Eye on Iran: Ukraine Intel: We Caught Iranians Smuggling a Ship-Killing Missile

TOP STORIES Ukraine Intel: We Caught Iranians Smuggling a Ship-Killing Missile | Daily Beast Four days into 2018, two Iranian nationals tried to buy parts of an advanced missile in Kyiv, according a spokesperson for the Ukrainian intelligence service. This effort appears to have violated a UN arms embargo on Iran. News Site: Iran Will Shut Down Telegram for Security Reasons | Associated Press  An Iranian news site is reporting the country will block the Telegram messenger service for reasons of national security. Security Forces Suppress Iran's Ahwaz Protests as They Reach Fourth Day | Al Arabiya (Saudi Arabia / UAE) Iranian security forces, backed by units of anti-riot police and the Revolutionary Guard, suppressed night demonstrations on the fourth day of protests by Arab citizens in the center of the city on Saturday. According to eyewitnesses, security forces used tear gas and violence against protesters to break up the demonstrations that took place west of the city. NUCLEAR DEAL Europe Will Now Decide if the Iran Deal Survives | Mark Dubowitz for the Wall Street Journal Whether the deal survives is effectively Europe's choice, but Mr. Trump must be prepared to accept a real fix if it's offered. U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS President Carter Is Wrong Again. We Need More John Boltons -- Not Fewer | Christopher B. Burnham for Fox News The absurd and exaggerated outrage by Democrats and some in the media over President Trump's selection of former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton to become his next national security adviser has reached ridiculous proportions. This prompted Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to engage in a bit of wry humor Thursday on meeting Bolton. "It's good to finally meet you," Mattis joked when Bolton arrived to see him at the Pentagon. "I heard that you're actually the devil incarnate and I wanted to meet you." ECONOMIC NEWS Mismanagement Leaves Iran's Economy Vulnerable | Patrick Clawson for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Findings from a new IMF report imply that greater U.S. pressure would have considerable impact on the country's shock-prone economy. In Iran's Grand Bazaar, No One Can Afford to Talk Politics | Telegraph (U.K.)  Its covered galleries and courtyards are the beating heart of Iran's ancient merchant economy - but for traders in Tehran's Grand Bazaar, it has been a frustratingly slow holiday season.  HUMAN RIGHTS    Eight Iran Sufis On Hunger Strike, Claim Torture: Amnesty | Agence France-Presse  Eight members of Iran's Gonabadi Sufi minority are on hunger strike, Amnesty International said Friday, protesting alleged torture in prison after protests in which security forces members were killed. Iranian Clergy Versus Democracy | Mehdi Khalaji for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Even the Iranian government authorities do not deny people's eagerness for substantial change. At the same time, the Islamic Republic's hardcore is determined to curtail any serious effort to reform the system as it is unwilling to properly address people's political, economic and cultural needs. Iran Provincial Cleric Says State TV Annoyed Ethnic Arabs 'Inadvertently' | Radio Farda Following several days of demonstrations in Iran's Khouzestan Province by ethnic Arabs protesting against Iranian state TV for "ignoring Iranian Arabs," a top cleric in the province's capital city, Ahvaz, has warned demonstrators to "watch out for the enemy's sedition and conspiracies." IRANIAN REGIONAL AGGRESSION Arab Leaders Call on Iran to Stop Destabilizing Role in Region | Ahmad Majidyar for the Middle East Institute The UN Security Council should hold Iran responsible for disrupting regional and international security and providing ballistic missiles to the Houthi militants in Yemen to attack Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations, the speaker of the Arab Parliament has said. TERRORISM & EXTREMISM Hamas And Iran Closest They've Been Since Syrian War, Senior Official Says | Jerusalem Post Top Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk has said in an interview to London's Al-Hiwar television station that Hamas-Iran relations were the closest they had been since the Syrian civil war blew up in 2011. IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS Millions Of Women 'Illiterate' In Iran | Radio Farda The head of Iran's Literacy Movement Organization (ILMO) says nearly 2 million women across the country are illiterate. Iranian Athletes Pushed to Glorify Fallen Soldiers | Voice of America In an apparent attempt to shape public opinion in favor of Tehran's involvement in Syria and Iraq, Iranian officials are encouraging athletes to highlight pictures of fallen Iranian soldiers.  SYRIA & IRAN In Syria, We 'Took the Oil.' Now Trump Wants to Give It to Iran. | Josh Rogin for the Washington Post There are a lot of good arguments for maintaining an American presence in Syria after the fall of the Islamic State, but President Trump doesn't seem persuaded by any of them. Perhaps he would back off his urge to cut and run if he knew that the United States and its partners control almost all of the oil. And if the United States leaves, that oil will likely fall into the hands of Iran. AFGHANISTAN & IRAN Tehran Pushes for US Exit from Afghanistan as "Prelude to Peace" | Ahmad Majidyar for the Middle East Institute A top Iranian official has called for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, the Iranian Students' News Agency reported. ISRAEL AND IRAN Iranian Judoka Pulls Out Of Grand Prix to Avoid Facing Israeli Athlete | Radio Farda Once again, an Iranian judoka has pulled out of an international competition to avoid facing an Israeli athlete because of a controversial Iranian government policy. Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email press@uani.com. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.