Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Eye on Iran: Tillerson Calls on European Allies to Tackle Iranian Missile Program





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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on European allies to work with Washington to rein in Iran's missile program and its regional activities, saying Tehran's behavior must be challenged.


Iranian leaders celebrate the killing of Ali Abdullah Saleh and some media outlets express the hope that the former Yemeni president's death will further empower the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Ali Akbar Salehi, a senior aide to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said Saleh got what he deserved. "The Yemeni people that are with the resistance front will ultimately emerge victorious similar to the people of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon," he added.


Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged Muslims on Tuesday to disrupt what he called a plot by unnamed countries in the region to build ties with Israel.

IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL


The US secretary of state says pressure will continue to be applied to Iran over its commitments to the nuclear deal as the US Congress mulls over whether to re-apply economic sanctions on Tehran. 

U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS


Iran's foreign ministry denied on Wednesday U.S. accusations that the Islamic Republic is playing a destabilising role in the region, state media reported. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had said on Tuesday that Iran is carrying out "destabilizing actions" by supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon, supplying missiles to Houthi forces in Yemen and sending weapons and militia fighters to Syria.

SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT


Reza Zarrab, the government's star witness in a trial involving a billion-dollar conspiracy to smuggle gold for oil in violation of United States sanctions on Iran, testified on Tuesday that he had made huge sums of money in the scheme - but he could not recall the precise amount.

HUMAN RIGHTS


As Iranian sports fans sat down to watch the 2018 Fifa World Cup draw from Moscow last Friday, it was not just the fate of the their national team that was on their minds. Many were also waiting to see what the draw's Russian co-host, Maria Komandnaya, would be wearing. Would Iranian TV censors consider her outfit modest enough to show the whole draw? Or would they cut her out, as they did when Brazilian TV host Fernanda Lima hosted the 2014 draw, forcing fans to miss crucial bits of the programme?  

NORTH KOREA & IRAN


A former NATO chief has claimed that China, Russia, and Iran could be helping tubby despot Kim Jong Un in his bid to create world-ending nuclear missiles. Retired NATO Supreme Commander James Stavridis believes the pace of Pyongyang's weapons development programme suggests that Kim's regime is receiving outside help.

CHINA & IRAN


The senior officials of Iran and China emphasized on reducing the US dollar's role in their bilateral trade.


A consortium of Chinese and Hong Kong companies has signed an agreement with Iran's Industrial Development and Renovation Organization for a joint venture to produce solar photovoltaic panels in Iran. The preliminary deal with China's Sunshine Solar Technology and Konda Energy of Hong Kong calls for establishing an automated production line for solar panels, a statement on IDRO's website announced.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS


Magyar Idők, a pro-government propaganda daily, reports that Hungary wants to significantly deepen economic ties with Iran. According to the print daily, Minister of National Economy Mihály Varga held a joint press conference with his Irani counterpart in Tehran to announce stronger economic ties between the two countries. Hungary may be an important entry-point into Europe for Iran, Varga said.


Israel is expanding ties throughout the Middle East but not with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, accusing his country's arch-foe of trying to dominate the region. 

MILITARY MATTERS


The Iranian Navy today added a new missile-launching corvette to its fleet in the Caspian Sea, the Iranian media reported.

PROXY WARS


Israel's ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, warned Monday that the threat of conflict between his country and Iranian proxies in Syria and Lebanon is increasing by the week.

SYRIA CONFLICT


Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani has said that Iranian forces will remain in Syria "as long as necessary" to continue to assist the embattled regime of Bashar al-Assad, Fars News Agency reported. 


Saudi Arabia hosted a conference on Nov. 22 for the Syrian opposition aimed at unifying its position ahead of the UN-backed Geneva 8 talks. At the conclusion of what became known as the Riyadh 2 meeting, the participants stressed, "[The transition in Syria] cannot happen without the departure of Bashar al-Assad and his clique of repression and tyranny at the start of the interim period."

IRAQ CRISIS


Iraqis in the city of Kufa of Najaf Province held a protest rally against Iran and its Iraqi proxies and attacked the offices of the Badr Organization, according a video clip circulating in social media and published in some Arab outlets. 


Iraq's government approved a deal to import natural gas from Iran to the eastern border province of Diyala, it said in a statement on Tuesday, increasing purchases of the Iranian fuel which started earlier this year. 

GULF STATES, YEMEN, LEBANON, AND IRAN


On December 3, Houthi rebels in Yemen announced that they had fired a "winged cruise missile" at the construction site for al-Barakah nuclear power plant, located 230 km southwest of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates... Apart from its claimed target, the nature of the weapon itself raises important questions about Iran's relationship with the Houthis. The missile bore the unmistakable shape of a Soumar cruise missile, Tehran's copy of the Russian Kh-55 (according to the SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, several Kh-55s were smuggled to Iran through Ukraine sixteen years ago).


Saudi Arabia called on Tuesday for a Yemen free of "militias supported by Iran", in its first official statement since rebels killed their erstwhile ally former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. 


The death of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has received extensive coverage in Iran, with media outlets and newspapers describing his fate as the result of his "betrayal" of the Houthis. 


Iranian newspapers supported the Tehran-backed Houthi group in Yemen in their launching of a cruise missile at the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates. 


Mostafa Tajzadeh, a veteran Iranian politician, has attacked the Revolutionary Guard for its intervention in Yemen, saying that there was "nothing to make of Yemeni territory that have any strategic importance for Iran."







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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