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TOP STORIES
Saudi Arabia's crown prince called on the international
community to squeeze Iran economically and politically to avoid a
direct military confrontation in the region... "We have to
succeed so as to avoid military conflict," said Prince Mohammed,
who is Saudi Arabia's day-to-day ruler. "If we don't succeed in
what we are trying to do, we will likely have war with Iran in 10-15
years."
A number of protests have broken out in Iran since the
beginning of the year over water, a growing political concern due to
a drought which residents of parched areas and analysts say has been
exacerbated by mismanagement.
[T]he United States cannot effectively confront Tehran
and its proxies until it appreciates Iran's role in state building in
Middle Eastern countries decimated by conflict.
NUCLEAR DEAL
Eurasia Group's Chairman Cliff Kupchan said in a note
Wednesday that the agreement is unlikely "to survive President
Donald Trump's first term in office" and that the
"re-imposition of U.S. secondary sanctions" - the sanctions
that prevent other countries from doing business with Iran - is
likely.
The efforts of the foreign-policy establishment to
defend the Iran nuclear deal are boosting the case for Trump to
change it.
CONGRESS & IRAN
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said to expect some
"historic moments" coming in May in regards to Iran and
North Korea.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
The U.S. State Department granted a visa to a man in
Iran hoping to donate bone marrow to his U.S. citizen brother with
blood cancer, obtaining a rare waiver to President Donald Trump's
travel ban, the family's lawyer said on Thursday.
There are no easy answers in a region with ever-changing
interests and alliances, but one tool to consider for advancing
American interests is the use of "consequences" against
those who deliberately stick a finger in our eye. This is necessary
with four regional players: Iran, Turkey, the Palestinians and
Qatar..
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
The Criminal Court of Riyadh today sentenced two Saudi
citizens on charges of engaging in acts of terrorism and conspiring
with Iran and its regional proxies to destabilize Saudi Arabia, the
Arab press reported.
HUMAN RIGHTS
The UN Human Rights Council last week passed a
resolution extending the mandate of the special rapporteur on human
rights in Iran by one year. The measure, which cleared the global
body by a vote of 21 to 7 with 19 countries abstaining, reflects a
recognition that Tehran's domestic repression constitutes an ongoing
problem. At the same time, the large number of abstentions and
opposing votes suggests that a significant percentage of the
international community remains willing to overlook or deny the
reality of Iran's abysmal record on human rights.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, a prominent Iranian
Shiite religious leader, has called on authorities to prevent
"infiltrators" from entering Iran's holy city of Qom, Radio
Fardo reported today... Shirazi's comments reflect deep worries of
Iran's religious establishment about growing anti-regime sentiments
in the country. The holy city of Qom, a historic powerbase of the
Iranian regime since 1979, was not immune to antigovernment protests
that engulfed Iran in late December and early January.
When Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif began
his tenure in 2013, the American-educated diplomat knew that he would
need to bypass many of the traditional media outlets to spread Iran's
message directly on the international stage. At the time, there was
no platform better suited for this objective than Twitter. There was
only one problem. Since the 2009 protests, Twitter, along with
Facebook and YouTube, had been blocked in Iran.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Until six months ago, the Lovimi family from Iran had
never heard of Serbia. But here they are, currently in Belgrade,
after arriving without visas last August, waiting to continue on to
Germany, where they plan to build a new and better life in the
future. The family of four comes from the town of Ahvaz in the
province of Khuzestan in Iran's south west, where the majority of the
population is Arabic. They complain that, as Arabs, they have few
rights in Iran, their children are forced to learn Farsi and not
Arabic in school, and they are treated as second-class citizens, with
little hope of finding a job.
ISRAEL AND IRAN
Two Israeli F-35 fighter jets entered Iranian airspace
over the past month, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported on
Thursday.
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