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TOP STORIES
The naval chief of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards has
warned that the U.S. underestimates his country's power at sea and
may only appreciate it when it's too late... "The Americans have
little information about Iran's naval power and they understand our
real power when either their vessels are sunken or entangled in a
terrible situation," [Commander Rear Admiral Ali] Fadavi told
the semiofficial Fars News Agency.
At the time of this writing, Iran's avuncular Foreign
Minister Javad Zarif is about to conclude a six-day visit to New York
during which he has conducted a furious outreach to every conceivable
advocate of the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Although his visit will produce
a few supportive media pieces and the usual meetings with those he
deems at least relatively sympathetic to Iran, the visit is unlikely
to have much impact on the JCPOA debate. In fact, his visit may well
prove counterproductive, given his penchant to use every interview to
criticize the U.S. and Sunni states, while casting Iran as a
blameless victim.
Boeing has found new homes for jets it hoped to deliver
to Iran this year, further clouding the prospect of quick deliveries
as U.S. President Donald Trump considers whether to withdraw from a
pact to remove nuclear-related sanctions.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran. Tehran
vows to avenge an Israeli strike killing its soldiers in Syria;
Jerusalem intends to respond disproportionately to any Iranian
retaliation.
NUCLEAR DEAL
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday said no
decision had been made on whether the United States is going to
withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.
President Donald Trump says he thinks he swayed Emmanuel
Macron's thinking on Iran during the French president's three-day
state visit to Washington this week.
Mike Pompeo began his first overseas trip as secretary
of state with the fate of the Iran nuclear agreement hanging in the
balance, while tensions with Moscow have raised questions from the
U.S.'s allies about Russian relations.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as President
Donald Trump's secretary of state on Thursday, and the former CIA
director set off immediately on a trip to meet key allies in Europe
and the Middle East... Iran is likely to be on the agenda on the
Middle East leg of his trip.
A top adviser to Iran's supreme leader said on Thursday
Tehran would not accept any change to its nuclear deal, as Western
signatories prepare a new package in the hope of persuading U.S.
President Donald Trump to stick with the accord.
The Trump administration moved closer this week to
dropping out of the landmark Iran nuclear agreement, after efforts by
Europe's leaders to persuade President Donald Trump to remain in the
accord appear to be falling flat.
Emmanuel Macron's state visit to Washington this week
was notable for its warm atmospherics, but its significance could be
far more substantial... The Trump-centric U.S. media gave more
attention to Mr. Macron's remarks a day later that he thinks Mr. Trump
still wants to withdraw from the deal by May 12, but that isn't news.
Progress toward a joint Europe-U.S. revision is.
Against the backdrop of the visit to Washington by
President Macron and the scheduled visit by Chancellor Merkel in an
effort to persuade US President Trump not to leave the JCPOA, this
article zeros in on the key issues that need to be addressed by the
allies.
Less than two weeks after Germany refused to participate
in U.S.-led airstrikes intended to punish Bashar al-Assad's use of
chemical weapons, Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives in Washington
tomorrow to ask President Trump to keep waiving sanctions against
Iran - Assad's financial underwriter. Trump should respond by
inviting Merkel to join a transatlantic coalition to impose maximum
pressure on both Iran and Syria, whose aggression and atrocities
represent grave violations of the principles Germany has embraced
since 1945.
Just days before President Trump's scheduled meeting
with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington, she told Israel's
Channel 10 TV that the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran offers the best
hope for containing that country's nuclear program. Trump now faces
the challenge of convincing Merkel that she is half-wrong: The
nuclear deal can contain the Iranian nuclear program, but only if its
most glaring flaws are fixed.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his
country has been standing against America's "bullying"
efforts for years and urged Muslim countries to resist the United
States.
US President Donald Trump boasted that his
administration has kept Iran in check where former president Barack
Obama had failed to do so in a special interview with Fox &
Friends Thursday "They used to scream 'death to America,'"
Trump said. "They don't scream it anymore. They screamed it with
him [Obama], but not with me."
SYRIA, ISRAEL & IRAN
US satellites, surveillance aircraft, drones and ships
have stepped up operations to monitor the movement of suspected
Iranian anti-air and ballistic missiles inside Syria due to rising
concerns they could be used to strike Israel in the coming days, according
to half a dozen US officials CNN has spoken with in the last 24
hours.
Israel's defense minister said in an interview published
Thursday that his country will strike Tehran if attacked by archenemy
Iran, escalating an already tense war of words between the two
adversaries.
ECONOMIC NEWS
A slump in the value of Iran's rial currency amid a
tense standoff with the U.S. has triggered a chain of events that's
paralyzed money markets and businesses.
Oil prices gained on Thursday as the risk of renewed
U.S. sanctions on Iran, plunging Venezuelan output, and robust global
demand shook off the effects of a strong dollar.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran's government has accused a British-Iranian academic
arrested in Tehran of being a "member of a British spy
network". Abbas Edalat, a professor at Imperial College London,
was detained on April 15 and is believed to be in the custody of Iran's
Revolutionary Guard.
Iran has ordered network providers to stop hosting the
popular social messaging app Telegram, the semi-official Mehr news
agency reported Thursday.
IRANIAN REGIONAL AGGRESSION
A top adviser to Iran's supreme leader said on Thursday
Tehran would not accept any change to its nuclear deal, as Western
signatories prepare a new package in the hope of persuading U.S.
President Donald Trump to stick with the accord.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called
out the Iranian government on Thursday as "the patron and
protector" of groups that use civilians as human shields in
conflicts throughout the Middle East. "
Since 2012, Shia militia groups have proliferated across
the landscape of the Syrian war. While not all such Shia militias are
extensions of Lebanese Hezbollah, a number are based on the Hezbollah
model and have received extensive aid from the group.
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