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TOP STORIES
President Trump is expected to agree this week to
continue granting Iran a reprieve from sanctions over its nuclear
program, while again signaling his displeasure with the international
nuclear deal that lifted the penalties, U.S. and European officials,
congressional aides and others said. He also is expected to announce
new sanctions linked to human rights and other issues that would not
directly affect the nuclear agreement but would underscore U.S.
concerns about Iran's response to recent anti-government protests and
other actions, officials and others said.
Iran's atomic energy agency said on Wednesday a
reimposition of sanctions by the United States would be a violation
of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, adding that the Islamic
Republic had the capacity to greatly increase its enrichment of
uranium... "The capacity exists within the atomic energy agency
to speed up nuclear work in various fields, particularly in the field
of enrichment, which can be increased several times more than in the
period before the nuclear agreement."
Iran says it has arrested dozens on suspicion of
"terrorist activities" during a recent wave of protests.
UANI IN THE NEWS
[Ross:]
I'm hoping that he will not reinstate the sanctions. I think he can
use the fact that he has concerns, legitimate concerns, about what
the Iranians are doing both domestically but in the region as a way
to say to the Europeans - look let's join together, let's say
how we can raise the costs, let's see how we can make it clear to the
Iranians that they have some hard choices to make.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Iran's top nuclear negotiator said if Iran does not
enjoy the benefits of the JCPOA, it might leave it, adding the
Europeans can compensate for Iran's losses in case US
withdraws.
European Union foreign ministers say a key agreement
curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions must be preserved as U.S. President
Donald Trump weighs whether to pull out of the pact.
Europe and the United States should confront Tehran
about its ballistic weapons program and its role in Syria's civil war
but a 2015 deal to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb must
be preserved, Germany's foreign minister said on Thursday.
IRAN PROTESTS
The White House on Wednesday called for the Iranian
government to end its crackdown on widespread demonstrations and
release thousands of protesters who have reportedly been jailed in
recent weeks.
Iran's most significant protests in almost a decade may
have calmed, but anger that fueled the nationwide demonstrations
lingers and could erupt again at any time, according to experts.
President Trump has made it clear that the U.S. stands
with Iranian protesters, whose demonstrations against the repressive
government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were broken up
last week but whose demands have yet to be answered. Trump could
still aid their cause, and with a relatively easy, risk-free move: He
could make public details of the regime's corruption and help average
Iranians understand the full extent of the national wealth that has
been transferred from them to their government's fat cats.
The wave of recent protests throughout Iran is the
latest sign of Tehran's crisis of leadership. It is a crisis that has
indicted all echelons of the state and all the factions that compete
for power within it... The protests also highlighted how all those
groups now lay on one side of a deepening divide between the Iranian
state and society.
It is equally important to note what these protests were
not. They were not a repeat of a past urban, secular uprising of
affluent citizens demanding social and cultural change, freedom of
expression, and political participation. And here lies the good news
for the Islamic Republic. The most serious threats to the system have
traditionally come when Tehran has risen in rebellion-as it did in
June 2009 to protest the outcome of the presidential elections that
year.
[A] coalition of advocacy groups that support better
ties with Tehran have forged an unlikely alliance with Iran hawks in
Congress to try to rectify the chilling effect that US sanctions have
had on US technology firms. Together, they're urging the Donald Trump
administration to provide greater flexibility for US companies to
provide social media and digital platforms to Iranian citizens.
While economic grievances are the key driver of the
current protests, ordinary Iranians are questioning the wisdom of
their government's military adventurism abroad and support for
foreign state and non-state actors at the expense of domestic
priorities. Although the protests are fading and are unlikely to
change Iran's regional posture in the short and immediate terms,
growing resentment inside Iran about the country's foreign policy
will have long-term implications for the Islamic Republic's efforts
to expand its soft power and hard power strategies in neighboring
countries and the broader region.
English, as it turns out, is the Ayatollah's kryptonite.
Khamenei went, well, into a mullah meltdown in 2016 when he found out
that some Iranian nursery schools were teaching English. So, the
riots have forced Khamenei to double down. He is now banned the
teaching of English in Iran's primary schools... I have visions of
American stealth bombers dropping millions of crates laden with
English language instruction toys, books, to instruct young Iranian's
how to learn the Queen's English, so to speak.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran has begun implementing new guidelines that will
prevent thousands of convicted drug smugglers from being executed,
Iranian media reported Wednesday.
RUSSIA & IRAN
Iran's foreign minister is visiting Moscow for talks
focusing on the future of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and
the situation in Syria, where both nations support President Bashar
Assad.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
When protests against Iran's theocratic Shiite regime
erupted late last month, the reaction from the region's two main
Sunni powers couldn't have been more different.
SYRIA & IRAN
Turkey called on Russia and Iran on Wednesday to
pressure Syrian authorities to halt a military offensive in Syria's
rebel-held Idlib province, which Damascus launched despite an
international deal to reduce hostilities there.
IRANIAN DOMESTIC ISSUES
Iranian media are reporting that a magnitude 5.1
earthquake has jolted the country's southern province of Kerman.
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