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TOP STORIES
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.
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