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Stories
Reuters: "Kicking off a six-day tour of
Latin America, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on
Monday in Havana his visit would open a new chapter in the Islamic
Republic's relations with Communist-ruled Cuba. Iran, which has long been
friendly with Cuba, is on a drive to improve foreign commerce after the
removal in January of international sanctions against the Islamic
Republic. 'We will start a new chapter in the bilateral relations with
Cuba on the basis of a big (business) delegation accompanying me on this
visit,' Zarif said at a meeting with his Cuban counterpart, Bruno
Rodriguez... 'We have always been on the side of the great Cuban people
in view of atrocities and unjust sanctions,' Zarif said. 'The government
and Cuban people have also always shown us solidarity with regards to the
atrocities committed by the empire.' ... Zarif's tour will also take him
to Chile, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Venezuela. Just last week, Cuba's new
Economy Minister Ricardo Cabrisas made a trip to Tehran where he met with
President Hassan Rouhani." http://t.uani.com/2bx3KDL
Reuters: "The Russian military said on
Monday its aircraft operating from an Iranian air base to conduct strikes
in Syria had completed their tasks, but left open the possibility of
using the Hamadan base again if circumstances warranted. Iran's Foreign
Ministry said Russia had stopped using the base for strikes in Syria,
bringing an abrupt halt to an unprecedented deployment that was
criticized both by the White House and by some Iranian lawmakers.
'Russian military aircraft that took part in the operation of conducting
air strikes from Iran's Hamadan air base on terrorist targets in Syria
have successfully completed all tasks,' a Russian Defence Ministry
spokesman, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement. 'Further
use of the Hamadan air base in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the
Russian Aerospace Forces will be carried out on the basis of mutual
agreements to fight terrorism and depending on the prevailing
circumstances in Syria,' Konashenkov said. Last week, long-range Russian
Tupolev-22M3 bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers used Nojeh air base,
near the city of Hamadan, in north-west Iran to launch air strikes
against armed groups in Syria. It was the first time a foreign power had
used an Iranian base since World War Two." http://t.uani.com/2bJOCmQ
AP: "The cyber-arm of Iran's
powerful Revolutionary Guard says it has summoned, detained and warned
some 450 administrators of social media groups in recent weeks. The
announcement Tuesday, carried on a website affiliated with the Guard's
cyber arm, says those detained used social media like the messaging app
Telegram, which is popular in Iran. The announcement says those detained
or summoned made posts that were considered immoral, were related to
modeling, or which insulted religious beliefs. It says the Guard only
took action after 'judicial procedures' were completed, without
elaborating." http://t.uani.com/2bf5x4e
U.S.-Iran
Relations
Free
Beacon: "The
State Department issued a warning on Monday urging U.S. citizens to avoid
traveling to Iran, which has made the detention of Americans a priority.
The latest travel advisory, which emphasizes Iran's desire to capture
U.S. citizens, comes on the heels of a growing scandal over the Obama
administration's decision to pay Iran $400 million in cash on the same
day that it freed several U.S. hostages. The payment has been cast by
lawmakers and others as a ransom payment and prompted concern among U.S.
officials that Iran is making arresting Americans a priority. The travel
warning is meant to 'highlight the risk of arrest and detention of U.S.
citizens, particularly dual national Iranian-Americans,' according to a
State Department announcement on Monday. 'Foreigners, in particular dual
nationals of Iran and Western countries including the United States,
continue to be detained or prevented from leaving Iran.' 'U.S. citizens
traveling to Iran should very carefully weigh the risks of travel and
consider postponing their travel,' the warning adds. 'U.S. citizens
residing in Iran should closely follow media reports, monitor local
conditions, and evaluate the risks of remaining in the country.' Iran
continues to imprison Americans, particularly those holding dual Iranian
citizenship, according to the State Department." http://t.uani.com/2beaXYX
Congressional
Action
The Hill: "Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is
demanding Secretary of State John Kerry hand over details on a $400
million payment to Iran that GOP lawmakers have called a 'ransom' paid
for the release of U.S. hostages. The Missouri Republican, who is the
vice chairman of the Senate GOP conference, sent a letter to Kerry on
Monday asking for quarterly financial records for the foreign military
sales account at the center of a decades-old arms sale dispute between
the U.S. and Iranian governments. 'While your agency continues to deny it
made a ransom payment to secure the release of American hostages, the
facts clearly suggest otherwise,' Blunt wrote in the letter. 'Your
apparent dishonesty regarding the timing of the settlement has
consequently cast serious doubt on the answers you provided regarding the
source of funds that were used to pay off the Iranian regime.' Blunt
added that the funds from the foreign military sales account should have
been used to compensate American victims of Iranian-supported terrorism.
'Given your other misleading statements, I have serious concerns that the
$400 million you provided in hard currency to a terrorist regime will
also come out of U.S. taxpayers' pockets,' he wrote in the letter." http://t.uani.com/2bKZAZM
Sanctions
Relief
Business
Standard (India):
"As the sanctions are easing out against Iran, Aban Offshore has
said that it started receiving payments from the country. S Srinivasan,
senior vice-president, Aban Offshore Ltd said that the last whole year of
2015-2016, the company received about $51 million from Iran whereas in
the first quarter itself the company has received around $51 million.
'But still we have about $260-270 million as of July 31 to receive from
Iran,' he said during an analyst call recently. Queried whether the
company is expecting the entire receivables to come down to normal
situation, he responded saying: 'It may not happen in four to five
months, but we hope the trend will continue.' He added, the company is
taking the help of all agencies to collect the receivables. Earlier, the
company also said that it started talking with the Iran government to get
more contacts so that it can deploy its rigs in Iran waters, which is one
of the oil rich countries in the World. It has been in talks with
companies in Iran are as far as contract deployment is concerned
including several subsidiaries of National Iranian Oil Company, who are
the company's client." http://t.uani.com/2bB2Jwr
Syria
Conflict
AFP: "Russian warplanes bombed
Aleppo at Iran's request to assist its military advisers on the ground in
the flashpoint Syrian city, a senior Iranian official said Tuesday. Ali
Shamkhani, the top official coordinating security and political affairs
between Tehran and its allies, Moscow and Damascus, was quoted by state
television saying Iran called in Russian strikes 'next to the land operation'
in Aleppo. 'Iran has brought the powerful Russia along... due to its need
to cooperate with Syria' in the fight against extremists, added
Shamkhani." http://t.uani.com/2be9cL3
Saudi-Iran
Tensions
AP: "A semi-official news agency in
Iran is reporting that Tehran's City Council has voted to rename a street
near the Saudi Embassy for a Shiite cleric executed by the Sunni-ruled
kingdom in January. The ISNA news agency says the council voted
unanimously Tuesday to rename the Naaz Street after Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
Saudi Arabia executed al-Nimr, a prominent Shiite cleric and dissident,
in January, along with 46 other prisoners. His execution sparked protests
in Iran that saw demonstrators storm the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and
another diplomatic post in the country." http://t.uani.com/2biytWm
Domestic
Politics
AP: "Iran's parliament on Tuesday
pushed back against the military over it dismissing civilian oversight
following Russia's use of an Iranian air base to launch airstrikes on
Syria. The rare parliamentary response is part of the larger
give-and-take between civilians and the country's powerful security
services since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. It also highlights the
public unpopularity of allowing Russia to use the air base - which marked
the first time since the revolution that a foreign military has used Iran
as a staging ground. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani brought up the topic
Tuesday as lawmakers gathered in Tehran for the body's opening session, a
day after Iranian officials announced Russia's use of the Shahid Nojeh
Air Base has stopped for the time being. The state-run IRNA news agency
quoted Larijani as criticizing Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Hossein
Dehghan for not 'speaking properly' to lawmakers' concerns. Dehghan over
the weekend said Russia's use of the air base was not their concern, though
parliament has oversight of all government ministries. Dehghan 'should
have observed the ethics of governing,' Larijani said. Larijani added
that the mission wouldn't have needed prior parliamentary permission as
it was 'temporary and only for refueling.'" http://t.uani.com/2bdFOrf
Opinion
& Analysis
UANI
Policy Director Jason Brodsky in JPost: "It is clear that Iran's former
firebrand-in-chief Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president from 2005-2013, is
attempting a political comeback. First were the well-timed media profiles
of visitors making the pilgrimage to his home in Tehran's Narmak
neighborhood seeking favors; next, the Iranian press accounts of
Ahmadinejad's opportunistic trips to Iran's provinces; then rumors from
spokespeople that he intends to run for the presidency in 2017; and now a
public letter to the president of the United States seeking the
repatriation of $2 billion of assets frozen in the US. But will all of
these efforts and publicity help him succeed in reclaiming the
presidency, and winning the mandate of the Islamic Republic's hardliners?
An Iran poll survey suggests that the former president now trails
incumbent Hassan Rouhani by just eight percentage points in a
head-to-head match-up, compared with 27 points in May 2015. But the
numbers don't tell the whole story - indeed, Ahmadinejad faces an uphill
battle in regaining the regime imprimatur due to heavy political
baggage... So, while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is once again entering the
political limelight, his record and reputation precede him. His list of
enemies is long, but will memories of his reign be short with the lack of
economic improvement in the aftermath of the Rouhani administration's nuclear
deal? Only time will tell." http://t.uani.com/2bdJ1aq
Claudia
Rosett in NY Sun:
"Congressional investigators trying to uncover the trail of $1.3
billion in payments to Iran might want to focus on 13 large, identical
sums that Treasury paid to the State Department under the generic heading
of settling 'Foreign Claims.' The 13 payments when added to the $400
million that the administration now concedes it shipped to the Iranian
regime in foreign cash would bring the payout to the $1.7 billion that
President Obama and Secretary Kerry announced on January 17. That total
was to settle a dispute pending for decades before the Iran-U.S. Claims
Tribunal in at The Hague. Mr. Kerry told the press at the time that the
settlement included $400 million that Iran under the Shah had paid into a
U.S. trust fund for an arms deal that collapsed after Iran's 1979 Islamic
revolution. Plus, said Kerry, the U.S. had agreed to pay 'a roughly $1.3
billion compromise on the interest.' The Wall Street Journal's Jay
Solomon and Carole E. Lee broke earlier this month the news that on the
same day that Mr. Obama announced the settlement, his administration
secretly sent Iran the $400 million payment in cash. Last week, the State
Department finally confirmed that the January 17 cash shipment was used
as 'leverage' to ensure Iran's release that same day of four American
prisoners - fueling questions about whether the Obama administration, despite
its denials, had paid ransom. Yet more questions surround the
administration's handling of the remaining $1.3 billion. Could this have
been drawn from a fund bankrolled by American taxpayers and housed at
Treasury, called the Judgment Fund? And why were the 13 payments in
amounts of one cent less than $100,000,000? The Judgment Fund has long
been a controversial vehicle for federal agencies to detour past one of
the most pointed prohibitions in the Constitution: 'No Money shall be
drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by
Law.' The Judgment Fund, according to a Treasury Department Web site, is
'a permanent, indefinite appropriation' used to pay monetary awards
against U.S. government agencies in cases 'where funds are not legally
available to pay the award from the agency's own appropriations.' In
March, in letters responding to questions about the Iran settlement sent
weeks earlier by Representatives Edward Royce and Mike Pompeo, the State
Department confirmed that the $1.3 billion 'interest' portion of the Iran
settlement had been paid out of the Judgment Fund. But State gave no
information on the logistics. The 13 payments that may explain what
happened are found in an online database maintained by the Judgment Fund.
A search for 'Iran' since the beginning of this year turns up nothing.
But a search for claims in which the defendant is the State Department
turns up 13 payments for $99,999,999.99. They were all made on the same
day, all sharing the same file and control reference numbers, all
certified by the U.S. Attorney General, but each assigned a different
identification number. They add up to $1,299,999,999.87, or 13 cents less
than the $1.3 billion Messrs. Obama and Kerry announced in January.
Together with a 14th payment of just over $10 million, the grand total
paid out by Treasury from the Judgment Fund on that single day, January
19, for claims pertaining to the State Department, comes to roughly $1.31
billion. Treasury has provided no answers to my queries about whether
these specific payments were for the Iran settlement. Nor why these
transfers comprised 13 payments, each of which was a cent under
$100,000,000. Nor whether the $10 million related to the same
matter." http://t.uani.com/2biEz8Z
Aaron
David Miller in WSJ:
"It's not clear how much worse things will get for the Obama
administration over its $400 million payment to Iran in January, but the
cash-for-prisoners scandal may end up being the least of U.S. concerns in
all this. I write that knowing that Congress plans to hold hearings in
September. I also know that so close to Election Day, this issue is
likely to remain a highly politicized he-said/she-said among Republicans
eager to take aim, an administration on the defensive, and a Democratic
nominee in an increasingly difficult position because of the optics: a
choreographed and sequenced transaction in which cash was delivered after
U.S. prisoners were released, regardless of whether you consider it
ransom. Here's the larger and more potentially damaging perception beyond
the general embarrassment: In the Middle East, strength and negotiating
acumen are prized; they demonstrate power and credibility. And the region
tends to consider actions and strategy in a time frame that stretches far
beyond the four- and eight-year scale of U.S. politics. Meanwhile, the
Obama administration's handling of Iran in this situation plays into the
narrative that the U.S. is weak and feckless and behaving as if it
doesn't know what it's doing. Some will see this as proof that the U.S.
is unable or unwilling to contain Iran's influence in the region, whether
because the administration fears that pushing the Iranians too hard on
Syria might jeopardize the international agreement over Tehran's nuclear
program-a seminal achievement for Mr. Obama-or because the U.S. is wary
of deeper involvement in the region... All of this feeds into an image of
U.S. policy fundamentally constrained by a changing region, one that
seems beyond Washington's willingness and capacity to manage. The central
actor in this new landscape is a rising Iran, willing to sacrifice much
for its vital interests. What can be hard to keep in mind in all the
back-and-forth is that Iran isn't 10 feet tall-its regime has its own
constraints in Syria and Iraq. But in a region of weak Arab states,
alongside a Russia willing to assert its power, and a Washington
constrained by a nuclear accord that has expanded Iran's ambitions,
Tehran is a force to be reckoned with. This will be the case even more
when the constraints on its nuclear program begin to sunset in a few
years. At which point cash-for-prisoners may end up being the least of
U.S. concerns." http://t.uani.com/2beRMxI
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