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TOP STORIES
U.S. President Donald Trump will increase pressure on Iran,
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday, but he declined
specific comment on whether the administration would continue sanctions
waivers for countries that import Iranian oil. Pompeo told a U.S.
Senate committee he had "no announcements" on whether
Washington would continue waivers to some countries that import Iranian
crude, or for Iran's civilian nuclear program, now that Trump has
withdrawn the United States from the 2015 international nuclear agreement
with Iran and reimposed sweeping sanctions.
The leader of the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah on
Wednesday called the U.S. decision to designate Iran's Revolutionary
Guard as a foreign terrorist organization "stupidity," and
warned that the group and its allies may respond to further escalation.
Hassan Nasrallah said the Trump administration's decision reflects the
"failure" of its policies in the region and confirms the
growing influence of and support for the Iranian group.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday accused Iran
of ties to al-Qaeda and declined to say whether the Trump administration
had the legal authority to invade the country. Testifying before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Pompeo hedged on whether the
authorization of force by the US Congress days after the September 11,
2001 attacks would allow the United States to strike Iran.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has threatened the U.S.
with unveiling more advanced centrifuges after Washington designated
Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a "terrorist
organization". Speaking on April 9 at the ceremony for 13th National
Day of Nuclear Technology in Iran, Rouhani addressed Washington, saying,
"You were afraid of IR1 centrifuges, today we unveiled IR6, and if
you continue to walk down this road, you will see cascades of IR8 in the
near future,"
The one-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal is just
around the corner. Since last May, Washington has marshaled a wide array
of penalties against Tehran as part of its maximum pressure
campaign, and is achieving some measurable results. But the Trump
administration risks undercutting its own pressure policy through the
provision of a little talked about type of waiver - not
for oil purchases - but for continuing international nuclear
cooperation with Iran under the auspices of non-proliferation and nuclear
safety.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Hours before the United States designated
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a Foreign
Terrorist Organization (FTO) on April 9, worries about renewed
economic pressure sparked a fresh plunge in the value of Iran's
national currency. In a matter of 24 hours, the rial lost around 7.5% of
its value. Hovering near 145,000 rials against the greenback, worries
were fueled of yet another wave of inflation.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
The number of executions around the world fell by about a
third in 2018, reaching the lowest level in at least a decade as several
countries scaled back or abolished the death penalty, Amnesty
International said in a report released on Wednesday. The global decline
was driven largely by Iran, where executions were halved because of legal
reforms that included eliminating the death penalty for a number of
drug-related crimes.
Iran's Islamic revolution is 40 years old, and the
Trump administration doesn't want it to last much longer. On May 21,
2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded fundamental change.
"Our eyes are clear as to the nature of this regime, but our ears
are open to what may be possible," he stated. "Unlike the
previous administration, we are looking for outcomes that benefit the
Iranian people, not just the regime."
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left open the possibility on
Wednesday of entering a conflict with Iran without first seeking explicit
congressional approval, telling senators "there is no doubt there is
a connection" between Al Qaeda and Iran. His comments came two days
after the Trump administration designated Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist group, and were likely
to fuel concerns of American military action against the country.
US State Department officials called on EU states to take a
step similar to that of the US and add the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC) on their terror list. This request aims at increasing
pressure on the Iranian regime in order to keep it from financing
IRGC-affiliated militias in the region and planning terrorist operations
from within European territory.
America's top envoy in Iraq on Wednesday issued a warning to
those Iraqi militias that receive support from Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC.) The warning follows two days after the
US designated the IRGC, including its Quds Force (IRGC-QF), as a Foreign
Terrorist Organization (FTO.) "This designation makes it clearer and
clearer that people can have a relationship with the problematic parts of
the Iranian government, like the IRGC, or they can have a relationship
with the United States and our financial system, but they cannot do both
at the same time," Joey Hood, chargé d'affaires at the US embassy in
Baghdad, told reporters after attending a local event in the capital of
the autonomous Kurdistan Region, Erbil.
President Trump has designated Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a foreign terrorist organization
(FTO). It's about time. Other administrations might have done it, but
didn't. In a statement, the president said, "The Iranian regime is
the leading state sponsor of terror. It exports dangerous missiles, fuels
conflict across the Middle East, and supports terrorist proxies."
A recent military agreement between Washington and
Muscat allowing US forces to use the strategic Omani ports of Duqm and
Salalah has been widely interpreted in the context of American pressure
on its archenemy Iran. Yet many are wondering why Iran has not
reacted to the deal. Access to the two ports, especially the port of
Duqm, has been a goal to pursue for the United States in order to advance
its strategies in the Indo-Pacific, an area where Washington and Tehran
are not in a confrontational posture. Interests of the two sides may even
occasionally converge there.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Mohsen Rezaee, the Secretary of the Iranian Expediency
Discernment Council, warned the United States not to come near the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) boats, following the US decision
to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. "Mr. Trump,
you have to remind your fleets not to pass near the Revolutionary Guard
boats," Razaee wrote in a tweet on Wednesday, apparently referring
to the boats belonging to the Revolutionary Guard in the Arabian Gulf.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran evacuated residents from inundated areas of the
southwestern city of Ahvaz on Wednesday as the nationwide death toll from
the worst flooding in 70 years reached 77, state media reported. The
state news agency IRNA said more than 200 villages were also evacuated in
the oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan, and 46,000 people were
housed in emergency shelters provided by the government.
As Iranians continue to deal with the aftermath of
deadly floods across the country and the government scrambles
to provide relief, the need for a natural disasters insurance fund is
once more deeply felt. Since mid-March, massive floods have hit 26 of
Iran's 31 provinces, leaving at least 70 dead. They have forced
evacuations, ravaged infrastructures, and incurred heavy losses on the
agriculture sector.
Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency says a police
helicopter carrying border guards to their post in the country's
northwest has crashed, killing one. The report says the crash took place
around noon on Wednesday in West Azerbaijan province, in the mountainous
area of Dalamper, near the city of Urmia which is close to the border
with Turkey. It quotes the province's deputy governor, Ali Mostafavi, as
saying that along with one killed, eight people were injured in the
crash.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Lawmakers from Russia, Iran and Turkey are calling for
Syria's territorial integrity to be preserved as remarks from Israel and
the United States have renewed long-standing land disputes. The
legislators from parliament foreign affairs committees met Wednesday in
Moscow for a special session on Syria. Russian state news agency
RIA-Novosti quoted Iranian parliament member Heshmatollah Falahatpishe as
saying the discussion "was a good beginning."
In his first ever interview with an Arab media outlet,
Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya
said that the world order "has been the same" since its
inception following the Second World War despite the emergence of
"new centers of power." However, he acknowledged "new
challenges and threats" such as terrorism, drug trafficking and
uncontrolled migration.
President Donald Trump's national security adviser John
Bolton has warned nations seen as obstacles to U.S. plans for Latin
America that they must leave Venezuela and stop defending the socialist
government opposed by the Trump administration. Venezuela's economic
crisis boiled over into a geopolitical flashpoint in January that has
polarized world powers, as the U.S. and its allies proclaimed their
support for opposition leader Juan Guaidó's political challenge to
President Nicolás Maduro. Responding to Tuesday's Newsweek article
discussing the recent arrival of Russian, Chinese and Iranian planes
intended to support Maduro and his government, Bolton told radio host
Hugh Hewitt that "President Trump is determined not to see Venezuela
fall under the sway of foreign powers."
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
A Saudi economic
delegation visited Iraq on April 3, seeking to promote the
expansion of diplomatic and economic relations between the two
countries-and to give Iraq an alternative to growing Iranian
ties. This was the second meeting of the Iraqi-Saudi Coordination
Council, which held an initial meeting in 2017. The
Saudis offered a $1 billion loan for the creation of a sports complex to
be known as Sport City. The council also announced the establishment of
consular centers for visa services in Baghdad and two other Iraqi cities.
Iran-backed Houthi militias have orchestrated a fuel crisis
in areas under their control with the intention of using the shortage as
a trump card against the Central Bank of Yemen to overturn its decision
to crack down on the illegal purchase of Iranian oil derivatives, one of
the main resources funding coup militias. The decision had the effect of
restoring a large part of the cash cycle from the black market to the
banking sector and tightened the noose on Houthi financial activity.
The Arab Coalition in Yemen said it had struck Houthi
targets in the capital Sanaa, Saudi TV reported early Wednesday. A Houthi
workshop manufacturing unmanned drones and a launchpad were hit in the
attack, said the coalition, which is tasked with supporting the
internationally recognized government of Yemen against the Iranian-backed
Houthi militia that control the capital.
IRAQ & IRAN
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said that Iraq wants
to distance itself from the ongoing conflict between US and Iran.
"We have told Iran and America that we do not want Iraq to be a
field of conflicts," Abdul Mahdi said. "Iraq wants to distance
itself from any rivalry. We will continue to make use of our good
relations with the two sides and everyone," he added.
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