Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Eye on Iran: Iran Rejects US Demand for Inspection of Its Military Sites


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Iran has dismissed a top U.S. diplomat's demand for the inspection of Iranian military sites by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, shrugging off comments by America's ambassador to the U.N. as only a "dream." Iran's government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht told reporters that the demand by Ambassador Nikki Haley wasn't worth any attention. Iran will not accept any inspection of its sites and "especially our military sites." He says the sites and all information about them are "classified." Iranian state TV broadcast his Nobakht's remarks. Earlier last week Haley said the United States wants inspection of Iranian military and non-military sites to determine its compliance with the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.


Hamas has managed to increase its military capabilities recently and Tehran is again its biggest backer after years of tension, according to Hamas' leader in Gaza Strip Yehya al-Sinwar. Sinwar told reporters that Iran is now "the largest backer financially and militarily" of Hamas's armed wing. It was his first meeting with journalists since taking up his post in February. "Relations with Iran are excellent and Iran is the largest supporter of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades with money and arms," Sinwar said in a meeting in his office in the strip. Sinwar said that with Iran's help, Hamas is accumulating military power in preparation for a battle for the liberation of Palestine. "This will be reflected in the resistance and in the agenda to achieve the liberation," he said.


An Iranian-American businessman and his father, who are serving 10-year prison sentences in Iran over their ties to the U.S., have lost a court appeal, a lawyer said Monday. Siamak Namazi and his 81-year-old father Baquer -- who are among several dual nationals detained in Iran -- learned Sunday that the Tehran Appeals Court denied their appeal, Washington-based lawyer Jared Genser said.

IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL


The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, told reporters there is a chance that Iran could call for a meeting of the foreign ministers of the P5+1 during the United Nations General Assembly in September. The meeting would be the first between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, should both attend.

SANCTIONS RELIEF


After no developments last year, Iran is concluding the financial aspects of a handful of deals with foreign oil and gas companies, its energy minister said. In January, the Iranian Oil Ministry published a list of 29 foreign oil and gas companies qualified to take part in any upcoming tenders for exploration and production.


Kish Airline CEO Mohammad Taqi Jadidi was quoted by the domestic media that the plan envisaged buying 10 planes from Boeing and 6 more from Airbus. Jadidi told Iran's IRNA news agency that the new Airbus planes would be added to his company's fleet before the end of the current Iranian calendar year (21 March 2018). He added that Boeing planes would be purchased in the next Iranian year.

RUSSIA-IRAN COOPERATION


Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Putin's Black Sea residence in Sochi. It was their sixth meeting over the last two years, since Russia's air force began its military operation in Syria. Netanyahu came to express his concern over the intentions of Iran and its allied Shiite militant movement, Hezbollah, to establish a permanent presence in an area of Syria currently being surrendered by the Islamic State (IS)... The Syrian army and Hezbollah are conducting a successful military operation against IS along the Lebanon-Syria border. There are positive developments on other fronts as well. Thus, against this backdrop, who will be able to point Iran and its allies to the door, and how? Could Putin be useful to Netanyahu to this effect? The answer is no.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS


[Israeli] Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres Monday that the situation taking hold in Lebanon in which Iran is seeking to establish precision weapons is "intolerable for Israel." During his talks with Guterres in the capital Jerusalem, which took place shortly after separate discussions with President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Lieberman told the UN chief that Israel was "determined to prevent any security threat against Israel's citizens."

MILITARY MATTERS


Iran on Monday unveiled four indigenously developed air surveillance systems that complement its Russian-made missile defence network. The unveiling of the new systems came one day after Tehran announced that the S300 missile-defence system supplied by Russia last year had been "fully integrated" into its air defence network. The new air surveillance systems increase Iran's monitoring and data analysis capabilities, and allow it to track objects from drones, the Tasnim news agency reported, while the S300 missile-defence system, considered one of the most advanced of its kind in the world, provides long-range protection against both aircraft and missiles. Together, they give Iran the ability to quickly detect, identify, track and destroy incoming aerial threats.

SAUDI-IRAN TENSIONS


Members of an Iranian-backed spy ring currently on trial in Saudi Arabia received training at military sites of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Saudi daily Okaz reported on Monday. According to the report, the spy ring - made up of Saudi nationals - utilized religious pilgrimages to a Holy Shiite shrine in the Iranian city of Mashhad to be trained at IRGC camps.


In a diplomatic icebreaker between political foes, tens of thousands of Muslim faithful from Iran have flocked to Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites. This week's hajj marks Iran's return after their absence last year following a massive stampede in 2015 that killed around 2,300 people, including 464 Iranians. The tragedy sparked bitter recrimination from Tehran over the kingdom's custodianship of the sites in Mecca and Medina, western Saudi Arabia.

OPINION & ANALYSIS


The international community must work collaboratively on reining in the Iran-North Korea alliance to ensure that Iran does not follow in Pyongyang's footsteps regarding nuclear weapons capability To prevent this, the U.S. must disrupt the sea and air procurement networks between North Korea and Iran, which have operated largely free of interference... The U.S. must also monitor Iranian efforts to outsource elements of its illicit nuclear program to North Korea... The U.S. should make clear that it regards Iran carrying out extraterritorally nuclear activities forbidden by the Iran nuclear deal as a violation, and will seek activation of the agreement's sanctions "snap-back" mechanism as a result. Lastly, the Trump administration must address entities assisting North Korea's access to critical parts and technologies from countries like Iran... The threat that North Korea poses to the United States has been ignored far too long and at our own peril. The U.S. should remain vigilant as it monitors Iranian and North Korean efforts to share weapons technology, particularly following North Korea's recent missile test. Pyongyang and Tehran remain two pieces of a greater national security puzzle that Americans and their elected policymakers must address.


Although candidate Donald Trump repeatedly criticized Barack Obama's Iran nuclear agreement, his administration has twice decided to remain in the deal... Before the second certification, Trump asked repeatedly for alternatives to acquiescing yet again in a policy he clearly abhorred. But no such options were forthcoming, despite "a sharp series of exchanges" between the president and his advisers, as the New York Times and similar press reports characterized it... In fact, Steve Bannon asked me in late July to draw up just such a game plan for the president - the option he didn't have - which I did. Here it is... There is no need to wait for the next certification deadline in October. Trump can and should free America from this execrable deal at the earliest opportunity. I offer the Iran nonpaper now as a public service, since staff changes at the White House have made presenting it to President Trump impossible.


When President Trump recently signed the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), most of the public attention centered on his objections to the sanctions it imposed on Russia. Therefore, it went largely unnoticed that a key provision of the law could create serious legal liability for Boeing if it goes through with its announced sale of 30 B737 Max aircraft to Iran's Aseman Airlines. Boeing's excuse for selling new airplanes to a terrorist state is that the U.S. government has determined Iran is adhering to the 2015 nuclear deal. However, that Obama administration deal left Iran's global terrorism apparatus intact and enhanced it with lavish new funding, which it is now using to try to upgrade its logistics capabilities with modern commercial aircraft. The Trump administration must use the new authority contained within CAATSA and all other tools at its disposal to prevent this sale.


From the perspective of Iran's long-held pursuit of leadership over the world Islamic umma, resuming participation in the Hajj makes perfect sense. The alternative would have isolated the Islamic Republic from the world's Muslims, leaving the country increasingly vulnerable to propaganda campaigns waged by Sunni governments and Salafi entities Iran's role in the Syria crisis has made such a move all the more urgent. Indeed, heavy Iranian involvement in the war has fed a historical perception that the minority Shia are illegitimate Muslims who harbor imperial ambitions and heretical ideas, thus threatening the larger Muslim community... In the coming years, a breakthrough in Saudi-Iran diplomatic relations is virtually unimaginable, but the Islamic Republic will nevertheless likely continue its efforts to divorce the Hajj from broader bilateral diplomacy, thereby leaving the door open for Iranian pilgrims.


Illicit military cooperation between North Korea and rogue states such as Iran and Syria is perhaps one of the major untold stories of our time. In the 1990s, before Iran's nuclear program was common knowledge, dozens of Korean technicians were working in Iranian nuclear and ballistic facilities and both states benefited from the AQ Khan nuclear smuggling network based in Pakistan. Iranian flagship ballistic missiles such as Shahab-2 and Shahab-3 are based on North Korea's Hwasong-6 and Nodong-1, and Iranian modifications for incorporating a nuclear device were subsequently shared with Pyongyang. When North Korea stages nuclear tests, Iranian experts are VIP guests. Korean nuclear delegations visited Iran up to a month before the 2015 agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear program.


There are many questions about Tehran's long-term foreign policy following the lifting of western sanctions in 2016. To answer these questions, it is helpful to consider Iran's geography and the way it affects the country's behavior in terms of international relations. Iran's geopolitical imperatives to defend its core land, project power where necessary, and limit foreign encroachments have remained largely unchanged throughout many centuries of its history.






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.

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