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TOP STORIES
Iran has reopened a nuclear plant idle for nine years,
its atomic energy agency (AEOI) said on Wednesday, as Tehran prepares
to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world
powers falls apart after the U.S. withdrawal.
India's oil ministry has asked refiners to prepare for a
'drastic reduction or zero' imports of Iranian oil from November, two
industry sources said, the first sign that New Delhi is responding to
a push by the United States to cut trade ties with Iran. India has
said it does not recognize unilateral restrictions imposed by the
U.S., and instead follows U.N. sanctions.
The Trump administration on Wednesday began dismantling
the sanctions relief that was granted to Iran under the 2015 nuclear
deal, a step that follows President Donald Trump's withdrawal from
the international accord. The Treasury Department announced it had
revoked licenses that allowed U.S.-controlled foreign firms to export
commercial aircraft parts to Iran as well as permitted Americans to
trade in Iranian carpets, pistachios and caviar.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has sent a list of
demands to France, Germany and Britain as its price for staying in
the nuclear accord, vowing not to give in to growing U.S. pressure to
curb its oil sales and complicate efforts to salvage the deal.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Regional aircraft manufacturer ATR says it must give up
delivering the remaining aircraft ordered by Iran because of new US
sanctions and that it will try to reclassify 12 aircraft if it does
not obtain a waiver.
Nearly two thirds of Iran's MPs have called on President
Rouhani to change his economic team and turn around the country's
financial problems.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday it was important
India cut Iranian oil use, but said the United States would work to
allow India to use an Iranian port as corridor to Afghanistan.
Turkey has said that it does not plan to honor a U.S.
call for countries to stop importing oil from Iran, calling the
demand "not binding" on Ankara.
Oil prices steadied on Thursday, with U.S. crude pulling
back from 3-1/2-year highs, but supply remained tight with investors
concerned by the prospect of a big fall in crude exports from Iran
due to U.S. sanctions.
The sudden rise in car prices in Iran has created an
unusual dilemma for the country's economy. Unable to solve these
kinds of issues, President Hassan Rouhani's administration usually
either blames these problems on systemic issues or as part of a
psychological war waged by hostile powers. But neither of these
explanations has any social acceptance in Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday Tehran
was closer to its goal of self-sufficiency in gasoline production
after inaugurating the second phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery
in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Iranians must stand together in the face of American
pressure to "bring America to its knees," President Hassan
Rouhani said on Wednesday in an address broadcast on state
television. "We will take problems. We will take pressure. But
we will not sacrifice our independence," said Rouhani.
SYRIA, RUSSIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Israel says it has had to beef up protection for two of
its nuclear reactors as they are missile targets for Iran and
Hezbollah.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that
the Syrian regime of President Bashar Al Assad has been
"enormously successful" in the course of the seven-year
war, while singling out its ally Iran as the "greatest
threat" in the country. Mr Pompeo, testifying before the
appropriations committee in the Senate, delivered a hard-line view on
Iran and its "client Hezbollah", accusing the Lebanon-based
militant group of plotting against the United States.
Iranian MP Behrooz Bonyadi warned of the consequences of
Syrian-Russian rapprochement at Iran's expense, and said Syria and
Russia are "sacrificing" Iran.
Amid feeble chances to reach a solution regarding the
new Cabinet formation in light of obstacles related to the Christian
and Druze knots, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is expected to
present Thursday his new version of the cabinet lineup to Lebanese
President Michel Aoun, in his latest efforts in this regard...
Hezbollah insists that the 10 Sunni MPs who are close to the party
get a ministerial seat in the new government.
The message sent to Iraq and Syria with the airstrike is
that the presence of the militias is not acceptable and that they are
being watched... Washington must decide if it is serious about
rolling back Iranian influence in Syria or if it will continue to
watch as Jerusalem acts.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent a message of
support on Wednesday to Iranians taking part in strikes and protests
against their government. Washington hopes domestic discontent will
pressure or even oust Tehran's Islamic government, but has been
cautious of backing protesters publicly. As recent demonstrations
have grown, however, Pompeo has begun a Twitter campaign, now backed
by a formal statement, to amplify opposition voices.
An international rights group said it had learned that
Iran quietly executed a teenager for a crime he committed when he was
14 years old.
Protests began in Iran's capital on Sunday, sparked by
shop owners - or bazaaris - shutting their doors to voice their anger
at the plummeting Iranian rial. As the country's economic picture
worsens, the movement looks likely to pick up strength. But a toppling
of the government is far from likely, according to analysts at risk
consultancy firm Eurasia Group.
...It would be a mistake to see these protests as
exclusively economic. Iran has witnessed a storm of varied uprisings
since this past winter, including anti-hijab protests, truck driver
strikes, and even environmental protests. The bazaar-based protests are
only the latest iteration of discontent attesting to the dissonance
between state and society in Iran.
Last Wednesday, female fans were permitted into Tehran's
Azadi Stadium for the first time since 1979, as authorities
reluctantly bent to growing public pressure and international calls
to open stadiums to all. The ban on women in sports arenas was a
remnant of the Islamic republic's long-standing policy of gender
segregation. But even so, authorities didn't exactly rush to allow
them in... But there never should have been a ban on women attending
sports events in the first place. Iranian women shouldn't have to
wait another four years to enter stadiums to cheer on our sports
teams.
CHINA & IRAN
The Donald Trump administration's determination to
squeeze Iran economically after withdrawing from the nuclear deal is
already succeeding on one front: frightening European investors out
of making deals with Tehran. Yet Iran's leadership thinks it has a
secret weapon: to use Chinese investment and oil purchases as a way
to compensate for the loss from the West. Given China's high energy
needs and the trade war now on between Washington and Beijing, this
may seem a realistic scenario. But it's almost certainly a fantasy:
While China can indeed take some of the sanctions heat off Iran, it
is neither able nor willing to be Tehran's economic savior.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
The Gulf states can play a critical role in stymieing
the Tehran regime's financing of terrorism across the Middle East by
pushing Europe to pull the plug on investments in Iran.
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