|
TOP STORIES
Iran's Ministry of Defense unit responsible for
developing nuclear weapons is poised to restart work and is using
front companies to buy materials from Russia and China that could be
used to reactivate its banned bomb program, U.S. officials alleged
Friday. The Trump administration leveled the charges as the Treasury
and State Departments sanctioned more than two dozen Iranian
officials, scientists and alleged front companies connected to the
Tehran-based Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, or
SPND, as it is known by its Farsi initials.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday urged
Lebanon to pick a side as he visited the country on a regional tour
to build a united front against Iran. He especially expressed concern
over the role of Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shiite movement that is
targeted by US sanctions but holds three cabinet posts in Lebanon.
Pompeo flew in from Israel a day after he became the first
high-ranking American official to visit the Western Wall with an
Israeli prime minister.
The United States clinched a strategic port deal with
Oman on Sunday which U.S. officials say will allow the U.S. military
better access the Gulf region and reduce the need to send ships
through the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime choke point off
Iran. The U.S. embassy in Oman said in a statement that the
agreement governed U.S. access to facilities and ports in Duqm as
well as in Salalah and "reaffirms the commitment of both
countries to promoting mutual security goals."
UANI IN THE NEWS
As US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo finished visits
to Kuwait, Israel and Lebanon, full alignment with Israel raised
questions about the US strategies in the Middle East, including
uncertainties about its ability to mobilise a solid Arab alliance
against Iran. "There are a lot of dynamics at play for this
particular trip and this juncture but we're seeing some incredible
precedent-setting here," said Jason Brodsky, policy director for
United Against Nuclear Iran, a Washington think-tank.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Israel's Ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, on Sunday
castigated those calling for the United States
to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal after several Democratic
2020 candidates promised to do so if elected. Such a move, he said,
would mean giving "hundreds of billions of dollars to people who
are committed to Israel's destruction."
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
Since the announcement of its withdrawal from the
Iranian nuclear deal in May last year, the United States has sought
to tighten the grip on Tehran's sources of income to prevent it from
spending on its hostile activities and financing terrorism in the
region. The administration is currently considering listing Iran's
Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its Quds Force as terrorist
organizations, but there are fears that such a move would affect US
forces in Iraq.
France has banned flights in and out of the country by
Iran's Mahan Air, accusing it of transporting military equipment and
personnel to Syria and other Middle East war zones, diplomats said on
Monday, after heavy U.S. pressure on Paris to act. The decision to
revoke Mahan's license to operate in France was made after Germany
banned the airline in January.
Turkey plans to increase imports of Iran's natural gas,
a senior Iranian official told the country's state news agency IRNA
on Monday. "Turkey has requested to purchase more Iranian
natural gas from Iran," the head of Iran's National Gas Company
(IGC), Hassan Montazer Torbati, told IRNA. "Based on
previous agreements, Iran is currently increasing gas exports to a
number of countries including Turkey, Iraq, Armenia and Azerbaijan,"
he said.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has
extended the mandate of its special rapporteur on the situation of
human rights in Iran for another year. During a session on March 22,
the representatives of 22 governments voted for and seven (Afghanistan,
China, Cuba, Eritrea, India, Iraq, and Pakistan) voted against a
resolution for the extension of Javaid Rehman's mandate, while
18 abstained.
Two days after the renewal of U.N, Special Rapporteur
for Human Rights in Iran, the Islamic Republic has harshly criticized
the decision and announced Iran as the "largest and the most
developed democracy in West Asia and the world". In a statement
issued by Human Rights Staff of The Islamic Republic on March 24 said
the renewal of the Special Rapporteur's mandate was "unjustified
and illegal action and a result of political trickery".
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
The U.S. signed an agreement with Oman that gives its
navy access to two Arabian Sea ports, allowing American warships and
aircraft carriers greater control over a strategic international
waterway threatened by nearby Iran. The Omani ports of Duqm and
Salalah are located just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow outlet
through which about a fifth of the world's oil trade exits the
Persian Gulf. Tehran has often said it would block the channel in
retaliation for U.S. sanctions that are hurting its economy.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview
with MTV news channel Saturday that his country was prepared to use
all the "peaceful tools" available, including imposing more
sanctions, to curb the influence of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Trump administration is divided over how far to
pressure Iran with its sanctions campaign, as it weighs options
that could bolster imports of medicine to Iran and permit some
foreign governments to keep buying Iranian oil, according to former
officials, congressional aides and sources close to the White House.
Republican hard-liners in Congress, including Sens. Tom Cotton and
Ted Cruz, are pushing the White House to make good on President
Donald Trump's vows to place "maximum pressure" on Iran's
economy.
Quite suddenly, Iran is emerging as a 2020 election
issue. In an already-crowded field of contenders for the Democratic
nomination for president, the question of Iran - and specifically,
how best to address the country's persistent nuclear ambitions - is
steadily rising in prominence. With more and more candidates dipping
their toes into the Democratic presidential race, advocacy groups
supportive of President Obama's 2015 nuclear deal with Iran - and
hostile to the Trump administration's decision to reimpose economic
sanctions on the Islamic Republic - are ramping up their lobbying
efforts.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Kuwait, Israel
and Lebanon to counter Iranian influence in the region but
Washington's move to pressure Tehran faces many challenges. In
Kuwait, Pompeo called for an end to the rift between Arab Gulf
countries so they could forge a united front against threats of the
region. "We all have the same set of threats, the threats from
al-Qaeda and from [the Islamic State], the threat from the Islamic
Republic of Iran," said Pompeo at a news conference with Kuwaiti
Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Four Iranian border guards rescued by Pakistani security
forces after they were abducted by militants have returned to Tehran,
state media report. State television showed a video of the border
guards on March 22 stepping off a transport plane to a hero's
welcome. Their commander, Brigadier-General Mohammad Pakpour, who
heads Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), greeted the
guards.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
A former political prisoner and a reformist politician
has suggested to combine the positions of Supreme Leader and the
president of the Islamic republic into one executive power, elected
by the people and subject to term limits. Mostafa Tajzadeh in a video
released on Twitter March 22, proposed the idea as a response to some
Iranian conservatives who have been suggesting in recent weeks to
replace the presidency with a parliamentary system.
Iran's Deputy Attorney General has announced that
raising funds by celebrities to help victims of floods in Iran
"is banned" and he warned that any bank account opened for
this purpose will be closed. Javid Javidnia told the Judiciary's
online news service March 24 that so far 60 accounts have been opened
and some of them have already been closed. He also told another news
site that any crowd funding by individuals and organizations must be
done through the Red Crescent Society or the official Aid
Committee.
IRANIAN REGIONAL AGGRESSION
A rare meeting took place in Damascus when the military
chiefs of Syria, Iraq and Iran convened there. The meeting and an
announcement that a border crossing between Iraq and Syria would be
reopened are signs of Iran's continued influence in the region. Iranian
Chief of Staff General Mohammad Bagheri said "terrorism poses a
threat to all of us," stressing the need to coordinate efforts
to combat it.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iran said on Sunday it would expand its ties with
Lebanon in spite of the "provocative and interventionist"
call by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for Beirut to choose
sides, Iranian state television reported. On a regional tour to
drum up support for Washington's harder line against Tehran, Pompeo
said on Friday that Lebanon faced a choice - "Bravely move
forward as an independent and proud nation, or allow the dark
ambitions of Iran and Hezbollah to dictate your future".
The top foreign affairs adviser to Iran's supreme leader
on Sunday slammed the Trump administration's recognition of Israeli
claims to the Golan Heights as an election ploy intended to support
the reelection campaign of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump
tweeted Thursday that it was "time for the United States to
fully recognize Israel's Sovereignty over the Golan Heights,"
reversing decades of US policy on the matter.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed on Saturday
the imposition by Washington of new sanctions on Iran, announced a
day prior. In a press statement, Netanyahu congratulated US President
Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security
Adviser John Bolton on the move, which imposes punitive measures on
the heads of Iran's military nuclear program.
An Iranian cleric has confirmed rumours that the
country's government hacked the phones of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's family. Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, who is
custodian of the shrine in Mashhad, said Iran had 'accessed all
information' on Netanyahu's wife Sara and 27-year-old son Yair's
mobiles. 'In the past few days, Iran's cyber-attacks have resulted in
hacking the mobile telephone of a candidate in Israeli elections and
access to all the information,' said Alamolhoda, according to
the Jerusalem Post.
The rocket came down at 05:25 local time (03:25 GMT) in
Mishmeret, 20km (12 miles) north of the city of Tel Aviv. This is the
furthest a Palestinian rocket has reached in Israel since the 2014
conflict with militants in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, who is cutting short a trip to the US over the incident,
has vowed to respond with force.
The young tea and coffee vendor from northern Gaza said
he was not asking for much. He just wanted to get by. So the vendor,
Amir Abu Oun, 19, joined the peaceful protests in the Jabaliya
refugee camp this month against the daily hardships in the
impoverished Palestinian coastal enclave.
GULF STATES, YEMEN & IRAN
Representatives from the Iran-backed Houthi militias
have once again paralyzed a meeting for the UN Redeployment
Coordination Committee (RCC) tasked with observing and supporting the
implementation of the Stockholm Agreement on the Yemeni Red Sea port
city of Hodeidah.
The Global Union of Yemeni Communities and other rights
groups protested in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva against
Houthi atrocities being committed against civilians in the district
of Hajour. Protesters on Saturday said they wanted to draw
international attention to the situation across Yemen and called on
the international community to apply further pressure on the Houthis
by imposing sanctions to deter the Iranian-backed militant group.
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment