TOP STORIES
An unnamed British-Iranian national has been sentenced
to six years in prison on spying charges, the official news agency of
Iran's judiciary reported Sunday, the latest dual national convicted
in the country.
The United States has said it is ready to act in Syria
to end chemical attacks and "inhuman suffering" if Russia,
Iran, and Syria continue to allegedly ignore a 30-day cease-fire
approved by the United Nations, prompting a warning from Moscow that
it will strike back if the lives of its servicemen are threatened.
The BBC said Monday its journalists will appeal for the
first time directly to the United Nations over what the British
broadcaster describes as the "persecution and harassment"
by Iran of those affiliated with its Persian service.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday it had
killed two suicide attackers and defused their explosives near the
border with Pakistan, the semi-official Tasnim news agency
reported.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Iran has accused the United States of helping Islamic
State militants in Afghanistan to fuel regional terrorism and
threaten neighboring countries.
NORTH KOREA & IRAN
You could call it the Iranian negotiating model. After
months of escalating tensions with the United States, North Korean
dictator Kim Jong Un has offered to meet directly with President
Trump, engendering cautious optimism from many who see this as a
necessary first step to de-escalation in Asia. The White House has
tentatively agreed to the meeting. And yet, without deft handling,
this dialogue could allow one of the world's worst rogue states to
reap enormous dividends as a result of its irresponsible conduct -
much as happened with Iran in the not-so-distant past.
American commitments under a landmark nuclear deal with
Iran offer several lessons for US President Donald Trump as he
prepares to enter talks with North Korea over its own nuclear work.
But what those lessons are depends on who you ask. Critics of the
Iran deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA), say that the 2015 agreement provides Tehran with a path
toward a nuclear weapons capacity and shows that Washington is willing
to bend over backwards in negotiations when faced with nuclear
blackmail. As North Korea perfects its intercontinental ballistic
missile program - the very effort that has precipitated the current
crisis, as it threatens the entire continental US homeland - critics
of the Iran deal say that it allows for Tehran to perfect that same
technology, guaranteeing a similar crisis down the line.
SYRIA & IRAN
In Iran, the media's negative view toward Russia is
intensifying amid speculation that Moscow is bypassing Tehran in
Syria.
IRAQ & IRAN
A commander in the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran
was assassinated on March 6 in northern Iraq by agents of Iran,
according to members of the dissident group.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
In separate interviews with leading Iranian newspapers,
Iranian Interior Minister Abdul Reza Rahmani Fazli discussed the
findings of an Interior Ministry report warning that the grievances
that led to the nationwide protests in December and January could
once again cause unrest in the country.
Hassan al-Khomeini, the grandson of the first leader of
the Islamic Republic of Iran, criticized the suppression of the
popular protests in the country, warning of the fall of the regime if
it did not listen to the demands of the people.
Iranian lawmakers have begun a hearing on the labor
minister's alleged mismanagement of unemployment and other government
enterprises.
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