greater challenges than this. Think what would happen to all your allies. What would happen to Saudi Arabia, what would happen to Jordan. Think what could happen to the Gulf states, to Egypt. There's no vacuum in the Middle East. Victory over the Islamic State [IS] won't make the Sunnis disappear. It will only strengthen their will for revenge and make you miss IS." Another Israeli security official had spoken to the Americans in the same vein, explained the source. "Take heed," this second official told the Americans. "A few days before President Donald Trump arrived for his visit in Saudi Arabia in May, the rebels in Yemen fired missiles toward Riyadh. It's a clear message. The Iranians are already building the capacity to strike with surface-to-surface missiles across a huge belt in the region, which will strike fear among the Sunni regimes. Do you think the king of Jordan would survive this?"


Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli and the U.S. Secretary of State James Mattis discussed the issue of Iran's "malign influence in the region" on Aug. 23, according to a statement released from the Pentagon. Mattis and Canikli discussed the topic during the former's visit to Ankara, where he also held talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.


Qatar says it has decided to restore full diplomatic relations with Iran and strengthen ties with the country "in all fields", disregarding the demand of Arab nations locked in a regional dispute with Doha that it lessen ties to Tehran. In a series of tweets directed at the move, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash tweeted on Thursday saying: "Doha has escalated its troubles by announcing plans they had in mind in Yemen or Iran". He blamed Qatar for mismanaging the crisis and prolonging it.


The Iraqi Shiite political scene is witnessing remarkable developments ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2018. With a mix of internal and regional political coalitions, the National Iraqi Alliance will not remain as it was in the 2010 and 2014 elections. Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq party and head of the National Iraqi Alliance, withdrew from the council and established a new party in July called the National Wisdom Movement. Also, Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Sadrist movement, visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates at a time when conflict is intensifying in the region, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE on one side, and Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen on the other. These two events are seen by some as an attempt to form an Iraqi Shiite movement that is independent from Iran and open to Sunni Arabs in Iraq as well as its Arab and Gulf neighbors.


Turkey and Iran escalated on Thursday their attacks against the Kurdistan Region's upcoming referendum on independence, scheduled for Sept. 25. While Ankara alluded that a similar step could lead to a civil war in Iraq and would shaken regional stability, Tehran spoke on Thursday about a US conspiracy, saying that the Kurdish actions "is in line with the US policy of partitioning the regional countries." Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said on Thursday that Iran is definitely opposed to the referendum.

DOMESTIC POLITICS


After granting a vote of confidence to 16 of 17 nominees of President Hassan Rouhani for cabinet positions, Iran's pro-Rouani MPs -- who hold a majority in the parliament -- face criticism for not being harsh enough on some of the president's picks. 

OPINION & ANALYSIS


During June's presidential election in Iran, many Westerners strongly hoped for a Hassan Rouhani victory. Rouhani, the incumbent president, was a "moderate," the argument went, and during the campaign he had criticized the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and promised to have women and minorities in his cabinet. Now it is mid-August, and it is already evident that there will be no reform, and that Rouhani's promises were meant only to attract votes-not to bring about any change, liberalization, or reform in Iran.


As if President Donald Trump isn't facing enough problems already (some, unfortunately, of his own making - see Charlottesville, Virginia), here's one more to add to the list: If he's not careful, the president risks going down in history as the man who defeated the Islamic State only to make the Middle East safe for Iranian hegemony.


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Moscow visit on Wednesday can be seen to signal a change for the worse and a significant, national security risk in the making. The civil war in Syria is nearing an end, and it appears that the coalition of President Bashar al-Assad, Hezbollah, Iran and Russia has won. If this victory would lead solely to the stability of Assad's regime, Israel should have been able to accept this. The problem is that Iran demands compensation for the many resources it invested in the war: already the de facto ruler in Lebanon through its control over Hezbollah, Iran is now looking to recreate a similar power dynamic for itself in Syria.


In August of 1990, 27 years ago, Saddam Hussein unleashed his massive army to invade Kuwait. In just over a day, Iraq occupied the small emirate and set in motion a war that still reverberates today in the region. Now Saudi Arabia, which helped form the coalition against Saddam, is trying to patch things up with Baghdad... Riyadh wants to try to encourage Baghdad not to fall totally into the clutches of Iran.


From Israel's point of view, there is a desperate need to convince the Trump administration it is being outflanked and outmaneuvered by a combination of Russian and Iranian diplomacy. First the Iran deal on nuclear weapons and now the acceptance of Iran on the border of Israel. With missiles that can reach every major Israeli city, the Iranians are effectively saying "checkmate"... When Iran and Iraq were preoccupied with the defeat of ISIS, Israel was generally safe from mobilization against it. That condition has changed as quickly as the weather. And whether one agrees or not, Israel will probably be obliged to act against Hezbollah, increasing the chances of all-out war and increasing the odds blood will flow.






Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email press@uani.com.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.

No comments:

Post a Comment