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TOP STORIES
A U.S. aircraft carrier strike
group will arrive in the Middle East within days, U.S. defense
officials said, ending the longest period in two decades that such a
military presence has been absent from the region. The USS John C.
Stennis and accompanying ships will arrive by this week's end, the
first such military presence in the region in eight months, the
officials said, to exhibit a show of force against Iran.
The Trump administration is
urging Europe to impose tough new sanctions on Iran over its
ballistic missile program. The call comes as Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo is to meet European officials in Brussels this week and after
the U.S. and others condemned an Iranian missile launch over the
weekend. Iran was also a topic of conversation when Pompeo met
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Brussels on Monday
night.
The UN Security Council will
meet behind closed doors on Tuesday at the request of France and
Britain after they accused Iran of test-firing a medium-range missile
at the weekend, diplomats said. The United States said the missile
launch on Saturday was a violation of a UN resolution that endorsed
the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, from which Washington has withdrawn. That
resolution calls on Iran to refrain from testing missiles capable of
carrying a nuclear weapon.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
has threatened again to close the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway
for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea. The state TV quotes
Rouhani as saying on Tuesday 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 wouldn't be able to prevent Iran from exporting its
crude.
The United States will not be
able to stop Iran exporting its oil and any move to prevent Iranian
crude shipments passing through the Gulf would lead to all oil
exports through the waterway being blocked, Iran's president said on
Tuesday. The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran and
U.S. officials say they aim to reduce Iran's oil exports to zero in a
bid to curb the Islamic Republic's missile program and regional
influence.
Qatar's decision to quit OPEC
shows the frustration of small producers at the dominant role of a
Saudi and Russia-led panel, a top Iranian official said, adding that
any supply cuts should come only from countries that had increased output. The
comments underline tensions within the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries ahead of this week's meeting to discuss curbing
output and prolonging a supply-limiting pact with Russia and other
non-members into 2019.
Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif
rejected Reuters' speculations that the EU-Iran trade mechanism,
aimed at bypassing US sanctions against Tehran, would not cover oil
sales. Speaking to ICANA news agency on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif rejected the recent claim by Reuters that
the Iran-EU trade mechanism, officially known as Special Purpose
Vehicle (SPV), will not cover oil sales and only includes
humanitarian and food products.
Iran's oil industry is on the
frontline of the fight against "the enemy", Oil Minister
Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying on Monday, adding that Tehran
would do its utmost to counter U.S.-led efforts to put economic
pressure on the country. Zanganeh, in comments reported by
SHANA, the oil ministry's news agency, did not specify who he saw as
the enemy but Iran is locked in confrontation with the United States,
which has applied sanctions and has said that its goal is to reduce
Iran's oil exports to zero.
With supply from major producer
Iran uncertain, big condensate user South Korea is scouring the world
for alternative sources of this key ingredient in its large chemical
industry to avert shortages - a process that is proving to be costly
for buyers. Condensate, a type of ultra-light crude oil, is a
feedstock for South Korea's petrochemical industry. A
by-product of natural gas production, Iran and Qatar are major
condensate suppliers.
It has been nearly seven months
since the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. As
sanctions begin to bite, Iranian companies are laying off
employees, and Iranian households are facing renewed
hardships. Iran has exercised remarkable patience while it waits for
Europe to devise its special purpose vehicle (SPV), a new entity intended
to help Iran blunt the impact of U.S. secondary sanctions by making
it possible for companies to trade with Iran, despite the fact that
most international banks refuse to process payments to and from the
country.
The US strategy on Iran,
particularly its initial parameters, has been further refined since
President Donald Trump began his electoral campaign in 2016. Trump, in
his campaign, rejected the 2015 nuclear deal and demanded a new
agreement or the addition of appendices, as well as substantial
amendments to the provisions of the existing deal. These demands were
a cornerstone of Trump's campaign promises on this issue.
MISSILE PROGRAM
Iran's test of a medium-range
ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads is a
provocative and destabilizing act, France's foreign ministry said on
Monday. "France is concerned about Iran's mid-range ballistic
missile test last Saturday. It condemns this provocative and
destabilizing action," Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll
said in a statement. She said the test did not comply with U.N.
Security Council Resolution 2231 and called on Tehran to immediately
stop all its ballistic missile-related activities designed to carry
nuclear weapons.
France and the UK have echoed
warnings by Donald Trump's administration that Iran may be in breach
of United Nations obligations by testing medium-range ballistic
missiles capable of carrying multiple warheads. The remarks from
Paris and London will be seen by the US government as the first sign
that its key European partners may yet be persuaded to view
Iran's broader behaviour as so dangerous that their support for the
2015 Iran nuclear deal can no longer be justified.
Iran rejected recent United
States accusations that the testing of missiles by the country
violates a UN resolution and has vowed to continue the tests for the
purposes of defense. Via a statement by the US State Department
on Dec. 1, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of
test-firing missiles "capable of carrying multiple
warheads" that could reach Europe.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
By concealing the fate and
whereabouts of thousands of political dissidents who were forcibly
disappeared and secretly executed in prison 30 years ago, Iranian
authorities are continuing to commit crimes against humanity, said
Amnesty International in a damning report published today. The
report Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran's 1988 prison massacres
are ongoing crimes against humanity calls on the UN to set up an
independent investigation into the mass enforced disappearances and
extrajudicial killings which have gone unpunished for three decades.
An Iranian women's rights
activist and journalist has been sentenced to 12 years and nine
months in jail on 'undisclosed' charges. Hengameh Shahidi was
also given temporary bans on joining political groups, online or
media activity, and leaving the country, the official IRNA news
agency reported on Saturday. 'Given the confidentiality of the
proceedings and the security nature of the case, I cannot disclose
details about the court's verdict,' Shahidi's lawyer Mostafa Turk
Hamedani told the official government news agency IRNA.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
Families of Americans detained in Iran have urged the
Trump administration to deny U.S. visas to the children of
top-ranking officials in the Iranian government, but the White House
has yet to take action, two sources close to the families told NBC
News. The families of the imprisoned Americans see the
administration's response to their request as part of a broader
failure to place a top priority on securing the release of their
loved ones, despite a campaign promise from the president to resolve
the issue, two family friends and two congressional aides told NBC
News.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo is taking aim at China, Iran and Russia for violating numerous
treaties and multi-state agreements. Pompeo says the Trump
administration is no longer willing to accept such transgressions and
is acting to reform institutions that have formed the basis of the
post-World War II international order. He said organizations such as
the United Nations, European Union, African Union, the International
Monetary Fund and World Bank have become corroded are in dire need of
change.
U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations, Nikki Haley, is demanding that Iran release its political
prisoners following the publication of a joint letter written by
families of those detained in Iran. "Our hearts hurt for
the families around the world whose loved ones have become political
prisoners in Iran," Haley said Monday. Iran's practice of
detaining foreigners, including Americans, "is just another
example of Iran's violations of international norms," she said.
National Security Advisor John
Bolton stated recently about Iran, "it's our intention to
squeeze them very hard." But to what end? The Trump
administration has been admirably tough on Iran but vague about its
objectives and has insufficiently acted upon its rhetoric. It needs a
clear, concise, consistent and consequential Iran policy:
"prevention and rollback."
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Smuggling in general and fuel
smuggling in particular have continuously undermined the Iranian economy
for a long time. Over the past few months, after the sharp
devaluation of the Iranian rial, fuel smuggling has increased
and it is estimated that 10 million to 20 million liters of
fuel, i.e., 12-24% of Iran's daily consumption (especially
diesel and gasoline), is smuggled out of the country.
Iran has reported an outbreak of
the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu virus among backyard poultry in
the north of the country, the Paris-based World Organization for
Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday, citing a report from Iran's
agriculture ministry. The virus infected 10 out of a flock of
138 geese, ducks, free-range chickens in the village of Valiran in
the Tehran region, the report said.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
The Israeli military launched an operation Tuesday to
"expose and thwart" tunnels it says were built by the
Hezbollah militant group that stretch from Lebanon into northern
Israel. The military said the tunnels were not currently being used
by militants and that its work to find and neutralize them was taking
place inside Israeli territory. However, the Israeli operation could
send tensions soaring between Israel and its Iranian-backed foe,
which have both been preoccupied with other conflicts since their
last conflagration more than a decade ago.
This fall, U.S.-led coalition
forces have escalated attacks in Syria once more, launching over
1,000 air and artillery strikes, nearly all close to the border
with Iraq, as Washington seeks to crush the Islamic State's presence
in the country before the end of the year. "They're either here
to fight to death, or they're just going to get killed because they
have nowhere to go," coalition spokesperson Colonel Sean J.
Ryan said of those remaining fighters.
Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the
United States Prince Khalid bin Salman on Tuesday criticized the
Iranian regime for its creation of Hezbollah which has helped Tehran
in "killing dozens of Americans and committing genocide against
the Syrian people". "The Iranian regime founded Hezbollah
in Lebanon, a terrorist proxy which acts as it's subcontractor in the
region, helping the regime in killing dozens of Americans and committing
genocide against the Syrian people, among other
things," Prince Khalid wrote on twitter.
Iran launched a new warship and
tested a ballistic missile in the days before Israel
launched Operation Northern Shield. Hezbollah released a video
threatening sites throughout Israel. In addition, tensions in Syria
have risen after a mysterious air strike south of Damascus last
Thursday. Hezbollah claimed its fighters were not hurt in that air
strike. In the last year, as the Syrian civil war has wound down and
the Syrian regime, backed by Iran and Russia, has largely defeated
the Syrian rebels, Iran's influence has grown.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu met U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels on
Monday to discuss Iran and other regional issues. Pompeo, like
Netanyahu, is an outspoken critic of Iran's nuclear program and he
condemned on Saturday the latest missile test by the Islamic
republic.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Iran supports U.N.-sponsored
Yemen peace talks and is ready to help find a political solution,
Iranian state television reported on Monday. "Iran welcomes the
talks in Sweden...Tehran is ready to help international talks to end
the crisis and underlines the importance of accelerating providing humanitarian
aid to the people," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement
quoted by TV. Iran supports Houthi rebels fighting a Saudi-led
coalition in Yemen.
MISCELLANEOUS
A Tehran-based agency has
quietly fed propaganda through at least 70 websites to countries from
Afghanistan to Russia. And American firms have helped. Website
Nile Net Online promises Egyptians "true news" from its
offices in the heart of Cairo's Tahrir Square, "to expand the
scope of freedom of expression in the Arab world." Its
views on America do not chime with those of Egypt's state media,
which celebrate Donald Trump's warm relations with Cairo. In one
recent article, Nile Net Online derided the American president as a
"low-level theater actor" who "turned America into a
laughing stock" after he attacked Iran in a speech at the United
Nations.
A London-based satellite news
station is being formally investigated by Ofcom after broadcasting an
interview with an extremist group that claimed responsibility for a
terrorist attack in Iran. The media regulator said it will consider
whether Iran International, which is based in west London but
broadcasts to a Farsi-language audience around the world, broke
broadcasting standards by airing the footage in September.
Despite US sanctions on Iran,
Qatar Airways announced it is boosting its connections to Iranian
cities as it will initiate new flights to Isfahan in February and
expanding flights to Shiraz and Tehran in January, a report
in The Arab Weekly has said. "These latest launches
are further evidence of Qatar Airways' commitment to Iran,"
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker, is quoted to have said.
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