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TOP STORIES
Many shop owners in Iranian cities joined truck drivers
in their strike, which is on its 16th day, protesting against
worsening economic conditions and rising prices. Video footage shared
by Iranian activists on social media showed massive strikes in markets
across several Iranian cities.
An Iranian diplomat who is the suspected mastermind of
an attack that allegedly was planned on Iranians living in exile in
France has been extradited from Germany to Belgium, security
officials said. Previously identified as Assadollah Assadi by AFP,
the 46-year-old diplomat based in Austria was arrested in the
southern German state of Bavaria on July 1.
A network of Hezbollah hackers used old tricks on social
media to hack into mobile devices across the world.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
A vessel carrying 2 million barrels of Iranian oil
discharged the crude into a bonded storage tank at the port of Dalian
in northeast China on Monday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and a
shipping agent with knowledge of the matter. Iran, the third-largest
producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),
is finding fewer takers for its crude ahead of U.S. sanctions on its
oil exports that will go into effect on Nov. 4.
The Trump administration is open to allowing some
countries to continue importing Iranian oil, despite promises to
tighten the screws on Tehran and any country that continues doing
business with the Islamic Republic, according to U.S. officials who
confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon that some nations may get a
temporary pass from a cadre of new sanctions set to be imposed next
month.
India appears confident that it will be able to keep
importing Iranian oil this fall despite US sanctions, signaling that
high-stakes negotiations between the two countries will continue up
until the November 5 deadline.
Oil prices cooled off in recent days as fears of an
acute shortage of supply stemming from sanctions on Iran started to
subside.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
"People will be the supreme judges," wrote Ai
Daei at the end of a lengthy post on his Instagram page, which is
followed by some 3.6 million people. The strongly worded critical
post came after the legendary former soccer player and current coach
was summoned by the Iranian judiciary for "explanations"
regarding public donations wired to his account for the
quake-stricken residents of the western town of Sarpol-e Zahab.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
Iran's mission to the United Nations welcomed Tuesday's
surprise resignation of US Ambassador Nikki Haley, one of the Trump
administration's most vocal opponents of the Islamic Republic.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Massive dust storms have hit the two southern provinces
of Kerman and Sistan and Baluchistan, while six northern provinces of
the country are submerged in floods.
Filmmaking in Iran is not a simple pursuit. There are
plenty of ways to fall foul of censors, from negative depictions of
society to portraying "unrefined" images. Directors and
screenwriters there have become masters in using metaphors to speak
their truth. But what about filmmakers from the diaspora? Their
editorial freedoms come with other challenges: how to accurately
depict Iran while outside it, for one.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he told Russia's
vice premier in talks on Tuesday that Israel must continue to hit
hostile targets in neighboring Syria, despite Moscow's decision to
equip Damascus with advanced air defense missiles.
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri on
Tuesday said he hoped a new government would be formed after
President Michel Aoun returns from a trip abroad.
Russia and the Syrian government warned the US in early
September that they planned to carry out counterterrorism operations
near a key US garrison in southeastern Syria known as al-Tanf, where
several hundred Marines have been stationed since at least 2016.
But the US responded with a live-fire exercise, and the
Russians backed down.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
The Iran Action Group, which was created by US Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo in August, released its findings in a 45-page
report last month. Amid the many issues that the paper examined,
Iran's activities in the Middle East came under intense scrutiny, including
its role in arming and supporting the Houthi militia in Yemen.
IRAQ & IRAN
Iraq's Prime Minister-Designate Adel Abdul-Mahdi
received Iran's Ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi on Tuesday, 24
hours after Abdul-Mahdi said in a statement that he will not receive
officials from diplomatic missions and embassies.
TURKEY & IRAN
At the United Nations, Turkey repeated its intention to
ignore US sanctions. How the Erdogan administration will calculate
costs and benefits of subverting the US sanctions remains a mystery.
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