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TOP STORIES
On January 20, Iran's defense minister said that Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered the country's powerful Islamic
Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) to curtail its growing business empire
and divest its commercial assets that are not relevant to its domain
of work. The announcement has raised the hope that the regime may
have finally decided to loosen the IRGC's grip on the economy. But if
past is prelude, Khamenei's decree (if he has really issued one)
would prove to be more a symbolic gesture to placate anger at home
and pressure from abroad than a genuine effort to lessen the IRGC's
role in the economy, curb corruption and empower the private sector
as a the key engine for economic growth. Despite similar statements
by President Hassan Rouhani and other senior Iranian officials, the
IRGC has only expanded its economic activities in Iran as well as in
neighboring countries in the last year.
One day late last month, a woman wearing black trousers
and gray sneakers... removed her white head scarf, tied it to a stick
and waved the garment back and forth like a flag in protest against
modesty laws that require Iranian women to cover their hair... Weeks later,
after Iran was shaken by the biggest anti-government protests in
nearly a decade, the woman's whereabouts are unknown. She has become
the subject of a social media campaign labeled #Where_Is_She, and an
anonymous symbol of opposition to what many Iranians view as the
theocracy's harsh laws against free expression.
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan says more needs to be done
to challenge Iran, a message that was welcomed by his hosts in the
United Arab Emirates, where he is leading a Congressional delegation.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Wednesday with
several heads of state on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum
in Davos, urging them to act to fix the Iran nuclear deal and vowing
that Israel would not allow Iran to establish military bases in Syria.
During the 2016 presidential campaign trail, Donald
Trump separated himself from the pack on the issue of the Iran
nuclear deal. While then-candidate Trump was immensely critical of
the deal, he never said he would rip it up as soon as he got into
office. Instead, he pledged to enforce the terms of the deal and even
give Congress time to re-visit the negotiating table and set a new
standard. His chief rival during the Republican primary, Sen. Ted
Cruz, R-Texas, would've handled it differently.
IRAN
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
The Iranian authorities must immediately and
unconditionally release a woman arrested on 27 December 2017 in
Tehran for engaging in a peaceful protest against compulsory veiling
(hijab), Amnesty International said today. The organization renewed
its calls on the Iranian authorities to end the persecution of women
who speak out against compulsory veiling, and abolish this discriminatory
and humiliating practice.
When
Iranian authorities blocked popular messaging app Telegram last month
in an attempt to quell unrest, the country's small business community
bore the brunt of a communications breakdown that reverberated across
the economy.
Iranian authorities are scrambling to stem a growing
crisis over air pollution in the province that produces a major share
of the country's oil, showing a sensitivity to people's demands not
always visible before anti-government protests raged earlier this
month.
...VOA's English-language coverage was particularly
atrocious. In reports under such headlines as, "Iran's
Revolutionary Guard: People, Security Forces 'Have Broken the Chain'
of Unrest" and "Rouhani Rejects Trump's Support for Iranian
Protesters," VOA has presented at length the regime's
propaganda, including outright lies, with hardly any balance or
response from the protesters. VOA was late in starting its reporting
on the protests and improved its coverage only slightly in a delayed
reaction to outside criticism.
SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT
Turkish lender Halkbank is working closely with the U.S.
Treasury and Justice Department, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek
said on Wednesday, after a U.S. jury found one of its executives
guilty in an Iran sanctions-busting trial.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Gulf Arab officials used the World Economic Forum in
Davos on Wednesday to slam Iran for what they said was its
destabilizing behavior in the region, taking advantage of Tehran's
conspicuous absence at the annual event.
If the Saudi-Israeli rapprochement continues, their
collaboration could lead to improved Israeli relations with other
Arab states, removing Iran's security buffer and possibly making
Tehran more vulnerable to direct Israeli military action.
Despite reports that Iran's foreign minister had
canceled a scheduled trip to Davos to attend the World Economic
Forum, Tehran says he never planned to participate in this year's
summit.
SYRIA & IRAN
As the Islamic State continues to hemorrhage territory
in Syria, Iran is extending its influence throughout the country as
it works to establish a contiguous land corridor or
"bridge" stretching from Tehran to Damascus and on to
Beirut. The situation in Syria is transitioning from an active
conflict zone to what is known in military parlance as the "gray
zone," an area of ambiguity that sits uncomfortably between
peace and war.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, LEBANON, &
IRAN
Lebanon must "deal with" Iran, Lebanese Prime
Minister Saad Hariri told Davos attendees during a panel hosted by
CNBC at the World Economic Forum.
IRAQ & IRAN
Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement to jointly
develop two shared oilfields in the southern Khuzestan Province,
according to a deputy at the National Iranian Oil Company.
IRANIAN DOMESTIC ISSUES
Iranian media say a fire broke out at a bitumen storage
facility in southern Iran, killing three workers.
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