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TOP STORIES
Iran's atomic chief warned Tuesday the Islamic Republic
needs only five days to ramp up its uranium enrichment to 20 percent,
a level at which the material could be used for a nuclear weapon. The
comments by Ali Akbar Salehi to Iranian state television come as U.S.
President Donald Trump repeatedly has threatened to renegotiate or
walk away from the 2015 nuclear deal... While Iran long has
maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, uranium
enriched to 20 percent and above can be used in nuclear bombs.
Iran's top general has claimed Tehran
now has the "upper hand" in the region and denied
supporting other groups in the region for its own political ends.
Major General Qassem Suleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force,
said on Sunday said Tehran was not a source of crisis, but a source
of stability - including in Syria, where his forces have propped up
Bashar Al Assad during the devastating civil war. "Iran [now has
the] upper hand in the region," he said according to the
official IRNA news agency.
Yemen's foreign minister is blaming Iran and its support
for Houthi Shiite rebels for causing the country's civil war and says
it can't be part of the solution. Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi said at a
news conference Monday that Iranian weapons are still being smuggled
into Yemen. Saudi Arabia's U.N. ambassador, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi,
had a more direct message: "Iran should get the hell out of the
area period." Saudi Arabia supports Yemen's internationally
recognized government.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
It hasn't been the investment bonanza Iran hoped for,
but the billions of dollars unlocked by its 2015 nuclear deal with
world powers might help cushion the impact of any future U.S. assault
on the accord. The mood has shifted since this time last year, when
following the January 2016 lifting of sanctions trade delegations
crammed Tehran's hotels as investor interest peaked Now, with
President Donald Trump adding new sanctions and expressing
frustration that his administration continues to find the Islamic
Republic in compliance with the accord, the talk is of whether it can
survive. Of critical importance will be the support flowing from
other parties -- China, Russia, France, Germany and the U.K. -- whose
companies have put up much of the money invested in Iran so far.
The World Bank has agreed to provide 1 billion euros
($1.18 billion) to electrify the rail network in Iran, the head of
the country's regional railway authority said on Tuesday... Russia
and Iran signed an agreement worth 1.2 billion euros in November 2015
to electrify the Garmsar to Inche Burun route in Iran.
After 10 months of negotiations in Tehran, Renault
signed a trilateral production deal with the Industrial Development
and Renovation Organization of Iran and a local private company Negin
Khodro (aka Naseh Parto) on August 7. Just like in other emerging
markets, in Iran Renault holds a majority stake in the joint venture
(60%), while Negin Khodro and IDRO each have 20%. Furthermore,
Renault has the right to appoint the director. According to the deal,
a production plant named Bonro in Saveh, an industrial city 100 km
south of Tehran will be handed to Renault. Bonro has a history of
repeated failures... The facility will initially produce 150,000
Renault cars annually and output will reach 300,000 units eventually.
Payman Kargar, former Iran director for Renault and current chairman
of the Middle East and India region for Nissan Group tweeted after
the Renault-IDRO-Negin deal was signed saying that the company is set
to produce 400,000 vehicles.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Israeli media has reported that a
high-profile Israeli security delegation held talks with White House
officials in Washington. The Israeli delegation, including National
Security Council Deputy Chief Eytan Ben-David and Israeli Military
Intelligence Directorate Chief Major-General Herzi Halevi, was
reportedly led by Yossi Cohen, the new head of the Mossad. At the
White House, they met with U.S. National Security Adviser Herbert
McMaster and his deputy, as well as Middle East Special Peace Envoy
Jason Greenblatt, on August 17... "The dangers of [Iran] and its
proxies' continuous presence in Syria" and "ways of
confronting Tehran and Lebanese Hezbollah's influence in Syria"
were among the main topics discussed during the meeting, according to
the Israeli media reports... The Mossad head... [has[ told Israeli
ministers that Tehran has not abandoned its ambition to develop
nuclear weapons, and that the Obama-brokered nuclear deal -- the
Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA), has "only reinforced
that trend and strengthened the Islamic Republic's aggression in the
region."
A joint military operation against the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Kandil region along the Iraq-Iran
border is on the agenda, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has
stated. "Taking joint action with Iran is always on the
agenda," Erdoğan told reporters on Aug. 21 before departing on a
trip to Jordan. His words came after Iranian Chief of General
Staff Maj. Gen. Mohamed Bagheri paid a three-day visit to Ankara last
week, meeting his Turkish counterpart Gen. Hulusi Akar. Erdoğan said
the PKK posed threats to both countries, and Iranian and Turkish
officials discussed the struggle against the PKK and its Iranian
branch, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), during Bagheri's
visit.
MILITARY MATTERS
Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani rarely makes political
speeches, but on Aug. 20, the commander of Iran's Quds Force warned
that Iran faces two dangers, one internal and the other external.
Soleimani described the external threat as "an invasion against
the Islamic world," while the internal threat was
"religious sedition." Given that the speech was in honor of
World Mosque Day, Soleimani stressed the importance of mosques in
combating both threats. What made Soleimani's speech unique was his
inclusive position and his rejection of titles and labels to divide
Iranians, particularly along religious lines.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued
a decree appointing Brigadier General Sayed Abdul Rahim Mousavi as
Commander-in-Chief of the Army Forces after his promotion to the rank
of Major General, replacing General Attaullah Salehi... Mousavi is an
artillery expert in and had a leading role during the Iran-Iraq war
in the 1980s... He also held several military posts... [He] was also
deputy commander-in-chief of the army since 2005.
SYRIA CONFLICT
[I]ntelligence analyst Ronen Salomon has put together a
project trying to trace the presence of Iranian forces in Syria. Salomon's
research shows that Iranian presence is shoring up its presence in
Lebanon through the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guard's Quds
Force, headed by General Qasem Soleimani. This military-intelligence
body works in tandem with the Guard's intelligence division to carry
out operations outside of Iran, with the assistance of the Ministry
of Intelligence and other ministries and agencies. Iranian presence
in Syria, meanwhile, begins at the Damascus international airport
region, through the Iranian embassy and the bases on Mount Qasioun,
overlooking Damascus and near the Presidential Palace.
YEMEN CRISIS
UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar
Gargash... stressed in tweets posted on Monday that a political
solution remains the priority in Yemen "The political path
remains the basis of any solution in the Yemeni crisis, an agreement
that brings together Yemenis, prevents Iranian intervention, and
addresses the issues of terrorism, the future of the south and the
nature of the government," Gargash said.
SAUDI-IRAN TENSIONS
Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's visit to
Saudi Arabia at the end of July signalled the Gulf Sunni powerhouse's
ambition to distance its Iranian foe from policy-making in Baghdad.
In the wake of former dictator Saddam Hussein's August 1990 invasion
of Kuwait, Riyadh severed relations with Baghdad and closed its
border posts with its northern neighbour. Ties have remained strained
even after Saddam's ouster in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, since
when successive Shiite-dominated governments in Baghdad have stayed
close to Tehran.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Researcher Ahmadreza Djalali has been detained since
last April. He was arrested in Tehran for espionage and 'enmity with
God' - a crime which in Iran can result in the death penalty - during
a visit for a conference last year An Iranian citizen, the academic
has a permanent residence permit in Sweden, where he conducted
research in disaster medicine at the prestigious Karolinska
Institute, and lived with his wife and two children... Human rights
organization Amnesty International has urged the authorities to
release Djalali or give him a fair and secure trial.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Fear of derailing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA) and facing political pressure led the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) in the summer of 2015 to negotiate a problematic
arrangement with Iran regarding nuclear weapons development
activities at a site at the Parchin military complex. The
arrangement, which was negotiated under the Road-map for the
Clarification of Past and Present Outstanding Issues regarding Iran's
Nuclear Program, established inadequate rules for on-the-ground
investigation and environmental sampling about alleged nuclear
weapons-related high explosive work at this Parchin site. Not
surprisingly, this weak arrangement, in which the IAEA was limited in
its visits and ability to take environmental samples at the site,
failed to resolve the issue. Moreover, it has complicated the IAEA's
ability to return to the site to resolve the on-going discrepancies
in Iran's story. Resolving these discrepancies is critical to
understanding Iran's progress on nuclear weapons at this site and
elsewhere, assuring the detection of any Iranian attempt to
reconstitute its nuclear weapons program, and ensuring that the JCPOA
is adequately verified.
Reformist journalist Sasan Aghaei's family has not heard
a word from him since he was arrested by security agents without a
warrant at the office of the reformist Etemad newspaper on August 12,
2017... The political columnist is being held in Evin Prison's Ward
241-controlled by the judiciary's intelligence branch-on suspicion of
collaborating with the independent Amad News outlet on the Telegram
messaging network, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
told CHRI.
In Iran, Baha'is, Christians, and other minorities are
persecuted for their faith. Iran continues to sentence individuals to
death under vague apostasy laws. Twenty individuals were executed in
2016 on charges that included, quote, waging war against God. Members
of the Baha'i community are in prison today simply for abiding by
their beliefs." The State Department report notes that Iran has
been designated a "Country of Particular Concern" for 17
years - most recently in February 2016 - because of the Iranian
government's toleration of or engagement in "particularly severe
violations of religious freedom." It cites the human rights NGO
United for Iran which says there were 198 political prisoners
incarcerated on charges of "waging war against God", 31 for
"insulting Islam" and 12 for "corruption on
earth."
The Iranian Chief of Staff Gen. Mohammad Baqeri visited
his Turkish counterpart Gen. Hulusi Akar on Aug. 14, and a day later
he met Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli and President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan. Baqeri was followed to Ankara by the Russian Chief of Staff
Gen. Valeri Gerasimov, and the US defense secretary Jim Mattis will
visit this month. The dates and the order of the visits cannot be
pure coincidence: Turkey may have wished to clearly explain to its
friends and allies its position on various critical issues with a
view to avoiding unnecessary misunderstandings. It may also be
aspiring to obtain a strong negotiating position in the talks with
Mattis in order to pre-empt the occupation of Idlib by the
US-supported Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG).
The talks covered almost all issues that have military implications,
the foremost being the Kurdish issue.
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