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TOP STORIES
One month after the Trump administration said it would tighten
its ban on Iran's oil sales, the country's direct crude buyers have
all but vanished, traders and executives in the Islamic Republic say.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in late April the end of
exemptions to eight countries that had been allowed to buy crude
despite a U.S. ban on Iran's exports. Since then, China, India,
Turkey, South Korea and Japan have ended all direct purchases of
Iranian crude and condensates, they said.
Iranian officials lashed out at the United States on
Saturday after the Trump administration said it would allow the sale
of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan and
deploy about 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East to counter
Iran. "If they commit the slightest stupidity, we will send
these ships to the bottom of the sea along with their crew and planes
using two missiles or two new secret weapons," Gen. Morteza
Qorbani, an adviser to Iran's military command, told
the semiofficial news agency Mizan on Saturday.
Iran sees no prospect of negotiations with the United
States, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday, a day after
U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal with Tehran on its nuclear
programme was possible. Washington withdrew last year from a
2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran, and is ratcheting up
sanctions in efforts to strangle Iran's economy by ending its
international sales of crude oil.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday a deal with
Iran on its nuclear program was possible, crediting economic
sanctions for curbing activities Washington has said are behind a
spate of attacks in the Middle East. "I really believe that
Iran would like to make a deal, and I think that's very smart of
them, and I think that's a possibility to happen," Trump said
during a news conference with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in
Tokyo.
Iran's president is suggesting the Islamic Republic
could hold a public referendum over the country's nuclear program
amid tensions with the United States. The state-run IRNA news agency
reported Hassan Rouhani made the comment late on Saturday. Rouhani
says he previously suggested a referendum to Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei in 2004, when he was a senior nuclear negotiator.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday
Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons, which its supreme leader had
banned in an edict, adding on Twitter that U.S. policies were hurting
the Iranian people and causing regional tensions.
"Ayatollah (Ali) @khamenei_ir long ago said we're not seeking
nuclear weapons-by issuing a fatwa (edict) banning them," Zarif
said in a tweet. "(U.S.) Economic Terrorism is hurting the
Iranian people and causing tension in the region."
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
For years, Karar Hussein has sold sweets in his shop
near the entrance to one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, accepting
whatever currency was offered to him by his clients, many of them
religious tourists from neighboring Iran. But lately, when Iranian
pilgrims ask about prices, he tells them he can only sell if they pay
in Iraqi currency. They often walk out, disappointed. Hussein and
many other shop owners in Baghdad's northern Shiite holy neighborhood
of Kadhimiya have seen sales drop sharply over the past year...
A German business group says German companies' trade
with Iran has declined sharply as the United States turns up the
economic heat on Tehran. Volker Treier, the foreign trade chief of
the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry, told
news agency dpa in comments published Sunday that German exports to
Iran were down 50 percent in year-on-year terms in the first quarter,
while Iranian exports to Germany dropped some 42 percent.
Washington's sanctions policy threatens the security of
the Middle East, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said
on Monday, according to a statement on the ministry's
website. Araqchi, while on a visit to Kuwait, also said Iran was
ready for dialogue with other countries in the region.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
The escalation of
Iran and its Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the Middle East has
become apparent. It has mobilized the Houthi militias in Yemen to
launch attacks against Saudi Arabia through the firing of ballistic
missiles and explosives-laden drones. Four commercial vessels were
victims of sabotage off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and two
Saudi Aramco oil pumping stations were attacked.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Reports from Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan
Province say local people have gathered in front of the governor's
office in the provincial capital Zahedan after police shot dead a
young man. Police has confirmed the man's death, adding that the number
plate on his car was manipulated. The man was being chased by the
police, they said. Police officers told reporters that the man was
wounded and died at the hospital.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
President Trump on Monday denied that the United States
is seeking regime change in Iran, dialing back hawkish rhetoric days
after ordering 1,500 additional U.S. troops to the region. Actions by
the Trump administration had heightened questions about whether the
president was seeking a military confrontation with Iran, starting
with his decision to back out of a nuclear deal brokered by the Obama
administration and continuing with his recent orders for a military
buildup, also including the deployment of a carrier strike group and
B-52 bombers.
Iraq offered Sunday to mediate in the crisis between its
two key allies, the United States and Iran, amid escalating Middle
East tensions and as Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers steadily
unravels. Iraqi foreign minister, Mohammed al-Hakim, made the offer
during a joint news conference in Baghdad with visiting Iranian
counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. "We are trying to help and to
be mediators," said al-Hakim, adding that Baghdad "will
work to reach a satisfactory solution" while stressing that Iraq
stands against unilateral steps taken by Washington.
Iran would be prepared to respond to a possible
confrontation with the U.S. after the Trump administration dispatched
troops to the region and arranged the sale of billions of dollars in
weapons to its Arab allies, top Iranian officials said. President
Trump on Friday said he was sending 1,500 more troops to
the Middle East amid rising tensions with Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on
Saturday that the U.S. decision to deploy more troops to the Middle
East in response to the perceived threat from Iran was
"extremely dangerous" for peace. The United States
said it was sending 1,500 troops to region in what it called an
effort to bolster defenses against Tehran, and it accused Iran's
Revolutionary Guards of direct responsibility for attacks on tankers
this month.
The U.S. military presence in the Middle East is at its
"weakest in history", a deputy commander of Iran's elite
Revolutionary Guards was on Sunday quoted by the semi-official news
agency Fars as saying. U.S. President Donald Trump has tightened
economic sanctions against Iran, and his administration says it has
built up the U.S. military presence in the region. It accuses
Iran of threats to U.S. troops and interests. Tehran has described
U.S. moves as "psychological warfare" and a "political
game".
As acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan heads
to Asia on Tuesday to deliver a major policy speech on the region,
increasing tensions with Iran threaten to upend the Pentagon's
strategy to focus on "great power competition" and
countering Russia and China, officials and experts say. In
January 2018, the U.S. military put China and Russia at the center of
a new national defense strategy, shifting priorities after more than
a decade and a half of focusing on the fight against Islamist
militants.
U.S. President Donald Trump expressed support for Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe playing a role in facilitating talks with Iran
after the Japanese leader reportedly offered his services as an
intermediary amid mounting tensions in the Middle East. Japan, a
close ally of the U.S., has also maintained ties with Iran. It
welcomed Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on a visit earlier
this month and has expressed support for the 2015 multinational
accord restricting Iran's nuclear program that was rejected by the
Trump administration.
Iran's foreign minister appears unimpressed with Japan's
offer to mediate in a crisis between Tehran and Washington, and says
President Donald Trump should make his intentions clear about any
talks with Iran through actions, not words. Mohammad Javad Zarif said
in a late Monday tweet: "Actions_not words_will show whether or
not that's Trump said Monday in Japan that he'd back Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe's efforts to open a communication with Iran.
Facing unprecedented pressure from US
sanctions, the threat of war and a failing national
currency, Iranians have resorted to a time-tested coping
mechanism: a deadpan, caustic humor that has been perfected over
centuries. US President Donald Trump, the usual target of
Iran's self-referential humor, was once again a target earlier this
month.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
American military officials said Friday that Iran's
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is directly responsible for attacks
on tankers off the United Arab Emirates earlier this month. The
officials said the attacks were part of a "campaign" by the
Iranian regime that prompted the U.S. to deploy additional troops to
the Middle East. "The attack against the shipping in Fujairah we
attribute it to the IRGC," said Rear Admiral Michael Gilday, the
director of the Joint Staff.
A senior Iranian military official said Iran can sink US
warships sent to the Gulf region using missiles and "secret
weapons," semi-official news agency Mizan reported on Saturday.
General Morteza Qorbani, an adviser to Iran's military command, has
threatened the US with targeting its warships. "America.. is
sending two warships to the region. If they commit the slightest
stupidity, we will send these ships to the bottom of the sea along
with their crew and planes using two missiles or two new secret
weapons," Qorbani stressed.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iranian state TV has fired two channel managers over a
live program deemed insulting to Sunni Muslims, it said in a
statement Sunday. The sackings at Channel 5 came after a broadcast on
May 20 celebrating the birthday of the second imam in Shiite Islam,
Hassan ibn Ali. During the program, religious chanter and
story-teller Ahmad Qadami recited a eulogy that "insulted the
sanctities of Sunni Muslims," according to official news agency
IRNA.
Ali Larijani has been reinstated as the speaker of the
Iranian Parliament (Majles) for the 12th consecutive
year as the longest serving head of Iranian Parliament. The annual
election for the posts on the Majles presidium was held on Sunday May
26, with the only surprise in the result being the replacement of
outspoken conservative vice-speaker Ali Motahari, with another
conservative figure Abdolreza Mesri.
A former aide to Iran's Supreme Leader has called
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a "despot" after being issued a new
subpoena while already facing a three-year jail sentence. Abolfazl
Qadiani (Ghadiani) must attend court within 10 days but, writing for
foreign-based opposition website Kalameh, he said he will refuse to
do so. The 73-year-old slammed the subpoena as an "overture to
holding a session of the illegal Revolutionary Court dominated by
intelligence agents, and both under the full control of Iran's
current despot, Mr Khamenei".
Iran would block its citizens' access to social media if
war were to break out with the U.S., the head of the country's
Passive Defense Organization has said. In a speech on Sunday, May 26,
brigadier-general Gholamreza Jalali of the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps said, the U.S. "uses social media for media and
psychological operations to influence Iranians' minds."
IRANIAN REGIONAL AGGRESSION
Iran's top diplomats are touring neighboring countries,
including three Arab Gulf monarchies, to try to shore up support
after the U.S. announced plans to increase troop deployments in the
region and sell weapons to some of the Islamic Republic's top rivals.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in the Iraqi capital,
Baghdad, late Saturday for meetings about the frictions, the
semi-official Iranian Students' News Agency reported.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Russian military police last week reportedly carried out
a raid against Iranian-backed militiamen stationed at Syria's Aleppo
international airport, local media reported. In the aftermath,
several Iranian militia leaders were arrested in what was seen as the
latest episode of tensions between Iranian and Russian forces in
Syria. Since the beginning of Syria's civil war in 2011, Russia and
Iran have built a strong military presence in the country in support
of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has voiced
support for Iran's proposal to conclude a non-aggression pact in the
Persian Gulf region. Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested during his visit
to Iraq May 25-26 to conclude the pact as a way of reducing tensions
in the region. Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying,
"Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif's proposal on concluding a
non-aggression pact between the countries of the region [...] this
would be a first step toward an easing of tensions, and we view such
an agreement as the right one".
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
The ballistic missiles owned by the Houthis continue to
pose a threat to the region and point to the Iranian support to
militias and terrorist groups, Arab Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki
al-Maliki said. Addressing a press conference on Monday, he said the
Coalition intends to speed up military operations to neutralize the
threat posed by the Houthi militias.
Bahrain and Oman may have missed a golden
opportunity to lock in cheap foreign financing. Ever since tensions
between Iran and its Arab neighbors began boiling over this month,
the countries' bonds have been leading losses across the six-nation
Gulf Cooperation Council. The sell-off is unwinding gains that pushed
the yield on Bahrain's 10-year dollar debt to an all-time low in
April, and that on Oman's equivalent note to a six-month low earlier
in May.
A Yemeni radio station broadcasting in support of the
Yemeni rebel Houthi movement has launched a fundraising drive on
behalf of Hezbollah, which has come under pressure from ramped-up
sanctions. Sam FM (99.1) on Friday called on its listeners to
"support the masters of the mujahideen in this world, the purest
people, Hezbollah" and donate to the "From Yemen the
Faithful to the Resistance of Lebanon" campaign during the final
10 days of Ramadan.
Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it shot down a bomb-laden
drone deployed by the Houthi rebels in Yemen to attack an airport in
the kingdom, the latest in a series of attacks targeting the kingdom.
The Saudi air force intercepted and destroyed the drone that targeted
Jizan airport, close to the southern border with Yemen, the
Saudi-UAE-led coalition fighting the rebels said.
Four Israelis were buried earlier this month in the wake
of nearly 1,000 rockets Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired into Israeli
population centers, striking schools, synagogues and homes. The
attacks were a massive escalation, showing both the capabilities and
determination of the terror groups to strike deeply and
indiscriminately within Israeli territory. With new rockets, Israel's
main population centers surrounding Tel Aviv were under fire, as was
the country's rumored nuclear reactor at Dimona. Israel's
anti-missile system, Iron Dome, as well as luck and providence
prevented the deaths of Jews on a massive scale.
IRAQ & IRAN
Iranian proxies in Iraq have not claimed responsibility
for the attack against the US embassy in Baghdad a week ago despite
Washington's accusation that Tehran was behind the incident. A senior
security official told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US suspects the
Sayyed of Martyrs Battalions and Imam Ali Battalions. He revealed
that Iraqi authorities have been informed of these suspicions.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Iran will defend itself against any military or economic
aggression, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday,
calling on European states to do more to preserve a nuclear agreement
his country signed. Speaking at a Baghdad news conference with
his Iraqi counterpart Mohammed al-Hakim, Zarif said Iran wanted to
build balanced relations with its Gulf Arab neighbors and had
proposed signing a non-aggression pact with them.
The U.S. plans to send 1,500 troops and other military
assets to the Middle East to counter the Iranian threat. Those who
worry about the possibility of war ignore that Iran is already at war
and has been for almost 40 years. Its recent sabotage of commercial
vessels in the United Arab Emirates and pipelines in Saudi Arabia
continues a long pattern that began with the invasion of the U.S.
Embassy in Tehran in November 1979. Iran established Hezbollah in
Lebanon in the early 1980s.
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