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TOP STORIES
Despite international efforts to deter Houthi militias
in Yemen since their takeover of Sanaa in March 2015, Iran has been
repeatedly accused of continuing to back the group. And with
pro-government forces reclaiming two-thirds of Yemen, Iran's
involvement in arming and training Houthi militias has been
highlighted by regional and Western sources. This is what coalition
leaders highlighted in one of their documents, as well as stating
that Hezbollah members are supervising the training of the rebels.
Iran's peaked support has come in the midst of the rising defeat of
the Houthis on battlefronts and their recent strong disagreements
with ousted President Saleh. This caused Iran to supply the militias
with more long-range ballistic missiles that were smuggled into the
country, according to Gulf observers.
Iran will continue to produce missiles for its defense
and does not consider that a violation of international accords,
President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday in a speech broadcast on
state television. Rouhani spoke days after the U.S. House of
Representatives voted for new sanctions against Iran's ballistic
missile program, part of an effort to clamp down on Tehran without
immediately moving to undermine an international nuclear
agreement.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani rebuffed a request from
U.S. President Donald Trump to meet at the United Nations in New York
in September, a day after the Trump made a speech highly critical of
the Islamic republic, the state-run Fars News Agency said.
UANI IN THE NEWS
In mid-September, Hezbollah's Secretary General Hassan
Nasrallah declared victory in the Syrian Civil War, dismissing any
continued fighting as "scattered battles." Victory in Syria
has long been considered a necessary prerequisite for the group
initiating another war with Israel. However, Nasrallah's declaration
of triumph is still premature. Victory alone in Syria is insufficient
to speed up the "doomsday clock" on the next clash between
the two foes, since many regional, domestic, and internal factors
continue to constrain the group.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Iran is fulfilling its commitments under the nuclear deal
with world powers and inspectors are not facing any problems in their
verification efforts, the International Atomic Energy Agency's
director-general said on Monday. "The IAEA can state that such
nuclear-related commitments are being implemented," Yukiya Amano
told a news conference in Abu Dhabi following a trip to Iran on
Sunday where he met Iran's president and other officials.
"I requested that Iran ... fully implement the
nuclear-related commitments. This is the main thrust of the meeting
in Iran ... Regarding the activities by our inspectors, they are
discharging their responsibility without problem," he said.
A senior Iranian lawmaker announced that the parliament
is set to mention 18 cases of breach of the 2015 nuclear deal, also
known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in its third
half-yearly report on the implementation process of the deal.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency,
NUCLEAR & BALLISTIC-MISSILE PROGRAMS
Iran's nuclear deal with world powers may hang in the
balance, but you wouldn't know it at the United Nations conference on
atomic energy held Monday in the United Arab Emirates. Iran decided
to skip the Abu Dhabi conference, leaving its seats empty as Yukiya
Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, avoided
speaking about the nuclear deal at all in his address at the venue.
CONGRESS & IRAN
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a
bill that would hit Iran with a fresh batch of sanctions for its
ballistic missile program in a vote held Thursday morning. The bill
now moves to the Senate for its approval; if it becomes law, it would
further strain already tenuous US-Iran relations but not outright
violate the terms of the nuclear deal with Iran. The House bill
would require the Trump administration to identify companies and
individuals, Iranian and non-Iranian alike, who are supplying the
ballistic program. The sanctions options would include, among other
things, freezing the US assets of suppliers, restricting their travel
to the US, and banning imports from them. Iran's ballistic missile
program isn't covered by the Iran nuclear deal, which means these
sanctions don't violate the terms of the deal.
BUSINESS RISK
US President Donald Trump's new Iran
strategy, including his Oct. 13 refusal to certify that the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) meets congressional
requirements, will push a contract for 80 passenger jets signed
between Boeing and IranAir into uncertainty, despite the confidence
both companies have been trying to show. Trump has specifically
referred to the $16 billion order by the Iranian flag carrier, saying
he has not made up his mind about the future of the contract.
"They were going to buy Boeings. I don't know what's going to
happen with the deal," he said in an interview Oct. 22,
referring to Iran. Meanwhile, there have been reports going so far as
to say that the US administration is likely to nix the aircraft
order.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur on the Iran
rights situation, said on Thursday that no change has been made in Iran
during the past year, expressing her frustration with the high number
of executions, especially among teenagers as well as the harassment
of minorities. She added that achieving a progress on the level of
women rights is quite slow, expressing concerns over curbing the
freedom of speech. A day after submitting her report to the world
body, Jahangir told reporters that torture was widespread in Iran and
that some people were imprisoned for seeking justice.
IRAQ CRISIS
Iran will lift border restrictions with Iraq's Kurdistan
region "in the coming days following a closure after last
month's Kurdish vote in favor of independence, the Iranian armed
forces chief of staff said. Major General Mohammad Baqeri, in remarks
quoted by ISNA news agency on Monday, also said if Kurdistan
implemented its plan to break away from Iraq, "there would be
bloodshed in Iraq and neighboring countries would be affected."
The U.S. must not allow Iran to seize Kurdish border
crossings between Iraq and Syria. Because Iran is attempting to do
just that.
GULF STATES & IRAN
Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Gulf affairs Thamer
al-Sabhan has said Iran's media propaganda arm is aiming to stop the
recent rapprochement between Riyadh and Baghdad by spreading what he
called fake news.
Houthi militias are violating all international laws and
banning hospitals from operating and treating patients, as well as
targeting humanitarian aid convoys in Yemen, Saudi Foreign Minister
Adel al-Jubeir has said. "When we talk about Yemen and our
alliance to support the legitimacy, we have to remember the war of
the Houthi and Saleh militias on the stability of the country and
taking it captive," he said on Sunday.
IRANIAN DOMESTIC POLITICS
Iran's parliament has approved two nominees by President
Hassan Rouhani to head the ministries of energy and higher
education... Rouhani's 18-minister cabinet is now complete.
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