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TOP STORIES
The U.S. blacklisted members of what officials said was
a "vast network" operating in Turkey and the United Arab
Emirates that helped Iran exchange over $1 billion in currency to
finance Iranian military operations throughout the region. The Treasury
Department said on Tuesday that more than two dozen sanctioned
currency-exchange houses, trading companies and officials helped
Iran's military exchange Iranian rials into euros and U.S. dollars.
A senior Hamas official, speaking anonymously
to Israel Hayom on Tuesday, claimed that the rocket which
struck a moshav in central Israel on Monday was ordered by Iran.
Hamas reportedly gave its blessing for the rocket attack in hopes of
disrupting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election campaign. The
rocket attack on Mishmeret, which hit and destroyed a home, left
seven family members injured, including two infants, as well as a
neighboring child.
Last week, Iran's economic minister was in Beijing for
talks on bilateral trade and investment. An official
readout of the discussions from China's commerce ministry
describes China and Iran as "comprehensive strategic
partners." This echoes the language used by President Xi Jinping
a few weeks earlier, when he welcomed a delegation that included
Iran's foreign minister, oil minister and parliament speaker. Xi
declared that "No matter how the international and regional
situation changes, China's resolve to develop a comprehensive
strategic partnership with Iran will remain unchanged."
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
The United States on Tuesday imposed fresh sanctions on
a network of companies and people in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab
Emirates it said was helping to raise billions of dollars to fund the
operations of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. The U.S.
Treasury blacklisted 25 people and organizations, including a clutch
of front companies based in the three countries, that were working on
behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Iran's
defence ministry to raise money for their activities.
With the web of US sanctions tightening, Iran faces a
host of challenges as it looks to an isolated port in the country's
far southeast to maintain the flow of goods. The port in Chabahar,
only about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Pakistan border and
located on the Indian Ocean, is Iran's largest outside the Gulf. It
is also the only Iranian port with exemptions from unilateral
economic sanctions reimposed by the United States in 2018.
On the surface, the Trump administration is united
behind a tough Iran policy. The Treasury Department continues to
issue sanctions on Iranian individuals and subsidiaries to drain
Tehran's finances - the latest batch being a March
22 designation of 14 Iranians and 17 entities for
involvement with the Organization of Defensive Innovation and
Research. State Department officials are repeating ad nauseam that
Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism with hegemonic
ambitions to dominate the region.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
Iran International did not breach the broadcasting code
by interviewing a spokesman for a separatist group who
praised last September's terrorist attack in the Iranian
city of Ahvaz, the British regulator Ofcom has ruled. The news
channel, which broadcasts in Farsi but is based west London,
interviewed Yacoub Hor al-Tostari, a spokesman for the Arab Struggle
Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz in the immediate aftermath of
the attack on a military parade which left 30 people dead, and which
was later condemned by the UN security council as a "heinous and
cowardly terrorist attack".
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used the welcoming of
the Iranian new year (Nowruz) on the official United States
State Department's website to advocate that the Iranian public should
have free access to social media sites. Currently, the Iranian
government restricts social media use. In 2014, Iranians launched a
campaign on Twitter asking the social network to allow Iran-based
users full account verification services, at the same time as the
Twitter CEO called on the Islamic Republic to end its ban on the
popular social network.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Flash floods in Iran have killed at least 24 people and
injured hundreds more after days of torrential rain caused rivers to
overflow in various parts of the country, local news media reported
on Tuesday. The sudden, destructive deluge hit the country during
Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, when many take to the road for
vacations. At least 19 people died in Shiraz, a city in southern Iran
that is a popular tourist destination, according to the privately
owned Tasnim News Agency, based in Tehran.
A trail of death and destruction left behind
by heavy downpours in Iran's north and south has cast a dark shadow
over Nowruz this year. The Iranian New Year - which began March
21 - characterized by celebrations, family visits and holiday
trips has so far been but a mess for many who had planned it months
ahead. The government says it has been mobilizing all facilities to
adequately respond to the disaster, but that does not seem to
have appeased many critics.
Is Ezzatollah Zarghami the next populist to rise from
Iran's hard-line camp? The recent activities of the former head of
the conservative-dominated state broadcaster, who has been in
constant verbal clashes with moderate President Hassan Rouhani,
certainly raises this question. Born into a religious family in 1959,
Zarghami's father never bought a television. He, however, ended up
being a cinephile, binging on movies.
It has been almost a year since President Trump withdrew
the United States from the landmark nuclear deal with Iran. Yet the
expectation Washington will rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA) at a future date remains stubbornly strong. More than
50 retired generals and diplomats issued a statement urging
Washington to reenter the deal. The Europeans, the Russians and the
Chinese remain keen on keeping the deal going. So, too, is the
American public.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Iraq's prime
minister on Tuesday that regional countries must unite to fight
against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognise the Golan
Heights as part of Israel. "The excessive demands of the
Zionist regime and the wrong decisions of Washington necessitate
closer cooperation among regional countries," Rouhani was quoted
as saying by the state broadcaster IRIB in a phone call with Iraq's
Adel Abdul Mahdi.
In Islamic State's former eastern Syrian stronghold, the
Islamic Republic of Iran is parlaying its military and economic might
into a lasting foothold. On the heels of an Iranian military
intervention that has helped bring President Bashar al-Assad to the
edge of victory in Syria's eight-year-long war, Tehran is moving to
cement its long-term influence in Syria by cultivating goodwill and
winning converts to the Shiite Muslim sect. To Syrians battered
by war, Iran is offering cash, food, Iranian ID cards, public
services and free education.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that regional
countries must unite to fight against US President Donald Trump's
decision to recognize the Golan Heights as part of Israel, in a phone
call with Iraq's prime minister on Tuesday. "The excessive demands
of the Zionist regime and the wrong decisions of Washington
necessitate closer cooperation among regional countries,"
Rouhani was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster IRIB in a phone
call with Iraq's Adel Abdul Mahdi. Rouhani said developments in the Golan
Heights were "very dangerous for regional security".
The Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group could have its
illicit activities in Venezuela disrupted due to the ongoing
political and humanitarian crises besieging the country, according to
some analysts. For years, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
maintained a close relationship with Hezbollah and Iran, which
empowered Hezbollah in terms of both money and influence. Now, the
group can raise money through illicit means and funnel it through
financial hubs in Central and South America.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
The Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed bin Jaber, said
that the "Decisive Storm" - led by Saudi Arabia against the
coup in Yemen - was necessary to prevent the country from sliding
into civil war. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, the ambassador
noted that the Houthis have committed themselves to "implement
the Iranian project and shed the blood of Yemenis."
IRAQ & IRAN
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani termed relationship
between Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq as 'strategic, historic'.
Rouhani made the remarks in a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister
Adil Abdul-Mahdi late on Tue. and said, "the amicable relationship
will benefit both countries and will not harm any country in the
region." He pointed to the recent achievements of his travel to
neighboring Iraq and said, "Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to
implement important and historic agreements of this trip that can
bring about a considerable jump in relationship between the two
countries."
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is finally doing
something about his country's sluggish approach to the Middle East.
Over the past five years, he has pushed an aggressive strategy of
partnering with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel in
a bid to attract investments and forge deeper security partnerships.
In doing so, he has largely ignored Iran and broken with India's Cold
War-era legacy in the region. Since his election in 2014, Modi has
made foreign policy a priority, prompting some observers to claim
that a "Modi doctrine" is now in effect.
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