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TOP STORIES
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is consulting U.S.
allies in Europe as he seeks a way to toughen restrictions on Iran's
nuclear program a month before President Donald Trump faces a
deadline to decide whether to walk away from what he's called
"the worst deal ever." U.S. diplomats have approached
European officials to see if they would join in demanding an
extension to limits on Iran's uranium enrichment that are set to
expire in 2025 and 2030 under the nuclear accord reached in 2015,
according to people familiar with the discussions.
Iran signed deals with Damascus on Tuesday to repair
Syria's power grid, state media said, a potentially lucrative move
for Tehran that points to a deepening economic role after years of
fighting in the Syrian conflict... Since at least 2012, Iran has
provided critical military support to Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad's government, helping it regain control of swathes of the
country. Iran experts say Tehran is now looking to reap a financial
dividend.
There are signs of a new deal between Ankara and Tehran
under the auspices of Moscow. The deal includes Turkish military
presence in Idlib in exchange for Iranian control over the south of
Damascus and the expansion of Sayyeda Zainab area, which means
providing a mass of permanent influence on the political decision in
Damascus. If the parties succeed in reaching an agreement in the
coming Astana meeting on Thursday and Friday as planned, it will be a
new step in Russia's distribution for areas of influence on regional
and major countries in Syria.
UANI IN THE NEWS
The administration has long held the view that Iran's
compliance with the nuclear deal must be viewed in a broader lens
that accounts for its malign activity in the Middle East and
aggressive ballistic missile program. The administration's stance
echoes experts' concerns that claims of Iranian compliance with the
agreement are narrowly focused. "While Iran might be complying
with the letter of the JCPOA [Iran deal] it's been routinely
violating its spirit, and that's very problematic," United
Against A Nuclear Iran Policy Director Jason Brodsky previously
explained to The Daily Caller News Foundation. Brodsky claimed that
while Iran's violations of the U.N. resolution codifying the nuclear
deal may not show explicit Iranian procurement or development of
nuclear material, it demonstrates a regime that continues to pursue
programs that pose a threat to the U.S.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday
that the nuclear deal between world powers and Iran should be amended
or canceled. Speaking in Buenos Aires alongside Argentine President
Mauricio Macri, Netanyahu said he wanted to correct the impression in
recent media reports that Israel's position on the 2015 deal had
softened... Netanyahu has repeatedly taken aim at Iran since arriving
in Argentina on Monday as the first sitting Israeli prime minister to
visit Latin America. He accused Tehran of operating "a terror
machine that encompasses the entire world, operating terror cells in
many continents, including Latin America." "In the case of
Iran, it's not only merely terror, it's also the quest for nuclear
weapons that concerns us and should concern the entire international
community."
SANCTIONS RELIEF
Germany's Mercedes-Benz Trucks signed a contract on
Tuesday with Tehran-based automaker Iran Khodro, parent company
Daimler AG told Reuters, laying the foundation for resuming
distribution of its trucks in Iran. The deal between Iran Khodro and
Mercedes-Benz Trucks includes creating a joint company that provides
sales and after-sale services in the Islamic Republic, Iran's
semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. According to Tasnim, a
second deal would be also signed next month to create a joint venture
in Iran for production of heavy vehicles including Actros trucks.
French PSA -- the maker of Peugeots and Citroens -- and rival Renault
have pushed hard into Iran since its 2015 deal with world powers that
saw international sanctions lifted in return for curbs on Tehran's
nuclear activities. PSA has signed production deals worth 700 million
euros ($768 million), while Renault has announced a new plant
investment to increase its production capacity to 350,000 vehicles a
year.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The international community is failing to deal with
terrorism-producing countries and has become accustomed to Lebanon
being held hostage by a terrorist organization, former defense
minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Tuesday. One must ask why "the
world has become accustomed to the fact that Lebanon was kidnapped by
a terrorist organization operated by another country. But the reality
is that the international community has become used to the world
order and does not deal with it," he said at the International
Institute for Counter-Terrorism's 17th annual conference at the
Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.
The UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Anwar
Gargash has accused Iran of trying to push Arab states into "a
descent into chaos."
SAUDI-IRAN TENSIONS
Attempts to mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia have
probably reached a dead end, an Arab diplomatic source told
Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity The source added that a new path
doesn't seem to be possible given "Tehran's arrogant approach in
the region and its insistence on threatening its neighbors, meddling
in their internal affairs and helping destabilize the region."
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last month that
United States policy toward Iran shouldn't begin and end with the
nuclear deal. Washington's issues with that country are far wider,
Mr. Tillerson said, citing Iran's meddling in Syria and Iraq, and its
support for terrorist groups like Hezbollah. The secretary of state
is certainly right about that. But he elided an important point:
Without a stable approach to the nuclear deal, questions about its
fate will distract from and ultimately hobble broader American
diplomacy on Iran and other crucial issues in the Middle East.
[C]ontinuing forward with our legacy Iran policy is
completely untenable. And that's why the president was absolutely
right to instruct his senior leaders to come back to him with better
policy options in the next few weeks... The best option, of course,
is for the president to simply toss the deal overboard at the first
available opportunity. At the same time, if the president's team is
looking for alternatives to just walking away, he does have a few
other options he could take to capitalize on his reputation as a
tough dealmaker and savvy businessman.
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