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TOP STORIES
Iran's covert social media-based propaganda campaign
extended to Google and its video platform YouTube, the company said
Thursday. Google said that it had removed 58 accounts on its various
services that it found had connections to the Islamic Republic of
Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Iran's state media organization.
British Airways and Air France said on Thursday they
would halt flights to Iran from September for business reasons,
months after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would re-impose
sanctions on Tehran. British Airways said it was suspending its
London to Tehran service "as the operation is currently not
commercially viable".
Iran's own fleet of tankers may provide a lifeline for
its crude and condensate exports that'll be slashed as U.S. sanctions
against the Persian Gulf nation take hold.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
US President Donald Trump's national security adviser on
Thursday said the White House had rejected a Russian proposal to put
off sanctions on Iran's oil sector in exchange for a rollback of
Iranian forces in Syria, despite Israeli calls for an immediate withdrawal.
Iran's legal challenge against renewed sanctions by the
United States goes before the UN's top court Monday, as Tehran seeks
to avert painful punitive measures that could hurt its still fragile
economy.
The Iranian economy has spiraled out of control since a
new set of US-enforced sanctions against trade with Iran went into
force Aug. 7, as its currency value has been plummeting ever since
while inflation rates are on the rise. Iraqi investors in Iran have
been far from immune from the fallout.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
A British woman of Iranian descent incarcerated in Iran
on sedition charges since 2016 was granted a three-day furlough on
Thursday to see her young daughter and other relatives, a break in a
bitter dispute between Britain and Iran.
An Iranian lawyer representing a former lawmaker
arrested last week for staging a protest outside Iran's parliament
has accused officials of falsely charging his client with conspiracy.
Sixty members of the European Parliament have expressed
deep concern over the prolonged detention of Iranian human rights
lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and demanded her unconditional release in a
letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on August 22.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Iran drew widespread ridicule when it revealed that its
supposedly "state of the art" and domestically designed and
built new "Kowsar" jet fighter was really a 1970s US design
with a fresh coat of paint - but according to an expert, the plane
has an untold purpose that could save the Iranian air force.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Thousands of mainly ethnic Balochs are deprived of
access to basic government services in Iran as they are formally
stateless without state-issued ID cards.
CONGRESS & IRAN
Republican lawmakers are calling for Iran to be expelled
from the main financial system that oversees international bank
transfers, as the Trump administration steadily re-imposes sanctions
on the country following the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear
deal.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN.
Talk of Hezbollah's economic woes has continued to
increase in recent months, with Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah
finally acknowledging the current financial distress during a meeting
with high ranking party officials.
White House national security adviser John Bolton says
Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terror organization, must be kicked out
of Syria in addition to other Iranian forces.
The Trump administration is "very, very early in
the process of considering" what it wants to do about the main
existing arms control treaty between the United States and Russia,
White House national security adviser John Bolton said Thursday after
meeting with his Russian counterpart.
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