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TOP STORIES
The United States and Iran
traded accusations Tuesday over Tehran's latest ballistic missile
test, which the U.N. Security Council discussed behind closed doors
without taking any action. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called on the
U.N.'s most powerful body to unanimously condemn the
"provocative missile test" on Dec. 1, calling it
"dangerous and concerning, but not surprising."
Diplomats from European
countries on Tuesday blasted a recent Iranian missile test as
"inconsistent" with a key U.N. Security Council resolution,
as they struggle to keep the Iran deal intact amid U.S. pressure to
get tough on the Islamic regime. Iran test-fired a medium-range
ballistic missile on Saturday, which the U.S. said had the capability
to strike parts of Europe and the Middle East.
A study by the prestigious
London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies
(IISS), an independent think tank, has revealed many hidden aspects
of Iran's defense spending and the shifting balances within the
Islamic Republic's military structures. One key finding is that the
2018-19 defense budget bill is much higher than what even the hawks
within the Iranian establishment had sought.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Washington officialdom believes
Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons based on little more than
wishful thinking. Two years ago, senior Reagan and Clinton
administration officials warned that Iran probably already has
nuclear weapons.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
The United States is pressing
the European Union to consider economic sanctions on Iran over its
ballistic missiles, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday, warning
of a wider regional conflict if Tehran's ambitions remain
unchecked. Iran's test of a ballistic missile this month alarmed
the West and France called it a destabilizing act, but the EU is
focused on protecting the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran
that U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of in May.
Iraq won't be left hanging
amid Washington's sanctions on Iran, which supplies almost half
of its electricity, experts familiar with U.S. policy say. The
President Donald Trump administration in November granted Iraq a
45-day waiver to continue its energy purchases - and at the risk of
setting off more instability in the country, the U.S. is now expected
to continue allowing transactions with Iran under yet-to-be-decided
conditions.
Iran will not discuss its OPEC
quota as long as it is under sanctions, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan
Zanganeh was quoted by the state news agency IRNA as saying on
Wednesday. "As long as Iran is under sanctions, the Islamic
Republic's OPEC quota will not be discussed with anyone,"
Zanganeh said, speaking ahead of a meeting of the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
on Tuesday repeated his threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, the
passageway for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea, if the U.S.
shuts off Iran's oil exports. State TV quoted Rouhani as saying that
"if someday, the United States decides to block Iran's oil
(exports), no oil will be exported from the Persian Gulf." The strait
at the mouth of the Persian Gulf is crucial to global energy
supplies. Rouhani also pledged that the United States would not be
able to prevent Iran from exporting its crude.
US withdrawal from the Iran
nuclear deal is reinforcing a trend that was already underway as
doubts mounted about the Donald Trump administration's commitment to
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA): Iran is looking east
for its economic survival. Under waivers announced by the Trump
administration in November, eight countries are permitted to continue
to import oil and condensates from Iran until March without falling
afoul of US sanctions. Five of the eight are in Asia and of them,
China is the biggest.
MISSILE PROGRAM
The United States on Tuesday
urged the UN Security Council to condemn Iran for carrying out a
ballistic missile test, describing the launch as dangerous and a
violation of a UN resolution. The council met behind closed doors at
the request of France and Britain which, along with the United
States, have accused Iran of test-firing a medium-range ballistic
missile on Saturday.
Envoys from Britain, France and
the United States voiced concern Tuesday at the United Nations
following Iran's test-firing of a medium-range ballistic missile last
Saturday. "Iran's recent ballistic missile test was dangerous
and concerning, but not surprising," U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley
said in a statement. "The United States has repeatedly warned
the world about Iran's deliberate efforts to destabilize the Middle
East and defy international norms."
Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh
made the remark on Tuesday after a meeting with the IRGC Aerospace
Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh at the National
Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iranian Parliament.
Falahatpisheh said the meeting was centered on the importance of
IRGC missile power, today's achievements and the future plans and
Iran's role in the region."
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran is guilty of crimes against
humanity for covering up the mass executions of at least 5,000
political. The human rights group wants the United Nations to open an
inquiry into the killings and disappearances in 1988 which targeted
supporters of Iranian opposition groups. Many families still do not
know what happened to their loved ones since the disappearances.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
The United States has made 11
attempts to begin negotiations with Iran in the last two years, all
rejected by Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was quoted as saying
on Tuesday. Tensions have escalated between the two countries
after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a multilateral
nuclear agreement with Iran in May and reimposed sanctions in a bid
to curb the Islamic Republic's missile program and regional
influence.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
mounted a staunch defence of US foreign policy on Tuesday, arguing
that Washington is building a world order to fight cynical abuses by
Russia, China and Iran. On a visit to Brussels, the former CIA chief
took a swipe at European critics who accuse the US of undermining
global institutions, insisting President Donald Trump is restoring
America's traditional leadership role.
After its repeated threats of
disrupting other countries' oil shipment through the Gulf, if
Washington presses ahead with efforts to halt Iranian oil export, the
US administration responded on Tuesday to Iran, where it dismissed
any possibility of disruption in the navigation movement and rejected
Tehran's provocations in the region.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Iran intends to expand the range
of its air-to-air missiles and has carried out very good measures in
this regard, commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
(IRIAF) Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh says. "One of our most
important programs is increasing the range of missiles and
ammunition," Nasirzadeh said in an interview with Fars news
agency on Tuesday.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
More than 700,000 undocumented
Afghans have returned from Iran this year as the Iranian economy
tightens, with a knock-on effect on the Afghan economy, according to
data from the U.N.'s migration agency. In a report covering the
period up to Dec. 1, the International Organization for Migration
said a total of 752,325 Afghans had returned from Iran and Pakistan,
including 721,633 from Iran.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu accused Iran of ultimate responsibility for the attack
tunnels, built by Hezbollah, one of which was destroyed today in the
IDF's operation Northern Shield on the Lebanon border. This act is
part of Iran's web of terror in the region and the world, Netanyahu
said. "We are acting to prevent Iran gaining a foothold in Syria
and in Lebanon."
CHINA & IRAN
Even as the details of former
Hong Kong official Patrick Ho's bribery trial emerge, his dealings
with Iran and Qatar are already under the spotlight. Ho has been
fighting foreign bribery charges in New York. On September 14,
prosecutors dropped all criminal charges against Cheikh Gadio, a
former Senegalese foreign minister they had accused of helping Ho
bribe African officials.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Already in its third week, the
civil unrest in France continues to make headlines in Iran,
where many are questioning the government's violent response in
quelling the public anger. The "yellow vests" have
been protesting increased fuel taxes imposed by President Emmanuel
Macron's government. The rallies have turned into France's worst
turmoil in decades, with running street battles and intense scuffles
between police and protesters amid burning tires and rubble
from damaged public property.
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