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TOP STORIES
On April 15 last year, a Qatari man arrived in [Baghdad]
on an evening flight from his country's capital city, Doha...
identifying himself as a senior government envoy... The story of what
happened on that trip has not been reported until now. It entails a
ransom deal of staggering size and complexity in which the Qataris
paid vast sums to terrorists on both sides of the Middle East's
sectarian divide, fueling the region's spiraling civil wars. The cost
to Qatar wound up far exceeding $360 million, but ultimately cash was
less important than the deal's political dimension. In order to
retrieve its hostages, Qatar was made to negotiate a tightly
choreographed population exchange in Syria, using the rebel militias
it finances to forcibly uproot every resident of four strategically
located towns. The transfers advanced Tehran's larger goal of
transforming Syria - along with Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen - into
satellite states that will enshrine a dominant Iranian role across
the region.
[Saudi] Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told US network
CBS News his country did not want to acquire nuclear weapons.
"But without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we would
follow suit as soon as possible," he added.
Iran has pledged "support to Qatar's government and
people," the head of a visiting delegation was quoted as saying
by the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday. "The ground is
ready for development of cooperation with Qatar and we are doing our
best to have stronger relations with Doha," Deputy Commander of
the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' Navy Rear Admiral Ali Reza
Tangsiri told IRNA.
UANI IN THE NEWS
[UANI Senior Adviser] Norman Roule, the former national
intelligence manager for Iran at the Office of the Director of
National Intelligence, says that Pompeo's rhetoric is unlikely to
having any real problematic effect, given the current state of
diplomatic relations with Iran, and that Pompeo should not be seen as
an extremist. "Pompeo has a level-headed view of the Iran problem,"
Roule said. "He just wants a more demanding approach."
NUCLEAR DEAL
President Donald Trump's decision to fire his top
diplomat has put the Iran nuclear agreement at risk and cast new
uncertainty on a meeting of the accord's signatories. Diplomats from
six world powers and Iran convened in Vienna on Friday to review the
nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which
restricts the Persian Gulf country's nuclear work in exchange for
sanctions relief. It's the last scheduled meeting of the group before
Trump's May 12 decision on whether the U.S. sticks to the accord.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump's nominee for
secretary of state, agrees with his boss's conviction that the 2015
accord is a disaster. The question is whether that stance makes him
more or less likely to win some international backing for America's campaign
to rewrite the deal. Tillerson's efforts in that direction yielded
few results -- and if there's no progress by May 12, the president
has threatened a unilateral withdrawal.
The nomination of Mike Pompeo to be the next secretary
of state signals President Trump's determination to quit the landmark
Iran nuclear deal, which could cause it to unravel, according to national
security and arms-control experts. If Pompeo is confirmed, Trump will
have at his side an adviser who is equally as hard line on Iran and a
harsh critic of the 2015 multilateral agreement between the United
States and other world powers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his
security cabinet his assessment is that President Trump will most
likely withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal in May, according
to two ministers who attended the meeting.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNAL DISCONTENT
The State Department on Thursday called the Iranian
government's treatment of the news media "unacceptable,"
noting reports that journalists have been jailed and harassed.
Iranian authorities arrested over 300 members of the
minority Dervish Muslim community in late February 2018 after police
forcibly tried to break up a protest. The events in February stemmed
from what appears to be an intensified crackdown on the Dervish
minority, including likely ramped-up surveillance of the group's
leader.
The Trump administration has blocked a program that has
brought thousands of members of religious minorities from Iran to the
U.S. Refugee advocates say some are now stranded in Austria.
SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT
As a South Korean businessman and former Anchorage
resident remains embroiled in allegations that he helped launder over
$1 billion for the Iranian government, federal authorities say his
son is making a guilty plea to similar federal charges.
Statistics concerning the number of dilapidated trucks
still on Iranian roads vary between 127,000 and 202,000. The country
is suffering the consequences of too many older trucks in recent
decades as they highly pollute the air and debilitate road
transportation... The most important issue is where... new and
standardized trucks will come from. While China seems the most likely
option, there have been issues of poor quality in Chinese vehicles
sent to Iran, with a considerable record of fatal crashes in recent
years. During the eight years of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency,
while Iran was under international sanctions, Western companies
reduced their activities in Iran and were replaced by Chinese
manufacturers with a low-quality output.
HEZBOLLAH & LEBANON
Hezbollah on Tuesday denied Farda News' report quoting
the party's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah as saying that the
guardianship of the Islamic jurist (Vilayat-e Faqih) is above the
Lebanese constitution and it's mandatory to implement its orders.
Vilayat-e Faqih is a theory in Shiite Islam which holds that Islam
gives a custodianship over people. The theory forms the basis of
Iran's constitution.
A top Trump administration intelligence official warned
of the "real potential" of war between Israel and Hezbollah
that could bring in Iran and embroil the region in conflict.
SYRIA & IRAN
The United States is demanding the world hold Syria's
government, Russia and Iran responsible for what a top official calls
"some of the worst atrocities known to man." The statement,
by U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster, came Thursday during
an event at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington marking the
seventh anniversary of the start of the Syrian conflict.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince has compared the
supreme leader of Iran to Adolf Hitler, and said that his country
would acquire a nuclear bomb "as soon as possible" if Iran
developed nuclear weapons.
Iran said on Monday that Saudi crown prince was a
"delusional naive person" who has no idea of politics,
state TV reported, in reaction to Mohammed bin Salman's interview
with CBS news channel.
IRAQ & IRAN
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday accused Iran of
funneling money into Iraq to sway the outcome of its elections in
May, calling it part of a broader pattern of destabilizing Iranian
actions across the Middle East.
Everyone remembers the beloved story about the tortoise
and the hare. There is a similar race taking place between Iran and
America in Iraq. As Iran moves in a slow and cunning way, ever
increasing its influence in Iraq, America has lost most of its own sway
there.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
The mayor of Iran's capital Tehran has resigned after
hardliners criticized him for attending a ceremony in which primary
school girls danced... in a ceremony held to commemorate
International Women's Day.
A worker who was fired from a municipality in Iran's
Kerman Province set the mayor and his car on fire.
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