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The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday sanctioned a
network of individuals and companies it said counterfeited Yemeni
bank notes potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran
Revolutionary Guard's Qods Force.
Iran's listing goes back to 1984. A State
Department report in July called Iran the world's foremost sponsor of
terrorism and said it has supported Shia militias in Iraq and
attempted to smuggle weapons to Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza.
The WMD issue, also a factor with North Korea and Syria, has been
cited by the State Department regarding Iran because of the
proliferation threat posed by its nuclear program.
Iran on Monday rejected a harsh statement by Arab League
foreign ministers condemning the Islamic Republic and its proxy
Hezbollah, saying the tirade was "full of lies" and the
product of Saudi "pressure and propaganda.".
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
If our trading partners had to choose between access to
the American market or access to the Iranian one, there's no doubt
which way they'd go. Given the obvious crisis caused by North Korea,
why would we not do everything possible to prevent a repetition with
the Islamic extremists of Iran? Regarding Obama's ghastly deal with
Iran, our motto should be clear: Fix it or nix it.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
At the Middle East's oldest oil refinery, giant,
yellow-brick silos that stored Iranian crude and fuel products are
mottled by bullet marks from the war with Iraq in the 1980s. One has
a large puncture from a tank shell. The conflict is now economic, but
this area of southwest Iran near the Persian Gulf is strategically
important again. U.S. President Donald Trump's talk of jettisoning
the nuclear deal that was supposed to plug the Islamic Republic back
into the global marketplace has given fresh urgency to plans to
transform a region as rich in petroleum reserves as it is in battle scars.
With the help of China, the aim is turn the century-old Abadan
refinery from a millstone costing the government up to $700 million a
year into a cash cow that can meet Iran's domestic demand for better
quality fuel rather than relying on imports.
SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT
A judge postponed jury selection in the trial
surrounding a conspiracy to help Iran evade economic sanctions after
the star defendant, an international gold trader who had been trying
to broker a diplomatic solution to the case, was a no-show Monday.
The case against Reza Zarrab, a citizen of Turkey and Iran, has
strained relations between the U.S. and Turkey.
HUMAN RIGHTS
It may seem that we have come a long way since the Dark
Ages, but there are still some countries in the world that have made
little progress in according equal rights to women and men. There is
even a country where misogyny is the order of the day and where women
have no legal rights. It may come as a shock to many, but Iran
continues to run in this way. The Iranian regime may keep up
pretences in public on issues related to women's rights, but in
practice women remain second class citizens in that country.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Islamic Republic of Iran and the European Union held
their third round of high level talks in Tehran on Monday.
SYRIA CONFLICT
The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran will meet on
Wednesday for the first in a series of summits aimed at re-booting
the peace process in Syria, now [that] regime forces have an upper
hand over rebels and the Islamic State group.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will be hosting his
Turkish and Iranian counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan
Rouhani, at a trilateral summit Nov. 22 in Sochi, to discuss Syria
and regional developments... Although these meetings can be seen as a
sign of a growing cooperation between the three parties, they can
also be interpreted as a reflection of distrust between them. When it
comes to Russia's agenda in Syria, both Ankara and Tehran have their
own fears as they are concerned that Moscow might exploit them at
some point to achieve its own goals.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, AND IRAN
Lebanon is used to lurching from one crisis to another,
but the political drama that has unfolded in Riyadh, Beirut and Paris
the past two weeks is unprecedented even for this tiny Mediterranean
country and could yet herald a protracted political battle as Lebanon
is dragged into the simmering regional confrontation between Saudi
Arabia and Iran.
The abrupt resignation of Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad
Hariri during a trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this month and the
events surrounding his presence in Riyadh appear to have increased
Iran-Saudi tensions and brought to the fore the possibility of a new
military confrontation in the region.
IRANIAN DOMESTIC ISSUES
When Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
makes public appearances, there are often two individuals trailing
close behind him: the white-turbaned Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammadi
Golpayegani, head of the Office of the Supreme Leader, and the
balding Vahid Haghanian, a towering, plump man partial to
multipocketed raincoats... Rarely, if ever, has Haghanian made
comments to the media, which has increased the mystery surrounding
the extent of his influence. Thus, when he attacked an official for
politicizing earthquake relief efforts in the western part of the
country, his comments lit up Iranian social media.
Iran's supreme leader has criticised the government's
response to last week's earthquake during a visit to the scene of the
disaster.
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