Thursday, August 24, 2017

Eye on Iran: US Ambassador Meets Atomic Energy Head on Iran Nuclear Issue


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The United States is determined to ensure the International Atomic Energy Agency has the resources it needs for "robust verification of nuclear-related activities in Iran," the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday. Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement after meeting in Vienna, Austria with the U.N. nuclear agency's director that she also discussed American concerns about "ensuring Iran strictly adheres to its obligations." Haley's meeting with IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano was private and no further details were immediately available.


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Russia on Wednesday to voice concern about Iran's efforts to expand its foothold in Syria. Netanyahu said at the start of his talks with President Vladimir Putin in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi that the growing Iranian presence in Syria threatens Israel and others. "Iran is making an escalated effort to base itself militarily in Syria," Netanyahu said. "That presents a danger to Israel, the Middle East and in my estimation, the entire world. Iran is already in advance stages of the taking over process of Iraq and Yemen, and in practice already controls Lebanon."


New photographs obtained by congressional leaders show Iran shipping militant soldiers to Syria on commercial airline flights, a move that violates the landmark nuclear agreement and has sparked calls from U.S. lawmakers for a formal investigation by the Trump administration, the Washington Free Beacon has learned...The new photographic evidence has roiled congressional leaders, who accuse Iran of violating the nuclear deal, which prohibits it from using commercial air carriers for military purposes. These lawmakers are demanding the Trump administration investigate the matter and consider imposing new sanctions on Iran.

NUCLEAR & BALLISTIC-MISSILE PROGRAMS


US. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley met officials at a key nuclear inspections agency Wednesday, drawing a rebuke from Iranian officials. Haley met with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria to discuss "monitoring and verification efforts and Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal," according to a summary of the meeting. But Iranian officials argued that the meeting undermined "the independence and credibility" of the inspectors and warned the IAEA not to share extra information about the regime's nuclear program.

RUSSIA-IRAN COOPERATION


A high-level Turkish military-diplomatic delegation is expected to visit Tehran soon to "put final touches" to a strategic accord between Ankara and Tehran to help stabilize the Middle East, Iran's Chief of Staff General Muhamad Hussein Baqeri revealed on Monday. Speaking at the end of a visit to the Iran Border Force headquarters, Baqeri said the Turkish team, to be headed by Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, will be a follow-up to Baqeri's "historic" visit to Ankara last week. Almost at the same time, a spokesman for the Turkish military announced that Russia's Army Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov would soon lead a high-level delegation to Ankara to discuss tripartite cooperation with Iran, among other things.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS


Qatar said on Wednesday it decided to return its ambassador to Tehran, more than 20 months after he was recalled in protest over the ransacking of Saudi Arabia's missions in Iran by demonstrators angry at Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric. The Qatari decision comes amidst a row between Doha and fellow Gulf Cooperation Council members Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, which together with Egypt accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism, a charge it denies. 

SYRIA CONFLICT


The Israeli Mossad agency voiced on Tuesday Tel Aviv's concern over Iran's growing power in the region. It delivered a report on Iran's influence in Syria to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian city of Sochi on Wednesday. Mossad Director Yossi Cohen alerted the government to the fact that Iran's influence, in Syria in particular, and the region in general is growing stronger by the day. The report noted the constant flow of fighters from Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran commanded by Qasem Soleimani and backed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It also addressed the supply transports by air and sea. 

SAUDI-IRAN TENSIONS


Iran and Saudi Arabia are planning a diplomatic exchange in a move indicating a thaw in their icy relations, an Iranian official said in an interview with state media. "Iranian and Saudi diplomats will travel and visit the embassy and consulates in one another's countries," Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on the Iranian Student News Agency. "Visas have been issued by both sides and we are awaiting the final steps." Zarif said the exchange would probably happen sometime after the religious Hajj pilgrimage, which starts at the end of August and ends around September 4.


Saudi Arabia, with U.S. assistance, is pushing aside years of rancor with its neighbor Iraq and mounting a broad effort to win Baghdad's allegiance and dilute Iran's influence over the pivotal U.S. ally. Saudi authorities are courting Iraq's Shiite leaders, expanding the kingdom's diplomatic presence, opening direct flights and reopening crossings closed for decades on the heavily fortified, 600-mile border. "We share historical, cultural and social links with Iraq," Thamer al-Sabhan, minister of state for Gulf affairs said after stopping at the newly reopened Arar border crossing. "If anything, I think we should be moving even faster."


While the latest exchange of diplomatic visits is enough to inspire hope for a friendlier future between Iran and Saudi Arabia, it isn't enough to ease Riyadh's concerns over any emerging cooperation between Iran and Turkey in Syria and northern Iraq. Signals of warmer diplomatic ties are noteworthy insofar as they suggest that Riyadh's foreign policy could be evolving as its crown prince consolidates power. But the region's enduring geopolitical realities still suggest that the two powers will continue to compete with each other in the years ahead. 

DOMESTIC POLITICS


Before she was appointed as Iran's vice president for legal affairs, law expert and college professor Laya Joneydi followed the obligatory Islamic dress code by covering her hair with a scarf and wearing a coat and pants to cover her body. In announcing her appointment to the cabinet, the Iranian government website posted a statement and a photo of Joneydi wearing the chador, which covers women from head to toe and leaves only the face exposed. Social-media users were quick to point out that Joneydi had overnight become a so-called chadori, an expression used in Iran to refer to women who choose to wear the chador promoted by conservatives as the "superior hijab" and the best protection for women.


Iranian opposition leaders have been "protected" under house arrest for six years and would regret facing trial, a court chief said Wednesday, amid calls for them to be allowed to face justice. "A trial will bring regret for these people... because the court and the system do not joke around with anyone and do their legal duty with determination, power and precision," said Mousa Ghazanfarabadi, the head of Tehran's Revolutionary Court. Quoted by the Dana news website, he was responding to renewed demands that former presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi finally face trial for their part in the Green Movement protests of 2009. The protests -- known as "the sedition" by hardliners -- followed allegations of rigging in that year's election, which they lost to hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They were put under house arrest in early 2011 but have never been charged with a crime. "Under house arrest, the heads of the sedition are protected and cared for," said Ghazanfarabadi.


Tehran's city council has appointed a U.S.-educated technocrat as the new mayor of Iran's capital, part of a reformist sweep of seats on the municipal board in the May election. Head of the council Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Wednesday that all 21 council members voted for 65-year-old Mohammad Ali Najafi, who earned a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976. Najafi has held many ministerial positions in his career. Iran's Interior Ministry also must approve his selection. The mayor's office in Tehran is a powerful position in local politics. Hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad catapulted to the presidency from it in 2005. Najafi succeeds Mohammd Bagher Qalibaf, a conservative politician who briefly stood as a candidate against President Hassan Rouhani in May before dropping out.

OPINION & ANALYSIS


A new United Nations report detailing chemical arms-related shipments from North Korea to Syria raises one big unanswered question: Who finances such illegal weapons deals? After all, the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad has very few financial resources of its own, and North Korea's Kim Jong Un is known to use illicit sales of military wares to help bypass international sanctions targeting his country's legitimate exports, and to finance his grip on power. In the past, one of Assad's strongest supporters, Iran, has been suspected of financing arms deals between Syria and North Korea. Separately, the Islamic Republic reportedly has cooperated with North Korea in developing nuclear- and missile-related armaments... So did the Iranians finance the chemical shipment described in the UN report?


The new Iranian defense minister has reiterated that he will continue to support the Quds Force and the "resistance front" and will only further enhance the country's controversial missile program and other defense capabilities. "We will vigorously continue all-out support for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) the Islamic Republic of Iran Artesh (regular army), and law enforcement forces as well as in the fields of defense, missile, navy, border security and other important areas," Fars News Agency quoted Brigadier General Amir Hatami as saying at the Defense Industry Day. On the same occasion, the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces also cautioned in a statement that the "world arrogance" - a term Iranian leaders use for the United States and its allies - is "seeking to eradicate the country's defense industry, particularly Iran's missile power."


Including Israel in the U.S. planning on countering Iran is also a change from the Obama administration. During the Iran nuclear talks, the Israelis were briefed on the status of the negotiations, but were not at the table to influence the eventual agreement, which both Netanyahu as well as his political rivals opposed. The tensions during this period soured the U.S.-Israel relationship, especially after the Obama White House accused Israel of trying to spy on the talks and then brief Congress on them. The world has been watching for signs of how Trump would navigate the Middle East. Last week's talks in Washington show that Trump is taking a different approach with Netanyahu than Obama did, and is getting a different response.


Turkey's Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar will visit Tehran in the near future for further consultations on boosting defense ties and counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries, the Iranian media reported today. The announcement was made on Monday by the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, who just returned from a high-level and unprecedented visit to Ankara. Bagheri told reporters in Tehran today that the upcoming visit by the Turkish military delegation will aim to "complete and conclude the negotiations" held during his recent visit to Ankara. The top Iranian commander also noted that Tehran and Ankara have reached agreements on border security as well as cooperation to resolve the political and security challenges in Syria and Iraq.


Argentine federal criminal prosecutor Ricardo Sáenz announced Monday that a new toxicology analysis on the body of the late Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman has discovered the drug ketamine, an anesthetic mostly used on animals. It is highly unlikely Nisman would have voluntarily ingested such a drug. He had been investigating Iran's role in the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish community center when he was found dead in his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head in January 2015... "There is a mountain of evidence in the case that indicates that it is a homicide; this would be one more," said Mr. Sáenz.






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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