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TOP STORIES
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran
on Thursday of keeping a "secret atomic warehouse" just
outside its capital, despite the 2015 deal with world powers that was
meant to keep it from obtaining nuclear weapons. Holding up a
poster-board map of an area near Tehran before world leaders at the
U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu said Iranian officials were keeping
tons of nuclear equipment and material in a warehouse near a
rug-cleaning operation.
A US intelligence assessment conducted in recent days
has concluded that Iranian-backed militias and proxy forces could be
planning a strike against US military forces or interests in the
Middle East, according to three defense officials. Officials emphasize
their concern centers around the threat from those militias located
in Syria and several other locations in the Middle East.
The Israeli military on Thursday released a video clip
and photos of what it said were Hezbollah Shi'ite militia rocket
building sites in Lebanon.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Speaking to the conservative lobbying group United
Against a Nuclear Iran during the UN General Assembly meetings,
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday he was "disturbed
and indeed deeply disappointed" by the European Union's decision
to create a "special purpose vehicle" (SPV) designed to
allow trade with Tehran in euros, which would eliminate the need for
commercial and central banks who fear U.S. penalties.
In remarks this week to a New York forum of U.S.
advocacy group United Against a Nuclear Iran, U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton both repeated
U.S. calls for Iran to locate Bob Levinson and enable him to return
home.
While addressing United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)
conference in New York, al-Jubeir on Wednesday said, "Unless the
pressure internally is extremely intense, I don't believe they will
open up." The conference was attended by states that opposed the
2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
President Donald Trump's national security advisor targeted
Iran in an aggressive speech on Tuesday, warning Revolutionary
Guards' Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani not to
"cross" the United States. John Bolton told the American
group United Against a Nuclear Iran, which has campaigned for a hawkish
approach to Iran's nuclear program, that the US would use "every
tool in its toolbox" to pursue Soleimani and that "there
will be hell to pay" for regime officials who have targeted US
troops and interests region-wide.
The EU's SPV plan has outraged US officials. Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo told a gathering of the so-called "United
Against Nuclear Iran" in New York that he was "deeply
disappointed" that the remaining countries in the nuclear deal
plan to set up a special payment system with Iran to bypass US
sanctions.
Despite the sharp exchanges between the U.S. and Iranian
presidents at the United Nations, new negotiations may not be so
far-fetched as sanctions intensify against Tehran.
[A]ny comprehensive Iran strategy must include going
hard against the terrorist proxy militias supported by its
"corrupt dictatorship."
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Even before Trump took office in January 2016, doing
business in Iran was intensely complicated, since most U.S. sanctions
remained in place, despite the Iran deal. After decades of isolation,
the simplest business transaction proved tough in Iran, which has no
international banking system. Yet from the moment Trump announced he
was ditching the Iran deal last May, Western companies that had
rushed to Tehran to cut deals quietly began quietly dropping their
plans-and for good reason. Most concluded that their involvement was
far too risky, certainly relative to their links to the world's
biggest economy.
Iran is moving closer to accepting international rules
on combating financial crime as the authorities struggle to keep
banking channels open for oil exports in the face of crippling US
sanctions.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
Ministers are pressing to toughen the government's
stance towards Iran by proscribing the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah
in Britain. Hezbollah is a Lebanese-based political party and
militia, and since 2008 the UK has banned only Hezbollah's military
wing or apparatus, not its political arm.
Argentina's president spoke against global terrorism and
remembered the victims of the 1992 and 1994 attacks in Buenos Aires
in his address to the United Nations General Assembly. Mauricio Macri
also called on Iran to cooperate in the investigation of the 1994
AMIA Jewish center bombing, which killed 85 and injured hundreds.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday
he had had a frank discussion with his Iranian counterpart about
detained British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and
that he would not let the matter rest.
His UN speech focused on Iran's commitment to the
nuclear deal, not to human rights.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
A senior Iranian cleric said on Friday that U.S.
regional bases would not remain secure if Washington sought
confrontation with Tehran.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says the U.N. Security
Council meeting chaired by President Donald Trump the previous day
shows America is increasingly isolated among the international
community.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday the
United States had nothing to show for its appearance at the U.N.
General Assembly this week, extending an exchange of insults with
Tehran's arch-adversary.
The Trump administration rightly and vocally rejected
its predecessor's insistence that Iran's promise not to pursue
nuclear weapons could be considered in isolation from its malign
behavior as a terror sponsor. All week, in anticipation of President
Trump's addresses at the United Nations, top administration officials
have been making that case. They're not short on material.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iranian truck drivers have begun another prolonged
nationwide strike to protest rising costs, three months after an
earlier lengthy strike drew international support and caused
shortages at gas stations.
Twenty months after the passing of Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani, the Moderation camp - which the former two-time president
symbolized - is being undermined by his protege: Hassan
Rouhani.
For Mr. Rouhani, White House threats over Iran's
"aggression" barely register. Even as he faces his own
perfect storm at home of political infighting and widespread
discontent, analysts say, his position is secure.
At Miksaliste refugee centre in central Belgrade, young
asylum seekers are queueing up to get a free haircut. The room is
packed with newcomers, connecting their phones to plug extensions and
wifi; elsewhere, two people are playing table tennis. Some have just
arrived from the Middle East and north Africa, others have been
sleeping rough in the nearby Park Luka Ćelović, known locally as
Afghani Park. But unusually in Serbia - a gateway to the EU - it is
Iranians who make up significant numbers of new arrivals.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
The United States will stay in Syria as long as rival
Iran maintains its presence, but the US role will not necessarily
involve troops, a senior official said Thursday.
Israel managed to obtain several guarantees from US
President Donald Trump regarding its freedom of operation in Syria,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.
The world will laugh at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's claims about a secret atomic warehouse in Tehran in a
speech at the United Nations on Thursday, Iranian foreign ministry
spokesman Bahram Qassemi said, according to Fars News.
Iran's foreign minister denounced Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's allegations against Tehran at the U.N. General
Assembly as an "obscene charge," the state-run IRNA news
agency reported Friday.
Last night the House unanimously passed the Hezbollah
International Financing Prevention Act to target the Lebanese paramilitary
group's global funding and recruitment streams. But Congress already
voted on it twice - almost a year ago.
A senior Iranian security official on Thursday
threatened Israel with harsh "reactions" if the Jewish
state "continues to attack" Iranian and government forces
in Syria. The semi-official Fars news agency quoted Ali Shamkhani of
Iran's Supreme National Security Council as saying that in case of
further airstrikes, Israel "will face reactions that would cause
sorrow and penitence."
A senior Syrian official said Israel should think
carefully before attacking Syria again once it obtains the sophisticated
S-300 defense system from Russia. Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal
Mekdad said late Tuesday that the S-300 should have been given to
Syria long ago.
Authorities in Iran put up a billboard with an image of
three soldiers for what is called "Sacred Defense Week,"
before locals noticed the men depicted were wearing Israeli uniforms
and carrying M-16s.
Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party, is
calling on Hezbollah to return to Lebanon. Just in form, the
invitation raises the question of whether the party ever believed in
its supposed Lebanese identity.
In a stunning failure of using an illustrative photo for
a billboard in Iran, a group of Israeli soldiers appear next to a
poem in Shiraz, according to a photo and tweet that appeared online.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Iran's Revolutionary Guards told Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates on Friday to respect Tehran's "red lines"
or face retaliation, as the United States and its Gulf allies
increase pressure on Tehran to curb its regional influence.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
President Donald Trump unintentionally drew a round of
laughter in his address to the U.N. on Sept. 25, when he claimed his
Administration had achieved more than almost any before it. But the
divisions on display at the 73rd General Assembly were no cause for
mirth.
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani certainly received a
warmer welcome at the United Nations General Assembly this week than
President Donald Trump, but an examination of Rouhani's misleading
statements on the Middle East should raise eyebrows.
MISCELLANEOUS
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took to Twitter to
highlight his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on
Tuesday. He sought to isolate the United States by portraying Iran as
the responsible country, pointing a finger at Washington's decision
to walk away from the Iran Deal. It is part of a wider selective and
strategic Twitter campaign by Iranian regime officials being
conducted in recent months.
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