|
TOP STORIES
One of Iran's most prominent opposition leaders ended a
one-day hunger strike on Thursday, after the government agreed to
meet some of his demands, his son reported on social media. Officials
promised the opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi, 79, that the 12
guards watching over him around the clock would no longer be
permanently stationed in his house, his son, Mohammad Taghi Karroubi,
said. Mehdi Karroubi, who has been held under house arrest in Tehran
since 2011, will remain so, but the government also promised to
"endeavor" to realize his longstanding demand for a public
trial, his son told the Saham news website. "The hunger strike
is over," Mohammad Taghi Karroubi wrote on Twitter. "The
government has promised to do all it can to realize his second
demand, which is for a public trial."
Iranian authorities have denied the appeal of a
Princeton University student who had been convicted on espionage
charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison, the university and his
wife said on Thursday. Xiyue Wang, a history doctoral student and
U.S. citizen who was conducting dissertation research in Iran in 2016
when he was detained by Iranian authorities, was accused by Iran of
"spying under the cover of research," a claim his family
and university deny. "Iranian authorities have denied Xiyue
Wang's appeal of his conviction and 10-year prison sentence for
espionage that he did not attempt or commit," Princeton
University said in a statement. "We are distressed that his
appeal was denied, and that he remains unjustly imprisoned." It
was not immediately clear when exactly Wang's appeal was denied. News
of his detention in Iran and his 10-year sentence first came in
mid-July.
Nikki Haley, President Donald Trump's envoy to the
United Nations, will travel to Vienna next week to discuss the US
government's concerns about the Iran nuclear deal with the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The high-profile visit
comes as the former South Carolina governor has staked out a hard
line on Iran and sharply pro-Israel positions, perhaps with an eye to
her own future political ambitions. The US ambassador to the UN and
rising Republican star has been sharply critical of Tehran.
Haley will hold meetings with IAEA leaders and experts in
Vienna on Wednesday, the US mission to the UN confirmed to
Al-Monitor. "She will meet with IAEA leadership, Iran safeguards
experts and others," a spokesperson said. The IAEA has
consistently certified Iran's compliance with the Iran nuclear deal,
which was reached in 2015 after years of negotiations and went into
force in 2016. In addition to requiring Iran to remove several
thousand centrifuges from its Natanz uranium enrichment facility,
pour concrete into the core of its plutonium reactor and turn its
underground Fordow enrichment facility into a research site, the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) also set up what
negotiators have called the most extensive nuclear inspections and
monitoring regime in history.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Jeb Bush and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will be among the
speakers at summit on Iran next month. The Florida Republicans will
appear at the Sept. 19 event in New York hosted by United Against
Nuclear Iran and timed for the opening of the U.N. General Assembly.
"The day-long event of interviews and discussions will examine
the political and economic environment since the signing of the 2015
nuclear deal with Iran -- with particular focus on Iran's role in the
region, its relationship with North Korea, and the future of Iran
policy in the Trump administration," UANI said in a release.
BUSINESS RISK
A penalty issued last week by the U.S. Treasury
Department on a risk-mitigation firm highlights the challenges of
trying to perform due diligence for potential business in Iran,
experts said. The penalty on Phoenix-based IPSA International Inc.,
according to a penalty notice issued by Treasury, concerned two
contracts its foreign subsidiaries performed in 2012 that included
conducting due diligence on various individuals, including some
Iranians on the ground in Iran. Experts said the case highlights how
difficult it can be for American companies, especially a small
business, to completely fence themselves off from any involvement in
Iranian business by a foreign unit, as is required by U.S. sanctions,
and that the policy underlying the penalty could restrict legitimate
Iranian trade.
MILITARY MATTERS
Iran is resolved to boost its missile power, especially
ballistic and cruise missile capabilities, PressTV television channel
reported on Thursday, citing Deputy Defense Minister Brigadier
General Amir Hatami. The Brigadier General was speaking on Thursday
before the parliament, which discussed his candidature proposed by
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for the post of the country's
defense minister. "In the next four years, apart from enhancing
combat and defense capabilities, we will devote a special effort to
boost missile and ballistic power, strategic air power as well as
strategic maritime power and increase rapid reaction forces,"
PressTV quoted Hatami as saying. "Iran has achieved defense
deterrence power and the enemies acknowledge Iran's high defense
power in the region and the world," he stressed. He also said
that 10 rapid reaction brigades had been established in the country.
The nominee for the post of the defense minister pointed to the
failure of enemy attempts to isolate the country. "Many of the
governments, which pioneered sanctions against Iran, are now trying
to develop cooperation with Iran."
SYRIA CONFLICT
Syria is hosting its first international trade fair in
five years, a sign of increased stability in the embattled nation's
capital and a statement of victory from the government, which has
been embroiled in a war with armed opposition groups and jihadists
since 2011. Despite ongoing violence between the Syrian army and
insurgents in the city's suburbs, the 59th Damascus International
Fair was set to commence Thursday, claiming to host representatives
of 23 nations and companies from 20 more. Syrian Prime Minister Imad
Khamis, who was appointed last year by President Bashar al-Assad,
said the event marked a major turning point for the country and that
nations such as Russia and Iran, which supported Assad and his army
throughout the war, would be given priority in securing trade deals
to invest in Syria, according to state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
"We must be partners of the Syrian Arab Army in victory and
establishing the best future for our people and future
generations," Khamis said Wednesday in a press statement,
according to SANA.
YEMEN CRISIS
Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi said that Iranian
plots meant for his country have failed and has found rejection among
the Yemeni People. Hadi's comments came during his meeting here today
with Yemeni Vice President Ali Mohsen Saleh, Prime Minister Ahmed
Obeid bin Dagher, and a number of Yemeni senior officials. Hadi
reiterated that the outcome of the national dialogue and the building
of a federal Yemen based on partnership, justice and equality is the
choice of the Yemeni people, pointing out at the same time that the
coupist militia continues its rejection of the peace calls based on
the three authorities. In 2014, Iran-allied Houthi militias joined
forces with armed loyalists backing the ousted president Ali Abdullah
Saleh and overran the capital Sana'a. Armed and funded by Iran, each
of Saudi Arabia and the United States consider the coup to be part
and parcel of Iran's expansionist ambitions in the region.
After insurgency militias took over Sana'a, the
internationally-backed government led by Hadi was forced to relocate
to the now-temporary capital, Aden.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Thirteen Sunni Arabs have been beaten
by security and plainclothes agents and arrested for publicly praying
in Ahvaz, the capital of Iran's Khuzestan Province, the Center for
Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. The men, all between
the ages of 20 and 27, were taken into custody on August 11, 2017 for
holding a traditional Sunni group prayer, Arab ethnic rights activist
Karim Dahimi told CHRI on August 15. "They were on an excursion
in the Karkheh area west of the city of Shush," said Dahimi.
"At noon, they held a group prayer based on Sunni rituals out in
the open in public view. Suddenly the security forces and
plainclothes agents attacked and beat them with batons and took them
all away." "The families first went to the Intelligence
Ministry's office in Shush, but were told the detainees had been
transferred to the ministry's branch in Ahvaz," added Dahimi.
"But the authorities in Ahvaz are claiming to have no
information either."
Hundreds of Iranian women and
children's rights advocates in Iran are urging Parliament to prohibit
underage marriage in the country. "In defense of children's
human rights, we call for an end to the phenomenon known as child
spouses," said a statement signed by more than 800 activists
addressing members of Parliament on August 12, 2017. "Marriage
at a young age, which is currently spreading at an alarming rate all
over Iran, is an example of child abuse and a violation of children's
rights, especially little girls," added the statement. "By
ignoring the harm caused by this phenomenon, the Civil Code, in its
present form, is perpetuating child marriages." Article 1041 of
the Iranian Civil Code, which permits marriage for girls from the age
of 13 and for boys from the age of 15, prohibits marriage before
puberty except "by the permission of the guardian and on
condition of taking into consideration the ward's interest is
proper."
DOMESTIC POLITICS
Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi called off his
hunger strike on Thursday after authorities accepted one of his
demands and withdrew security agents from his home where he has been
held since 2011, his website said. Karroubi was hospitalized earlier
in the day shortly after launching a hunger strike to demand a public
trial and withdrawal of security men from his residence, which is
under 24-hour surveillance by the powerful Revolutionary Guards.
Karroubi's son, Mohammad Taghi Karroubi, confirmed the report,
saying via Twitter: "My father has called off his hunger strike
after ... the withdrawal of the agents from his house." "Officials have also promised to take measures
regarding my father's demand for a public trial," Karroubi's son
wrote. Opposition leaders Karroubi, Mirhossein Mousavi and his
wife Zahra Rahnavard have been confined to their homes for
six-and-a-half years after calling for rallies in solidarity with
pro-democracy uprisings then shaking Arab countries.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
The revelations about Iranian plans to build missiles in
Syria only add a new layer of evidence to Iran's multipronged
attempts to increase its power in the Middle East. The parliament in
Tehran recently sought to increase funding for Iran's ballistic
missile program by $260 million. A high level Israeli delegation of
intelligence officials is reportedly leaving for Washington in the
next weeks. This also ties into Hezbollah's missile build-up and the
close ties between Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Mark Dubowitz,
chief executive officer at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
and Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher recently detailed in The Wall
Street Journal the extent of Iran's projects in Lebanon. "Buried
more than 50 meters below ground and protected from aerial attack,
these facilities could produce highly sophisticated rockets with
ranges of more than 300 miles and equipped with advanced guidance
systems."
We can sense fear in statements made by Iranian
officials and most recently President Hassan Rouhani who warned
against the consequences of the big scheme's collapse - the reconciliation
agreement with the West based on the nuclear deal signed during the
term of former US President Barack Obama. The Congress shocked the
Iranian government when it reinstated a number of economic sanctions
on Iran, and US President Donald Trump insisted on his stance that
the nuclear agreement serves Iran more than the US, threatening to
abolish it. Countries of the European Union (EU) are keen to preserve
the agreement, which they believe it ushered in a new phase with the
Iranian regime. Since signing it, they rushed to seal huge trade
deals with Tehran, a move that was previously not possible because
the US government would have put any European company that dealt with
Iran on the blacklist.
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. Mehdi Khalaji of the Washington Institute for Near
East Policy tells the sad story in a recent article entitled "Rouhani's
Road Already Taken." There Khalaji notes that two of Rouhani's
rivals for the presidency have already been elevated by the Supreme
Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, to the Expediency Council, so that body
actually has more hardliners than it did before the election. But
that was Khamenei, defenders of Rouhani as a moderate might say.
Khalaji notes that while Rouhani criticized the IRGC during his
campaign, "he immediately toned down the rhetoric after
winning."
Qatar's new lie flew out the window of its "fingers
crossed" policy which it had been implementing since the quartet
boycott. This time, Doha claimed that Saudi Arabia wants a mediation
with Iran. This statement was never declared by any Saudi official or
even the Iraqi Foreign Minister for example. It was reported that
while he was in Iran, Iraqi Interior Minister Qassim al-Araji stated
Riyadh has asked for Iraq's mediation. Saudi Arabia was quick in
denying the reports about seeking mediation,"Saudi Arabia has
not requested any mediation in any way with the Republic of
Iran," adding that what has been circulated on news in this
regard is completely untrue, logic and series of events in the region
makes it impossible that Saudi Arabia would request a mediation with
Iran amid current conditions. Aside from that, negotiations with Iran
was impossible especially after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman settled the issue and stated his country's clear position of
this supposed dialogue: "There is no common ground between us
and Iran.".
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment