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TOP STORIES
Iran is ramping up support to the Taliban in retaliation
against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to scrap a historic
nuclear deal, Afghan officials said, and the battle for a strategic
Afghan city points to that blowback.
The floor of Iran's parliament descended into chaos this
week as lawmakers debated joining an international effort to choke
off funding for terrorist groups, with lawmakers storming the
speaker's dais, complaining of "colonialism," and holding
aloft notes of protest amid the din. The May 22 session was scheduled
to review a bill on the country's accession to the International
Convention for the Suppression Of Financing Of Terrorism, also known
as the Terrorism Financing Convention, a resolution adopted by the UN
in 1999.
Having failed to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to
stay in the Iran nuclear accord, French President Emmanuel Macron is
reaching out to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Lieberman said that as chairman of the group, United
Against Nuclear Iran, he could "not be more supportive" of
President Donald Trump's policy to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.
"[It] was a bad deal," he said. "We gave a lot away
and got very little in return, and we did nothing, about the
non-nuclear aggression and support of terrorism, of the Iranian
government."
"Iran has worked aggressively to train, arm,
supply, guide, and direct thousands of Shias and Sunnis throughout
the Middle East, from Lebanon to Afghanistan and to Yemen,"
according to Norman Roule, a senior adviser to United Against Nuclear
Iran, a non-profit, bi-partisan advocacy group. "Iran basically
puts very few of its own people at risk," Roule told Kurdistan
24 earlier this week, after speaking at an Atlantic Council seminar
on the "Middle East after the Iran Deal."
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Europe and the United States remain deeply divided over
how to proceed after Washington's exit from the 2015 Iran nuclear
accord, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday after
back-to-back meetings with two senior U.S. officials.
U.S. President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the
nuclear deal with Iran has added fresh impetus to a European outreach
to Russia-although European officials say existing tensions make it
far from a thaw.
German Chancellor
Angela Merkel said on Thursday China and Germany are standing by the
existing nuclear deal with Iran after the United States left the 2015
accord earlier this month.
Iran's top leader set out seven conditions on Wednesday
for Tehran to stay in its nuclear deal with world powers, including
steps by European banks to safeguard trade with Tehran after the US
withdrawal from the pact.
Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on
Wednesday that Washington's rejection of an international nuclear
agreement showed that the Islamic Republic could not deal with the
United States.
Iran's top leader set out a series of conditions on
Wednesday for European powers if they want Tehran to stay in a
nuclear deal after the U.S. exit, including steps by European banks
to safeguard trade with Tehran and guaranteeing Iranian oil sales.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Iran's supreme leader criticized the U.S. on Wednesday
over its hard-line stance toward the country since President Donald
Trump's decision to withdraw from a landmark nuclear deal with
Western powers.
Iran's supreme leader has said that American objections
over the 2015 nuclear deal were a pretext for regime change, vowing
that the US was bound to fail like "the famous cat in the Tom
and Jerry" cartoon.
Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his
first public remarks since U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listed
12 demands of Tehran, said on Wednesday that Iran would defeat the
United States if Iranian officials did their duty, state television
reported.
A senior Iranian military official branded U.S. leaders
disloyal and cruel on Wednesday and told parliament Tehran would not
bow to Washington's pressure to limit its military activities.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned on
Wednesday that the U.S. government would be defeated like Iraq's
deposed leader Saddam Hussein if it attacks Iran, Iranian state TV
reported.
A top Iranian general has warned the U.S. that his
forces are prepared for any potential military action as President
Donald Trump threatens to escalate his campaign against Tehran.
SYRIA, RUSSIA, ISRAEL & IRAN
The withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria, demanded by
the United States, is not up for discussion, a top Syrian official
was quoted as saying on Wednesday, adding that Damascus was deciding
on its next campaign against rebels.
On May 22, one day after US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo presented 12 demands for Iran that would result in a top-down
change of the Islamic Republic or potentially be a starting point to
potential war, Iranian media and officials responded harshly to the
list of demands.
Nestled in southern Syria near the point where the edge
of the Israeli occupied Golan Heights meets Jordan, the rebel-held
town of Deraa has long been in the regime's sights. With the recent
recapture of Eastern Ghouta and Yarmouk Palestinian camp on the edge
of the Syrian capital, regime forces and their allies are looking to
push south. However, the offensive has the potential to be the powder
keg that sparks a major regional escalation.
In March, President Donald Trump said he would be
pulling U.S. troops out of Syria "very soon." But they're
still there, and will stay there, to defeat what's left of the
so-called Islamic State, says the man in charge of military efforts
in the region.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
A semi-official Iranian news agency is reporting that
truck drivers in four provinces in the country are on strike over low
wages.
HEZBOLLAH & LEBANON
The Iran-backed Hezbollah aims to move beyond its
traditional backseat role by assuming more influence in Lebanon's
next government to help it counter an escalating U.S. campaign
against Tehran and its regional ascendancy.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
European Union bureaucrats love to speak of
"European values," and their media allies on both sides of
the Atlantic take it for granted that the EU stands for all that is
good and just on the international scene. For a certain type of
journalist or NGO worker, if the EU does or says something, that act
or statement must be admirable by dint of the fact that it originated
in Brussels. Yet too often, the EU stands for diplomacy for its own
sake, process for its own sake, bureaucracy for its own sake-even
when insisting on diplomacy, process, and bureaucracy for their own
sake...
IRAQ & IRAN
After the Sairoon (On the Move) Alliance emerged
victorious in the May 12 Iraqi elections, its leader, Muqtada
al-Sadr, has been seeking meetings with the leaders of the other
top-vote-getting alliances to discuss the possibility of forming the
largest bloc in the new parliament and ultimately form the new
Cabinet.
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