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TOP STORIES
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he
expects Iran "at some point" to ask the United States for a
deal... "Iran at some point will call me and ask for a deal, and
we'll make a deal," he said.
German prosecutors have charged an Iranian diplomat with
conspiracy to murder after counterterrorism officials say they
averted a planned terrorist attack near Paris last month. ..
[Roule]: "Europe's response should be collective, much as it was
in the wake of Moscow's use of chemical weapons to assassinate a
dissident in England. At the very least, Europe should expel
Iran's ambassadors from Austria, Belgium, France, and Germany."
Japanese banks are moving to stop handling all
Iran-related transactions to meet a November deadline set by the
United States, after President Donald Trump in May pulled out of a
nuclear program agreement with Tehran.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
The United States and the United Arab Emirates have
broken up a network funneling illicit funds to Iran as Washington
steps up a drive to restrict Iranian trade and access to hard
currency in the region, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.
A top U.S. official focused on sanctions against Iran on
Thursday linked American financial pressure on Tehran with ongoing
economic protests roiling the country, saying she hoped the strain
would limit the Islamic Republic's "malign activities"
across the Mideast.
U.S. crude oil exports to India hit a record in June and
so far this year are almost double last year's total as the Asian
nation's refiners move to replace supplies from Iran and Venezuela in
a win for the Trump administration.
The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said last
week that Tehran would block all exports through the Strait of Hormuz
in the Gulf if countries heed U.S. calls to stop buying Iranian oil
from November. A fifth of global oil consumption passes through the
Strait from Middle East crude producers to major markets.
France's PSA Group said its global sales had continued
to grow in the first half despite its withdrawal from Iran, a major
market for the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars.
Some of the United States' closest allies are scrambling
to find a way around the latest sanctions of the Trump Administration
against Tehran, and Washington may have to revise its goal of
reducing Iranian oil exports to zero.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Amnesty International is denouncing Iran for the public
flogging of a young man whose alleged crime was having consumed
alcohol at a wedding when he was 14 or 15 years old.
[S]exuality - especially of the female variety - is this
regime's Achilles' heel (and always has been). Controlling it has
been an obsession since the Islamic republic came into power in 1979.
And now the establishment is obviously losing that 40-year war of
attrition.
For millennials in Iran, what might seem like a simple
"photo app" has become a political weapon.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
When it comes to covert operations against Iran, various
options have been explored and employed over the decades, to assist in
thwarting Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons. While many within
the US administration feel that acts of sabotage against Iran's
nuclear program are feasible, there are others that are still very
much against such action, feeling that any form of military
intervention could quite easily get out of hand.
CONGRESS & IRAN
Congress is seeking to weaponize US-funded
Persian-language news programs, opening a new front in the Donald
Trump administration's confrontation with Tehran.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH,
LEBANON & IRAN
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Ali Akbar Velayati,
a top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on
Thursday in Moscow, RIA news agency reported, without providing any
details. Velayati hailed Iran's ties with Russia on Wednesday as
"strategic" and said he would deliver messages to Putin
from Khamenei and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russia on
Wednesday that Israel does not intend to threaten Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad's rule and asked Moscow to work to remove Iranian
forces from Syria, an Israeli official said. "
Russia has been working to push Iran away from Israel's
border with Syria, diplomatic sources told Haaretz Wednesday evening.
Yemen's Foreign Minister Khaled Al Yamani filed a
complaint to the United Nations against Iran-backed Lebanese group
Hezbollah, which has declared its support for the Houthi rebels.
In a letter sent to Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran
Bassil, Yemen's foreign minister, Khaled Hussein al-Yamani, objected
to the Lebanese-based Hezbollah backing Houthis in Yemen. The
Yemeni minister called on the Lebanese government to restrain the
pro-Iranian militia and its aggressive behavior, and to align its
values with Lebanon's self-proclaimed dissociation policy.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen are conscripting children for
front-line fighting and refusing to help civilian families unless
they provide members to fight for them, Hodeidah residents said. The
Iran-backed group has cut exit routes from the Red Sea port city of
Hodeidah and is not allowing civilians to escape to areas under
control of pro-government forces. "Those who want to flee are
allowed to do so to rebel-held Sanaa, on condition they leave behind
at least two male members of the family to be recruited by the
Houthis," said one resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity
out of fear of reprisal.
Israel's air force attacked three military positions in
Syria Wednesday night, the Israeli army reported. According to the
IDF, the attack was carried out in response to a Syrian drone that
infiltrated Israeli airspace earlier on Wednesday. Israel shot down
the drone.
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