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TOP STORIES
Taking aim at Iran's global footprint, the Trump
administration on Friday hit six people and seven businesses linked
to Hezbollah with terror sanctions, calling it "the first
wave" in a pressure campaign that will escalate throughout the
year... Senior Trump administration officials said the U.S. estimates
Iran sends Hezbollah about $700 million per year, arguing that
Hezbollah has become the Iranian government's primary tool to project
its power in the Arabic-speaking world.
Iran says President Trump's hostility to the 2015
nuclear deal is dampening foreign investment in the energy sector
despite the lifting of sanctions.
Iran has sentenced an unnamed person to six years in
jail for selling information about its nuclear program to the United
States and a European country, the Iranian judiciary's news website
reported on Sunday.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
A complete argument in defense of the liberal
international order requires demonstrating that this order is not
merely abstract or vaguely laudable but of concrete value to the
national security of the United States and its allies. This essay
seeks to make that case by examining American policy toward Iran as
an example of the international order in action.
IRAN PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Responding to reports that at least six young human
rights defenders, including Shima Babaei and her husband Dariush Zand,
Saeed Eghbali, Leila Farjami, Mahmoud Masoumi and Behnam Mousivand
have been detained in coordinated arrests across Iran on 1 February,
Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at
Amnesty International said: "These human rights defenders must
be released immediately and unconditionally - they have committed no
crime and have been arrested purely because of their human rights
work. We are extremely concerned that these individuals are now at
risk of torture or other ill-treatment.
11 [Iranian] Members of Parliament (MPs) were allowed to
visit Evin Prison in Tehran for three hours on January 30, 2018. MP
Allahyar Malekshahi told the conservative Mashregh newspaper on
January 30 that the delegation was informed that 4,534 people had
been detained nationwide, higher than the number of 3,700 that had
been reported earlier.
Iranian state TV has apologised for a segment which
featured a relationship expert tell domestic violence victims to kiss
their husband's feet. "Even if your husband is a drug addict, if
he beats you, just do it and you will see a miracle in your life,"
the woman was said to have told viewers.
On Dec. 27, Vida Movahed stood bareheaded on a utility
box on one of Tehran's busiest thoroughfares, waving her white head
scarf on a stick. Within days, images of the 31-year-old, who was
detained and then released a few weeks later, had become an iconic
symbol. In the weeks since Ms. Movahed's peaceful protest of the
compulsory hijab, long one of the most visible symbols of the Islamic
Republic, dozens of women, and even some men, throughout Iran have
followed her lead. So far, at least 29 women in cities throughout the
country have been arrested. These bold acts of defiance against the
hijab are unprecedented in the nearly 40-year history of the Islamic
Republic, but a movement that may have helped inspire them has been
going on for years.
The office of Iran's president on Sunday charged into
the middle of one of the most contentious debates over the character
of the Islamic Republic, suddenly releasing a three-year-old report
showing that nearly half of Iranians wanted an end to the requirement
that women cover their heads in public.
The United States supports the Iranian people who are
protesting against women being forced to wear the hijab. We condemn
the reported arrests of at least 29 individuals for exercising their
human rights and fundamental freedoms by standing up against the
compulsory hijab.
The National Front, one of Iran's secular political
organizations, has called for a permit to hold a public gathering in
Tehran on March 5.
UN human rights experts have called on Iran to ensure a
fair and transparent final hearing for three Iranian Christians who
are due to appear before the Revolutionary Court in Tehran this
weekend.
Recent unrest in Iran shows that the country's present
leadership is completely out of touch with the aspirations of the
younger generation.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
The United States' new nuclear policy brings humanity
"closer to annihilation," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad
Javad Zarif has said.
BUSINESS RISK
While bilateral trade has increased following the
implementation of the nuclear deal, trade between Iran and Britain
remains far below its potential.
SANCTIONS RELIEF & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Iran can swiftly increase production of crude if OPEC
decides to scrap limits on global output when the group meets next in
June, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said.
OTHER TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
The Palestinian Al Sabreen movement, active in Gaza and
the West Bank, was in the news again when the State Department on
Wednesday announced that it was listing the organization on its
terror black list. The Al Sabreen movement was founded by
dissident Shiite leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in
April 2014, has taken ideological inspiration from the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard, as well as the Lebanese "Hezbollah"
militia, calling publicly for the Iranian expansion project in the
region and promoting Iran as the main defender of Islam and the only
country that is concerned for the Palestinian case.
RUSSIA & IRAN
Iran accused the United States on Sunday of threatening
Russia with new atomic weapons after Washington published a document
outlining plans to expand its nuclear capabilities to deter
others.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been rather mum on
aspects of his meeting this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, but the latter has made it clear they discussed concerns
about Iran's bold actions in the Middle East in general and in Syria
in particular.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Americans who have watched the Middle East for the past
40 years must wonder how, despite all pressures and sanctions, Iran
has not been weakened. Instead, it has expanded its influence within
the region and beyond. What they have yet to know is that very
influence is also making a footprint in the American public sphere.
MILITARY MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Following its successes in the Syrian War, Iran's next
step is to infiltrate state institutions in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.
Without serious action by the U.S. government to counter Iran's
regional activities, any international support to Lebanon, Syria, and
Iraq-and their financial and military institutions- might result in
support for Iran's Shia militias.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Qatar has rejected the evidence presented against Iran
by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain which proves its involvement in
activities aimed at destabilizing the region... Doha also expanded
and reinforced its cooperation with Tehran on various levels.
Recently, after the popular uprising in Iran died down,
and following U.S. President Donald Trump's waiving of the nuclear
sanctions against Iran, the Saudi press published a number of
articles harshly criticizing the Western policy vis-Ã -vis Iran.
IRAQ & IRAN
As ISIS was pushed back from Tikrit and then from Sunni
strongholds in Fallujah, Ramadi and finally Mosul, it was Shiite
fighters-prominently backed by Iran-who led the way. Many Shiites now
view the victory not only as a force of will but as an act of God.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Amid the charged atmosphere of political turmoil, economic
instability, and acts of protest against the cultural status quo, the
36th edition of the prestigious Fajr Film Festival opened in Tehran
on February 1. The Fajr Film Festival highlights the past year of
Iranian cinema for 10 days, although any sign of political dissent in
new movies is conspicuously absent.
Guards at Iran's presidential office building in Tehran
opened fire, wounding a man carrying a large blade and trying to
enter the compound, Iranian media said on February 5.
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