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TOP STORIES
President Donald Trump has decided to extend sanctions
relief to Iran, following the advice of top advisers and keeping the
landmark Iran nuclear agreement intact for at least another several
months, people familiar with the discussions said. Mr. Trump is
expected to couple that decision with a package of new sanctions,
including some aimed at confronting human rights abuses in Iran, that
are not technically related to the nuclear agreement.
A senior Iranian cleric who was visiting Germany for
medical treatment left the country Thursday despite critics' calls
for his arrest for crimes against humanity. Germany's top federal
prosecutor's office earlier said it saw no grounds to detain Mahmoud
Hashemi Shahroudi, the former head of Iran's judiciary.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Thursday
that he expected U.S. President Donald Trump to impose new sanctions
on Iran.
UANI IN THE NEWS
There
is room for the president to impose new non-nuclear sanctions and
gain European support for them, particularly if they understand this
may keep the U.S. in the JCPOA. Preserving coalitions for dealing
with the Iranian challenge in the region will remain important. The
costs of Iran's adventurism in the region have produced a backlash
among the Iranian public; this is the moment in which demonstrating
that Iran is alone internationally becomes more important than ever
Tehran
should never have been allowed to enjoy its relief from economic
sanctions, having never ceased its human rights abuses or curtailed
its missile program and threats against regional and global
adversaries. But now that we have seen the public's sentiment in
Iran, the notion of appeasing the ayatollahs should come to an end
once and for all, or else Europe will be accomplice.
Soleimani, that's all he wants to do
is kill Americans, kill Israelis. So for us to give any kind of
enablement to that country and that current regime is just treason. I
got no other word. I hate to use it but I can't see it any other way.
It's treason. If I did anything relatively close to that I would be
held for treason, and I would be in Leavenworth.
United
Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), non-profit advocacy organization based
in the U.S., appears disappointed with the bloc and the U.S. stance.
"We are disappointed with the EU and individual Member States
position on Iran," UANI's president David Ibsen told New Europe,
explaining that the consensus in Brussels "seems to be that Iran
is meeting its obligations under the nuclear agreement."
"We would argue differently," Ibsen adds, suggesting that
the Iran deal is "a temporary stopgap measure to the threat
posed by the regime's nuclear vision. With relief on sanctions from
US and EU, Iran is biding its time, reaping the benefits from the
deal and accruing assets until it is free to resume its prolific
activities."
We expect President Trump to decertify the Iran nuclear
deal and at the same time impose more onerous sanctions on Iran for
its human rights abuses, its regional meddling and its support for
terrorism.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Three of Washington's closest European allies urged the
Trump administration not to abandon the Iranian nuclear deal, with
U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson saying opponents of the
agreement have shown no better alternative to stop Iran developing
its nuclear program.
IRAN PROTESTS
The massive and widespread arrests of young people in
different Iranian cities continue since the people took to the
streets on December 28. According to reports from inside Iran and
from within the regime, the number of detainees has mounted to at
least 8,000 by the end of the second week of the Iranian people's
uprising.
Several international human rights organizations
expressed their concern over the fate of arrested protesters in Iran,
calling upon the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran Asma
Jahangir to seriously follow up on the situation of detainees in Iranian
prisons.
BUSINESS RISK
World oil markets are about to get a clearer idea of
what Donald Trump's presidency means for one of the biggest crude
exporters, Iran. The U.S. president plans on sticking with an
agreement that suspends American sanctions on Iran in return for
limiting its nuclear research, according to two administration
officials familiar with the matter. Even so, protests by Iranians
against economic mismanagement by their leaders have only toughened
Trump's stance against Tehran. His well-known disdain for the nuclear
deal is already deterring investors from the country, the
third-biggest in OPEC. Of the Western energy majors, only France's
Total SA has returned, and it's proceeding slowly.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Italy and Iran on Thursday signed a framework credit
agreement to fund investments worth up to 5 billion euros ($6.02
billion) in Iran, Italy's Economy Ministry said.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
Although groups funded by Iran throughout the region
have refrained from expressing a stance on Iran's protests, it's
believed that Iran is unlikely to cut or halt such aid even as
protesters demand ending the support.
As protesters in Iran draw attention to their
government's domestic repression, the international community should
refocus on Iran's global misdeeds. For starters, the U.S. government
should impose new sanctions on Iran tied to its refusal to hand over
the AMIA terrorism suspects, and encourage allies to do the same.
SYRIA & IRAN
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by
telephone with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif about
preparations for a Russian-hosted Syrian People's Congress, the
Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday in a statement.
Even as Russia plans further peace talks aimed at ending
the Syrian civil war, elite Syrian army forces are tearing through
Idlib province, wrenching control of towns along the way from jihadi
forces - or, as some believe, moderate opposition fighters.
IRANIAN DOMESTIC ISSUES
A newly released video has shown the process in which a
body of 74 clerics elected then-President Ali Khamenei to the highest
position in the decade-old Islamic Republic, a position he has held
for nearly three decades.
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