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WSJ: "Four ships from Iran's
Revolutionary Guard Corps harassed a U.S. destroyer near the Persian Gulf
in what the U.S. Navy called an 'unsafe and unprofessional' interaction.
The USS Nitze, an Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer, was
transiting international waters near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday when
the four Iranian vessels approached at high speed and failed to respond
to 12 separate radio communications, according to Cdr. William Urban, a
spokesman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet. The USS Nitze blew its whistle in
five short blasts on three occasions-signaling the Iranian vessels were
on a dangerous course-and fired off 10 flares in the direction of the
approaching ships before altering course to avoid a potential collision,
Cmdr. Urban said. As two of the Iranian vessels came within 300 yards of
the destroyer, the quartet finally slowed speed and motored away from the
U.S. ship, according to Cmdr. Urban, who characterized the interaction as
a dangerous, harassing situation that could have led to further
escalation. The USS Nitze was transiting the waters with the USS Mason,
another guided-missile destroyer. The incident was one of many
interactions between Iranian and American ships in and around the Persian
Gulf in recent months. But it was one of few the U.S. Navy has deemed
unsafe or unprofessional. According to a U.S. defense official, the Navy
deemed about 10% of the hundreds of interactions between Iranian and
American ships unsafe or unprofessional in 2015 and the first half of
2016. The official said the number of interactions-both safe and
unsafe-has increased this year compared with 2015." http://t.uani.com/2biXi5w
AP: "The Obama administration said
Wednesday it paid $1.3 billion in interest to Iran in January to resolve
a decades-old dispute over an undelivered military sale, two days after
allowing $400 million in cash to fly to Tehran. State Department
spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau says the U.S. couldn't say more about the
Jan. 19 payments because of diplomatic sensitivities. They involved 13
separate payments of $99,999,999.99 and final payment of about $10
million. There was no explanation for the Treasury Department keeping the
individual transactions under $100 million. The money settles a dispute
over a $400 million payment made in the 1970s by the U.S.-backed shah's
government for military equipment. The equipment was never delivered
because of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew the shah and ended
diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Iran. On Jan. 17, the
administration paid Iran the account's $400 million principal in pallets
of euros, Swiss francs and other foreign currency, raising questions
about the unusual payment. The $1.3 billion covers what Iran and the U.S.
agreed would be the interest on the $400 million over the decades. The
deal has faced increased scrutiny since the administration's
acknowledgment this month that it used the money as leverage to ensure
the release of four American prisoners. Republican critics accuse the
administration of paying a 'ransom.'" http://t.uani.com/2biAPbU
WSJ: "Iran's comeback as a crude-oil
exporter appears to have stalled seven months after Western sanctions
over its nuclear program were lifted, casting fresh uncertainty over the
country's willingness to cooperate with other producers on output. Iran's
production levels have taken on heightened significance in recent weeks
as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries gets ready for
talks next month on oil output. Iran has previously refused to consider
joining fellow OPEC members in action to lift crude prices by curbing
output until its exports and production reach presanctions levels. But
the country's ability to reach pre-sanctions levels above 4 million
barrels a day are now in question. Iran's crude-oil production stands at
3.85 million barrels a day in August, the country's oil minister Bijan
Zanganeh said Saturday, little changed from above 3.8 million barrels a
day he cited in June. That is up from less than 3 million barrels a day
from before sanctions were lifted in January but short of the country's
stated goals... Iran's crude-oil exports have also plateaued after nearly
doubling from January to May. Mohsen Ghamsari, the head of oil
marketing at the National Iranian Oil Co, told state media last week that
the country was still short of pre-sanctions exports by 200,000 barrels a
day... Iran has faced two significant obstacles in its quest to return to
pre-sanctions production levels: a lack of foreign investment and its own
unwillingness to undercut rivals on pricing. Lingering American sanctions
on Iran over terrorism, human rights and weapons continue to make it
difficult for Iran to do business with European crude-oil buyers, whom
the Islamic Republic had been counting on to lift its exports. The
American sanctions ban dollar transactions with Iran, requiring European
companies with U.S. business to go to great legal lengths to do deals
there." http://t.uani.com/2biJDsr
U.S.-Iran
Relations
AP: "Iran's naval forces will warn
or confront any foreign ship entering the country's territorial waters,
the Iranian defense minister said Thursday, remarks that came after an
incident this week involving a U.S. warship. The semi-official Tasnim
news agency quoted Gen. Hosein Dehghan as saying that 'if any foreign
vessel enters our waters, we warn them, and if it's an invasion, we
confront.' He added that Iranian boats patrol to monitor traffic and
foreign vessels in its territorial waters." http://t.uani.com/2biCApg
BBC: "It has the production values
of a Hollywood blockbuster and the heightened emotion of a Bollywood
musical, but the message couldn't be more anti-American. An extraordinary
eight-minute music video/revenge fantasy called 'We are standing to last
drop of blood' has been regularly shown on on Iran's national TV this
month and set social media buzzing. The film shows patriotic youths
magically destroying an American invasion fleet which has targeted an
idyllic Iranian seaside town and its peaceful nuclear power plant. When
the civilians come under unprovoked attack the Iranian heroes unite to
use the power of their national flag to create a tsunami that destroys
the US ships and aircraft. It ends with the idyllic seaside town and
peaceful nuclear power plant returned to tranquillity. Subtle it is
not... The clip, produced by Sureh Film Club, is affiliated to the
state-owned Islamic Propagation Organisation, whose chairman is appointed
by Iran's supreme leader." http://t.uani.com/2bRPFTj
Business
Risk
AP: "An Iranian state-run daily is
reporting that authorities in Tehran have detained a Greek national they
accuse of embezzling money from smuggled oil and selling three oil
tankers for $100 million. The report on Thursday in the IRAN newspaper
suggests the Greek national was involved in smuggling Iranian crude oil
while economic sanctions were imposed over the country's contested
nuclear program. Those sanctions under then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
greatly restricted where Iranian oil could be sold in the global market.
The newspaper said the unnamed Greek national was detained three weeks
after arriving at Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport due to a
'special trick' by investigators." http://t.uani.com/2bJ8J6z
Sanctions
Relief
Reuters: "South Korea's finance minister
said on Thursday his country will start trading with Iran using the euro
on Aug. 29. 'It will be implemented from next Monday,' Yoo Il-ho told
reporters in Seoul, referring to a decision which will allow trade
between the two nations to be settled in the euro. The move 'will greatly
resolve obstacles that stood in the way of facilitating investment and
trading with Iran,' Yoo said, and added that KEB Hana Bank, Shinhan Bank
and Woori Bank have been selected as settlement banks. Up till now, South
Korea's purchases of Iranian oil and payments for construction projects
in Iran have been settled in the won, restricting business activities
even after the lifting of Western sanctions against the Middle Eastern
country." http://t.uani.com/2bYILgO
Foreign
Affairs
Reuters: "Iran and Ecuador on Wednesday
discussed ways that the two countries can strengthen oil prices as Iran
signals it may support joint efforts by exporters to prop up flagging
crude... 'We have held conversations on strengthening our position in oil
markets,' Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said through an
interpreter after a meeting with Ecuador's President Rafael Correa. Zarif
added that the two countries have agreed to continue talks within the
framework of OPEC, without providing further details. Ecuador Foreign
Minister Guillaume Long said they discussed establishing a common
position with regards to strengthening oil prices." http://t.uani.com/2biAZjj
Extremism
Long War
Journal: "A
retired Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander who was
deployed to Syria gave a lengthy interview to a hardline media outlet
last week about IRGC operations in the country. Serving with the Afghan
Fatemiyoun Division, Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Falaki highly praised
the militia. The commander describes the array of IRGC-backed forces
fighting in Syria and the Middle East as a unified army - apparently with
the ultimate goal of destroying Israel... Falaki also restated the goal
for the destruction of Israel. 'Forming the first nucleus of the
liberation army has the objective that, God willing, we will not have
anything called Israel in 23 years,' he stated. Supreme Leader Khamenei
claimed in 2015 that Israel would not exist in 25 years. Falaki boasted
that Iranian-led units are already by Israel's border and that 'the
Fatemiyoun brothers have established the basis for this fight.'" http://t.uani.com/2biYYMi
Domestic
Politics
Al-Monitor: "Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafar
Dowlatabadi announced Aug. 16 that Iran had arrested another dual
national in the country. According to Dowlatabadi, the individual had
links to British intelligence and was 'active in the economic field.'
Dowlatabadi did not share any other information about who the person is
or when the arrest took place. On Aug. 23, conservative website Nasim
Online published a thinly sourced article claiming that the arrestee's
name is Abdol Rasul Dori Esfahani, a member of the Iranian nuclear
negotiation team. According to the article, Dori Esfahani was in charge
of banking affairs during the nuclear talks and was arrested for selling
economic information to foreign countries... In its original article,
Nasim reported that rumors about the arrest of a member of the nuclear
negotiation team had been circulating on social media for days. According
to Nasim, Dori Esfahani had used his access to financial institutions in
Iran to pass information to American and British officials, for which he
allegedly received 7,500 British pounds ($10,000) a month. He also was
alleged to have been linked to the exorbitant salaries scandal in Iran.
After the publication of the first Nasim article, various Iranian meida
outlets cited a source at the Foreign Ministry as denying any individual
involved with the implementation of the nuclear deal had been
arrested." http://t.uani.com/2bqFBA6
Opinion
& Analysis
Eli Lake
in Bloomberg:
"One of the great hypotheticals of Barack Obama's presidency
involves the Iranian uprising that began on June 12, 2009, after Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad was announced the winner of contested presidential elections.
What if the president had done more to help the protesters when the
regime appeared to be teetering? It's well known he was slow to react.
Obama publicly downplayed the prospect of real change at first, saying
the candidates whom hundreds of thousands of Iranians were risking their
lives to support did not represent fundamental change. When he finally
did speak out, he couldn't bring himself to say the election was stolen:
'The world is watching and inspired by their participation, regardless of
what the ultimate outcome of the election was.' But Obama wasn't just
reluctant to show solidarity in 2009, he feared the demonstrations would
sabotage his secret outreach to Iran. In his new book, 'The Iran Wars,'
Wall Street Journal reporter Jay Solomon uncovers new details on how far
Obama went to avoid helping Iran's green movement. Behind the scenes,
Obama overruled advisers who wanted to do what America had done at
similar transitions from dictatorship to democracy, and signal America's
support. Solomon reports that Obama ordered the CIA to sever contacts it
had with the green movement's supporters. 'The Agency has contingency
plans for supporting democratic uprisings anywhere in the world. This
includes providing dissidents with communications, money, and in extreme
cases even arms,' Solomon writes. 'But in this case the White House
ordered it to stand down.' ... But it's striking the lengths to which
Obama went to make good on his word. As Solomon reports, Obama ended U.S.
programs to document Iranian human rights abuses. He wrote personal
letters to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assuring him the
U.S. was not trying to overthrow him. Obama repeatedly stressed his
respect for the regime in his statements marking Iran's annual Nowruz celebration.
His quest to engage the mullahs seems to have influenced Obama's
decision-making on other issues too. When he walked away from his red
line against Syria's use of chemical weapons in 2013, Solomon reports,
both U.S. and Iranian officials had told him that nuclear negotiations
would be halted if he intervened against Bashar al-Assad." http://t.uani.com/2biDMJq
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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