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Politico: "Iran on Wednesday released a
series of images and videos showing the 10 U.S. Navy sailors it
apprehended Tuesday, inflaming the American debate over their capture,
including the question of whether the U.S. had formally apologized for
entering Iranian territory. Iranian media - Islamic Republic of Iran
Broadcasting News Agency, Tasnim News Agency and the Islamic Republic
of Iran News Network - published roughly two-dozen photos and five
videos, two of which feature a male sailor apologizing and praising
Iran's treatment. 'It was a mistake that was our fault, and we
apologize for our mistake,' the man says in one video. 'The Iranian
behavior was fantastic while we were here and we thank you very much
for your hospitality and your assistance,' he says in another. 'We had
no problems here.' Vice President Joe Biden had told CBS earlier that
there was no apology and that there was 'nothing to apologize for.'
'When you have a problem with the boat you apologize the boat had a
problem? No, and there was no looking for any apology. This was just
standard nautical practice,' he told 'CBS This Morning.' ... Secretary
of State John Kerry, meanwhile, thanked Iran on Wednesday for its
'quick,' 'appropriate' response, noting that the sailors were 'well
taken care of.' 'All indications suggest, or tell us, that our sailors
were well taken care of, provided with blankets and food and assisted
with their return to the fleet earlier today,' he said... Arizona Sen.
John McCain blasted Kerry's 'unbelievable' remarks, posting images of
the detained sailors aboard a riverine command boat that he suggested
contradicted Kerry's sentiment that the servicemen were 'well taken
care of.' ... the photos and videos violate articles 13 and 17 of the
Geneva Convention, according to Michael Pregent, an adjunct fellow at
the Hudson Institute and retired military officer. 'You're not supposed
to take photos to be used in propaganda media,' Pregent told POLITICO
in a phone interview Wednesday. 'You look at what they released this
morning. They have a video of them boarding the ship, Americans on
their knees with their hands behind their head, videotaping them as if
that's amusing. That's a violation of the Geneva Convention.' By
releasing media that makes the sailors identifiable, Pregent added,
Iran again violated the Geneva Convention, the international series of
treaties setting a standard for treatment of civilians, prisoners of
war and soldiers who are unable to fight. 'In this case, the sailors
weren't necessarily prisoners of war, but they were detained, and when
you detain uniformed military you have to treat them a certain way, and
Iran's in violation of that,' said Pregent, who noted his opposition to
the Obama administration's Iran deal. 'It's just making a point that
this actually did warrant an apology from Iran. This wasn't just a
simple rescue of distressed American sailors after their ship broke
down.'" http://t.uani.com/1Kfzurf
WSJ: "Iran released a set of
videos of U.S. sailors who were released Wednesday after being captured
and detained overnight, raising questions about whether the country's
hard-line military force mistreated the Americans or violated
international law by using them for propaganda purposes. One video,
broadcast on Iranian television and released world-wide, showed several
Americans kneeling, with their hands clasped behind their heads.
Another showed a U.S. service member speaking to a questioner,
admitting wrongdoing and apologizing. Obama administration officials
have said their initial determination is that the 10 sailors were
treated well and with respect after Iranian forces detained their two
small Navy boats in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday. But the videos
depicted questionable actions by Iran's elite military force, the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Geneva Conventions, which govern
military conflicts, ban the practice of parading prisoners for purposes
of 'insults' and propaganda. The State Department said Wednesday
afternoon that U.S. officials were looking into the videos and would respond
if the U.S. determined that the sailors were treated inappropriately...
The State Department has yet to determine whether the Geneva
Conventions apply in this case, or whether the treatment of the sailors
shown in the video is in violation of the international treaties, which
governs the treatment of war prisoners... Regardless, some U.S.
lawmakers described the arrest and detention of the 10 U.S. sailors as
unjustifiable, and assailed the White House and State Department for
praising Iran over the episode. 'The administration is pretending as if
nothing out of the ordinary has occurred,' said Sen. John McCain (R.,
Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. 'By failing to
affirm basic principles of international law, it places our Navy and
Coast Guard vessels and the men and women who sail them at increased
risk in the future.' ... James Ross, legal and policy director of Human
Rights Watch, said it has long been recognized that it is unlawful for
governments to use photographs or videos of military detainees for
propaganda purposes, including publicly releasing a 'confession.'"
http://t.uani.com/1KfAls2
Fars
(Iran): "Islamic
Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi
blamed the US navy for its excited and unprofessional moves after Iran
arrested 10 US marines for trespassing on its territorial waters,
warning that his forces' coast-to-sea missiles were awaiting orders to
hit the American aircraft carrier deployed in the region. The IRGC
seized two US Navy boats on Tuesday and detained them on Iran's Farsi
Island in the Persian Gulf. Nine men and one woman arrived in Iran's
territorial waters in the Persian Gulf illegally when they were
captured by the IRGC Navy. Following the capture, two US and French
aircraft carriers as well as their accompanying fleets and military
choppers started maneuvering near Iranian waters. 'The USS Truman
Aircraft carrier showed unprofessional moves for 40 minutes after the
detention of the trespassers, while we were highly prepared with our
coast-to-sea missiles, missile-launching speedboats and our numerous
capabilities' and were ready to strike them in case they made a hostile
move, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said after Iran released the detained US
marines. Fadavi complained of the provocative and uncontrolled behavior
shown by the US navy, and said while the 10 captured marines showed not
much resistance and accepted to give in to the Iranian troops, the US
fleet that arrived near the scene later made many show-off moves near
Iran's sea borders. 'But we communicated an announcement through the
international (radio) systems and prevented any further irresponsible moves
by them,' he said, and continued, 'Then they came to realize the IRGC
Navy has the first and the last word in here.' 'The US and France's
aircraft carriers were within our range and if they had continued their
unprofessional moves, they would have been afflicted with such a
catastrophe that they had never experienced all throughout the
history,' the IRGC Navy commander cautioned. 'They could have been
shot, and if they were, they would have been destroyed,' he warned
again. Rear Admiral Fadavi reminded that the IRGC is in charge of the
Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf and 'exercises Iran's right of
sovereignty powerfully'. He said later investigations into their
navigation systems showed that they had gone astray and entered Iran's
waters unknowingly. 'In the end they and their diplomats acknowledged
their wrong action and undertook not to repeat such mistakes,' said the
Admiral. He once against reiterated Iran's respectful behavior with the
captured sailors until their release. 'The US and its Navy rest assured
that they won't be the winner of any battle with Iran in the Persian
Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz as destruction and sinking of their
warships will be the end result of any such war. But in those 40
minutes, the Americans were clearly under intense psychological
pressure and they did not act like a professional and responsible
force,' the Iranian IRGC Navy commander lamented." http://t.uani.com/1N9xalA
Nuclear
Program & Agreement
Reuters: "Iran has removed the
sensitive core of its Arak nuclear reactor and U.N. inspectors will
visit the site on Thursday to verify the move crucial to the
implementation of Tehran's atomic agreement with major powers, state
television said on Thursday. Removal of the core from the Arak reactor
will largely eliminate its ability to yield nuclear bomb-grade
plutonium, and was one of the toughest issues to resolve in the long
nuclear negotiations with the six powers. 'The core vessel of the Arak
reactor has been removed ... and IAEA inspectors will visit the site to
verify it and report it to the IAEA ... We are ready for the
implementation day of the deal,' spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy
Organization Behrouz Kamalvandi said. Kamalvandi said 'Implementation
Day,' when Iran will start to get relief from international sanctions
in exchange for curtailing its nuclear program under the July 2015
agreement, would come 'very soon'... 'The core's holes will be filled
with concrete ... The core was initially supposed to be cut into parts
but we did not accept it as we want to keep it as the symbol of Iran's
nuclear industry,' Kamalvandi told state TV." http://t.uani.com/1ZxFtnM
AP: "Iran could comply with last
summer's nuclear deal as early as Friday or this weekend, officials
said, requiring the United States and other nations to immediately
suspend billions of dollars' worth of economic sanctions on the Islamic
Republic. Secretary of State John Kerry predicted Wednesday the
achievement 'within the next coming days.' ... Kerry said in a speech
at the National Defense University that implementation of the nuclear
agreement will take place soon, without specifying an exact date.
Others in Washington and elsewhere said the announcement could come
within two days. In Vienna, a senior diplomat from one of the six
countries that cut the deal with Iran said it would be formally
declared implemented 'most probably Friday.' Those officials spoke on
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the
matter publicly. In Tehran, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas
Araghchi echoed that sentiment. He said the International Atomic Energy
Agency is expected to verify Iran's compliance on Friday and that
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy
chief Federica Mogherini would then announce 'implementation day,'
according to Iran's official IRNA news agency. 'I believe the parties
will perform their undertakings by Friday and Saturday and Sunday and
the implementation day would be announced on that time,' Araghchi
said." http://t.uani.com/1RnKkDk
Reuters: "The European Union extended
on Thursday its suspension of economic sanctions against Iran for two
weeks, a technical measure to give time for the implementation of a
nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that officials say is
imminent. The suspension of some sanctions on Iran, which were due to
expire six months after the historic July 14 deal with Iran, will now
run until Jan. 28, although diplomats expect all sanctions to be lifted
definitely sooner. The European Council representing EU governments in
Brussels said in a statement that its decision to fully lift economic
sanctions on Iran would come as soon the International Atomic Energy
Agency agreed that Iran has taken the necessary steps. There is no date
set yet for 'implementation day' of the so-called Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action agreed on July 14. The European Union has already
formally enacted the legislative framework for lifting all
nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions on Iran by publishing
the documents on its official website. 'Everything is ready for the
lifting of sanctions once Iran is judged to have met its obligations
under the deal,' said an EU diplomat involved in sanctions work who
declined to be named." http://t.uani.com/1ZmHEF8
RFE/RL: "Since Tehran reached a
historic nuclear accord with six world powers in July, there have been
a number of incidents that have tested relations with Washington. The
latest, Iran's seizure of two U.S. Navy patrol boats and 10 sailors
that had strayed into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf on January 12,
ended amicably. The boats and their crews were released unharmed after
Tehran determined that they had not intentionally entered Iranian
territory. But the timing of the episode -- coming just days before
international sanctions were expected to be lifted as part of the
agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program -- raised hackles among
critics who question Tehran's commitment to the deal, and recalled
similar flashpoints since it was struck." http://t.uani.com/1ZxBOGy
U.S.-Iran
Relations
AP: "For diplomats from countries
without diplomatic relations, Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sure are doing a lot of
diplomacy. As Iran races to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear
deal and the U.S. prepares to suspend sanctions on Tehran as early as
Friday, Kerry is talking to Zarif more than any other foreign leader.
Those talks included several emergency calls Tuesday to secure the
release of 10 U.S. sailors after Iran detained them in the Persian
Gulf. Since the beginning of the year, Kerry and Zarif have spoken by
phone at least 11 times, according to the State Department. They've
focused on nuclear matters, Iran's worsening rivalry with Saudi Arabia
and peace efforts in Syria. By contrast, America's top diplomat has
talked to Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir only twice. He has
consulted once each with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,
Jordan's King Abdullah and the foreign ministers of Britain, Egypt,
France, Germany, Russia and the European Union. Kerry left Washington
Wednesday evening to meet al-Jubeir in London. He may extend the trip
to see Zarif, too, elsewhere in Europe... The White House, Pentagon,
Kerry and Zarif are all crediting the relationship forged over
two-and-a-half years of nuclear negotiations with quickly resolving the
detention of the sailors... 'We can all imagine how a similar situation
might have played out three or four years ago, and the fact that today
this kind of issue can be resolved peacefully and efficiently is a
testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country
safe, secure and strong,' Kerry said Wednesday... For the Obama
administration, the budding Kerry-Zarif relationship offers
opportunities and pitfalls. As negotiations with Tehran accelerated in
2013, U.S. officials insisted the diplomacy concerned only ending the
threat of a nuclear-armed Iran and shouldn't signal a strategic
realignment that would forsake longstanding U.S. allies like Israel or
the Gulf state Sunni monarchies. As the deal came together last July,
Obama and his top aides vowed to 'double down' on Iran's activities
like its support for Syrian leader Bashar Assad's government and
anti-Israel and anti-U.S. groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. The record,
however, has been mixed. The U.S. has modestly expanded sanctions on
Hezbollah, but hasn't followed through on pledges to impose penalties
after a recent ballistic missile test by Iran that violated a U.N.
Security Council ban. Washington also offered no response to an Iranian
navy rocket fired near a U.S. warship in the Strait of Hormuz." http://t.uani.com/1Ot48za
Reuters: "Iran's detention of 10 U.S.
sailors on Tuesday set off a furious round of meetings in both
Washington and Tehran. Anxious officials in both capitals had the same
goal: to ensure the incident did not torpedo a historic nuclear accord
between two countries with a long history of hostility. In the end it
came down to a series of telephone calls between U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who
had forged a close bond during months of tense negotiations on Iran's
nuclear program. As the Iranian and U.S. governments scrambled for
details of the incident, the two men spoke at least five times by
phone, U.S. and Iranian officials said. Iran's Supreme Leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered an immediate investigation to determine
whether the U.S. sailors had deliberately sailed into Iranian waters,
and ultimately had the final say in their release, Iranian officials
said. High-level gatherings in Washington were mirrored in Tehran,
where top security and government officials held at least three
meetings. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attended the sessions, one
Iranian official told Reuters... Kerry learned of the detention of the
sailors in their two small craft at 12:30 p.m. EST (1730 GMT), as he
and Defense Secretary Ash Carter met with their Filipino counterparts
on the State Department's eighth floor. Kerry almost immediately
excused himself and went to his seventh floor office. As it happened,
he already had a call scheduled with Zarif at about 12.45 EST.
Appealing for the sailors' quick release, Kerry told Zarif: 'We can
make this into what will be a good story for both of us,' according to
a senior State Department official. He repeated that message in
follow-up calls, the official said." http://t.uani.com/1Ot9iLL
Defense
News: "A
member of the US House Armed Services Committee is calling on the
Pentagon to tell Congress whether US Navy vessels and crew seized by
Iran allowed sensitive American equipment that may have been aboard to
be exploited. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a former US Marine and Iraq War
veteran, said Iran - a 'terrorist-sponsoring' existential threat to the
US - accessed US cryptographic and satellite communications, sensors
and jammers Hunter believes were aboard the two Navy patrol boats.
'We'd be stupid to think that they didn't,' said Hunter, R-Calif. 'I'm
glad that the sailors are back safe, but there's no way [the Iranian
military] just let those boats sit there, and didn't reverse engineer,
or look at and copy everything that they possibly could.' ... The
Iranians reportedly seized the GPS equipment on the riverine command
boats, a 49-foot-long jet-propelled attack craft that can speed up to
43 knots and that boasts sensitive communications gear for use as a
command vessel. The boats were at least equipped with a FLIR infrared
system when the Navy first adopted the platform... The Defense
Department must inform Congress, or at least the relevant committees in
a closed session, what equipment Iran had access to, what it enables
Iran to do militarily, and what countermeasures the US military plans
to take to keep safe its troops operating in the area, he said." http://t.uani.com/1P2MWq2
Breaking
Defense: "Iran
violated international law by seizing two disabled US Navy vessels
adrift in Iranian waters, according to the powerful chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee. White House spokesman Josh Earnest
said the Iranians provided assurances that the sailors were being
afforded 'the care [and] the proper courtesy that you'd expect.
We've also most importantly received assurances they will be allowed to
continue their journey promptly.' But McCain's point is simple. The
Iranians had no legal right to seize the boats or detain the crews in
the first place if their boats were without power, as initial reports
indicate, whether they were in Iranian or international waters...
McCain, who it needs to be noted was a naval aviator, argues that
'sovereign immune vessels like navy ships and boats do not lose their
sovereign immune status when they are in distress at sea.' He says that
under international law they 'are exempt from detention, boarding, or
search. Their crews are not subject to detention or arrest.' A briefing
by a naval legal expert at the Naval War College, retired Capt. Pete
Pedrozo, supports McCain's position. And two other scholarly legal
papers I found online also support the senator's assertion that a naval
vessel adrift cannot be seized... The other issue enraging Republicans
was the release by Iran of photos of the American crews kneeling with
hands placed behind heads. There's also a photo that appears to show
the one female crew member wearing a head covering. The Geneva
Convention, which governs the treatment of prisoners of war, is
explicit in barring insulting treatment: 'Likewise, prisoners of war
must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence
or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.' Now, Iran will
probably argue the sailors were not prisoners of war since they were
'arrested.'" http://t.uani.com/1RH9FZe
Free
Beacon:
"State Department spokesman Mark Toner acknowledged Wednesday a
reporter's 'legitimate point' that the Obama administration's
self-hailed lines of communication with Iran had failed to free the
American civilians held prisoner there. After Iran captured 10 U.S.
sailors Tuesday and held them overnight, Secretary of State John Kerry
and others praised the diplomacy that brought the sailors back on
Wednesday unharmed. However, Iran state television took care to release
humiliating photos of the Americans with their hands on their heads.
Associated Press reporter Matt Lee pointed out at the briefing that
these lines of communication worked with the sailors but had failed to
bring home prisoners like Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and
others held hostage by Iran, despite Kerry's continued pleas in that
regard. 'Yet, over the course of three years and far many, many, many
more face-to-face meetings and telephone calls, at which you guys say
he raises the cases of the detained American civilians in Iran on every
occasion, that not has yet been resolved. What does that say to you?'
Lee asked. 'Um,' Toner said. 'I mean, Zarif apparently delivered here,
and on these other cases, he either hasn't delivered or you haven't
made as forceful an argument, and I think you would reject that
[notion],' Lee said... Toner added that the State Department was
'clear-eyed about the challenges that remain in the relationship.' 'But
you're not at all concerned that the hailing of this diplomatic triumph
by administration officials ... is not overselling the value of this
line of communication, when on issues such as the detainees, the
civilian detainees, the bad acts in the region, the missile tests, this
line of communication hasn't produced anything,' Lee said. 'It's a
legitimate point,' Toner said. 'We still have issues of serious concern
with Iran and we need to work at resolving those issues.' 'Ok, but no
one's concerned that you're overselling the value of the line of
communications, that's my question,' Lee said." http://t.uani.com/1ORhZTu
NYT: "A lawyer for Iran's central
bank faced skepticism at the Supreme Court on Wednesday as he tried to
persuade the justices that his client should not have to pay nearly $2
billion to victims of terrorist attacks. The case was brought by the
families of Americans killed in terrorist attacks sponsored by Iran,
including relatives of those who died in the 1983 Marine Corps barracks
bombing in Lebanon. They have won billions of dollars in court
judgments against Iran in American courts. The question in the case,
said Theodore B. Olson, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, is whether his
clients can collect from assets of the bank held in the United States.
American courts, he said, have already determined that 'the government
of Iran sponsored terrorism that killed and maimed American citizens.'
The plaintiffs seek to collect money from Bank Markazi, Iran's central
bank, relying on a 2012 federal law, the Iran Threat Reduction and
Syria Human Rights Act, that sought to make the task easier by
specifying assets of the bank that could satisfy the plaintiffs'
judgments. The bank says the law violates the Constitution because it
is focused on a single case." http://t.uani.com/231tQEO
Extremism
Ynetnews: "Iran has announced that it
will be holding a cartoon contest aimed at creating caricatures denying
the Holocaust. This year, the contest's grand prize has been increased
from $12,000 to $50,000. The contest, organized by the Teheran
municipal authority, is calling for cartoonists worldwide to send in
works denying and satirizing the Holocaust. Unlike previous contests of
this kind, this one is especially significant due the fact that it is
organized by official authorities of the Iranian capital, and has an
international emphasis. The prize money is also several times what it
was before." http://t.uani.com/1Q8ivh9
Congressional
Action
Reuters: "The U.S. House of
Representatives plans to reconsider legislation to restrict President
Barack Obama's ability to lift sanctions on Iran under an international
nuclear deal after its passage was canceled on Wednesday when too few
members voted. Obama, a Democrat, has promised to veto the measure,
saying it would kill the landmark agreement. No Republicans in Congress
supported the accord after it was announced in July. The House's
Republican leaders decided to vote again later this month in the hope
of attracting more support. The measure passed by 191 to 106, almost
entirely along party lines, with almost every 'yes' vote coming from
Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly opposed to it. Nearly a third
of the House, 137 members, did not vote, and House officials said the
chamber would consider it again during the week of Jan. 25. New House
speaker Paul Ryan has been trying to keep votes closer to their
allotted times rather than hold them open for members who take too long
to come to the chamber. The Iran vote was cut off promptly at 15
minutes." http://t.uani.com/1ORcp3G
The
Hill: "Senate
Republicans are targeting Secretary of State John Kerry for suggesting
that the administration could waive visa restrictions for Iran over
concerns about the nuclear deal. Thirteen senators sent a letter to
Kerry saying they are 'gravely concerned' about a letter he sent to
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggesting that the
limits included in an end-of-the-year spending bill on people who
travel to Iran or have dual citizenship with a Visa Waiver Program
country could be lifted. 'As you continue to engage with Mr. Zarif, we
urge - rather than seeking to placate the complaints of Iran, the
world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism - you to press him and his
government to cease its support for terrorism and provide tangible
evidence that it is doing so,' they wrote in the letter, which was sent
Wednesday. As part of the omnibus spending bill passed last month,
individuals who have visited or hold dual citizenship with Iran, Iraq,
Sudan and Syria are not eligible for the visa waiver program, and would
need to get a visa in order to travel to the United States. Kerry sent
a widely publicized letter to Zarif, suggesting that the new
restrictions wouldn't impede the nuclear deal amid suggestions from
Tehran that they would constitute a violation of the agreement. The
move has earned him flack from Republican lawmakers who argue the
administration hasn't been firm enough with Iran since the nuclear deal
was reached last year. The Republican senators added in their letter
that Kerry should 'clarify' for his Iranian counterpart that Congress
didn't draft the visa provisions 'with Iranian interests but U.S.
national security interests.'" http://t.uani.com/1mYaCPp
Sanctions
Relief
Bloomberg: "Iran may only be able to deliver
about half of the promised surge in crude output after sanctions are
lifted as it struggles to revive idled fields, according to banks
including UBS Group AG and Saxo Bank A/S. The Persian Gulf nation will
increase crude oil production by 100,000 barrels a day, or 3.7 percent,
a month after sanctions are lifted and by 400,000 in six months,
according to the median estimate of 12 analysts and economists surveyed
by Bloomberg. Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has pledged to boost
output by half a million barrels a day within weeks of the end of
sanctions and by the same amount again in six months. The strictures
may be removed as soon as Jan. 18." http://t.uani.com/1RnLUoE
Sanctions
Enforcement
The
Hill: "The
United States has long banned federal contracts for foreign companies
that sell monitoring or blocking technology to Iran, but the U.S.
government has had difficulty identifying such firms. The Government
Accountability Office on Wednesday issued a report that turned up no
information on companies that were selling communications technology to
the Iranian government to either suppress or monitor its citizens'
speech. It is the fifth year in a row the report has turned up no
results. The GAO said the thin results do not necessarily mean those
companies do not exist. The watchdog has long talked about the research
limitations that 'may account for our inability to identify any firms.'
'For example, the competitive and proprietary nature of the
communication industry limits any information reported in open
sources,' the GAO wrote in its report. 'Additionally, technology that
can enable acceptable filtering for objectionable sites, such as
pornography, can also be used to disrupt the free flow of information
and communication.'" http://t.uani.com/1P2DuD5
Terrorism
Times
of Israel: "A
Palestinian jihadi group with close ties to Iran claimed on Wednesday
that it has expanded out of the Gaza Strip and is now operating in the
West Bank and Jerusalem as well. 'We have an armed branch whose goal it
is to wage war on the Israeli occupation everywhere,' Hisham Salim, founder
of the Harakat al-Sabireen, told the Palestinian Ma'an news agency.
'Within this framework we have members in the West Bank and Jerusalem
who will soon receive financial and military support from us,' he said.
Harakat al-Sabireen, which translates to 'movement of the patient
ones,' broke away from Islamic Jihad in May 2014 and has symbols almost
identical to those of Lebanon-based Hezbollah and the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps. Salim confirmed to Ma'an that the group,
like Hezbollah, is directly funded by the Iranian government, but
stressed that his group was non-sectarian, non-religious and certainly
not a 'Shiite movement.' 'Regarding the funding from Iran - Islamic
Jihad, Hamas and many other groups also get funding from them,' he
said." http://t.uani.com/202fcux
Human
Rights
ICHRI: "The well-known reformist
journalist Reyhaneh Tabatabaie surrendered herself to Evin Prison
authorities on January 12, 2016, to serve a one-year prison sentence.
Tabatabaie's imprisonment follows a string of arrests of journalists
and reformists, as hardliners in Iran move to silence moderate and
independent voices ahead of critical Parliamentary and Assembly of
Experts elections in February 2016. While Tabatabaie had been banned
from her journalistic work for two years as a result of her
pro-reformist writings, she had continued to write on her Facebook
page. Tabatabaie's mother, Shahnaz Siaghi, told the International
Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the authorities called their
home and ordered her to report to prison after her request for extra time
was granted to take care of some personal matters. Tabatabaie, 35, was
arrested on November 30, 2014, and a year later on November 17, 2015,
she was sentenced by Judge Salavati of the Revolutionary Court to a
year in prison and banned from political activities for two years for
'propaganda against the state.'" http://t.uani.com/1Ok8dbd
ICHRI: "A year after the arrest of
more than two dozen Sunni Muslim men in southeast Iran, some of them
still remain in detention and have reportedly been subjected to torture
aimed at eliciting confessions and the denial of access to lawyers, the
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned. A relative
of one of the men in detention told the Campaign about 30 men were
taken into custody by security forces in the early morning hours of
January 4, 2015, in the village of Nasirabad in Sistan and Baluchestan
Province, close to the Pakistan border... The arrests took place three
days after the murders of Adham Sabouri, a Basij militia member, and
Issa Shahraki-Zadeh, a local teacher. The two killers were seen on a
motorcycle firing bullets at the victims, according to a state media
report. The relative of one of the detainees told the Campaign that
they have been charged with forming a 'terrorist group,' 'planting
bombs,' and 'attacking security forces and teachers in Sistan and
Baluchestan Province' but have yet to be put on trial. Some of the
accused had made confessions but insisted in visits with family members
that they did so under pressure and torture, especially in the first
four months of detention when they were held by Iran's Revolutionary
Guards (IRGC), the source added. The practice of forced 'confessions' in
the Islamic Republic, including those elicited under torture or the
threat of torture, has been well documented by international human
rights organizations. 'They were exposed to Zahedan's cold winter
weather for hours without clothes in the open air. Then they were
flogged in the cold and needles were pressed under their nails and told
they would be executed if they did not confess to the charges,' the
relative said. 'There are some even in the Intelligence Ministry who
say these men are innocent and that the [Revolutionary Guards] have
arrested them without any reason.'" http://t.uani.com/1Q81SlI
Journalism
Is Not a Crime:
"Iranian blogger and activist Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki has been
summoned back to Evin Prison to resume serving his 15-year sentence,
despite his critical health condition. In a message posted on Twitter
on January 11, Ronaghi-Maleki wrote: 'In seven days I must return to
prison, but not with my own feet...' Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki was
sentenced to 15 years in prison for his work as a human rights activist
and blogger. Prior to his arrest, he had been suffering from kidney
problems, but his conditions worsened further while in prison due to
physical abuse and a lack of medical care. On June 17, 2015, the young
Iranian was temporarily released on a bail of 1.4 billion tomans (about
US$500,000) due to health complications. But the prosecutor's office
has now ordered him to return to prison by January 18, 2016. Addressing
him in a letter, authorities told Ronaghi-Maleki that if he did not
return to Evin Prison he would not get his bail money back. 'They
insist I return to prison although my health is very bad,' the blogger
and activist wrote on his Instagram page. 'Sending me back to prison is
incomprehensible and illegal.'" http://t.uani.com/202i5f0
Foreign
Affairs
Bloomberg: "The foreign ministers of
Iran and the United Arab Emirates have turned Twitter into a new front
in the ongoing Iranian-Saudi diplomatic spat. Tension between Iran and
Saudi Arabia has intensified since the Saudi execution of a leading
Shiite Muslim cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, on Jan. 2. But while the execution
sparked a vigorous debate online, Twitter pronouncements from
politicians have remained focused directly on the execution. Until
now." http://t.uani.com/1mYgCrm
Bloomberg: "Comoros said in a statement
it cut relations with Iran after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday and
asked the Iranian ambassador to leave the island nation immediately.
The government had already called back its envoy in Tehran on Jan. 4
amid a diplomatic standoff between Saudi Arabia and Iran following the
kingdom's execution of 47 people for terrorism-related offenses." http://t.uani.com/1mYggB8
Opinion
& Analysis
UANI
Advisory Board Member Michael Singh in WSJ: "It is too early to draw
conclusions about the capture and release of 10 U.S. Navy personnel by
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It's clear, however, that the
incident will be important to how supporters and critics of the nuclear
agreement frame their argument in the coming months. To be clear, the
speed with which the Americans were let go-less than 24 hours after
their capture-was welcome. This contrasts sharply with incidents in
2004 and 2007 involving British Royal Navy personnel, which lasted
three and 13 days, respectively. One British marine captured in 2004
said later that he had been subjected to mock executions. So far, the
Obama administration seems to be taking the sailors' release as not
only good news but also as a vindication of sorts. A statement by
Secretary of State John Kerry said the incident demonstrated the value
of the administration's engagement with Iran. That's not self-evident.
In 2004 and 2007, the British had even more extensive ties with Iran,
including formal diplomatic relations and an embassy in Tehran. Yet
that country faced greater difficulties in achieving the return of its
naval personnel. And the diplomatic channel between Mr. Kerry and
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has not secured the release of
other Americans detained by Iran. The Obama administration likely sees
the incident as validating the idea behind its approach to nuclear
diplomacy: that concluding an agreement with Iran would lead to a
broader warming of bilateral relations. Mr. Zarif is thought to enjoy
little influence with the IRGC, which is considered more anti-American
than Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his supporters; the Guards
are more closely aligned with hard-liners engaged in a bitter power
struggle with Mr. Rouhani ahead of Iran's parliamentary elections in
February. This factionalism inside the Iranian regime is often offered
as an explanation for the inability of U.S. interlocutors to secure the
release of imprisoned Americans; detainees are effectively cards the
hard-liners play against not just the U.S. but also their domestic
adversaries. If Mr. Zarif played a role in the Guards' decision to
release the U.S. sailors, it would be a surprise. The administration's
conclusions seem premature, as critics of the administration have
noted. The sailors were not immediately released but were held
overnight, questioned, and photographed for media consumption. Photos and
video have shown the sailors kneeling with their hands clasped above
their heads. Video of sailors being questioned and one apologizing as
part of the exchange was reportedly shown on Iranian television;
broadcasting propaganda images of prisoners violates the Geneva
Convention. All of this will be seen as a provocation designed to
embarrass the U.S. and a contrast to Washington's recent reluctance to
perturb relations with Tehran. Several questions must be answered: How,
precisely, did the two boats and their personnel fall into Iranian
hands, and did the initial incident take place in waters that are
internationally recognized as Iranian territory? How were the sailors
treated while detained? Were their boats and equipment inspected or
manipulated before being returned? Did the U.S. offer any quid pro quo
for their release? (Any gesture that U.S. officials make toward Iran in
the coming weeks will almost certainly be interpreted as such.) And,
finally, what was behind the IRGC's release of the sailors? ... If
Iran's actions were more provocative than first reported, policy makers
risk reinforcing a moral hazard if they do not focus on that
provocation but reward its reversal." http://t.uani.com/1ZmNvKN
Michael
Rubin in AEI:
"There's a common delusion out there that when the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fires off ballistic missiles or
kidnaps sailors it's either hardline elements trying to embarrass moderates,
or rogue actors. It may be a comforting conceit to believe that any
element of the Iranian government is on 'our side' but evidence
suggests that at best, the Islamic Republic is playing a game of good
cop-bad cop, and that outrages such as taking American sailors hostage
are welcome, not rogue actions. Let's put aside the fact that Article
110 of the Iranian constitution (backed by practice and the statue of
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) makes the Supreme Leader the
'supreme commander of the armed forces' with the power to appoint and
dismiss the chief of the general staff, IRGC commanders, and the
commanders of the army, navy, and air force. In other words, if Supreme
Leader wanted to make heads roll in response to such provocations, he could.
There's a history here of Western diplomats excusing bad Iranian
behavior out of a desire to exculpate 'reformers' or to dismiss
provocations as the action of rogues... In each case, Western diplomats
sought to deny Iranian government responsibility. What they did not
realize until later was that in each case, the gunman or chief planner
ended up with a promotion. Mohammad Jaafari Sahraroudi, for example,
the man behind Abdol-Rahman Ghassemlou's murder, subsequently became a
brigadier-general in the Qods Force and was placed in charge of its
intelligence directorate. Ahmad Vahidi, the mastermind of the 1994
Buenos Aires bombing, became President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's defense
minister. Hassan Kazemi Qomi, a Qods Force operating serving as
'ambassador' to Iraq later won promotion to the Supreme Leader's
office, and Col. Amangah, the commander of the operation that seized
the British sailors, later was decorated as soldier of the year.
Promotions are hardly the punishment one would expect if the Iranian behavior
really was not blessed, encouraged, and supported from the very top.
It's time to stop deluding ourselves, and to judge Iran by what its
actions are rather than what we would wish them to be." http://t.uani.com/1SQfi6r
Shahryar
Bazargan in IranWire: "Ever since July 14, 2015 when the nuclear agreement
with Iran was announced, large Western delegations have traveled to the
country to evaluate the economic conditions for foreign investment in
Iran. Most of those traveling to the country have been keen to look at
the Iranian market for a long time, but only recently have they been
able to really assess the Iranian market and negotiate for investments
without being limited by the impact of international sanctions. The
Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Commerce has been in constant
negotiations with foreign economic delegations, which have mainly
focused on large Iranian industries such as petroleum, petrochemical,
steel and automobile industries. Few investors have expressed an
interest in Iran's smaller industries. A small or medium-size industry
is defined as an industrial unit with a workforce of up to 200 workers.
In dynamic economies around the world such industries are considered to
be one of the driving forces behind the economy. The expansion of these
industries is critical if the private sector is to play a role in the
overall economy. But in Iran, these industries have not been thriving
in the way that they should have been, mainly because of the
state-based structure of Iran's economy. According to the head of
Iran's Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization, small and
medium-size industries employ 41 percent of the workforce in Iran. Between
2009 and 2013, around 14,000 units in this sector went out of business
as a result of international sanctions and a shortage of liquidity and
available capital. Foreign investors could ease or even solve the
problem of capital, but the structure of the Iranian economy and the
fact that the state owns most large industries is a barrier to foreign
investment in the sector." http://t.uani.com/1PdplwG
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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