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TOP STORIES
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has reappointed his
foreign and oil ministers to his new cabinet but has disappointed
reformers who backed him in this year's election and expected changes
to his government. In a list submitted to parliament, Mr Rouhani
retained Mohammad Javad Zarif as his top diplomat and Bijan Namdar
Zanganeh in the oil post, according to Iranian state media. But he
frustrated reformists who helped him to a landslide victory in May by
not including a woman nor anyone from Iran's Sunni minority, who
turned out in large numbers to vote for him.
An unarmed Iranian drone buzzed an American Super Hornet
fighter jet as it circled an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf,
Defense Department officials said on Tuesday. A statement released by
the military's Central Command said that despite repeated radio calls
demanding that Iran keep the drone clear of American flight
operations in the vicinity of the aircraft carrier Nimitz, the
Iranian vehicle came within 100 feet of the fighter jet, which had to
swerve to avoid a collision... "The dangerous maneuver created a
collision hazard and is not in keeping with international maritime
customs and laws," the statement said. The American military
said this was the 13th "unsafe" or "unprofessional"
interaction between American and Iranian maritime forces this year.
In a 45-minute documentary broadcast on
Tajik state television, the Interior Ministry claimed that Tehran was
interested in fomenting civil war in Tajikistan and provided
financial assistance to the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan
(IRPT) and trained militants linked to the party on Iranian soil.
According to the ministry, Iranian financial support and instructions
to carry out assassinations were conveyed to IRPT militants through
Khoji Halim Nazarzoda, a former deputy defense minister who was one
of the Islamic opposition party's commanders in the 1990s. Nazarzoda
was killed in September 2015 during an anti-coup operation near the
Tajik capital, Dushanbe.
NUCLEAR & BALLISTIC MISSILE PROGRAM
North Korea and Iran will look for the ways to continue
developing their missile programs in light of more sanctions aimed at
preventing these regimes access to international suppliers, Amir
Toumaj, research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
specializing in Iranian affairs, told Trend. He noted that, ties
between the Islamic Republic and DPRK go back to the 1980's and both
countries are deeply hostile towards the United States.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
The US might neglect the hundreds of billions of dollars
in export revenue that American businesses are missing due to
Washington's anti-Iran policy, but not world businesses. Just
as US President Donald Trump seems to be hell-bent on scuttling the
nuclear deal Iran reached with the country, as well as five other
countries in 2015, other parties engaged in nuclear talks are
planning long-term business cooperation made possible by the
accord.
Ukraine has joined Iran's oil customers, making its
first purchase in June, media reports cited the country's State
Fiscal Service as saying. According to the report, Ukraine bought
$236,000 worth of crude oil from Iran in June but the purchase rose
to $5.4 million in July which saw the East European country importing
152,655 tonnes of oil in total.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The private Dogan news agency said the
governor of Agri province, Suleyman Elban, inspected the construction
of the security wall on Tuesday. The Turkish authorities are
constructing the 2-meter wide, 3-meter high barrier with portable
blocks, the report said. Turkey is building the wall along parts of
the Iranian border to boost its security by halting the infiltrations
of Kurdish militants and illegal smugglers.
TERRORISM
A fresh wave of arrests of alleged Islamic State (IS)
militants, while scant on details, is helping build the case that the
extremist group's activities in Iran go beyond the recent deadly
bombings in Tehran. That 10 of the 27 alleged IS members were
arrested in another country revealed that the effort to clamp down on
the militant group had expanded past Iran's borders. The authorities
claimed the arrests resulted from intelligence sharing with a third
country and they touted the operation as a success that was carried
out as IS was planning further attacks on Iran.
HUMAN RIGHTS
A prisoner was reportedly hanged in
public in front of a crowd of people in Farrokhshahr. According to a
report by the state-run news agency IRIB, the prisoner, identified as
A.R., 30 years of age, was executed on rape charges.
Iran's state TV is reporting that
authorities have detained 64 youths at a pool party in central
Isfahan province. The Wednesday report by the TV news website
iribnews.ir says provincial Islamic Revolutionary Guard forces and
local police arrested 64 "half naked" youths at a pool
party on the outskirts of Isfahan city on Tuesday. The report said
the youngsters were dancing and drinking alcoholic beverages. The
state TV station also said some partygoers published video from the
event on social networks to "encourage decadence." Drinking
alcohol and mixed parties of unrelated men and women are illegal and
considered a sin under Islamic law in Iran
DOMESTIC POLITICS
Masumeh Ebtekar has been named vice-president for family
and women's affairs, Laya Joneydi is vice-president for legal affairs
and Shahindokht Mowlaverdi is the president's assistant for civil
rights. Ms Mowlaverdi had said the all-male cabinet showed that Iran
was "treading water". Both she and Ms Ebtekar were
vice-presidents in Mr Rouhani's previous government.
After decisively winning re-election almost three months
ago, Iran's president on Tuesday proposed a new Cabinet for his
second term that cuts out the hard-line Revolutionary Guard from
controlling the Defense Ministry for the first time in nearly 25 years.
However, Hassan Rouhani's Cabinet for now also fails to include women
and his pick for the Justice Ministry is on a European Union
sanctions list over human rights abuse allegations. The Cabinet
selection shows Rouhani, a cleric whose stances are moderate compared
to others in the Islamic Republic, remains pragmatic about how far he
can push his administration that is under the ultimate control of
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Rouhani's Cabinet picks
ultimately must be approved by parliament, which is expected to take
up the issue next week.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani kept top allies in key
posts as he presented his proposed cabinet to parliament, unveiling
the team he'll depend on to pursue an agenda being buffeted by
escalating tensions with the U.S. and opposition at home. Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh were
reappointed, as was Abbas Akhoundi, the minister for roads and urban
development who oversaw multibillion dollar deals with Boeing Co. and
Airbus SE following the sanctions-lifting 2015 nuclear deal. The
proposed ministers need to be confirmed by lawmakers, with votes
beginning next week.
OPINION
& ANALYSIS
At a briefing to reporters at the State Department,
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Trump administration
continues to evaluate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the
nuclear deal with Iran known as the JCPOA: "In particular we're
working with the other parties to that agreement, our European allies
in particular, to ensure that we are fully enforcing all aspects of
that agreement, holding Iran accountable for its commitments, and
challenging whether Iran is, in fact, living up to its commitments
and the spirit of that agreement." Iran is continuing to engage
in destabilizing behavior in the region, however, and Secretary
Tillerson emphasized that the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran is just
one of many threats posed by the Islamic Republic.
The
chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.)
Aerospace Force has said that the Islamic Republic has stepped up its
efforts to enhance its missile capability and emphasized that the country
will not commit the mistake of the former Libyan regime of Muammar
Gaddafi to surrender its military assets.... Iran's missile
activity has been a constant source of tension between Washington and
Tehran in recent years. Although the Trump administration has warned
Iran to halt its missile program and has imposed new sanctions on the
country's entities associated with the program, Tehran has only
accelerated its drive to upgrade its missile capabilities. Last
month, Iran launched its most advanced satellite-carrying rocket into
the orbit, a move condemned by the United States, France, Germany and
Britain, all signatories of the Iran nuclear deal. The described
Iran's launch as "inconsistent" with a U.N. Security
Council resolution that endorsed the nuclear accord.
In the aftermath of the refusal of two Iranian soccer
players on a Greek team to travel to Israel for a match, the Iranian
Football Federation issued a statement: "Undoubtedly, proud
Iranian athletes have always shown that they have no interest in
competing against the occupying Zionist regime, even at the Olympic
Games and World Cup." Such a declaration seems to suggest a
confession as to the real reason why Iranian athletes have withdrawn
from the Olympics. If Iranian sporting officials are so bluntly
acknowledging a violation of Olympic rules, perhaps it's time for the
International Olympic Committee to take long-overdue action.
Iran is not an Israel problem. It's a Jewish problem. It
is a problem for every Jew capable of feeling solidarity with the
Jews of Buenos Aires [regarding the 1994 Hezbollah attack on the
Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA)]... Each of you must
realize that you would make an equally suitable target for the
Iranian regime. Was it not just this summer that federal prosecutors
charged Hezbollah operatives with scouting out targets in
Manhattan?... Jewish solidarity should not stop at international
borders..
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