Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Eye on Iran: Western Social Media Firms under Fire As Iranians Hint at Dialogue over Censorship


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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.






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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