Eye on Iran: U.S. Said to Rebuff EU Bid to Shield Banks From Iran Sanctions

Join UANI               Top Stories Bloomberg: "European Union governments have hit a wall with the U.S. in attempts to shield banks and companies that do business with Iran from the threat of financial sanctions. EU finance ministers pressed U.S. officials to provide more explicit guidance on the administration's sanctions regime during talks in Brussels in late May, without success, two people familiar with the meeting said. Spokeswomen for the U.S. Treasury and the European Commission declined to comment on the talks... 'Banks evidently view the risk of violating U.S. sanctions as too great,' Arnold Wallraff, head of the German government's Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control, said in an interview. 'Additional measures to limit liability would be helpful. Politicians need to address that.' With oil and aviation deals usually financed in dollars with large banks sharing the risks, the ban on dollar transactions remains a hurdle for deals such as Iran's agreement to buy 118 Airbus planes worth $27 billion, announced shortly after sanctions were lifted in January. EU finance ministers and officials pressed the U.S. to give assurances to banks about the reach and application of the remaining sanctions, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks were private. In its response, the U.S. declined to go beyond its publicly announced policy, the people said." http://t.uani.com/1ZuwSOq Reuters: "Iranair is discussing a historic aircraft purchase with Boeing, potentially matching an order for over 100 jets from Airbus, but obstacles to both deals need to be resolved so that last year's accord to lift sanctions can be honored, its chairman said. The Iranian flag carrier is also talking to Boeing about providing support for its aging fleet following the deal between Tehran and six major powers to ease economic sanctions in return for curbs on Iran's nuclear activities. 'Meetings and negotiations are going on. We hope that in the future we can reach an understanding with each other,' Iranair Chairman Farhad Parvaresh told Reuters in an interview. 'The number and type of aircraft have to be discussed in the future, but the first step is to have a mutual understanding.' ... The U.S. company would need another permit to strike a deal and then further export licenses, similar to those required by Airbus due to the use of U.S. technology, to complete it. Some industry sources expect a preliminary deal for at least 100 Boeing jets to be reached fairly soon. 'We're following the licensing process outlined by the U.S. government,' said Boeing Middle East spokesman Fakher Daghestani." http://t.uani.com/25KfyMw WSJ: "Major Iranian shipping company Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and oil producer Iranian Offshore Oil Co. have reached preliminary deals with South Korean shipyards for orders worth around $2.4 billion, people involved in the talks said Tuesday. The agreements are part of Iran's efforts to make a comeback in global shipping after the lifting of international sanctions earlier this year, but completing the orders will depend on financing that the Iranians haven't yet secured, the people said. 'The yards are making slots available to the Iranians starting in 2018 and 2019,' one of the people said. 'The Iranians are trying to make the 20% down payments through oil state-to-state deals to finalize the orders.' ... Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, known as IRISL, operates a fleet of container vessels, bulk carriers and tankers. It has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, a subsidiary of shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, for up to 10 petroleum-product tankers and at least six so-called handysize bulk carriers. Product tankers cost around $30 million each and handysize bulkers around $20 million apiece. IRISL also is in talks with Hyundai Heavy for up to six 14,500 container ships which cost around $115 million each, the people involved in the talks said. China's Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. is in the race for the order as well, the people said... Iranian Offshore Oil Co., a subsidiary of state oil giant National Iranian Oil Co., is in advanced talks for firm orders of at least five jack-up rigs with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. at around $205 million each, the second person said." http://t.uani.com/1XAsP5X Congressional Action Free Beacon: "Leading lawmakers have asked the State Department inspector general to open an inquiry into the agency's deliberate deletion of press briefing footage about the Iran nuclear deal. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah), who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), who heads the National Security Subcommittee, asked State Department Inspector General Steve Linick to launch an inquiry into the department's Bureau of Public Affairs in a letter Monday afternoon. 'We are puzzled by the apparent degradation of the Bureau's commitment to transparency and openness,' the lawmakers wrote. The State Department first acknowledged last week that someone in the department intentionally deleted several minutes of video from a press briefing in December 2013. The deleted video showed Jen Psaki, then a spokesperson for the department, admitting the government misled the press about the United States' secret negotiations with Iran." http://t.uani.com/1UcdUw2 Business Risk Al-Monitor: "Beyond the domestic barriers to foreign investment, there are important external restrictions that continue to hold back the inflow of offshore capital. Primary US sanctions remain in place, especially impacting correspondence between Iranian banks and major international counterparts. In addition, there are restrictions on dollar transactions imposed by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Adding insult to injury, lobbying groups such as United Against Nuclear Iran actively work toward discouraging foreign investment, even though Iran is one of the more developed markets in the Middle East available to emerging market investors." http://t.uani.com/1t58EQm Human Rights Metro (UK): "A charity worker who has been detained without charge in Iran for more than 60 days was left unable to walk after leaving solitary confinement, her husband has said. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held in the country since April 3 after she was detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guard while visiting family. Due to the strict conditions of her imprisonment she has only been able to have limited contact with family in the country and until the weekend had not spoken to her husband Richard, back home in Britain. In a sobering blog and then later in conversation with metro.co.uk he detailed the impact her time in prison had on her." http://t.uani.com/1UwDyrd Guardian: "Two musicians and a film-maker have begun three-year jail sentences in Iran for the online distribution of underground music. The three men, who have been described by Amnesty as prisoners of conscience, were summoned to serve their sentences last week after an appeals court upheld their conviction. A three-minute trial in 2015 found brothers Mehdi and Hossein Rajabian, 26 and 31, and their friend Yousef Emadi, 35, guilty of 'insulting Islamic sanctities', 'spreading propaganda against the system' and 'illegal audio-visual activities' for the distribution of music unlicensed by the cultural ministry. They did not have access to lawyers during the trial, activists said." http://t.uani.com/1TTq0qj Opinion & Analysis Melissa Dalton in CSIS: "Following the implementation of the JCPOA, tensions remain high in the Gulf. Even with inferior naval assets, Iran chooses to provoke its neighbors with asymmetric tactics. The United States must balance fostering the progress of renewed diplomatic relations with Iran, while easing friction among its Gulf partners. Preventing miscommunication, miscalculation, and dangerous provocation should be a priority. Policy prescriptions such as building tactical communication channels, developing crisis-management mechanisms, and enforcing rules of engagement in the Gulf will assist in this effort. Militarily, the U.S. must enhance its current force posture to deter aggressive activities in the Gulf, including conducting multilateral exercises with its allies and partners,  promoting the acquisition of missile defense systems by GCC countries. Utilizing this multipronged approach will mitigate the risk of unintended conflict in the Gulf." http://t.uani.com/1YcIMy1         Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.