|
TOP STORIES
Iran's air force is carrying out a drill near the
strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, the passageway for
nearly a third of all oil traded by sea, the country's official IRNA
news agency said Friday.
Iran continues to wreak havoc in the Middle East by
allowing Al Qaeda to maintain a "facilitation base" within
the Islamic Republic's borders, according to the U.S State
Department's annual Country Reports on Terrorism.
Last month, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei went to the Sacred
Shrine of Imam Ridha in Masshad, Iran, to attend the ritual cleaning
of the Muslim saint's tomb. But being the supreme leader of Iran is
not all rites and photo opportunities: There's also the Great Satan,
fractious internal politics, and arch-nemesis Israel to worry about.
That may be why Khamenei was spotted apparently bringing a
Russian-built missile launcher on a trip from Iran's capital, Tehran,
to Masshad, in the north-eastern corner of the country.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Iran's LPG shipments loaded, or due for lifting, in
September dipped to 356,000 mt ahead of new US sanctions in November,
after hitting 568,000 mt last month, the highest since previous
Western sanctions for its nuclear plan were lifted in January 2016, fixtures
from shipping sources showed.
Across Iran's capital, rush-hour traffic always grinds
to a halt, a sea of boxy Renault four-doors and Peugeot coupes all
idling their way through the streets of Tehran. Soon, however, Iran's
faltering nuclear deal with world powers may be what causes the
country's domestic automotive market to stall out.
Japanese refiners have temporarily suspended Iranian oil
loadings ahead of US sanctions, while they are also closely
monitoring government talks with Washington on securing a waiver to
continue their imports, Petroleum Association of Japan President
Takashi Tsukioka said at a press conference Thursday.
Trump's ploy to force countries to choose between doing
business with the US or Iran is working. While German firms in Iran
have been preparing for months for the sanctions, the outflow of
companies is not slowing down.
India will settle payments for Iranian oil using rupee
through local banks starting in November as US sanctions will make it
difficult to settle trades through European banks, two industry
sources said on Thursday.
India's Chennai Petroleum will stop processing Iranian
crude oil from October to keep its insurance coverage once new
sanctions by the United States against Iran go into effect, three
sources familiar with the issue said.
Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh's threat to
veto any OPEC decision that harms the Islamic Republic will have no
impact on oil supply and will be ignored by those producers who are
able to boost their oil production, just as happened in 2011, writes
Bloomberg oil strategist Julian Lee.
When President Trump withdrew the United States from the
Iran nuclear deal back in May, the foreign-policy establishment was
unanimous in its opposition... [T]here was at least one point the
critics made that seemed irrefutable, in warning against the
re-imposition of US sanctions on Iran's oil exports... Trump's
unilateral move would certainly fail because of the interest of
America's European allies as well as the Russians and Chinese in
continuing to do business with Iran... But the experts were wrong.
MISSILE PROGRAM
Iranian proxies in Iraq are reportedly developing the
capacity to produce missiles, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley
said on Thursday as she warned against the growing Iranian foothold
in Iraq.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
During the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN
Security Council in New York next week, US President Donald Trump
plans to chair a session on Iran aimed at discussing the
nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, according to a
"concept paper" distributed by the US permanent mission.
Iran has not requested a meeting with U.S. President
Donald Trump, foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on
Friday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). A
foreign news agency reported that Iran requested such a meeting
during the United Nations General Assembly which began this week,
citing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, according
to IRNA.
President Donald Trump will speak about Iran, the
Skripal poisoning case in England, chemical weapons, and North Korea
when he addresses the United Nations next week, the U.S. ambassador
says. "It is time for us to have a real discussion [about Iran]
and that's what you will see the president do when he chairs the
Security Council," Nikki Haley told Fox News on September 20.
Iran hit back at a U.S. offer of negotiations on
Thursday, saying Washington had violated the terms of the last big
deal they agreed, the 2015 nuclear accord.
As President Donald Trump prepares to attend his second
United Nations meeting next week, world leaders are bracing for
another round of confrontation with the U.S. over Iran, global trade
and Trump's "America first" view of foreign policy.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iranian Judiciary, intelligence and security
organizations as well as the country's police force have refused to
cooperate with the Rouhani administration's "Freedom of
Information Access" (FOIA) database. The Guardian Council and
Expediency Council are among other bodies that deny citizens' right
to access unclassified information.
As Iran's traditional eulogists grow in fame and
influence, they have drawn criticism from the clerics who used to
have the main voice in religious ceremonies.
The decision by Iranian authorities allowing pilgrims
who wish to visit holy sites in neighboring Iraq to pay visa fees at
the rate afforded to importers on the secondary foreign currency
market has sparked criticism from both religious and non-religious
segments of Iranian society.
A group of young Iranians in exile announced the
formation of a political group committed to regime change in their
homeland, September 17. The group, called Farashgard (Revival),
presents itself as young and secular, and calls for democratic
liberal democracy in Iran.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated Thursday
that Israel would continue to act against Iran, days after the
downing of a Russian plane in Syria raised fears that IDF activity in
the country could be curtailed.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday that
his group is getting precision rockets despite Israeli actions to cut
smuggling routes through Syria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned
Hezbollah against attacking Israel, saying any military action by the
Lebanon-based terrorist organization would be met with a
"crushing blow."
Israel is upgrading and reinforcing its nuclear
facilities to withstand attacks to counter Iranian threats to strike
the Jewish state's nuclear sites, the head of the country's Atomic
Energy Commission said.
IRAQ & IRAN
Iran not only bombed its Kurdish opposition in Iraq
earlier this month, it demanded the "terrorists" be handed
over, and threatened more attacks in Iraq to eliminate them.
Although much of the politics in Iraq is local - arguing
over whether PUK politician Barham Salih or some other Kurdish
candidate will be the next president, or whether Kurdish local
elections will take place this month - the larger story is that what
happens in Erbil and Baghdad in the coming months will determine who
dominates Iraq's future. Washington hopes that the Kurds will forget
about their independence referendum of last year. But the North
remembers.
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment