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TOP STORIES
The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly
unanimously on Thursday for new sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile
program, part of an effort to clamp down on Tehran without
immediately moving to undermine an international nuclear agreement.
The vote was 423 to two for the "Iran Ballistic Missiles and
International Sanctions Enforcement Act." Among other things, it
calls on the U.S. president to report to Congress on the Iranian and
international supply chain for Iran's ballistic missile program and
to impose sanctions on Iranian government or foreign entities that
support it.
President Trump's assertive new strategy toward Iran is
already colliding with the reality of Tehran's vastly expanded
influence in the Middle East as a result of the Islamic State war.
The launch of the strategy signaled an important shift in U.S. Middle
East policy away from an almost exclusive focus on fighting the
Islamic State to an effort that also pushes back against years of
Iranian expansion in the region. But the strategy offers no specifics
for how to confront Iran's pervasive presence on the ground in Iraq,
Syria and beyond, raising questions about how easy it will be to push
back against Iranian influence without triggering new conflicts.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday
Iraq must stand on its own in the face of Iranian influence, while
recognizing that the two states shared a long border and legitimate
economic interests.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Mark Wallace, CEO of United Against Nuclear Iran,
testified that Congress should pass additional legislation that would
reimpose nuclear sanctions on Tehran if the sunset clauses were not eliminated
while also intensifying restrictions against the country's ballistic
missile program.
CONGRESS & IRAN
Despite a purely partisan Republican push to alter the
terms of the Iran nuclear deal, an overwhelming majority of US lawmakers
from both parties continues to advance legislation to counter Iranian
behavior throughout the Middle East. The House passed four bills
today and Wednesday taking aim at Iran's ballistic missile program
and its support for Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite paramilitary group
fighting alongside Iranian forces on behalf of the Bashar al-Assad
regime in Syria. In addition, Iran hawks in Congress continue to
press the Donald Trump administration to ban US aircraft sales to
Iran and designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a
foreign terrorist organization.
In mid-October, President Trump was due to make a
certification to Congress on four conditions about its nuclear
deal... On October 13, he surprised no one by declining to certify
one of the conditions set out in the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review
Act (INARA), a bill Congress passed to oversee the 2015 deal: that
continued sanctions relief to Iran under the agreement is
"appropriate and proportionate" to measures taken by the
regime to end its nuclear program. The president said he is not yet
quitting the deal, which he can do unilaterally, but giving his
administration time to fix its flaws by working with Congress and our
European allies. This "decertification" set off a 60-day
period during which lawmakers could reimpose the heavy sanctions
killed by the 2015 deal through a fast-track process.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Iran expects to seal energy contracts
worth more than $20bn over the next year despite the threat of new US
sanctions as it pushes ahead with negotiations with international oil
companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo Dutch group, and
Kremlin-controlled Rosneft.
A recent string of "financing
agreements" that various governments and international banks
have signed with Iran indicates that Tehran is finding solutions to
leave behind the bottlenecks in financing its international projects.
The question at this stage is whether or not such deals will
facilitate the planned expansion of trade and investment with
international - and especially European - companies.
HUMAN RIGHTS
A U.N. special rapporteur said on Thursday there had
been little change in the human rights situation in Iran over the
past year, voicing outrage over the harassment of journalists and
adding that progress on women's rights was extremely slow. A day after
submitting her report to the world body, Asma Jahangir, the U.N.
special rapporteur on the Iran rights situation, told reporters that
torture was widespread in Iran and that some people were imprisoned
for seeking justice.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
held talks with top Nigerien officials, including Prime Minister
Brigi Rafini and President Mahamadou Issoufou, about a range of issues,
including ways to boost bilateral relations between the two
countries.
MILITARY MATTERS
After this week, the Trump administration will not only
be leading the United States down a different path with respect to
the Iran nuclear deal; it will also be employing a revised strategy
on the Islamic Republic as a whole. On Oct. 13, President Trump
announced the results of a comprehensive policy review, resulting in,
among other items, a terrorist designation for the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which he accurately described as
"the Iranian Supreme Leader's corrupt personal terror force and
militia." By means of its extra-territorial special operations
Quds Force, the IRGC provides logistical and financial support, as
well as arms and training to a variety of regional proxies and
terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthi rebels in
Yemen, and Shiite militants in Iraq and Syria who have been accused
of human rights violations rivaling those of ISIS.
SYRIA CONFLICT
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson poked fun at Iran as
being little more than a "hanger-on" in Syria and said that
in contrast, Russia has been much more successful in backing the
regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
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