|
Join UANI
Reuters: "Iran's Revolutionary Guards
did well under international sanctions, and the elite military force is
destined to become still richer now they've been lifted. Iran's
clerical rulers have supported economic growth of the Guards, rewarding
the group for sanctions-busting as well as suppressing dissent at home
and helping Tehran's allies abroad - notably Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad. Now the country is expecting an economic boom in the
post-sanctions era and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),
will be a beneficiary. Likewise, the leadership will ensure it is well
funded to continue the effort in the regional crisis, including the Syrian
civil war. The Guards aren't entirely off the hook, even though the
United States, European Union and United Nations lifted most sanctions
on Saturday under a deal with world powers where Tehran agreed to curbs
on its nuclear program. Washington has noted that 'U.S. statutory
sanctions focused on Iran's support for terrorism, human rights abuses,
and missile activities will remain in effect', and these will be
enforced against certain members and actions of the Guards. But the
Guards have long proved successful in defending their economic
interests, including in recent years when the sanctions were at their
tightest, effectively excluding Iran from the global financial and
trading system. 'Even under very difficult economic circumstances, the
funds for the IRGC's activities, whether domestic or overseas, remained
intact,' said a former official close to the government of pragmatist
President Hassan Rouhani... Iran - the dominant Shi'ite Muslim power
which is in rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the United States' other
Sunni Arab friends - has fought decades of sectarian proxy wars in
Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. Tehran is not about to end these
activities just because its relations with the West have thawed with
the nuclear deal. On the contrary, it hopes the economy, freed from the
sanctions, will create new wealth that can be used for these ends. One
senior security official signaled financing would grow for the Guards
and its overseas arm, the Qods force. 'The IRGC and the Qods Force are
Iran's key assets in the region, where we are determined to back our
allies and those oppressed nations,' said the official. 'All parts of
the establishment have reached a consensus on this. If you are a rich
person, you can help your friends more, right?' ... Another senior
official confirmed that a flourishing economy, which is currently 60
percent dependent on oil exports, would mean extra cash for the Guards'
foreign activities. 'It is very clear that our leaders will not
hesitate to allocate more funds to the IRGC when needed. More money
means more funds for the IRGC,' said the official... Iran refuses to
reveal their market share. But an Economy Ministry official said the
Guards have been involved in a wide range of industries, including
energy, tourism, auto production, telecommunications and construction.
'There are many IRGC-affiliated companies that are involved in various
sectors. The Guards helped different sectors to resist the unfair
sanctions imposed on Iran for decades.' ... As the U.S. and EU
sanctions on Iran's oil and finance sectors in 2012 started to bite,
the Guards responded by setting up complex operations involving the
likes of Dubai and Turkey. 'The IRGC started to buy hundreds of small
and medium-size companies around the country to use as front companies,'
said a trader involved in importing parts for the oil industry. 'These
companies partnered with some foreign companies to bypass sanctions.
Most of the time cash was delivered to a foreign account in a
neighboring country.' ... The IRGC-affiliated front companies have
benefited the establishment's support through lower insurance, shipping
and banking commission costs when importing equipment and technology.
And as foreign firms enter the Iranian market, they will need a local
partner - which for large-scale projects will often mean a firm
controlled by the Guards." http://t.uani.com/1UbH0ZU
WSJ: "Days
after Iran secured relief from economic sanctions under a contentious
nuclear deal, the country's powerful hard-liners are moving to sideline
more moderate leaders who stand to gain from a historic opening with
the West. Almost two-thirds of the 12,000 candidates who applied to run
in next month's parliamentary elections were either disqualified by
Iran's Guardian Council or withdrew. The 12-member council vets
political candidates and all legislation passed by parliament. It is
made up of six judges elected by parliament and six clerics appointed
by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on
virtually all important state matters... So-called reformists-those
favoring more political and economic freedom and improved relations with
the outside world-say their camp was overwhelmingly targeted, with one
saying barely 1% had been approved. The disqualifications are poised to
escalate long-standing tensions between conservatives and moderates,
showing how a broader battle is taking shape over Iran's future. They
could also complicate Western hopes that the nuclear deal will lead to
a broader thaw in relations with Iran and spur collaboration on solving
regional problems, including wars in Syria and Yemen... The council
also has shown signs of trying to check reformist impulses in the
Assembly of Experts, a clerical body that chooses the supreme leader.
The councilrecently said a grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the
Islamic Republic's founding figure, might be excluded from running for
the 88-member assembly. It said Hassan Khomeini, who identifies with
the reformist camp, had missed a required Islamic law examination...
There have been other recent signs of hard-line pressure against
artists and young people, with a filmmaker and two poets sentenced to
long prison terms and hundreds of lashes in October on antigovernment
activism and morality charges." http://t.uani.com/1S4mUS7
Reuters: "Three U.S. citizens who
disappeared last week in Baghdad were kidnapped and are being held by
an Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia, two Iraqi intelligence and two U.S.
government sources said on Tuesday. Unknown gunmen seized the three on
Friday from a private residence in the southeastern Dora district of
Baghdad, Iraqi officials say. They are the first Americans to be
abducted in Iraq since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011. The U.S.
sources said Washington had no reason to believe Tehran was involved in
the kidnapping and did not believe the trio were being held in Iran,
which borders Iraq. 'They were abducted because they are Americans, not
for personal or financial reasons,' one of the Iraqi sources in Baghdad
said. The three men are employed by a small company that is doing work
for General Dynamics Corp, under a larger contract with the U.S. Army,
according to a source familiar with the matter. The Iraqi government
has struggled to rein in the Shi'ite militias, many of which fought the
U.S. military following the 2003 invasion and have previously been
accused of killing and abducting American nationals... Asked about the
kidnapping at the daily U.S. State Department news briefing on Tuesday,
spokesman John Kirby said: 'The picture is becoming a little bit more
clear in terms of what might have happened.' He provided no details.
Kirby declined to say whether Secretary of State John Kerry had
contacted Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif about the
kidnapping." http://t.uani.com/1KqYw6P
Nuclear
Program & Agreement
Business
Insider:
"Former US defense secretary Robert Gates isn't optimistic that
the landmark July 2015 nuclear deal with Iran will lead the country to
halt any of its disruptive policies in the Middle East or its support
for terrorist groups. In an interview with Business Insider, Gates, who
spent nearly 27 years in the CIA and was the only cabinet secretary to
have served under Barack Obama and George W. Bush, said that he didn't
believe the nuclear deal would have a moderating impact on Iranian
behavior or lead Tehran to become a more responsible international
actor. 'The notion that betting that this regime is going to temper its
behavior in the region because of this nuclear deal I think is
mistaken,' Gates told Business Insider. 'I think that will not happen.'
... Overall, Gates doesn't think that Iran's long-term behavior will
change that much after the nuclear deal, or that the deal can overcome
the now 36-year-old regime's religiously motivated ideology or temper
its regional ambitions. 'This is a country that has a long history
under the revolutionary government,' says Gates. He recalled his
involvement in the 'very first official US meeting' with members of the
Islamic Republic of Iran's government, when Zbigniew Brzezinski, then
the US national-security adviser, met with high-ranking regime
officials in Algiers, Algeria, just three days before the 1979 US
embassy seizure. 'As I like to tell people, that began my now more than
three-decades-long quest for the elusive Iranian moderate,' says
Gates... Gates also doesn't expect Iran's geopolitical objectives to
change as the result of the nuclear deal. He told Business Insider that
he believes Iran will still harbor ambitions of building a nuclear
weapon even as the deal is implemented. 'My view is that the belief
that Iran over time is going to evolve into a regular nation state and
abandon its theological revolutionary underpinnings, its aspirations in
the region, or even its aspirations for nuclear weapons is
unrealistic,' Gates said... Overall, Gates thinks that the nuclear deal
only creates a greater urgency for the US counterbalancing Iranian
moves in the Middle East. 'It seems to me that agreement needs to be
paralleled by a very aggressive American strategy of working with our
allies, both Arab and Israeli in the region to counter Iranian
meddling, support of terrorism, and other activities,' Gates said. He
continued: 'We need the same kind of strong-minded strategy in dealing
with Iran in its behavior in the region that other countries are
looking for, and there's no reason for that to be contradictory to the'
nuclear agreement." http://t.uani.com/1RSUpIO
AP: "New U.S. sanctions over
Iran's ballistic missile testing are an example of an American
'addiction to coercion' despite improved relations and a historic
nuclear deal, Iran's foreign minister said in an interview Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Davos for the World Economic
Forum, said the ballistic program was part of Iran's right to
legitimate self-defense, and said the prospect of restoring
U.S.-Iranian diplomatic relations remains 'far away' despite the
nuclear deal. His comments to The Associated Press came after the U.S.
on Sunday imposed sanctions against 11 individuals and entities
involved in Iran's ballistic missile program as a result of Tehran's
firing of a medium-range ballistic missile, one day after the Obama
administration lifted economic penalties against Iran over its nuclear
program. 'We believe these sanctions are uncalled for. We believe the
sanctions are illegal. They violate basic principles. The Iranian
missile program is a legitimate defense program,' Zarif said. 'It shows
that the United States has an addiction which has been very difficult
for it to overcome,' Zarif said. Washington, he said, suffers from an
'addiction to pressure, addiction to coercion, addiction to sanctions.'
The United States insists Iran's ballistic missile tests violated U.N.
sanctions - sanctions that will remain in effect for at least eight
more years under the terms of the nuclear accord. The U.S.
administration has long argued that the nuclear deal does not cover
other elements of Iran's allegedly bad behavior and that Washington
will continue to press Iran to change its ways and punish it when
necessary." http://t.uani.com/1P5AC6g
NYT: "President Obama and
Secretary of State John Kerry have a simple explanation for their
surprising success in getting Iran to dismantle much of its nuclear
infrastructure, ship out 98 percent of its nuclear fuel and release
five American prisoners: Patient diplomacy, backed by escalating
economic sanctions, accomplished more than military action ever could
have. When the final history of this remarkable encounter between
Washington and Tehran is written, the story is likely to be far more
complex. Yes, diplomacy and economic pressure were critical, but even
several of Mr. Obama's top aides doubted as recently as a year ago
that, in the end, Iran's mullahs and generals would actually dismantle
a program in which they had invested both national pride and billions
of dollars. Those aides had good reason for skepticism: While all
comparisons between North Korea and Iran are fraught, if economic
pressure alone could do the trick, Pyongyang would have given up its
nuclear program two decades ago. But Mr. Obama's strategy had a major
coercive element as well. This included covert actions that repeatedly,
if briefly, set back the nuclear program and convinced Iranian elites
that its secrecy had been compromised... What Mr. Obama does not say -
because he cannot without describing classified programs - is that many
of his own aides believe that an American covert sabotage program that
began in the Clinton administration and steadily escalated over the
next 15 years also played a critical role in persuading the Iranians to
cash in the program." http://t.uani.com/1UbBMNV
Reuters: "The lifting of sanctions on
Iran as a result of its nuclear deal with world powers will be a
harmful development if it uses the extra money to fund 'nefarious
activities', Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told
Reuters on Tuesday. Asked in an exclusive interview if Saudi Arabia had
discussed seeking a nuclear bomb in the event Iran managed to obtain
one despite its atomic deal, he said Saudi Arabia would do 'whatever we
need to do in order to protect our people'... Jubeir's comments were
the first to directly address the lifting of sanctions on Iran,
Riyadh's bitterest regional rival, although Saudi Arabia has previously
welcomed Iran's nuclear deal so long as it included a tough inspections
regime. But in private, officials have voiced concern that the deal
would allow Iran greater scope to back militias and other allies across
the region thanks to the extra funds it can access after sanctions are
lifted and because of the reduced diplomatic pressure. 'It depends on
where these funds go. If they go to support the nefarious activities of
the Iranian regime, this will be a negative and it will generate a
pushback. If they go towards improving the living standards of the
Iranian people then it will be something that would be welcome,' Jubeir
said." http://t.uani.com/1ZBi5Av
U.S.-Iran
Prisoner Swap
Fars
(Iran): "Commander
of Iran's Basij (volunteer) Force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi
said the US agreed to release $1.7 of Iran's frozen funds in a bid to
buy freedom of its spies held by Tehran.
The US
agreed to repay Iran a $400 million debt and $1.3 billion in interest
dating to the Islamic revolution. 'The annulment of sanctions against
Iran's Bank Sepah and reclaiming of $1.7mln of Iran's frozen assets
after 36 years showed that the US doesn't understand anything but the
language of force,' Naqdi said, addressing Basij forces in Tehran on
Wednesday. 'This money was returned for the freedom of the US spy and
it was not related to the (nuclear) negotiations,' he added." http://t.uani.com/1PF8cME
Politico: "As part of a prisoner swap
with Iran, President Barack Obama granted clemency to seven men of
Iranian origin either facing criminal charges in U.S. courts or already
serving time in U.S. prison, an American official confirmed Saturday...
Obama appeared to have granted rare, pre-trial pardons to three men
awaiting trial in Houston for violating U.S. export laws by shipping
high-tech equipment to Iran: Bahram Mechanic and Tooraj Faridi of
Houston and Khosrow Afghahi of Los Angeles. On Saturday, prosecutors
moved to drop charges against Matin Sadeghi, a fugitive in the same
case who was being sought in a wanted poster available on the FBI
website. A court filing said the move was undertaken 'based on
significant foreign policy interests of the United States.' Until
Saturday, Obama had never granted a pre-trial pardon to anyone, nor had
his predecessor, President George W. Bush... 'It's really unusual,'
said former Justice Department pardon attorney Margaret Love... One
reason to grant a pardon, rather than simply dismiss charges, is that
the pardon provides an assurance that the charges will never be
refiled. It's possible the Iranians insisted on such certainty. 'That's
the reason you would do a full pardon,' Love said. 'If the charges are
dropped, you can be recharged.' ... A U.S. official confirmed charges
were dropped in cases involving 14 individuals. The moves will allow
those individuals to travel more freely outside Iran. 'The United
States also removed any Interpol red notices and dismissed any charges
against 14 Iranians for whom it was assessed that extradition requests
were unlikely to be successful,' the official said." http://t.uani.com/1Wu2rXF
Reuters: "The family of former FBI
agent Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran eight years ago, said
on Tuesday it was 'desperate for answers' on his whereabouts and
expressed frustration at the information it had received from the Obama
administration. Levinson, who disappeared while visiting Iran's Kish
Island in 2007, was not among the five American prisoners released by
the Iranian government on Saturday as part of a prisoner swap with
Washington. His family said in a statement over the weekend that they
were 'devastated,' adding: 'We are happy for the other families. But
once again, Bob Levinson has been left behind.' In a speech on Sunday
celebrating the release of the Americans, Obama said the U.S.
government would 'not rest' until Levinson was found. U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry said in a Twitter post that Iran had agreed to deeper
coordination to locate Levinson. Levinson's son, Dan, told CNN on
Tuesday the family 'can only hope that they (U.S. officials) are really
doing everything they can.' He said that for years 'President Obama has
promised that, Secretary Kerry has promised that, but it hasn't ...
given us results.' U.S. officials believe that Levinson, who suffered
from diabetes, died in captivity after meeting with an American-born
Islamic militant on Kish Island. Iranian officials have repeatedly
denied knowledge of his disappearance or whereabouts. Robert Levinson's
wife, Christine, told CNN on Tuesday that she had tried since November
to arrange face-to-face meetings with high-level administration
officials, including Obama, Kerry and national security advisor Susan
Rice. 'We're desperate for answers, and we're really going to push
hard, and we're not going to go away,' Christine Levinson said. She
said the family had received one phone call from a member of the Obama
administration after the American prisoners' release apologizing that
they had not been warned ahead of time. In a separate interview on Fox
News, Christine Levinson said, 'we need the United States government to
work harder to bring him home.'" http://t.uani.com/20eDfXa
AP: "U.S. officials believe
Robert Levinson may no longer be in Iran, a White House spokesman said
Tuesday, vowing that the U.S. would keep up the search for the former
FBI agent who disappeared from an Iranian resort nearly nine years ago.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S. has received assurance
from the Iranian government it would search for Levinson. The
commitment came amid broader negotiations over the return of several
other Americans detained in Iran. 'We're going to hold the Iranians to
that commitment,' Earnest told reporters at the White House. Levinson's
relatives said Monday they're happy for the families of prisoners
released from Iranian custody but wished government officials had
warned them he would not be among them. 'We had to learn it from the TV
ourselves, and that's very disappointing and heartbreaking,' said
Robert Levinson's wife, Christine... His son, Dan Levinson, told The
Associated Press that it felt like 'once again, he's been left behind'
and that the US can't give up on bringing his father back." http://t.uani.com/1RzUctR
U.S.-Iran
Relations
Reuters: "Iran's Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday thanked the Revolutionary Guards
for briefly detaining U.S. sailors last week... 'I didn't have the
opportunity to thank the young soldiers in the Revolutionary Guards.
What they did in the Persian Gulf was right,' Khamenei also said. Ten
U.S. sailors, who were aboard two patrol craft, were detained for 15
hours by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Jan. 12
when they inadvertently entered Iranian territorial waters. 'The
politician should do the same and stop the enemies with full power if
they cross the line anywhere,' Khamenei said." http://t.uani.com/1PhmIjr
Sanctions
Relief
Al-Monitor: "Amid a flurry of diplomatic
activity with Iran over the weekend that saw US prisoners freed, the
nuclear deal go into effect and sanctions lifted, the United States
permitted the removal of two Iranian banks from a United Nations
sanctions list, US officials said Jan. 19. The delisting of the Iranian
banks - Bank Sepah and Bank Sepah International - occurred at the UN
Security Council on Jan. 17 at the request of Venezuela. The United
States decided not to block the request, US officials said. 'We saw this
as something we could do as a confidence-building measure and a
goodwill gesture,' a US administration official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, told Al-Monitor Jan. 19. In the course of two separate
tracks of negotiations with the Iranians - on the nuclear issue and the
humanitarian release of detained citizens - Iran had sought the
delisting of the banks from UN Security Council sanctions. But the
issue was not resolved by the time negotiations for the final Iran
nuclear deal reached agreement in July 2014. The United States had
already determined that it would remove secondary sanctions on the
banks, the US official said. 'We already made the decision to delist
this bank as part of US secondary sanctions as part of the nuclear
deal,' the official said. The United States would 'agree not to oppose
the delisting at the UN, which Iran very much wanted.'" http://t.uani.com/1Phm9pO
AFP: "Iran will receive $32 billion
of unfrozen assets after sanctions were lifted under its nuclear deal,
the central bank said Tuesday, in a boost to an economy sapped by years
of isolation. The unblocking of funds, which had been held in foreign
banks, comes after the UN atomic watchdog confirmed at the weekend that
Iran had complied with measures in the July atomic accord. The assets
will be kept 'in centralised and safe accounts' abroad, central bank
chief Valiollah Seif was quoted by state television as saying, adding
that the money could be used to pay for imports. Seif said that $28
billion (25.8 billion euros) would go to the central bank and $4
billion 'will be transferred to the state treasury as the share of the
government'. Iran hopes that steps to ease its isolation, including the
re-admission of its banks to the SWIFT system of international
transactions, will inject new vigour into the economy. But opening up
to the world cannot completely fix the economy, President Hassan
Rouhani said Tuesday in a televised speech, warning that the 'difficult
road has just begun'. 'Today is just the start for an innocent human
who was kept chained unjustly by the hands and feet for 12 years,' he
said. 'Sanctions are gone but there is a long way between sanctions and
development,' he said, speaking to an economics conference in Tehran.
'Today, our main problem is unemployment and recession, the lack of a
booming economy and many structural and economic deficiencies,' he
added." http://t.uani.com/1RzSQ28
WSJ: "The removal of sanctions on
Iran could unleash a wave of aircraft deals as the Persian Gulf country
seeks to renew one of the world's oldest plane fleets... 'Decades of
sanctions have affected a carrier's ability to source spare parts and
new aircraft, resulting in an average fleet age of 22 years for Iranian
airlines, twice the international average,' airline consultancy OAG
Aviation Worldwide Ltd. said in a new report. Iran's transport minister,
Abbas Akhoundi, on the eve of the lifting of sanctions, told a
semiofficial Iranian media outlet that the country had struck a deal
with Airbus Group SE to acquire 114 planes once the trade restrictions
were removed. The removal of sanctions would unfreeze tens of billions
of dollars in Iranian oil revenue. On Saturday, Airbus said it could
enter into business with Iranian airlines in compliance with all
international laws once sanctions are eased. The company wouldn't
address whether it was negotiating with Iran about potentially striking
a deal, citing its policy not to discuss talks with existing or
potentially new customers. Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said
Sunday that Iran was 'a huge market' whose carriers could place 400 to
500 plane orders in the coming years. Paulo César de Souza e Silva, who
heads the commercial-airplane unit of Brazilian plane maker Embraer SA,
said 'there is a huge opportunity for us there,' adding that Iran has
many old 100-seat planes that need to be replaced. Embraer plans to
engage with potential Iranian buyers, he said, but is still checking
that all obstacles to deal-making have been removed... One of the
challenges for Iran could become getting planes quickly. Airbus and
Boeing Co. are sold out for years on some of their most popular models.
That could drive the country's airlines to rent planes from aircraft
lessors. 'Iran is certainly a big growth market and a natural home for
leasing equipment,' said Aengus Kelly, chief executive of AerCap
Holdings NV, one of the world's largest plane-leasing companies... The
initial demand beneficiaries are expected to be foreign airlines. Air
France-KLM SA last month announced plans to resume flights to and from
Tehran starting in April. Lufthansa AG's Eurowings budget airline plans
to commence a Tehran service and sister carrier Austrian Airlines is
also boosting services. Emirates Airline, the world's largest
international carrier by traffic, last year boosted Iran service by
adding flights to Mashhad. British Airways is considering the addition
of a Tehran service, said Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA parent
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA. 'I am hopeful it will
form part of the BA future in the very near future,' he said at the
Dublin airline event, calling the lifting of sanctions 'a great
opportunity.'" http://t.uani.com/1OwqGRZ
AP: "With many barriers to
dealing with Iran suddenly lifted as part of a deal to curb its nuclear
activities, some European companies are ready to seize business
opportunities in a tempting market of 78.5 million people. At first
glance, the allure is obvious - the second-largest economy in the
Middle East-North Africa region after Saudi Arabia; the second most
populous country after Egypt; and with lots of infrastructure and
vehicles way overdue for an upgrade after years of sanctions... But
those that take the plunge face serious risks from the remaining
sanctions relating to other issues, from geopolitical uncertainty and
from red tape and corruption... Although Iran is a big market, it has
big problems. It ranked 119th out of 189 economies in the World Bank's
ease-of-doing-business index, which measures obstacles posed by
bureaucracy, slow public services and taxation. It finished 136th of
175 countries in the corruption perceptions index compiled by
Transparency International. Moreover, Iran is deeply involved in the
violence convulsing the Middle East through its local supporters in Iraq
and Syria, and tensions have risen sharply recently with regional rival
Saudi Arabia. Disruption from conflict and politics is always a
possibility. Industrial companies must be wary of yet more sanctions
that bar the import of dual-use goods that could be used to make
nuclear weapons. Germany's VDMA industrial machinery association warns
that firms themselves will need to understand the complex rules, and
not rely on government help." http://t.uani.com/1P5zsIc
Reuters: "Italy's RINA expects to
start verifying safety and environmental standards for Iranian ships
including oil tankers in a matter of weeks, the classification society
said, stealing a lead on rivals as business interest in Iran heats up.
Without verification from such bodies, ships are unable to call at
international ports or secure insurance. RINA said it had signed an
agreement this week with Iran's Asia Classification Society, enabling
the Genoa-headquartered group to provide services to Iranian shipping
firms. Under Iranian regulations, international players have to team up
with local counterparts when providing cover for Iranian flagged
vessels. 'We hope that in a maximum of one month, we should have the
first vessels coming into our class,' Paolo Moretti, general manager
with RINA's marine division, told Reuters on Tuesday. Moretti said RINA
was already looking to provide classification cover for Iran's top
tanker operator NITC as well as its leading container and dry cargo
shipping group IRISL... Classification societies cut ties with Iran
after tough sanctions were imposed in 2012. Britain's Lloyd's Register
said on Monday it was working on resuming services, while
Norwegian-headquartered DNV GL said it was considering 're-entering the
Iranian market'. France's Bureau Veritas said separately it planned to
give Iranian ship owners 'full support to assist their re-entry into
global service', without providing further details. Moretti said RINA did
not have previous operations with Iran unlike other classification
societies, adding that it was building relationships with Iranian
shipping companies 'pretty quickly'. 'RINA was not one of the companies
who left the country,' he said. 'We are a new beginner.' He said RINA
would have its Iranian operation up and running by the end of the month
and aimed to also offer other services such as testing oil pipes. 'RINA
Iran ... will focus not only on the marine side, but on oil and gas,
energy, power generation, infrastructure and business assurance,' he
said." http://t.uani.com/1OwrTIO
Reuters: "A multitude of business
regulations -- 182,000 by one minister's count -- stands in the way of
a rapid flow of foreign investment into Iran after the lifting of
nuclear sanctions ended its long isolation from global commerce. Other
factors that could stall investment include residual sanctions, a
shortage of project finance, and political risks ranging from
protectionism to the potential collapse of the nuclear deal, lawyers
and consultants say. Some foreign firms have already signed letters of
intent with Iran since the international sanctions imposed over its
nuclear programme were lifted on Saturday and many more want to trade
with its market of about 80 million people. But major foreign
investment will take at least six months to arrive, experts say, as
companies navigate the web of bureaucracy, opaque ownership structures
and powerful Iranian lobbies that bristle at foreign competition. 'Iran
has been under sanctions so a lot of international business practices
are not as common there as they are in other emerging markets,' said
Farhad Alavi, managing partner at Washington-based Akrivis Law Group...
Many foreign businesses, however, are hesitant to take on long-term
commitments in a market that is still fraught with political risk. A
diplomatic incident between Iran and the United States could still
undermine the nuclear deal, causing sanctions to 'snap back' and
exposing investors. Elections due to be held soon in both countries
could erode the political will protecting the agreement. 'Particularly
when we have a new (president in the) White House in 2017, there is a
concern in the back of (investors') minds: how far will a new U.S.
president want to safeguard this deal?' said Ellie Geranmayeh, Middle
East and North Africa policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign
Relations... 'As with other markets affected by international sanctions
and having complex corporate structures, there is a requirement to do
enhanced due diligence to understand whether the ultimate owners of the
business are sanctioned,' Control Risks' Parvulescu said... Iran's
shadow economy has been a breeding ground for corruption and nepotism,
and foreign companies will be wary of approaches by local 'fixers' who
would pay bribes on their behalf. Under that scenario, the investor would
be at fault under extra-territorial legislation such as the UK Bribery
Act... Banks will be especially wary of not violating the remaining
sanctions because they faced hefty fines in the past, lawyers said. By
extension, investors across all sectors might struggle to access the
financing options needed to make significant investments. 'There can be
no meaningful improvement in investment into the Iranian economy until
some robust banks agree to raise their head above the parapet and
finance it,' said Nigel Kushner, chief executive of W Legal and a
director of the British Iranian Chamber of Commerce." http://t.uani.com/1V8xRBo
Reuters: "Gulf banks including Dubai's
largest lender Emirates NBD are already meeting prospective clients and
taking legal advice about entering Iran's financial system now that
many international sanctions have been lifted. European banks are more
cautious with some, including Deutsche Bank, remembering past fines
from regulators for breaking sanctions, though Commerzbank said it was
reviewing its policy of not doing business in Iran... Regional banks
are likely to lead the way on business deals. Banks from the UAE, Oman,
Qatar and Kuwait have spent months drawing up plans for entering the
Iranian market, two sources familiar with the matter said. 'Regional
institutions will test the water and other foreign banks will watch to
see what happens,' said Stuart Jones Jr., an executive director at EY
and a former U.S. Treasury attaché to the Middle East. 'There are
certain regional institutions taking legal advice to manage very real
risks associated with doing business with Iran.' Emirates NBD (ENBD),
Dubai's largest lender, has in recent months met with the Iranian
business community in Dubai and discussed potential banking
opportunities involving Iran once sanctions lifted, the two sources
said. ENBD said its lawyers were reviewing the sanctions changes but
would not be making any changes to its policies yet. 'Any re-engagement
with Iran will take place in several stages and will require updates to
policies, procedures, systems and controls as well as ongoing
communication with regulators and correspondent banks,' the bank said
in a statement, adding it did not currently have any material assets or
liabilities in Iran. ENBD and Qatar National Bank (QNB), the Middle
East's largest bank, have representative offices in Tehran, but ENBD's
has not been operational since 2008... State Bank of India also has an
Iran representative office." http://t.uani.com/1NkiHmP
Reuters: "Turkish exports could rise
between 8 and 10 percent with the end of sanctions on neighbouring Iran
following its nuclear deal with world powers, the head of the Turkish
Exporters' Assembly (TIM) said on Wednesday. Key sectors for Turkish
companies in Iran are automotive, clothing, textiles, machinery and
chemicals, TIM chairman Mehmet Buyukeksi said at a news conference...
Buyukeksi said Turkish and Iranian companies, especially those in the
automotive business, could now form joint ventures to enter Central
Asian markets... Among Turkish companies interested in Iran is mobile
operator Turkcell, which said this week it is looking for acquisition
opportunities to expand regionally and that Iran could be a target
market." http://t.uani.com/1KqXMyw
Reuters: "Reliance Industries expects
to maintain high margins for its main oil refining business after
strong demand pushed it to a seven-year high and helped it post a
better-than-expected 39 percent profit rise in the December quarter.
The oil-to-telecoms conglomerate is also evaluating buying crude from
Iran, its Chief Financial Officer V. Srikanth said, as the Islamic
Republic re-opens for business after the lifting of international
sanctions. Reliance hopes that negotiations at this stage could lead to
favourable terms for crude purchase from Iran, he said, but gave no
details. Reliance and other Indian refiners had stopped imports from
Iran due to sanctions." http://t.uani.com/1S4ra47
Terrorism
Free
Beacon: "A
new Iranian-backed terror group is making inroads in the Gaza Strip and
West Bank, where it operates underground with the potential capacity to
deliver devastating attacks to Israel, according to regional experts
who have been investigating the organization's rise. The group, which
goes by the name Harakat al-Sabireen, was established around May 2014
but has begun in recent months to boost its public profile on social
media and brag about its plots to wage jihad against Israel, according
to information gathered by regional analysts and provided to the
Washington Free Beacon. Al-Sabireen is believed to receive $10 million
a year from Iran via funds that are smuggled through a large network of
tunnels built by terrorists to facilitate illicit travel beneath the
Gaza Strip, according to estimates disseminated in the Arab language
press." http://t.uani.com/1QmQ52W
Iraq
Crisis
WSJ: "Sunni lawmakers walked out
of Iraq's parliament on Tuesday to protest what they described as
unchecked sectarian attacks in Diyala province after Islamic State was
expelled from the area a year ago. The parliament members, led by Speaker
Salim al-Jubouri, said they are angry over the government's inability
to restrain mostly Shiite, Iran-backed militias who they accuse of
burning at least seven Sunni mosques and killing at least 23 people in
the city of Muqdadiya a week ago... Despite Mr. Abadi's defense, it is
clear that Baghdad holds less sway in Diyala than the Iran-backed
militias, said Kirk Sowell, a Jordan-based political risk analyst who
publishes Inside Iraqi Politics. The region's most powerful militia is
the Badr Corps, an Iran-backed group, one of whose leaders is the
minister of the interior. Hadi al-Ameri, Badr Corps' leader, was made
the head of the province's security in 2014 and a Badr leader won
Diyala's governorship last May, sparking a walkout of Sunni
representatives. 'Iran is ruling Diyala as a kind of Iranian satrap
through Ameri,' said Mr. Sowell. 'He's basically the military
governor.'" http://t.uani.com/1OwqXo3
Human
Rights
ICHRI: "Imprisoned journalist Saeed
Razavi Faghih has been threatened with retribution for writing letters
complaining about abuse inside Rajaee Shahr Prison and could be facing
new trumped-up charges. 'About a month ago one of the prison
authorities threatened my brother and some other prisoners that he
would teach them a good lesson for writing letters of protest from
inside prison. The fact is that they are being warned. This is the most
frustrating situation for a prisoner, especially one who's sick,' said
Massoud Razavai Faghih. Speaking to the International Campaign for
Human Rights in Iran, Massoud added that the stressful atmosphere
inside prison had exacerbated his brother's poor health, which has
deteriorated since his heart bypass surgery in January 2015. In
November 2015, Saeed and another inmate were knifed in the face while
trying to mediate a dispute with other prisoners. 'The head of Imam
Khomeini Hospital and the heart specialists there have said that prison
conditions are like poison for Saeed. If something happens to him [and
he dies], I will consider it murder and it's very clear who will be
responsible,' Massoud Razavi Faghih added. Saeed Razavai Faghih, a
journalist who wrote for several reformist publications and former
student activist who is now serving his second consecutive prison
sentence, may now have to stay there yet longer." http://t.uani.com/1T4xSI0
Foreign
Affairs
AFP: "Saudi Arabia on Tuesday
accused Iran of a nearly four-decade record of 'sedition, unrest and
chaos,' as the international community tried to calm tensions between
the regional rivals... 'Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, Iran has
established a record of spreading sedition, unrest and chaos in the
region,' the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted an unnamed senior foreign
ministry official as saying. 'During the same period, the kingdom has
maintained a policy of restraint in spite of having suffered -- as have
neighbouring countries -- the consequences of Iran's continued
aggressive policies.' The official said Iranian policy was based
primarily on the idea of exporting revolution. 'Iran recruits militias
in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen', the official said, further accusing
Iran of supporting 'terrorism' and carrying out assassinations. SPA
published a 58-point 'fact sheet', prepared by the foreign ministry,
'to illustrate Iran's aggressive policies' and to refute 'the
persistent lies' from Tehran, including an article by Iran's Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in The New York Times last week." http://t.uani.com/1V8B7ga
Opinion
& Analysis
Bret
Stephens in WSJ:
"There is so much to detest about Saudi Arabia. The kingdom
forbids women from driving and bars its doors to desperate Syrian
refugees. For years its sybaritic leaders purchased their legitimacy by
underwriting, and exporting, a bigoted and brutal version of Sunni Islam.
Crude oil aside, it's difficult to find much of value produced by the
desert kingdom. More recently, the Saudis have increased tensions with
Iran by executing, over U.S. objections, a prominent radical Shiite
cleric while waging a brutal war against Iran's Shiite proxies in
Yemen. So why should the U.S. feel obliged to take sides with the
country that Israeli diplomat Dore Gold once called 'Hatred's Kingdom,'
especially when the administration is also trying to pursue further
opening with Tehran? That's a question that suddenly seems to be on
Washington's liberal foreign-policy minds, as if they've just
discovered that we don't exactly share Saudi moral values. Some on the
right also seem to think that, with the U.S. leading the world in
energy production, we no longer have much use for the Saudi alliance.
So let's remind ourselves why it would be a bad-make that very bad-idea
for the U.S. to abandon the House of Saud, especially when it is under
increasing economic strain from falling oil prices and feels acutely
threatened by a resurgent Iran. Despite fond White House hopes that the
nuclear deal would moderate Iran's behavior, Tehran hard-liners wasted
no time this week disqualifying thousands of moderate candidates from
running in next month's parliamentary elections, and an Iranian-backed
militia appears to be responsible for the recent kidnapping of three
Americans in Iraq. No wonder the Saudis are nervous. The nuclear deal
guarantees Iran a $100 billion sanctions windfall that will offset its
losses from falling oil prices while doing nothing to stop its regional
imperialism. Russia's military support for the Assad regime in Syria,
along with its sale of advanced weaponry to Tehran, means that Riyadh's
regional enemies now enjoy the protection of a major nuclear power.
Armed Iranian proxies are active in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, and
dominate much of southern Iraq. Restive Shiite populations in Saudi
Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province and neighboring Bahrain provide
further openings for Iranian subversion on the Arabian peninsula. Add
to this an American president who is ambivalent about the House of Saud
the way Jimmy Carter was about the Shah of Iran, and no wonder Riyadh
is acting the way it is. If the administration is now unhappy about the
Saudi war in Yemen or its execution of Shiite radicals, it has only
itself to blame. All this means that the right U.S. policy toward the
Saudis is to hold them close and demonstrate serious support, lest they
be tempted to continue freelancing their foreign policy in ways we
might not like... Much worse would be a scenario in which the monarchy
collapsed. The generally depressing results of the Arab Spring don't
inspire much hope of a peaceful democratic transition, and Saudi
Arabia's internal sectarian and tribal divisions could lead to an
outcome similar to Syria's. Islamic State and other jihadist groups
would flourish. Iran would seek to extend its reach in the Arabian
peninsula. The kingdom's plentiful stores of advanced Western military
equipment would also fall into dangerous hands... Foreign alliances are
not like wardrobes: You cannot change them on the tide of fashion.
America's 71-year alliance with the kingdom is one we abandon at our
peril." http://t.uani.com/1Qe9Ibq
Eli
Lake in Bloomberg:
"Iran's hardliners have had themselves quite an 'implementation
week.' As the U.S. and Iran ironed out the final details of a prisoner
exchange and coordinated the implementation of the complex nuclear
deal, the Islamic Republic's deep state went on a spree. First they
boarded two U.S. Navy boats at gunpoint. Then they tried to detain the
mother and wife of one of the hostages they were releasing. Topping
that, on Sunday Iran's hardliners voted to disqualify nearly all of
President Hassan Rouhani's political allies from running in next
month's parliamentary elections. The disqualifications are a blow to
President Barack Obama and European leaders who had hoped the accord
would benefit Iran's moderate (by comparison) president. Much of U.S.
strategy in the nuclear talks has been aimed at strengthening perceived
moderates in the hopes of weakening perceived hardliners. This was
Obama's argument to Congress when he urged Democrats to oppose
sanctions on Iran. Privately, U.S. officials have pointed to February's
elections as a chance for Iranians to give the nuclear deal popular
legitimacy inside Iran. Now it looks like Iranians won't have this
chance. Amin Tarzi, the director of Middle East studies at Marine Corps
University, told me Tuesday that 'the vast majority of Rouhani's
candidates have been disqualified.' While Rouhani himself has said he
will appeal these decisions, Tarzi does not anticipate most of these
disqualifications will be overturned. 'Because of Khamenei's health,
the factions in Iran that are loyal to the Revolutionary Guard do not
want to take the chance that the next supreme leader will not be one of
them,' Tarzi told me. 'They don't want Rouhani and his faction to
benefit from the fruits of the nuclear deal. The gloves are off now.'
This is particularly bad news for Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry
is hoping that Rouhani's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, will have the
flexibility to reach a political agreement to stop the fighting in
Syria in Obama's final year. But a parliamentary election that empowers
radicals will not help. If anything, it will embolden the elements in
Iran's state that want to humiliate the U.S. and their domestic rivals
who struck the bargain with the Great Satan in the first place. Karim
Sadjadpour, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace and an expert on Iran, told me the U.S. should not
be surprised by the disqualifications. 'Implementation of the nuclear deal
was expedited in order to try and help moderate factions in the Majles
and Assembly of Experts elections,' Sadjapour said. 'What people
repeatedly fail to understand is Iranian elections are heavily rigged
in advance. The Venn diagram of politicians who are genuinely popular
and permitted by the Guardian Council to run is extremely small.' ...
Nonetheless Sadjapour said it is too soon to say whether the nuclear
deal would help to open up Iranian society in the long run. 'A decade
from now it's plausible that the nuclear deal will have played an
important role in facilitating political change in Iran,' Sadjapour
said. 'But the forces of darkness in Iran are deeply entrenched and
aren't going to step aside without a fight.' Those forces have been on
a roll since Iran agreed in July to the nuclear accord. Since then,
Iran has tested two ballistic missiles, detained two Iranian-Americans,
allowed mobs to sack the Saudi Embassy, boarded two U.S. Navy boats in
distress and now disqualified Rouhani's allies from running for the
parliament. This dynamic played out on Twitter on Tuesday. The account
of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, tweeted the following
message to Rouhani: 'Removal of economic sanctions alone is not enough
for boosting economy and improving lives of people.' In an open letter
to Rouhani sent over the weekend, Khamenei warned of Western efforts to
infiltrate Iranian society through democratic 'color revolutions.' This
message stands in contrast to Obama's more hopeful words about the nuclear
deal. On Sunday the president said: 'Following the nuclear deal, you --
especially young Iranians -- have the opportunity to begin building new
ties with the world. We have a rare chance to pursue a new path -- a
different, better future that delivers progress for both our peoples
and the wider world.' It's a very nice thought. But as this weekend's
electoral disqualifications show, Iran's clerics still won't give
Iran's people a chance to choose this 'different, better future.'"
http://t.uani.com/1OFPi8N
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment