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TOP STORIES
The Trump administration urged the United Nations
Security Council on Monday to take action to address Iran's ballistic
missile tests and arms transfers to Houthi rebels in Yemen, steps top
officials said were essential to preserving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley led the 14 other members
of the Security Council on a trip to Washington that included lunch
with President Donald Trump and a stop at a military hangar to see
what the U.S. says is evidence that Iran is arming Houthi rebels in
Yemen... Ms. Haley said she pressed fellow Security Council members:
"'If you don't do anything about all of these violations, I
can't promise you that we're staying in the deal,'" she said.
"Something has to be done."
The United States is encouraging other U.N. Security
Council countries to set aside the nuclear deal loathed by President
Donald Trump and focus on cracking down on Iran's missile and other
non-nuclear transgressions, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Monday.
Haley, who brought fellow Security Council ambassadors on a field
trip to Washington, suggested that a concerted global effort to
punish Iran for violating Security Council resolutions on ballistic
missiles could persuade Trump it was worthwhile to remain in the
nuclear deal.
Social media postings Monday showed at least five women
in Iran protesting the obligatory Muslim headscarf by taking theirs
off and waving them on sticks.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
For the Trump administration to overcome years of drift
and appeasement and demonstrate the president's genuine resolve to
make progress before the May deadline, he will need to lead by
example... The president said America's allies "should not do
business with groups that enrich Iran's dictatorship or fund the
Revolutionary Guard and its terrorist proxies." Yet, the U.S.
Treasury Department currently holds license applications by Boeing
and Airbus to sell more than $44 billion in brand new aircraft and
aircraft parts to Iranian commercial airlines, which the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps has often used to smuggle terrorists and
weapons components across the Middle East.
The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security
Council has urged European powers not to support the Trump
administration's efforts to amend or cancel the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA) - the nuclear deal Tehran signed with world
powers in 2015.
IRAN PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
The fate of a former FBI agent who went missing in Iran
nearly 11 years ago will be front and center at this week's State of
the Union address. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) will bring Christine
Levinson, wife of Bob Levinson, as his guest for President Trump's
speech Tuesday night. Bob Levinson was working on an unapproved intelligence
mission for the CIA when he disappeared in 2007 from the Iranian
resort island of Kish. The length of his disappearance makes him the
longest-held hostage in U.S. history, according to Deutch's office.
The Iranian authorities have released most of the people
arrested during December's anti-government protests but around 300
remain in jail facing charges, Iran's interior minister said on
Tuesday.
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry has illegally detained
or summoned close relatives of at least three activists from
northwestern Iran since anti-government protests erupted in the
region in late December 2017, the Center for Human Rights in Iran
(CHRI) has learned.
Following the recent anti-establishment protests across
the nation, Iranians have taken to Twitter to compare the country
before the 1979 revolution with Iran today, making the hashtag
#What_we_gave_vs_what_we_got go viral.
The humble metal cabinets that house telephone wiring on
streets the world over have become a stage for Iranian women
protesting the country's strict laws on wearing the veil. An image of
a woman standing on one of the gray boxes while holding aloft a pole with
her white veil, or hijab, hanging from one end first surfaced late
last year. It then went viral on social media as mass anti-government
demonstrations erupted in December, and swelled into a major rebuke
to the ruling establishment. The woman was identified by fellow
activists as Vida Movahed, but is more often referred to as the
"Enghelab Street girl," after the Tehran thoroughfare where
she challenged authorities.
Usually the Iranian regime's assault on its people's
dignity is measured in its political prisoners, its laws mandating
modest dress for women, its prosecutions of gays and its
stage-managed elections. An under-reported aspect of this story,
though, is the state's treatment of the Baha'i, a small monotheistic
faith that was founded in Iran in the 19th century and that honors
Buddha, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. In Iran, this minority faces
systemic discrimination reminiscent of Nazi Germany's Nuremberg laws
or China's treatment of the Falun Gong. Its followers are denied
government services, pensions and representation in the government.
In every sense they are second-class citizens. And yet their fate is
rarely discussed in the context of Iran's freedom movement.
When the protests in Iran began Dec. 28, it wasn't clear
to Tehran's regional allies whether or not to be concerned. Lebanon's
Hezbollah, Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Hamas, the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Syria's defiant government, whose
existence today has a lot to do with the revolutionary
establishment's decision to fight on their side, all had many reasons
to think of developments in Tehran as if they were occurring in
Beirut, Baghdad, Gaza and Damascus. To them, if it rains in Iran,
opening umbrellas is necessary wherever they are.
It's hard not to be moved by the tremendous bravery that
filled Iranian streets this month. Many Canadians have paid tribute
to the efforts of the protesters with moving speeches and powerful
essays. Canada's support for Iran's freedom movement need not remain
symbolic, however. Ottawa has enough resources at its disposal to
help tilt the scales in the protesters' favour.
An Iranian native now living in Norman has posted more
than 1,000 videos translating "The Federalist Papers" into
his native tongue, Farsi. It's a project that Houshang Nourmohammadi
has worked on full time for three years, without pay, living off money
he had saved for that purpose. He recorded the videos on a $20
cellphone, and he posts them on Telegram, a popular social media
platform in Iran, and on Instagram. (YouTube is blocked by the
Iranian government.)
For the most part, the reports in the American press
have recounted the economic woes leading up to the nationwide
uprising. That focus is due to two related misunderstandings: first,
that revolution is driven by economic misery, and second, that such
insurrections are a desperate effort to change conditions before all
is lost. Those who believe this "explanation" demean the
Iranians risking their lives while chanting "down with
Khamenei" and "we do not want to be ruled by mullahs."
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Iranian military boats have quietly ended years of
harassment of US Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf, and it looks like
another welcome sign of a new cop on the beat.
HEZBOLLAH & LEBANON
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Russian
President Vladimir Putin on Monday that he is willing to order
military strikes against Iranian position[s] in Iran and Lebanon.
Lebanese judicial authorities have issued an arrest
warrant for Qais al-Khazali, the leader of Iran-backed Iraqi militia
group called Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Iran's Fars News Agency reports.
Quoting Lebanese sources, Fars added that the Lebanese Army and
General Security Directorate have also ordered all relevant
authorities to arrest the Iraqi militia commander if he reenters
Lebanon. They allege that Khazali last year had entered Lebanon
illegally. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has also called for a
travel ban on the Iran-linked militia commander. Last December,
Khazali visited the Lebanese-Israeli border and pledged to support
Hezbollah in a potential war against Israel in the future -
triggering angry reactions from Lebanese officials and concerns in
Israel.
Hezbollah MP Haji Muhammad Raad responded to an article
published on Sunday on Arabic-language media websites by the Israel
military, which said Israel believes Iran has resumed building a
missile factory in Lebanon. "The article is nonsense and
provocative," Raad told the "continued dialogue"
website.
I recently learned that Lebanon's Military Tribunal has
sentenced me in absentia to six months in prison. After speaking
about Hezbollah's role in Lebanon and Syria, I was charged with
defaming the Lebanese army. When my lawyer called to notify me of the
ruling, I realized the Lebanon I once knew is gone.
OTHER TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
Former London mayor Ken Livingstone, appearing on
Iranian state television to discuss the topic "Has the Holocaust
been exploited to oppress others?," repeated his claim that
Hitler worked with the Zionist movement to convince Jews to move to
Israel. Livingstone appeared on the Press TV show on Saturday, which
was observed as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
MILITARY MATTERS & PROXY WARS
An Iranian official has announced the allocation of $2.5
billion more for the country's military to increase what it terms the
country's "military capabilities"... Some analysts believe
Iran is spending big chunks of its military budget on foreign
military interventions and adding to the military budget means more
regime interventions in regional countries.
The deputy head of Iran's elite Quds Force has said that
the creation of "international Basij force" will fulfil
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's pledge to liberate Jerusalem from
Israel, Defa Press reported... The Quds Force commander added that
Iran and its regional proxies "everyday have a new conquest and
move one earthwork forward." He also emphasized that the IRGC
now "defends the Islamic Republic of Iran's regime thousands of
kilometers beyond Iran's borders and help the oppressed."
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Monday
that U.S. vessels patrolling the Gulf had changed behavior and now
abided by international regulations. Rear Admiral Ali Ozmaei's
remarks cited by Tasnim news agency followed last week's comments by
U.S. military officials that the Iranian military had halted routine
"harassment" of U.S. naval vessels in the Gulf.
SYRIA & IRAN
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Russia
on Monday for talks focused on Syria, warning that Israel will not
accept Iran's growing military presence there and in neighboring
Lebanon.
IRAQ & IRAN
The deputy head of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces
has said that, with the military defeat of ISIS, the paramilitary
forces will now play a key role in the security sector...
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
The Supreme Leader
has agreed to the transfer of four billion dollars from the National
Development Fund of Iran (NDFI) for use in the proposed budget for
the next Iranian calendar year, 1397, which starts on March 21... it
allows for increased spending on defense and state-run media, leading
to accusations that some of Iran's most powerful institutions are
reaping benefits to which they are not entitled - simply because they
are powerful and because the Supreme Leader wants to bolster their
efforts... In fact, this fund has now been turned into a piggy bank
for ensuring a key part of oil and gas revenue is directed toward powerful
institutions, which can spend the extra funds as they like. Iran's
military was powerful enough to double its share and IRIB had enough
clout to increase its take by 50 percent. The Ministry of Education,
on the other hand, lacked influence so it lost its share. The
distribution of the funds clearly shows that entities favored by the
Supreme Leader received the lion's share of the money.
More than a decade ago, Iran passed one of the world's
most comprehensive anti-smoking laws... Yet after 11 years, tobacco
use in Iran remains almost the same as when the law first passed.
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