Thursday, August 30, 2018

Eye on Iran: U.S.-Imposed Sanctions on Iranian Oil Industry Will 'Cripple' Iran's Economy, Report Says



   EYE ON IRAN
Facebook
Twitter
View our videos on YouTube
   




TOP STORIES


U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran's oil industry will "cripple" the Middle Eastern country's economy after they take effect in early November, according to a new report released Wednesday.


"The proliferation of forged documents enables a host of illegal activities, like the travel of sanctioned or wanted individuals and other forms of illegal immigration. It is also a deliberate attack on the authority to secure its borders," said David Ibsen, Executive Director of the not-for-profit, non-partisan policy organization Counter Extremism Project (CEP). "This is not surprising, as Iran will do what it can to circumvent sanctions."


The European Union's top defense and diplomatic officials convene in Vienna on Thursday with the teetering Iran nuclear agreement and Middle East stability at the top of their agenda. The meetings coincide with publication of the International Atomic Energy Agency's quarterly Iran inspections report, which is due by Friday and will likely show the Islamic Republic continues meeting nuclear obligations made under an agreement jettisoned by President Donald Trump in May.

SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS


Standard Chartered Plc has already paid a painful penalty for secretly moving billions of dollars through the U.S. on behalf of Iranian clients, in violation of sanctions. But a sweeping investigation has found evidence suggesting that the bank's Iranian business was more extensive than it admitted, according to five people familiar with the matter.


Iran will halt Middle East oil exports if it's not allowed to ship its crude through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a top military official.


The Iranian energy minister said German engineering conglomerate Siemens has vowed to continue to collaborate on the transfer of know-how for the F-class gas turbine technology to Iran despite its withdrawal from Iran following new US sanctions. 


An FBI agent investigating a massive Turkish-Iranian sanctions-busting scheme confirmed that the Turkish government had pressured Washington for the release of key defendants in the illicit trade and that legal proceedings against co-conspirators were far from over.


The current Iranian narrative-that economic problems stem from domestic mistakes rather than foreign pressure-complicates the U.S. policy of using sanctions to force change.


The U.S. should close the loophole on petroleum condensate exports.


As the Trump administration prepares to renew sanctions on Iran's energy sector, it has an opportunity to help the U.S. oil and gas industry with the right enforcement policy.

PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS


When a British-Iranian charity worker was abruptly released from a Tehran prison last week on a three-day leave and allowed to see her daughter, joy erupted among supporters in Britain, where her case has received extraordinary attention. But when her request for an extension was denied, the elation turned to despair and anger.


Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch blasted the Islamic Republic of Iran for its sweeping violent crackdown on Christians and Dervishes, including imposing lengthy prison terms on the members of the religious minority groups.

U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS


Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the United States on Wednesday of bullying even its own allies, as he arrived in Turkey which is locked in a row with Washington. 

MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS


A top Iranian general on Wednesday claimed the United States would pay a "heavy cost" for an attack on the regime, due to Tehran's strong deterrent capabilities.


Iran's intelligence minister has boasted on state television about his country's successful recruitment of a former Cabinet-level official from a "hostile" country, signaling Tehran's first acknowledgment of compromising an arrested Israeli official.


Two incidents in late August 2018 involving Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F-5F Tiger II fighter jets underscored the ongoing crisis in Iran's air force.

IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS


Iran's supreme leader has told the nation's president and Cabinet to work "day and night" to resolve economic problems that have put President Hassan Rouhani under unprecedented political pressure. 


Rouhani... has apparently accepted the role of scapegoat, which he must think is the most politically prudent course to maintain his presidency and his power, including a shot at eventually becoming Iran's supreme leader. But he is wrong, and he will very likely pay a high price for choosing not to go on the offensive.

RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN.


Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday held previously unannounced talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish presidency said, with the situation in Syria likely to have dominated the agenda. 


In a pointed warning to Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that any country that threatens to destroy Israel risks meeting a similar fate, while vowing to continue taking action against the Islamic Republic's military presence in Syria.


Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded Wednesday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed that the Israeli military "will continue to act with full determination and strength" against Iran's military entrenchment in Syria.


The United Nations has called on Russia, Iran and Turkey on Thursday to forestall a battle in Syria's Idlib province that would affect millions of civilians and could involve both sides using chlorine as a chemical weapon.


Israel on Wednesday renewed its threat to attack Iranian military targets in Syria, after the two Muslim allies signed an accord on security cooperation.


Netanyahu's persistent diplomacy with Putin failed to contain more troubling developments across the border that threaten his country's long-term stability.

GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN


The coalition of Arab states fighting against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Wednesday denounced as inaccurate and biased a report by U.N. human rights experts that said some of its air strikes may amount to war crimes. 

IRAQ & IRAN


Recently declassified U.S. interrogation reports shed new light on one of Iraq's most prominent Shiite political figures and Iran's role in training and arming Iraqi militias that attacked U.S. troops during the Iraq war. 






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.

No comments:

Post a Comment