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TOP STORIES
Several social media companies in the West have been
criticised for a perceived lack of transparency in alleged talks with
the Iranian authorities on censoring content to the approval of the
country's strict religious authorities. Instagram, currently
available in the country - as well as Twitter and YouTube, which are
blocked but widely visited by Iranians using proxy servers - have all
been reported by local media in recent weeks as as co-operating with
the authorities to aid them in blocking or censoring
"immoral" content.
Top Iranian officials have rejected a U.S request for
the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog to conduct inspections on military sites
suspected by the White House of hosting nuclear activity. The remarks
followed an announcement that Iran was expanding its missile force.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani warned that while his
country won't be the first to violate the terms of the 2015 nuclear
accord with world powers, it won't stand by and allow the U.S. to
disregard its own obligations. Rouhani, who was inaugurated to serve
a second term earlier this month, said on Tuesday that the U.S.
lacked any backing from the other signatories for its hostile stance
toward the deal, and that the Trump administration faced "the
most difficult circumstances" in trying to upend it.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
The Obama administration likely hid information about
Iran illicitly ferrying militants into Syria on commercial aircraft
in order to promote the landmark nuclear deal and foster
multi-billion dollar business deals with Tehran's state-controlled
airline sector, according to lawmakers and other sources familiar
with the matter.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said there
was no alternative to the 2015 deal struck between Iran and a group
of world powers aimed at curbing the country's nuclear program...
"There is no alternative to the regime on nuclear
non-proliferation," he said. "In the context of what we are
living through, the 2015 agreement is what allows us establish a
constructive and demanding dialogue with Iran."
In their first meeting after the summer recess, the
European Union defended the Iran nuclear agreement, aka the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action, a response to a new wave of pressure
from the White House to undercut the international pact. Addressing
the opening session of the 2017 EU Ambassadors Conference in Brussels
on Monday, Federica Mogherini spoke in favor of the deal and said it
represents "the European way to foreign policy."
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Some of the most dramatic evidence of change in Iran
since the nuclear agreement that brought sanctions relief to the
country is visible in Tehran's stock market. In the past 18 months,
about 193,000 people have sought permission to trade on the bourse,
said Tehran Stock Exchange Corp. Chief Executive Officer Hassan
Ghalibaf-Asl. At least 45 companies have asked to list their shares
since the Iranian year started in March, and he expects as many as 13
initial public offerings within the 12 months, compared with seven in
the previous period.
Deputy Iranian oil minister said Russneft was eager to
launch cooperation with Iran on swap of crude oil as well as on
expansion of Iranian oilfields. Deputy Petroleum Minister of Iran for
International Affairs Amirhossein Zamaninia made the remarks
following a meeting in Tehran office on Monday with Otabek Karimov,
Russneft Vice President (VP) in Commerce and Logistic, Andrey Laveez,
the company's VP Chief Geologist and Vlada Rusakova, VP in gas
business.
SYRIA CONFLICT
For more than six years, the regional rivalry between
Iran and Turkey and their support of different sides of the Syrian
civil war have been major obstacles to finding a political solution
to the Syrian conflict. However, the recent rapprochement between
Tehran and Ankara has renewed hopes for the political process to
proceed toward a unified solution - one that seemed highly unlikely
even a month ago. Iranian Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri's
official visit Aug. 15 to Turkey, during which he held various
meetings with high-ranking Turkish officials, including President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was widely interpreted by observers as the
beginning of a new era in Tehran-Ankara relations. Indeed, Bagheri's
position as a military and not a political official could be
considered a sign that the meetings were about coordination at the
operational level, rather than political discussions Concern over the
Kurdish issue has facilitated the rapprochement between the two countries.
The United Arab Emirates urged Iran and Turkey on
Tuesday to end what it called their "colonial" actions in
Syria, signaling unease about diminishing Gulf Arab influence in the
war. Allied to regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, the UAE opposes
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his backer Iran, and is wary of
Turkey, a friend of Islamist forces the UAE opposes throughout the
Arab world. UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan
urged "the exit of those parties trying to reduce the
sovereignty of the Syrian state, and I speak here frankly and clearly
about Iran and Turkey."
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Washington Free Beacon reporter Adam Kredo said Tuesday
that it's fair to level accusations of hypocrisy against companies
doing business in Iran that pulled out of President Donald Trump's
CEO Council. Kredo appeared on "Tipping Point with Liz Wheeler"
to discuss companies operating in Iran while attacking the Trump
White House. "Who exactly are they comfortable doing business
with?" Wheeler asked. "They're comfortable doing business
with Iran, the leading and foremost state sponsor of terrorism, a
regime that is anti-Semitic, anti-western," Kredo said.
The US faces a "Catch-22" dilemma throughout
Lebanon, Syria and Iraq today. The more ISIS is defeated, the more
the vacuum is filled by Iran... In short, the US is tethered to
Beirut-Damascus-Baghdad... Washington's addiction to
"unity" means it won't be able to properly confront the
Iranian land corridor stretching from Tehran to Syria and Lebanon
without first confronting the governments enabling that to happen.
Doing so threatens "unity" and "stability." That
is why, absent a major policy change in Washington, nothing will be
done to roll back the emerging Iranian hegemony, including alleged
Iranian bases in Syria and Lebanon.
When it comes to Iran, President Trump is right in line
with former president Barack Obama, who could never bring himself to
take robust action in Syria (even before jihadists entered). Rather
than reverse course, carve out havens and arm non-jihadi rebels,
Trump launched missile strikes after one (of many) chemical weapons
incidents - and then did nothing to change circumstances on the
ground. To the contrary, the cease-fire deal that was worked out with
his soulmate, Russian President Vladimir Putin, has cemented Iranian
and Russian dominance. And that is a problem - one that leaves us at
odds with Israel, with whom Trump claims to have the best
relationship of any U.S. president.
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