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TOP STORIES
President Donald Trump is weighing a strategy that could
allow more aggressive U.S. responses to Iran's forces, its Shi'ite
Muslim proxies in Iraq and Syria, and its support for militant
groups, according to six current and former U.S. officials. The
proposal was prepared by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and
other top officials, and presented to Trump at a National Security
Council meeting on Friday, the sources said.
US. President Donald Trump on September 8 urged Saudi
Arabia and other Arab states to resolve their differences with Qatar
and present a united front against Iran, the White House said. Trump
spoke separately with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin
Salman, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) Crown Prince Sheikh Muhammad
bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad
al-Thani. Trump told them that unity among Washington's Arab partners
was essential to promoting regional stability and countering the
threat of Iran, the White House said.
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency,
has said that if the United States leaves the landmark nuclear deal
signed in 2015, but other signatories remain committed, Iran will
"most probably" uphold the agreement. In an interview with
Der Spiegel, Salehi says that Iran wants to adhere to the agreement
even if the U.S. withdraws, but a total collapse of the deal could
lead to a nuclear arms race.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
A top deputy to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on
Monday said the Israeli leader must push President Donald Trump to
freeze, change or cancel the international community's nuclear deal
with Iran during an upcoming trip to the United States. Yisrael Katz,
Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs, told a
security conference in the central Israeli city of Herzliya on Monday
that changing the deal should be Netanyahu's "primary
mission." Netanyahu is expected to meet with Trump next week on
the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
There is more riding on US President Donald Trump's
upcoming decision whether to recertify Iranian compliance with the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) than the fate of that
landmark nuclear deal. Ever since Trump's inauguration, the State
Department has been sitting on or diverting funds for cultural and
scientific exchanges with Iran. More than 500 Iranians have come to
the United States on such exchanges since 2006, contributing to
mutual scientific advances and creating a foundation for closer
bilateral ties between the longtime adversaries. Under the Barack
Obama administration and with the support of President Hassan
Rouhani's government, these exchanges had accelerated.
BUSINESS RISK
The Europe-Iran Forum (EIF) was established four years
ago to help support business diplomacy between Iran and the West.
Many of the complex challenges facing Iran involve both political and
economic considerations, and so they cannot be solved by policymakers
or business leaders working separately. Cooperation is needed among
the full range of stakeholders, and the Forum is designed to help
support more dialogue, information sharing, and relationship building
within the network of business leaders and policymakers working on
Iran today.
Iran Financial Center signed a data-sharing deal with
the Greek data vendor company Inforex S.A. at Tehran Stock Exchange
on Sunday. Based on the deal signed by IFC's Managing Director Ali Naqavi
and CEO of Inforex Elena Pateropoulou, the center will share data on
Iran's stock trading and financial securities with Inforex that will
compile and offer them to foreign investors through its platforms for
two years, IFC's Public Relations Office reported.
TERRORISM
The head of the Shin Bet security service said Sunday
that Hamas is setting up a base in Lebanon with Iranian support as
part of its ongoing efforts to deepen its connections with the
Islamic Republic's "Shiite axis." Speaking to ministers at
the weekly cabinet meeting, Nadav Argaman warned that the Palestinian
terror group, which rules the Gaza Strip, has "continued to
invest considerable resources in preparation for a future conflict,
even at the cost of its citizens' welfare."
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
"Iranian threat is still considered as Israel's
principal concern", a top Israeli Defense Forces General has
maintained, adding that one of the reasons behind the concern is the
fact that "They [Iranians] are very similar to us
[Israelis]". During a speech at the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy, on Friday, September 8, Major General Yair Golan
said Israel should prepare for a direct confrontation with the
Islamic Republic of Iran.
Benjamin Netanyahu urged all countries to fight
terrorism and singled out Iran as a serial offender as he paid
tribute to the victims of two bombings in Argentina on the first trip
by an Israeli premier to Latin America. Surrounded by heavy security,
Netanyahu held a closed-door meeting with members of Argentina's
Jewish community, estimated to be Latin America's most numerous with
300,000 members. He also participated in a ceremony to remember
victims of bomb attacks at the Israeli embassy in 1992, and at a
Jewish community center in 1994. The embassy attack killed 29 and
injured 220, while the community center blast left 85 dead and 300
injured. Israel blamed the embassy attack on the Lebanese Shiite
group Hezbollah. Argentine investigators accused five former Iranian
officials of sponsoring Hezbollah's attack on the community center
but Iran denied involvement.
Pakistan and Iran say there is no military solution for
the conflict in Afghanistan and that a negotiated political solution
is imperative for lasting peace. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja
Muhammad Asif, on his day-long visit to Tehran Monday, discussed with
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani the "strengthening of brotherly
relations between the two countries rooted in common history, culture
and people," according to a statement issued by the ministry.
Asif earlier held detailed talks with Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif
on bilateral relations and the prevailing regional situation,
including efforts for peace and stability in Afghanistan. They
underscored that the regional countries have vital stakes in the
stability of Afghanistan and should play a more proactive role in
peace efforts.
Afghanistan's foreign minister asked India on Monday to
expedite development of a strategic port in Iran to bolster a trade
route for land-locked Central Asian countries that would bypass
Pakistan. The port would allow India to transport goods to
Afghanistan by sea. Pakistan currently does not allow India to
transport through its territory to Afghanistan. Last year, India
committed up to $500 million for the development of the Chabahar port
along with associated roads and rail lines.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan have called for cooperation in offering aid to
Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar. The two presidents, speaking
along the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit
on science and technology in Astana, Kazakhstan, over the weekend,
stressed the importance of taking action to put an end to the
violence against the Rohingya. Rouhani said in Astana that the plight
of the Rohingya, along with other situations in the Muslim world,
including Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Palestine, showed the need for
unity.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reiterated
Tehran's policy to help boost regional stability and said the Islamic
Republic is against any kind of pressure or threat against
neighboring countries, including Qatar. Iran's policy toward the
Middle East region is crystal clear, Zarif said in a Monday meeting
with the Qatari ambassador to Tehran, Ali Bin Hamad al-Sulaiti.
"Regional problems should be resolved through dialogue, and we
are opposed to any kind of pressure and threat posed by anyone
against (our) neighbors," he noted. During the meeting, the two
sides also exchanged views about the latest efforts to boost
relations between Tehran and Doha in diverse areas, including economy
and trade. Al-Sulaiti returned to the Iranian capital on August 25 to
resume his diplomatic career after a 20-month hiatus that started in January
2016.
SYRIA CONFLICT
The Israeli intelligence minister said on Monday that
President Bashar al-Assad was ready to permit Iran to set up military
bases in Syria that would pose a long-term threat to neighbouring
Israel. While formally neutral on the six-year-old Syrian civil war,
Israel worries that Assad's recent gains have given his Iranian and
Lebanese Hezbollah allies a foothold on its northern front.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lobbied Russia,
Assad's most powerful backer, and the United States to curb the
Iranian presence in Syria -- as well as hinting that Israel could
launch preemptive strikes against its arch-foe there.
IRAQ CRISIS
Iraq's Shiite political scene is witnessing significant
shifts ahead of parliamentary elections next year that could affect
Iran's influence in the country. The rising tensions between
pro-Tehran Shiite alliances have been worrying enough to prompt
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to send an envoy to
Iraq last week on a mission to unite the disputing parties.
SAUDI-IRAN TENSIONS
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Al
Mayadeen TV on Sept. 6, "We are prepared to cooperate with
Islamic countries on all issues that are important to the Islamic
world. ... If the Saudi government is ready to turn the page, Iran is
ready for that as well." Although Saudi Foreign Minister Adel
al-Jubeir termed Zarif's gesture as "laughable," there are
signs that a slow thaw may be in the works, the result of a shifting
regional landscape.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran's judiciary news website is reporting that an
appeals court has upheld the prison sentence of a man charged with
"collaborating with the hostile government" of the United
States. Mizan Online's Monday report quotes Tehran prosecutor Abbas
Jafari Dolatabadi as saying that an appeals court approved a two-year
prison sentence for a man only identified by his first name, Alrieza.
The report did not elaborate, but the term is relatively low compared
to previous similar cases, some involving up to 10 years of jail
time. Despite a U.S. call in July for the immediate release of U.S.
citizens and other detained foreigners, Iran in September upheld a
10-year jail term for an American citizen, two US-Iranian dual
nationals and a Lebanese citizen on similar charges.
DOMESTIC POLITICS
Rivalry and tension between Iran's executive branch of
the government and organs directly controlled by the Supreme Leader
is not a new phenomenon. But its shadow hangs over the country's
politics and harms effective governance. In the past ten years, we
have witnessed numerous instances of conflict, but in fact it existed
even during the first Supreme Leader, ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeni's
tenure. Especially, as parliament's influence waned in recent years,
organs directly controlled by the Supreme Leader became even more
potent tools for poking at the executive branch.
Iran will reach an oil production rate of 4.5 million
barrels per day (bpd) within five years, Ali Kardor, the managing
director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said Sunday
according to the oil ministry news site SHANA. Iran has been
producing around 3.8 million bpd in recent months. Iranian gas
production will reach 1.3 billion cubic meters per day and production
of gas condensate will reach 864,000 bpd in the next five years,
Kardor said.
For most of his life, alcohol rehab for Mehdi consisted
of regular stretches in prison and lashings that left dark marks on
his back. Now, at 36, he has prematurely gray hair, but with the help
of an Alcoholics Anonymous group he swears he has finally stopped
drinking. In recent years, Iran, where alcohol has been illegal since
the 1979 revolution and is taboo for devout Muslims, has taken the
first step and admitted that, like most other nations, it has an
alcohol problem. Since 2015, when the Health Ministry ordered
addiction treatment centers to care for alcoholics, dozens of private
clinics and government institutions have opened help desks and
special wards for alcoholics. The government has also allowed a large
and growing network of Alcoholics Anonymous groups, modeled after
those in the United States. The relaxing of prohibition has allowed
addicts like Mehdi to emerge from the shadows and embrace a new
circle of friends - recovering alcoholics - who greeted him as he
entered a West Tehran apartment one recent evening.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Supporters of Barack Obama's 2015 Iran nuclear agreement
have, over the past two years, tried almost everything to sustain it.
Nonetheless, weaknesses in its terms, structure, implementation and
basic strategic fallacy - i.e., that Iran's international behavior
would "moderate" once it was adopted - are all increasingly
apparent. For the deal's acolytes, however, continuing U.S. adherence
has become a near-theological imperative. At the most basic level,
the agreement's adherents ignore how ambiguous and badly worded it
is, allowing Iran enormous latitude to continue advancing its
nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile programs without being even
"technically" in violation.
Over the past months, while the western media has been
obsessed with the latest tweet of President Donald Trump, there have
been disturbing developments in the Middle East. Storm clouds are
gathering on Israel's horizon that will one day pose a grave danger
to the security of Israel. In a speech given this June, Hezbollah's
leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that a future war with Israel,
"...could open the way for thousands, even hundreds of thousands
of fighters from all over the Arab and Islamic world to participate -
from Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan".
Amid the White House review of its Iran policy and
subsequent to the signing into law of H.R. 6634, which imposes tough
sanctions on the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC), familiar voices in Washington have begun fear mongering
that supporting "regime change" leads to war. Let us be
clear: The real issue is not war. There has never been any suggestion
of military intervention. Here are the real questions that need to be
answered: Should the Iranian people continue to suffer under a brutal
dictatorship, which has denied them their most rudimentary rights, or
do they have the right to change this suppressive regime? Should the
world remain silent on the destructive role of the Iranian regime in
the region, including its direct participation in the carnage in
Syria? Far from being warmongers, advocates of regime change are
calling for a transformation from within, led by indigenous forces,
not through foreign military intervention.
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